EPISODE 26

A wonderful performance by both Steven Ma as the courageous though love sick Sai Hin and the desperate King, Moses Chan. I pity them both, I mean their characters.



I was hoping to see the Empress Dowager retort back at the King but first scene in this episode, the King huffing and puffing in another room. Ahhhhh what a waste!! Anyway basically in this episode you will see more of how the King tried to win back Sam Kwai's loyalty (and failed miserably), how Chiu Yan deceive Sai Hin about Cheung Ping's real problems back at Baoding and of course how Cheung Ping is surviving in her dual role as pretend wife of Sing Hing and missing Sai Hin. Let's talk about Sam Kwai first.



The King offered him the same status as a King, a great title, many land, more riches and Sam Kwai simply packed his bag and left town. The King then became so angry he wrote a very personal and angry letter calling Ng Sam Kwai traitor, that he was the cause of Ming's doom and of course he can never see Yuen Yuen again. Sam Kwai simply looked ahead and left town. The King was so angry and desperate he appointed another general who was not as great as Sam Kwai to fight Lee Chong. For me the solution is simple;



1. Give Sam Kwai Chan Yuen Yuen. That's it. Of course someone pointed to me again the Confucianism thing and all but frankly, country is dying, people are starving, he is even willing to give Sam Kwai the same status as a king, so why care of such useless moral ethics?



2. Threaten to chop off Yuen Yuen's head unless he fights for Ming.



3. Ask Yuen Yuen to beg Sam Kwai, to add a more emotional scene.



Instead, nothing. Frankly I thought the King all that he could to save his kingdom, he did so much and everybody else did much more or didn't do anything which in the end harmed the Kingdom. I thought Sam Kwai was so arrogant to ignore the King. I was surprised in his anger the King did not order Sam Kwai to be captured and to be beheaded. Well, pure drama you see. Quite silly actually this storyline I saw tonight.



Now Chiu Yan, single minded Chiu Yan, asked someone to forge Cheung Ping's handwriting saying how she loved Sing Hing and all so Sai Hin was crying and all, feeling betrayed. Like Jaws (cue the infamous jingle) she slowly sat beside him, said some nice words, some insulting words and for once delivered a speech which I thought was quite thoughtful, she of course didn't mean any of it. She said he must forget about Cheung Ping in times of war and fight for the survival of the Kingdom. Anyway she even volunteered to go to war with Sai Hin and to be a cook, a servant, a Florence Nightingale so that she can be right next to Sai Hin who didn't want her right next to him, but he was too polite to ask her to just leave him alone.



Now Cheung Ping. A few times her undercover was almost blown away and the worst was Chiu Yan herself wrote a poison pen letter to the Qings at Baoding saying to them to check the newlyweds because Cheung Ping is a newlywed. Of course Sing Hing was smart and proclaimed Cheung Ping pregnant in front of two Qing officials, Kei Loke and the other I do not know his name, so as friends Kei Loke decided to protect Cheung Ping. At last the Qings left Baoding without sending back up and Sai Hin is due to march into Baoding. Hmmmmm...he has a dilemma. He thinks that Cheung Ping betrayed him and Sing Hing is now a traitor and a dog working for Qings. Everybody thought so because Chiu Yan also said so. I mean come one. Are they going to expect Sing Hing, his father, all the workers to kill themselves and close down the shop? Survival is more important at this stage. Sing Hing was not a traitor, love sick maybe but not a traitor. And Cheung Ping being in Baoding in dangerous territory would have been more than enough to explain why she is now Mrs Chor Sing Hing, because there must be a hidden story Sai Hin and gang didn't know yet. But as usual, Chiu Yan poked fire and surprise! surprise! Everybody is still listening to her.



Anyway one scene I must comment on.



Cheung Ping tonight did something I never expected her to do. She screamed at the top of her lungs and fired some shots when hungry peasants ran into the factory to steal things, causing much mayhem. I must comment on what she said.



She said; "We are all Hans, we are all citizens of Ming, why are you stealing from us?"



Cheung Ping, Cheung Ping, did you not see the torn clothes, the skinny body, the hungry looks, the war and all. Isn't it obvious? People are hungry!



She then said, "Alright, you can take whatever you want, just do not harm us"



You must think she is so decisive, how noble. In the end the house was stripped and now is their turn to be hungry. I thought there is a more graceful way to end this chaos like; "Ah A, Ah B, prepare Man Taus for these hungry people, take out the rice, give them shelter, we will share what we have left." Nope,again pure silly drama, they took everything away and we get to hear cheerful happy starving looking Cheung Ping being oh so optimistic whilst waiting to be rescued by Sai Hin.



I now realise how really shallow Cheung Ping is. I have been calling her shallow every episode but this episode highlights how shallow the writer is, not Cheung Ping. She is always the damsel in distress, she is always waiting to be rescued, she always do things that in the end benefits no on, not even herself, she is always full of Sai Hin and nothing about her parents or the country. We are always told how kind she is, how compassionate she is, but I have never seen ONE SINGLE SCENE of her as rich wife of Sing Hing going outside and giving rice away, or trying to help the underground movement to spy on Qings, in fact there is no underground movement at all. Her Sing Hing knows Kei Loke, who is pretty high ranking Qing official and they're at the best position to find out some news which might be useful for the Ming, but instead they concern themselves with "When will Ming attack Baoding? When will Sai Hin come and save me?". Is there anything up there, hello?



And I am amazed by the indifference of Cheung Ping and Sing Hing towards Kei Loke. This man, a Qing is so trusting and loyal to Sing Hing, never once questioned him and even helped Sing Hing on many occasions. This episode and the last few ones showed how good the Qings could be, who views friendships as something to be treasured whilst the Ming only knew how to gossip and all. I thought Sing Hing should have done more than to say "Be careful" to Kei Loke when Kei Loke had to lead an army to war and the next second happily talking about Sai Hin and all. He should have showed more genuine concern, Cheung Ping also because she owes her survival to this Kei Loke. Ungrateful people. In a way I like how Wai Siu Bo views the Qings and the Hans. Both as friends, and as enemies, no one is good and not one is actually bad. This series tried to show the good side of Qings and the irony of it all that a Qing could treat a Han better than a Han could treat his fellow men. But the meaning was all lost as the plot concentrates more on Cheung Ping, Sing Hing and Sai Hin impending fateful meeting in the next episode.



The actor, whose name I think someone said is Ai Wai who plays Kei Loke was seriously funny and seriously great. Excellent performance and I laughed at him complaining about his boss ordering him to find Cheung Ping and how he had to arrest young girls, older girls, single girls and now married girls!



As for Charmaine Sheh, her performance is as empty as her Cheung Ping's soul which she had none. Sonija Kwok fared better as she poked fire but still disappointingly amateurish.



No sign of Yuen Yuen today (THANK YOU!).