Episode 05

I missed He Who Can't Marry and decided to take some advice to watch the repeats on Sundays. Problem is I am not sure what is the time since ASTRO guide book does not have Ch303 listing, I think. Any clue anyone?

Anyway ... no fight, not much argument but there was some pushing and pulling. This is probably a very emotional episode, and also a very inconsistent one. Can't blame the writer; too much going on in the 1st 4 episodes, sometimes you just forget. Also a case of very bad editing... anyway on with the recap...

NO NO NO NO! Started not with the argument as in continuing from Friday! I was wondering what grandpa said! What grandpa said! And it started with Ka with Hor Ma having lunch together and Hor Ma asked Ka "Ka do you know what is making Chung unhappy?" and Ka said "Hor Ma I really do not know" and Hor Ma was kinda chastising Ka when she said "Ka, I sent you there so that you can take care of your brothers, to help them, to help me. You have always been a loving responsible older brother, what happened to that Ka?" and Ka apologetically said "Hor Ma, I really do not know why Chung acted that way...".

WHY? WHY DIDN'T IT START WITH WHAT GRANDPA SAID? VERY VERY BAD EDITING!!

Anyway, flashback to 1996, Hor Ma was having lunch at the same restaurant with a 16 year old Ka and Hor Ma asked Ka "Ka, the divorce hearing is coming soon. If the judge asks you who you want to stay with what will be your answer?" and Ka said "Of course you Hor Ma!" and Hor Ma looking rather guilty said "Ka, can I ask you to answer the judge that you want to stay with Cho Ba?" and Ka was shocked and asked why and Hor Ma slowly explained "Ka, you're the big brother. I want you to go there and take care of your brothers and sisters. I want you to be like those spy in the gang for the police, like those police movies you always watch. Do you understand Ka?" and Ka reluctantly said "Yes HOr Ma I understand. I will be your spy!" and Hor Ma was happy. In front of the judge Ka was asked the question and very reluctantly Ka said "I want to stay with my father". Outside the court the children are split into 3-3, each take 3. Grandma was shrieking "Give me my grandson! You caused my beloved son's death! You have no right to be their mother!" and so Hung basically had to drag Chung away from a crying Hor Ma as they all said their goodbyes.

Pause here.

Don't you think Hor Ma should know what was bothering Chung? Kinda obvious isn't it. And I feel her asking Ka to go there was selfish. Like Ka said in I think Episode 2 or 3, he was only 16 and against that woman he was helpless. So I believe Ka retreated into his own world, preferring to do his own thing, have his own career. He seems to be the only son who makes an effort to go back to see Hor Ma as opposed to that useless Yuen and the helpless morose Chung. And I have a question; I thought at the time of separation Hor Ma allowed Cho Ba to take 3 children, Ka being one of them for the very same reasons? Why then is there an appearance in court? Did Cho Ba or Hor Ma instituted a custody battle as well? I believe it must be Cho Ba, instigated by his own mother to take all the children. And he took THREE SONS. Anyway truth is the judge would be very reluctant to separate the children and since the youngest child could voice his opinion, he could have stated clearly he wanted to stay with Hor Ma and truth is Hor Ma would have gotten custody of all children, mostly because all children wanted to stay with her but also because Cho Ba had an all out affair with Hung. Behaviour does come into question. I will not call this an inconsistency as fro the part about the custody battle. I just assume along the way Cho Ba wanted all kids. I don't believe Hor Ma would do that because she seemed rather compliant. But the whole splitting children 3-3 is a bit of dramatic license.

Continue...

Ah Yuet told Hing that she plans to move out to live in together with her long time boyfriend, whose name I did not catch but the actor is the one who always plays useless undependable character so I know Yuet will have her heart torn out so to speak.

Anyway she told Hing she plans to move out soon and live in with that useless BF. Hing of course tried to discourage her but Yuet felt that she could no longer live in the house. When Hing asks why she thinks that way Yuet said "I can't stand it there anymore. I can't stand that woman.." but Hing signed "Listen to Hor Ma and be patient. She is family.." and Ah Yuet said "I am just an adopted daughter ..." and Hing of course tried to explain she is part of the family but Yuet said "No Auntie Sa was right. I am just an adopted daughter. I was brought home but I was never part of the family. You're family, Hou is family, I am not. Grandpa made it abundantly clear when he said the money he gave to Auntie Sa is free for him to give to his family. And Hor Ma stood by and said nothing. So they were very clear, I am an outsider. Moreover it is time I move out ...". Hing was helpless to persuade her otherwise.

