A Fistful Of Stances [2010][TVB][E]

I actually catched the last 5 minutes of the episode before this and we are shown Tak's wife talking rather sinisterly with a woman, giving her a handkerchief and said "You know what to do, after all I will ensure your son will receive promotion" and the woman said "But... I did see her raped by that man..." and we are left to wonder, what sinister plan has this woman hatched and there was a witness to the rape!

This episode starts and mostly fantastic with a huge twist but one bloody scene spoiled it!

Recap...

Lion dance competition. Tong insists on joining, despite his age AND his asthma and Leung at the back. Whole family there except for Ming at home crying in her dark room. I understand why Tong is doing this. This is like Japanese series Under Same Roof; where the big brother despite his foot injury still ran the marathon to show to his little sister who was raped that she can be brave and stand up again. Exactly the same except this is lion dance.

Competition is fierce, Tong started and actually reached the top very quickly but before he can take the vege, he fell down! He insisted on climbing up again, and fell again! Now everyone was worried and Leung told him to stop but he insisted, and fell again and was hurt. Everyone ran to him, head of martial arts association said "Tong! You're not young anymore! You have proven yourself worthy of your reputation because you climbed the fastest eventhough you did not reach the vegetable. You have done enough!" and everyone, even rival teams cheered him but Tong wasn't happy and he..

and this is where this episode went awry with this OTT scene and it didn't help that Kenneth just didn't do well at all; he just didn't reconcile the emotional brother and the respected kung fu master where he seems more like an upset kid with his pout.

Tong looked around, like lost and said "Ngan, is Ngan here? Did you see Ngan?" and he asked everyone and I was very frustrated with this scene that shows Tong like some depressed maniac. And I was wondering how come Wai Lan is so cool? Why isn't she doing the questioning? More importantly why he suddenly became so like that?!

"Did you see Ngan? Did you? Did you? Ngan, where are you? I know you're here, you must be here! Did you see climb all the way up? Did you? I want to show you if me with my illness could climb all the way up, and then falling faling flat like a crab, embarass myself in front of my peers and still stand back up again, so can you Ngan! So can you! Ngan, are you listening to me? Ngan, stand back up again! Ngan... Ngan... you can do it! You can!" and everyone was in tears listening to what he said ...when I believe the chief of the martial arts association said "We can't help her..." and Tong tearfully said "But you saw her grow up, do you think she is that sort who would fall for such a scum? Do you really believe that scum's story?" and chief said "I know Ngan since she was a little girl and actually I don't believe that man's story but what can I do? We don't have an accuser, so how to proceed?" and suddenly a determined voice shouted "You have an accuser!" and it was Ming tearfully (she cries a lot!) said "I will be the accuser. Sirs, you must all seek justice for me. I will tell you everything. I was paying respect for elder brother's mother and I was going home when that scum jumped on me and raped me. Whatever he said, about me loving him and stalking him, it isn't true! He stalked me! I was so scared, I didn't dare leave the house. One time I was so scared I ran into a nightclub and climbed a wall to escape! When I thought it was safe... he raped me. Please, give me justice! He is now hiding in Wing Tak's house. I am not afraid to face him anymore! I will face him! I will!" and everyone marched to Tak's house, passed by Ching and Yau who asked what is happening and Leung pointed at them "Going to your father's house to demand for that scum Tam Chung!".

Wing Tak was warned by one of the fellow kung fu master beforehand. And darn it, back to dinner table. Dominic Lam must sigh "Either I am in the study room or sitting at the dinner table!". Anyway all of them including Tam Chung sitting in the living room, very cool and calm when the huge crowd bursts in.

Pause here.

Before the whole crying scene NONE of them wanted anything to do with Ming and the Koos, now everyone is there.

I think Tak said "Well, what do you all want?" and someone wanted to say something but Ming stepped forward and said "Let me say it. Tam Chung, I am here to accuse you of raping me. Follow us back to the police station to help us in the investigation!" and crowd said "Yeah! Come with us!" andTak was very angry, he stood up, threw his cup and said to defiant Ming "So now you're changing your story? What are we to believe? First you said he raped you! Then you retracted your statement and said he didn't rape you! NOW YOU SAID HE RAPED YOU! WHICH IS WHICH?!"

