A Review of 'Rosy Business'

Wow, I've been far behind due to an overload of things. But here as promised, a review of 'Rosy Business.' Again, just for precaution, this is a review so of course there are going to be SPOILERS! Also, because I rent movies, all/most of the following pictures will come from the last 3 episodes of the series. So beware!

Rosy Business (Khi Phach Ma Hong)



Summary:
Cheung Kiu owns and runs Hing Fung Nin, the biggest rice company in Wuxi. He marries his fourth wife Hong Bo Kei and gives ownership to her after he dies. In her eyes, the eldest son Cheung Bit Man is not suitable heir, and guides second son Cheung Bit Ching to become the family heir. On the other hand, Chai Kau, a poor but wise urchin - through his wit and dedication, slowly works his way up in the company. --YT 05:09, 1 Jun 2009 (UTC)-- Credits to DramaWiki

I thought that this series was one of the best series that TVB has produced after a very long time. The show moved fairly quickly and kept the viewers entertained. The storyline was not as predictable as most series are and the relationship between the many characters was aptly conveyed.

Sheren Tang as Hong Bo Kei

What more can I say about a woman like this? Strong, confident, witty, and intelligent. Gosh, if possible, I would love to be able to grow into a woman like her although it will be quite hard to fill her shoes. Hong Bo Kei and Cheung Kiu actually fell in love with each other first, but because Kei's family was wrongly accused, they separated and Kei became Kiu's fourth wife. Kei is a very wise lady who competently managed Kiu's rice shop for him while he was sick or away. Towards the middle and end of the series, it looked as if Kei and Chai Kau were slowly falling in love.

I love this character. This is the type of woman that all men would like to marry if they owned a business. Better yet, business or not, everyone would love to have her to manage a house. This lady can do ANYTHING, and does everything very well. I would love to see more of Sheren Tang after this series.

Wayne Lai as Chai Kau


When he was younger, Chai Kau had to quickly evacuate from his hometown and lost everything that he had. He had no money and had to work just for food at Hing Fung Nin. He was a very stubborn and had a very short temper. He carried all the traits of a lowly scum: addiction to gambling, drinking, and frequently came to brothels. When Bo Kei took over management of Hing Fung Nin, she recognized Chai Kau's talent and slowly transformed him into a better person. With their frequent interactions, Chai Kau did change into a better person, but not for himself rather it was for her.


Chai Kau later married Suen Hoi Tong (portrayed by Nancy Wu, I thought that she rather overplayed her seductress role at the beginning) who treated him well after he saved her. Even with the marriage, he still loved Bo Kei and did everything he could to save her and her dreams of saving Hing Fung Nin.

Chai Kau's character is much less original than Hong Bo Kei's character. Why you ask? It's because if any of you have ever seen Safe Guards, you'll see that Wayne Lai has played such a character before. He changes his ways and quickly sides by the "good" people. Also, he tends to say throughout the series: How many 10 years does a person have? The most important thing is to live it comfortably. It seems like this has more to do with Wayne Lai in real life because he was recognized by TVB at a late stage in his life. But no worries Wayne! Bobby Au Duong suffered the same fate as you and see how famous he is now? Whether original or not, I love this character, (the latter part of his life of course) and even more his subtle relationship with Bo Kei.

Susan Tse as Yan Fung Yee



She is the first wife of Cheung Kiu and was the one to harm Bo Kei's family. Her son is Cheung Bit Man (Pierre Ngo, I would love to see him in other kinds of roles because he always seems to portray the evil character). He is a rotten child, but because he is the eldest, it is the asian custom to allow him to take over the family. Even though it is obvious that he does not deserve to inherit the company, Fung Yee does everything in her power to make sure that he will inherit it. Fung Yee uses A LOT of dirty tactics in her plans and always goes against Bo Kei's wishes. She has a loyal servant named Cheung Fat Kook (sorry, I don't know what his real name is) who always helps her because when the former owner of the rice business died (Cheung Kiu's father) he made Fat Kook promise to help Cheung Bit Man.

Susan Tse's acting seems on and off for me. Sometimes, she really strikes emotions but other times, it seems as though she's trying too hard to convey the emotions. As for her character, I have to acknowledge that she is actually very smart but allows for emotions to rule over her thoughts. Thus, she uses wits for the wrong reasons and allows for herself to be ruined by her own child.



