Beauty Knows No Pain (TVB 2010)
Beauty Knows No Pain: <女人最痛>
Number of Episodes: 20
Producer: Lam Chi Wah
Cast:
Maggie Cheung as Jackie Sa
Michelle Yim as Noble Cash
Joyce Tang as Bibi Yue
Joe Ma as Nickson Ko
Power Chan as Chi Lam
Dominic Lam as Vincent Cash
Elena Kong as Angela Hung (Angela Auntie)
Savio Tsang as GM Lam Gai Man
SYPNOSIS (Warning! Spoilers Ahead!)
Mrs. Cash (Michelle Yim) is a middle-aged lady working for a beauty company. She hires Jackie (Maggie Cheung) to work for her. Her secretary is Bibi (Joyce Tang) who is ugly but has an attractive figure.
Despite her age, Mrs. Cash wants to have a child with her husband (Dominic Lam). The couple tries everything to get pregnant.
Jackie is a driven career woman who split with her boyfriend Nick (Joe Ma) for career reasons. Nick marries Yeda (JJ). Jackie discovers that a tumour is forming in her ovaries which could be cancerous.
Bibi has a boyfriend who complains that she spends too much time working. He breaks up with her and says that she is too ugly. Bibi begins to lose confidence about her attractiveness and is too scared to show her figure.
Mrs. Cash is in charge of two beauty product lines called Lafa and Stella Young. Angela (Elena Kong) manages product line, Purple Queen. She always tries to compete against Mrs. Cash. She often plays tricks on Mrs. Cash which caused her and Jackie’s relationship to deteriorate. Mrs. Cash discovered that she was pregnant and her husband was having an affair with a young girl (Yoyo Chen). She thought about divorce but wanted a father figure for her child. Mr. Cash’s lover was also a model for Lafa and she often taunted Mrs. Cash. She slept with Mr. Cash and sent a picture to Mrs. Cash. Mrs. Cash pretended to commit suicide to show the girl that Mr. Cash was selfish and did not really care about her.
Jackie discovered that Nick’s wife, Yeda, was a lesbian and having an affair with another woman. Yeda and Nick divorced and his parents tried to reconcile them. However they discovered the truth and disliked Yeda. Nick and Jackie got together and started dating.
Mrs. Cash tried to solve the problem regarding Lafa but Jackie became the brand manager of both Lafa and Stella Young. Mrs. Cash became the brand manager of a lesser known brand. Bibi disagreed with Jackie and sided with Mrs. Cash. Mrs. Cash attempted to revive the brand so that it would become as good as Lafa.
Angela and Jackie are both in competition to try and get the highest sales for their own brands. Angela’s brand did better and Jackie was convinced that Bibi betrayed her and told Angela the brand’s secrets. In a dispute between Jackie and Mrs. Cash, Bibi broke her nose and received reconstructive plastic surgery. Chi Lam encouraged her to have her whole image changed and persuaded her to accept advertisement jobs to earn extra money.
Bibi’s transformation attracted a lot of male attention. Jackie fired Bibi for selling her brand secrets to Angela. Mrs. Cash rehired Bibi as her secretary since Bibi’s popularity was rising. She started advertising for the brand. Mrs. Cash’s business was starting to be successful.
Mrs. Cash’s business was improving a bit but Angela started to stir trouble. She got someone to change the stock on the computer. Mrs. Cash was held responsible and Angela tried to persuade GM to fire her. Jackie caught the girl and it turned out that it was the same girl that betrayed her. Jackie warned the girl and came across Angela and GM having an affair. She showed the picture to GM’s wife and saved Mrs. Cash from being fired.
Mrs. Cash and Jackie become friends again. Nevertheless, Mr. Cash was constantly harassing Mrs Cash and tried to get her fired and tool her house and car. Her neighbour was very supportive and was always cooking for her.
Jackie and Angela had to hold a function. This time Nick helped Angela and Chi Lam helped Jackie. Jackie wanted a famous Japanese star to attend the function. However, Nick had thought of the same idea and Angela successfully invited the star to attend her function. Angela’s function was a success whilst Jackie’s function was very dire with guests starting to leave.
