"The Feud That Never Was" is a great Shanghai comedy series
that was overshadowed by the death of Barbara Yung, the one who
was initially chosen to play the female lead. Her opposite was to
be Kent Tong, subsequently replaced by Eddie Kwan. Maggie Cheung
Man Yuk replaced Barbara's role as Ding Ding.
I really love this series. It's a good, clean, fun family series
to watch and everyone holds his/her own. This was Eddie's first
series in a leading role (and probably the last for the rest of
the decade) and I thoroughly enjoyed his "normal" character
for once. Maggie and Patricia (my favorite actress) were very
cute in their costumes (I really wish I had their pictures from
this series) and both displayed controlled performances of reserved
Ding Ding and flaky Hung Hung. With or without Barbara, this series
would still hold its greatness.
And the story goes something like this:
Chun Pui and Kwok Fung both study under Lau Siu Ming, in a sect
where they learn to "con" people in a harmless way.
However, they do some legal business (such as owning casinos)
as well. One day, Lau Siu Ming meets a mysterious death by Yeung
Jak Lam, the baddie in this series. Chun Pui and Kwok Fung go
after Yeung Jak Lam but they somehow get into causing the death
of Yeung's wife, Mary Hon. Yeung had set up to get his wife killed
because she was always on his case, but for Chun Pui and Kwok
Fung, this will result in some nightmares in the future...
Chun Pui and Kwok Fung then get into an argument about who should
be the next leader of their sect. After some disputes, their "grandmaster"
Lee Heung Kam votes in Chun Pui's favor. In the heat of rage,
Kwok Fung leaves the sect...well... sort of. Kwok Fung and Chun
Pui then become bitter enemies, starting their silly feud that
would pass down onto the next generation.
In the next few years, Chun Pui and Kwok Fung both get married
and live decent lives. But Chun Pui's wife dies after giving birth
to 3 girls (and no boy!). Kwok Fung's wife dies after having a
son. Chun Pui and Kwok Fung, being conmasters, teach their children
very nice things, such as pickpocketting and lying.
Many years later, Kwok Fung's son grows up to be a tall, sleek,
and a very adroit pickpocket/conman played by Eddie Kwan. On the
other hand, Chun Pui has 3 girls. Maggie Cheung, who grew up to
be quite pretty and polite, Patricia Chong, who is a little deceitful
but overall a good gal, and Chan On Ying, a complete tomboy and
a failure to Chun Pui's life, due to the fact that he had expected
a boy when she was born. Chan On Ying, an amateur pickpocket,
further pisses off her dad by electing to become Kwok Fung's student.
Eddie gets acquainted with Michael To and the two get along very
well at first, but they soon become love enemies upon setting
their eyes on Maggie. Michael does pitiful things to woo her,
while Eddie impresses her. Maggie soon falls in love with Eddie.
Then comes Maggie's younger sister, Patricia, who has a little
crush on Eddie. Patricia and Michael work together to split Eddie
and Maggie, which works for a bit. One night at a costume party,
Michael conspires to bed with Maggie, but ends up doing it with
Patricia accidentally. Horrified, he makes Eddie look like a culprit
and Maggie, of course, is enraged and never wants to speak to
Eddie again. Some time passes and Patricia realizes that she is
pregnant with Michael (and not Eddie), truth be revealed. Maggie
and Eddie get back together, but now they have to fight their
dads' FIERCE (yet extremely comical) opposition. Worse yet, Eddie
and Maggie have to gamble for the next leader position of their
sect. Eddie wins, much to Chun Pui's humiliation. Chun Pui absolutely
abhors the idea of his daughter marrying Eddie. But with Eddie
and Maggie's "great-grandmaster" Lee Heung Kam's help,
they are able to trick their fathers and marry each other. Patricia
and Michael get married soon as well, after Michael does some
shaping up. However, Eddie and Michael (now in the same family)
engage in some hegemony as to who would foresee the casinos that
the sect owns. Michael gets upset with Eddie and runs out.
Then there is Go Miu Si, a mysterious and exotic woman who captures
the hearts of both Chun Pui and Kwok Fung. The two guys fight
over her, while she plays hard-to-get with both. But she has an
ulterior motive - she is related to Mary Hon who died in the beginning.
Thinking that Chun Pui and Kwok Fung killed Mary, she has come
for revenge. But by the time she actually gets her chance to kill
them, she has become so attached to them that she can't bring
herself to perform the revenge. Some time later, all of them find
out that Yeung Jak Lam is the mastermind behind Mary's murder
and other bad things that happened to them in the past. Now they
have to deal with Yeung Jak Lam because he shows up once again.
Michael comes back home and gets a good beating from Eddie (this
part is really funny). Patricia forgives Michael, but little did
she know, Michael has come back as Yeung Jak Lam's secret agent,
wreaking havoc in her family! Chan On Ying gets killed by Yeung
Jak Lam and the whole family grieves (this is about the only serious
part in the entire series). Chun Pui, Kwok Fung, Go Miu Si, and
everyone else team up to get rid of Yeung Jak Lam successfully
in the end. Michael does eventually come back to Patricia's side
but she is mad at him. By now, she has had her baby and is willing
to live on her own, but Michael does some funny things to earn
her forgiveness once again. So goes the happy couples, Eddie &
Maggie, and Patricia & Michael.
So whatever happens to Go Miu Si and her two admirers? She shocks
them even till the end, by becoming Lee Heung Kam's student. If
Lee Heung Kam is the "grandmaster" of Chun Pui and Kwok
Fung and the "master" of Go Miu Si, how would those
two guys address Go Miu Si? I'll leave that up to you. :)
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