EPISODE 12

Please forgive me if I tend to be a bit emotional today because I can't be anything but emotional. I will outline 3 reasons why I am going to be over emotional today..

1. I so hate Yu Fei, that bully!

2. I so hate Yuk Ying, that rat!

3. I so hate Gigi Lai, that woman who really successfully killed the entire show with her really awful horrible despicably bad urghh type of acting.

Ok, let's begin proper.

Onn Sin was about to be raped as she was held down by Ngok Lo Lei and that Ngok's nephew was on top of her when Onn Sin reached the knife by her side and stabbed that nephew. As he fell down in pain and shock, Ngok told Onn Sin if she wanted to kill him, she better do it now because if he lived he will make sure she will suffer for the rest of her life and he will make sure Yu Fei knows of this and he will make sure Yu Fei will make the rest of her life unbearable hell. It was such an ugly scene as Onn Sin pinned down and in fear was beginning to cry as she realised that was the end of everything when suddenly a hand pulled Ngok away from her and it was Hung Mo, who simply took Ngok's head and repeatedly banged his head on the stone table until he died. Then he took the knife and stabbed the nephew coldly and repeatedly until the nephew was dead. Onn Sin was beyond shocked and seeing her hands covered in blood, she began to panic and said she killed people. Hung Mo cooly shook her and said "Onn Sin, I killed them, not you! I killed them!" and he helped her to bury the evidence by throwing both bodies down an abandoned well and covered it. He then told Onn Sin to go back to her room and pretend nothing had ever happened.

Onn Sin went back but for several days she felt guilty eventhough as Hung Mo I would have stabbed those two men twice more for what they did to poor Onn Sin. Since the ghost festival was coming and the palace being a place of gossips and multiple murders of pitiful deaths, many were gripped by fear that the spirits of Chan Fei and many others will return to haunt the palace. So Onn Sin was feeling the tension.

Yu Fei meanwhile was looking for Ngok and when nobody could find him her suspiscion was aroused but she didn't really thought Onn Sin killed him or anything. She summoned Onn Sin and showed to Onn Sin a red coloured long neck tie/scarf and for a moment I thought she was going to ask Onn Sin to hang herself with it. Instead she put it around Onn Sin's neck and said cooly and cruelly that even if Ngok's missing, that did not mean Onn Sin will be let go. Onn Sin begged her to let her be, as "I am but a lowly servant, I have served my masters well, I have never done anything out of line, I just wish to go home to my grandmother, please have mercy on my life" but Yu Fei simply refused and emphasised that "Even if Ngok's missing, don't you worry. I will find another eunuch as your husband but I can't guarantee you this eunuch will be of better quality than Ngok Lo Lei!" and all Onn Sin could do was weep in fear.

Basically what Yu Fei meant is she will find someone more foul, more despicable if Onn Sin refused to co-operate.

Anyway Bak Yeung was in the medical dept with his father when eunuch Tsui came in and said to Bak Yeung to help deliver a letter to Yee Soon. Bak Yeung was reluctant to be an accomplice but Eunuch Tsui in a way blackmailed him by saying he can't guarantee he could be of much help if senior Suen's corrupted ways were made public. Bak Yeung sulkily took the letter and placed it into the medical books and eunuch Tsui was very pleased.

I must stop here. I still do not think Senior Suen was ever a corrupt official. He simply didn't look like it since he was such an honourable man. But Bak Yeung believed it so.

So Bak Yeung took the letter to Yee Soon who was looking forward to Bak Yeung's visit. Yee Soon looked at the letter and apologised to Bak Yeung for putting him through such troubles. Bak Yeung sat down and seriously said to Yee Soon "I do not know what your godfather wants you to do this time but you must be careful. You can't be always that lucky like that night and you must remember that", and Bak Yeung left whilst Yee Soon looked...well she looked..well she had a look but due to Charmaine Sheh's rather poor expressive acting, I simply didn't know what that meant. Was it regret? Agreement? Sad? Well whatever.

Bak Yeung then bumped into Yuk Ying who was holding soem flowers and deliberately dropped one stalk of flower onto the floor and Bak Yeung picked it up for her. Yuk Ying teased "Visiting your lover again doctor?" and Bak Yeung simply smiled and admitted he saw Yee Soon. Yuk Ying tried to up Bak Yeung one notch by observing that he was very pretentious and could pretend so well about Yee Soon and himself (I seriously doubt she actually believed they were having an affair) and Bak Yeung simply smiled and looked at her and said "Well I can't say I could be anymore pretentious than yourself madam. You could play your little game with Yu Fei, as I can see you must have been picking up flowers for Yu Fei since that's her favourite flower. But you must remember, Yu Fei intends only to use you to her advantage" and Yuk Ying triumphantly said "Yu Fei trusts me and I am her favourite person, she wouldn't know who is using who" but Bak Yeung said "Well did you know his Majesty is returning to the palace in 2 days time?" Yuk Ying was shocked since clearly she didn't know and Bak Yeung said "Why..didn't Yu Fei told you?" and then he left, with Yuk Ying feeling not so smug anymore since Yu Fei clearly didn't trust her.

