No.
of episodes: 40 Cast: |
BURNING FLAME 2 Although of the same title, this series has absolutely nothing to do with its predecessor. Except for the fact that it’s also about firefighters, Burning Flame II is a totally different ball game altogether with new characters and a new story line. ~~Warning! Spoilers!~~ The
Story The
Kei Tak-Yan Yee relationship The
Wilson-Yan-Michelle relationship The
Nam Fung-Heung Yeung relationship The
Players Maggie Cheung - here is another heck of an actress! There’s this one particular scene I can’t get out of my mind - the part where the firemen all walk out of the building and Yan Yee stands there waiting to see Kei Tak walk out with them. You’ll feel her anticipation and you’ll share her despair when Wilson passes her Kei Tak’s burnt fire helmet. I thought that scene was extremely well depicted - full of sorrow yet you don’t see the emotional outburst or screams just then. What you get is a sense of loss. An extremely all-encompassing sense of loss. Like Wong Hei, Maggie will have you feeling with her Yan Yee. When she’s happy, you’re happy. When she’s sad, you’re sad. When her past comes back to haunt her, you’ll root for her and hope she pulls through unscathed. Alex Fong - I’ve never liked Alex Fong. His characters have always been the same brooding, boring, quiet kind. No surprise then that his Wilson here is no different. He is the typical hero - smart, brave, successful, well-respected and good-looking. Wilson imposes high standards on himself at work and expects the same sort of commitment and standards from his subordinates. He takes it upon himself to carry the whole world on his shoulders. Yes, Alex fits Wilson to a T. And you do emphatise with him when it comes to his wife. But call it biasness or call it something else. The fact is, I still don’t like Alex Fong and his portrayal of Wilson here, although acceptable, failed to impress me. Yoyo Mung - this is a nice improvement from her portrayal of Tracy in Healing Hands II. Yoyo’s Yan is irritatingly childish and clingy and totally reliant on her husband. The only person she could possibly appear endearing to is her husband. You even wonder in the first place what it is he saw in her. An innocence his chauvinistic manhood felt inclined to protect? Typical. But of course, her behaviour soon puts a strain on the marriage. I suppose a man only has so much patience. Yoyo carries off Yan effectively although (and this is probably more a fault of the script) I found her growth towards the end rather unbelievable and hard to swallow. From being totally useless to totally independent and successful in such a short period of time, oh come on, give me a break. Flora Chan - I believe Flora got quite a lot of flak for her portrayal of the third party here. And this somewhat bodes ill for her as it only shows she failed to get many to emphatise with her character. Fortunately however, I was not one of the many. Flora’s Michelle is a successful PR consultant. The only thing missing from her life is a man. Then along comes Wilson and she thinks she’s found him. But like life’s other cruel jokes, he’s already married. She avoids him. His marriage breaks up due to miscommunication and reckless assumptions. His wife leaves him. Michelle only gets together with Wilson after that. And when she finds out that husband and wife still love each other, she backs off again. Seriously, I felt the victim here was Michelle and as much as I hate third parties, I couldn’t bring myself to blame her. Yan was unreasonable and childish. Wilson was totally selfish. And Michelle, unfortunately, got caught between this husband and wife pair who deserve nobody else but each other. I thought Flora did well here for I did sympathise with her Michelle. My only gripe is that she is beginning to bore me. Her roles have hardly changed since I first saw her - she’s been playing the same personality types for too long now. She needs a change. Stephen Au - I’m beginning to appreciate Stephen’s talents. His Nam Fung was a delight to watch. And together with Annie’s Heung Yeung, these two do make quite a compatible pair. Stephen’s Nam Fung is an unlikely hero. He is loud-mouthed which you sometimes tend to dismiss as a whole lot of hot air. So when he really won the Golden Hammer for being the best passing-out firefighter in his class, it surprised me a little. Stephen didn’t make me feel that his Nam Fung was capable of doing it even though he had from the very start said that he was going to win it. I couldn’t help but feel that Nam Fung was more full of talk than he was of action. But apart from that little glitch, Stephen’s Nam Fung comes across as a rather endearing and likeable guy and when he’s made to choose between love and career, you’ll feel his dilemma and emphatise with him. Annie Man - I was pretty indifferent towards Annie’s Heung Yeung at first. Then when she got together with Nam Fung, it became quite a delight to watch. Both were equally funny in their roles. But later I thought Heung Yeung got quite irrational and too stubborn for my liking. Her forcing Nam Fung to quit his job and giving him the ultimatum was just downright selfish. Then again, it stems from her need of wanting a sense of security - one which obviously a dead husband would not be able to give her. But it wasn’t as though she didn’t know what he did for a living when she started going out with him. Annie played the role of Heung Yeung well enough. Her antics made you laugh, her stubbornness made you scream at her. Plus the fact that she and Stephen have pretty good chemistry too. Kevin Cheng - is he going to be TVB’s new hotshot actor? Well, this guys stands quite well in the looks department. In the acting department though, I reckon there is potential there but he still has some way to go. Kevin is rather stiff and wooden in his role as Mark. Yet he still managed to make me dislike his character tremendously. When he first appears, you can already tell that Mark is not your goody-goody-two-shoes guy. He is young, intelligent and ambitious. He wants it all and he wants it now. And he would step on anyone just to get where he wants to be. What you don’t see is him falling into the cliché role of your typical TV villain. You don’t have to resort to murder or being downright evil to be the bad guy here. I saw Mark more as a personification of those people in your workplace who wouldn’t think twice about stabbing you in the back and stepping on you on their way to the top. This was a ‘bad’ guy you could relate to. This was a ‘bad’ guy that you yourself would have probably come across a few times in your life. And without all that dramatic villainy stuff typical of TVB big productions, I found Mark the bad guy a more believable fellow to stomach. Jenny Shing - this little girl can put a good many adult actor to shame. It is rare to come across young child actors with the maturity and talent to carry off such roles. It’s even rarer to come across one in Hong Kong. For a child, Jenny played her role as Kei Tak’s daughter, Yiu Yiu, wonderfully. This little girl simply oozes cuteness and charm and you’ll fall in love with her from the very start. What more the excellent chemistry she had with Wong Hei, Maggie and Stephen. Jenny was simply a delight to watch. Also, who can forget the scene towards the end when she sits on her bed, stares out the window and breaks down totally as she thinks of her father? Oh my. I doubt there was hardly a dry eye among us.
The Good The
Ho [rolls eyes] Hum The
Stupid The
Why The
Shocker Burning
Flame 1 vs Burning Flame II Would
I recommend watching this? And
on a scale of 1 to 5?
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