Mrs. Cash had a product which was similar to Purple Queen but was a lot cheaper since it was manufactured in the same factory. The product began to sell really well. Jackie had leaked the fact to help Mrs. Cash. Angela complained the trade secrets were being revealed. Bibi took the blame for Jackie and lost her job. This affected her reputation but Mrs. Cash continued to use her as a model.
Angela sent some people to stir trouble, saying that their skin were damaged from using Lafa’s products. Jackie realised this and plotted her revenge. It turned out that Angela was working for a rival company. Jackie revealed this to the press and Angela was fired.
Mrs. Cash and Jackie were competing for the Chairman position. Mrs. Cash and Jackie had to give a couple their ideas. Mrs. Cash gave birth to a child and Jackie had helped deliver the child in a lift with Nick, The couple preferred Mrs. Cash’s idea and they wanted Bibi to represent their product. Jackie revealed to the press that Bibi had plastic surgery and had a bad relationship with her parents. Bibi’s mother did not agree with Bibi having plastic surgery and wearing skimpy outfits. However Mrs. Cash managed to repair their relationship and convince the press that Bibi was a filial daughter.
Mr. Cash wanted custody of their child and he abducted the child. He took his son away and forbid Mrs. Cash from seeing him.
Jackie and Nick had a good relationship and both their parents met. Jackie did not want to have kids since she did not want to jeopardise her chances of becoming Chairman. She suggested that they get a surrogate mother. Nick found Yeda and she began to live with the couple. Jackie becomes jealous of seeing Yeda and Nick together. He said that he wanted to prove that having a surrogate mother was a bad idea. Jackie considered having a child. However, she had a tumour in her ovary so having a child was very dangerous. She told Nick who supported her decision not to have a child.
Nick learnt from Angela that Jackie would adopt any measure to succeed and was probably the person that revealed to the press about Bibi’s family. Jackie discovered that Nick and Mrs. Cash had a new idea. She had also thought of the same idea. They were to present their ideas at a ball. However, Mrs. Cash failed to attend since Mr. Cash had taken her child and mother- in-law away. Mr. Cash saved Mrs. Cash from a shelf crashing down on them.
Jackie and Nick broke up because he did not agree with her methods to advance her career. She presented the same business idea as Mrs. Cash fired Nick. He left her. Jackie became Chairman and Mrs. Cash got a new job. Bibi became a celebrity and was dating Chi Lam. Mrs. Cash forgave Jackie and Mr. Cash. She retained custody of her son. The series ended with Jackie interviewing a girl who was ambitious like herself.
CAST AND COMMENT
MAGGIE CHEUNG AS JACKIE
Thought she played a bit of a villain in this series and did not like her character. I thought that it was very evil of her to betray her best friend Bibi. I have not really been enjoying Maggie’s acting since her return to TVB. She does not act as well as she used to or her characters are just not that likeable.
MICHELLE YIM AS NOBLE CASH
You feel sorry for her character since she goes through several traumas. During the time she was filming the series, Michelle’s boyfriend passed away but this had clearly not affected her performance. However, I did not like her wig and noticed that she wears wigs a lot nowadays.
JOYCE TANG AS BIBI
Her character was really funny in this series. She plays an ugly but cute character and I really like her in this series. Even after the makeover, she was still able to maintain the same personality. I have not seen Ugly Betty so no comment as to whether she was impersonating her.
JOE MA AS NICK
His character was not really original but was still played really well. He has collaborated with Maggie Cheung many times so their chemistry was great in this series.
ELENA AS ANGELA
She was very cunning in this series but definitely a natural actress. I think she did a great job as a villain in this series and she looked so pretty too. I thought she was the most stylish in this series.
AWARDS
Favourite female character: Bibi played by Joyce Tang
Favourite male character: Chi Lam played by Power Chan
Most pitiful character: Noble Cash by Michelle Yim
Most stylish character: Elena Kong
Overall
I really enjoyed this series and thought it did not deserve the low ratings it got. The series was not boring and there were always turbulences and problems for the three leading ladies. The storyline portrays different problems that women face in today’s society and women do suffer the most pain in all areas.