Yuet met up with her BF and instantly we are told

a. BF is the actor who always plays useless BF
b. he is not a very well known actor so he would be out soon
c. Yuet wants to move in with him, with marriage in view
d. BF owns a boutique business but owes the loan sharks a whole lot of money to which Yuet pays on BF's behalf and has only about a year or so left to pay

So yes, nothing spells doomed affair as this one.

Auntie Sa met up with grandpa at a restaurant and again asked for $20,000-00. Grandpa was surprised but Auntie Sa said she needed the money. Grandpa said "I will give you the money on one condition. You must treat Ah Yuet better. She is my granddaughter and stop calling her an adopted child".

Pause here. The words Auntie Sa used was actually "Loh Lui" which is directly translated as Taking A Daughter or rather Bringing Home A Daughter, a rather derogatory sounding term in Chinese. In previous episode she said Cho Ba had already "Loh Chai" meaning taking the sons but yet Hor Ma is the one who Loh LUi meaning Cho Ba got all the real sons whilst all Hor Ma had was an adopted child, not even her own child. So Ah Yuet has my sympathies.

Anyway Auntie Sa sarcastically said "What granddaughter? Father she is just a Loh Lui!" but grandpa said "Look, take the money but treat Ah Yuet better. I know she was rude but you were not very nice either. Treat her well. She was very pitiful. Her mother came in one day buying some biscuits and said she had to go somewhere, leaving Yuet with us for a while but she never came back. I saw she was very cute and so decided to adopt her..." and Auntie Sa reluctantly agreed.

Pause here.

The dialogue should be Ah Hor decided to adopt her. I wonder what role does Cho Ba plays in her childhod? Was he a good father to her?

At home Auntie Sa brought home some very expensive facial cleanser whatever and told Yuet "You always said I used up all your stuff. Here I bought this really good one, good for whitening and a very expensive skincare. I put it in the bathroom, we share, ok?" and Hing signed "Yuet you always said you wanted some whitening cream, this you can use!" but Yuet angrily looked at Auntie Sa and replied sarcastically "That product is good for aging skin. Not for me but you could use some" and Auntie Sa, angry but controlling herself said "Ok ok, I will buy one you could use". Between themselves Yuet said "Did you notice how expensive is that facial cream? She took all of grandpa and Hor Ma's money to buy that!".

Next day Hor Ma was in the shop when a concerned bank clerk who knew them came in and asked Hor Ma "Did you know your father just withdrawn $20,000-00 from his account? He has only $82-50 left" and Hor Ma and Hou quickly came home, very concerned and ethere AUntie Sa and everybody was sitting in the living room. Hor Ma immediately asked grandpa "Father, did you withdrawn all that $20,000-00?" and Grandpa was surprised to know she knew and she explained how she knew and grandpa said "It is my money. I am free to do what I like with it" but Hor Ma was insistent and said "Father I know it is your money but all of the money? Tell me the truth father, did someone borrow it? Did you lend it all to Sa?" and Auntie Sa looked at them and quickly said "Ok ok I borrowed them" and Hou urgently asked "Why? What need do you have for that money?" and AUntie Sa angrily said "Well I need to pay the lawyers at Portugal!" and Hor Ma said "You already paid them $40,000-00. Why would you need to pay them more?" and AUntie Sa said "I will show you something!" and brought a few letters in Portugese and said "Look the lawyers said I got a 99% chance in winning this case. In this letter they said he stashed away a lot of money and I have that chance to get them. They're all very good lawyers, very expensive ones and I have a team of them working for me! They don't come cheap you know!" and Hor Ma then said "Fine fine. If you need it for that reason.." and Yuet looked on with disbelief and took this opportunity to say "I have an announcement to make. Tomorrow I will be moving out" and Hou was shocked and immediately asked "WHY? WHY DO YOU WANT TO MOVE OUT? THERE ARE ENOUGH PLACES HERE!" and Hor Ma asked "Yuet, why would you want to move out?" and Yuet was reluctant to say and looked at Auntie Sa and then AUntie Sa bursts out "YUET!!! You can't stand me is it? Because of what happened? You're moving out because of me right? Fine! I can move out if it makes you happy. I can move into a hotel. You don't need to move!" and Yuet said "No not because of...I just feel it is time for me to move out and stay by myself" and Hor Ma was helpless to do anything as she knew why she wanted to move out and just say "Ok, do as you please. I need to cook dinner" and disappointingly Hor Ma left whilst Hou was still wondering aloud Yuet's decision. Hing could do nothing and granpa could not persuade her either.