Yuk Ying then went to see Onn Sin who was busy thinking about what happened previously. Tried as she might, Onn Sin refused to tell Yuk Ying why she looked so worried. Yuk Ying put on the innocent act of being extra helpful and told Onn Sin she can tell her problems to her anytime as she was sure she can help. I felt like vomiting looking at that pretentious Yuk Ying and the horrible acting by Gigi Lai who would have sucked 10 big oxigen tanks with the way she delivered her lines. If I talked like her I would have died of overdose of exigen intake into my lungs because she really breathed that much in such a short space of time.

Meanwhile the rumours of Chan Fei's ghost was back was getting worse and worse. Po Shim and fellow eunuchs were suddenly attacked by crows, a very bad sign and fear was sky high. And Yu Fei was very angry when she found out Chan Fei's name was included into the list of dead persons to be prayed for as she once said no one was allowed to pray or burn incense on behalf of Chan Fei. I mean woman! She's dead! Can't you let her soul rest in peace? BUT NOOOOOO..Yu Fei said nooooo but Po Shim secretly went to Chan Fei's room and burn incense when suddenly a flock of crows flew by and the white neck scarf dropped down from where Chan Fei was hanged and then Po Shim saw a shadow sitting on Chan Fei's bed she quickly panicked and said "It was Yu Fei who ordered for your death, Yu Fei! Not me! Not Me!" and the the door opened and Yu Fei walked it and slapped Po Shim and told her mouth to shut up and dragged her out whilst she walked in and observed the surroundings. His eunuch saw the shadow too on the bed and Yu Fei was so angry she walked towards the bed and it was only a dummy wearing Chan Fei's clothes. Yu Fei knew then somebody set this up and was determined to find out who.

Meanwhile Onn Sin went to the well and offered prayers for the two dead guys. She begged them to let her be and hoped their souls will rest. But someone was there observing her and that was Miss Hyperventilated Yuk Ying.

Meanwhile the emperor and empress returned to the palace and the empress met with the Tap Yings, concubines and Yu Fei and expressed her displeasure that Onn Sin should ever be married during that month. Just so you know Yu Fei must obtain the Empress' consent to marry off Onn Sin and the Empress won't agree since it was ghost festival month, not a good time for marriage. But Yu Fei said she was doing this to reward her faithful servant and Onn Sin wanted it anyway. But the Empress said let it be for now but Yu Fei arrogantly said "I can't do that. If dear sister refused to give your consent, I will have no choice but to seek consent from his Majesty". The Empress could not say anything more. But that scene was like a direct challenge to the Empress as Yu Fei clearly did not give face to the Empress in front of everybody.

Yu Fei was very angry once back in her room and in her mind she thought why would the Empress defend a nobody like Onn Sin and questioned her actions and she concluded Onn Sin was not only same gang as Tsui but also the Empress, all wanting to defeat her. Here I was thinking "Yu Fei you bitchy bully, if you had been a kind gentle soul maybe nobody would want to drive you to doing these dirty deeds!

Anyway Yuk Ying meanwhile pretentiously went to see Yu Fei and cried how she was worried about Onn Sin as she saw her praying by the well and saying something like Ngok and something something. Yu Fei immediately ordered her men to check the well.

Meanwhile Hung Mo dragged Onn Sin away and said the secret will be out soon but he has arranged for transport and everything for her to leave the palace now and he was dragging her away. Same scene the eunuchs found Ngok and his nephew in the well. Back to Hung Mo, Chan Song came to Onn Sin and said Hung Mo did what he did because he loved her and Hung Mo told Chan Song to shut up. But Onn Sin looked at Hung Mo and said she knew his intentions but no way she could run out of the palace. Hung Mo said everybody will be too busy looking at the fireworks to notice her but Onn Sin refused to run and said "I can't drag you down, I can't. I will surrender myself and I will confess to the killings. Please take care of my grandma for me" but Hung Mo refused to let her go when the eunuchs arrived and arrested them both together with Chan Song.

Back to well scene, the eunuchs were shocked to find a 3rd body in the well in the form of skeletons. Ahhhh who was that? Intrigue, suspense..a well full of dead bodies!

