NOTE
Thanks to Kidd, I just found out the actress who looks like Suki isn't Suki but is Yoyo Chen, the girl in Best Selling Secrets. The character's name is Fei Yin. I have made the necessary amendments.
Is it me or is the palace a very small mansion? Because Sam Hou seems to bump into everybody everytime she goes somewhere. I am still not familiar with names so I will use the actor's name until I get used to the titles.
Thanks to Kidd, I just found out the actress who looks like Suki isn't Suki but is Yoyo Chen, the girl in Best Selling Secrets. The character's name is Fei Yin. I have made the necessary amendments.
Is it me or is the palace a very small mansion? Because Sam Hou seems to bump into everybody everytime she goes somewhere. I am still not familiar with names so I will use the actor's name until I get used to the titles.
Anyway, remember last episode the whole drama of "Yes, pearl"?
Continue.
"Yes, pearl. There will be a shimmery effect as the wearer walks with the dress adorned with pearls, the effect will be beautiful" and the Empress Dowager held up her hand to stop Sam Hou and everybody was like very tense and then the evil woman spoke; "That... is indeed a good idea. I am very pleased with the design. The jewelry dept should liase with the embroidery (actually should be attire/fashion but Chinese word seems to suggest sewing dept which is very not glamorous and the better term as in what they do should be embroirdery) dept so to ensure the hairpin matches the design by the embroidery dept" and Michelle was very pleased and Susanna wasn't and the empress dowager said "The jewelry dept should learn well from the embroidery dept when it comes to ideas. Your ideas are too old fashioned, I am very pleased with the embroidery dept. Keep up the good work. And for that I grant to you the royal dessert as encouragement" and everyone except jewelry dept was very pleased.
Pause here.
Who designed the dress? Why is Sam Hou so darn pleased with herself if she didn't design it and merely reading the pre-written introduction?
Continue.
Sam Hou was walking with the box of dessert smiling to herself, as always (you see in TVB world innocence and goodness is personified with the heroine suddenly smiling to herself, rather sweetly. Some might term this as self satisfied and pleased with herself borderline on arrogance but Sam Hou of course is such a nice person, we never thought of it that way) when Susanna walked by and Susanna uncharacteristically was rather harsh and said "You shouldn't be too pleased with yourself. Yes she may grant you a gift as encouragement but never forget we are mere servants serving our masters and our masters can be as pleased as they are with us today and as displeased they will be tomorrow so as to punish us. This is not some great encouragement or achievement you should be pleased of, once doesn't make it always so" and Michelle walked by (see! small place!) and for once rightfully rebuked Susanna by saying "Well someone is jealous of our achievement since we were praised and she wasn't. Why? Are you jealous we were gifted with this royal dessert?" and Susanna said "I was merely stating the obvious. Moreover, jewelry dept in the past has been gifted with such desserts countless of time, it is of no big deal we lose out once" and she walked away. If the empress dowager heard that, her head would be off! Anyway Michelle said to a rather ermm... I suppose bemused Sam Hou (in TVB world nice heroine never ever gets angry, ever so they always react to confrontation in a bemused sort of way), "Don't listen to her. She is just jealous of our achievements"
Pause here.
I find that very uncharacteristic of Susanna to be such a spoil sport. I suppose this is her way of telling Sam Hou not to gloat or be too happy since the empress dowager is crazy.
Anyway the duke returns! He rushed to his mother who was still sick and she was very happy to see her as she was to see him since I suppose this must be rare. Anyway the Empress dowager suddenly appears and she rushed to prepare herself and the duke, she was still scared of her and with the crazy woman was the Emperor (who doesn't look like an emperor at all) and his Empress (and that was the snotty woman sitting in when Sam Hou and gang presented their ideas). The Empress Dowager sat next to Concubine Zheng and said in a nice tone but rather maliciously "I have decided to recall the young duke to return to the palace so that he may accompany you since you're sick. I was so afraid he may be too late to see you for the last time, but... luckily he made it in time" and Concubine Zheng looked I suppose scared in a sheepish way.
Pause here.
When the Empress dowager said what she said, it wasn't said in such a nice gentle way. In Chinese to say to someone that they're afraid they may be too late to "sung lei jung" can be good in a way to say afraid too late to say goodbye before you die or in this woman's way, the bad way which means she wishes Concubine Zheng to drop dead. Why so malicious woman? WHY?!
Continue...
They're all looking at the duke who was busy playing with his turtle whom he nicknamed "Tong Nin Tzi" which is the name of the sweet Sam Hou gave him when he left the palace as the Emperor were introduced and he playfully said "Oh that is the emperor! I know because he is wearing a dragon!" and that pleased the young emperor who called the duke his royal uncle.
Pause here.
