My Take On TVB’s Moonlight Resonance Plus Some Tidbits

Gone are the days where I would have to wait for one whole year before I get to see the latest TVB Drama on Astro Wah Lai Toi.

Gone are the days where I would have to go rent VCDs at the TVB Rental Shop for RM1 per episode.(RM4 for new episodes)

Gone are the days where I would have to curse the DVD man when my TVB DVD did not work.

Gone are the days where I would get depressed when TVB started licensing all the TVB series on Crunchyroll.com

With D-addicts, I get to watch the latest series at least 12 hours after it has been aired in Hong Kong and Astro On Demand.

Current addiction?

Moonlight Resonance.

My only wish now is for all TVB shows to have english subtitles, fresh out of the studios without needing fans to sub it themselves.

It’s always a good thing whenever a TVB series becomes super huge. Labelled as a TVB Grand Production, the cast list is star-studded and TVB fans everywhere are hooked on it. Half my classmates are watching it. (the other half is the remaining banana and other races.) Imagine, a TVB series that is trendy to watch!

An indirect sequel to Heart Of Greed, Moonlight Resonance is a tale of a broken family who runs a biscuit business. The 40 episodes show opens in the mid-90s, showing Hor Ma and four of her six children at her biscuit shop with her father. The six children’s names are Ah Ka, Ah Hou, Ah Yuet, Ah Yuen, Ah Hing and Chung Chai. Ah Chau, as later explained, is the bitch’s daughter who completes the chinese phrase “Ka Hou Yuet Yuen Hing Chung Chau”. I think it literally means something like good family reunites to celebrate the mid-autumn festival. The kids are named like so as the family’s biscuit business specializes in Mooncakes. (in the previous show, the family owns an abalone business)

Her husband, Joe Ba(or Father Jo) has just left her for Yan Hung/Hung Yi, a younger woman who worked at the biscuit shop, and took two of the six children along with him. In 1978, Yan Hung and her then husband Yau Min Keong (Oily Face Keong) swam from China and were desperate for a job. Being the kind hearted person that she is, Hor Ma allowed them to work at her biscuit shop.

Back to the mid-90s, Joe Bau and Hor Ma finalized their divorce proceedings and came to the decision that Joe Bau takes Ah Ka, Ah Yuen and Ah Chung. In return, Hor Ma gets Ah Hou, Ah Yuet and Ah Hing.

And so, for many years, the six children grew up in separate households.

This is the first TVB series that flashed back to a time where I was already alive and capable of thoughts. (TVB series have had flashbacks to the late 80s before.)

The kids were portrayed as 8 to 16 year olds in the mid-90s and I felt so “Heyyyy!! I’m the same age as them in the show!” though in reality the youngest is 3 years older than me and the oldest(played by Moses Chan) is like 17 years older than me.
The finale of the show is tonight and so at the height of my obsession, I’d like to introduce the show to those who have not watched it and share some tidbits with fellow fans.

Ha Yu plays Joe Ba who grows to regret his decision to leave the family in the mid-90s. As always, Ha Yu’s laughter is infectious and his trademark silliness is always so lovable. At the beginning, Joe Ba was cold and cruel to Hor Ma. The transition from a cowardly man who is afraid of his wife to a man who puts his family above anything else was quite sudden, so that’s a little flaw in the series, imho.

He cries a lot in this show though. In the middle of the series, one would wonder how it is possible for him to always have dinner at his first wife’s house without causing drama back home with his witch of a second wife. Ha Yu usually plays poor man roles but with the phenomenal success of Heart Of Greed and Moonlight Resonance in which he portrays rich man characters, perhaps he has found his calling.

Louise Lee Sze Kei plays Hor Ma. She is the pillar of the family and in my opinion, her character is pretty different from the usual stereotypes churned out by the script writers at TVB. TVB has few protagonist female characters who are strong in the sense that they are able to talk(with OOMPH!) and win any argument without much of a fight. In the show, there is this saying, “Ng sai keng, Hor Ma hai tai tank!” (No need scared, Hor Ma is in the living room)<– or something like that, since my cantonese is not that good. And my cantonese is supposed to be better than my Malay. SOB SOB.. I’m almost uni-lingual.

