Review of Jacky Cheung’s new Mandarin album 醒著做夢 (Wake Up Dreaming)

After waiting 7 long years, Jacky’s fans received an early Christmas gift back on December 23^rd – his new Mandarin album entitled Wake Up Dreaming. (Jacky’s previous album, By Your Side, came out in 2007). Of course, as a long-time fan, I wouldn’t miss this ‘monumental’ event no matter what, so I made sure to put in my order for his album as soon as it became available for sale.  Luckily, I already knew from past experience that it would take a while for the album to get here via ‘snail mail’, so I also bought the album on iTunes – this way, I could start listening to the album right away (yes, I was one of the fans who helped push his album to the number one spot on iTunes within minutes of its release...LOL).  Ever since then, I’ve listened to the album so many times already that I practically have all 10 songs memorized (no, I’m not kidding – his newest album is THAT good!!).

Now, for the record, I don’t usually loop entire albums over and over again since that’s not my usual style (even with Jacky’s albums I don’t do it often)….but this particular album is so good, it’s absolutely worth listening to more than once!  As I’ve been saying for the past couple months already, Wake Up Dreaming is definitely one of Jacky’s best Mandarin albums to date (in my humble opinion, it absolutely deserves a spot up at the top right alongside Jacky’s other ‘best of the best’ Mandarin albums such as Kiss Goodbye, True Love, I Can’t Forget You, Want to Blow With You in the Wind, No Regrets, etc.).   As usual, Jacky (and his production team) put a lot of effort into making his newest album as ‘perfect’ as possible, which I definitely appreciate as a fan – sure, 7 years is a long time to wait, but with this type of result, the wait was absolutely worth it!

With the year 2014 officially marking Jacky’s 30^th anniversary in show business, I can’t think of a more fitting way to celebrate such an important occasion than coming out with such an awesome album!  Jacky is known for having high standards when it comes to his music and this album is no exception – from the initial selecting of songs to actually recording the final version of each song, the album actually took a total of 10 years to produce.  Jacky also wanted fans to have the best listening experience possible, so there was special emphasis placed on the musical arrangement for each of the songs -- in addition to the fact that 99% of the album was recorded using live instruments, Jacky and his record producer Andrew Tuason (杜自持) specially arranged for some of the sound mixing and recording of the songs to be done at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London, England (yes, that’s the famous studio where the Beatles recorded all their albums, including the one that was named after the studio itself).  The meticulous attention placed on the musical composition for each song definitely shows, as the feeling that I get listening to each song is akin to hearing it being played live by a real-life orchestra (add Jacky’s voice in there singing the song and I feel like I’m at one of his concerts hearing him sing the song live on stage)!

I don’t usually do album reviews, but given how much I love this particular album (plus the fact that I like ALL 10 tracks on the album, which is extremely rare, since with most albums, there are usually a few songs that I don’t really care for), I felt it was only appropriate for me to ‘review’ this album.  One disclaimer though – by no means is this a ‘professional’ review, as I am not qualified to give any such review, since I am not a musician nor am I involved in anything related to the field of music.  Instead, the below are merely my thoughts on the album as a music fan (and a fan of Jacky’s of course!).

Without question, I absolutely recommend buying this album and listening to it more than once!  Of course, I don’t expect everyone to ‘fall in love’ with this album like I did, but I do hope that music fans who get the chance to listen to the album in its entirety will enjoy it just as much as I did and also will be able to appreciate the effort that Jacky put into it (he is listed as the producer of the album along with Andrew). 

Note that for the 4 songs that have MVs filmed, I included the Youtube links to the MVs in case those reading this review haven’t seen them.

One last note….I know there has been some talk about Jacky possibly winning some awards this year due to the overwhelming praise for this album….to me though, whether Jacky ends up getting any awards for this album doesn’t matter one bit.  He already stated in his numerous interviews promoting the album that his intention is to give music fans a quality album that they – and himself – can thoroughly enjoy.  He doesn’t care about awards – he just wants to continue making quality music, as that’s his way of repaying the music industry and his fans for all the support he’s gotten over the past 30 years (well-said, Jacky!!).

*****

 Track 1:  用餘生去愛 (The Rest of Time)

Lyrics:  Lin Xi (林夕)

Composer:  Samuel Jean, McAyla Beatley, Catherine Martin, Scott Effman, Lukas ‘Nate’ Nathanson

Musical arrangement:  Andrew Tuason (杜自持)

As the first plug from Jacky’s new album, this song was first released back in October.  My initial reaction when I heard this song for the first time was:  wow, this has got to be one of Jacky’s most difficult songs to sing, as the key is really high, plus the musical arrangement is quite complicated.   Despite being hard to sing though, the song is actually very beautifully put together.  For me personally, I was first attracted to the song’s melody – it gave me a feeling of being very grand, yet at the same time, soft enough to have a calming effect.  In terms of the lyrics, I actually didn’t pay a whole lot of attention at first, as I was too caught up in the melody (and of course, Jacky’s voice blended in with the beautiful arrangement…LOL)…it wasn’t until the song’s MV was being filmed and I heard Jacky talk about the inspiration for the song that I went back and really listened to the lyrics closely.  During interviews, Jacky had said that in the middle of producing this song, he saw a story in the news that moved him so much, he decided to incorporate the story into the song.   The news report was on the wedding of a young couple (both only in their early twenties) in Taiwan:  the bride had stage 4 stomach cancer and only had a few months left to live – despite knowing that they didn’t have much time, the groom still proposed to his girlfriend and married her because he wanted to seize every remaining moment left to love her and give her happiness.  Such a sad, yet heartwarming story!!

After hearing the story, the impact of the song is definitely very different, as it stirs up emotions that I didn’t have the first couple times I listened to the song.  Now every time I listen to this song, I think about the meaning of the lyrics and the message that the song is trying to convey:  instead of arguing and fretting over small disagreements in a relationship, we should learn to cherish the limited time we have to love each other and be happy.   Indeed, the title of the song is very appropriate – ‘use the remainder of one’s life to love’…..

Track 2:  時間有淚 (Tears of Time)

Lyrics:  Keith Chan (陳少琪)

Composer:  Su Yi Cheng (蘇亦承)

Musical arrangement:  Johnny Yim

If we take the first track The Rest of Time and remove the real life backstory that I described above, the song also has a different significance – based on the way the music video (MV) was filmed, it actually creates a different story of its own.  In the MV story, The Rest of Time is part 1 (the beginning of the story) where a guy meets his love and they commit to loving each other for the rest of their lives. The MV features a special appearance by Jacky’s old friend Karena Lam (林嘉欣), with whom he has collaborated several times already (she starred in the MV for his hit classic Love Letter and they also starred in the film July Rhapsody together).  

From this perspective, track two – Tears of Time – is part 2 of the story where the couple encounters problems with their relationship and end up going through a painful breakup.  The MV is very beautifully made and captures the essence of the song, with the contrast in the colors and also the way the couple (played by Jacky and Karena) go from being affectionate and loving to not even wanting to look at each other.

Melody and lyrics wise, this song is definitely a lot sadder than the first track (though it’s definitely not the saddest in my opinion).  Out of all the songs on the album, I would have to say that Tears of Time is the most reminiscent of the traditional ‘love ballad’ that we are used to hearing from Jacky.  I recall Jacky saying during one of his recent interviews that this song was one of the first ones that he got back when he initially started gathering songs for this album 10 years ago (which means that the song is technically 10 years old!).  Of course, the musical arrangement and lyrics were revamped and rewritten, but the core concept and essence are the same.  This song proves that music is timeless….it doesn’t matter how long ago a song was made – if it’s a good song and people can relate to it, that’s all that matters.