Since I only write about the characters in the series that strikes me the most, I'll also include both Cheung Bit Man and Cheung Fat Kook under the Susan Tse section. It's because they are seen many times throughout the series, but I don't find them that interesting. Pierre Ngo always plays this type of character, and if you follow TVB series as much as I do, you eventually just don't like the actor, even, anymore. As for Cheung Fat Kook, I HATE this character. He claims that he is loyal to the company, then shouldn't that mean that he should be loyal to whoever is helping the company thrive? He does a LOT of hypocritical things and whenever I see this guy on screen, I just want to throw something at the tv screen, but since the TV costs so much, I try my best to refrain and have to clear everything from the table for reassurance.

Ron Ng as Cheung Bit Ching


Cheung Bit Ching is the son of the third wife (supposed to be the second wife) and is the one that Bo Kei appoints to inherit the rice shop. He is a very caring person and treats the workers like brothers. Everyone in the company likes him. He later falls in love with a servant and marries her.

I don't want to talk about this character much either because the character doesn't evoke deep emotions in me. This character is ALWAYS seen in many TVB series and Ron Ng ALWAYS plays these type of character. ALthough I must say there are SOME differences, but not much. Of course, I still like his character, but I wouldn't say there is anything striking about this character.

Kiki Sheung as Pang Kiu and Kara Hui as Lau Fong


Pang Kiu is the second wife while Lau Fong is the third wife. Kiki (like always) plays the loud and obnoxious wife while Kara plays the quiet and easily manipulated wife. Pang Kiu dies in a war zone when shards of weapons pierce her body while Lau Fong dies while on a quest to help save Bo Kei.

I've grown to not like Kiki Sheung anymore. I don't know whether it's because of her acting or because of the character that she typically likes to play; I just know when I see her on screen I always ask myself what the hell am I in for? She always plays this type of character who screams every chance she gets. Always rushing into things and thinking that she's smarter than most when she is actually being used by the true mastermind (in this case, the first wife). Sucks when you're always typecast huh?

As for Lau Fong, I like this character. She could piss you off a lot of times but once she found her true calling (to help Bo Kei) she became a much better character.

This may sound cruel of me, but I found the deaths of the two to be a must for the flow of the story and also perfectly executed. Although Pang Kiu recognized her mistakes, she had to die for the story to develop. Her son never showed any type of actions to support or go against Bo Kei. Finally, when his mother died, he began to show traits of a true man and defend for what he believes is right.

As for Lau Fong, she was always one of those pushovers. Push her anyway you want as long as you "promise" not to hurt her son, and she'll be rolling right over. Sure, she "was" going to help Bo Kei, but if someone threatened her son, who knows when she's going to roll right to the other side again?

Relationships

Hong Bo Kei and Chai Kau



Haven't I said enough? I LOVE THIS RELATIONSHIP. The subtleness, the awkward silences, the persuasion, and the passion that both feel for each other but cannot express due to society's standards. She pushes him into being a better man while once he's there, he helps her and acts as her tall post. Gosh, grant me a man that will go through a disease ridden area just to find me when he could leave safely. Tears. Tears!


Hong Bo Kei and Cheung Kiu


Although not as passionate or a tear-jerker as the previous relationship, this one is one of those lovey-dovey relationship seen between husband and wife. They both love each other, but maybe due to the time they're apart, Bo Kei may have found a better man in Chai Kau. Even so, Cheung Kiu trusted her with everything he had and even gave her the rights to choose his successor. I love the part where he gave her 2 wills instead of one. The first one choosing Cheung Bit Man as the successor and the second to tell her to choose if Cheung Bit Man still does not change. Now please don't mistake that Bo Kei became unfaithful, no. It actually showed how much she loved her husband when she stayed through thick and thin with him.

Ending

Like most of you must have guessed by now, Cheung Bit Ching inherits the rice company. As for Fung Yee, she repents and lives in the temple with Bit Ching's grandma to help clean the area.


