Grace Under Fire: Review

Cast:
Mok Gwai Lan – Liu Xuan
Lui Ching Lung- Bosco Wong
Yau Sam Sui- Kenneth Ma
Kwai Fa- Fala Chen
Wong Fei Hung- John Chiang
Lui Kong- Dominic Lam
Tong Yuet Hang- Elliot Yue
Mr. Tsui- Eddie Kwan
Wong Hon Yik- Raymond Wong

The Nitty-Gritty:
Years ago, Lui Kong was a renowned martial artist in Guangzhou until he was challenged and defeated by Wong Fei Hung. Subsequently, as a result of his loss, after being forced out of Guangzhou, Lui Kong faced a series of calamities along with his son Lui Ching Lung traveling the countryside and blames his misfortune all upon Fei Hung. He returns back to Guangzhou 20 years later to exact revenge on Fei Hung with the aid of an old friend,the ambitious and unscrupulous politician Tong Yuet Hang, who also views Fei Hung as an obstacle in his path in trying to control the masses. On the other hand, Mok Kwai Lan is a simple 18 year old girl who develops an interest in martial arts and together with her brother, Yau Sam Shui, hope to one day become Fei Hung's disciples. Eventually they encounter and becomes friends with Lung as well as Kwai Fa, a money hungry girl who attempts to climb her way up the social ladder by marrying rich men and cheating them of their money. Kwai Lan eventually falls in love with 60 year old Fei Hung and even marries him. Sam Shui, however, is quite unfortunate and always seems to get the short end of the stick. After being thrown into jail and beaten up after being wrongfully charged with murder, he is also betrayed by most of his community as well as some of his closest friends. This sets him upon the road of madness as he turns into a villain who uses all sorts of despicable and inhuman means to achieve his ends.

The Theme Songs:
"Do Cheung Bat Yap" by Elisa Chan was a pretty decent song to match with the opening screen captures and got me kind of excited for the episodes to come. I listened to the full version and it's not quite as good as the theme song cut version. The intro to the full song is too long.

"Hui Jian" by Liu Xuan is just ok. It didn't get me particularly enticed or anything. Moreover, I was a bit disappointed with her live performance of the song which was posted on Hyn5's blog. Maybe she was nervous?

Review/Thoughts:
To be honest, it was kind of hard getting to episode 7 simply because the story was so boring up until then. I persisted because I loved the cast and these time period Guangzhou dramas and so I held out hoping for something good to come out, and it did! Episode 7 was when things finally started getting exciting. I really enjoyed watching the development in the relationship between Raymond and John during episodes 7-9 and how it slowly influenced Bosco's view of John as well.

Unfortunately, many good things come to an end and the script and plot seemed to just simultaneously commit suicide together for the episodes nearing the finale and the finale. Basically, after Liu Xuan was kicked out of Guangzhou by Dominic was about the time when things took a turn for the worse. It was disappointing too because I expected so much more out of the plot and Kenneth's character. Well, let's just say I won't be too surprised if it doesn't perform too well at TVB's anniversary awards.

The Characters:

Mok Gwai Lan – Liu Xuan
Contrary to what a lot of people apparently thought, I didn't mind the dubbing of her voice or her acting. In fact, I think she did a pretty good job and I can't imagine anyone else playing Mok Kwai Lan as this innocent girl as well as she did. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't dislike her acting and I look forward to seeing her in more dramas in the future.







Lui Ching Lung- Bosco Wong
I really liked his character and definitely do not think that he underacted. Lui Ching Lung is semi-autistic so it made sense that he portrayed the character the way he did. I cherished his on-screen time and chemistry that he had with nearly every character. I'm disappointed though that his character was greatly overshadowed by Kenneth's character, or at least in screen time to depict character development.