Track 3:  你說的  (You Said It)

Lyrics:  Siu On (小安)

Composer:  Siu On (小安)

Musical arrangement:  Andrew Tuason (杜自持)

As the third plug from the album, this song is also the ‘end of the trilogy’ so to speak:  after their breakup, Karena has moved out and Jacky is alone at the house they used to share.  As he is looking around, everything he sees and does reminds him of her – simple tasks such as folding laundry, reading a book, drinking coffee, playing the piano, even looking at the mirror, etc., he is reminded that the two of them used to do all those things together.  In the MV, everything is almost dreamlike, as though Jacky is actually asleep and imagining Karena is there with him (which ties in nicely with the ending scene of the MV).  Speaking of the MV, it’s actually one of the best ones I’ve seen in a long time – I like how it was simple, yet classy and also conveyed the song’s message so well.

If I had to pick a favorite amongst the 10 songs in this album, You Said It would definitely be my choice!  Perhaps it is the catchy tune or the perfectly timed lyrics, or just the way Jacky sings the song….unlike the other songs, I actually ‘fell in love’ with this song the very first time I heard it!  It’s interesting that out of the 4 ‘plugged’ songs from the album that have had music videos released, this song has been the least promoted and has the least amount of ‘fanfare’ (so far at least).  But that’s ok though, since I understand that it’s hard to give the same amount of attention to very single song, especially when all the songs on the album are so good!

Track 4:  我愛上你 (Fall In Love With You)

Lyrics:  Keith Chan (陳少琪)

Composer:  Frederik Cornelius, Elisa Smekens

Musical arrangement:  Andrew Tuason (杜自持)

This is one of the ‘fast’ songs in the album and probably one of the most ‘cheery’ songs in terms of music and lyrics, though the style is very different from the rest of the songs.  The first words that come to mind when I listen to this song are:  “cute” and “fun” (which is why I like to call this the ‘cutesy fun’ song…LOL).  Now I have to admit that I wasn’t too attracted to the song at first because I felt it was a bit too cutesy and didn’t really fit Jacky’s style (or the style of this particular album)…but then after listening to the song a few more times, it really started to grow on me. 

The funny thing is that Jacky also commented on this song in one of his earlier interviews.  He half-jokingly ‘admitted’ during one of the interviews that the style he used to sing this song was ‘incorrect’.  He basically said that he should have used a ‘cutesy’ style that was more appropriate for his current age rather than use a style that sounded too young…LOL.  Well, the style did sound a little different but it’s actually a good thing, since it’s important for an artist to explore different styles and have variety to their music.  

Overall this is a good song with a ‘jazzy’ feel to it that is fun to listen to and gives off a sweet, romantic feeling, though it might take a few tries to warm up to…

Track 5:  我只想唱歌 (I Just Want To Sing)

Lyrics:  Riley Lam (林若寧)

Composer:  Siu On (小安)

Musical arrangement:  Andrew Tuason (杜自持)

Out of the ‘fast’ songs on the album, this one is definitely my favorite, mainly because it is the song that is most representative of Jacky -- to the point that sometimes I have a hard time convincing myself that Jacky didn’t write the song himself (listen to the lyrics carefully and you’ll understand why I feel this way).  It’s pretty common knowledge that Jacky loves singing – for other people, singing might be a job, but for Jacky, it’s part of who he is as a person.  If given the chance, he could sing non-stop all day and continue to sing until he can’t sing anymore – THAT’s how much he loves singing!  (I actually love hearing the stories that his friends tell about how Jacky always ‘hogs the mike’ when they all go karaoke because he loves singing so much and seems to know every single song…hahaha!).

Here is where I have to give kudos to the song’s lyricist Riley Lam – the lyrics he wrote are absolutely brilliant!!   Each line of the lyrics describes perfectly Jacky’s attitude toward singing (as I was reading the lyrics, I couldn’t help stopping at each line and saying to myself “yup, that’s Jacky!”)  The other impressive part is that Riley incorporated the names of a few of Jacky’s past hit songs into the lyrics and blended them in so well that I didn’t even realize it until I heard Jacky talk about it in one of his interviews (I don’t always have the lyrics in front of me when I’m listening to songs, especially the first few times).  For those who get a chance to listen to this song, keep your ears open for mention of the following Jacky classics:  初吻 (First Kiss), 吻別 (Kiss Goodbye), 情已逝 (Love Has Died), 不老的傅説 (The Legend That Never Ages), 愛火花 (Love Sparks), 頭髮亂了 (Messed Up Hair).

In my opinion, this song is definitely a ‘must listen’ for all Jacky fans, especially long-time fans who have followed him from his early career to now – it’s a pretty good recap of the different stages of Jacky’s career and also brings back a lot of great memories of past times.  Oh and I love the chorus, which starts with the sentence “I just want to sing” and ends with “If I don’t sing, what else can I do?”

Track 6:  控訴 (The Accused)

Lyrics:  Siu On (小安)

Composer:  Siu On (小安)

Musical arrangement:  Andrew Tuason (杜自持)

This is probably the only song on the album that I don’t have much comment about.  Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy listening to the song and I like the melody, but for some reason, I don’t feel as ‘connected’ to this song as I do to the other songs on the album….I don’t seem to feel much for the song after listening to it.  I’m thinking perhaps the reason is because the lyrics are too complex, which kind of takes away from the relatability of the song.  Seeing that Siu On was the one who wrote the lyrics, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that the lyrics are not as easy to understand. I remember Jacky mentioning during one of his interviews that sometimes Siu On’s lyrics are hard to understand – he said that when he received the first draft of a few of the songs where Siu On wrote the lyrics, he had no clue what the songs were trying to say (lol…the way he said it was actually quite funny – the final drafts of the songs came out much better of course!).   Overall, this is a good song, just not really my taste.

Track 7:  我醒著做夢 (Wake Up Dreaming)

Lyrics:  Lin Xi (林夕)

Composer:  Harry Mikael Sommerdahl, Jasmine Baird

Musical arrangement:  Andrew Tuason (杜自持)

As the title song of the album, I actually feel that this song deserves to be the first plug (I was actually kind of surprised that it ended up being 4^th plug).  The song starts off soft, but then quickly builds to a climactic chorus and continues to retain that grand, climactic feel throughout the song.  To me, the best way to describe the song is that it is very grandiose and takes a lot of effort to sing – which also means that this is another difficult song that not everyone will be able to sing with the fervor and emotion that Jacky put into it.

I actually can’t wait to hear Jacky sing this song live, as I’m sure it will blow audiences away.  The only bad thing is that because the song requires a bit of ‘shouting’ at the top of your lungs, it is very difficult to sing if you’re not feeling well (it’s hard to reach the high notes and the various climactic points of the song).  This is the reason why Jacky decided not to sing this song during his opening performance at the KK Box Music awards ceremony in Taiwan a few weeks ago – he had been dealing with a bad cold for 2 weeks already and wasn’t at 100%, so he decided last minute to sing Tears of Time instead…actually, at first he was going to cancel his performance, but because he didn’t want to disappoint his fans, he decided to still sing, but chose a song that he knew he would be able to handle (and yes, he sang beautifully – if he hadn’t said that he had a cold, no one would have been able to tell that he was sick!). 

