"The Black Sabre" is a series based on one of Gu Long's
novels. The Chinese title of this series translates into "The
Bordertown Wanderer," which is actually the title of the book
as well. The series is directed by Wong Tin Lam, who is Wong Jing's
son. Y'all know who Wong Jing is, right?
I am going to attempt to write an extremely condensed summary
along with my lousy commentary.
Twenty years ago, a swordsman named Bak Tin Yu (Gu Hung), seemingly
charming and honorable, was brutally murdered, while dining at
a rich merchant's house. The merchant, Ma Hong Kwan (Chun Pui),
was behind in orchestrating this scene and the people who were
involved all had some sort of a beef with Bak Tin Yu, which is
the reason they participated in this.
Fast forward to present. We see a creepy man all dressed in black,
carrying a noticeable black sabre (hence the English title of
the series), dragging his limp leg across the town and eliminating
those involved in "The Murder of Bak Tin Yu" 20 years
ago. This man in black is Fu Hung Suet (Hugo Ng) and he's got
some major attitude problem, but that doesn't matter, as those
who stand in his way would be slayed as well.
Fu Hung Suet is introduced as the son of Fa Bak Fung (Helena
Mah), who was one of many, many paramours of Bak Tin Yu back in
the days. Hence we can conclude that Fu Hung Suet is avenging
his father's death, per his mother's instruction. He arrives to
Bordertown (Bin Sing) and receives instructions from two women
who work for his mother.
One of them is Ma Hong Kwan's mistress (Go Miu Si), and directly
under her, the other woman is a prostitute named Chui Lung (Tse
Ling). Though Fu Hung Suet and Chui Lung meet under strictly business
circumstance, the two fall in real love.
Meanwhile, we see a rather curious and adventurous Yip Hoi (Eddie
Cheung) who escapes his hometown from his persistent girlfriend,
Ding Ying Lam (Margie Tsang) to seek his identity. He receives
some clues from his master, Lei Chum Foon (Siu Lei Fei Do/Flying
Dagger Lee) and ends up in Bordertown. He makes himself known
to Fu Hung Suet. But ah, that wasn't the only person he acquainted
- Ma Hong Kwan's daughter, Ma Fong Ling (Fiona Leung), falls in
love with Yip Hoi hard. This means disaster and cat fights when
Ding Ying Lam arrives in the town as well. Yip Hoi doesn't want
his girlfriend around in the town, because 1. she is annoying
and 2. it is dangerous. After Ding Ying Lam leaves the town, Yip
Hoi somehow manages to become good friends with Fu Hung Suet (actually
it's mostly him chasing after Fu Hung Suet one-sidedly).
Yip Hoi learns that HE might be Bak Tin Yu's son, while Fu Hung
Suet has been made sure that Ma Hong Kwan is behind the murder.
Feeling his life in danger, Ma Hong Kwan hires an outside assassin,
Luk Siu Ga (Dickson Lee) to get rid of Fu Hung Suet. But that
doesn't work out either, as Luk Siu Ga is an honorable swordsman
and does not approve of sneaky cheap shots Ma Hong Kwan has planned
for Fu Hung Suet. Ma Hong Kwan, fearing for his life, leaves everything
he had accomplished in the town and flees. This makes his daughter
Fong Ling, who once had a happy, rich life emulating that of any
princess, extremely bitter as she swears revenge on Fu Hung Suet
for ruining her family.
Ma Fong Ling is willing to marry anyone who is capable of killing
Fu Hung Suet. Enter Yuen Ging Fung (Jimmy Au), a sort of a loser
who challenges Fu Hung Suet to win her heart but gets pitifully
killed. (In the way end though, she manages to get together with
one of Ding Ying Lam's older brothers. Though he loses his arm
trying to fight Fu Hung Suet, the two find happiness together
and retire.)
At this point, Fu Hung Suet is wondering why he is doing what
he's doing - that is, going around killing everyone involved in
the murder and their entire family - when it seems more and more
like his own father was not such an honorable man after all. Things
are strenuous with Chui Lung as well, as they take turns leaving
and hurting one another due to his revenge-driven obsessive behavior.
It is evident and almost comical that Fu Hung Suet, aside from
wielding his black sabre, is not capable of handling any real-life
matters. Yip Hoi has to act almost like his "agent,"
finding him shelter and paying his rent. =P If that isn't enough,
Luk Siu Ga has to act like his "messenger of love" and
help him get back together with Chui Lung. Despite Luk Siu Ga's
tendency to treat women like crap, he's actually a decent man
and I almost suspect that he, too, was in love with Chui Lung
and wanted to see her happy.
Towards the end, the murder mystery is almost solved, but there
is someone going around with his face covered and killing people
that Fu Hung Suet does not intend to kill right away. Clearly,
this mystery man does not want Fu Hung Suet to know the truth.
During one of Fu Hung Suet and Chui Lung's tearful encounters,
the mystery man even kills her, making Fu Hung Suet extremely
upset.
Fu Hung Suet discovers that the Ding family was involved in this,
as well as the fact that Ma Hong Kwan is seeking refuge over there.
