Episode 09

This is one very very very odd episode because nothing seems to connect and all seems so sudden and conveniently sudden that I feel it is such a lazily written episode. Anyway, recap...

I missed the 1st 10 minutes of this episode and so when I started to watch, it was Hou looking at Sum administering some help as a doctor to some people by the street and he looked at her admiringly and dare I say longingly. Sum was too busy to notice.

Then the story switched to Ka and as always he was late to work, busy with his share markets. Yuet had to urge him to work harder as he had one project he had yet to give a proposal. But instead of finishing his job, he rushed into Astrid's room and as she scolded him, he suddenly kissed her, leaving her very stunned and then he walked out. Job saved, or is it?

Later in the day Yuet saw him coming into the office and she said the client has fired the company and seeking other PR company to do the work. Yuet fearing Ka will be fired, quickly informed him but Ka rushed out, came back with a huge bouquet of flowers and said to Yuet not to worry, thinking he can seduce and flirt to safety. He walked into Astrid's room and Astrid looked at the flowers, looking rather pleased and Ka thought all was ok when Astrid told him "I can't stand you anymore! I should have reported you for sexually harassing me, especially with that kiss! But your mother, Auntie Hung begged and begged me to retain you and you're such a useless piece of garbage, having such a good mother and still don't appreciate what she has done for you! If it wasn't for her, I would have fired you long ago. But that kiss was the last straw. You're fired!! Get out!!" and Ka looking stunned at the revelation, that it was HUng who got him this job and it was because of Hung he wasn't fired that he shamefully ran out. Yuet heard what was said and ran after him.

Pause here.

Obviously Ka knew the significance of that revelation. Hung had bribed Astrid to keep Ka, as if she was like such a great mother giving his beloved son a job. In truth it was a way to keep him away from Ka Hou Yuet Yuen (as in the big company).

Anyway Yuet ran after a very quiet and upset Ka and Ka suddenly and angrily said "I swear it Yuet, I swear it I will never play share market again. You be my witness, if you see me do it again, you can cut me into pieces!!" and Yuet looked at him and said very earnestly "Ka, you must not let that woman get you down. You must not lose to that woman, you must rise up again and be a good human being! You must never gamble again, if not me and Hor Ma will be very very disappointed and that vile woman will win. Ka, remember won't you?" and Ka nodded and Yuet held his arm and said "Ka you must never ever ever ever forget today, will you? You won't ever ever forget?" and Ka nodded and Yuet suddenly bit very very hard into his arm, Ka was in severe pain and there was teeth mark and Yuet said "Ka, never ever forget!!" but Ka was too much in pain to hear what Yuet said.

Pause here.

This was a very good scene as both Ka and Yuet knew Ka was upped so to speak by Hung. It is also very funny, the way Ka reacted with Yuet biting into his arm. Yuet of course did it because she cared for Ka and wanted him to remember probably the single most humiliating day of his life.

Ka went home to mansion and Hung looked very very upset. She walked to Cho Ba, grandma, I think Yuen was there I can't be sure since he is so quiet and like I said like a non participating ghost of the family, more so today and 2 nosy relatives were there. Sternly she said "Ka, please come over here" and so Ka walked to the side of the sofas and Hung adopting a very authoritarian voice like Hor Ma said "Ka, I heard that you were fired from your job" and everybody expressed shock and Hung continued "Your boss is my friend. You have no idea how much effort I had to do just to ensure you get to keep your job. She had every reason to fire you but for 3 years I appealed to her good side, I bought her expensive handbags, gifts and for what? So that you have a job!" and Cho Ba didn't quite say anything but Ka had plenty to say; "You can't talk like that to me!" and Hung stunned by his outburst said "Why can't I?" and Ka said "You're not my mother! My mother is Chung Siu Hor!" and Cho Ba said "Ka how can you talk like to that Auntie Hung?" and grandma piped in "Ka how can you speak like that to your mother?" and Hung said "Yes I am not your real mother but I am still your stepmother. Therefore I have a duty to teach you like a mother would to her son, especially when her son is wrong. I am doing this so that no one (probably referring to Hor Ma) will have any excuse to say I didn't do my duty!" and Ka angrily said "You have no right to scold me or to teach me. Everybody here, even --- (I think he was referring to the maid) have a right to teach me but not you! Never you!" and Cho Ba stood up and said "Ka how can you speak like that?" but Cho Ba knew he was losing the battle here since Ka is 30 already. Hung continued "Of course I have every right to teach you. Whether you are 3 or 30 I have a right to teach you!" and Ka angrily ended the confrontation by retorting, quite wisely; "Well, if you so wanted so much to teach, why not give birth to your own son and teach him!" and Ka walked off and Cho Ba couldn't stop him. Hung of course was very pissed off but pretended to look hurt and upset.