But what I would like to talk about within the ending is the relationship development between Hong Bo Kei and Chai Kau. Chai Kau suffers from what I believe is hemoptysis where he coughs up blood because he searched high and low for Bo Kei in a disease ridden place when Pang Hang lied that he saw Bo Kei there. He slowly dies throughout the last three episodes and towards the end, he decides that he wants to explore the best places in the world. The plan was to leave with his wife, but his wife runs to Bo Kei and tells her that in both her heart and Chai Kau's heart, she knows that Chai Kau would like to spend the last moment of his life with her. So Bo Kei immediately leaves with Chai Kau, and they spend the last 2 years of his life together.


I thought that was a great way to end the relationship between the two. Of course, according to the old customs of the time, there would be no way for society to accept the two together as husband and wife. Especially after her husband died recently. So as friends and soulmates, they tour the world together, side by side, both crying and laughing together. That has got to be so perfect. I just love this couple and hope to see them pair up again in later TVB productions.

All in all, I hope that you guys would spare some time to watch this if you get a chance to. I believe it is definitely worth your time. Have a happy day!

Review of The Lobbyist

I just finished watching 'The Lobbyist' last night and felt quite disappointed at the ending. Although there has been quite a buzz for this series and not to mention the ridiculous budget spent on the series, it failed to meet my expectations, well of course except that of entertainment.



Before I start ranting on and on about this series, please keep in mind that I am still new at the whole reviewing process and is just a normal viewer watching movies for entertainment. Also, this is a review of the series so OF COURSE there are going to be spoilers. And in my case, many, MANY spoilers. So BEWARE!



To start of, ‘The Lobbyist’ is about how the world of weapons affects the two main characters in this series, Maria (Jang Jin Young) and Harry (Song Il Gook).


Maria (Jang Jin Young)




Her real name is Yoo So Young but changed it to Maria after her father is accused of crimes, and her family must flee to America. Due to certain mishaps, her family becomes illegal immigrants and thanks to Maria’s bravery, her father gets a job as a bus driver for a tour company. Her family consists of both parents and a sister, Eva Yoo, who later works at the U.S. Navy Intelligence. Her father later dies in a robbery case when Maria is still in her pre-teen years. She grows up and takes over the bus that her dad drove. Unfortunately, her sister dies in a political incident when Maria is around 17-18 years old. Maria declares that she will get revenge and does everything to get it; even asking for the help of someone she knows is involved in the murder of her sister. Maria successfully becomes a lobbyist lobbying for U.S. weapons. She again meets her old childhood friend, Harry, in Guinistan when he saves her and immediately falls in love with him. Towards the end of the series, Maria invokes the attention of the media when she is involved in a couple of adulterous affairs with political figures to get their favor. It is then that she realized the James has been using her all along and is one of the main figures behind the death of her sister.

I find Maria’s character to be quite annoying. ( I thought the actress did a good job, but there wasn’t anything that I found memorable about the character. She didn’t help leave a deep impression for the character.) The way Maria would be so stubborn about revenge that she forgot all else that mattered, especially Harry- the one that she claims to love. I also despised her elusive attitude towards Harry. If you love him, love him gosh dang it. Don’t seduce other men and ask if he thinks you’re a loose woman! Geez. Also, another thing I found ironic was I think the storyline is supposed to build Maria to be stronger after she becomes a successful lobbyist, but I find her to have become a weaker character. At the beginning, when Maria was still a bus driver, she was very clever and used her wits to gain customers. She was also very courageous to face the gangsters/mafia that thought she could be a threat to their business. On the other hand, once Maria became a lobbyist, we frequently see her crying and constantly going back and forth on her decisions. Half of the time, I find myself screaming at the screen: “Make up your mind dang it!”

Harry (Song Il Gook)



His real name is Kim Joo Ho. His father was in the military and was later found to have been indirectly killed by James Lee. After his father died, Harry and his sister went to live with his aunty in America. The uncle that Harry inhabits with is an abusive drunkard who owns a horse farm. Once, when Harry found out that he made sexual advancements towards his sister, Soo Ji, he shot his uncle and ran away. After many years, around his twenties I’m guessing, due to a huge debt that he owes Micheal, he sells himself to Madam Chae, a weapons lobbyist. Through a series to twists and turns, he finds his childhood love, Maria. He saves her many times throughout the series and does everything in his power to help her.