But Ming looked at him squarely and said "Tam Chung, follow us to the police station!" and the crowd went angry and chief came out and said "We are only asking for Tam Chung to follow us" and Tak said "Don't tell me you're going crazy like they are! Master Tam already said, he did not rape her. He was with us at the time of the rape! He didn't touch her!" and Ming said "Release this man now to us!" and Tak said "Or what?" and Ming said "I will accuse you of harbouring a known criminal!" and Tak sneered at her and said "Try it, no one will believe you, you won't win here" and Ming said "If I lose here, I wil bring my case to the district, if not to town, if not all the way to the capital!" and Tak was taken aback by her fierceness and Tam Chung walked to Ming and said softly "Ngan, please stop this at once. Please! You know we can never be together!" and Ming angrily said "Finish whatever you wish to say, all the lies and accusations, be done with it and then follow us to the police station!" and hell almost broke lose with calls for his arrest and Tak's wife walked forward and smiled "Master Tam, you were with us during the party, to celebrate your birthday. Remember Tak specially ordered a handkerchief and gave it to you as birthday gift? Didn't you Tak?" and Tam Chung eagerly said "Yes yes" and Tak didn't say a thing as she continued "Your daughter said she was raped in the evening?" and Wai Lan nodded and Tak's wife said "Yes Master Tam was here and there were many witnesses" and Tak said to the chief "See! How silly of you to believe that girl who complained of rape when Master Tam did not return her love!" and Chief said "If Mrs Wing said so, I have no reason to disbelief her. I am as confused as everyone else!" and Ming was very upset as Tong said "You can't believe them! You know my sister!" and Tam Chung was happy and we see a different scene of the woman who was in the train earlier receiving a call and she said "Yes I will be there" and then Tak's wife said "... but...but Tak, didn't Master Tam left for a couple of hours in the evening?" SHOCKING! WHAT IS SHE DOING? Tam Chung shocked and Tak very quiet as wife continued "Yes, you were out, didn't come back until some time later" and the implication was clear. Some hours of his time was unaccounted for. Tam Chung said angrily "What are you saying? I didn't leave this place at all!! I didn't!" and wife said "Oh you did, I remember!" and Chung shouted "You're lying! I didn't!" when a woman's voice was heard where she said "HE IS LYING! I AM THE WITNESS!!" and it was the woman Tak's wife spoke to in the train who then said "I am the keeper at the morgue, and I saw this young lady removing a piece of clothe from her mouth, crying very hard and running away and this scum left not long later. He raped her!" and Tam Chung shouted "I didn't! You liar!" and woman shouted "I am telling the truth! I found that clothe!" and she showed Tak's wife who saw it and said "Tak! This is the handkerchief you gave Master Tam!" and Tak knowing all has ended said "YOU SCUM!! I was a fool to believe you! You're on your own!" and everyone moved to arrest him and he fought of all the masters and Tong went forward and fought with him but his leg was too powerful and Jeung was very angry, he saw his opportunity and landed one punch to Chung's stomach who staggered some paces back and ended up vomitting blood and that was how he was arrested. Jeung was shocked at how powerful his punch was. Everybody left, escorting that Chung away Tak's wife smiled and nodded at Wai Lan who looked back and the others stared at Tak.

Man Kwan threw a hissy fit and stared at his mom and left. Tak and wife went into study room and Tak asked "What the hell just happened? Didn't we practice our statement?!" and Tak's wife said "Tak, I did it for you and for Man Kwan" and Tak angrily said "How is that so? You undermined me in front of everyone! Did you see the Koos, staring at me and laughing, like I am some idiot".

Pause here.

Tak has some serious self esteem issues.

The wife said "Didn't you notice our son's behaviour ever since he mixed with that Tam Chung? He acted just like him, and I am afraid one day he will be a rapist like that him!" and Tak said "Didn't I say we as parents will teach him?" and wife said "Tak, rape is a heinous crime! There will be retribution! I don't mind me paying for that, I don't mind suffering for you and Man Kwan, because if not for you, I would still be left in the gutter, but I am thinking of our son, I don't want him to be visited by karma! This is for our son!" and Tak was speechless and had nothing more to say and left.

I agree with what she is doing. She looked so sneaky when in fact she did what she had to do as a mother. Fantastic scene.

At home, I think Kuen said "Listen everyone! Tam Chung actually killed a couple of police before! He will be in deep trouble!"