He is this king's uncle. So this king is the grandson of that mad woman. I thought her son was childless? So before he died he had a son?? I don't know, I am confused and it doesn't matter because he will die soon because Moses Chan is in this series for a purpose and that is not to play crazy boy.
Anyway everybody seems rather nice to the duke but in actual fact they treat him like an idiot.
The duke walked past the white flower tree and he remembered Sam Hou who showed him kindness when she gave him the sweets and said to him (and I didn't interprete this in full in the last episode so here it is); "Take one when you feel sad, the sweetness will cover the sadness, it works" and Sam Hou and Kam Ying were walking by, greeted him and he didn't recognise Sam Hou at all. He gingerly took one sweet and popped it into his mouth.
Kam Ying, Sam Hou, and 2 other girls, one of them the actress, Fei Yin were standing there holding the finished items when Kam Ying said to Sam Hou "Did you notice the duke? He is back!" and Sam Hou nodded and smiling (AGAIN!) and some girl said "What a pity he is still an idiot, forever this way" and frankly I find the way they talked about the duke very rude and I am even more surprised politically correct Sam Hou never said "Oh don't talk like that about him" but nope, she just smiled (AGAIN!). Eh Sam Hou didn't mama said to not talk ill of others?! I was rather surprised actually at her reaction and that bemused look at her. Even she thinks he is an idiot and should be treated as one.
Pause here.
You know I really like the duke because he has a sad story and as I watched more I like him more but that is jumping the gun.
Anyway they were talking and somehow Fei Yin insulted the Jewelry dept by saying "Well, we embroidery dept is better than jewelry dept" and one thing led to another and Kam Ying was pushed by Fei Yin and so Kam Ying pushed back (you go girl!) and Fei Yin pushed Sam Hou accidentally who was holding the dress which fell into a potted plant and shockingly Sam Hou did not gently pick up the dress but grabbed it and thus tearing the embroidery part, ruining the dress. Emergency meeting with the heads and instead of being angry, they're worried and Sam Hou whispered "We have no time.. no time.." and arbitrarily she tore off the embroidery part of the dress and everyone looked mildly surprise.
Pause here.
I know Sam Hou is a genius and I know everyone loves her but seriously don't you think for someone of her rank to behave so arbitrarily is way wrong?
The Empress walked out with the new dress with a new shawl or something to cover the supposed embroidery part and she was very pleased and Sam Hou (again rather arbitrarily) interjected and said "Indeed my lady, this dress looks beautiful on you. The design is such that it compliments you and gives you the air of ladylike disposition and highlights your beauty and your gracefulness" and I suppose Sam Hou was being honest here instead of shining shoes. BUT the Empress Dowager thundered "Enough! Is it in the habit of servants to defy the orders of the master? Because I specifically remembered the design is different and I approved that and now it has changed. How dare you change the design without consulting me?"
Everyone fell to the ground, a bit shaking when Sam Hou came to the rescue and said "It is my fault. It was an accident but we had no time so I decided to tear off the embroidery and replaced it with the shawl. Please, blame me alone and blame no one else"
How heroic. Again how arbitrary of her to decide what she decided to do.
The Empress wasn't pleased and said "You are Lau Sam Hou? I remember you. You're hereby punished to prepare --- by ----". Frankly I didn't catch what she said but the punishment was not death or severe beating. How could anyone beat the perfect Sam Hou?
Then stupid Michelle spoke "It wasn't just the Embroidery dept's fault. There was a scuffle and it was the jewelry dept who started it first. They should share equal blame" and the Empress Dowager said "This is an inter dept's problem. You as head of palace maids shall deal with this as you see fit" and the head said "Yes I will".
And so Michelle got some scolding when she defended herself and said "I was just merely stating the truth. Why should the embroidery dept gets punished alone" and Fei Yin interjected "It was Kam Ling who started it first!" and Kam Ling looked worried and the head said "Be that as it may, you do not air out your grievances to the Empress Dowager who is above all this! Whatever happens here stays in here! How would she think of us two squabbling depts? This is a palace, we are maids and servants to our masters, our masters are not concerned with such trivialities, we are to settle such problems ourselves!" and Michelle said "I understand. I will exercise restrain the next time, I am sorry". The head said "Well since this is out, kam Ling and Fei Yin are both to be punished. As their supervisors, I leave them to you to punish as you see fit"
Pause here.
Michelle is stupid! How can she said what she said in front of the empress dowager whose reputation isn't that of a nice kindly old grandma? And how come she never hit Sam Hou but just let her go so easily? Strange!