The MV for Wake Up Dreaming is just as grand as the song itself!   The visual effects utilized in the MV are quite stunning, with the contrast between fire and water, the burning bed, all the water machinery, etc. – it’s too bad though that the final version of the MV cut out a lot of the effects that were showed during the filming process.  Regardless, watching the MV while listening to the song definitely enhances the overall experience.

Track 8:  來得及 (It's Not Too Late)

Lyrics:  Abrahim Chan (陳詠謙)

Composer:  Lindy Robbins, Toby Gad, David Archuleta

Musical arrangement:  Andrew Tuason (杜自持)

This is definitely another “must listen” song for me!  First, this song is unique in that it is Jacky’s own interpretation of Gospel music, which is a style that he hasn’t tried before (in terms of his albums).  If you listen closely to the song, you’ll hear what sounds like a choir group doing the background vocals – well, that actually WAS a real life gospel choir group!  However an interesting fact that probably not many people know is that Jacky blended his own voice into the background vocals – the reason for this is because the choir group consisted 100% of Westerners who don’t know a single word of Mandarin (I’m assuming they had to rely on some type of English pinyin lyrics to sing their piece), so the pronunciation during a few segments was a bit off…given Jacky’s high standards, he decided to ‘clean up’ the background vocals himself.  I actually could not tell at all just from listening to the song, but I heard Jacky talk about this during one of his radio interviews – after that, I listened really carefully to those segments and indeed, I could make out Jacky’s voice in the background vocals.

Another reason why I highly recommend this song is because, well, it’s another one of my favorites from the album.  I love the upbeat melody of the song as well as the encouraging lyrics – it’s a very uplifting, positive song and it makes me feel good each time after listening to it.  The song itself talks about the negative feelings that result from various unhappy events in life (i.e.: failed relationships, business ventures gone sour, losing unfairly in a competition, etc.) and how we should step back and deal with these issues in a more positive way.  Basically, the message is that life is too precious to waste so much time lamenting over things that upset us – instead of dwelling on the bad, we should focus more on the good.  My favorite part of the song is the chorus, which goes something like this:

How about this, let us change the way we look at things
Don’t let anger create a jail for yourself

There are already a lot of tragedies in life

So why can’t we cherish each other more

Release yourself now, it’s not too late, not too late

I also like the last stanza of the song, as I feel it sends a strong message of hope and optimism:

Perhaps you are in a sea of darkness right now and it feels like you’ll never reach the light

I’ve experienced this, so I would like to tell you right now

Take your most beloved and think about them

What kind of a person do you want to end up being?

It’s not too late [for] all kinds of forgiveness

Track 9:  白自在 (Vain Ease)

Lyrics:  Lyrics:  Riley Lam (林若寧)

Composer:  Amir Masoh

Musical arrangement:  Andrew Tuason (杜自持)

This is another fun, fast song that is upbeat and enjoyable, with a very interesting title (note that the English title is the ‘official’ title in Itunes).  I’m actually not sure why the title was translated in that manner, as it doesn’t seem to relate to the song (except for the ‘ease’ part, since the entire song is about being carefree and at ease).  Though the song may not be as uplifting as track 8 (It’s Not Too Late), there’s still a good message contained in it about being at ease with oneself and not worrying so much about everything.  The song can also be considered a reflection of Jacky’s carefree attitude toward life and career, especially right now (interestingly enough, both songs on the album that reflect Jacky’s attitude toward life and career were written by Riley Lam…).  The song teaches the lesson that basically, we shouldn’t get so caught up in the little things, especially what others may think or say about you…instead take it easy and let the chips fall where they may.  Easier said than done in my opinion, but still a very practical lesson nonetheless! 

Track 10:  不錯 (Not Bad)

Lyrics:  Keith Chan (陳少琪)

Composer:  Lindy Robbins, Marci Marinangeli, Jeffrey B. Franzel

Musical arrangement:  Anthony Chue, Lindy Robbins, Marci Marinangeli, Jeffrey B. Franzel

For me, this is the saddest song in the entire album, both from a melody as well as lyric perspective.  The song tells a story of 2 people who love each other but cannot be together and the resulting pain of having to let go.  It’s a very melancholy song, one that gets me teary-eyed just listening to the sad melody, even moreso hearing the lyrics – and of course, with Jacky’s emotional singing, it’s hard not to be moved by the song as a whole.  This is also one of the first songs that attracted me from the getgo in that I already liked the song the first time I listened to it.  And similar to Tears of Time, this song is also reminiscent of Jacky’s traditional ‘love ballad’ style.

One thing that is worth commenting about with this song is the title, as I feel both the Chinese and English versions of the title don’t match with the song at all.  The title “Not Bad” by itself sounds too positive – in fact, when I first read the title (prior to listening to the song for the first time), I thought this was going to be another one of those upbeat songs, so I was a little surprised when it turned out to be a sad, melancholy song instead.  I haven’t heard Jacky mention much about this song so far in his interviews (and I honestly don’t know if he will, since the focus seems to be on the 4 plugged songs), but I’m definitely curious to know how the title of the song was decided upon.  Hopefully I’ll find out eventually down the road…

A trip down memory lane: TVB’s 1987 charity song 地球大合唱 (“The Earth Sings in Chorus”)

Nostalgic moment!!

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about “the good old days” of Cantopop and how the HK music industry has changed so much from its glory days back in the 1980s and 1990s.  Coincidentally, I was listening to my Ipod yesterday and a classic song from the 80s came up that suddenly made me feel very nostalgic.  It’s a song I love and I’ve listened to it so many times over the past several decades that I practically have the lyrics memorized by now.  Given how badly the HK music industry has deteriorated in recent years, listening to this song again made me feel particularly nostalgic, to the point that I went and pulled the music video for the song so I could re-watch it and remember those days when we truly had such great talent in the music industry.

The song is called 地球大合唱  which is loosely translated into English as “The Earth Sings in Chorus”.  Those of you who grew up in the 80s like I did might remember this song (it’s hard to forget actually given what a big hit it was back then) – but for the benefit of those who are not familiar with this song, let me give a little bit of background….

地球大合唱  was a special charity song that TVB produced back in 1987 to commemorate their 20^th anniversary.   For such an important song, TVB invited renowned composer Joseph Koo (顧嘉煇) and lyricist Richard Lam (林振強) to write the song and had many of their ‘contracted’ singers (yes, TVB required all singers to sign contracts with them, even back then) participate in singing it.  Well, since practically every singer in HK was ‘contracted’ to TVB in some way back then, they obviously had plenty of choices -- so you can just imagine how many ‘big names’ participated (of course, not every singer was there, as only a portion of the singers participated in the production…but enough ‘big names’ participated to make this song an instant hit when it first came out). 

The song was recorded as a special two-sided vinyl record (remember, this was the 80s, so it was the era of cassette tapes, video tapes, and vinyl records, lol) and released in 1987 – all proceeds from sales of the album went to charity.  Side one was the actual song (it’s close to 7 minutes long!) and side two consisted of ‘messages of compassion’ from all the singers who participated in the production of the song.

I went ahead and posted a Youtube link to the song below.  Note that this is the full song (side A of the original record) plus the ‘messages of compassion’ from the singers (side B) – the song itself is a little under 7 minutes, so for those of you who want to watch the MV only, just watch the first 7 minutes or so (out of the many versions of this song that were posted on Youtube, I chose this particular one because it’s the most complete – the other versions are shorter, but some parts are cut off at the beginning or at the end).

Along with the video, I’ve posted a list of all the artists who participated in the song – both the soloists in the first part as well as the rest of the singers who didn’t get their own segment but got to participate in the chorus. [Sidenote:  Obviously, the artists who got to sing solo were the ones who were more popular in the music industry at the time.]

