[Episodic Thoughts] “Outbound Love” Episode 19

Outbound Love <單戀雙城>
TVB Series 2014

Cast: Ruco Chan, Aimee Chan, Tony Hung, Lin Xia Wei, Matt Yeung, and Samantha Ko

Disclaimer: This is a watch as I write episodic thoughts and some information may not be accurate since this is memory based. Certain dialogue is reproduced with some creative license adopted. I apologize if there is any mistake. All opinion remains my own.

Notice

These are short recaps.

EPISODE 19

FUNNLING METRE

I think there must be some secret hate club for Aimee Chan amongst the writers for this series. If not I can’t explain why episode 19 ended the way it did and no gif image better represent how I feel than the one above. I know some of you are fans of Sik Sik and so feel short changed at the end of this episode, fans of Ruco will feel the same but for some viewers like myself you may feel shortchanged because it is now episode 19 and there is no romance. A lot of flirting but no tangible romance. After watching this episode I have a feeling the ending will be either one or the other which I will speculate at the end of my recap. But thus far, someone must really hate Aimee because her Sik Sik has become … well if she was a man she would be a jerk-wimp but since she is a woman, I suppose it is ok to have her become such a flirtatious indecisive unworthy woman.

Recap.

Ruco knew in his heart that Sik Sik still loved Nic but was not sure what he had to do; give up a romance that frankly HAS YET to start or return her to a man she stated she despised, like as if .. what rubbish. Anyway Sik Sik got some major scolding by her dad when Su Su found out about Nic and told dad and poor Sik Sik was told quite simply to either leave Nic or don’t call daddy her dad. In short Sik Sik had no choice. And yet she sorta cried. Why? If she doesn’t love Nic anymore, say it!! SAY IT!! But she didn’t so Ruco was right. Then there was a short scene a colleague who was nice enough to buy her lemon liquorice and Sik Sik went nuclear. Remember why she went nuclear, right? If you don’t, watch this episode because I think it was no less than 3 times it was explained why. Mom buying the sweet, crossed the road, hit by car, liquorice flew up in the air, repeated like 3 times if I am not mistaken.

Then there was some ridiculous segment of Sik Sik bidding for an old camera for her dad which turned out to be a fake and her dad quite literally scolded her like there’s no tomorrow, saying hurtful things like “You’re such a stupid girl. First Nic, and now this camera. When are you ever gonna wise up you idiot?!” Poor Sik Sik, I do feel for her. We know daddy loved Su Su more because of what happened to Sik Sik’s mom but how utterly useless this piece of information is when it doesn’t arise until this series needed some drama. Because in between all these heartfelt drama, I never really thought her dad was THAT biased against Sik Sik until that particular plot line is useful to create some tension. Anyway Ruco found out what happened and wanted to look for Sik Sik who left the fake camera by the road and left and Ruco found it. Nic then asked to see Ruco who told Ruco to give Sik Sik a break if she did anything wrong because her mother’s death anniversary is coming and every year she will be depressed, etc etc. Apparently Nic knew a lot about Sik Sik that Ruco knew zero. In fact neither Ruco nor Sik Sik knew much about one another, in retrospect. Somewhere along the way Nic went to see Sik Sik and all that rubbish and Ruco saw them and when Nic left, more importantly Sik Sik turned back and looked at Nic leave. What more can Ruco do when so obviously she still had the hots for Nic?

Ruco went to camera shops looking for the real thing or real parts so as to help to mend the father-daughter relationship when one shop had that camera but owner said some 22 years ago a woman already bought the camera and guess who? GUESS!! Don’t know yet. Ruco called Nic and asked Nic to look into his eyes, and tell him the absolute truth. Why did he hurt Sik Sik when he said he loved her so much? Does he still love Sik Sik very much? Can he give her happiness? Nic said all he wanted was to protect her, help her, assist her and if one day she found a guardian angel whom she loved, he will leave quietly. Ahhhhh… see the plot line miles away? See? See? Anyway Ruco decided what he had to do and looked at Nic and knew he will mend Nic and Sik Sik’s relationship.