Pause here.

Teach here is akin to imparting wisdom, not like teacher teaching.

I must have missed something here because my sis who was paying close attention said before Ka walked into the scene grandma did mention that Hung was pregnant when they were having an affair so Hung had to abort the child and whilst they were together legitimately she was again pregnant was miscarriaged. So she can't have children with Cho Ba which explains why she doesn't have a child with Cho Ba and also why that retort by Ka would have really really sting very badly. WAY TO GO KA!!

Anyway KA may sound rude to someone else, even Astrid felt he didn't know how to appreciate what a good mother he has but in actual truth we all know why Hung did what she did. If she truly cared for Ka's future, she would have asked him to come back to the company and train him. Clearly Ka has zero respect and now zero tolerance at her. I just hope Hung doesn't do something terrible to Ka since she is so vindictive.

Anyway here is where this episode got a little strange and lazy writing.

I suppose Sum took Hor Ma, Hou, Yuet and Hing to the hospital for Hor Ma's treatment and treated them to claypot rice at the cafeteria. Sum saw Hou's wallet inside got a picture of a very pretty girl. When Hou was out of the way, she asked Hing and Yuet whether Hou has a girfriend and both girls giggled and said yes and whether that girl is the girl in the wallet and they both said yet and said her name is Ting Ting, an air stewardess who always visited the shop to buy biscuits but actually wanted to get Hou's attention. They dated some 3 years back but broke off and recently reconciled. So Hing told the story and flashback...

Hing was still studying at special school and the Ting Ting and Hou were at the cinema ready to walk in as Hou was talking to Yuet on the phone when the line was cut off. Hou was so worried that he told Ting Ting to forget about the movie much to her annoyance. They rushed home only to see the entire family laughing as Yuet dropped the phone into the toilet bowl and whilst Hou was so preoccupied with them, Ting Ting left and he ran after her. They argued with Ting Ting feeling very neglected and asked that one question only stupid woman would ask; "Tell me who would you choose? Me or your family?" and when Hou said they're equal Ting Ting further said the stupidest thing "Hou, I have chosen you even over my own parents. You're my everything and I want to be the most important person in your life but your family is getting in the way!" and so they agreed to separate because clearly Ting Ting needs a boyfriend who doesn't have a family, you know like a lonely orphan without possessions and pets. Anyway as he walked away Ting Ting rushed to him and hugged him hard and retracted everything she said and said "Hou I love you so much! I can't lose you!" and so they reconciled.

Some time later we see Hing in school uniform being bullied by the 3 most obnoxious looking deaf/mute/handicapped people I have ever seen on Tv, taking her handphone and basically refused to give it back to her. Hou was just getting off a taxi with Ting Ting (presumably there to take her home) and Hou being a very protective brother fought with the 3 guys eventhough Ting Ting begged him to stop. In the end the 3 guys ran away when I think Ting Ting threatened t call the police but Hu was hit in the head (or maybe he fell down, can't remember) and feeling a bit faint. Ting Ting quickly took him to the hospital. As they walked out, Ting Ting asked Hing to step away as she needed to speak with Hou but Hing heard everything anyway. Ting Ting said to Hou "Hou I think we need to be apart" and of course Hou asked why and Ting Ting said "I can't stand to be the outsider in our relationship. You will always prioritise your family over me when I want to know I am the most important person in your life. Everytime there is something at the shop with Hor Ma, you rush to her. Whenever we eat out you take along Yuet. Even Hing with her school, you were always too busy with them and not with me. Hou I love you but I just can't stand this anymore" and so Ting Ting left and Hou left heartbroken and Hing ended the flashback by telling Sum "I felt it was my fault. Ting Ting loved Hou very much and so did he but it was because of me that the relationship ended. But luckily they reconciled!". Sum didn't look too pleased to hear that. Hou came back and extended Sum an invitation to dinner at home to meet Ting Ting and Sum said she will see if she has the time.

Everybody was in a small van when they saw Cho Ba standing outside somewhere and Cho Ba happily asked them "What are you all doing here?" and someone answered "Grogery shopping! Someone special is coming for dinner" and Cho Ba asked who and someone answered "Hou's girlfriendddd!!" and Cho Ba took hold of Hou and happily asked "You have a girlfriend? How come I didn't know?! You never tell me anything!" and someone asked Cho Ba to drop by and see future Mrs Hou and Cho Ba looked quite reluctant until grandpa in the car said "Come on Cho, join us!" and so they all dragged Cho Ba into the car.

Pause here.