Hing was in office alone and she was typing a letter to Yuet that said "Yuet, you have moved out 4 days ago. I hope you are well! Thanks to you I have gained weight. We used to share food now I have to finish it all alone. Do write!" and Yuet replied she was very very happy living out there alone. She sent Hing pictures of her room which she rented, which was small but nice. She earned very little and she had to use the money to pay the loan sharks (or rather private lender company), pay her rent, pay bus fares and so she saved money by eating dinners shared with the BF and taking showers at the gym which membership she got at low fares. She is not staying with the BF since BF refused but Yuet was happy. Auntie Sa asked Hing to do something so Hing left her computer on but Auntie Sa saw the email and pictures of Yuet with the BF in a room and jumped to conclusion. Quickly she ran out of the room and said "LOOK! LOOK! That girl Yuet lied! She is living in with her boyfriend!! I got the pictures printed! And she is even paying his debt!!" and grandpa took the pictures and angrily said "THAT BOY! Oh I remember this bad boy!" and Auntie Sa said "You know him?" and granpa angrily said "Yuet used to be a very good student and was goig to go to university. Thanks to this gangster boy, he broke up with her on the day of the exam and because of that Yuet failed and could not go to university. I thought they were separated, they must have gotten back together. Why she would mix with this boy, of all boys? He is bad news!" and Hor Ma and Hou were concerned as Auntie Saw started to berate YUet for being naive and stupid and Hou asked HIng "Hing you must know where she lives" and Hing said "I don't know. I really don't. She never told me" and Hor Ma called the phone and Hou tried to and Hor Ma said to Hou "Don't call. She has closed her phone" and Hor Ma asked "YOu must know where she is" and Hing said "I only know she is staying in this area called ----". Sorry I did not catch the name.

Next day Yuet was very upset and she met up with her BF. BF was teasing her ans asked her to go for nice dinner when Yuet seriously said "You did not pay the last 3 instalments to the moneylender. I paid you the money, you did not pay them! I worked very hard for my money! You know what happened? They called my office, I was not at my place and told everyone about the default. NOw everyone knows, my boss warned me!" and the BF irresponsibly explained "Oh come on! I needed to use the money! It is not as if we never defaulted before! Don't worry, all will be fine!" and YUet was close to tears and was very angry and pushed him away and so they went separate ways. As Yuet was walking alone on the street at night, she received a call and it was Hou who was sitting in a nice restaurant. "Yuet, where are you? I am in ---- area and waiting at ---- restaurant, maybe we can have dinner together? I can order for you first" and Yuet who was crying tried to talk calmly and said "I am at the office still working" and Hou heard her trembling voice and asked her "Yuet are you crying? Tell me, are you ok?" and Yuet said "No no I am fine, just flu" and HOu asked "So we can meet up?" and Yuet said "I can only leave in 3 hours, urgent work" and Hou said "That would be 10.30pm. I will wait for you" and Yuet said "No no, I will come now. I will tell my boss" and Hou was happy and said he will wait. As Yuet wiped her tears to meet with Hou, that BF was in front of her singing to her. She tried to ignore him but he said "Remember you said if either of us are angry with the other we just need to sing that song and you said neither can be angry at the other?" and Yuet smiled a little as he hugged her and continue to sing to her. Hou received a call from a happier sounding Yuet who said "Sorry brother I can't come. Boss has urgent stuff to do, meet you later" and before Hou can say anything she hung up and Hou sat there looking at 2 plates of food, disappointed and worried he could not see his sister.

Ka was busy preparing for some fitness event (he is a PR guy for a big PR company- interestingly he is not working at the Hung company, most probably because he wanted to distance himself from that woman) when YUet suddenly came to see him and asked him to invest $9000-00 and turn it into $40,000-00 for a trip purposes. Ka did not question her and said he would do that for her.

