‘Secret Door’ is a 2023 Hong Kong series with 25 episodes that starred Ruco Chan, Mandy Wong, Hugo Ng, Roxanne Tong, Moon Lau, Nicholas Yuen, Hugo Wong, etc. The series revolves on two childhood friends, Zhong Zi Kiu (Ruco) and Cheung Sam Yue (Mandy) who have taken very different paths because of crimes committed by each other’s fathers. They two met again and all hell breaks loose once Sam Yue’s father was released from prison and her husband died mysteriously.

The plot for this series is quite captivating. However, while the series comes with quite a lot of thrilling and tense moments, it also unfortunately comes with a lot of silly scenes. The main characters tend to always reveal some major plot in a very exposed/public setting and then as expected, get heard or seen by the other character hidden at the back. You will surely get what I mean after you have watched the series. It happened a lot of times throughout the drama and it just proves the scriptwriter lacks fresh idea or just being lazy. Certainly one of the major flaws of the series.

The ending is too rushed and did not provide a sufficient conclusion to the series. Immediately skipping the timeline to 10 years later in a short finale scene of few characters standing in front of Sam Yue’s grave with minimal dialogue is definitely not a satisfying ending I’m looking for. Roxanne’s character is not even there in the final scene. How is her relationship going on with Ruco in the series at the end? How is Roxanne’s dad or Mandy’s mother-in-law doing in the end? A lot of unanswered questions. I also expected a bit more climactic end to Hugo Ng’s character when Mandy decided to finish him.

Let’s talk about the acting performances. Hugo Ng is the star of the show portraying as the criminal father in the series. His energy and performance is top notch here and he has my support to clinch best supporting actor at this year’s TVB Anniversary Awards. Mandy Wong is given a very good role here who get to switch from playing both nice and wicked personalities. She did it quite convincingly too (although I still feel she has not done her best yet). If luck is on her side, she may even end up winning her first best actress from her performance in this series.

Yes, the series comes with some flaws as highlighted earlier, but overall, I do enjoy the series. Interesting plot and exciting performances from the cast successfully brought up my impression of the drama. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Secret Door’ a total of 8.0.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Urrghh…the final episode of ‘The Queen Of News’ has already been released in streaming platform yesterday ahead of its airing date on Friday next week. I would not have any new exciting episode to catch up on evening from tomorrow onward sadly. What should I do?

‘The Queen of News’ (新聞女王) is a Hong Kong drama that centers on the challenges faced by journalists, their dedication to uncover the truth, and the conflicts that arise in their personal and professional lives in and out of their news reporting office. Themes such as journalistic integrity, ethical dilemmas and the pressures of the media industry are explored throughout the series. This 26-episode drama starred Charmaine Sheh, Kenneth Ma, Selena Lee, Samantha Ko, Regina Ho, Venus Wong, Matthew Ho, Eric Tang, Shaun Tam, Mimi Kung, etc.

26 episodes aren’t enough for me (and I believe for many audiences too). The storyline could easily be expanded to 30 episodes or more without losing its intensity and appeal. Some of the characters’ conclusion felt rushed and there are some unanswered questions (maybe hinting a sequel?). I felt like the last episode was way too rushed too although the outcome is still extremely fantastic (and very touching) which featured a case of which Joel Chan took kids at a childcare centre as hostage as he could not come to terms with his own daughter’s death. The ending which saw the five main female leads finally settled aside their differences after the incident is resolved brought a warm and beautiful closure to the series.

Charmaine Sheh impressed everyone with her superb performance and breathtaking charisma in this series. Critically lauded for that, many has already predicted her to clinch her third best actress win at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 to be held next month (its nomination list had just been released yesterday with huge support to this series as expected). However, I would prefer more if both she and Selena Lee were crowned best actress together. Selena Lee also delivered outstanding work in this series and their on-screen intense interactions were brilliantly executed. Selena is always solid in her performance. She deserves best actress and shouldn’t be outshined by Charmaine.

The other actresses who tagged along were doing fine too. Let’s not forget the actors. Kenneth Ma was ordinary until the very last episode on a scene when he teared up during a live broadcast after streaming showing Charmaine in danger at the childcare centre was interrupted and he revealed his honest feeling of Charmaine as his friend (finally not viewing her as work nemesis). Although Joel Chan was only participating in the last episode, but his role as the mentally disabled father who lost his daughter is very engaging. Eric Tang do stood out too in his supporting role as a chief director here.

Excellent script, impressive performances, fast-paced development, engaging storyline, and thought-provoking plots that revealed lessons in journalism and life; what else do you need to be crowned best series of the year? ‘The Queen of News’ is not only the best of the year, but also the best in recent years. Out of 10 points, I rate it 8.7.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Managed to complete last few episodes of ‘Heir To The Throne’ last night before going to bed. Watched them right after I came back home from exploring the ‘I Light Singapore 2024’ artworks at Marina Bay (details of that in my previous post below). ‘Heir To The Throne’ (家族荣耀之继承者) is a 30-episode Hong Kong drama (by TVB) that revolves on fight for power in a wealthy Qiu family that traditionally favours sons over daughters. The series starred Charmaine Sheh, Raymond Lam, Him Law, Venus Wong, Gallen Lo, Benz Hui, Toby Leung, Raymond Wong, Hugo Ng, etc. Quite a star-studded cast there.