Usually strong female characters are depicted to be scheming, evil and manipulative. Other notable actresses who are able to speak rationally with gusto are such as Liza Wang(though at times it can be a little boring), Nancy Sit and Mary Hon. Those are mostly older actresses who are getting mother roles over and over. Maggie Cheung has the potential to play such a role when she gets old and wrinkly.

Jack Wu and Shirley Yeung play the younger version of Joe Pa and Hor Ma. Jack Wu usually plays eager-to-please characters and seeing him act as a fierce young man was quite a nice change. His hotness(in my books) went up a few notches. TVB usually cast him in minor supporting roles though I think I’ve seen him around for about 5 years now. Poor thing. But not as poor thing as those poor super kelefeh actors who have been acting as fish mongers, nosey neighbours, rapists and policemen for the past 20 years. (my entire TVB watching career).

Shirley Yeung is very pretty in this series though she only appeared in two episodes. I wish TVB would cast her in less evil roles because I really like it when she plays sweet and innocent characters. When I first saw her way back in 2002, when she was fresh out of the Miss Hong Kong 2001 pageant (that’s how most of the young female TVB actresses are produced these days. No more TVB acting classes for them.), I felt like slapping her because she was always so whiny and acting like a cute little girl when she was SO NOT cute. But she actually grows on you. 🙂 Can you believe she is actually 30 years old?!

Michelle Yim Mai Suet plays Yan Hung/Hung Yi(Aunty Hung). I suppose Hung turned evil when her husband Yau Min Keong left her for a younger, prettier woman. Hor Ma was the one who persuaded her not to take her life and got her back on her own two feet. She later went behind Hor Ma’s back and had an affair with Joe Ba. As the story goes, Joe Ba divorces Hor Ma and marries Hung. Joe Ba and Hung uses the name of Hor Ma’s biscuit shop and sets up their own biscuit business which later on becomes a multi-million dollars corporation. Besides being a “Wu Li Ching”, she is also portrayed as a corporate woman who terrifies her subordinates with her high heels ‘clik clik klak klak”-ing down the hall. Her wig is super ugly lah.

In The Brink Of Law, she was cast in a similiar role, playing a mafia lady boss. Seeing how evil she acted in that series, I was waiting throughout this series for her to unleash the demons that she has always been so capable of doing. Again, TVB has surprised us all by casting another non-stereotypical role. Perhaps they have created a new genre of evil characters who manipulates others via reverse psychology. Her character Hung will not directly cause harm to the person who angers her but ruins the people around that person and thus cause them to feel extreme guilt.

Does anybody recognize her from her Mind Your Own Business days? Back in 1995, I used to rush home from school every Friday evening (afternoon session ma that time, I was only in standard 2) and watched the 300 episodes-long tvb series. Wu Fong was the partriach of the family who has two children. Michelle Yim plays the younger daughter who was very childish and happy go lucky. I can remember the faces of the other actors but I don’t know their names.

Moses Chan plays Ah Ka, the eldest son in the Kam family. At 38 years old, Moses gets to play the character of a 28 year old who is pretty much a ladies’ man and can charm the socks off anyone. He provides most of the comic relief in this series but also causes the family to worry a lot about him as he played a lot of shares in the early part of the series. I would say that Moses’s character in this show is quite easily duped but he saves himself later from the clutches of his evil girlfriend who is played by Kate Tsui. (who is also supposed to be his cousin! Incest!)

Moses is like the PlayDough of the pool of TVB actors. He can be casted in ANY role. He can play a serious king who was the father of Charmaine Sheh’s character in Perish In The Name Of Love, a macho palace guard in War and Beauty and to an assuming and blur character in Heart of Greed. Personally, I prefer to see him in funny roles as he looks more natural playing those roles. I suppose it is how he really is in real life.