Hou was still looking for Yuet and was very worried about her but couldn't get her on the phone. On the ferry he met Sum and told Sum why he looked worried. Sum said "Have you asked her colleagues? Maybe she knew" and Hou said "She didn't tell us, I doubt she would tell her colleagues" and Sum good naturedly said "Maybe she did, we never know, it is better to try rather than not. You know what I will cancel my appointment with my senior and help you with this" and then they both walked around but couldn't find her. They went by her gym and was persuading the front desk receptionist to let them in when Hou saw Yuet and Yuet immediately ran. Hou ran after her and grabbed her and said "Yuet! Don't go! Come home! We can help you!" and Yuet was very tearful and said "No no please let me go. I am too ashamed to go home!" and Hou said "Yuet don't say that! Come home!" and Yuet kept pulling away and she successfull ran away and Sum and Hou followed and she ran into the mini bus and Hou saw her and she ran out and HOu ran after her but I think he couldn't catch up.

We then see a very dejected looking Hing sitting by herself at the pier at night holding a box of stuff. Immediately I kinda knew she was fired from her job and BF did not keep his promise to pay the money. She was crying and crying and then she sms-ed Hing and poured her heart out. Yuet said the boyfriend had always refused to marry her, he had lied to her about paying the late payments and now she is burdened with the loan. She was fired from her job and the money she gave to Ka to buy shares, the shares were dropping and now she had no money left and she didn't dare to go home because the loan sharks were looking for her there. She was all alone and Hing texted "Come home Yuet. Tell Hor Ma and grandpa, we will figure a way" and Yuet said "No, don't tell them. I am too ashamed to come home, please don't tell them" and as Hing wiped a tear reading the message suddenly we see the nosy Auntie Sa grabbing Hing's phone and ran out and said "Look!Look! Oh my god that Yuet is in serious trouble!".

Pause here.

I think Hou was there, with Sum perhaps. Not quite sure. But Hou did say something so he must be there but I wasn't sure whether Sum was there but Sum was in the search scenes.

Anyway, nosy Auntie Sa said "You know what?!" and she repeated the sms Yuet sent and Hor Ma was sick with worry. Grandpa was very worried too. "How that silly girl can afford all these? She hardly earned much! Now she is in such troubles, why won't she tell us?" said a distress looking Hor Ma and each tried to call her but couldn't get her. Hou told Hor Ma where he last saw her and then there was a ring of the bell and it was Ka and Ka was saying "Where is Yuet? I am trying to look for her" and Hor Ma asked "You saw her and you didn't stop her and bring her home?" and Ka was clueless as to what was going on and Hor Ma said "We all go look for her now!" and as everybody except Auntie Sa walked out, Hor Ma saw Auntie Sa sniggering, almost smiling at the commotion Yuet caused, a self satisfying smile. Hor Ma looked and then walked out.

Outside even Sum was looking everywhere, old Grandpa was walking everywhere frantic and Yuet saw them and hid in the telephone booth. She saw she had many voice messages and she listened to them all, it was Hor Ma calling "YUet! Where are you? We are worried sick! Come home! Come home to Hor Ma! You are my daughter!" and Yuet was crying as she listened on and it was Grandpa's voice "Yuet! Are you still angry with what grandpa said? Grandpa is sorry. Grandpa shouldn't have said that! Forgive grandpa. Yuet you're my granddaughter, I have always treated you as my granddaughter...(flashback we see young Yuet playing with grandpa happily), come home Yuet!" and then it was Hou "Hing asked me to convey this message, that this morning she woke up smiling because she dreamed you were back at home with her (cue flashback with all of them at the store making mooncake when they were young) and then it was Hou "Yuet it is your brother. I will be waiting at the restaurant, don't forget to turn up! (cue Hou waiting at the restaurant, the one where she didn't turn up) then it was Ka "Yuet, the shares are down! You want me to sell?" and then it was Sum "Yuet, where are you? We are all looking for you, we are all very worried, do call" and then Hor Ma crying "Yuet! Why do you want to move out and take shower at the gym and eating one dinner for 2 people? You have a home, you have me, your mother. Yuet, come home!" and then a very desperate sounding grandpa "YUET!!! Why won't you call? You don't want to forgive grandpa issit? You don't want to see grandpa anymore issit?" and Yuet was crying very hard when Ka's message frantically said "Yuet ok ok, just call me ok? I will compensate you, I will pay you back the money, call Yuet, call!" and she was still crying as she walked out when Hor Ma spotted her and cried loudly "Ah Yuet!!" and they all ran to her as she tried to run away and Hor Ma tearfully asked "Why won't you come home Yuet? Why are you stil running? Let us help you!" and grandpa too was crying and everyone was crying actually except Sum and then Yuet cried "I am too ashamed to come home Hor Ma, grandpa! I am too ashamed!" and Hor Ma tearfully said "You are my daughter, why should you not come home? We are family!" and Yuet broke down and hugged both Hor Ma and grandpa and cried hard and loudly.

