Yr/TV Stn: 2011/TVB
Cast:
Bowie Lam ~ Liu Jun Xiong Joe
Moses Chan ~ Song Yi Lang Angus
Kenny Wong ~ Zheng Zhen Xuan Ronnie
Charmaine Sheh ~ Ye Zi'en Hazel
Maggie Shiu ~ Weng Zhuo Tong Emma
Synopsis: (edited from idlemindsehseh.blogspot.sg)
Due to an accident, radio DJ Ye Zi'en re-encountered her good friends and ex-band mates from her youth; Joe, Angus & Ronnie. Not only this re-encounter made them reminisce their innocent youth when they were in a music band 18 years ago, it also evoked a painful memory everyone has been trying to suppress all these years. Zi'en detested them for not rescuing her boyfriend Jia Ming in a mountaineering accident back then, following which she was constantly lost in relationships and unable to free herself. While the 3 friends feel pained for Zi'en, they are also struggling to survive in the real world. Due to the hidden knot inside their hearts, the four of them were drawn into a complex and turbulent relationships, waiting to be liberated...
Review:
This is a revolution of TVB dramas. It's plot is very dark & heavy, fulled of mixed emotions, truth and lies. Honestly, I watched with some expectations as it's very different from typical TVB plots, but the execution of the drama made the drama a little hard to follow. Perhaps I am not someone who appreciates dark plots, as I found some storyline redundant. The plot lacks a punch, the "pull factor" in order to keep viewers keep wanting more.
The whole drama tackled various themes about people, with one of them being very "glaring". The 3 guys ate up their best friend in order to survive. Is it really wrong? Are we in the position to say they are wrong? In the name of "survival", I guessed it's only normal that humans would end up like this. This is a very daring topic, and I am not surprised that many people wld be disturbed by this idea.
How they punished themselves for survivng was shown throughout the drama. Maybe they wanted to redeem their sins, but covering the truth for so many years proved to be nerve-cracking. They clearly knew they could not keep it a secret forever.
The other big theme is how music could liberate our lives. I thought that's a pretty idealist way of thinking, but one can convey and achieve things through music. I am not a rock & roll fan so I could not relate with their thinking. Haha!
In terms of characters, none of them are perfect, and I don't like all of them. Haha! Bowie's Joe has the biggest change, from someone fighting for workers' welfare, to someone who played tricks in the cruel business world. I always said Bowie's acting was boring, though he had proved me wrong with his last few dramas. I guessed "Joe" is going to be his next classic character.
Like Bowie, Moses' performance was restricted in his older roles. So he also had a "revolution" via Angus. Angus is outright bad, unlike Joe, who pretended to be good but in fact he's not. Angus played his games well with the Weng sisters, and Joe, who became his rival.
Kenny's Ronnie pales in comparison, though Ronnie is the only one who is acting bad. He has his own set of problems, but he is willing to pay the price for it. He's the middle man between Joe and Angus, who are always on the opposite side of argument. Kenny looked emo and frowned most of the time, but I guessed that's the best he could offer as Ronnie is just more plain than the other 2.
Charmaine's Hazel did not appeal to me. She's probably the only one who has not moved on with her life. (Yeah she did got married and had an affair, but that's just to bluff herself) She did not knew the truth about Jia Ming's death, and she isolated herself. A very passive method. Anyway, she finally opened her door to her friends again, and that's how she grew, facing the truth, accept it and used music to embrace them. Well, Charmaine's acting was quite "ground-breaking" too, though to a smaller extent. She had good chemistry with the 3 male leads, though no romance came out from them :(
Maggie's age is not too easy to act as the naive Emma. It was unconvincing at first, but I slowly got used to it. Emma is not as complicated as the rest. Her main line is between her sister and Angus. She's like the fresh air in the drama as she's not related to the tragic. I guessed she's better in handling "truth" as compared to Hazel somehow.