When I first saw him in Where The Legend Begins, I thought he looked like a monkey. But he, like Shirley Yeung, grows on you. Beauty is skin deep. 🙂 Now he is on my list of hottest TVB stars.

Raymond Lam plays Ah Hou aka Kun Ka Chai. Raymond is actually 29 years old and is casted as a 26 years old this time around. The nickname Kun ka Chai was given to Ah Hou as he cares a whole lot about his family and he even lost his ex-girlfriend due to this reason – he put his family above everything else. He and his siblings do almost everything together (I cringe when they sing together. IT’S NOT A FREAKING MUSICAL… so the storyline must be damn good that viewers are still around despite the stupid singalongs that the family does together). It’s very unrealistic because siblings who have grown up hardly hang around each other all that much as all of us would be leading our own lives. But it’s a TVB drama, so I guess that’s why.

Raymond usually gets spoiled rich man’s son roles and so this time, he gets to play a poor baker boy who cannot forget his childhood sweetheart, Yu So Sam aka Ah Chau (played by Linda Chung). As mentioned by some critics, I agree that Raymond’s character is pretty linear all the way. There were no developments and though he complements Moses’ comedic timing very well and the tears that he shed really moved me, there was not a lot of depth to his character.

I first saw him in A Step Into The Past where he played the naive and young Shih Huang Ti. The story was about how Louis Koo travelled back to one of the dynasties to take a digital picture of the coronation of the first emporer Shih Huang Ti who united China. I can’t remember exactly how the storyline went but Louis Koo and Raymond Lam looked so alike that he replaced Raymond Lam as the king or something while Raymond matures. At that time Raymond’s acting sucked major balls and he was as black as Louis Koo. But it’s good to see how he has grown in the past 6 years to be one of TVB’s hottest stars. I think he is THE hottest star in TVB as he has been casted in every major production. In Drive Of Life, he was in it as well!

Raymond is actually the son of a real estate tycoon (dubbed as the Li Ka-Shing of Xianmen) and he is in acting out of passion. When he first joined the TVB acting classes, he was often misunderstood and was given the nickname of “Siu Yeh” (usually used to call rich men’s sons who are good for nothing) due to his family background.

Tavia Yeung Yi plays Ah Yuet, who is adopted by Hor Ma when her own mother left her at Hor Ma’s biscuit shop 24 years ago. Feisty and daring, she always speaks up for her family members who are bullied by the antagonists in the show. She develops a crush for Ah Ka which should be curbed because after all, he is still her older brother though not biologically.

A lot of the actresses are extra pretty in this series. Tavia looks good with her hair like that, I guess. Almost 10 years in the entertainment industry, she still gets young roles in series. As she is only 29 this year, she must’ve entered TVB’s acting school when she was really young. Glad it worked out well for her!

Tavia propelled to the limelight when she was casted in An Awakening Story as Liza Wang’s youngest daughter. I really like Tavia. Her big break has not come yet and I’ll be waiting patiently because I know it’ll definitely come one day.  She has it in her.

Chris Lai Lok Yi plays Ah Yuen, the fourth son. He followed Joe Ba after the divorce and grew up under the care of Hung whom he feels a closer attachment to than his own mother, Hor Ma. Naive and pretty much a doormat, Ah Yuen thinks the world of his step mother whom he calls “ah ma” but in reality, Hung has been manipulating him from the very beginning. He is the only son who is working for the family’s big biscuit business (the smaller biscuit shop shares the same name, but is a different entity as that one belongs to Hor Ma.)

Chris Lai is quite a funny actor if you’ve seen in The Speech Of Silence. I can’t recall when I first saw him but he must’ve been kelefehing for quite a while. His character in Moonlight Resonance is nothing much to scream about, being the most insignificant in all the story arcs. The thing about Moonlight Resonance is that the supporting actors are all big names themselves..right up to the fishmonger who reveals a secret to the children’s grandmother. Even poor Bosco Wong who is quite the super star got so little screen time and a poor story line in this series.