Back at home, Yuet was calm, everybody was morose looking and Auntie Sa had that self satisfying look, again preaching. Hor Ma said to Ka "Ka, I am angry with you. Yuet came to you and you didn't even stop her. You're her big brother, you should be taking care of her, what were you thinking?" and before Hor Ma can say anything else Auntie Sa interrupted and loudly said "Yes yes Ka what were you thinking? Not only did you not bring her home, you even encouraged her to gamble in shares! What kind of a brother are you?" and Hor Ma looked annoyed with Auntie Sa but let it go. Then she turned to Yuet "Yuet, if you have problems, you must tell me and ..." and again Auntie Sa loudly interrupted and said "Yuet! How can you be so callous. Now this house is full of jilted women by bastard men! Why be like you mother? I know you are adopted, but you are a part of this family Yuet. How can you be so stupid to get yourself involved with that kind of man? Yuet you should have more sense, you should listen to your elders! If I hadn't seen your mails and read your SMS, who knows what might have happened to you?" and she said it all with such intensity and may I say fake concern. Yuet looked guilty and somewhat ashamed and of course to hear it all from this busybody...

This time Hor Ma couldn't shut up anymore. She sternly said "Children, go to your room, there is something I need to say to your grandfather and your aunt" and Ka was about to stand up when Auntie Sa loudly said "Sis, no need! Let them listen" and so Ka sat back down and Hor Ma said "Children, go" and Ka again about to stand up when Auntie Sa said "Aiyo sis! WHat is that they can't listen? You're teaching them. We are teaching them, imparting our wisdom. They should listen and be made to listen. We are elders sis and we show them by examples!" and so Ka sat back down and Hor Ma looked sternly at Auntie Sa and said "And what sort of an example would you be?" and Auntie Sa looking surprised with Hor Ma's tone and said "What?" and Hor Ma sternly repeated "What did you sai you needed all those money you took from father for?" and AUntie Sa said "The lawyers in Portugal..." and Hor Ma said "I took the letters you showed us and had them translated. Father, Sa had lied to you.." and Auntie sa loudly said "Soooo you were the one who took it!!" and Hor Ma raising her voice said "The letter actually said your chance of winning the case is about 1% and not like you said 99%! Your husband may have been having an affair, keeping a woman in the cupboard but you! You were also having an affair with your fitness instructor!!" and Auntie Sa was angry and said "Ohhhh! You read my letters! Are there not privacy in Hong Kong!!!" and Hor Ma angrily retorted "And what about Yuet's privacy? I didn't hear you say that when you read her emails and her sms!I wanted the children to go into the room but you were the one who wanted them here to listen to your lies!" and grandpa angrily retorted "Sa! You are the one who always say it all in front of the children, not us. You always ended up telling your own sordid truths to the children!" and Hor Ma continued "First you took father's $40,000-00, then you his last $20,000-00..."

Pause here.

Here the writers forgotten their own story. I specifically heard this and may I remind you grandpa had $40,000-00, then Auntie Sa took $20,000-00 and the other $20,000-00 was from Hor Ma and so grandpa had $20,000-00 left and which Auntie Sa took that also. I know small problem but just to let you know how observant I am....ha ha! Yeah yeah, small problem.

Anyway continue..

"... your own father's money and you won't even let it go! You were throwing father and my hard earned money into an unwinnable case! I called your daughter and she told me you actually have a (I think she said this amount but anyway it was in the region of this amount) $2 million in bonds and yet you chose to use father, an old man's money in that unwinnable case and not one cent of yours!"

