It was an average series overall. It could be said to be a longer version of Chinese Odyssey starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Faye Wong, and Vicki Zhao, but more draggy/ stretched-out. There were good points of it, however. Since they added a lot of stuff in between with royal takeover and such. Robbers and thieves were actually the real good people who helped citizens while royal people and magistrate helped rich people harass the poor, etc.
Eric Suen and Shirley Dai had great chemistry together in this series. However, their story and the triangle stretched out quite a long time and it got super repetitive regarding the whole princess having to marry off to someone else or find a better suitor made it unbearable at some points. However, Princess Bei Bei’s relationship with her mother was very touching and was a great story.
The comedy was minimal and funny at first but it got repetitive and corny later on. As the series dragged on, I rather watch Eddie Kwan and the girl who played Xiao Xiao more. They were very funny and cute together although their relationship should have been focused and developed more towards the end and how they met, etc. There were hints, but still not enough scenes of them together.
Overall, it was an all right series. I must admit this was WAYYYY better than Long Fei Xiang Gong (Flying Dragon) with Eric Suen and Eddie Kwan because although the other story with the fairy was interesting, there were too many repetitive scenes and it was super slow. This one had some development and new stuff to drive the plot better. It seemed more reasonable at places to focus on certain parts more than others.
I must say I was surprised to really like Huang Hai Bing in here and his acting was great since he was super evil in Smart Kid and in this one, he was super righteous and funny at the same time. His scenes with Ellen Chan were way too funny but shouldn’t be taken seriously since this one was mostly comedy after all.
Last but not least, love the sub-theme of the series “A Lifetime Without Regrets” sang by Liu Quan Sheng and Ellen Chan.
Posted (on Xanga): October 18, 2008
Re-posted: Monday, April 12th, 2010