EPISODE 29

I missed Episode 28 because I was wathing Troy then and I almost missed this episode because I was at Genting Highlands watching The Ten Tenors. Luckily there is such thing called repeats.



I missed the scene where Chiu Yan stabbed Cheung Ping so when I saw her with Sing Hing I was very confused. She then made herself sick and insisted Sing Hing send her back to Tong Po Lun's camp. Once there Sing Hing left only to be asked to return to her and then suddenly she accused Sing Hing of molesting her, and Po Lun came back and poor Sing Hing's leg was broken and he was beaten to a pulp whilst Chiu Yan cried. Next scene we have Chiu Yan back to Sai Hin and saying Po Lun abused her and asking Sai Hin to protect her.



Did I miss something? Why did she accused Sing Hing of molesting her and then run back to Sai Hin when she was with Po Lun? What was the purpose of this senseless act and senseless scene other than to show how pitiful Sing Hing was? Can somebody explain this to me?



Forget about Chiu Yan. Country already dying and she is still scheming to get Sai Hin. Back to the palace.



The King was desperate, losing and all when suddenly Cheung Ping said Sam Kwai wrote a letter. It seems that Sam Kwai realised how stupid he was to abandon Ming so he was coming back with 200,000 men. Once back first thing in his mind was Yuen Yuen. Actually 3 years has passed and I see it this way; Sam Kwai came back to get his woman as promised by the King. So the King asked his eunuch to fetch Yuen Yuen only to be told the temple Yuen Yuen was staying was burnt to the ground and a body wearing Yuen Yuen's bracelet was found inside it. Naturally the King assumed she died. The King couldn't ruin it now that Sam Kwai came back so he told lies to Sam Kwai when Sam Kwai realised something was wrong. So he told Sam Kwai the truth and Sam Kwai accused the King of killing Yuen Yuen and so once again he went back to his own town leaving the king alone to face Lee Chong. Now definitely the Ming Dynasty shall fall, the King knew this and looking so horribly despondent he ordered all the ministers, his wives, his children and his mom to kill themselves either by hanging themselves or drinking poison. Naturally there was protest and General Shih suggested they run to Jiangnan to seek help from a duke there (who was not on good terms with the king but still a servant of Ming) and the King refused. Cheung Ping and Queen quietly reasoned with the King as the King was afraid people will laugh at him if he were to run. At last he agreed to run, he took one way and his family took the other. His family successfully ran to Jiangnan only to be greeted with false loyalty from the duke there and Chi Chiu became king. Ahhhh, why? How come he became king you ask? Because Shun Jing was caught and subsequently sentenced to be hanged on a tree by the rebel. Then the rebel spread rumours that he hanged himself accusing the downfall on his ministers instead of himself thus solidifying his shame as the King who caused his own downfall.



Sai Hin at the meantime was injured and together with Chiu Yan they escaped. How they escaped was not shown.



Acting wise, this episode has some pretty good performances, thanks to Moses Chan who looked absolutely hopeless and haggard. Sonija Kwok was quite alright but her role is all about deception and some very illogical actions. Charmaine was ok, she had little role in here and Jan Lau was wonderful in a 5 minute scene where her Tin Fei became crazy and all. Anne Heung had a short scene where she was kidnapped by Tin and given to Lee Chong as a gift. I pity Yuen Yuen but Anne's acting was clearly inadequate. As for Marco Ngai, his Sam Kwai is a fluke. He is nothing but a tantrum throwing little boy looking for his favourite toy that is Yuen Yuen. Now this is where I want to comment.



Why is there a necessity to change the course of history? For dramatic value or just to justify the fact that Cheung Ping still has her arm intact? Remember in Episode 1 or 2 I commented why she still had her arm when there was one scene her father chopped off her arm? He didn't. He told his ministers and princesses to escape and to spread the word around that:-



1. He tried to kill Cheung Ping but chopped off her arm instead, and she escaped when the King going berserk couldn't bring himself to kill her and she died outside of the palace;



2. The Queen hanged herself to show her love for the King;



3. The King went berserk and killed everybody.



When in actual fact he did none of the above things. WHY? When they escaped to Jiangnan, did her seriously think that Lee Chong wouldn't find out the truth? Maybe it will take months to reach Jiangnan and so this will throw the rebels off their trail but is there such a necessity? So in the end Cheung Ping still has her arm, her mom still alive and everybody lived as opposed to the famous historical myth/fact that the King whacked off her arm, went on a killing rampage and ..... and ...



OK, now I am pissed with the King's ending. This series showed that he was captured whilst escaping and was hanged by the rebels. I specifically remembered all the books I have read and I thought the historical fact was a much more poignant ending.



When I saw the scene where the King ordered everybody to kill themselves and his mom and Chiu Chiu and his servant agreed, I almost cried because it was so sad. But to have such an ending was such a dud. Wouldn't it be more dramatic and more sad and better to show the King walking all alone up to the hill to that famous tree and then hanging himself because of guilt, remorse and shame? Legend has it that before he killed himself, he covered his face with his hair. This means that this person is so shamed that he couldn't show his face to his ancestors in the after life, and this would be consistent to him blaming himself for the fall of Ming. But this version's ending takes away all this ommpphh factor and definitely TVB should be sued for killing the effect if his actions.



Of course we are supposed to blame Sam Kwai for the fall of Ming, this series tried to do all that. Of course I will blame him for his tantrums and all. But it was all so juvenile, and Sam Kwai was the easy target to blame. I find the entire end of the Ming in 10 minutes and the death of the King in a minute or so too heartless, too emotionally not there. I saw this King from episode 1, I hated him and grew to respect him for his efforts, for his dedication to Ming. The real history would love to portray this king as a weak man, a bad king and a king that never sat on his throne to govern his country for many years for reasons unknown. This series tried to show him differently, to take away his shame and his guilt and so naturally someone has to be blamed for Ming's downfall and that is of course Sam Kwai which was too easy.



I hated the ending, I hated the reasoning and I hated the careless disregard the writer had for the history, the reasons and the real end. Maybe the King really didn't hang himself, maybe he was sentenced to death. I doubt it. I find Crimson Sabre's version more poignant, sadder and in a way can't blame the King. I think there was a General Shih Ho Fatt there and I think he killed himself also. I can't remember.



As for this version, the only thing I liked is showing how desperate the king was. Everything else was like a little kid writing the script. Reminds me of Troy. Like Troy, there is a one or two good characters in here, in the form of the King and Sai Hin. Troy had one, that is Hector. But like the movie Troy, this entire series whilst entertaining, this one single episode (and many episodes before) proves why I have every justification to hate it; what bad writing!