Nic appeared before Sik Sik and dad and got a good scolding when he said they must follow him somewhere, if not they will regret it, for-evah! And so they did, to the camera shop which is opposite and owner told them a woman by the name of Mr Law’s wife paid monthly for the camera and on the last day of payment she never came to pay the last payment. Oh and thunder, lightning, rain and tears, Mr Law realised he has wronged Sik Sik all these years because his wife didn’t die because to buy her lemon liquorice which was just by the way but ultimately she had wanted to cross the road to pay for the camera and got hit by the car!!!! TRAGEDY!!! OH GREEK TRAGEDY!!!!

Pause.

Dear lord, what a mess of a storyline. So it wasn’t Sik Sik’s fault because the last stop for Mrs Law was the camera shop. So if the last stop was the betting shop, then what? Will Mr Law burn down the betting shop? Decree that from henceforth betting shops are enemy numero uno for the Law family? There must be a better way to settle the grudge between dad and daughter without having to shift the blame. So why wasn’t Mr Law slapping himself and throw himself into an oncoming car if he was to be blamed? To show how magnanimous Sik Sik was when she said “Dad it wasn’t your fault?” or how loving dad was when he said “Sik Sik I have wrongly blamed you for so long, I am sorry?” or to keep the track record of Sik Sik not saying sorry for anything whilst everybody apologises to her for something? Must a grudge be settled by shifting of blame? Can’t Mr Law just wake up and blame the driver instead of his own daughter? Or blame God of Hell himself? Or god?

Rubbish end to a nonsensical issue between father and daughter.

Continue.

Dad suddenly felt that Nic has changed and advised his daughter if she chose to be with Nic again he was ok.

Sik Sik walk downstairs and I was so hoping she would be seeing Ruco but instead she saw Nic.

And yes, roundabout again and again and again.

Sik Sik sat down with Nic and basically told him her heartache, how she felt all these years at being wronged, that she felt relieved but still a bit of guilt and more importantly, felt a bit unjust at her father’s mistreatment of her. Nic understood perfectly and listened and advised and consoled.

Pause.

I feel like banging my head against the wall in this scene. I was so hoping Sik Sik will really wise up and perhaps be more decisive and realised she no longer loved Nic despite what he did for her but wasn’t so sure until she walked down and saw Ruco. And with Ruco she will sit down and confess her innermost turmoil which she never did before this and Ruco will advise her, console her and as he leaves, she will realise that in the end she fell for Ruco because she was willing to share her pain with him and tell him everything and that she felt happier at seeing him rather than seeing Nic and that she and Nic was truly over and that by the end of episode 19 she will tell Nic she no longer loved him but rather loved someone else so that episode 20, being the last episode in my mind will show her going after Ruco who writes her a love song to a befitting end of a relationship which shall begin with a passionate kiss at sunset or sunrise or something.

BUT ALAS!!! Idiot writers decide to kill a fledgling relationship, give that wonderful romantic moment to Nic and reboot that relationship because…

Continue.

Chun Chun and Chin Chun reconciled and opened shop called Manis Macaron together, Ruco came by and of course Sik Sik and Nic, holding hands and Ruco smiled, Sik Sik nodded and Nic I believe gave that nod on the head to Ruco as thanks.

End of this stupid episode.

Go back to that whole “Funn’s idea of episode 19” thing. You see what I mean? Someone must hate Aimee Chan because her Sik Sik is so fickle minded. So whilst she was flirting up a storm with Ruco, she was actually still in love with Nic. In real world, Sik Sik would have gone back to Nic. In TV world, how do you reconcile this episode with future episodes which will end with Sik Sik and Ruco without showing Sik Sik to be someone of an indecisive flirt? You gotta be kidding me right? You still think I will root for Sik Sik, cheer for her? I’d rather Ruco ended up with Yee Kiu then! At least Yee Kiu was honest! When there was a perfect opportunity for this series to go towards a romantic beautiful ending, this episode happened. What a squandered chance!

And my guess how Sik Sik ended up with Ruco?

SCENARIO ONE
Sik Sik leaves Nic when she finds out Ruco did most of the whole mending father-daughter feud thing as well as being the white knight and having her bracelet and that he wrote her a heartfelt song and so she returns to him.

Unlikely because Nic already said something in this episode as a clear indication of what will happen.