Fala Chen plays Ah Hing, the 21 year old only biological daughter of Hor Ma and Joe Ba. Ah Hing’s character is mute and she uses sign language to communicate with her family members. Portrayed as innocent, sensitive and naive, Fala Chen pulls off this character really well as her previous roles were a stark contrast to this one.

I don’t think it would be easy to act using sign language alongside all the appropriate facial expressions but she does this really really well. Her smile is just too sweet. 🙂

I got this from Fala’s blog. Since her character is mute, she has to dub over each and every episode with her own voice. So hardworking right? She wrote in her blog that she would usually work on four episodes in one go.

The best part about her blog is that she writes in english!!! She’s from the US which is why her chinese is not that good. I find that hard to believe though seeing how fluent her Cantonese is. She apologized in her blog that her posts are in English these few days because there’s no one around who can help her type in chinese.

Ok back to her character as Ah Hing.

In the earlier part of the series, Ah Hing only wants to work at Hor Ma’s biscuit shop but Kun ka Chai(Raymond Lam) persuades her to go out and work. She managed to land herself a job at an advertising firm where she falls in love with a creative director called Kelvin at the firm and despite a few obstacles, marries him in the end. The creative director is played by Dexter Yeung.

I looove giving trivias like these: Dexter Yueng is Chan Po Chu’s son in real life!! Chan Po Chu is a very famous actress back in the 1960s. Can’t say the same about her son though. Hope he’ll improve on his mediocre acting skills.

Ah Hing and Kelvin reuniting after a few obstacles.

Sorry to feed you with spoilers, but Mary Hon plays Dexter’s mother who at first objected to their relationship because Ah Hing is a mute girl.

There was not much development in their story, spanning over three episodes only, but they got married in the end.

Fala, like most of the other actors and actresses in this series have been given totally new roles to experiment with. In her older roles, she usually plays the pretty younger woman who will steal a man from his wife. Or maybe the ignorant and rebellious daughter who will give her mother a hard time. (Mary Hon has played her mother on more than one occasion). Her characters are usually materialistic, selfish, self-indulgent and pampered. Thank you TVB for the breath of fresh air!

Vincent Wan plays Chung Chai, the youngest of the six children. Vincent Wan is 24 years old but plays the character of a 20 year old. He followed Joe Ba after the divorce and at the age of 12 was sent to the UK to study. Obviously the doings of Hung. As he was unhappy in the UK, he couldn’t master English and his chinese wasn’t even that good. As a result, he becomes semi-illiterate upon his return to Hong Kong. He refused to go back to University (supposedly studying at University of Manchester, the uni that my brother wants to attend) and stays with Hor Ma and the rest after Joe Pa decided to let him quit uni.

There is nothing at all to say about Vincent Wan’s character but I’m guessing TVB is allowing him such a huge stepping stone. This is his FIRST series. There has to be a reason why TVB decided to cast a noob in their Grand Production (every year, there is a grand production. But this year there seems to be two. Will talk more about that later.)

Vincent Wan is actually a host on one of the TVB channels and thus has been given his first big break. It must be a very good opportunity for such a new actor to be placed on the same platform as established actors like Moses, Ha Yu, Raymond, Tavia, Linda etc etc.

You can hop over to his blog to see how grateful he is for this opportunity. ALSO WRITTEN IN ENGLISH!! 😀 YAY!!

He was born in the UK and he studied at UCL. So he’s not at all semi-illiterate. 🙂

Linda Chung plays Yu So Sam/Yu So Chau, the love interest of Raymond Lam’s Ah Hou. Their relationship actually started when they were 13 years old, just before their parents had an affair. As childhood sweethearts, they played together and teased each other lovingly. They had to break up when her mother (Hung) sent her to UK to study. Many years later, she comes back to Hong Kong as a freshly graduated doctor.