Anyway Michelle met with Sam Hou and Fei Yin and said to Fei Yin "Did you know what you did wrong back there just now?" and Fei Yin admitted "I shouldn't have shoved Kam Ling" and Michelle said "Wrong! You were right! You didn't do anything wrong! It was that woman, she's just jealous of us" and Sam Hou surprised said "But madam, we did do wrong, they weren't wrong to blame this on us, I did accidentally destroyed that.." and Fei Yin said "Og no you didn't. It wasn't our fault!" and Michelle said "Ok now... Fei Yin, you will fetch water from the well for 10 days" and Fei Yin protested "But you said I was right" and Michelle said "Yes I did but I also want to show to the head of palace maids I have punished you the way she would expect me to, anyhow it is just 10 days, I am sure you can handle that" and Michelle to Sam Hou "I know you're sisters with that Kam Ling but from now on I forbid you to be friends with her, understood?" and Sam Hou was at a lost for words I think.
Fei Yin had to carry water and complain as she did as Kam Ling had to sweep the floor and they bickered and when Fei Yin slipped when she stepped over some stones she said "How come you didn't sweep this pebble?" and Kam Ling sort of maliciously said "My duty is to sweep the leaves, not the pebbles! Serves you right!" as she walked and smiled and Suki fumed.
A-ha! Fei Yin will be Kam Ling's first victim!
The Duke was playing with his turtle when he said to himself "I must find that servant girl, I can ask that eunuch!" and he went in search of him and found the eunuch deep in talks with the head eunuch who angrily said "My influence on that woman (Empress Dowager) is lesser these days. For all the talks of what I did to assist her in installing her son on the throne, she herself installed her grandson without consultation with me. We must deal with her.." when he saw the Duke and smiled and said "Why hello there!" and the Duke tried to ask about Sam Hou but the eunuch interrupted him and the head eunuch asked about the turtle he was holding and said "I have many more turtles you might like. Perhaps you might want to come and have a look at my house one day?" and then I suppose the Prime Minister and the emperor's man said "Are you still trying to bribe your way into the hearts of those of use to you?" and the head eunuch looked at him as he continued (and the duke walked away by this time - the joy of being him is that he doesn't need to observe protocol, he is crazy so everyone treats him as such) "Haven't you learned the first time? You won't always have this chance of redemption. Be contented in your position, don't ever try to be above your own station in life of you may do more harm to yourself that good!" and the head eunuch wasn't pleased as the minister walked away. The kind eunuch knows a lot of things!
Somewhere along the way Sam Hou met with the kind eunuch who helped her to buy some sewing materials and they were friendly with one another.
At night Sam Hou secretly met with Kam Ling. Sam Hou has been secretly learning jewelry making which is her real passion. Fei Yin sneaked to spy on her as she saw Kam Ling said "Is she asleep like a pig? After all she had been carrying buckets of water the whole day!" and Sam Hou said "Don't speak like that of her, she is ok" and Kam Ling said "Only you would think so. You're too kind, you will end up being taken advantage of" and Sam Hou said "I don't mind that" and Kam Ling said "if that is the case I have nothing more to say. I will shut up" and Sam Hou said "How then will you teach me?" and Kam Ling mimed some action and Sam Hou teased "Well if you refuse to speak, I shall have to do this!" and she what's that term where someone touches the waist or shoulder for the giggling effect?
Anyway Fei Yin rushed to Michelle and said she saw Sam Hou seeing kam Ling again and Michelle went with Fei Yin but as she reached there Michelle screamed "RATTTTTT!!!!" and when there wasn't one she said "It's ok, let's continue".
Pause here. I suppose Sam Hou is Michelle's favourite and best student and you wouldn't want harm to you best student who will bring glory to your dept one day, so she warned Sam Hou.
Once inside, Kam Ling was nowhere and Fei Yin made a fuss but Michelle put a stop to her incessant complaints.
Alone, Michelle said to Sam Hou "How long have you been seeing her at nights?" and Sam Hou looked surprise as Michelle said "Don't be surprised. You don't think I know? Sam Hou, I can never stop you from doing what you want but listen to my advise; you better stay away from this Kam Ling. I learned my lesson the hard way and I was betrayed by my friend. You will do well to realise one day she too will betray you" and Sam Hou smiled (AGAIN!) and said "Kam Ling will never betray me" and Michelle sighed and said "Never say never, just be careful"
Pause here.
Eventhough Michelle was being presumptive, but in hindsight she proved to be right about Kam Ling. But when she said what she said, she was just prejudiced against Susanna and her girls.
