BE AWARE THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS! FOR THE THOUGHTS, LOOK AT THE EPISODES PANEL ON THE RIGHT. FOR THE LATEST THOUGHT, GO TO HOME.

Episode 01

I missed about the first 45 minutes of this first episode because I was watching He Who Can't Marry. I mean between this funny love story and all out bitch fighting, I of course chose the love story. Anyway I switched the channel as soon as the Korean series finished and what did I see? FIGHT!!! Yeah! Fight! Right now I have yet to learn the names of everybody but I do know the mooncake shop run by Lee Sze Kei is the same name as the title as in Kah Hou Yuet Yuen (Ermmm... full moon blessed family?). Anyway I started where Michelle Yim slyly confesses that she has been having a 1 year affair with a very quiet and morose looking Har Yu (at least no excessive giggling here) and Lee Sze Kei was furious and standing. Sitting nearby if the monotone actor whose name I forgot, he plays Lee Sze Kei's father I think. Not sure yet. Anyway the father screamed at Michelle "You ungrateful bitch (no rough language but that could be what he meant)!! Remember when your husband left you (or was she widowed? Didn't catch that part) you wanted to die, and who was the one who pulled you back and supported you? How can you do this to her? How can you do such a thing and break this family!!" and of course Michelle was relentless in getting her guy. Quite manipulative and Lee screamed "If you want this useless bastard (again no rough language used but that could have been what she said in English) take him! I don't want him! You can have him! Take him! But you will leave the children to me!". At this point I am not sure how many children they have, but one of them who grows to be Fala Chen is mute, one more is adopted, a few quite big, the 2nd is Ah Hou is Raymond Lam. Michelle has a daughter who grows to be guess! Who else but beautiful Linda Chung! And guess who is paired with who? Guess some more, reveal later...

Anyway bastard said "No! They're my children too! I am their father! I should take them! Mother loves the youngest you know that and it will kill her never to see him again!!" and Lee said "NO!" and Michelle looking rather pitiful said "Ok, since I am the fall guy here I might as well just say it, I don't mind more blame on me. His mother loves the youngest, so the youngest must follow us. Since there are 6 (I think she mentioned 6) we each take 3!" and Lee gave one huge slap on Michelle's face (no, her wig didn't flew off) and Michelle sadly looked at Lee and said "Fine. You can slap my other cheek. But the reality is there is no other way. I am doing this because I love this man and he loves his children so if you won't let us take half of the children I swear it I will fight you till the end to get what he wants!" and immediately Lee ran into her room and locked herself. Tearfully she hugged the younger children, all of them crying begging their mother not to let them go but Lee had to make a choice. She knew she was being cornered and the adopted one said "I am the adopted one. Send me there" (well, very dramatic, a bit too dramatic, no children would utter such a thing) and Lee tearfully and lovingly caressed her face. Immediately she made up her mind "You're the youngest, you must follow them. Grandma loves you very much and you are the oldest (a teenager which I assume becomes Moses Chan) so you can take care of your brother. You go." and then the bastard and the bitch broke open the door and Lee icily said "You can take the oldest and the youngest, and that's all you can take!" and poor youngest had to be dragged into the car crying "Mama!Mama!Mama!" whilst the oldest followed willingly. Michelle's teen daughter sadly looked up and met the eyes of one of the sons and her mother dragged her away. Tearfully that was the breakup of the family.

Decades passed. Lee is still running her mooncake business and teaching some tai-tais how to make mooncakes and making jokes. Her mute daughter, Fala Chen is helping her and she was supposed to have some her teeth filled which we all know is expensive everywhere in the world. Next scene we see a youthful and happy Raymond laughing with his mother (who didn't call her mother - why the nicknames? Can't we have a straightforward mother?) and as he was taking a ferry to go to HK to deliver mooncakes he met someone familiar, that is Linda Chung.

