EPISODE 1

The series started off with a very horribly sung themesong which in itself is quite a decent song and obviously the singer, that is Bowie Lam didn't do justice to it. I don't understand; why can't a real singer sing that song? Why must it be butchered by actors who want to play pretend as singers?

The opening sequence is different in the sense that instead of scenes we have a slideshow format, giving it a different feel.

Then the series began properly.

Yue Fei (Sheren Teng), heavily pregnant appears before a group of eunuchs and ordered one special young eunuch to step forward, and that eunuch was actually a young concubine, I think called Chan Fei (correct me if I am wrong) who probably was running away from the palace. Didn't take long to know why; when Yu Fei, the favourite concubine of the Emperor was pregnant (still is at the beginning of the show), Chan Fei became the favourite of the Emperor and thinking she is the favourite, she began to talk gossips about Yu Fei in front of the Emperor. Yu Fei became very angry and ordered for her death. Chan Fei begged and begged but Yu Fei ordered that she be given wine laced with poison. But the girl ran out and begged for forgiveness and Yu Fei cooly said "One must repent and such person should be forgiven but I always believe one shoudl repent at the suitable time.." and so she ordered the girl to be hanged in her own room. The girl was dragged into her room and as she hung and slowly dying she cursed Yu Fei and Yu Fei's servant said she should go so as not to listen to such curses in her delicate condition and so she left.

Then the scene changed and we encounter Moses and his I think sworn brother (couldn't be real brother), Wai Kah Hung whose names I can't remember right now. Anyway Moses is like a delivery boy/officer (can someone confirm his occupation please?) and they were delivering mangoes for the Emperor. Half way through they encountered a girl who fainted right on their path and that girl was very dirty looking and she was Yee Sun (Charmaine Sheh). They then found out Yee Sun was a candidate for concubine-ship so to speak and she and together with a few others, amongst them Yuk Ying (Gigi Lai) were on their way to the capital for the once every 3 years candidacy but Yuk Ying wanted to go shopping and they were left behind and subsequently kidnapped by bandits and Moses inadvertantly saved them from the bandits. Moses didn't want to bother about them or escort them to safety since he had more important things to do than to babysit a bunch of whiny rich man's daughters, however Yee Sun pointed a knife at him whilst Yuk Ying begged them. Wai Kah Hung had a soft spot for the pretty Yuk Ying and so agreed to help but Moses was adamant. But he relented in the end and were on their way to the capital when the bandits suddenly appeared. Yuk Ying accidentally fell from the carriage/cart/whatever but Yee Sun held on to her but Moses refused to stop as he reasoned ; "We have to save ourselves first!!". When Wai Kah Hung jumped carriage to pull Yuk Ying up, Moses decided to throw away the boxes of mangoes at the bandits who stopped to pick up the mangoes.

At night, Wai Kah Hung thought his brother did a decent thing today but Moses reasoned it simply;"Remember we had that life too? When we were too poor and to hungry we joined the bandits to rob? All the bandits wanted was the mangoes, they wanted food. You must understand the situation although I would never want to return to that life again" and he only agreed to help the girl reluctantly as he realised he had no more mangoes to deliver to the palace and he had to deliver something and the girls were his best bets. Wai Kah Hung saw it as being considerate and kind and that girls will repay them in future but Moses thought "Do you think they would remember us when they're chosen as the Emperor's concubine? Wake up my brother..".

Next scene we see Yee Sun and Yuk Ying by the river eating the mangoes. Yee Sun was very quiet whilst Yuk Ying was chatting away about how much she is disliked and how she will definitely be chosen since she knows she is pretty and she was quite arrogant about it. But she was very thankful Yee Sun helped her and held on to her earlier and confesed that she was much spoilt by her family. She asked Yee Sun about her family and Yee Sun quietly replied "I had a sister once...I lost her a few years ago..." and the mood became very quiet and serious. But Yuk Ying happily and innocently asked Yee Sun to become her sworn sister and Yee Sun was looking at Yuk Ying wondering was there a catch? Since Yuk Ying is older by a few months she became the older sister and she gave Yee Sun a jade given by her father. It was then we are told Yuk Ying is the daughter of a very powerful minister and therefore she is definitely almost guaranteed a nomination as a concubine and moreover she is supposed to be the prettiest. Yee Sun looked blank.