Ah, Harry. Whatever shall I say about you except that the director sure made Song Il Gook work for his money. Tennis, swimming, fighting in almost every other episode, bleeding, jumping, soccer, the list can go on forever! But how the heart screams every time I see you blindly running towards Maria to save her from whatever trouble she dug herself into. Harry is designed to be a very perfect character, rash at the beginning, but becomes very refined as the series goes on. He learns to separate away from Madam Chae and even gets her to invest in his own project. Once he finds that Maria has lost herself in her game of revenge, he finds ways to show her that she is travelling on a treacherous path. His dedication towards the nuclear-powered submarines was also understood and kind of showed the now mature Harry.

Kang Tae Hyuk (Han Jae Suk)


He is deemed as the successor for his father’s weaponry company as he both exhibits the demeanor and tactics to lead the company. We are first introduced to Kang Tae Hyuk when he befriends Eva Yoo. His mission is to get information from her as she works for the U.S. Navy Intelligence agency. He does fall in love with Eva and when he returns back to Korea with the information he needs in hand, is utterly shocked to find that Congressman Jang asked for Eva’s death. 7 years later, he once again is shocked to find Maria working under James. He, although predictable, falls in love with Maria. He even hires her as a lobbyist for Han Sung to get the government to sign a contract with them for submarines.

After being intrigued by the cover of this series (mainly by Song Il Gook’s lovely presence on screen), I read some summaries of this series (no spoilers included) and most of them say that Kang Tae Hyuk is an able man who carries the weight of a company. Given so, I readied myself to see Han Jae Suk portray a man who is capable to deal with any obstacles that is in his way. Yet, I find him to have no clear ambition or goal in life. He does whatever his father tells him to or anything to please Maria. Although he is a very handsome character as portrayed by the ever so lovely Han Jae Suk (who I’ve loved since All About Eve), his feelings waver significantly. From loving Eva, he quickly decides that he is to love Maria also. Around episode 20 or something, Tae Hyuk hypocritically declares to Maria that he does not actually love her; he only BELIEVES that he loves her because he feels guilty towards her sister’s death. Okay, I will say that I knew this was coming, but either the way the storyline was going or whether it was the actor himself, Han Jae Suk could NOT pull of this scene! The change was way too sudden. Okay, so your emotions were passionate enough to tell her you love her given all the difficulties and awkwardness that would be evoked, and then you tell her this love was just a mere misconception, and all to have it end with a letter to say that you DID once love her and you DO truly feel sorry for Eva’s death?! Interesting or is it more like confusing?
But, all in all, I must say I do miss Han Jae Suk’s on-screen presence. There’s just something about him that keeps me intrigued. Maybe the sadness in his eyes or the way he expresses his emotions- for I really did truly believe that he loved Eva all the while I knew that he was using her to get secretive information. Now the relationship with Maria… eh. That was just iffy.

James Lee (Hu Joon Ho)


He was once a military man and is supposedly also a CIA agent for the United States. To others, he is simply known as a successful lobbyist. He is the one who hired an agent to blow up Eva’s car and is also the one who brings about the failure of Maria. He is a ruthless man who discards a person if he no longer needs them, as seen evident in Maria.

What more can I say?! I love this actor. I think he excels in this series- with his smirks, his laughter, his cunning, his sly advances. God, I shudder just recalling the way he went through this series. Geez, I need to see more of him!

Madam Chae (Kim Mi Sook)


Throughout the series, it seemed as though she was the most ruthless of them all. Using men to achieve her status, but readily turn on them if need be. Yet, at the very end, we see that her character is actually quite unsteady. The only thing that seems to have been an achievement for her part was by hiring Harry.

Kim Mi Sook is also another terrific actress. The way she treats her husband after sharing a lot of his wealth and her plans to gain even more wealth shows what she will do to achieve her goals. She is shown to be very ruthless throughout the series, so it comes as much of a surprise that she fails by the hands of her former love, James Lee, who is much more cunning than she is.
I will point out one minor character flaw that she has though. When Madam Chae heads back to Korea to lobby for submarines, she uses methods such as bribery and seduction to get many of the major political figures. Harry has to warn her against doing such things. Now isn’t that weird that a woman who is able to get a large sum of money from a head mafia over in America isn’t smart enough to know that she is dangerously toying with fire?
Kim Mi Sook looks fabulous in this series; I especially liked her at the beginning of the series where she wears a white/blonde wig.