They chatted with each other, very friendly and then we are showed flashbacks where they were actually teenage lovers. They were dating and in love but separated coldly by the elders' irresponsible behaviour. Linda was to be sent to I think England to study and they were to be separated and they took the ferry many times until it was really time to say goodbye. Linda gave Raymond a card with a hidden message, to be opened 10 years later. Raymond dutifully kept the card away. In present time Linda is now a medical student and Raymond helps his mom with the business, so I suppose you can say Romeo & Juliet as well as old Bollywood story of rich educated girl, poor uneducated boy. They promised to run into each other again at the ferry. That night Raymond took out the card. That morning he was hoping to see her but she was nowhere to be seen. In the ferry he finally opened that card and in it was a teen Linda's message where she said she will think of him always and forever. Raymond smiles a little to himself as he remembered the past...

Next episode, bastard comes back to demand for the trademark of the name of the bloody shop!! How dare he! And Susannah Kwan appears as sister of Lee and decided to show that bastard what he will suffer for crossing her whilst Lee Heung Kam is the mother of the bastard and she appears to insult Lee in her shop.

Drama! Fight! Emotion! And just SECOND EPISODE!!

Interesting. That I must admit. The older ones handled their parts well, Michelle Yim especially looking like innocent and yet vicious. Lee of course finally raised her voice in anger, rarely seen in her other performances and at last Har Yu, looking sheepish AND NOT GIGGLING. I count that as a positive. Linda Chung looking pretty, Raymond Lam handsome but a tad too thin, Fala nothing happened and no one else yet.

Since this is episode 1 nothing much I could say although a lot happened. Read some summaries and I found out Michelle Yim seduced Har Yu who was actually very happily married to Lee. Sorry for the rough words but you know when I say Bastard and Bitch you know who I am talking about.

My problem with this episode is the painful last 10 minutes of the episode where dear Raymond remembered the past with young Linda. Both were played by much younger actors, none resembling the adults but then none of the siblings resemble one another. My offense with the scenes is not that they were dating or young love but the way they prolonged the whole separation scene like some tragic Korean love story in the making with some cringe worthy lines like "DON'T EVER FORGET ABOUT ME!!!!!!". And guess what? That separation scene between mother and her 2 children were over in 10 seconds. TEN SECONDS for something more touching, more relevant, more to the point of the story and a whole TEN MINUTES was wasted on the young love of 2 characters I hardly know and I know will rekindle their love against the objection of the bitch. Already this series really does not know where the priority is.

But 2nd episode looks interesting. Tomorrow a more in depth episode summary since no other shows to watch. Meanwhile I must get my hands on the cast list.

For anyone reading this answering the following questions using Post A Comment (spoilers only for episode 1 and no future episode spoilers please) will help me and probably someone else reading this and is watching the series like myself...

1. Who is Michelle Yim?

2. Her husband ran away right?

3. Did she deliberately seduced Har Yu because she loved him or for other motives?

4. Is Har Yu rich at the beginning?

Until tomorrow, I like to end this summary with just one comment about Michelle Yim. She really looks good for her age.

4 comments:

Kidd 12/8/09 9:13 AM  

Just skim through. Haven't read properly yet. But, I've to agree with this.

'Who didn't call her mother - why the nicknames? Can't we have a straightfoward mother?'

I've also mentioned this in spcnet forum. What's with the nicknames for their parents? Why can't they just call 'mother' and 'father' like people usually do? They also didn't address older siblings with the proper address like 'gor' and 'je'. Just nicknames again.

But, surprisingly, one forumer replied that she/he actually addresses her mother with similar nickname in real life and also doesn't address older siblings with 'gor' and 'je'. Just names.

I dunno, I feel it more like a family if people address each other with 'mother', 'father', 'gor', 'je' than using names. The time I most felt Ah Ho (Raymond) and Ah Yuet (Tavia) were siblings was when Ah Yeut ran away after a confrontation with family members and Ah Ho went and find her and said to her 'Follow 'ah gor' home, lah'.

kidd 12/8/09 11:08 AM  

1. Who is Michelle Yim?
- Michelle and her husband were from China. When they came to HK, they were introduced by someone to work in HY and LSK's mooncake shop. HY initially didn't want to hire them because they have no experience, but, LSK took pity on them and persuaded her husband to do so.