Next scene Moses woke the young girls and told them to get on the carriage as the bandits were near. They realised two were missing.

Then we see the bandits walking on the long grassy field and Yee Sun and Yuk Ying were quietly walking away hoping they would not be caught. But Yuk Ying became very scared and she could walk no more and when Yee Sun realised Yuk Ying was crouching nearby unable to walk, she thought for awhile and then walked away. She rushed to Moses and she was asked "Where is Yuk Ying?" and she said "I don't know, I thought she came back..." and so the carriage left.

Wai Kah Hung asked Moses shouldn't they save Yuk Ying but he refused to stop until he suddenly saw Yee Sun carrying the jade given by Yuk Ying and he asked "Is this yours?" and she said "No, Yuk Ying gave it to me" and he turned around and rescued the much shaken and almost raped Yuk Ying who was gratefully holding onto Yee Sun who was pretending to feel concern for her. Wai Kah Hung asked Moses why he turned back and Moses slyly said "Did you see that jade and the carvings on it? It belongs to the powerful Minister (really I do not know how to translate the title, probably governor?) and Yuk Ying is his daughter....".

Once at the palace they were so late the doors were closed but Yuk Ying was very arrogant when she said "Any one of us could be your master one day! Open the door!" but the guard refused. Then Loh Hoi Pang, playing a eunuch whose name escape me right now looked at them and said open the door. Later we will find out that he opened the door because Yee Sun was his god daughter. Before Moses left, Yuk Ying told (yes, told, never asked because she was very arrogant) Moses to deliver a letter for her and she said "Don't worry, I'll remember what you did for me" and Moses told Wai Kah Hung "She will no doubt be selected and she will be indebted to us and she will be able to help us!".

Inside the palace, they changed dress and went through a series of test; from voice, to length of feet to body odour check to sewing. Unsurprisingly our two heroine were chosen for further training who may later be selected by the Emperor to be concubine. Each were assigned a room and so happens Yee Sun and Yuk Ying were neighbours but Yuk Sing complained incessantly about how hot her room was and she tried to bribe a lowly maid who couldn't help her much. They were warned not to cros over to the other chamber which was sealed off for some time. I remember Loh Hoi Pang said years but if that is the same room where Chan Fei was hanged, it should be maybe weeks. Before this, Yu Fei had been having sleepless nights as there were rumours that Chan Fei's soul could not rest. Yu Fei was so angry she walked to Chan Fei's chamber in her night gown and circled the room and said angrily "You can't even fight me when you were alive, more so when you are a ghost. I would really want to see what you can do and whether the people here are more afraid of you or of me. Seal the room and no one is allowed to burn incense in this room. Anyone does so will be my enemy. Spread the word!" and she walked out of the room and the room was sealed.

Same day also Yuk Ying and Yee Sun were walking to somewhere I can't remember with Loh Hoi Pang (I think he was escorting them to their asigned chambers so this should be earlier scene) when they bumped into 3 concubines. One of the concubines insulted Yee Sun by saying her hair is to dusty, so very embarassing, blah blah blah. Yee Sun kept her mouth quiet but Yuk Ying explained what happened with the bandits. The concubine was offended someone dared to talk back and asked for her name. She said her name and they asked "Do you have someone important in the palace??" and Yuk Ying told them who her father was. They looked more chuffed so I assume Yuk Ying's father must be very very powerful. This news was spread to Yu Fei who calmly asked "Is she as pretty as Chan Fei?" and one of the girl stammered and said "She is prettier than Chan Fei" and Yu Fei looked a bit worried.

