Yay to creepy and mysterious themed dramas! I have always liked such drama themes. So currently I’ve only watched till episode 4 and I have started to like it. The first two episode under the story ‘梦’ wasn’t impressive to me. It was exciting at some point in time but excitement level went into a flat line again... I would assume that it was an opening to show how Siu (Joel Chan) has this connection to his past life through his dreams. But it was a little too draggy by the some what random robbery case and a murder case in the prostitute house. And I was bored out of some unnecessary conversation going on which was a tad bit too long...
Episode 2 to 4 was way more interesting compared to the first two. I liked how Candice Chiu portrayed the mother that lost her child. That story for ‘婴’ kept me really curious as to what Mrs Ho wanted and the paranoia that the baby’s mother went through was so pitiful. Even though there were a lot of conversational scenes on some baby care methods, i think it was necessary for them to show the transition of how the baby’s mother trusted Mrs Ho to starting to suspect her weird behaviors. Now i’m looking forward to the other stories and now how they ended episode 4 with a flight turbulence!
The next story “娃” was interesting too. What started off as an uncomfortable involvement with dolls for men’s pleasure ended up to be a sad story about how a father felt so lonely after his daughter grew up. But this episode is filled with so much jokes that are so not for children.. 🙂 Anyway kudos for having an interracial couple and the first I’ve seen in a hk drama. Speaks so much about being accepting and diverse.
Following that was “鴉烏” (is it on purpose that they put the name the other way round? Or should I be reading it from right to left instead...) which has a pretty sad ending. Deep meanings in this story... the pressure from society and high expectations from parents on kids nowadays are really prevalent. The moment Tung-Tung said he didn’t want to grow up to face the hardship as an adult related to me so much. It was sad to see everyone losing their memory about Tung-Tung and finally even Tung-Tung himself losing his memory about his parents.
“異夢” was refreshing because it finally brought us back to the past to understand more about their past life (if there is some reincarnation thingy going on). It was so cool to see the opposite of what was happening like how it was Sis Coco dreaming of future Siu while in present life was Siu dreaming of Coco. And also Law Lan Jeh’s cameo!!! The lesbian case was ordinary but I guess it was necessary to link up the stolen $ and the release of Brother Hung.
Finally I got my question answered in these episodes. During Tung-Tung’s case, I was wondering so much on why Tung-Tung’s parent didn’t bat an eyelid when Alex came in to find out why they were arguing so loud. It felt like Alex wasn’t there at all... and I finally found my answer at the end of “洞”. Is Alex dead??? Mmmmm. Have to watch on I guess. Anyway, IMO, there wasn’t much of a supernatural thing going on in “洞”... (other than the fact that the hole in the wall was the creepy element to it) I guess there was an inspirational message going on throughout the story of pursuing one’s dream like how Mia finally found her calling and decided to put in effort in achieving what she wanted. Of course it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of that guy {forgot that guy’s name.. shall call him chicken little like how Siu called him}. Chicken Little was the one who made Mia realize her goal in life despite been an annoying keyboard warrior his whole life...
Next was “金丁” which was the weirdest shit story ever... I was totally baffled at the entire story with that weird ass theory of getting happiness after sleeping with that guy... I think this was the worst story ever that I have nothing to say about it..
Yuki Jeh is actually very pretty!! Her “美魔女” story was interesting because it linked back to her mum in the past. So we get to toggle back and forth between past and present to see the reason for her obsession with beauty. Too bad Yuki Jeh went bonkers till the end.. I wasn’t expecting her to use the cotton wool to wipe it on her face when Shui left 😅
DR POONNNN! Like everyone else, I was anticipating and waiting and waiting for Dr Poon to appear and there she is!!! But she appeared for such a short duration :( Anyway, the story of “Simone” was so cute!!!! I really like the part when they enter the gaming story. The augmented reality they were in was so interesting! And the story really shows how scary technology can be in our digital world. The manifestation of technology, especially in the world of augmented and virtual reality, can be dangerous where our personal data are constantly being collected for other purposes... the love story was just an added feature.. Hahahah KELLY CHEUNG was gorgeous!! And that Big White Duel reference there was cool! Plus also, they were finally revealing the ultimate story behind Siu, Alex, Fai and Coco. Teacher Lam is super mysterious and I’m really wondering what is that “thing” that he refers to suspiciously.
Last story!! 夢遊. Okay actually I’m only till the last second episode. Wow mind blown. They actually came up with some sci-fi thingy where you’d have to almost drown to time travel...? Okay that was out of the blue.. and omg don’t tell me Lam Gor Zai is some cat demon that kills people.
Finished Barrack O’ Karma and I was a little confused at the ending and also annoyed at the fact that they spent a whole 3-5 mins nearing the end to show flashbacks other then providing us with a little more details for the story.
Instead of looking at Lam Gor Zai being a real cat demon or some sort, I would rather view Lam Gor Zai suffering from mental illness as a result. His horrible past (the sacrificial burial) might caused him to suffer from PTSD and resulted in him having DID (dissociative identity disorder) hence the “cat demon”. The cat demon was the other personality he had that harms people. Just like M. Night Shyamalan’s Split movie starring James McAvoy having 24 split personalities, the “Beast” was just one of the personality that goes around harming people.
