It's nice to watch a series that makes you sad, not angry. There are no villains here, just people with a lot of emotional baggage trying to figure out their own lives. The story is sweet and bittersweet. Just get your boxes of tissues ready. And maybe some hot tea, too.

These days we don’t often see a love quite like that of Chengyan and Zhan Yin. Both were somewhat mentally-disabled, but they were the most charming dimwits ever. They were simple to the point of almost childlike, so their families felt the need to protect these two lovebirds from themselves. This interference ultimately led to tragedy. Stephanie Hsiao and Jonathan Chen played off each other really well. They can’t seem to keep their hands off each other, so much so that I wondered if they were dating in real life.

Sunny Tu was actually very pretty, but they made her Kaiyan so matronly that she looked like Chengyan’s mother instead of her twin. Her hair and outfits were very unflattering. Her looks mismatched with Louis Lin, who was painfully stiff and awkward here. There was supposed to be a romantic tension between the two, but it seemed like Louis and Sunny were trying their best to avoid having to touch each other.

Shi Yu was such an underrated actor. His Tianwen could’ve been so much more if the writers gave him a chance. On the outside, he seemed silly and superficial, until the scene where he was holding Chengyan’s baby and a single silent tear slid down his cheek. In that one moment you understand the depth of his feelings for Chengyan, even though he never said it out loud. That alone was the most unexpectedly touching scene, and Shi Yu hit just the right note without overdoing it. It was simple but more moving than watching Zhan Yin rolling on the ground and crying his eyes out.

The mood of this series is perfectly captured by its wistful theme song, ‘Red Bean’ by the legendary Faye Wong. It reminds you that everything has an end, and neither meeting nor parting is forever. Tissue, please.

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This show has an identity crisis. It doesn’t know if it wants to be a romance, a fantasy, a palace intrigue, or a historical drama. So it tries to be all of them. What we get is a disjointed mess. Elements are picked up, then forgotten, only to pop back in random places. To be fair, it’s extremely difficult to blend more than two different genres. Very few drama can manage it successfully.

The best way to watch this show is to focus on the romance and tune out everything else. The love story is easily the strongest element here.

The show wants to you think that it’s a love triangle plot, but it really is not. Andy Chen is credited as one of the two male leads, but he is more like a second lead in terms of screen time and character growth. He's just eye candy here. The real male lead is Peng Guanying. The romance is a hate-slowly-turned-into-love progression. This never gets old because there are so many variants the writers can do with it. And this variant is a good one, playing on the strengths of both Peng Guanying and Zhang Hanyun: he is super alpha, and she super cute. It’s very rewarding to watch Yuwen Yong soften towards Qingsuo, and her slowly giving in and allowing herself to fall in love again. With so much time devoted to building this relationship, the ending is just plain ridiculous. There was no foreshadowing, just “bam, we have to throw this in to be historically accurate.” Again, this is what you get for trying to blend too many genres.

The costumes are beautiful and intricate, albeit a little over-the-top. So much so that they get in the way of the actors and make things awkward. There are some scenes where Qingsuo can’t properly embrace her man because her headdress could take out his throat.

I recommend this series, but with discriminate use of your fast forward button.

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Ding Pang was a martial arts hero who thought he had something, lost it, regained it and more, lost it all again, finally found what was truly important in life, only to possibly lose it all in the end. The plot had some twists and turns, deviating quite a bit from the novel. Gu Long was generally good at creating complex characters, but this novel wasn’t up to his usual standards. The script writers tried to improve on that by adding more angst and romance. They succeeded, for the most part, in fleshing out the characters. Even the bad guys have some sympathetic qualities.

At the time, Louis Koo was so famous as Yang Guo (Return of the Condor Heroes) that many people overlooked how good he was in this series. Ding Pang was a much darker and more complicated character. In the hands of a lesser actor, you would hate this power-hungry man. But Louis had the charisma and the depth to make you feel sorry for Ding Pang, even though you might hate the things he did. Noel Leung, with her beautiful sad eyes, was the perfect Ching Ching. I can see why Ding Pang could never quite let her go. Irene Wan and Eddie Cheung were in their elements as a seductress and a scoundrel, respectively. The younger actors were weak, but not bad enough to drag the series down.