I’m sure many of you who didn’t grow up in the 80s will probably still recognize quite a few of the singers in here, as many of them were still active in the 90s and after 2000s time period (though a few of them already retired or are less active in the music industry nowadays…and a few of them already passed away -- including the song’s famed lyricist Richard Lam).

This song as well as its corresponding MV is indeed a ‘classic’!  While I always enjoying listening to the song and watching the MV, it also saddens me sometimes because it’s a reminder once again that the HK music industry will never get back to what it once was.  Not only that, we will also never see again the type of UNITY that defined the HK music industry (and the HK entertainment industry as a whole, to some extent) back then.  I know I shouldn’t be so negative, but sorry, I can’t help it….

P.S.:  As I stated earlier, I often listen to this song without watching the MV and interestingly enough, I’m able to recognize exactly which artist sings which verse.  When I think about this, I’m reminded of something that many veteran singers always say:  back in the old days, practically every singer had their own distinctive vocals and singing styles, which not only made the singers easily recognizable, but also contributed to a unique, fresh, and strong music industry.  Nowadays, most of the newer generation singers sound largely the same, as though they are mimicking each other’s styles rather than coming up with a unique style all their own.   I actually can’t help but agree because I’ve actually experienced this myself – when I listen to HK music programs on the radio nowadays and I hear them play one new song after another, I often can’t tell who the artists singing the songs are because many of them sound the same.

P.P.S.:  Those who are familiar with the music industries outside of HK might remember that the U.S. and Taiwan also had similar campaigns back in the 80s where the music industry’s biggest names gathered for a charitable cause.  In the U.S., over 80 artists gathered together in 1985 to sing “We Are the World” as part of the USA for Africa campaign…that same year, in Taiwan, over 60 artists gathered to sing 明天會更好 (“Tomorrow Will Be Better”).  I bring this up because HK’s 地球大合唱 is often compared to both of these charity campaigns, though of course, the HK/TVB version was much smaller scale with less than 40 artists involved (not saying whether that’s good or bad – just a relevant fact that is worth mentioning). 

****

Here’s the MV and the list of singers.  How many singers do you recognize????

List of singers (in the order in which they appear):

Soloists: Paula Tsui (徐小鳳), Michael Kwan (關正傑), Anita Mui (梅艷芳), Roman Tam (羅文), Francis Yip (葉麗儀), Jacky Cheung (張學友), Cally Kwong (鄺美雲), Sam Hui (許冠傑), Lui Fong (呂方), Sandy Lam (林憶蓮), Alan Tam (譚詠麟), Eliza Chan (陳潔靈), Sally Yeh (葉蒨文), George Lam (林子祥), Leslie Cheung (張國榮), Kenny Bee (鍾鎮濤), Danny Chan (陳百強), Jenny Tseng (甄妮)

Chorus -- all of the above artists plus the following:  Prudence Liew (劉美君), Man Pui Ling (文佩玲), Danny Summer (夏韶聲), Raidas (Chan Tak Cheung 陳德彰 and Wong Yiu Kong 黃耀光), Terence Choi (蔡國權), Albert Au (區瑞強), Tina Lau (劉天蘭), Teresa Cheung (張德蘭), Lowell Lo (盧冠廷), Tat Ming Pair 達明一派 (Anthony Wong 黃耀明 and Tats Lau 劉以達), Agnes Chiang (蔣麗萍), Agnes Chan (陳美齡), Alex To (杜德偉), Sara Lee (李麗蕊), Samantha Lam (林志美), Tai Chi band (Patrick Lui 雷有暉 and Albert Lui 雷有曜), Nnadia Chan (陳松齡), Alvin Kwok (郭小霖), Annabelle Louie (雷安娜), Priscilla Chan (陳慧嫻).

[Note that George Lam and Alan Tam weren’t actually present during the taping of the MV, but they were present during the actual recording of the song, so their lines were incorporated into the MV as well].

Review of HKTV series “To Be or Not To Be” (來生不做香港人)

Director:  Luk Tin Wah (陸天華)

Creative Producer:  Stella Choi (蔡淑賢)

Script Supervisor:  Alex Pau (鮑偉聰)

Cast:  Maggie Cheung ( 張可頤), Prudence Liew (劉美君), Savio Tsang (曾偉權), Poon Chan Leung (潘燦良), Lam Lei (林利), Zac Koo (高皓正), Queena Chan (陳丹丹), May Tse (謝月美), Mimi Kung (龔慈恩), Wilson Tsui (艾威), Oscar Chan (陳堃), Janice Ting (丁樂鍶), Leung King Ping (梁健平), Emily Wong (王歌慧)

First off, a ‘disclaimer’ of sorts – if you’re looking for a detailed analysis of the Mainland vs HK conflict depicted in the series, then this review definitely won’t be what you’re looking for.  In the course of relaying my thoughts on the series, I might touch on a few Mainland vs HK related issues, but it will only be surface-level stuff, since I’m really not interested in a ‘heavy’ discussion about political, economic, and/or social issues.

Second….as I do with all my reviews, I usually throw it out there first that my review won’t be ‘all-inclusive’ – meaning that it won’t cover every single opinion or thought I had about the series nor will it cover all angles.  I basically focus on a few things that I feel like talking about and move on from there.   Oh and I’m also a bit forgetful and since I’m writing this purely based off memory, I may forget to include some things that I had originally wanted to include…so please bear with me if there are things I don’t cover in this review that might be important or if I’m not as thorough as I could be.

Ok, so now onto the review (which is technically a ‘hodge-podge’ of my general thoughts on the series)…

For starters, let me just say that TBONTB is one of the best series I’ve seen in recent years (I’m talking about HK series only here).  With the overload of mediocre fare that the ‘other’ station has been churning out the past decade, it’s refreshing to finally watch a series that does a great job with all the elements I care about in a series (i.e.: script, cast, acting, pace, aesthetics, etc.).  Most of the series nowadays are usually lacking in one or more (and sometimes even all) of these elements, to the point that sometimes I feel as though the production teams of those series don’t actually care about making a quality series, rather they just hastily throw something together to meet a deadline.  So yes, I definitely applaud the HKTV production team for taking the opposite approach and putting such a sincere effort into making a high quality ‘worth your time watching’ series.

Of course, no series is without flaws and despite how much I enjoyed this series, there were definitely a few things that annoyed me (which I will talk more about later).  Overall though, this is one series that I highly recommend watching (and when I say ‘watching’, I mean actually paying attention to each scene and each episode rather than merely ‘listening’ to the series like most of us might be used to doing with TVB’s series).  What you get out of the series may be different from what I got out of it, but one thing I’m pretty sure of is that you will find something to enjoy about this series.

.****

In my opinion, one of the biggest contributing factors to this series’ success lies in the meticulous effort that was put into the 3 critical elements that make up most series:  the cast / acting, the script / storyline, and the aesthetics (aka production value, visuals, etc.).  With that said, it is only appropriate that this review covers these 3 areas:

The Script / Storyline / Plot

In recent years, I’ve lost a lot of faith in HK’s television series.  The lack of talent and the acting of the newer generation not being up to par are both contributing factors, but the main reason is because of the lack of decently written scripts.  As a writer myself, when I watch series, I instinctively pay more attention to the script (storyline, plot, character development, etc.) than to the acting itself and within the past decade, I’ve been ‘disappointed’ with poorly written scripts more times than I care to count.  It actually got to the point where I was even thinking about giving up on HK television series because I felt like I was wasting my time watching crappy production after crappy production (I can’t even count how many TV series I was actually able to finish watching the past couple years – most were so bad that I would just abandon ship a few episodes in).