Besides than Hong Kong, the series was also partly filmed in Malaysia. I was particularly very familiar with some scenes that are shot in KL showing the city skyline. I do enjoy this kind of family drama with complicated relationships and scheming plots to take down each other for authority, wealth or even love. It’s also nice to see Charmaine Sheh and Raymond Lam collaborate in a drama again after around 10 freaking years. They have such good chemistry all the time on screen but too bad they didn’t end up being together at the end of this series (or are they?…)

No answer to that as the ending left viewers hanging with a lot of unanswered questions and open-ended conclusion. This is one of the main reasons that brought my rating down for this series. It started off pretty well but then the plot becomes too predictable. It was only Him Law’s character that is doing the evil work (I was expecting Charmaine’ character to being forced to turn cunning due to all the ‘attacks’ from Him Law but it didn’t happen). No major surprises as the plot progresses. I was also expecting Gallen to reconcile with Charmaine before his death caused by Him Law.

And then I hated the ending. Him Law was left unconscious on hospital bed, Raymond Lam came in to interrupt Charmaine and Raymond Wong’s wedding and the series ended right away, unknown whereabout of Benz Hui’s still missing wife, etc. What a shitty ending. Out of 10 points, I could only now rate ‘Heir To The Throne’ 7.2. It would have been around 8 if it’s not for the lousy ending.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

It’s the last day of October. For this year, we not only observe Halloween on this day but also Deepavali festival. Hence, I would like to take this opportunity to extend Happy Halloween greeting to all Christians and others who celebrate the festival! Hope you have fun from trick or treat or simply from getting spooked today! Next, I would like to wish Happy Deepavali to all Hindus. May this festival of light brings warm, joy and prosperity to your home and family.

My office organized a lovely event on yesterday’s afternoon in conjunction with these two festivals. There were lunch catering provided along with games and singing session. Although I was quite occupied with work, I do took some time to join in the fun. It is public holiday today but I still had to go back to office for a half day today to complete some tasks. A major submission is due on mid of November which is just around the corner.

I spent the rest of today finishing the last 5 episodes of this recent Hong Kong series titled ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ (黑色月光). This 25-episode series revolves on a woman plotting to take revenge against the people who were involved in the rape of her and her younger sisters 18 years ago. The series starred Tavia Yeung, Vincent Wong, Rosina Lin, Priscilla Wong, Edward Ma, Lenna Yeung, Mat Yeung, Matthew Ho, etc.

I do enjoy this kind of storyline of taking revenge and it provides a platform for chilling scenes and excellent acting. This drama delivers in that aspect. Tavia Yeung nailed this role as the lead character plotting the revenge with impressive performance especially through her intense eyes’ expressions. Besides her, I’m also seeing improvement in Rosina Lin’s acting. Both of them have good chance for second best actress win at this year’s TVB Anniversary Awards. I’m placing my bet more on Tavia. Solid acting by her sisters in this series too, portrayed by Lenna Yeung (who in real life is Tavia’s elder sister) and Priscilla Wong.

Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ a total of 8.0. It’s my highest rated Hong Kong drama this year so far. A solid and engaging series. Spoiler alert…; The climax at the last episode where Tavia revealed to Rosina all the strategies the former had created successfully to bring the latter down was so satisfying to watch. The series concluded with a happy ending for the three sisters and also for the relationship between Vincent and Tavia. There is also an end-credit scene not to be missed at the last episode. This series done; the next series that I would be watching is ‘Rosy Business 4: No Return’.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Just realized that it’s already mid of November. This month has been quite tough with countless overtime work (without overtime pay!) and stress from dealing with toxic people in the office. To be honest, that’s something far worst to deal with than the work itself. My career definitely isn’t smooth in 2024 and I am hoping that things would get better next year.

Few days ago, I have completed another Hong Kong series and it’s time for a brief review here as usual. The drama is titled ‘No Return’ (巾帼枭雄之悬崖) and it is the 4th season of the popular ‘Rosy Business’ series that started way back in 2009. ‘No Return’ starred Wayne Lai, Nancy Wu, Edwin Siu, Hera Chan, Joey Law, etc. The story sets in Shanghai in the 1930s/1940s and revolves on an unexpected crossover between a competitive businesswoman (Nancy) who owns a bank and an unemployed middle-aged man (Wayne) who has talented mind in business.

Their business-oriented interactions soon develops into love after the various hardship they encountered including a man (Edwin) who came to take revenge against Nancy. Perhaps I have high expectation on the series and ended up being left quite disappointed after watching the whole series (25 episodes in total). Chemistry between Wayne and Nancy was there but I do enjoy Wayne-Sheren (the actress who took the female lead in the first 2 seasons) pairing more. The plot wasn’t exciting and I felt that the last two episodes after death of Edwin (the main villain) were just pointless and unnecessary. The scriptwriter seems to force themselves to try to end it at 25 episodes.

I was expecting much more from Edwin’s character but nope…poor writing to his character that actually has potential. On the other hand, it is so obvious that TVB is heavily promoting Hera Chan as the young actress to look out for but her acting is still way not aligned to the important roles that she have been given recently including this one. In summary, the standard for this 4th season dropped quite significantly. The first season was the best and an instant classic. The second season was solid too. The third season was starting to get bad as I heard (I didn’t watch that season). And now, the 4th season and it was just average at best. I would rate ‘No Return’ only 6.8 out of 10.

Nancy Wu has a shot for best actress at the coming TVB Anniversary Awards which is usually held on early January. However, Tavia still has the better chance of clinching the title with better performance in ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ which is also a better series overall in my opinion. By the way, it will be TVB’s 57th anniversary gala/celebration on this coming Tuesday.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)