One of the most irritable roles ever written by TVB has to go to Roxanne Tong's. My god. She's horrible. Her acting is so stiff. Her character makes no sense. She gets away with so many things just because her mother was a revered cop. Talk about nepotism. On top of that, she defies her superior's orders and follows whatever cases she wants to. She constantly follows Ruco Chan and Mandy Wong around, harassing them and invading their privacies. She makes ridiculous assumptions about them based on her prejudice and hunches, instead of doing anything substantial. She's like a pesky fly that won't go away. It's so so frustrating to watch.
Great casting, especially Edward Ma and the older casts. The leads did a phenomenal job too. The biggest praise I have for this show is the acting and casting so definitely watch it for that. As for the plot. there's some overused tropes like tycoons at heads with their heirs, characters with photographic memories, etc. Perhaps I heard great buzz about this show so I came in with too high expectations regarding the plot so by the end, I was just... whelmed. It was still an enjoyable watch.Vincent and Tavia lacked chemistry as the main couple. Matt and Priscilla and even Vincent and Rosina had way better chemistry. By the end, I'm still wondering does Tavia even love Vincent? Or is it more of gratitude? There's so many things that I wish were more developed, like Matthew Ho's feelings for Tavia, Samuel's son, Griselda's story. But instead we kept seeing the same flashbacks over and over. Some flashbacks were crucial. Others, they kept replaying it every episode it got to the point of hindering the viewing process.Perhaps I'm sounding harsh but I do recommend this. It's pretty short at only 25 episodes.
I just came here to say that there’s absolutely ZERO romance and chemistry between Tavia and Vincent. Absolutely…
I agree! Vincent and Rosina made such a good couple. Their chemistry was sparking despite both of them having ulterior motives lol. Vincent and Tavia's romance felt forced
Came in curious to see how the director can gaslight the audience into thinking the main character's official girlfriend is crazy and in the wrong so he has an excuse to leave her and get together with the female lead. Somehow I still became infuriated despite already guessing the plot based on the synopsis. The girlfriend is the biggest victim here compared to the unfaithful, gaslighting boyfriend and his homewrecker lover. Yet the director managed to make the girlfriend appear insane and unreasonable and the two main characters were "forced" into their situations, giving them the perfect opportunities to cheat. Am I supposed to root for the female lead aka the homewrecker? Because I am positive that's what the director is trying to achieve. The ending is set up to be romantic and you're supposed to cheer for the main couple. But I cannot forget the agony they put the girlfriend through, and how they nearly ruined her life. What an absolutely mess of a show.
When will we stop getting paranoid, overemotional, loud, clueless female characters. It's always juxtaposed with a male lead that is calm, clever, and collected. I'm so tired of the misogyny that allows male writers and directors to create shows and write characters like this. It's so apparent in the 2000s.
I wish Jessica was more manipulative and clever in her methods. She started off very interesting but mellowed out halfway through. Her mind games with Bowie Lam would've been very interesting to watch, but unfortunately Bowie was always one step ahead and she turned into a damsel in distress where Michael Tao had to keep coming in to save her. It got exhausting. The series had a great build up but the writers suffered from weak female character writing syndrome.
The show could've been cut down by 5 episodes. It's too long-winded. But great performances by everyone throughout and I appreciate the originality. A good thriller to kill time, but not worth your full dedication, especially the first 1/3 of the show.
This show is okay if you just turn your brain off and wanna see some rich people being nasty to each other and it's played by an assemble cast. For me, it was hard to enjoy the blatant sexism through modern lens. Why is every other line in the dialogue a gender generalization? "All women are ____." "A man must do this _____." "A smart woman is one that stands behind a man." Look, I get it's from 2007 but does the director have something he wants to say? Because EVERY SINGLE EPISODE has these lines and it's said by every character. It obviously came from one person's mind when every character starts preaching the same way.
The cast has great chemistry. Such a silly and simple premise but it works so well. The show is hilarious in all its campiness; it never takes itself too seriously. The murder cases are surprisingly well done. The show actually has a lot of heart in some moments. A fun time enjoyable for the whole family.
I completely agree with you that Gallen's 2nd wife Ka-Bik was the worst character. I was waiting for her to get her karma but nothing ended up happening to her (besides losing her 2 kids). She gets to live a normal life with her daughter-in-law and grandchild. She was by faaaar the worst character. At least Him Law was evil and everyone knew that. But Ka-Bik was treated as if she was a saint. I hated how the show did not acknowledge all the heinous things she did, and acted as if all her sins were absolved because she tried to took the blame for Him (which the police did nothing about).