The fight choreography was typical of its time, nothing too fancy or exciting. I still prefer this to some modern kung fu series where they just flail their arms and let the special effects department do the work.

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This one is a pioneer for many great TVB series to come. There are some flaws (like a caricature villain) and it lags a bit in some parts. But you also see glimpses of the writing genius and solid acting that would be perfected in later classics like “Looking Back in Anger” and “Greed of Man.”

This is where you can see the youthful Tony Leung, before he became the superstar he is now. Tony’s strength as an actor is that he fully grasps whatever character he’s playing and carry it all the way through. He played Kim Hung as kind-hearted, earnest, endearing, and naive to fault. He was slightly overshadowed by Ray Lui’s performance. Ray’s Tin Wai had more ups and downs, therefore more layers to him.

Bik Wah was Barbara Yung in her last starring role. She was simply glowing in here. She excelled at playing feisty and cute characters, bordering on being an unreasonable brat. As a viewer, I forgave her because Kim Hung forgave her. He was very much in love, but not a pushover.

Money Chan (aka Barbara Chan) was also very pretty here. Her icy looks were a sharp contrast to Bik Wah’s fiery personality. She and Ray have excellent chemistry, and their scenes together were intense. Lau Dan and Ha Yu have a good dynamic as Kim Hung’s two dads. Unfortunately, their bickering dragged out for way too long and did nothing to move the story forward. I kept waiting for them to patch things up and learn to appreciate one another. That moment never really came, so it was more or less unresolved.

Special mention for the late Herman Kwan as the powerful chairman and family patriarch. He was rich in money, but poor in just about everything else in life. His final scenes were just heart-breaking. It took a veteran actor to pull it off without making it hammy.

Thumbs up to the crew for the beautiful camera work. They captured the feel of Hong Kong and Kowloon with shots of brooding streetlamps, long lonely corridors, and misty view of skyscrapers from the mountain top. No green screens or CGIs, just hidden urban beauty that is always there if people only stop to look.

This drama has one of the best theme songs, made more beautiful by Anita Mui’s haunting voice.

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I love sappy, idealized romance as much as the next girl. My standard for these types of series isn’t high. I only ask for likeable characters that I can root for. Too bad this show can’t deliver on that.

The leading lady, Xiaoyanzi, is immature and obnoxious. When she doesn’t get her way, she yells, stomps, and throws tantrums. The men, pushover as they are, go out of their way to wheedle and plead for her forgiveness over every tiny little thing. It’s supposed to be cute and funny, but it's just ugly to watch. Her life choice is questionable, too. She grew up an orphan and genuinely longs for a father figure. But somehow, she’s perfectly ok with an arrangement that involves separating a baby from his father, possibly forever. Xiaoyanzi is so unpleasant that it’s hard to fairly judge Li Sheng’s acting.

Hai Lu has the opposite problem. She is given a very nice role of Ziwei, who is pretty much a saint. Yet her acting is one note, in that she looks perpetually sad. Even when smiling she looks on the verge of tears. Ziwei is just one depressed-looking girl from beginning to end.

Zhao Li Ying as Qing Er is absolutely charming, until they ruin her character. She’s a favorite of the Empress Dowager, as they share a special bond. Yet she runs off with Xiao Jian without even a backward glance. She doesn’t seem to miss this lonely elderly lady who worries about her and misses her dearly. When asked to come back to the palace and say goodbye, Qing Er says something like she doesn’t need to because the Empress Dowager has other grandchildren to keep her company. That’s a heartless thing to say about someone who loves you as her own granddaughter. Qing Er comes off as boy crazy at best, and cold-hearted at worst.

Most of the men aren't too bad. I give them props for delivering the cheesiest lines with the greatest of convictions (and a straight face.) I like the addition of Benjamin, just because it portrays a Caucasian guy as a real person and not some western stereotype for once. The worst has to be Zhang Rui as Wu A Ge. His acting is hammy and he has this skulking expression whenever he gets jealous. Wu A Ge does some really dumb things and wins both awards for Worst Father of the Year and Worst Son of the Year.

The series has a lot of good things going for it: beautiful people, idyllic sceneries, lovely costumes, and plenty of romantic scenes so sweet they will make your teeth ache. I don’t mind the anachronisms and the overuse of kissing scenes. But without good characters and story, this just feels empty.

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