Well, that has all changed now with the launch of HKTV.  So far, the 3 series that they’ve aired (The Borderline, The Election, and To Be or Not To Be) have something that TVB series have lacked the past couple years:  well-written scripts!  Since this review is on TBONTB, I will focus only on that series here (though I HAVE commented on the other 2 series’ scripts in other forums).

Now, with this review, I don’t intend on launching into a detailed discussion of all the differences between TVB and HKTV when it comes to scriptwriting (if you really want to know, then read my previous 2 posts recapping the CRHK interview with HKTV’s scriptwriters, as the process is described in detail there).  However, I do want to talk about a few important differences that were apparent in TBONTB’s script, as I strongly feel that these ‘differences’ form the crux of why this series has been getting such great feedback (and why I feel that this is one of the best-written series I’ve seen in a long time).

In a recent interview, TBONTB’s main scriptwriter Alex Pau talked about how the idea for this series came about and described the writing process for the series.  One of the things he said that really stuck with me is that, at HKTV, the script is the ‘main driver’ of the entire production – everything revolves around the script and everyone’s goal is to successfully bring the script to fruition.  This means that NO ONE is allowed to interfere with the script or change it in any way except the scriptwriter him/herself – the job of all the other departments (i.e. artists department, HR, sales and marketing, etc.), the artists filming the series, the director/producer of the series, and even the management team (i.e. Ricky Wong, To Wai Bing, etc.) is to give the scriptwriter their full COOPERATION.  This ‘no interference’ mandate is part of Ricky Wong’s promise of ‘complete creative freedom’ to his production team. 

After watching TBONTB, it’s obvious that the script reflected this ‘creative freedom’ philosophy.  The entire series truly revolved around the script and didn’t stray off into a bunch of different sub-plots / sub-stories that had nothing to do with the main story whatsoever (the only ‘sub-story’ in the series was the younger generation storyline, which I don’t consider as straying completely from the main storyline, since it does revolve around the HK/Mainland conflict).  Every character in the series has their specific role to play and when they are done, they retreat – there is very little ‘overusing’ of certain characters or having unnecessary characters in there who have no significance except to stand around and do nothing.   In addition, the dialogue was very well-written and did not ‘hold back’ at all – the scriptwriters incorporated whatever dialogue they needed to get the message across…there was no ‘censoring’ of the dialogue to avoid offending certain people or certain organizations.  This was especially important considering the topic that the series revolved around:  the HK/Mainland conflict.  The script simply laid out all the facts surrounding this conflict, without bias and without ‘taking sides’, and left it up to the audience to relate to the series in the way that worked best for them (in other words, the series causes us audiences to think and reflect, but it doesn’t try to ‘force’ us to think in a certain way or certain direction…as long as the series triggers thought, that is already enough).  The same can also be said about character development – practically all of the main characters in the series are thoroughly developed and there is not one character that ‘trumps’ the other (I felt like both Mei Tin and Mei Hang’s stories were adequately covered and one wasn’t dominant over the other).  Lastly, and most importantly, the script was tightly written and didn’t drag – the story was told the way it needed to be told and that’s it…I didn’t get the feeling that the director/writers were trying to meet a certain ‘quota’ or cater to certain people with the script.

This is in stark contrast to the ‘TVB way’ where it’s oftentimes too obvious that the ‘politics’ dictate the direction of the series, not the script.  For instance – quite often when I’m watching a TVB series, I feel like some characters are thrown into the series for no good reason or certain characters are more developed than others, resulting in an awkward imbalance -- to the point that sometimes I can’t help but think whether the execs had the producers/scriptwriters incorporate those characters in order to promote certain artists.  Oh and I’m sure we’ve all complained at one point or another about TVB series being draggy and incorporating unnecessary story arcs that have nothing to do with anything.  With all 3 of HKTV’s series so far, I don’t get this feeling at all!  To me, HKTV is doing all the right things (so far) when it comes to the script, which is refreshing to see.  Of course, the scripts will never be perfect and truth be told, there were definitely flaws in TBONTB’s script as well – but at least HKTV is putting in the effort to make things different rather than sticking to the safe, convenient, and conventional route…so I’m willing to overlook these flaws.

The Aesthetics

Obviously one of the biggest things that sets HKTV’s series apart from TVB’s is what I like to call “the aesthetics” – basically the use of high quality, Hollywood-style filming equipment as well as the 100% real location filming of every single scene.  I’ve said this before (numerous times) and I’ll say it again – any consummate actor/actress will tell you how much of a difference it makes to film in a real-life location rather than on a fake set inside a studio.  Ok, I know what some people are going to say – a lot of American series film on fake sets inside a studio too, so I shouldn’t pick on TVB for choosing to do the same thing.  Well, let’s not forget that the management over at TVB are super-duper cheap tightwads and so are definitely NOT going to invest the huge amounts of money that many of the Hollywood studios do to make their sets look realistic and different (how many times have you seen the same fake set in every TVB series?  I mean, even when they try to make the set look different, it still ends up looking the same…oh and don’t even get me started on the costumes and props).  I don’t care what TVB tries to say otherwise – as an audience member watching a series, the real location filming ABSOLUTELY makes a difference, as it adds to the visual enjoyment of the series.  Nothing beats getting to look at beautiful, breath-taking scenery that is so realistic that it makes us feel as though we are right there with the artists in that same scene!   

With TBONTB, the aesthetics was especially important due to the historical aspect of the series.  Since the timeframe of the series is spread over a period of 30 to 40 years, it was definitely important to make sure the scenery reflected the different eras – especially the earlier scenes and flashbacks back to the Hakka village.  The production team did a great job in this area, as I was completely sold on the realistic scenery, plus it helped me immerse myself in the story, particularly the flashback stories involving the 2 sisters, their parents, Siu Sa and his family, etc. 

  

The Cast / Acting

There’s a lot to be said about the cast of this series – I won’t go into detail about every single character, but there a few main ones that absolutely deserve mention.

First, the women….

Before I go further, I find it necessary to give a brief summary of the 2 sisters’ backgrounds, as this forms the premise of the series and is essentially the catalyst that launches the entire story:

