Earlier today, 2 dramas ended back-to-back... Fighting Spiders on Channel 5 and The Ultimatum on Channel 8.
I had been following "Fighting Spiders" on a regular basis since it debuted on April 14th... I got nothing but praise and compliments to the scriptwriters for the easy-to-follow storyline and amazing chemistry among the cast. I liked how Ah Huat was forced into cancelling the 'engagement' with sweet Yiling by none other than Charlie and his girlfriend. I also liked how Tony finally gained the trust of Annie's elder sister Sherry, who realized that she had been so foolish to look at men based on their education status instead of their true character. Sherry realized her mistake a little too late when she eventually found out about Simon showing his true colors by raping Annie in Venom-like fashion. It was most touching to see Soon Lee and Charlie hand their gifts to Peter who was leaving for London with his father to find his mother; that goes to show the importance of brotherly ties and understanding between friends or lovers (as seen between Tony and Annie, as well as Soon Lee and Yiling). The only thing I wasn't too pleased about was the minimal appearances of Rebecca Lim's role as the hooker Annie, given the fact that she debuted so late in the show and was written off after the death of that "hard-to-die" gangster Larry, only to return towards the end of Episode 13. And in typical tongue-in-cheek style, Charlie finally got his wish by getting a free bicycle ride with the Papaya Lady, woo hoo!! :-p
The same amount of could not be said for "The Ultimatum" though. Ever since its debut on 27th May, the so-called megadrama of mid-2009 was met with heavy criticism on weak plot, overacting and poor casting of seasoned artistes (come on, Constance playing aunt to the older Zoe and Benedict Goh???) Yes, there was indeed a showdown between Yuchen (Zoe) and Songqiao (Fann) as promised, after so many innocent lives had been wasted (Rende being one of them; who can forget the episode where he got knocked down by a lorry driven by a harmless old man?). The crippled Sun Jie gave up his life for Songqiao, and in a moment of pure confusion and mind-boggling, the real Zhang Feng showed up in front of a dazed Yuchen and a captive Zhida (the man thought to be Zhang Feng all along), persuading Yuchen to give up her revenge plan. Yuchen soon died from her injuries after a suicide attempt, while Songqiao, being the biological daughter of the deceased Ye Songnian, declined to inherit the Yes' fortune. Happy ending for Songqiao who ended up with Chaoqun, for Sun Min who went steady with Songqing for good (and Rende ended up a vegetable after surviving a death fall), and also for Renxiao (with less-than-perfect Mandarin) who got released from prison. All this would never have happened had Songnian not been such as beast as to rape Zheng Wenyu those years ago and cause so much misery. The finale of this drama goes to show the amount of damage that hatred and revenge can do to those closest to you. The most dissatisfying thing about this show is Jessica Tan getting a very minor role as the colleague of Sun Min and Songqing, appearing in only 3 episodes and lasting less than 5 minutes for each appearance. :-(
With those two dramas ended, I only got "Red Thread" to hang onto, but even this 40-part drama series is coming to an end come July 14th. I am uncertain on whether or not to follow the new Channel 8 drama titled "My Buddy" which stars Christopher Lee, Zheng Geping and Eelyn Kok... given the fact that I spend less time on TV these days, and also the fact that I sometimes knock off from work late.
And yeah to cap this entry off, Michael Jackson's Public Memorial Service at the Staples Center will be telecast live tonight on Channel 5 at 1.30 am Singapore time... this memorial is open to a selected 8750 fans via ticket and wristband. Expect buckets of tears worldwide. I hope you guys don't mind if I make at least one reference to the King of Pop in the next few entries...
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