Eva Yoo (Yoo Sun)


Eva leads a successful life. Her death is later caused in part by Kang Tae Hyuk (Han Jae Suk) when he seduces her to give up information from the U.S. Navy to the Korean Intelligence. When the United States begin to suspect Eva, she goes into hiding while Kang Tae Hyuk is sent back to Korea to be kept from suspicion. Kang Tae Hyuk’s father begs Congressman Kang to save his son who in turn asks James to send an agent to kill Eva. Eva dies in front of Maria when she ignites her car to flee.

Yoo Sun is very pretty within this series and I have nothing much to say about her. I think she did a very good job, and I liked how I could sense the blooming relationship between Kang Tae Hyuk and her.

Relationships

As for relationships, I won’t show all but these are the main ones that I would like to mention:

Maria and Harry


I thought that this relationship was more one-sided. I could feel the love that Harry harbors for Maria, but where’s Maria’s love? Why do I keep on getting the feeling that whenever Maria tells Harry that she loves him are just lies to get him to stay beside her? She wants to keep him because he is her protective armor. Harry is like her superman who saves her whenever she encounters a life or death situation. Is it because of this that she wants to hold onto him, and not because of love? I find Maria to be very selfish within this relationship and series as a whole, always having Harry wait on her-for her to turn around and face him.


James Lee and Maria


The two are mentor and mentee. On the other hand, they are merely just using each other; Maria-to get closer to Congressman Jang, and James-to have someone to help him lobby. At times, I thought that James really did want to help her, but man, was I in for a ride at the end! Did I tell you that I love Hu Joon Ho yet?!

Madam Chae and James Lee


HAHAHA, I laugh. James really did bring me on for a ride. For the whole series, I kept on wondering why James still loves this woman, why he still helps her. As for Madam Chae, now I find her to be the pitiful character. She thought for the whole time, that she was ahead of him, above him even, all to find that she is also just a pawn in his whole game. To think she was the only one capable of using love to her advantage and dumping it once she gets the chance to. Haha, guess the joke’s on you huh?

Bul Gom and Cho Ho Ji


SORRY! I can’t find out what their real names are! If anyone knows, please help!
I love this pair. I know it’s the common duo that are put in most shows to relieve some of the angst that goes on through the series, but I love how both of them are cute but not so overdone. Aww…. If only I see the Cho Ho Ji guy in another series. Does he not remind of you of Lee Ji Hoon?

Andy and So Ji

I really like this duo also. They’re really cute together, and it’s believable. I think they really had chemistry and man, isn’t Kim Da Hyun pretty?

As for the ending:

I don’t know. I don’t think it’s what I would like to conclude this series with. Although I am surely a person who loves happy endings, I just don’t think that this was one where a happy ending was worth it to sacrifice the other leading details. I didn’t think that we needed to know that Maria gets her dream of having Harry watch over her while she teaches kids. I don’t think that Maria deserves this happy ending. After all the things that she has done, she no longer deserves this bullet-proof vest and must live her life regretting her mistakes. Or, maybe this may be coming from a part of me where I don’t believe that Maria deserves the awesome Harry. “NO! You can’t have him! He’s too perfect for you! Give another girl the chance, one that would truly value him!”



Plus, another reason why I didn’t like this happy ending is because, fine, IF I’m okay with Harry still carrying on his superman role of never dying no matter what the case is, shouldn’t he still carry on his dream of the nuclear-power submarines instead of constantly watching over Maria? Gosh! Let her be alone! Can’t she manage kids by herself or is she going to turn them all into lobbyists also?

What about the sidekicks? Not even a mention of them? Now, I don’t think it’s possible to have them take over the lobbyist business for the nuclear-powered submarines, but wouldn’t it be nice to have Harry die and have Maria take over his dream? So now she’s lobbying not for revenge, but rather to fulfill a dream for the one she loves. Isn’t that what love is all about? Sure, I like how she leaves everything to help teach the kids and all, but she’s already LOST everything. It’s not like she’s leaving a thriving company to fulfill the dream that she wants. Again, back to my whole rant about Maria being selfish. This is HER dream that she’s fulfilling by teaching the kids, not HIS!


Well, that’s pretty much all I’ve got to say about this series for now. Sorry about the whole on-going ranting. I’ll rant about ‘Rosy Business’ next. I just finished it today… Yay!