During one massive union at the Ding residence, some key points
are revealed:
1. Ding Ying Lam's auntie, Ding Bak Wan (Wu Mei Yee) was one
of Bak Tin Yu's former lovers, bloody many of them. She found
out that Bak Tin Yu was a big playa, and would never commit to
her. Upon being deserted by him, she cut her face that was once
regarded as the most beautiful, and vowed to get revenge. Therefore,
she was one of the key players that collaborated with Ma Hong
Kwan in murdering Bak Tin Yu.
2. But this woman had already been pregnant by Bak Tin Yu. Ding
Ying Lam's father, Ding Cheng Fung (Chu Teet Wah), felt sorry
for his sister and decided to help her out by raising the kid
as his own, youngest of his 3 sons. That is Ding Ying Jung (Ng
Kai Ming). But this meant he had to get rid of his own youngest
son, born around the same time. The "real" son, the
"real" Ding Ying Jung, was entrusted in the hands of
a respected swordsman named Gim Mo Ming, and he was renamed...
Luk Siu Ga! Who else!
When everything is out in the open, Ma Hong Kwan pretends to
be crazy so he wouldn't get killed, but he is poisoned by Ding
Ying Lan's aunt, who later dies as well. So the revenge show is
over: everyone involved in the murder of Bak Tin Yu is gone. Though
Ding Ying Jung is the one who killed Chui Lung, Fu Hung Suet decides
to spare his life.
In the end, Yip Hoi informs Fu Hung Suet that he has been used
by his mother, because Fu Hung Suet is not the real son of Bak
Tin Yu and her. (Yip Hoi is, and he had known this all along).
Fu Hung Suet replies that he has known that he was just an orphan
boy all along, because he overheard his mother's conversation
when he was a young boy. But he decided to comply with her revenge
plan anyway, because he was grateful to her for raising him.
The series' last fight is the showdown between Luk Siu Ga and
Fu Hung Suet. By a close margin, Fu Hung Suet wins. Just then,
Luk Siu Ga's teacher, Gim Mo Ming appears and comments that the
best swordsman is Siu Lei Fei Do, because he uses his skills to
save people.
Fu Hung Suet then goes to visit his "mother," who asks
him if everyone that needed to be killed has been killed. He answers
yes. He is then asked to return the black sabre and go his own
way, because his task is finished (READ: "You have no use
to me anymore"). He asks her if she has ever loved him, and
the cold witch replies no (ack!).
Yip Hoi and Ding Ying Lam are on their way as Yip Hoi is contemplating
on possibly saying hi to his mother. But upon seeing Fu Hung Suet
leave, he decides not to. Instead, they continue their way, as
the series mysteriously hints that their own cute relationship
would continue as well.
Afterthoughts
I simply like this series for what TVB had to offer back in those
days: good crop of actors, wonderful 80's costumes that I'm so
fond of, and an interesting adaptation of Gu Long's work. All
this was nicely packaged into 20 episodes, which made the series
seem neither too long or too short.
What I appreciated in the storyline was that unlike other typical
Gu Long characters, e.g. Chor Lau Heung and Luk Siu Fung, the
main character wasn't such a playboy. Though Yip Hoi had his share
of popularity, the story stayed pretty focused on his revelation
of true identity and developing relationships with Fu Hung Suet.
We do see the casanova-istic actions and sweet talks through Yip
Hoi's father, Bak Tin Yu, but to me, this dude was nothing less
than a despicable scum and I felt his death was a well-deserved
comeuppance. I dubbed him "the farmer of Bordertown"
because he kept on planting his... umm... seeds. ^^;;
I thought Margie was really cute as a spunky brat here. The role
really suited her and though she was pesky, it was quite adorable.
My heart sinks everytime I watch this series, because of Fu Hung
Suet. His "mom" was a hella selfish woman. She knew
that the road to revenge was going to be dangerous and painful
and she didn't want her real son (Yip Hoi) to have to go through
that pain. So what did she do? She took some orphan under her
wing and brainwashed him to think that the revenge for someone
whom he had no relation to was the sole purpose of his life. Compared
to that, Yip Hoi had it GOOD - learning how to throw daggers from
the legendary Lei Chum Foon! How come this woman got no justice?
But then again, I have not read the book so I'm only talking about
the series here.
Oh, and where is the justice in Fiona Leung's character?! She
got my beloved Jimmy killed, granted he was a dumbass, but he
did not deserve to die. But given her situation, she was pitiful
as well; going from a rich man's daughter to losing everything.
Still doesn't exempt her from the fact that her actions were annoying
though.
Many have asked about the relationship (barely existing, but
still there) between Eddie & Margie in this series. He was
running away from her most of time, and considering her family
took part in murdering his father, it's hard to imagine what it
would ever be like for them to be together. But there is no doubt
that they do make a cute pairing and that the series ended on
a positive note for them.
Favorite characters: Luk Siu Ga by Dickson for his humor
and a cool "bad-ass" attitude, Ding Ying Lam by Margie
for her ultra cuteness.
Least favorite characters: Ma Fong Ling by Fiona, Bak
Tin Yu the bastard by Gu Hung, and Yip Hoi's mom.
This really isn't a feel-good buddy series, but the budding friendship
between Eddie & Hugo is very endearing and almost humorous.
Last but not least - "How Clair knew Fu Hung Suet was a
virgin:"
When Tse Ling & Hugo first meet, she says to him: "I'll
make you a man." Yup. I was laughing so hard that I was in
tears.
|
Hugo
Ng Doi Yung --- Fu Hung Suet