The story starts with the 2 sisters as children (played by child actresses Moon Chan and Suki Lam), born and raised in a Hakka village in rural China.  Their mother Siu Suk Wai (played by former TVB actress Mimi Kung) is a school teacher who loses her husband at a young age and so must raise her daughters alone in the village.  When Suk Wai’s mother Granny Kam (played by veteran actress May Tse) returns to the village from Hong Kong to visit her daughter and grandkids, they decide that it is in the best interest of the girls to have them grow up in HK rather than in the village.  Unfortunately, immigration to HK wasn’t that easy back then and since Granny would only be able to get 1 visa approved, it meant that only 1 of the sisters could accompany her back to HK – the other sister would have to stay back in the village and wait until additional visas could be approved.  It was decided that the older sister Mei Tin would accompany Granny back to HK, since she was more mature and could better take care of herself.  Not wanting to be separated from the older sister who has always loved and protected her, Mei Hang is upset and saddened at the arrangements.  An unfortunate incident happens (I won’t go into detail – you’ll have to watch the series to find out details) that causes the mother Suk Wai to change the arrangements and have her younger daughter Mei Hang go to HK instead.  When Mei Tin wakes up on the morning she is supposed to leave, she discovers that the visa is gone and rushes outside, only to see her mother helping Mei Hang into the car with Granny.  As the car leaves, she chases after it, crying and pleading not to leave her behind – unfortunately, the car drives away and she is helpless to do anything except watch and cry profusely.  After that, the story cuts to 30 years later when the sisters are all grown up and leading separate lives:  in HK, younger sister Mei Hang (played by Maggie Cheung), who is educated overseas and so goes by the Western name Anson, is the ‘stereotypical HK girl’ (we call it ‘gong niu’ in Cantonese) who is self-centered, defiant, bossy, and looks down upon all things Mainland….she is an extremely successful public relations expert and has a (soon to be fiancé) boyfriend named Hill (played by award-winning theater actor Poon Chan Leung) who works at the same company.  Mei Tin (played by Prudence Liew), on the other hand, has become a wealthy socialite in the Mainland who became affluent through her own smarts and hard work – she owns a restaurant chain in Dongguan and lives in a big expensive mansion with her husband Cheung Kwok Cheung (played by Savio Tsang)….Mei Tin is smart and has a strong personality as well as great social skills, which not only help her accumulate massive wealth, but also an abundance of connections all across China.  Against this backdrop, the sisters reunite and various conflicts ensue due to their vastly different upbringing, background, socio-economic status, etc.

Leung Mei Tin (Prudence Liew):  Prudence’s portrayal of the strong, level-headed older sister Mei Tin was ‘perfect’ in my book.  She absolutely put in a performance worthy of her ‘movie queen’ (Golden Horse Best Actress winner) status and truly brought the character of Leung Mei Tin to life!  Savio Tsang’s character Cheung Kwok Cheung put it best when he said that Mei Tin had “the Hakka woman’s natural ability to prop up half the sky with her bare hands” – throughout her life, she faced every situation head-on and never let anyone or anything take her down.  No matter what type of ordeal/hardship/obstacle she faced, whether as a child or adult, she always managed to take it all in stride, maintaining her optimism and positive attitude.  Whenever any problem came up with anyone, she would step in to help resolve it (though unfortunately, she didn’t always get the same support back from others).  It was almost as though Mei Tin was born to be the ‘protector’, taking care of her loved ones regardless of whether they had wronged her – from the beginning of the series to the very end, she never stopped playing this role. 

I don’t think it should come as any surprise that Mei Tin was actually one of my favorite female characters in the series – I was moved by her strength, her dedication and loyalty to her loved ones, her perseverance, her positive attitude, etc….basically way too many traits to list!  Mei Tin had her flaws of course and some of the things she did weren’t exactly the most admirable, but in the grand scheme of things, she did what she had to do given the circumstances.  There were a few decisions she made that I didn’t necessarily agree with, but in the end, things worked out.

I actually never saw any of Prudence’s previous works as an actress (no, I didn’t watch the movie that she won Best Actress for, though I heard she was very good in it), since I grew up in the 80s knowing her as a singer.  I recall that she was in a few movies in the past and even a few TV series (and also hosted a few music-related shows), but I always thought that her forte was in singing (which is still true to some extent, as she sang the theme song for TBONTB and did a great job with song).   Definitely an impressive performance and now I’m actually looking forward to seeing more of Prudence’s works in the future!

Leung Mei Hang/Anson (Maggie Cheung Ho Yee):  Maggie’s portrayal of the bossy, self-centered younger sister Anson Leung was also quite impressive.  On the surface, the character of Anson seems very similar to the roles that Maggie used to play at TVB (the strong, feisty, demanding woman type roles), but if you actually watch the entire series, you will realize that Anson is quite different from Maggie’s previous roles.  Looking deeper, Anson is actually a very well-developed character – a very realistic human being who, though not a bad person, has so many faults that sometimes I wonder how anyone was able to get along with her.  Of course, we see later on in the series that Anson does have a ‘soft’ side, it’s just that she suppresses it more often than not due to past experiences – plus as a business woman in modern society, she has to constantly put up a strong front in order to succeed.  Despite her many flaws, one of the things I did like about Anson was her persistence – she always knew what she wanted in life and her strong personality stayed consistent throughout the entire series.  True, she was less self-centered at the end, as she finally learns how to accept other people’s differences and embrace her own roots, but at no point in the series did she appear ‘weak’ – whether at work or in all her relationships, she was obviously always the dominant one, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as her other half was okay with it.

Interestingly enough, I actually never really liked Maggie until TBONTB.   Now don’t get me wrong – Maggie has always been a solid actress in my book and there’s no doubt that she has good acting skills, but for some reason, I never really enjoyed any of her previous performances at TVB.  Perhaps it’s because most of her past roles were not well-developed enough…or perhaps, as Maggie herself has said in recent interviews, this is the first time in her acting career that she actually received a 100% complete script way in advance of filming, so it allowed her to thoroughly study her character and immerse herself in her role, resulting in such a meticulous performance.  Or perhaps it is the good chemistry she had with Poon Chan Leung and Prudence Liew that also brought out the best in her own performance.  Whatever the case, Maggie did a great job and was able to not only hold her own, but also match her co-stars skill for skill.

From an acting perspective, both Prudence and Maggie were FANTASTIC!!  The emotional scenes, especially in the latter half of the series, were done extremely well – both ladies were very natural and convincing in those scenes….there were no weirdly distorted facial expressions, no OTT yelling and screaming, the crying didn’t feel forced or fake (unlike other so-called actresses nowadays who can’t seem to do emotional scenes without coming across fake and exaggerated).  Prudence and Maggie were absolutely the ‘pillars’ of the series and definitely deserve all the praise they’ve been getting for a job very well done! 

Isabella Zhang (Queena Chan):  Remember earlier in this review I had mentioned that there were a few things that ‘annoyed’ me about this series?  Well, Isabella was definitely one of those ‘annoyances’.  Actually, maybe I should clarify – I found the character of Isabella a bit annoying overall, but I can understand that the character was necessary to the development of the plot, especially with the whole ‘mistress from the Mainland’ story arc (albeit a tad bit overused).   But to be honest, the ‘character’ of Isabella wasn’t as annoying as the actress who played her:  Queena Chan.  Queena’s acting was quite bad – from her shrill voice to her accented Cantonese to her contorted facial expressions to the weird way she said her dialogue – I honestly could not find a single thing to like about her.  Unfortunately, as the series progressed, she got more and more annoying, to the point that I just wanted her to go away and never come back (this may sound mean, but I’m glad that the writers did ‘get rid of her’ in the end).  She was the ‘most hated’ character in this series for me.

I actually had no clue who Queena was prior to watching this series and I still don’t know too much about her even now, which, of course, is fine with me.  In the various articles I had skimmed through about the series, I recall reading that Queena also used to work for TVB but mostly had bit parts in series – Isabella was her first ‘meaty’ role.  After seeing her performance in this series, I can understand why her acting career (if we can even call it that) never made it far.  It’s unfortunate, but Isabella (both the character and the actress) was definitely one of the few ‘blemishes’ in this otherwise great series!

Yau Kam Por / Grandma (May Tse):  As the maternal grandmother, Kam Por was essentially the ‘link’ that kept the 2 sisters in contact with each other – if it wasn’t for her, the relationship between the 2 sisters would have been virtually nonexistent, so her role was definitely critical.  Actually, when we look at the 2 sisters, it’s easy to understand where they got their ‘strong streak’ from – the grandmother herself had a tough life, as she had to raise her daughter on her own when her husband walked out on them many years ago and married someone else – then, after her husband died, she actually sought out and took care of her husband’s children with his second wife, only to have them abandon her once they became adults.  With all that she had been through, it came as no surprise that she had to develop a tough personality – but that ‘toughness’ was only towards those who tried to bully her or her family members…towards her family (her daughter and grand-daughters), she was just like any other elderly parent / grand-parent – loving and doting but at times argumentative.