I was very surprised to see Cho Ba and them so bloody close, I thought he didn't deserve such a warm reception. Then I remembered I must have missed that scene where Cho Ba tried to repay the money to Hor Ma and granpa who refused the money. I suppose somehow they patched things up there and grandpa decided to be nice to him since the episode last night I must have missed that scene where granpa threw the shoe at him in court. No one can jump from such hostility to such friendliness in a few days so I suppose that scene earlier which I missed must have somehow patched things up. And Hor Ma must have told the children because Yuet seems so close to him when earlier he did imply she isn't a part of the family and we know when grandpa said that she threw a huge hissy fit and ran away and all that stuff. So I find their sudden warmth to him seems too rushed. But just assume they patched things up.. because things get weirder still.

Ting Ting arrives and was an instant hit with the family. Cho Ba and granpa both a little drunk were so happy talking and Cho Ba somehow got to the point that when told Ting Ting's sister was marrying he was going to give her free wedding biscuits and that went to Auntie Sa asking Ting Ting for free tickets since "We are gonna be family right?" and then every jumped to the conclusion Hou will marry Ting Ting and then grandpa said Ka Hou Yuet Yuen Hing Chung Chau was all there with Hor Ma reminding him not everybody was there and Ka who was there by the way changed the words Ka Hou to Ka Sou (daughter in law)! Hou was very happy. Anyway time for them to leave and everybody said "Happy dating!! Don't come home too early!!".

At the streets Hou was happily strolling with Ting Ting and suddenly she stopped and looked at hou (Sum was nearby the supermarket and saw them with Hou's back facing her) "Hou I think we should call it quits" and of course Hou was like WHAT?! and she continued "Actually before we reconciled a month ago, I was with someone else for some time. He was good to me but when I saw you again I felt I still have feelings for you and I didn't know who to choose between the 2 of you. But after the dinner tonight I have made up my mind. It was never for me to choose. You will always prioritise your family and I will always want you to put me at the top of your list. Hou, you don't need me. You already have the people you love the most by your side, your family. I wish you happiness always" and Hou, knowing this was the end without any urge to fight or even ask her to stay simply said "I wish you happiness always too" and so she kissed his cheeks and left. Actually he was sad and Sum saw everything.

Pause here.

Convenient eh? Let me spell it out...

C-O-N-V-E-N-I-E-N-T eh?

Never had I known Yuet had a boyfriend and lo and behold she had one and in 2 episodes gone case. Now Hou and lo and behold just one episode gone case. Look at the pattern we will have Hing and her boyfriend will last half an episode! And I didn't see Hou being exceptionally keen on keeping her or even remotely keen on her, period. It was like a passing character which she is, without any substance which she is and whilst the actress is pretty and competent, the lines she had to utter is probably taken from some cheesy romance novel. She is obviously a stepping stone to Sum. I'd rather he didn't have a girlfriend. Frankly as a girlfriend I would dump him too. He just is too fixated on his family which is a good thing but poor girl seems rather selfish in dumping him when all girls want their men to you know show a little bit more love to them. Anyway, it is such a nonsensical part of this episode, almost as nonsensical at how close Cho Ba is to the family and seeing Ka happily drinking earlier. I want to see Ka ignoring Cho Ba after what happened earlier.

Anyway continue as it gets a bit more confusing...

At home Cho ba was ready to leave and he was dragging a reluctant Ka when Hou came home and Sum arrived. Everybody was surprised he was home so early when Hou said "We broke up" and everybody started to blame one another, which I mean Auntie Sa starts to blame grandpa and Cho Ba for calling the girl daughter in law too soon whilst Cho Ba blamed Sa for asking about free tickets. Grandpa simply ended the argument by going to Hou and have him 2 huge wet kisses to his cheeks to cheer him up when Hou said he will be fine, there will be plenty of other girls.

Pause here.

The girl is right to dump him. He seems not even keen on her. No tears, nothing!

Suddenly, and I mean suddenly and I emphasise on SUDDENLY everybody included Sa wanted to kiss Hou and someone suggested they play a game. So they all held hands with Hou in the middle of the circle closing his eyes as they walked around him and he pointed and it was Auntie Sa who enthusiastically said "WAHHHH! ME! ME! Ok, Hou I am GOING TO KISS YOU" as she wiped her lips but Hou stopped her and said "MY HANDS WAS SHAKING! AGAIN! AGAIN!" and so again and guess who he pointed?

GUESS...

GUESSSSSSSSSSSS.....

GUESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS................................

Sum.

She looked rather stunned but everybody was encouraging her so she said "Ok, Hou I AM GOING TO KISS YOU!" and Hou laughed and she walked right up and gave him a peck on the cheek and he was smiling and then she gave his other cheek a lingering (well not THAT lingering) peck and suddenly Hou looked at her differently, not smiling and Sum looked at him too and shyly they looked away as all the older ones were busy dancing in circles or something. Frankly I wasn't noticing...