The final ending was the confusing part. Initially, the part where Coco and Siu (who time traveled) were almost dying on the boat, I thought that if Coco were to die and Siu to survive, Siu would not drown in the present time and Alex would have been declared dead from the missing flight. And if Coco were to survive and Siu to die, Alex would have survived in the present time and found from the missing flight while Siu would have drowned in the water tank. Boy was I wrong... instead, I would think that for Siu to time travel and have altered the past, it has created a whole new dimension in the present where characters we have seen had a whole new story in their lives but yet a striking similarity to what we have seen in the past episodes. (e.g Mia who is now a star with that chicken little who may have a special connection to her, Yuki Jeh who is now blind and unable to “appreciate” the beauty she has, Tung-tung who is now with his family and his dad a common bus driver etc.) As for Alex, she is now (coincidentally still) a flight attendant while Siu now a pilot. The eye contact and tears in their eyes may have brought forth the familiarity both had for each other just like how Alex said that she felt this homey feeling when entering Twilight Mansion and that it felt as if she had been here the whole time.
Oh there was this weird scene where we see Lam Gor Zai and the older version of him (played by Lau Kong) carrying on to Lan Po. Seriously confused by this... I need some explanations here... That was so out of the blue...
Overall, I really enjoyed myself watching this drama with every subplot and ultimately the main story on reincarnation and time travel. Kudos! Looking forward to the sequel which has been green-lit!
One of the more controversial episode. The audience was more divided when it comes to the ending.
A brief recap of the episode: A family of 3 is living in a tiny apartment. The Dad works as a bus driver, while the Mom works as a sales person. Their son Tung Tung is 8 years old. The Mom wants their son to get a good education, so he can go to a good school & find a nice job. Because of this the parents work hard to make money, and schedule an interview with a prestigious school for their son. Tung Tung does not get in. As a result of that the Mom and Dad get into a huge fight over the financial situation, their sons education, and how they ruined each other’s lives. Unknowingly, they don’t realize theirs fights over this effected their son. Tung Tung starts to fear over his future. He’s scared of letting his parents down. Scared that he would amount to nothing. Tung Tung starts feeling depressed over the situation and believes with him gone, things would get better. A mysterious crow shows up and captures “Tung Tung”. The crow makes everyone forget about his existence. The parents managed to find him, but he refuses to go home. Tung Tung doesn’t want to be a burden to them. The crow makes the parents forget about him as well. It ends with the Mom and Dad still together and happily moving out of their tiny apartment. With a sign that the Dad still remembers Tung Tung.
So the controversial side of this story, is it ending with the son basically gone. This alludes to a modern day suicide. People seem to be angry about how it was “glamourizing” suicide. Since it ends with the parents still together & in love while moving out. In a way shows that with Tung Tung dying the parents did live a happier & better life. Another reason is that since Tung Tung is 8, so his reasoning of wanting to disappear because he fears for the future, is a badly written reason, along with him being too young to think that way.
Tung Tung being 8, doesn’t change a thing. Age doesn’t matter when it comes to suicide. Yes, he’s too young to “understand”. But that’s real life. We do have 8 year olds, 10 years old, 12 years old who are choosing to leave this world. These kids don’t think life will get better. Their minds don’t think the way we do. Tung Tung always felt alone & with his parents working, no one ever realized how sad he is. They never once asked what he wanted. They just wanted him to follow what they think it’s best. And that’s the reality. For kids, depression is like they are stuck in a maze and they can’t find a way out. And they believe the only solution is to “go away”. Tung Tung witnessed the fights his parents always had. So no, I don’t believe it’s unreasonable for Tung Tung to be scared of the future. I don’t think it’s badly written that he chose to not go home. He seriously believes life would be better without him. Yes, he’s 8. Yes, he’s young. But age doesn’t stop you from getting depression.
The parents still love each other whether you believe it or not. The Dad obviously still has feelings for the Mom. While the Mom felt the same way. The problem is, the Mom got so caught up of wanting to leave the “poor life”. She chose to ignore everything else. She made herself believe that she didn’t marry out of love but because of her surprise pregnancy. And because of that she grew resentment. She hated having to deal with attitude with her customers, but she had to put up with it for money. She lives in a tiny rented apartment. She and her husband can’t afford to live in a better place. It’s normal for her to feel bitter & think her husband was the cause of this. It’s just unfortunate she didn’t realize that money isn’t everything. There’s a small flashback scene in the end, where it shows her living happily with her son (from a day old to turning 8) and husband back in the olden days. During those days, they didn’t have much money either. And guess what? She was happy spending her days with her family. She didn’t realize that, although they had to work hard for money. She was living a relatively good life. Her husband was not a burden to her. That’s why in the end even without Tung Tung, she stayed with her husband. Because even without her child, she still has feelings for her husband. And it showed her still happy with him. This shows Tung Tung was not why she chose to to be with the Dad back then. People see the Dad as a “loser” cause his job isn’t as good as his wife. That’s not what I see. The Dad may not have a spiffy job, but he works hard & genuinely cares and loves his family. And that’s what matters most. They were poor but they did make the best of out of it back then. But she stopped seeing it that way.
All in all. I liked the ending. It is very morbid of course. Since Tung Tung disappearing is a euphemism for death. But it’s very realistic. Parents don’t always understand the amount of pressure they put on their child. Depression can hit anyone at anytime. Suicide is a topic people are usually scared to approach. So the way they did in this episode is interesting. Not everything ends with a happily ever after. Though I do have an inkling of belief that the last episodes might show an epilogue. So maybe it won’t be a sad ending? Maybe there’s a twist? Well that’s the end of my rant. Usually I agree with the complaints but not this time.
as of recent, go ahead (以家人之名) is one of my favorite mainland dramas. I highly recommend watching it. I also really liked lost romance (浪漫輸給你) up to a certain point, and I’ll probably finish it now that it’s over. I have many favorite cdramas but down with love (就想賴著妳) and barrack o’karma (金宵大廈) are two that I actually rewatch often