SCENARIO TWO
Sik Sik couldn’t forget about Ruco because she was already in love with him without realising it and thinking she was still in love with Nic which was her past. So she strives to help Ruco to compose again which he did and Sik Sik will find out about the bracelet, the shoe, Ruco being the white knight (maybe Nic will tell her or maybe she goes to Malaysia meets back some friends who will tell her perhaps) and of course the camera thing (Nic will tell her) and she suddenly realises it is Ruco she loves and goes to find him, perhaps in Malaysia at Redang Beach at that tree house perhaps (I am being romantic here but can be anywhere) and she tells him what she knows, scolds him and he confesses and they kiss and the end.

More probably scenario two. So boring. It does Sik Sik no favour in either scenario because her image has been totally pulverised by this episode. For a romantic love story, I want a romance worth romancing with by a viewer, worth imagining yourself in her shoes, worth remembering fondly and that starts with strong characters who knows what they want. Love isn’t about giving way to the man who saved your life. Was Ruco sure Sik Sik still loved Nic? Yes he was and so was I. So the 2nd problem is in a romantic love story there must be a strong heroine worth rooting and cheering for. A woman who knows what she wants and fights for it by first rejecting her former love WITHOUT accepting him back first (that shows she is just indecisive doesn’t it?) and then running after her man because she is a modern woman, she doesn’t need to be chased, she can do the chasing. What is infuriating about this episode is at episode 19 no romance, at episode 19 we have a heroine who backtracks and a hero who gives her away and yet we know in the next few episode she will realise who she loves mainly because …

a. he is the white knight
b. he bought her the shoe first
c. he got her bracelet
d. he wrote her a song
e. he was the one who solved her family feud

Such quantifiable love, depressing isn’t it? Love should be without who did more than who and love should be like those k-drama sort of love; the guy sees the girl he who sulks suddenly smiles and eyes twinkle whilst for the girl, she has a compulsion to care about his everything and will fight and defend his honour.

I hate the possibility that Nic will be given a chance at an act of gallantry as in him giving Sik Sik away to Ruco rather than Sik Sik doing the walking to Ruco herself. In fact I am furious at this thought which I hope won’t be the case.

TVB has a loooong way to reach that sort of decisive sure romance that k-drama is so good at (and so good it became the only theme in any k-drama that it becomes such a single minded theme). Right now TVB sucks.

As for performances, I doubt the high ratings of 30 or so in recent episodes is because of Aimee Chan. It is because of Ruco and it is Ruco Chan who is holding up this series with his wonderful performance despite the fact that the writing is appalling.

For a feel good series about romance, it has no romance, nothing makes me feel good and it sucks as a series.

I am suffering right now, for Ruco and I feel a great injustice for Ruco being stuck with such sucky series. But there is a plus point. My suffering is your benefit, especially those who has stopped watching but is curious enough to read my recaps. I suffer… for you. This episode was aired on Valentine’s Day which was also Chap Goh Mei, Chinese Valentine’s Day which is like double cupid shot day. So this recap is my thanks to my readers and my love to you all, for those who gives me positive and negative comments. My love for you kept me going. And frankly my romance with you is so much more romantic than the insipid dead-not-dead-undead-still alive but maybe quite dead-revived but no more romantic-tale of love story in this series.

So on this double cupid shot day, may I say this;

Oh how I suffer for thee,

because…

Luk Kung Tzi…

Ruco Chan …

And to my readers, love me or not, this episodic thought is dedicated to you and all I wanna say, apart from how much I hated this episode is…

“Outbound Love” Episode 19 Clip

[vsw id=”lZOIl29WEtk” source=”youtube” width=”500″ height=”375″ autoplay=”no”]

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This Episodic Thoughts is written by Funn Lim, a Contributing Writer at JayneStars.com, and was originally posted at http://outboundlove.blogspot.com.

Responses

ninja mommy February 16, 2014

now that i no longer have the free chinese channel, i have to rely on your reviews, thanks for being so detailed!

also, i guess in RL it’s most likely that she would go back to Nic even tho he cheated because there’s the comfort of someone that she knew so well about and vice versa compared to some hot hunk she met not too long ago lol
Tsul Kalu February 17, 2014

This should be the finale. Everybody got what they deserve.

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