Auntie Sa berated her own daughter and said "Even my own flesh and blood betrayed me! How could she?" and Hor Ma angrily said "That is how you raised her Sa! She won't even help you! And you want to be an example to the young ones?" and Auntie Sa looked distressed and Hor Ma said "Sa, I can't choose my own sibling, that I accept. I hope from now on you will not call Yuet Loh Lui anymore!" and Auntie Sa said "She is Loh Lui!" and Hor Ma angrily said "She is not a Loh Lui. She is my daughter! I took her when she was little and it was a very long time ago I have decided that she is my daughter and a part of this family! And as for you, Sa you're indeed Loh Lui! You "loh" money from father, you "loh" money from me, you "loh" everything! You are the true loh lui!!"

Pause here.

Loh is also take. So when Hor Ma said you "loh" meaning you take this, you take that. A person who takes but never gives, that was what she meant in this context. For Auntie Sa her loh means bring home or adopted, someone not part of the family. Nice play of words.

Hou then stood up and said "Well, hungry. Let's all go down for some wanton mee!" and so all of them including Sum stood up and was leaving as Auntie Sa realised she was losing a war and when grandpa walked by Auntie sa despearately said "Father! Listen! It is not that way! Father.." and grandpa gave the best retort ever when he said gravely, as if like a desperate old man to Auntie Sa "Sa, I better go. If not you will take my last $82-50!" and so they all left leaving Auntie Sa desperate and first time abandoned, and rightly so.

Next episode, Sum reveals a big secret to Hou with regards to the cause of the breakup of the family though I won't and can't blame her which explains why she has been very helpful with Hor Ma but then she is a nice person ...

I hate the clumsy editing in the beginning, I noticed the bad math and frankly I was confused with the sudden break up of Yuet with her BF because one scene they reconciled, next she was fired, alone and jilted or she left him. There was nothing in between so to me again bad editing. But forgivable since well, this is a good episode. Last episode was better but this one was good as it shows even a nice girl like Yuet could make bad judgments and how family stick together. I like the scene Hor Ma scolded Auntie Sa and I like the small scenes like how Hou tried to reconnect with his sister, how Hou tried to drag her home, all a brother should do, how Ka also helped out (which shows he is still actively involved with Hor Ma's side of the family) and also his sad flashback. In fact the whole thing with Ka is rather sad. He must lead a very lonely life over there since he is old enough to know his father was a bastard and also Hor Ma asked him to do the impossible which is self sacrifice for the sake of the young ones. I felt for a moment Hor Ma was being selfish but then Hor Ma had her reasons. I also love the small scenes where Hing silently wiped her tears as her loyalty dictate she can't tell Hor Ma what is happening to Yuet and yet felt Yuet was in need of help. In fact whilst the big quarrel scenes satisfy, I find the writing for the smaller sensitive scenes were well dealt with. For once, instead of stupid nicknames, it was nice to hear Hou refer to himself as brother. I almost cried in that scene as Yuet listened to all the SMS from the family, especially the distressing call from Grandpa and blamed Yuet for being so childish in her reaction and doubted their love for her. To see old grandpa running around looking for her, for a moment I thought how unfillial Yuet was and indeed Yuet felt that way too but too ashamed to go home. Of course understandable, with an aunt like AUntie Sa. In fact my favourite scene is a close fight between Hou showing concern for her, Hing wiping a tear, the whole telephone booth scene and the confrontation between Hor Ma and Auntie Sa. But I like those moments where love and concern precedes anger and quarrel and so my choice is the telephone booth scene where Yuet listened to the messages from everybody, even Sum, the more particularly heartbreaking one from grandpa. Even Ka's call made me chuckle and yet feel happy for Yuet in a way because Ka's response when she didn't call back was I believe a typical response from a concerned big brother over his little sister, eventhough he should have questioned her more when taking her money to buy shares. I think of all the episodes thus far, this episode illustrates clearly the Hor Ma side of the family as one units of family and in some ways I feel rather sad for spineless Yuen and morose Chung who probably never felt that closeness with Hung, grandma and Cho Ba.

As for the performances, I must first put attention to Susanna Kwan as the annoying loud busybody and malicious AUntie Sa. She achieved all that and made herself look really ugly in this episode and though I am annoyed with her character I must praise Susanna Kwan for bringing to live this character so vividly, so brash, so realistic and so hateful. Beyond annoying. I believe her character will turn up good and to illustrate her goodness one character has to be worse than her in a subtle but more lethal way and who else but Michelle Yim's easy to hate character Yan Hung? Will Yan Hung have a streak of humanity in here? Anyway kudos to Susanna Kwan. Fantastic performance in this episode.

