I had this sudden need to watch a new TVB drama again after about a year and a half (maybe) and the first one that I chose was the very hyped, very grand production of Heart of Greed's offshoot, a somewhat of a sequel called Moonlight Resonance.
In recent Hong Kong television news, we've been seeing a lot of "Let's use the same cast in this fabulous production and try to recreate the same feel with a different storyline" type of ideas. They did it with War of the In-laws, they did it with Square Pegs, and they redid it over and over again with the War and Beauty cast. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then it would be a good idea to take a gander over at spcnet tv for a full TVB experience on various series.
But anyway, for a step back into the TVB world is something very rare for me to do. After all, I grew up watching television a la TVB and to tell the truth, I've never strayed away from it. TVB has always been my life because I grew up with them. But for the past year, maybe year and a half, I've been ignoring TVB and found myself immersed in
The Seventh Day was going to be a series I looked forward to and would watch until the very end. I like the actors, I like the story idea, and the whole production of the series, though short and kind of tacky, was very beautiful. But I watched the first two episodes and then quit. I haven't touched it since.
A month or two ago I started to watch Forensic Heroes II. I thought, even if I'm not interested in the people or the storyline, I'm at least interested in the things they do. After all, Forensic Science is my forte and I thought I'd get a kick out of watching people try to do this stuff in the fictional world. Ten episodes later, I stopped bothering with it and dropped it completely.
You know, there was probably a reason why I gave up on the CSI franchise as well. No matter how real these people try to make it, they always extravagandize the whole profession to death. It's kind of tiresome to keep thinking to yourself, "You can't do that on a crime scene, it'll ruin the evidence. Where's my trace evidence collector? Where's my sticky tape? Why isn't that stupid hair secured? Quit stepping on the evidence!!"
And everyone else around me decides to start pitching a fit because I won't shut up about it. And so, yea... I'm not really allowed to watch anything to do with forensic science or crime scene investigation anymore. My bad.
But anyway, this post isn't about those two series, but it's been long enough I think I won't be able to talk about my "Moonlight Resonance" experience thus far in full. So let's just cut straight to the chase:
Moonlight Resonance is supposedly the "sequel" to Heart of Greed. Now Heart of Greed was ranked as Hong Kong and TVB's number one series of the year in 2007. Even though the production period was rather blah and little news and media coverage bothered with them, the series hit it off extremely well and unexpectedly became one of the best classic series TVB has ever produced since, maybe War and Beauty in the year 2004. Not too long, but when it comes to entertainment, everything has to be good everyday, or you're forgotten immediately.
TVB's new definition of a sequel, however, could be the traditional kind of sequel, or it could be the new "use the exact same cast members for a similar yet completely different experience in a whole new story" type of deal. The cast of Moonlight are majorly from Heart of Greed, and as a twist, our two favorites from Heart of Greed have taken center stage this time.
Moonlight, like Heart of Greed, is a drama of family, money, and power. In Heart, we had brothers and wives fighting over the family fortune of which was superior in the abolone industry. Four kids living peacefully with each other until the dastardly second wife and blood-related uncle from mother's side of the family decide that they want in on some of the estate selfishly. The family is torn apart and lawsuits ensue. Amidst all of this, the head of the family and his wife are the only two who seem to understand family unity and want to do what they can to keep the family together and at peace. Struggles ensue, deaths occur, and we are left with very tear-jerking moments when nothing seems to go right at all. Surrounding this whole family feud of a debacle, two sets of budding romances take their tolls to add onto the turmoil that is Heart of Greed.
I never got far with Heart of Greed. I never even got into the heart of the feud-- no pun intended. I gave up on watching it after I cried for the second time and couldn't stand it anymore. I also didn't really like the idea of the two romances I had already heard about time and time again. And I especially didn't really want to see all the fighting and the injustices. And most importantly, I DID not want to see the infamous, much talked about death scene of Raymond Lam's wonderfully portrayed character Alfred. I like this guy, he pulls off Alfred's asshole tendencies beautifully. But I didn't want to see him die, because that was his redeeming point and I knew I'd be crying buckets.
And I'm not a normally teary-eyed person who cries if something awful happens. Heart of Greed is indeed an accomplished tear jerker.
Moonlight doesn't stray far from its predecessor. With the notion that Moonlight is supposed to be the happier, more justifying version of Heart of Greed, I conflicted myself about giving it a watch. But I don't like family dramas. I hate it when I'm forced into tears from a mere fictional storytelling because the actors are just so good at presenting all their emotions. I don't like fighting. I watch romantic comedies. I watch adventures where fighting involves fun acrobatics and killing monsters and demons.
What finally drew me to consider watching Moonlight, however, was actually quite superficial: Raymond Lam. I found the subtheme he sings for the series. I listened to it. And then I checked out some first thoughts and impressions from Hong Kong's viewers and their praise. And then I thought about the much better role Ray has been given. And then on a whim, I watched the first episode.
I was amazed. After one, I couldn't stop and kept right on watching through. There's so much beauty to this so called "sequel" to Heart of Greed. Moonlight gives off a feel similar to nostalgia. We keep getting glimpses of very heart-warming scenes of our lovely family from the past. We get a lot of reminiscing. We get a lot of family values thrown at us. And most importantly, character interaction is wonderful. Ray does excellently as the elder brother of the second part of the broken family. Tavia Yeung is wonderful as the adopted daughter who can't seem to figure out her own place in the family. Even Fala Chen portrays her mute youngest sister role adorably.
I've yet to grasp the rest of the family members, but I can sincerely tell that Lee Si Kei is yet again at the utmost best as the mother who just wants to preach family values and keep her children together. Moses Chan's character is creepy, smooth, and hilarious at the same time. Linda Chung hasn't really struck me as anything extraodinary yet, but this is because I didnt' get to see all of her emotional break downs in the predecessor. This is Michelle Yim's second villain role that I am aware of and she is, as usual, excellent with her portrayal. Although she could lose the hair.
I think the main plot of the series has yet to reach its central arc. I look forward to it and I also look forward to how this series will end off. As a hopeless romantic, I also look forward to how the two sets of romances will play off. Our newest TVB golden couple Raymond Lam and Linda Chung are both going to be paired up together as Ah Ho and Ah Chau, but along comes Bosco Wong in his suave and debonair doctor role to sweep Ah Chau off her feet. A nice little triangle ensues, and to boot, Ah Chau and Ah Ho are actualy supposed to be step-siblings! O.o!!
On the other side, adopted daughter Tavia Yeung and eldest son Moses Chan are supposed to be yet another pair a la Ah Yeut and Ah Ka until Auntie Sa's rambunctious daughter Ka Mei comes into the picture.
Looks like we've got quite a bit of romantic, yet socially incestual fun to come. But as long as our favorite characters are paired together, the fans won't really care, right. I'm looking forward to see how these people end up resolving these romantic conflicts as well as bypassing all those social barriers that will be in their way. Ah Yeut and Ah Ka have been siblings since they were little-- how are people going to respond if they suddenly find themselves romantically attached to each other? And as for Ah Ho and Ah Chau, they grew up together as best friends, and then Ah Chau's mother steals the position of wife, thus turning the two into step-siblings of which they never wanted in the first place. Throughout the entire series, they are continuously struggling to overcome this social barrier which they don't even view as in existence. Everyone else around them, however, find it necessary to constantly remind them that they are indeed step-siblings, even if they were separated after custody was given to the parents, and even if they grew up as best friends instead of siblings.
Currently at episode 15, I'm looking forward to seeing more and more of this.
And so maybe I might end up preparing a blog just for TVB... but I really doubt I'll do that.
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