In the Eye of the Beholder (TVB 2010)

In the Eye of the Beholder <秋香怒点唐伯虎>

TVB Series, 2010
Number of Episodes: 20
Producer: Lau Ka Ho

Cast

Moses Chan as Tong Bak Fu
Myolie Wu as Chau Heung
Johnson Lee as Wat Gei
Elaine Yiu as Sek Lau
Fala Chen as Chu Ting Yuk
Ha Yu as Wah Hung Shan
Savio Tsang as Ning Wong
Chris Lai as Ching Tak
Evergreen Mak as Bou Sai Git

Plot (Warning!!Spoilers!!)

Tong Bak Fu (Moses Chan) is an intelligent scholar who dedicates most of his time to writing poetry and painting pictures. He often travels with his friend Wat Gei (Johnson Lee) to get inspiration for his works. He met Chau Heung (Myolie Wu) who was a maid at the Wah Family. Bak Fu likes Chau Heung and he applies to become a servant in the Wah’s family but concealed his true identity. Chau Heung admires Tong Bak Fu’s works. At first, he had to do cleaning jobs but Wah Hung San (Har Yu) admired his talents so hired him to study along with his sons. The Wah family always find themselves in trouble and Bak fu often helps resolve their problems.

The emperor (Chris Lai) stayed with the Wah family. He also liked Chau Heung and wants her to become his concubine. However, Bak Fu does not want Chau Heung to marry the emperor so manages to get Chau Heung out of the situation. Chau Heung explains to the emperor that her heart has somebody else. Bak Fu’s identity was revealed. The emperor allows Bak Fu and Chau Heung to be together.

Nevertheless, Chau Heung and Bak Fu did not get together but remained friends. Ning Wong (Savio Tsang) hires Bak Fu to go through some diary extracts. His daughter Ting Yuk (Fala Chen) often plays tricks on Bak Fu. However, she is illiterate. Ting Yuk then starts to admire Bak Fu and wants to learn how to read and write from Bak Fu. She starts to develop feelings for Bak Fu.

Ning Wong however has plans to overturn the emperor. He is actually using Bak Fu to find the heir of the previous emperor to become the new emperor. Bak Fu realises this scheme and tries to trace the heir before Ning Wong does.

Meanwhile, Wah Hung Shan was threated by Bou Sai Git (Evergreen Mak). Sai Git was a member of a group that disapproves of the emperor and wants to overthrow the throne. He began to threaten Hung Shan to use his business to help him with his plan. He also becomes allies with Ning Wong.

Bak Fu and the rest found the heir of the throne and brought the heir back to the emperor. It seemed like Ning Wong’s plan to overthrow the emperor was succeeding but it turned out that the heir was a female so she could not succeed. Bak Fu secretly told Ning Wong this fact. Bak Fu convinced the emperor and Ning Wong not to discuss the matter and Ning Wong promises not to interfere with the throne again. The emperor also promised that he will not behead anyone and the group that were against the government.

Bak Fu explained to Ting Yuk that they cannot be together. He and Chau Heung moved to an island to live happily ever after.

CHARACTER AND COMMENT

Moses Chan as Tong Bak Fu

I think  Moses Chan played a very good Tong Bak Fu. The only other person I remembered playing this role  is Nick Cheung in The Four Legendary Aces. I think Moses was very funny in this series and he did the role very well. Moses’ Cantonese is not very fluent so it must have been difficult for him to read and memorize the script.

Myolie Wu as Chau Heung

The Chau Heung in this series is very different from the other Chau Huengs portrayed in the past because she can fight in this series. As a result, Myolie had to portray her character in a slightly different way and it cannot be compared to the other Chau Heungs in the past. I found that the Chau Heung character was not very special and did not really shine. Maybe she could have had much more comedy scenes. Myolie’s character had to be gentle and rough at the same time which did not make much sense to me.

Fala Chen as Ting Yuk

I think Fala did not suit the character. They should have found someone else. She has elegance and not cuteness. They needed someone cuter. Although she looked cute, she did not have that spoilt brat feeling. However, since this was Fala’s first ancient series, she did an exceptionally good job and was very convincing.

Johnson Lee as Wat Gai

His comedy skills are beyond average and he does it so naturally too. I loved his character. His character made the series very funny.

Awards

Best Performance: Moses Chan

Worst Performance: nobody in particular

Best comedy skills: Johnson Lee

Best Couple: Myolie Wu and Moses Chan

Best Scene: When Moses Chan and Johnson Lee dressed up as Batman and Robin to save Myolie. That was hilarious. And also the scene where Fala was kidnapped and forced to marry. The group saved her by having a wedding and that was hilarious too.

Overall

This series was actually very funny and near the end, the series did become very exciting. I actually had quite high expectations of the series since the producer filmed Heart of Greed and Moonlight Resonance. The only criticism is the title Chau Heung Lo Deem Tong Bak Fu which means Chau Heung tricks Tong Bak Fu. I cannot remember a scene where Chau Heung “Lo Deems”  Bak Fu. However, this series is worth watching as a family and the storyline gets better. The theme song is great and hilarious when you listen closely.

Series Rating:

Review written by Colly