Onn Sin was brought before Yu Fei and she was kneeling before her and Yu Fei said to Onn Sin she should not be stupid. But Onn Sin said "Please punish me, Hung Mo has nothing to do with this. He was just trying to help me leave. Please punish me instead and have mercy on him" but Yu Fei said "There are many ways I can make you suffer without punishing you..." and Onn Sin realised the threat and tearfully begged "Please my grandma is old, please let her be, please punish me instead" but Yu Fei said "You know what I want. I shall ask you again...who did Eunuch Tsui placed amongst the Tap Ying? Don't be stupid! Answer me!" but Onn Sin just looked at the floor and didn't know what to do when Yu Fei reminded her about her grandma and Onn Sin the surrendered and was about to reveal who when the announcement came that the Empress has arrived.

Tomorrow we shall know what happened and something bad will happen to the arrogant Yuk Ying! Somebody upped her this time!!

Wahhhhhh so suspenseful! I am so glad the Empress came on time. Question now is who is that 3rd body?? Couldn't be someone Yu Fei killed since she wouldn't order a search at the very place that she dumped a body!

Anyway I can't see how Hung Mo could fall for this bully called Yu Fei nor how anyone could be her friend. She is so despicable, so ruthless and what she did to Onn Sin was so unforgivable. Yuk Ying also as she sold Onn Sin out to gain Yu Fei's trust so that Yu Fei will allow her to get near the Emperor. Where' s the integrity?!

Onn Sin shown with integrity and honour tonight although she almost blabbed out Yee Soon. I really like Onn Sin even more after tonight. What a character! In a moment of 5 minutes she had to go through fear, anger, pain, disbelief, think and then fear again. I was asked why Maggie Cheung in this role, why not Charmaine Sheh or Gigi Lai? Well I can say besides Yu Fei, Onn Sin is really the most difficult chracter to portray and anyone with any lesser acting skills will kill this character. Luckily Maggie Cheung did not disappoint. Her scene with Sheren Teng's equally well portrayed Yu Fei was full of tension and fear and has my vote as the best scene, that one towards the end.

Another shocker of a character is Hung Mo and Chan Song as well. They are so loyal to their friends and Hung Mo so fearless in defending Onn Sin that their story is very intriguing and touching as well. I really like Hung Mo after tonight for being so protective of Onn Sin and I applauded that he stabbed those 2 creeps. Even Chan Song is so brave and so outspoken. What characters we have in this series!

Yuk Ying is despicable. I hate her! Yu Fei! I hate YOUUUUUUU!!!

Performance wise, let me say Rebecca Chan looked so beautiful with her really glamorous looking costume and head gear. The best costume! And her sparring with Yu Fei was magnificent to watch and I think she did the role justice. I must add I look forward to the Empress teaching Yu Fei a lesson or two, because Yu Fei must be taught a lesson.

Sheren Teng was magnificent but she still has very little to do except to be angry and suspiscious of everybody, thinking even Onn Sin was out to get her. Oh pleaseeeee..don't think so highly of yourself lar! Maybe Onn Sin shouldn't have helped Yee Soon because thus far Yee Soon has yet to do anything to repay Onn Sin for helping her that night. Quite ungrateful this Yee Soon.

Yee Soon is not that bad a person though, compared to Yuk Ying. Very passive tonight, Charmaine Sheh had little to do and she didn't do them too well. Her acting was below par, very inadequate as I can't read her expression. Yuk Ying should be the one who we can't read her expression but thanks to Gigi Lai, she has "Pretentious" etched in her forehead when her Yuk Ying is pretentious or "LIAR" when she was lying, etc etc etc.

Gigi Lai was simply so oh my god type of acting as in wahhhhhh oh my god, can she get any worse? Well tonight she managed to upped her standard of bad acting. Must she be so over the top?

Bowie Lam was magnificent tonight. Subtle, playful, sarcastic, he did them all very well.

The veterans did well too, a special mention to the actor who played Ngok Lo Lei, one disgusting character.

The actress who played Po Shim whose name escaped me right now is ok for a secondary supporting actor.

Moses Chan and Wai Kah Hung were in top form, especially Moses Chan for his standard of acting. He's not a great actor but he has great chemistry with Maggie Cheung and tonight he delivers a decent performance. Really like his Hung Mo.

Last but not least, what more can I say about Maggie Cheung that I have not said since episode 1? Oh yeah, hide that mole! That mole on her upper lips really spoiled her good looks but acting wise, Maggie totally saved the show with her excellent performance. Her character may be passive at times but in such a short time her character had to go through so much expressions and emotions, Maggie did Onn Sin justice. Anybody else may do better but definitely not the other 2 in this series. I can't wait to see how she would scheme her way to the Emperor's heart, since it is already episode 12 and she's still a maid.

If you want a conclusion to what I think about tonight's episode, fans of Onn Sin and Maggie Cheung MUST NOT miss this episode. In fact fan of anybody must not miss tonight's excellent episode. I feel so much pity and fear for Onn Sin.

Ooohhhhhh I HATE YUK YING AND YU FEI!

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