Back to that room scene, Yuk Ying couldn't sleep at night because too hot so she went to look for Yee Sun who wasn't in her room as she went to see her godfather with two other girls. So Yuk Ying wandered around and stumbled into that forbidden Chan Fei room and said loudly "They're bullying me! See, here's a nice room!" and she sat down by the mirror and began to look into it and even picked up a I think what you call that? Hair clip? Hair accessory? Anyway she picked it up and suddenly she had this mad looking eyes, as if Chan Fei was possessing her when she saw a figure in the mirror and in walked Maggie Cheung...

To be continued in Episode 2.

So far in this episode no Empress, no Bowie Lam and no Emperor. So I might as well ask myself a question;

"Funn, how was the 1st episode?"

My answer...

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm................................ let's see? First 30 minutes were unbearably horribly noisy and so badly acted and the last 30 min were well quite ok....but this is the 1st episode, can't expect much..."

My long answer....

The first 30 min were unbearably horribly noisy. I was so confused what was going on. No no I should say the first 5 min were ok, when we were introduced to Sheren's character. Very intriguing stuff and then we see Charmaine and then it was like downhill all the way because I was like Who's Moses? What were they doing there? What happened? Who are they? How come they're chosen as candidates? Why are the girls so snotty, noisy, brainless and why is Gigi Lai so god awful in her acting? In fact why is there this scene with Gigi Lai's face covered in mud and the washed away revealing her true face and the men looked stunned? Is this supposed to be like Anne Heung whose face was also covered in mud and was washed away by the rain leaving Kong Wah stunned in the series Yeung Gwai Fei? How come I don't see that stunningly beautiful face the men saw? Hmm? Hmmm? How come Moses is delivering mangoes? Who gave him the mangoes? How come the test scenes for the concubine so fast one? How come they have no luggage and yet could change into such nice colour coded costume? How come they filmed at Forbidden City and yet never used the zoom pan far out close in type and yet preferred to use computer animation to zoom from one section of forbidden city to the next? How come Charmaine's hair is supposed to be covered in dust but all I saw was brown/red highlight? How come Charmaine so thin? How come Charmaine with such a noticeable scar on her chin could still pass through the next round since her face is flawed (though of course in real life is flawed since the scar is real)? How come Sheren Teng's face so oily one? How come almost everybody's face so oily one?

So many questions, and no answers since these are technical questions.

Seriously, not too bad but this series want us to assume the origin of how the girls come together as a group that wandered away from the bigger group and got lost. Surely Yuk Ying's father so bloody powerful would send an escort to follow his daughter? Unless he is not his favourite...I am still blur about the names, background and motive.

Character wise, I find Sheren Teng quite intriguing and I find Yee Sun very mysterious and like really burdened. Yuk Ying to me is loud, proud and to me therefore OUT! Moses has some history and quite interesting to see such an ambitious man. He is ambitious in the sense he thought going to the capital would solve his problems like not having money or power but I am sure he will soon discover not having money and power is not the worst one could be without.

Performance wise...very hard to say.

Sheren Teng is still too early for me to declare she is excellent. To tell you the truth I always thought she was such a painful actress to watch but she looks great for her age. How come Maggie Siu was never considered for this role? I would love to see the evil Maggie Siu ...

Charmaine was ok, not too bad but not great either. Her character has a lot of secrets but somehow..I don't know...I just feel her idea of having lots of secrets is sitting alone and staring into space. I see nothing in her eyes to indicate she had a complex life or is a complex character. The way she held that knife at Moses with that determined look was ok until she opened her mouth and uttered her line which sounded not very threatening.

However I find Yee Sun very intriguing. You can't say she is evil since she did extend her hand to the fallen Gigi and yet you can't say she's nice since she left Gigi behind. She was getting rid of her competition since Gigi for sure will be chosen but at that split second when she was about to leave Gigi behind, that is probably her worst acting moment in this episode because I see neither coldness nor conflict. It was purely "Ah Sheh, stare at Gigi hah!". Still a scene per scene actress.

Loh Hoi Pang needless to say was great. The way he looked on the floor, the way he bowed...he is only hampered by a script that required him to speak a certain line in a very long way when a shorter line would have suffice. Which was why I was lost in terms of the dialogue sometimes as I couldn't get what they were saying.

Moses was half awful, half not awful. When he is required to be emotional, he was bad. When he is required to reason why he acted a certain way to gain favours, he was quite ok, quite believable as a lowly person trying to align himself to potentially powerful people, such as Gigi.

The rest of the girls, including the girl who played Chan Fei were all so horribly inadequate, ranging from bad to worse to really really really worse.

Can't TVB find better actresses? Maybe get some guest actress like somebody famous to play Chan Fei for that few seconds so that we the viewers can feel fear and pity for this character and therefore hate Yu Fei?

But the worst was Gigi Lai. Oh my God, even in the trailers she was AWFUL. In here she was so awful I couldn't stand her the moment she appeared. Over acting is one thing, really over the top overacting really spoilt the mood you know. Her worst moment was when by the river with Yee Sun and the way she huff and puff about how the girls disliked her and she was frustrated she wasn't well liked and yet proclaimed why she wasn't well liked was because she realised she was pretty...that single scene would reveal to the viewers that Yuk Ying is at one time wants recognition and yet at the same time is a very proud and arrogant person but she doesn't see herself as arrogant since she knows she is pretty and rich and she may not understand why people just don't accept that fact. But Gigi was like "I don't understand..." ...breath long and hard with loud noise ..."why the girls".. breath long and hard with loud noice ..."just don't like me.."...breath long and hard with really loud noise. I was like staring at the TV thinking did the director get ready with an oxygen tank? She looked like she can't breath for over exertion in saying those few lines in a very girly, pompous and yet didn't realise she was pompous kinda way...worst performance tonight in the worst scene. The rest of her scenes were not as awful but still awful with her over the top and over excited delivery. I thought she was supposed to be a rich powerful man's daughter and so she must have received education on how to be ladylike and yet she didn't look an ounce the lady she should be. I thought she should be more subdued but arrogantly subdued in an innocent way (meaning she is lady like and she knows she is pretty and rich but doesn't realise that flaunting it hurts others' feelings) whilst Charmaine who was very subdued should be ambigously subdued (meaning is she nice or is she bad kinda ambiguity). Horrible performance.

I saw in the trailers Gigi will later scream and shout and give more bad performances. Can I stand her? I don't know...I am beginning to wonder can I finish my episodic thoughts for this series without asking why on earth TVB cast her in this role? Why on earth cast Charmaine Sheh? Aren't there any other actressess? But must give credit to Charmaine; she's not the worst in here tonight.

By the way, did I see Nikki Chow or someone who sounds like her?

Anyway one great aspect. Not the make up! Some so oily, some so dark, some too much powder, some like those paper dolls we burn for the dead, like red lips, red cheeks, pale skin...urghhh...not even the scenery man! This series boasts the first time TVB filmed inside the Forbidden City (which in itself is very rare also for any series or movies) and yet see so little of the forbidden city. Of course wide open space, huge staircases, red coloured walls BUT somehow can't see the majestif zoom pan of the entire whole courtyard or whatever you call it. Cinematography for this first episode looked hastily set up and bad. The worst was again that river scene where the camera was moving and moving and moving causing me a headache
and I just realised perhaps the cameraman was on a boat when he was filming this scene so that explains the swaying motion. Anyway what a wasted thing you know. I thought if only the first scene, the every first one opens with Sheren walking the huge courtyard of the real Forbidden City at night, like huge place, one single powerful woman accompanied by a lot of people but yet such huge spaces would connote loneliness...what a waste! Maybe they're not allowed to film at night I guess. The Forbidden City looked dirty by the way.

Hopefully where the cinematography and acting fails, the story might actually be better in the next episode.

- For screencaps of this episode do check out Sehseh's WAB page -