TVB Burning Flame III Review (Ep 01 – 12)

The last few big TVB productions that I have watched have failed to live up to their “grand production” expectations.   I remember Gem of Life was such a let down for me, I suffered through 60 or so episodes and couldn’t even bear to finish the last 10 or so.  But I wasn’t going to let that affect my hopes for Burning Flame III (BF3).  I mean, here we have the BF brand name (with the amazing BF1 + 2), Wong Hei and the themes of sacrifice, honour and heroism.

Getting stabbed, one of the many risks of high-rise window washing.

Wong Hei and Kevin Rivalry

This was unexpected.  I didn’t think they would start out as enemies because usually TVB have their characters start out as friends, then enemies, then at the last episode become friends again (or one of them dies, whatever).  But when I saw them both being so inchy towards eachother I was intrigued.  What was their backstory, what happened between them?

Wong-Hei describing the size of something Kevin has; Kevin doesn't like it.

It’s lucky they did that because it was only for that reason I sat through the overdose of flashbacks TVB unleashed.  Who’s idea was it to have the audience sit through 2 entire flashback-mode mode episodes?  I’m talking about using high-contrast, washed out colours, blurry edges to symbolize flashbacks.  Now imagine 2 entire episodes of completely non-stop flashback in order to explain the backstory.  Way to make use of HDTV TVB.

One of the few major explosions NOT CGI. It'd be impressive if not for the flashback mode.

The amount of time spent on the rivalry between them early on made me expect that the series was going for a philosophical angle here and debate whose style and methods were the best suited for the job of a firefighter and play up the competition.  I was all for that, but it seems TVB had something else in mind.

Wong-Hei and Myolie and Kevin

If there’s anything to say about Wong-Hei and Myolie in BF3, it’s that they are portrayed realistically. Neither Wong-Hei nor Myolie were perfect mates to eachother, and their relationship is pretty tough to watch.  It’s easy to say both were right, and also both were completely wrong in the way they treated eachother.  Suffice it to say they are completely incompatible.

And yet Wong-Hei, due to a personality flaw, WILL NOT give her up.  And this just sets the stage up for a series long love triangle between the 2 guys and the girl.  That’s right,  BF3 has sunk to what is basically a romantic drama with firefighters.  The dangers firefighters face, the sacrifices they give, the meaning behind the occupation, is now irrelevant.  They only get in the way of the romance plot.

One thing I will say is that you should tune in when Wong-Hei and Myolie break up and he begins his downward spiral.  He lived his life believing as long as you put the effort into whatever you’re doing, you will succeed.  What he didn’t understand is that love doesn’t work that way.  Watching him struggle with his personal conflict was quite affecting, and Wong-Hei as usual does a good job.

Wong-Hei sad; I'd be sad too if I knew how BF3 was going to turn out

Conclusion

Episode 12 ends with Wong-Hei suffering an accident while fighting a fire and falls into a coma.  Episodes 1-12 are also  the first act of the series and are good, but not great.  The fire emergencies were plentiful, but their importance was diminished.  This is a romance series first and foremost, not action and not about the bond between firefighters.

TVB Last One Standing Review (Ep 08-21 END)

Kevin pretty much hit rock bottom in episode 8, flipping out at Roger and Yoyo’s engagement party.  Then a stroke of inspiration hit him, and with it came a change in strategy on how to ruin Roger.  For us viewers, this change in strategy also brings with it a change in the tone of the series.  The first act (first 7 episodes) were dark and depressing, but the second act (middle 5-7 episodes) had a somewhat lighter tone to it.  Can’t say it’s welcome, but it’s understandable.  The last act (last 7 episodes) returns to its dark roots at the beginning.

*Spoilers*

The second act felt kind of light when compared to the first act.  They had romantic storylines between Kevin and Elaine Yiu and Macy Chan for a few episodes.  Then all that stuff with Yoyo’s sister and the murder victim’s mistress.  Looking back on it now, I can see that they served a purpose in the overall plot but it felt like filler while I was watching it.

The third act was when all the crap hit the fan (good thing), which I’ll describe in detail below.

Roger being an evil bastard

Little by little Roger’s mask came off.  Watching him terrorize his poor old grandma was a delight.  Cutting her plants, killing her fish, driving her insane and paranoid.  It was the look in his eyes while he was doing it.  You could tell he was enjoying it.  Finally he could show his true colours to this old hag who was distrustful of him ever since he was adopted into the family and exact his revenge.  The selling point of the series is definitely watching Roger play the villain.