With her status so much higher than Kun Ka Chai who is a mere baker boy, Hung has never agreed for Ah Chau to be together with Kun Ka Chai. Ah Chau later gets involved with a doctor called Doctor Ling, played by Bosco Wong.

Linda Chung is pretty, yes. But in this show, her character is not very interesting to watch. Her crying scenes are superb, I’ll give her that. Makes me want to cry too. Especially the part where Bosco leaves her.

For someone who is only 24 years old, it is amazing how many shows she has been in. Linda Chung is no doubt TVB’s little darling. In my mother’s heart, Charmaine Sheh was number one. Now my mum is a bigger Linda Chung fan.

I think to be the number one TVB actress in my mother’s heart, one only has to pair up with Steven Ma.

Both of us will air liur meleleh (lau hau sui) together when Steven Ma comes on the screen. He’s pushing 40 though. Better to give him to my mother only lah..

These are the child actors who play the young Kun Ka Chai and Yu So Chau. I’m amazed by the talents as they were absolutely natural. You know how most TVB kid actors are so lame and stiff with their pan-cute voice and their dry crying? Yeah. But at 13 years old, they are not allowed to pan cute anymore and they gave a really good performance. Even their crying scene is really good. Got potential! JOLENE SAY ONE!

The girl is 17 years old and the guy is only 15. Haha. I know, I read too many forums. -_-

Lee Heung Kam plays Mama, the kids grandmother. Initally, her character is very childish and hard headed due to her immense hatred for Hor Ma. She loves Kun Ka Chai the most (he is so cute whenever he tries to pacify his grandmother!!!). But you’ll have to watch the show to know why she eventually accepts Hor Ma again as her daughter in law. I think it is indeed one of the better storylines in the series.

Susanna Kwan plays Sa Yi(Aunty Sa) or Salina. You have to hear the actors calling her SAAAH-LeeE-na. Wah damn benci wei the name. Chiu kap(super) Hongkie accent. She is Hor Ma’s sister and is the motor mouth of the series and her love for money makes her a very hated character. Some people would take her for comic relief but sometimes she’s so terrible that you can’t help but feel angry.

This only means that her acting is DAMN GOOD.

I wonder if she ever gets tired from all that talking.

I love this frequently used line of her’s: “Ngo hor yi tui chi ge tang for fat sai!”(I can face the lamp and swear…) when usually people say, “Ngo hor yi tui chi ge TIN fat sai” (I can face the heavens and swear..) which is a very intense phrase when someone seriously means something.

She was actually a very popular singer in the 70s and have only recently started to star in some TVB series. With very few shows to her name, she has done an extremely good job. I read somewhere that she’s actually a lesbian, so yay, tidbit for the fans!

Kate Tsui plays Ka Mei, Sa Yi’s daughter. I thought she was adopted? But there’s only two more episodes to go and nothing has been revealed if she’s an adopted or a biological daughter. But whatever it is, I hate her the most. THE MOST THE MOST THE MOST!

Also one of TVB’s chosen one in their latest experiment, Kate Tsui has been given a role so different, so contrasting to all her previous goody two shoes, innocent, kind hearted, naive roles. Granted that she did not throw away her pancute way of talking, she still manages to pull off this manipulative, liar character extremely well. She tells lies after lies in order to obtain material gains.

I’ve yet to see the last episode but I hope Kate Tsui’s character will have a horrible ending.

Louis Yuen plays Yan Chi, Sa Yi’s husband who confuses us with his alternating good heart and materialisticness. When Sa Yi was materialistic, he left her because he felt that she has changed. And then towards the end of the series, he helps Hung to go against Hor Ma’s family as he was paid to do so. I seriously don’t understand how Hong Kong people can talk so lightly of money. The average old person(in TVB shows..hehe) has savings up to HKD 300k! So strange right?! I wonder if it’s even true in real life.

Louis Yuen is one of the funniest actors in TVB and everyone loves his character in . He is always acting as someone who freeloads and comes up with the stupidest excuse which is what makes him so endearing to the audiences.