The duke was playing with his turtle when the emperor and his snotty empress walked by and again talked down to the duke like some idiot. The Empress wanted to look at the turtle and she pretended to throw the turtle causing the duke to run towards a direction in panic when she actually didn't and held the turtle and thought it was cute to mock the duke who was relieved the turtle was ok when the turtle bit her finger and this time she actually threw the turtle, smashed against the wall and the turtle died. The duke screamed in despair and said "How can you do that? The turtle was innocent, how can you be so cruel?!" and the empress haughtily retorted "That thing bit my phoenix body! It deserved to die! Don't you agree your majesty?" and the emperor said "I never liked that turtle when I was younger anyway. You can have any other turtles you want. Oh stop crying over that thing!" and the duke knelt before Tong Nin Tzi and cried. Back in his mom's room, she sent the servant away and asked "What happened my son? Why do you look so glum" and suddenly the duke's face changes, somehow he looked normal and said in a normal tone "Mother, that evil wife of this useles emperor threw my turtle to his death. She won't even let an innocent animal live. They're useless and cruel. If I hadn't been banished because of that evil woman.. what I would have done!" and his mother said "Don't speak like that. It is because you pretended to be an idiot you and I both are alive!" and the duke shouted "To what use? To be treated like we do now? I'd rather do something meaningful in my short life than to live a life as a coward!" and his mother coughed blood and the duke had to let it go.
Pause here.
The change with the way he spoke was amazing. Suddenly he wasn't this idiot boy but an intelligent man. HOW CAN SAM HOU NOT FALL FOR HIM?!
The Duke created a burial and shrine for the turtle (I believe the stone plaque says "here lies a turtle") when Sam Hou (small world!) walked by and said "Hello there. I have some tong nin tzi for you" and the duke shouted "TONG NIN TZI IS DEAD!!!!" and Sam Hou was sort of surprised and she placed some white flowers besides the tomb and she started to walk away when the duke knew it was her and said "In sadness there is sweetness" which was what she said to him when giving him the sweets when they were children and she nodded and giggled and he smiled and apologised for shouting at her and she said it was ok and he said "Can you sit here for awhile? Tong nin tzi liked company" and so she sat down with him.
Pause here.
Again, how come Sam Hou not fall for this man? I like him! I do!
Palace is buzzing and the maids are all buying expensive makeup because there is a new guard or whatever in the palace they all say is very very very handsome. Sam Hou just giggled.
And guess who she bumps into when she walked out?
The hero, Kevin Cheng doing some kung fu, landed on his feet and his eyes met hers stunned by her ethereal beauty and she looked into his eyes and... YES, SMILED (AGAIN!).
Next episode, someone came to challenge the emperor who decided to use this man to kill off the duke or something like that.
Sorry but I still don't get why Sam Hou didn't fall for the duke immediately. And that emperor, what bad seed! I mean grandma is evil, father is evil, son naturally evil and he even married an evil wife.
That being said my favourite character right now is the duke. I pity him, having to pretend to be an idiot but that is to safeguard his own life and that of his mother. Very sad.
The rest I have no comment.
Performances wise, no comment. Why? Any comment will be negative.
ok, too early to tell for Tavia. Charmaine is just all sugary sweet, and her personality is as bland as the floorboards so no comment. Kevin just appeared and how I wished it was Steven Ma who looked back at Charmaine and not Kevin Cheng. Michelle's character is still so one dimensional, and Susanna also as one dimensional. All those palace stuff is just a means to more bickerings.
Susan Tse was scary and one performance I find satisfactory, apart from Mary Hon who looks like a lamb being sacrificed in seconds so well done!
Moses Chan I like. Because he has personality. Because I was impressed how he changed from one persona to the other in that scene with his mother. However he is still too old and what's up with his curly looking hair?!
As I watch more I am sure I will familiarise myself with the characters, ranks and performances. But at ep 3, I am still a bit confused as to the names.
As for the story, after the bombastic ep 1, now it is settling down into.. palace intrigue. Anyway I have just dusted off my 71 episodes of Jewel In The Palace, ready for a 2nd viewing. Because right now Beyond The Realm Of Conscience is still like every other palace scheming sort of series. In fact War & Beauty was far better in that expect. I just never expected myself to enjoy Moses' part of the story that much. But then even in JITP, I always enjoyed the king's story more than everyone else's.
Posts
December 3, 2010 at 8:23 PM
That actress who push Kam Ling is not Suki. She looks a bit like Suki and I used to mix up the 2 too. But, she's not Suki. She's Yoyo Chen. Her character's name is Fei Yin.
"Sorry but I still don't get why Sam Hou didn't fall for the duke immediately."
He's still pretending to be an idiot remember? A 10 year old child in a 20 year old body. That's what Sam Ho sees for now. How could she fall for the duke immediately in his current state?
It's just bad timing. The duke has to pretend to be an idiot and cannot show his true self for now. When Sam Hou finally knows he's pretending, she has already given her heart to Hin Yeung (Kevin).
Hin Yeung is a chess expert. He's supposed to come to the palace to teach the maids chess.