You can’t miss episode 20 where he just lets go and drops his mother onto the wooden floor.  Nothing could prepare you for that sight.

You knew it was coming but still...Oh snap!

Kevin Cheng

Instead of being black and white, right or wrong, he’s actually more of a gray character.  In order to exact his revenge on Roger, he not afraid of doing whatever it takes.  He told his grandma to install spy cameras in the apartment, which sorta got her killed.  He took advantage of Macy Chan’s affection, to gain access to company records.  But come to think of it, he didn’t do that much in the grand scheme of things (he even pointed it out to Roger in the last episode).  A lot of Roger’s undoing came by his own hands.  I felt Kevin kind of took a back seat to Roger though.  During the first act when he was a badass he was much more interesting, and Roger was boring.  But as the series progressed and their roles reversed, I liked watching Roger more.

Elaine Yiu

She’s cute.  I especially like it when she has a crush on Kevin and pouts and throw tantrums when she doesn’t get her way.  Considering all this, I felt so sorry for her by the third act when Roger was slapping her into submission.  She played the abused sister convincingly, and the whole thing was a bit disturbing.

That's no way to treat such a pretty girl

Macy Chan

TVB knows how to do fan service.  Elaine attracts those who like cute, and Macy attracts those who like nerdy.  The wig was a little bit too much though.  Before this series I didn’t even know who she was.  I was wondering if she was an ATV actress or something, because I didn’t believe that she was a newbie since her acting wasn’t bad.  But it seems she’s been a few TVB dramas already, and was part of a music group?  Anyways her crying and emotional scenes could use some work.

Macy during 99% of the series

Macy for 1% of the series

Conclusion

A very atypical TVB series.  Dark and depressing with a very evil Roger as the villain, and Kevin as a not so clear-cut hero.  People die, bad things happen.  Don’t know if TVB will do a sequel or make another series like this (from what I’ve read ratings have not been that high, but seems to have picked up during its last 2 weeks) so you better watch it while you can.

TVB Last One Standing Review (Ep 01-07)

Well I gotta keep myself occupied somehow, not just writing cover letters everyday right?

Anyways being subjected to Moonlight Resonance’s “everybody gets what they deserve” lollipop ending, I needed something darker.  Last One Standing delivers.  *Spoiler alert*  Scenes like somebody finding his dog severed head in the same bed as him and some guy getting beaten to death in a bloody pulp surprised me for a TVB production, garnering a few viewer complaints.

Kevin Cheng does well in this series.  As a character who just spent 10 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, he looks every bit like it.  Unshaven, unkempt, violent and hot-tempered, completely different from any role I saw him in before.  Gunning for Roger Kwok, he was a complete bad-ass the first 2 or 3 episodes with nothing to lose.  That is until Roger Kwok does some fancy manipulating to throw him off the trail.

Roger Kwok plays a character who’s a conniving, manipulative man.  Of course nobody knows this, but we do thanks to a clever use of a flashback to when he was an child orphan.  He was already using his shady ways to get his new family to adopt him at such a young age.  As an adult, he almost successfully convinced Kevin that somebody else framed Kevin, not him.

It was at this point that I was afraid TVB would drag this out where Kevin would keep believing this lie while we, as viewers, would know better.  Thankfully TVB doesn’t treat the characters as idiots this time, and Kevin finds out soon enough.  What then follows is a sort of cat-and-mouse game between Kevin and Roger, similar to Tony and Andy in Infernal Affairs (what a clichéd analogy, I know).  Kevin needs to find more evidence, but can’t let Roger know.  Roger still keeps his eye on Kevin, so Kevin needs to stay on his feet.

The murder mystery is another thing I’m enjoying about this series.  TVB tries to lead the viewers to believe Roger framed Kevin for the murder, but to this point this was all based on Kevin’s speculation.  There’s no direct proof shown at any point of the series to say Roger did it.  Maybe there’s a twist at the end where the murderer is somebody we all never suspected (if TVB is clever enough to pull it off).

Good

• Elaine Yiu – always liked her
• Yoyo Mung – hated her, but like her in this.  Did her acting get better or does this role fit her more?
• Soundtrack – not recycled from other series
• Kevin’s unhealthy obsession with Yoyo – shows he’s a broken man, clinging to a shred of hope

Bad

• Yvonne Ho – Kevin’s sister, annoying voice and horrible acting