Next week, I can't remember what is in store for next week. Yeahhhhhh... Chung came back and refused to go back to studies and Hor Ma supported his decision and so another quarrel with Cho Ba.

Why? Can't Chung study in HK?

Anyway tonight's episode is I considered a weird one that doesn't make sense. Cho Ba's interaction with the children seems like Heart Of Greed, nonsensically happy. Maybe, just maybe Cho Ba is happier at Hor Ma's place, he just doesn't realise it yet but to have them jump from throwing shoes to so happy is just a very big leap. So what if he offered compensation? So what if they reconciled? It seems forced. To have your father who deserted you, then said some hurtful things, did some vile things, refused to be a good father and suddenly there HA HA HA HA seems like missing something in between. Then they will go back to arguing again.

I feel, and I really do feel the whole romance between Ting Ting who shall not henceforth be forgotten just like Yuet's BF with Hou seems so made up as in so convenient just to push the plot a bit, just to make Sum and Hou realise they have feelings for one another. I always thought Hou has feelings for Sum so when he suddenly has a girlfriend reconciled a month ago that was like where did that come from? Can't they show he just really likes Sum and Sum really like him without a girl intervening in between to showcase that? Or to show Hou such a dedicated brother/son/grandson? We all know he is anyway. He is after all called Gun Ka Chai meaning Family Caretaker so to speak. By the way everytime I wrote Hou this Hou that, they're actually calling him by his nickname as in Gun Ka Chai. Hou is just easier and faster to spell.

I think of this episode as a one off, the odd one out, the strange one, hopefully no more type of episode because the dialogues tonight are just terrible except for the scene between Ka and Hung. At least that was great and my favourite.

Performance wise, except for the inconsistencies, Moses Chan was the best in that confrontation scene. Hor Ma may have the most "YEAH! WAY TO GO HOR MA!!" scenes, Moses Chan has the best lines thus far. Love that sacarstic retort.

Michelle Yim also in top form and love her pissed off expression when Ka said what he said. Not even hurt but rather angry with Ka.

Linda Chung seems to now be stuck with 2 expressions; a happy one (as in with Hor Ma, etc) and a guilty one. Her Sum seems to think everything is her burden to bear, and looked guiltily every time.

And what is it with trenchcoats? Don't Moses have anything else to wear? Linda?

As for Raymond who is the centre of the story tonight, he wasn't great, wasn't bad, just weird because the story became weird. I will conclude he did badly because he supposedly love Ting Ting but I don't see happiness or even sadness when she was with him or left him, respectively. He just seems to register no emotion. Maybe no chemistry? Maybe he doesn't know what's the name of the actress? Who knows but he does have chemistry with Linda and the last scene where she kissed him and he looked back at her with I don't know, what's that expression? Surprise? It should have been longing after all they did have a puppy love before. Why then their love could drag until the end and why Sum got involved with someone else instead of Hou when so early already they look at each other like that? Isn't this an indicator the pacing of the series is not a bit out of tune?

Anyway weird episode. Apart from that Ka-Hung scene, I didn't like this episode at all because I felt ambushed, cheated that the writer may have hastily added a character only to remove her or maybe just a case of bad editing. I don't know.

I look forward to Chung's story though and how Super Hor Ma will settle the issue and how Super Villain Hung will do her damndest best to destroy Super Hor Ma's plans whilst Turtle Cho Ba will be in denial again and every children will be a spectator except for Yuen who will be floating aimlessly like some homeless ghost. Can someone just acknowledge his existence? Like, "YUEN, there you are!" so that I won't mistaken him as some computer generated character or some ke-le-fe?

By the way I have one HUGE complain about the in between scene filler, like before ads and after ads you see the title and some short flash flash thing. It is like a huge MEGA spoiler. I know in HK they may have revealed the whole story even before the series started but I like a bit of surprise. Ok I know the spoiler but those who didn't and who paid a bit of attention will notice some characters wearing chinese traditional Kua (wedding gown) and of course Cho Ba was with Hor Ma and Chung, etc etc. Then there's Ka with soon to appear --- god I forgot her name at the time of writing! Ahh Kate Tsui and on his left... YUET!!! WHAT A MAJOR SPOILER MAN! And my other sis finally noticed that and oh my god, intense debate on incest and all. of course no real incest but well you know what I mean! Eh TVB, smarten up lar! Why do that couple shot man????

Other than that, no comment.

Ending with my favourite quote/scene...

The best retort thus far...

Well, if you so wanted so much to teach, why not give birth to your own son and teach him!
- Ka to Hung

Do you have your favourite moment in this episode?