Kam Por also provided a lot of ‘comic relief’ in the series, especially in all those scenes with Zac Koo’s character Siu Sa (their bickering scenes were hilarious!).  Though she did not have a tremendous amount of screen time in the overall scheme of things, Auntie May put in a solid performance – she was witty, fun, and very natural with her acting.   While it’s true that she played the usual ‘see lai’ type role that she used to do at TVB or in theater works, she’s good at it and that’s what counts the most!

Siu Suk Wai (Mimi Kung):   Playing the mother of the 2 sisters, Mimi only had a cameo appearance in the first episode (though she was also in a few flashback scenes throughout the series).  Despite her brief appearance, Mimi already left quite an impression with her acting.  It had been a long time since I’d seen Mimi onscreen, so my memory of her acting was still back during the height of her career in the 80s when she was a young fa dan at TVB.  Her acting back then was pretty decent, but not ‘impressive’ enough to stand out amongst all the talented actresses of that era.  It makes sense that she is taking on more mature roles now that she is older and a mother in real life – I just didn’t realize how good her acting had gotten since I hadn’t seen much of her onscreen in recent years.  Mimi is also in The Election as well, but her role in there is relatively less significant (even though she has more screen time) compared to TBONTB.  Good job so far!

Lana (Janice Ting) & Lennon (Emily Wong):  Both Lana and Lennon represent the younger generation in HK, though their aspirations and personalities are so opposite.  Lana was Anson’s colleague at the PR company where they both worked, then later when Anson decided to venture out on her own, Lana decided to leave with her, becoming her assistant at the new company.  Lennon is a student who spends most of her time participating in rallies and events that protest against the injustices in society.  Both of them are also indirect love rivals, as Lana’s boyfriend Jacky (Oscar Chan) had joined some of the protests with the alternate identity ‘Headless Knight’ and Lennon was one of his biggest admirers.  I won’t go into much detail on how the sub-story of the younger generation develops, as I’ve felt from the beginning that this sub-story – though relevant to the plot – did not deserve as much screen time as it got (the ‘random-ness’ of some of these scenes detracted from the series a bit -- this was another one of the ‘annoyances’ that I had mentioned earlier).  I get that Lana/Jacky/Lennon story arc was added to reflect current events as well as further emphasize the Mainland/HK disparity, but honestly, the storyline involving the 2 sisters is already more than sufficient to cover both of those areas.  I’m fine with having the characters of Lana and Lennon (and Jacky) ‘exist’ in the series and referred to briefly perhaps, but I definitely wish the sub-story was much shorter!

Next, the men….

Au Yeung Shan / Hill (Poon Chan Leung):  If Anson represented the stereotypical ‘gong nui’ (HK girl), then Hill definitely represented her counterpart, the stereotypical ‘gong nam’ (HK guy) – charming, charismatic, well-spoken (in the sense that he is good with words and is a sweet-talker), etc.  He has high adaptability skills (which helps him adapt well to whatever environment he is in) and tries to ‘be all things to all people’ -- meaning that he tries to please everyone, acquaintances and strangers alike, but especially the ladies (which obviously makes it more difficult for him to maintain stable, long-term relationships, since he’s more susceptible to ‘temptations’ given his personality).  Basically, when it comes to relationships, he is very non-committal, but when it comes to work, he is very much competent. 

From an acting perspective, the character of Hill is not easy to portray at all and if not done correctly, the results could be ‘disastrous’ – which is why I’m glad that they (the scriptwriter, director, etc.) decided to cast Poon Chan Leung in this role because he absolutely NAILED IT!!  This may have been Poon Chan Leung’s first time filming a television series, but it was actually very hard to tell that he was a ‘newbie’ to the TV industry due to his great performance.  Obviously, Poon Chan Leung’s meticulous acting skills can be attributed to his nearly 20 years of experience as a stage/theater actor (and let’s not forget that he is an award-winning actor as well, since he has several Best Actor in theater trophies under his belt).  I’ve always had a certain respect for theater actors/actresses because I know that acting-wise, they rarely disappoint (which is one reason why I have an affinity for artists who came from the HK Academy of Performing Arts, such as Power Chan, Sunny Chan, Rain Lau, Louisa So, etc.).  I definitely enjoyed Poon Chan Leung’s performance and in my opinion, no one could have portrayed Hill as good as he did -- by the end of the series, I was truly starting to understand why all the ladies would be put on by Hill’s charms as well as why Anson would fall for him again and again, despite all the ‘pain’ he put her through (i.e.: jilting her at the alter and also cheating on her).  Oh and I’ve got to be honest:  Poon Chan Leung and Maggie Cheung had AWESOME chemistry together -- I couldn’t help ‘rooting’ for this couple throughout the series, even though I knew I shouldn’t because Hill totally didn’t deserve Anson after the detestable way he treated her.  I’m actually looking forward to (more like hoping for) another collaboration between these 2 in the near future!

Cheung Tai Loi / Siu Sa (Zac Koo):  Siu Sa was one of the most interesting characters in this series.  I will admit that when he first appeared, I actually thought that there was something wrong with him mentally, as the story of his past and his actions kind of pointed to this possibility – for example: both parents died tragically and he grew up as an orphan, he often shuts himself inside his own house with his collection of ‘recyclable’ items, he recites this weird thing about a rocket ship to himself occasionally, etc.  But as the series progressed, I (along with the rest of the audience) realized that there was nothing wrong with Siu Sa mentally – in fact, he’s more ‘normal’ than normal, it’s just that he has a bit of a quirky personality that people who don’t know him may find odd (ok, his appearance seems a little quirky too, but come to think of it, he actually dresses the traditional way that most of the men in the village dressed, but compared to the ‘modern’ style of all the other guys in this series, he does stick out a bit)….as the saying goes though:  one’s outer appearance does not matter as much – most important is what is on the inside.  Well, if we look at what’s on the inside, then I would have to say that Siu Sa ‘outshines’ all the rest of the guys in this series!  Sure, he can be annoyingly stubborn and insistent (and persistent too) when it comes to matters that are important to him, to the point of being a ‘nuisance’ (someone mentioned ‘stalker-ish’ – though in a good way of course -- in one of the discussion forums, which I agree with), yet at the same time, he is fiercely loyal and 100% devoted, especially to the woman he loves.  Actually, he’s quite an endearing character if you ask me!  I know that he and Anson might seem like a ‘mis-match’, both in appearance and personality, but I had no problems with the two of them being together, even though their relationship was brief.  After what Anson went through with Hill, one would think that she would cherish her relationship with a guy like Siu Sa, who treated her like a queen and was so devoted to her (it was so sweet everything that he did for her, especially his very last act of selflessly giving Anson back her freedom, even though he still loved her – and after she hurt him too by being unfaithful in their relationship)…but I guess when it comes to love and relationships, it’s hard for things to always be entirely predictable or conventional.  Perhaps it was all for the better, as I felt that Anson did not deserve someone like Siu Sa anyway….