I would totally recommend this series to female viewers since they could really learn something from this series and would probably question their own lifestyle.
Rating 
Definitely worth watching but not the best series this year.
Review written by Colly
Thanks for the review. I think the issues that were presented in the series were realistic issues that women face today, whether in family or career. My favorite characters were Joyce’s and Elena’s as well. Elena played her role very well. Some parts were a bit slow-paced, but I have to say I loved watching the fashion in the series. They also have a beautiful office as well that I wouldn’t mind working in! 🙂
I think Maggie acted well in this series. Her character, Jackie, is not very likable but also complex and realistic. She’s not entirely good or bad. She was selfish and competitive and vengeful. But, at the same time, she still has a conscience. She can feel guilt and she really does care for her friends. That’s why sometimes she did good and sometimes she did bad. Because of her upbringing, she always need to win, always need to show that she’s as capable as or more capable than a man. This makes her very career focus and cannot lost. Also, because she herself will take revenge for hurt done to her and she herself will not refrain from using dirty tricks, she assume that other are the same. That’s why she always thought bad of others’ motive. She thought Bibi betrayed her for Mrs.Cash, she thought Nick betrayed her because she doesn’t want to have a baby. But, these 2 never did. I actually pity her at the end. She chose to give up everything to stay at the top and forever fighting to stay at that position. Won’t she be tired one day?
I agree with you, I thought Maggie acted well! I loved her character (that’s the truth) , even though many say that Maggie has been burdened with unlikable characters since her return to tvb. I thought Jackie was a character that had many layers to her, and was probably as unflinching a representation of a careerwoman that tvb can do (at least for some time). I felt that sometimes her actions, although definitely not right nor ethical, were at least understandable. I don’t agree with what she does, but at least I know her starting point (even if flawed). I felt that she was a character that I could, at some points in time, at least relate to and sympathise.
Honestly, for a good part of the series, I did not like Bibi. At all! In my opinion, she was so blur, whiny, dependent and like a total doormat. She allowed her boyfriend at that time to walk over her like it, that guy was a bliidy bastard. I don’t know, but I didn’t understand her character (which is probably not the problem with the script, yes). Though at the end, I think she was likable, after she became more independent and less blur/whiny. I loved the fact that she stood up loyally for her friends, although sometimes, I do think that she is somewhat foolish. But still, it was nice.
I loved Elena as the villain and she is hilarious. I can’t imagine any other person pulling that role of and making me love her! 😀
Michelle was awesome, as usual, but it was in her own capacity and not any doing of the role. Personally I felt that the role did not exactly do her acting skills justice. Noble wasn’t one-dimensional, but I felt that for the most part, she seemed perfect. Without a doubt, during the course of the series she was the most pitiful, no fight, But at the end of everything, I believe that Angela was the worse off (no job, no family, nothing). In the end, the luckiest were Noble and Bibi, after going through crap.
Joe and Maggie had wonderful chemistry. Joyce and Power were awesomeness, and very adorable. Dominic’s character was horrible to have cheated on Noble, but I didn’t like Gordon Lam’s character too (again, something that people would disagree with). In fact, I couldn’t stand watching their scenes.
BKNP deserved better ratings then this, I put it down to the fact that the cast doesn’t have major viewership attracters. The plot, for the most part, was well-written and sometimes funny.
I loved it ^^
For me, Maggie didn’t act to well. Her character had a lot of room for showcase but I didn’t sense any of what Kidd wrote in the series.
She wasn’t what she used to be. I still love her from that Tea series with Gordon Lam.
This was still better than that other series she had with Michael Miu and Michael Tse.
I agree with Kidd. I religiously watched this series! Jackie’s character had indeed many layers to her and I think Maggie acted really well to depict the different sides of her. Kudos to her.
The other cast all did really well too. Esp Elena ,she’s too cute as a villain to make everyone adore her even though she’s supposed to be evil. Haha.
So disappointed that Elena Kong didn’t win Best Supporting Actress 2010. Angela Auntie was brilliant!