Yau Sam Sui- Kenneth Ma
I didn't like his character from the outset simply because of Sam Shui's refusal to own up to his mistakes and his immaturity. His lack of ability to rationally make a decision or think before leaping seemed to be particularly lacking. Nevertheless, what I didn't like was the character itself not how it was written (once again, except towards the end). Despite my dislike of Sam Shui, I truly did feel sorry for him with the way he was treated throughout the story. The most depressing part was when he comes back to work at Fook Yue Kui and something goes missing in the cash register and instantly all his old friends betray him and suspect that he stole the cash because he was a jailbird. Thus, I truly did understand why he became so cunning, manipulative, and eventually evil. What I didn't like was how TVB sped through everything and Kenneth started committing crimes left and right or the way he treated people in the finale. It seemed a bit sudden and instead of being convinced that he was evil, I thought he was insane. All his unscrupulous actions to achieve a means to an end, I understand. But based on his character development, I don't think they provided enough support or development enough to make Kenneth do all those extra unnecessary acts of "evil" such as the maltreatment of his family.


Wong Fei Hung- John Chiang
I liked how he portrayed Wong Fei Hung but sometimes it's a bit difficult to see his character as a good guy because I'm so used to seeing him play the villain role. There were several scenes in the series where he looked shady as heck but we all know that he's a good guy.








Lui Kong- Dominic Lam
As usual, Dominic portrays the antagonist very well. I think I'm equally as frustrated by his character in GUF as I was in FOS. Dominic is just able to portray that "I know I'm screwing with you but I don't care how you feel because I'm badass" look that just succeeds in frustrating me every time he's on screen. Still, I really enjoyed the few episodes where he returns but decides to let go of all past enmities because of his attempt to convert to Christianity. It's a shame he's so gullible. Also, I don't think he did quite enough to atone for his crimes. I mean.... he killed Law Lok Lam (I would write about him dying but everyone's already done it with the whole "5 deaths in 24 hours" thing) and basically led to Wong Fei Hung's death. I don't get how he is allowed to simply prance around Po Chi Lam without properly saying sorry, I'm not sure if he even said sorry, in the last three episodes simply because he "saw the error of his ways". Also, his character turned extremely corny in the last three episodes. Otherwise, he's a very successful antagonist.


Tong Yuet Hang- Elliot Yue
This guy is pretty friggin evil. The main thing that defined his evil character was when he had the serum but refused to distribute it and allowed thousands of people to die as a result simply because he wanted to look like a hero with all the serum. Ha! Good thing his plan failed. Bad thing that many people died. Still, despite his evil character, I don't think his character deserved to be treated the way it was treated by Kenneth. The only times he really lashed out at Kenneth was when Kenneth was already consciously committing acts of treachery and deception so it's not like he contributed that much more to Kenneth's further descent into darkness.

Kwai Fa- Fala Chen
As big as a Fala fan that I am, I don't think her role was too special in this drama. Her chemistry with Bosco was pretty cute though. :D

Mr. Tsui- Eddie Kwan
Is it just me, or is it difficult to make out what he's saying sometimes? Otherwise, solid performance by another veteran TVB actor.

Wong Hon Yik- Raymond Wong
Didn't like him until episodes 7-9. Before those episodes, I REALLY didn't like his character. Gotta support filial piety, right? ;)

Highlights:
1)Dominic Lam's portrayal of Lui Kong (before the last 6 episodes)
2)Bosco and Fala's relationship
3)Raymond and John's father-son relationship despite how short it was
4)Liu Xuan's scenes chasing down Oscar Leung the kidnapper (AKA Siu Hau). Their run and chase thing reminded me of cartoons like Tom and Jerry. It was pretty entertaining and I'm glad he became such a loyal disciple later on.
5)Ah Chuen! I'm not sure if you'll remember him but he's the guy who ended up dying in jail because of lung/heart disease? I loved how kind his character was so unconditionally kind to everyone and didn't bother too much considering himself as much as he did others. Helped Bosco and his father so much!

Rating:
3/5. If it wasn't for the crappy beginning and the "climax" towards the last six episodes this would have gotten a 4. So disappointed. Still really enjoyed episodes 7-26 though!