In terms of the acting -- Zac Koo was amazing in his portrayal of Siu Sa!  I actually didn’t realize that he was such a good actor (I guess I never really paid attention to his acting in the past, since he had such relatively small roles in a few TVB series back then) – admittedly, I was more familiar with him as a host for a number of programs and as a singer/songwriter (as well as his devout dedication to his Christian faith).  Apparently, he has done movies and stage plays and participated in a number of commercials as well (geez, what has he NOT done yet?), so it’s not like acting is new for him – very multi-talented in my opinion!  After seeing his performance in this series, I’m actually interested in watching his other works as an actor.  I heard that he is in Once Upon a Song (the HKTV series currently airing) as well, so I’ll definitely keep an eye out for him in there.

Cheung Kwok Cheung (Savio Tsang):   In a nutshell, Kwok Cheung was Mei Tin’s ‘useless husband’.  Next to his very capable wife who always ended up being the one to resolve any problems that occurred (whether big or small), Kwok Cheung was ridiculously incompetent (though personally, I found it kind of funny how he would always go running and crying to his wife when he got himself in trouble – sort of like a little kid who always needed mommy to clean up his messes).  Knowing that he couldn’t do without his wife, it’s logical to think that Kwok Cheung wouldn’t dare put his marriage in jeopardy, right?  Wrong!  First of all, it turns out that Kwok Cheung was a ‘wife-beater’ (when he drank too much alcohol, he would go berserk and beat his wife), which is already ‘unforgivable’ in my book (sorry dude, but whether you ‘meant’ to do it or it was the influence of the alcohol doesn’t matter).  As if that weren’t enough, he’s also a ‘cheater’, as he secretly got involved with another woman who bore him a daughter and supposedly became pregnant with his son (and he later brings the mistress home too) – such a douchebag!  He should get the ‘World’s Worst Husband’ award!!  I’m sure most of us female audiences who were watching were hoping Mei Tin would divorce him right away (don’t even wait for the ‘third strike’ – he should have been ‘out’ already with the first strike!)….well, she doesn’t divorce him (though at least she didn’t stay in the same house with him – she moved out and left him to grovel in his own misery…that’s better than nothing, I guess).  Though he eventually learns his lesson and goes running back to his wife in the end (because he finds out that the mistress was ‘using’ him and neither kid was actually his), it’s too little, too late – Mei Tin doesn’t take him back (good for her!!) and instead starts a new relationship with Bao Suen (Lam Lei).   Kwok Cheung’s case is definitely a wake-up call for the guys out there – if you betray and hurt someone often enough, even being married 20+ years isn’t going to save the relationship!

Savio is a great actor (hugely underrated though) and his portrayal of Kwok Cheung was right on point!  So far, looks like he made a good decision to leave TVB and join HKTV, as he hadn’t gotten a decent role in years from TVB.  The 2 HKTV series that he has been in (The Election and TBONTB) have truly allowed him to show his acting prowess.  I think most audiences had largely forgotten about Savio in recent years due to the lack of decent roles, so both series are airing at the right time now – hopefully his solid performances in both series will help ‘resurrect’ his career a bit and help him get the recognition he rightfully deserves. 

Tam Chun Fai / Bao Suen (Lam Lei):  Bao Suen’s background is a bit complicated, so not going to go into too much detail about that piece.  But he is definitely a good match for Mei Tin in my opinion and I’m pretty happy with the way the scriptwriters wrote his storyline.  Mei Tin certainly deserves a man who not only loves her and respects her, but most importantly, is capable of being successful on his own accord.  I was actually quite touched by their relationship line, especially near the end when Kwok Cheung finally comes to terms with the fact that Bao Suen is better suited for Mei Tin than himself and withdraws from the relationship, allowing the two of them to pursue a new life together.

It’s been years since I’ve seen Lam Lei in a decent role.  Ever since he returned to the HK television industry after a long stint in Taiwan, most of his roles had been relatively minor or insignificant.  Now, I haven’t seen any of Lam Lei’s series outside of the HK ones, so I can’t comment on how his acting was in those.  But back when his career in HK was most active in the 80s/early 90s, I actually felt that he had potential as an actor (I’m sure most TVB old-timers like myself will still remember his performance in 1990’s Blood of Good and Evil – which, by the way, is one of the best series TVB ever produced!).  Anyway, glad to see that he is making somewhat of a comeback in the HK market.  His brief cameo appearance in HKTV’s The Borderline (which aired prior to TBONTB) wasn’t really enough to show his abilities (though the fact that he played a villain in that series contrasted well with his ‘good guy’ role in TBONTB), so I’m glad they aired this series right after.  He’s also in quite a few of HKTV’s upcoming series so hopefully we get to see more varied roles for him.  [Sidenote:  Not sure if anyone else noticed, but 2 of the 3 (technically 4) members of HK’s Little Tigers have been making a comeback in recent years, not necessarily in singing, but in acting -- Lam Lei has been filming for HKTV while William Hu (胡渭康) is filming for TVB.  And it’s also interesting that neither one of them has changed much in appearance – though Lam Lei does look like he has aged quite a bit…William on the other hand, doesn’t look like he aged much at all!]

Leung Chan Kong / Uncle Kong (Wilson Tsui):  Wilson’s role seemed relatively minor on the surface but was actually quite important in the story arc concerning the whole Mainland vs HK conflict.  From the very first scene in the series (when he’s trying to escape to HK with his girlfriend/wife and even though they eventually make it, she ends up dying) to the various moments throughout the series when he’s struggling to live a decent life as a Mainlander in HK but encounters one obstacle after another – his story closely mirrors history as well as current life and highlights the vast change that HK has undergone in the span of 30 years.  Wilson played his role well, as I knew he would, since he has always been a good actor – it’s just unfortunate that he toiled at TVB for close to 30 years and has nothing really to show for it.  Well, he did a good job in this series and I’m looking forward to seeing his first lead role in HKTV’s Hidden Faces (whenever they decide to air that series) – I’m sure he’ll do fine!

Jacky (Oscar Chan):  I talked a bit about Jacky already in the section about Lana and Lennon above, so no point in rehashing all that.  I honestly didn’t see the significance of his character except to push the ‘younger generation’ sub-story.  In fact, I really can’t remember anything important that he does related to the main story of the 2 sisters (unlike his girlfriend Lana, who was actually important to the plot).  Acting-wise, Oscar was okay, though to be honest I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to his scenes so can’t really comment much.

I had actually read an interview where Maggie Cheung had mentioned that she had received all 30 episodes of the script prior to starting filming (which allowed her to do her homework and immerse herself into the character).   Well, we all know that the series was only 25 episodes -- I’m not sure if the magazine that published the article put the wrong information or there were originally 30 episodes but it got edited down to 25.  If it’s the latter, I’m actually very curious to know what got edited out – I would’ve preferred that the ‘younger generation’ storyline got edited out rather than any part of the main story concerning the 2 sisters.  Unfortunately, we probably will never know….

Concluding Thoughts….

No review of TBONTB would be complete without mention of the theme song: “Two Cups of Tea” (兩杯茶) sung by Prudence Liew.  The melody of the song is very nice and goes well with the beautifully written lyrics (by award-winning lyricist Lin Xi) – not only that, the song complements the series perfectly!  I completely agree with what Alex Pau said about the theme song during his radio interview:  Prudence’s style of singing and her voice, coupled with Lin Xi’s lyrics that reflect the plot of the series perfectly, take us back to those days in the 80s and 90s when theme songs actually felt ‘connected’ to the series.  Back in those days, when we listen to a series’ theme song, the scenes from the series would instantly run through our heads.  Nowadays, the theme songs for most series don’t give off the same feeling and instead, seem to be ‘detached’ from the series (as though the song has nothing to do with the series at all).