EPISODE 9

A very good episode marred by 2 annoying factors;



1. FLASHBACKS again! I am sick, sick, sick with young Sai Hin and youngCheung Ping flirting and lovey dovey.



2. the love, pining, hoping, whatever between adult Sai Hin and adult Cheung Ping.



I was actually hoping to see the Empress Dowager's expression and love for Cheung Ping when Eunuch Hoi (played amazingly by excellent veteran, Loh Hoi Pang) confessed to the Empress Dowager how great Cheung Ping is. But before we could see her expression, zoom in on Eunuch Hoi and how nice Cheung Ping was to him and how regretful Eunuch Hoi was for being so awful to him. I get it, she's perfect and everybody can't help but love her. I hate the fact that she is so darn perfect.



But there is a problem in her perfection; she is an innate coward. One scene we see a servant girl was beaten severely by Eunuch Hoi for having a love poem which he deemed as porno stuff. That porno thing which wasn't porno was written by Sai Hin to Cheung Pin in their pigeon-mail love affair of about 3 months or so. For someone so darn kind and nice, it took her a full 5 minutes and the girl pleading, crying and beaten severely before nice angelic kind Cheung Ping came forward and confessed. So now I know she's a coward.



Another funny scene which wasn't funny was a scene where Sai Hin and Sing Hing fighting kung fu with swords in front of the princesses. That was nothing spectacular and nothing funny, except a few episodes before we see a scene where Cheung Ping was being pursued by two assassins and Sai Hin didn't fight at all, in fact he fumbled with a cart with fire and all to scare away the assassins! Such inconsistencies. So now after we know he's a complete gentleman and all, the writers tried to back track the whole thing and make Sai Hin a brave warrior who knows kung fu! I thought he's a scholar first and foremost, in fact an intellectual?



Then there's the scene where we get to see the crown prince played by TVB's highest paid ke-le-fe, Ellesmere Choi as Chi Chiu, nothing fantastic but with a future king like that, no wonder Ming Dynasty fell. In fact the King who did not appear in this episode was pretty useless himself, can't differentiate who is nice and who is not.



Now to the good scenes. I like Eunuch Hoi's confession to the Empress Dowager, I like the scene where Concubine Tin gave some tips to Yoke Han to keep Sai Hin's heart, the scene where Yoke Han scolded Eunuch Hoi when he kept saying Sai Hin was sending porno poems to Cheung Ping and most favourite of all, the scene where Yoke Han looked at Sai Hin who was more concerned about Cheung Ping than he was to her and how Sai Hin was battling with Sing Hing for Cheung Ping's attention.



In this episode there is also a scene where Sai Hin hugged Cheung Ping and I was thinking, Bastard! Poor Yoke Han, such a nice girl who believed in the purity of his friendship with Cheung Ping and Cheung Ping kept saying they're just friends and thathow she is never going to be with Sai Hin and yet she didn't do anything to discourage Sai Hin! I know Yoke Han will be pushed aside either by death or voluntary on the part of Yoke Han because in the first scene, Sai Hin and Cheung Ping married!



Anyway a good episode marred by over sentimental scenes. There are some very short moments of sheer brilliance but I tell you, one more flashback, I will scream!



By the way I noticed one strange thing which I know will be explained in the last episode. I do know Cheung Ping's arm was hacked off by her father when the rebels were storming into the palace. That would be before the first scene in the 1st episode where they turned traitor so that they can marry and die in the palace later on by suicide. There she still have her arm! I wonder what happened? Don't tell me, I want to keep guessing. Anyway I dislike the idea they turned traitor to marry and kill themselves in the palace. Many may view this change of scenario as dramatic, sad, poignant, even romantic. But I feel killing themselves when the rebels were storming into the palace and at the end of the Ming dynasty would have made a more powerful and patriotic scene. Now they seemed more like traitors who are more concerned for their love than anything else. Read my Episodic Thoughts Episode 1 to know more, especially that first scene.



Anyway so far so good. Luckily very little scenes of Superman. She really can't dance.