2. Her husband ran away right?
- Yes, Michelle's husband left her and her daughter for another woman. She did try to commit suicide by jumping off a window but LSK pulled her back and convinced her not to suicide.

3. Did she deliberately seduced Har Yu because she loved him or for other motives?
- For financial security. To secure a future for her and her daughter.

4. Is Har Yu rich at the beginning?
- I think he and LSK built up their mooncake business together. In the flashback, they were already boss to the shop. So, should be pretty well off. But, I think it's only one shop. A very reputable mooncake shop with loyal followers. No matter how much of a bitch she is, you have to give Michelle the credit for making the shop grow into a corporation with chainstores everywhere.

Haha, even as Linda fan, you still can't stand the long drawn out Korean style love story of Raymond and Linda. Imagine me, who is not even a fan. There will be more of these kind of flashback on their teenage love affair.

The kids
Ga - Moses
Hou - Raymond
Yuet - Tavia (adopted)
Yuen - Lai Lok Yi
Hing - Fala
Jung - dunno the name
Chau - Linda (her real name is Yu So Sum, but, they nickname her Chau to complete the whole phrase)

Anonymous 12/8/09 5:22 PM  

This is a test post

Bridget 12/8/09 11:01 PM  

Kidd's right on all questions and I have additional comments on 4.

Ha Yu isn't rich at the beginning and yes, LSK and him built up the first mooncake shop together. Thing is, the shop used to belong to LSK's father (either that or LSK's dad gave them the money to open the first shop or something). I think it actually belonged to LSK's father b/c there is some fight about copyright over the original name later on in the story.

Ha Yu is basically a useless coward in this series, I can't stand him. And Kidd's right, Michelle might be a bitch but it's really her that takes on the first shop and grows it into the successful chainstore business that it becomes. Ha Yu basically never goes to work later on.

NOTICE

SPOILERS alert!

All opinion remains my own

Episodic thought is a detailed recap/summary and short review of each episode (as I watch them) with a dash of my own unique way of writing (basically it means if you're not into opinion that may differ from yours, please do not continue reading.

Your comments are most welcomed. Do use Post A Comment for the appropriate episode. Do remember to bookmark the episode so you may refer back when someone replies to your comments (if any). When commenting, please observe the rules of decorum and common courtesy. If this is a new series, please avoid posting future spoilers in earlier episodes, however you may post speculations.

NOTICE

SPOILERS alert!

All opinion remains my own

Episodic thought is a detailed recap/summary and short review of each episode (as I watch them) with a dash of my own unique way of writing (basically it means if you're not into opinion that may differ from yours, please do not continue reading.

Your comments are most welcomed. Do use Post A Comment for the appropriate episode. Do remember to bookmark the episode so you may refer back when someone replies to your comments (if any). When commenting, please observe the rules of decorum and common courtesy. If this is a new series, please avoid posting future spoilers in earlier episodes, however you may post speculations.

For your information

This is a watch-as-I-write episodic thought (a combination of episode summaries, reviews & critical analysis episode per episode) of TVB series, Moonlight Resonance, now showing on ASTRO Ch 311 from Mon-Fri at 9.30pm. Expect the thoughts to be episode per episode, critical analysis of the plot & performances of that particular episode, each to be posted the next afternoon & some may not contain full summaries as I may be watching other stuff during the same time. Hopefully I shall presevere and finish this one. Your comments, especially for the current episode are most welcomed. Use Post A Comment but please try not to post future episode spoilers.

Subject matter

TITLE
Moonlight Resonance

EPISODES
40

RELEASED IN
2008 by HKTVB

IT IS NOT
a sequel to Heart Of Greed even if they have essentially the same cast but with some shift of characters

FEEDBACK/COMMENT
Please comment episode per episode using Post A Comment in relevant episode page please. Please avoid revealing spoilers for future episodes unless it is a minor spoiler and explains questions about the plot

MORE INFO
- Cast list
- Wikipedia (SPOILERS!!)
- Point2e.com

REMINDER
The posts in here are my personal opinion & if you can't stand personal opinion that is critical or overly too positive, please do not proceed further than the first page of this blog.

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