Tong and everyone looked at Jeung as Tong said "Brother, your fist, was very powerful. None of us could stop that Tam Chung, but you did with one single punch!" and the uncle was very interested and said "Really? Come on, let's do an experiment, see if you can be good enough for the grand championship!" and Leung said "What? What about me?" and uncle pushed Leung away as Kuen said "Did you actually learn kung fu from some master?" and Jeung said "No no. I just spent my days fighting for a place for work at the pier" and the uncle put some bricks on top of another, 3 bricks and Jeung punched it, nothing happened and Jeung said "I almost believed you guys! Told you I am not some genius in kung fu" and they all walked away when Tong shouted "WAIT! See!!" and the third brick was split into half and all was shocked at his level of "hei gung" (qi gung so to speak) and Wai Lan went to pay respect to her father as she said "I am so happy, finally our family has someone who possess such talent!" and uncle said "Well then Tong, you can train him, we have 1 more year before the tournament!" and Tong said "I can't. Our brand of kung fu is soft and to bring out the best in brother, he has to learn the hard kung fu style and I am not familiar with the hard kung fu style, except...for one person I know of..." and everyone wondered who and Tong said "Wing Tak!" and all of them went "Heaaaaaaahhhhh.. pointless, as if he will teach!" and Jeung said "You just teach me what you could, I will try my best to improve, let's start after I take home mother to the village for burial" and so it was agreed.

Tak with Man Kwan and mom at the dinner table again (!!) when there was news Tam Chung was sentenced to death and Man Kwan said "Are you happy mother? Sifu is going to die because of what you did" and wife said "Of course I am happy! I am very happy!". Police came and said "Sir, Tam Chung wants to see Young Master for one last time to teach him the last 2 stances of the kick kung fu" and Tak's wife said "You can tell him Man Kwan won't be seeing him" and Man Kwan said "But I wanna see him" and mother said "Please tell him no and that's that" and Man Kwan wanted to protest when Tak said "Listen to your mother! She is doing this for your own good! Anyway I am leaving for the office, Man Kwan you will follow me" and they left and Tak's wife looked upset as she probably knew Tak will screw her over in this matter.

Outside Man Kwan said "Father, can't I see him? I wanna learn the last 2 stances!" and Tak said "I didn't say you can't, just pretend you didn't for your mother's sake. You will go and see him, you will promise him anything, appeals, freedom, anything so that he teaches you the last 2 stances" and Man Kwan smiled.

Tak's wife should worry more of her husband teaching Man Kwan to be bad rather than just Tam Chung.

Ming with Jeung taking the urn back to village and they chatted and Ming said "Look there, there was where I waited everyday for my father, that was where mother waited for you everyday" and Jeung said "We are more alike than we know" as Ming asked "What do you want to do in future brother? What is it you dream about?" and Jeung smiled and said "Well, don't laugh, but I dream of meeting a nice girl, someone I can talk to, marry her, having half a dozen children, Tong have half a dozen, Leung hald a dozen, Yan and Kuenhalf a dozen each and you too, half a dozen" and Ming looked a bit saddened (since she is in love with him and he did not see her as his other half which is of course reasonable since she is his sister at this moment), and he continued "Can you imagine the atmosphere then? It would be fantastic!" as the train began to move, Jeung happily lost in his thoughts and Ming looking forlornly out of the window.

Next episode, can't remember.

Very good episode except for that OTT moment thanks to Tong. Nothing else to say except Wai Lan is kinda redundant in here.

Performance wise, Kenneth Ma is good in some scenes, like how he interact with Kevin in the almost last scene, absolutely embarassing in the OTT moment.

Kevin Cheng fared more consistently, I like the last scene of him with Natalie Tong, as he talked about wanting to marry, etc.I thought for once Kevin was sorta natural.

Dominic Lam is ok, wasted in a non moving role.

Kara Hui was fantastic in here! She looked like she was gonna betray everyone when she delivered the twist and it was believable as to why she did what she did. She represents the good acting in this series.

Yuen Qiu is just wasted in here and her character is just one dimensional, nothing much to contribute. At least others are comic relief but she is just there, absolutely wasted.

One deserving mention is Natalie Tong. She did exceptionally well in the scene as she becae fiesty, delivered her lines with panache and anger and fierceness. She is almost always OTT in the way she delivered her lines, not necessarily bad acting but everything seems to dramatic when she delivers the line as opposed to Selena Li where everything is just breezy cool. This scene however worked to her advantage and so she was superb eventhough she cries way too much. Give her character some light hearted moment please!

And last but not least, the mesmerizing Jacky Heung. Still mesmerizing me even if his acting is god awful. Just watch to know what I mean. But his drawl is just so... mesmerizing, almost hypnotic and I am not joking!

Anyway this series is getting on good enough. I understand now why Jeung had to take up the family mantle since Tong is weakened physically although it is acknowledged he is the best fighter for his age.