Benz and Charmaine's characters were disappointing too. Neither of them did anything like you said. I was waiting for them to pull something scheming but amazing and satisfying, but it never happened. They were wasted in these roles.
King Maker is SEVERELY UNDERRATED. Nearly nobody talks about it. I find it much, much more riveting than TVB's more popular historical dramas such as Beyond the Realm of Conscience and Curse of the Royal Harem. The acting by the veterans are absolutely superb (Wayne Lai, Kent Cheng, Kingdom Yuen, Shek Sau, Florence Kwok, Krystal Tin, Lee Kwok Lun). The younger casts carry their weight very well too (Pierre Ngo, Chris Lai, Natalie Tong, Elaine Yiu, Patrick Tang, Eric Li and Sammy Sum).
I had to list a lot of the actors because they all played their roles so well. They are all memorable and stand out from each other. It doesn't matter if an actor is playing an ignorant or playful character; they never feel like cannon fodder or less important than the much more scheming ones. You just feel the tensity and the passion of every scene through the screen.
Each character has their own story and motives but the story never felt convoluted or messy. The plot plays out so unpredictability that you can never guess what's going to happen next. You care so much about the characters, evil or bad and you're just looking forward to see what they'll do or say next. Every line has hidden meanings. The ending is perfect. A lot of reunion scenes brought tears to my eyes while during confrontation scenes, whether it's with a large crowd or 1v1 bickering, I get chills.
Absolutely check it out if you love political dramas or fight for power or have a liking for intelligent and morally ambiguous characters.
Too many flashbacks. Every episode has a flashback and sometimes it's scenes we saw from the episode before. Pretty annoying. It's just filler time for the show to reach 20 episodes.
The arc about Katy Kung's grandpa's death was strange. I get it's to give Katy's character more backstory but how are we as audiences supposed to care about a character we saw for like 30 seconds of screen time.
Surprisingly enjoyable. The settings and mystery are very well done. No disappointment from veteran actors. Was expecting this to be long-winded but it had very enjoyable for a recent TVB period drama.
I explained the ending here if anyone has questions. Be aware it contains spoilers.
I believe young bc we see LQS slowly walk into Obsidian as an elder then de-age to young as soon as he meets RNZ meaning he's decided to stay with RNZ and that will be his new life, "a new beginning" type of thing.
Non-symbolically speaking, LQS recreated the game so it makes sense he would make himself young to match with RNZ lol. Also the book mentions people appear differently inside & outside the doors so it's not too far of a stretch to believe LQS returned to his youthful appearance in the game.
omg this is such a good explanation! i hate the ending so much, though because lingling can only enter the world…
Yes. It's a bittersweet ending considering when LQS met RNZ again he was 70 something. But on the bright side, the show mentioned 15 minutes in the real world is like months or years?? in the game world so I believe LQS and RNZ have plenty of time together :)
Idk is it my sub sucks or what, please those who understand mandarin tell meIs it Lin Qiushi or Ling Jiushi? Or…
In the original novel, it's Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu. One of the actors also confirmed they used the novel's names when filming. However it was dubbed over with Ling Jiushi and Ruan Lanzhu to get past censorship.
Benz and Charmaine's characters were disappointing too. Neither of them did anything like you said. I was waiting for them to pull something scheming but amazing and satisfying, but it never happened. They were wasted in these roles.
I had to list a lot of the actors because they all played their roles so well. They are all memorable and stand out from each other. It doesn't matter if an actor is playing an ignorant or playful character; they never feel like cannon fodder or less important than the much more scheming ones. You just feel the tensity and the passion of every scene through the screen.
Each character has their own story and motives but the story never felt convoluted or messy. The plot plays out so unpredictability that you can never guess what's going to happen next. You care so much about the characters, evil or bad and you're just looking forward to see what they'll do or say next. Every line has hidden meanings. The ending is perfect. A lot of reunion scenes brought tears to my eyes while during confrontation scenes, whether it's with a large crowd or 1v1 bickering, I get chills.
Absolutely check it out if you love political dramas or fight for power or have a liking for intelligent and morally ambiguous characters.
The arc about Katy Kung's grandpa's death was strange. I get it's to give Katy's character more backstory but how are we as audiences supposed to care about a character we saw for like 30 seconds of screen time.
Non-symbolically speaking, LQS recreated the game so it makes sense he would make himself young to match with RNZ lol. Also the book mentions people appear differently inside & outside the doors so it's not too far of a stretch to believe LQS returned to his youthful appearance in the game.