Motone old guy, whose name I have yet to learn since I haven't seen the cast list yet at the time of writing this thought is good too. He looked so old, so strained, I thought he might faint anytime!

The old ones fared very well tonight, and not quite leading the pack (since Susanna Kwan's character is more in your face and therefore dominates the scenes she is in) but still her presence is felt is Lee Tze Kei. Her performance is more subtle, but in the end as successful as Susanna's in conveying the very difficult emotions facing Hor Ma who values family above all else. I think she gave the right amount of death stare and angry retorts, but not shouting that made her Hor Ma more likeable even if I almost didn't when she asked Ka to go over there. Lee Sze Kei was effective and made me feel her dilemma, her worries, her pain and of course her anger, all in one episode. I don't think I have ever seen Lee Sze Kei so emotional before so well done!

The old ones made this episode but a few standouts from the young ones.

Fala Chen is simply adorable and amazing. I thought her Hing is so likeable even if her loyalty is wrongly applied. One of my top 3 or 4 scenes in here is her wiping her tears silently as she read Yuet's desparation. Very good performance and lovely girl. She should stop all those bitchy characters and upgrade her cantonese a bit, gain some weight as well and I believe she can be TVB's top actress. She seems more lively when her ability to speak is taken away from her.

Raymond Lam again gave a great performance as the concerned brother. I can't help but feel this character is like a switch from Heart Of Greed. What I mean is this could be Moses in Heart Of Greed. He will play similar character in issues of love. In fact Linda Chung is playing essentially the same character but richer, more dilemma and a doctor. Anyway a good one from Raymond.

Moses was funny. He is like the comedien in here even in very serious scenes. For that I feel he did a good job.

However the acting prize goes to Tavia Yeung. Ok, the scenes with her BF was like conveniently place her in terrible situations. I thought YUet is a sensible girl but watch carefully her Yuet is passionate, hot tempered and quick to decide, sometimes much too quick so her predicament is possible. Her scenes as she cried and tried to run away and her best moment, listening to the calls were the highlights of this episode and I felt she is the one in here amongst the young ones with the acting chops. However I have always maintained she doesn't strike me as someone who can carry or lead a series but as the second in command, I believe she would give credence to the series as a character actor's series. Fantastic performance in this episode.

Linda Chung had little to do but she looked rather elegant in here.

No sign of Wayne Lai, Michelle Yim, Lee Heung Kam and Har Yu. Except for Wayne Lai and Michelle Yim, GOOD!!! Can't stand grandma and Cho Ba.

Anyway I wanted to say something about this episode or the series in general but as I reach this paragraph and it is 2AM in the morning I just can't remember what. If I can remember I will add them into the next episodic thoughts.

Yeah! I just remembered. When I said loan sharks and money lender I think the better term is money lender but not bank, those private ones that are almost loan shark-ish. I don't think in HK they call loan shark like Malaysia do as in Dai Yi Lung.

So what do you think of the series THUS FAR? What about my thoughts? Any feedback? Do join in the discussion if you're reading this. Your feedback is most helpful. If not indicate your approval or disapproval by voting using the stars or one of the 3 pre-prepared responses below. But truth if I would love to hear from you. As usual feel free to share the contents of this blog at any related forum (do credit Point2e.com and state my name Funn Lim) or tell people the URL here, after all I am writing this to share with all who might find the recap (well not my opinion I am sure) useful if you missed some parts.

And one more thing. My recap makes the dialogue so exciting, they are don't get me wrong but I did use some creative license in rearranging the words and also some scenes may not happen as arranged as my memory may fail me but they did happen at least in this episode.

As usual before I end this recap, I will choose my favourite own translation of the dialogue in this episode...

Yuet! Are you still angry with what grandpa said? Grandpa is sorry. Grandpa shouldn't have said that! Forgive grandpa. Yuet you're my granddaughter, I have always treated you as my granddaughter...YUET!!! Why won't you call? You don't want to forgive grandpa issit? You don't want to see grandpa anymore issit?"
- Grandpa's message to Yuet