Steven Ma, Wayne Lai, Elaine Yiu, Ben Wong Zhi Yin, Kwok Fung, Suet Nei, Lau Kong, Ram Tseung Chi Kwong, Wai Ying Hung, Chris Lai
What, when, where and who
Wui Yau Guards' Bureau, a very famous Guard' Bureau, which helps to transport the important goods across the nation. Kwok Fung, the head of the Bureau, who is struggled to decide who can be the next main manager. He has four sons, the oldest one Wayne Lai was very lazy and irresponsible. The second one Ben Wong made many mistakes and eventually became a robber. The third one Steven Ma, who was an adopted son. Steven is a very hardworking person, however, he is also responsible for everything. The forth one Chris Lai, he was in the foreign country for many years, and doesn't know much about the Bureau.
With the struggles among the family members, the Bureau itself, and the business of transporting goods, the entire family went through many ups and downs... Steven has to do whatever he can to take all the mess away, and build a good future of the Bureau.
More Information
(1) Episode Summaries
(2) Character Intros
To further discuss this series, please visit the TVB Square Forum
THE FACTORS
- Love Factor -
Steven Ma
He gets blame for everything!!!! No matter what he does, how good he does his things, he will get blamed for, because he is the adopted son. His parents can reject him anytime, his brothers can call him trash all the time, his workers can work against him most of the time. No one listens to him, no one respects him. At once, Wayne called him, "stupid." You may think he is stupid, because someone as talented as Steven can work elsewhere and become rich and famous. However, Steven is willing to stay in the Bureau, solving all the problems, cleaning all the mess. At once, Wayne also said to him, "Stupid, why are you hiding? Come out to take the keys (take control of the Bureau), and stop taking the blames." Of course, we all know that Steven is the only one who can take control of the business, because he is the only one who truly cares about the Bureau....
Wayne Lai
He is very useless, never makes any clever decision. From the beginning to the end, he didn't change any useless bone inside of him. At the beginning, we all hated him. Whenever he is in trouble, he will seek Steven's help, however, he will blame Steven for helping him. In order to make situations worse, he always work against Steven, always brings the trouble to the Bureau. As Steven said, Wayne is not the leader type, and Wayne could die if he takes control. Steven was right. Wayne did "died", but Steven gave him a new identity, from then, Wayne became the biggest supporter of Steven. However, Wayne is still the useless, panic-over-nothing type. How can I fall in love with such a useless person? The answer is short and simple, and it only took me 9 minutes to love him, that was when he gave up the keys to Steven, read more below...
The Story
- 10 Days Monday Back Guarantee
The story begins with a very exciting task for Steven: asking for all the money back within 10 days. I thought that was a very good beginning for the series, it was interesting, exciting, and we get to see the mean Steven. I especially loves the part when he was blamed for a guy's death, but Steven was willing to defend himself.
- "Promote some, demote some, kill (fire) some"
I love the way Steven say this line! This is now my favorite line of the series. Steven thought a strategy to promote the good, hard working people, demote the lazy people and fire the ones that harms the guards' bureau. So perfect for the real world as well ;-)
- Who gets the key?
This question will be asked throughout the story. As the audiences, we all know the answer, however, Steven's father has hard time deciding. At one time, he is switching between Wayne and Ben. Steven clearly told everyone that Wayne is not the leader type. Steven's mom got mad and wanted to kick Steven out. Steven apologized to his mother and told her the reasons why. That scene was so convicting and so emotional.
- The Last 9 Minutes of Episode 20
The 9 minutes is dedicated to Wayne entirely. This is also THE best moment of the series, when Wayne gave the Bureau keys to Steven. Wayne had a powerful speech, which can easily make you love him after hating him for the first 19 episodes.
- Wai Ying Hung's Letter
Before episode 23, make sure you have enough tissues at home, if not, go buy some. Because, reading her letter will make you cry like crazy. Most of us will waste lots of tissues here, because this is one of the saddest TVB scene I ever watched...
- Dislike Factor -
Elaine, her tears, her performances, and everything else about her
There is a scene, Elaine was about to "die", because Steven's father doesn't want to help her out. Elaine had about 5 minutes of self-speech. Couple people in the room listening to her, she talks about life, about how she doesn't want anyone to feel bad. Everyone in the room was in tears. I was totally lost, I didn't feel pity for her, I didn't feel bad. Don't give me wrong, I have nothing against her character, but I have all the complaints about her performances. That 5 minutes of self-speech is one of the worst scene in the entire series, her tears look fake, her speech was useless. Everyone else in that room had awesome performances, just by listening to her useless speech... This was only a small example, but, disliking Elaine wasn't a surprise. Of course, she is the only factor that can destroy the whole show. However, the story and the performances of the others can over-shadow her anytime, so you don't have to worry about her too much. Sooner or later, you will forget about her performances.
- How Come Factor -
Steven's marriage when he was 4
I remember Steven talked about his marriage when he was four. I thought that girl was Elaine, but I don't think that was her, because the father of the little girl is not Elaine's father. However, later on, no one mentioned about that marriage what-so-ever.
- Chemistry Factor -
Steven Ma and Elaine Yiu
This is one of the best chemistry of the year because of Steven's awesome performances. This is also one of the worst chemistry of the year because of Elaine's poor performances. Mix together, I have hard time deciding how to like or dislike them. For sure, I will prefer anyone else over Elaine.
Ram Tseung and Wai Ying Hung
The chemistry between Ram and Ying Hung was so strong, which can make most of you cry. At the beginning, you might not notice them at all, because Ram is also very useless, but he is very smart. Ram always thinks the best strategies to solve the problems, but he also wants to hide whenever there is trouble. Ying Hung hates Ram because he always play with his birds when everyone else works very hard. Ying Hung also loves Ram because he always think very hard about his strategies when the Bureau is in trouble, she also loves Ram because he was willing to sell all his valuable things to get money and help the Bureau. Ram loves Ying Hung, because she is strong, but also noisy. She will say so much thing for Ram to do so little thing. However, that also builds a very strong relationship between the two...
Steven Ma and his family
I love Steven's family, even though there are the greedy and bad ones, there are also the mean and stupid ones. I sometimes hate Steven's mother for blaming Steven too much. I sometimes hate Steven's father for giving Steven all the hard tasks. However, his parents were still willing to give the entire Bureau under Steven's control. In addition, when there is trouble, some people added even more trouble while others trying to reduce trouble. When there is happiness, some people will do harmful things to make the situation unhappy. This, makes a perfect family ;-)
THE COMMENTS
- The Performances -
Steven Ma came back with an awesome series, his performances shine the entire series, also successfully overshadowed Elaine's poor image. I especially LOVE Steven's crying scenes, so emotional and so powerful. I also want to mention Wayne Lai, who is very good at every character he performs. That 9 minute of Wayne speech in episode 20 is the peak of the entire series. You will love every single thing about that speech. As for the smaller characters, I think everyone did a good job, it's hard to pick anyone to blame, other than Elaine, of course.
- The Story -
I think I have included all the best thing about the story in the "Love Factors" part. This story was very unique, and very special. I learned so much things about the Guards' Bureau. After you finished watching the series, come back and read my review again, you will agree with me ;-)
- Worth Watching? -
If you are going to skip this series, you will miss a lot of things. This is THE BEST series of 2006 so far, if you are going to skip it, you might just better off skip the entire year's series. OK, maybe I am going little too far, but this is the must watch of the year, totally deserves the high rating, deserves your time and tears. Go watch it!
高清
