[Review] Storm in a Cocoon (By MiriamFanz)
Storm in a Cocoon <守業者>
Hong Kong TVB Drama 2014
Producer: Leung Choi Yuen
Genre: Mystery, Family
Episodes: 32
Rating: 
Cast:
Steven Ma as Poon Ka Yeung
Tavia Yeung as Tong Bing Bing
Evergreen Mak as Poon Ka Hin
Maggie Siu as Sin Bik Wan
Natalie Tong as Fung Chi Ching
Matt Yeung as Hung Chor Gau
Review:
I’ll admit I thought Storm in a Cocoon would have the cliché family infighting storyline. The series turned out to a pleasant surprise. It had an excellent cast and a solidly written plot. The series is essentially divided into two parts: a whodunit mystery for the first 20 episodes and then “property protecting”, as the Chinese title suggests, for the last 12 episodes.
The mystery part was very intriguing and suspenseful. There is a long suspect list as everyone seems to have something to hide. It was fun crossing off the names along with Ka Yeung (Steven) and Bing Bing (Tavia) in the series. With each crossed-off name, a new secret is exposed and a new direction must be taken. The whole story was woven together masterfully, with each clue, secret or partial flashback leading the audience to think that one person did it, but there turns out to be a very logical explanation for their actions. As a rule, the ultimate culprit will be the least unexpected one. Overall, a delightful segment to watch.
The second part of the series reverts to a power struggle and revenge story. While it is a classic set-up, this series manages to throw in many creative plot twists to keep the audience on the edge. Unfortunately, the scriptwriters run out of creative juices a little too soon and put together a finale that rips-off Titanic and TVB’s own Beyond the Realm of Conscience. It is still a good part two to follow up the thrilling mystery.
The series features a strong cast, anchored by Stevia. Steven and Tavia undoubtedly share great chemistry, this being their fourth partnership. They are a couple that balked against all tradition and adversity. Their deep love is apparent with the way they interact and look into each other’s eyes. As for their individual performances, Steven does an excellent job portraying Ka Yeung, a man who was forever changed by his experiences in the military. He is able to show that inner turmoil in the scenes where he is alone. Meanwhile, I didn’t like Tavia’s loud-mouthed character in the beginning, but thankfully, she tones it down when she was put in charge of the silk factory. I love the scene where she collapses against the wall, crying. It shows how despite her fortitude, she is still, at the very heart, a woman deeply affected by her husband’s absence.
In contrast, Evergreen Mak and Maggie Siu were a couple that was unable to survive through the adversities. They are both strong veteran actors who were able to display this tragedy on-screen. However, Evergreen lacked presence until he turned evil. Even then, he didn’t give off an evil vibe, but that could be because his character isn’t really evil at the core. Maggie, on the other hand, was brilliant in portraying a woman who is both strong and weak – strong in defending her sorority against harm, but weakened by her love for Evergreen. In the end, her character was useless in preventing his misdeeds and died an unnecessary death.
Matt Yeung and Natalie Tong were a side story, though they had their cute moments. Matt excels in these shy, boy-next-door roles. Yeung Chiu Hoi was decent being a traumatized younger brother. Stephen Wong is suitable as a villain. Akina Hong had many layers in her performance of a very interesting character. KK Cheung makes a great villain and he even had the local accent (Shunde is actually his native town). All others unmentioned are okay, but no standout performances.
The review is written by Miriamfanz, a Contributing Writer at JayneStars.com. Visit Miriamfanz’s blog!
Thank you. Enjoyed reading your review.
Thank you for the great review. Love Stevia!
who’s kk cheung?
The villain – Bing Bing’s biological father. I believe his full name is Cheung Kwok Keung. He’s been around since the early 80’s. Got his start in film, I think.
Thanks for the short review. I dislike long and negative reviews.
I’ve been waiting for a review! Finally a good one that’s true to the series!
Thanks for the review! And agree with pretty much everything said.
Wish u did episodic recaps throughout the airing of the series tho….
I officially ship Stevia ❤️ I just love love love their amazing chemistry. They really compliment each other and bring out the best in one another.
This was one of the FEW ‘olden day’ dramas I’ve actually watched all the way through!! Lot of people dying… 🙂 But all in all a great drama! The ending was a bit…… How shall I say it? TVB?? 🙂
The ending was fine for me. Everyone had a closure to their characters; some either died (Maggie), learned their lesson (Evergreen)or reunited (Steven and Tavia). For the ‘Titanic’ scene, I don’t agree with those who said it was lame when there was “clearly enough space” for both of them to be on the wooden title thing. It was a flash-flood and Steven had to guide Tavia away to a higher land. If they both were on the wooden title thing how were they going to move away from the dangerous waters? Use hands to paddle? Steven’s knock in the head was also logical because debris was moving fast and nothing is predictable in natural disasters.
As for the Beyond the Realm of Conscience ending, I agree it was very similar but it was delivered far much more emotional and heart-wrenching than how Charmaine-Kevin delivered it, so why didn’t BTROC Ending get much complaints?
Anyway, I agree with you that Storm in a Cocoon is no doubt my favourite series so far! Full of suspense and credible performances from everyone!
BTROC ending didn’t have as much complaints as SIAC maybe because the viewers are not as absorbed/desperate for Kevin-Charmaine happy ending as viewers are absorbed/desperate for Stevia happy ending.
I think the ‘titanic’ scene is fine but the ‘BTROC’ end to SIAC is very disappointing.
Thank you for your review, I like this series so much, because I like Tavia and Steven together. Their acting are very natural and performing well
Just finished watching this <3 <3 <3
I can't believe Steven and Tavia are not couple in real life. They look so good together. And Ka Yeung's character – fell in love with him =D
Good job actors!!
Sorry for the spoilers but why did MaggieSiu die at the end? So Evergreen’s wife just forgave him like that?
I watched up until the part when Tavia finds out the guy was her real father, I watched the bit where Evergreen comes home and his wife is pregnant. Can someone tells me what happens in the end? Is it one of those unable to be together endings TVB is famous for?
Y are comments that are not offensive deleted?
Eg: people see this drama as overrated. why delete their comments?
I agree. finally a good OBJECTIVE review.
I noticed that, too, some of the comments were deleted in the recent articles. Was wondering why? It happened to a few other articles, not only this one.
Yes, short, sweet, to the point, and OBJECTIVE =)
stupid and bad movie by bad actors and actress!
no is not this tv film rated up to 32!!!!!!
is quite good and quite like tavia and steven’s
acting they match the most when they film together
in a tv show
a good series so far; Maggie Siu is excellent; I love the scenes between MS and EM: very touching. Steven Ma is very good too.
One of the reason I watch this drama is the good setting of old Guangzhou , it scenery , music score all well done
Scenery were probably digitized.