He also has a blog on TVB’s website but since it’s in chinese, I can’t read anything. This photo was taken when he clubbed at the Loft. (From an entire paragraph of chinese words, I could only recognise “clubbing” and “The Loft”). He was in Malaysia recently to sing at a charity event for some chinese school. He’s damn funny in this photo right? Hahahahaha.

Wayne Lai plays Nin Chi Yung, the initial betrayer to Hor Ma’s biscuit shop. He was bought over by Hung to become the biscuit Si Fu at their new shop and thus became very arrogant and brought along with him all of Hor Ma’s workers. Years later, due to some investigations (similiar to what he did to Hor Ma), Hung finds out and kicks Nin Chi Yung out of the company cruelly.

Nin Chi Yung goes back to Hor Ma to ask for forgiveness. He becomes faithful to Hor Ma’s side and helps to solve a lot of misunderstandings and managed to clear Hor Ma’s reputation.

When I was younger, I used to not like Wayne Lai. The image of him playing Chu Pak Gwai (the Pig in Journey To The West) has been forever seared in my head. But as he ages, he is actually looking cleaner and cleaner. Men ARE like wine, they do get better with age. Ish. Perhaps it’s also because in recent years, TVB has at long last recognised his abilities and have given him bigger and less pathetic roles. He is finally given a chance to lead a series for the first time! He even gets a kissing scene with Sonija Kwok. 🙂

Bosco Wong plays Dr. Ling, Ah Chau’s love interest. Dr. Ling is a very indecisive character as he can’t let go of his old girlfriend but still wants to be with Ah Chau. When he first appeared, I liked his character very much. It was very “Bosco” as he is typically naughty, kiddish and lovable. Then he grew to become so boring.

If he was one of the samples in TVB’s experiment, then EXPERIMENT FAIL. Bosco Wong should never be casted in a serious emo role. But because he’s so good looking, I’ll always keep my eyes glued whenever he appears on screen.

Oooh, see what I found. Apparently Chris Lai (far right) got in trouble for posing with his middle fingers in this picture.

True to the nature of an obsessed fan, here are some funny blooper and spontaneous Moonlight Resonance videos on youtube:

Here are some behind the scenes clips from Moonlight Resonance:

There is this strange guy called DotComMan who wears a mask and barges in during a shoot to conduct totally pointless and spontaneous interviews with the actors. Quite funny and brain numbing and for me, it’s the opportunity to see the actors and actresses laugh as their normal selves. Very rewarding. 🙂

DotComMan interviews Raymond Lam.

Embedding is not allowed for these two videos, but these are the funniest from DotComMan:
Part 1
Part 2
DotComMan barges in on the scene where Hung wants to jump from the balcony as Yau Min Keong runs away with his younger woman.

Now that Moonlight Resonance is over, I can’t wait to watch the very exciting upcoming TVB series.

Next in line would be Last One Standing, starring Roger Kwok and Kevin Cheng. (I hope his acting has improved or else it would be a complete waste of my time. But Roger Kwok will save the day..so yeah.) You can download episodes from the link that I have provided. The first episode will be aired tomorrow (22 Sept).

Here’s the trailer:

But what I’m realllly holding out for is the super duper star studded (even more star studded than Moonlight Resonance) TVB’s EIGHTY, LAPAN PULUH, PAT SAP, PA SE episodes Gem of Life!

With names like Bowie Lam, Gigi Lai, Ada Choi, Moses Chan, Lee Sze Ki, Bosco Wong, Maggie Siu, Linda Chung, Wong Hei, John Chiang, Lau Dan…………….. and eighty episodes worth of it.. this should be good.

My favourite among all of them is Wong Hei! Too bad he’s gay though..cannot oggle him with all my heart. Have to oggle half way and remember, “oh damn. :\” He’s a really awesome actor. I hope he plays a strong character in this one. But in the trailer, he looks pretty weak, so I hope I won’t be terribly disappointed.

Here’s the trailer: