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Plot Summary (Only for first half of series to avoid spoilers)
Kenneth Tsang is a famous/master conman. He has just finished a con and is heading back to Shanghai via train. On the train, he coincidentally shares a cabin with small potatoes/wanna-be conman Deric Wan. The two naturally clash, as Kenneth is quiet and cerebral while Deric is loud and obnoxious. Deric even tries to show-off/brag about a minor con trick to Kenneth, not knowing that Kenneth is a master conman. Kenneth naturally thinks that Deric is an idiot. On the train, they also meet a rich widow played by the always beautiful Candice Yu. At first Deric and Kenneth were stunned by Candice's beauty. They took up an even greater interest in her when they heard that Candice's dead husband had left her a large fortune.
In Shanghai, Kenneth is invited to a party thrown in honor of Chan Wong ascending to the General position. This position was formerly held by Chan's brother (Candice's dead husband). Chan Wong has a wife, but he is way more interested in Candice. He is always plotting to get Candice without his wife finding out; he is scared as hell of her (at one point in the series she even threatens to have him executed even though he is the General :)). He even tries to grope Candice after the party, but luckily Candice's maid warns Chan Wong's wife and she storms in to scare him away. At the party, Kenneth and Candice strike up a simple friendship and they agree to have lunch etc with each other. Kenneth though attracted to Candice, is planning to con Candice and obtain her fortune.
Meanwhile, a rival conman is also working the Shanghai scene. He is trying to con Chan Wong out of a Rembrandt painting worth $500,000. Kenneth, in an effort to get Candice to like him, is out to stop the conman; he tries to steal the painting before his rival. Per a chance happening, Deric finds out that Kenneth is a master conman. He threatens to expose Kenneth unless Kenneth lets him in on the plan to steal the painting. Kenneth reluctantly agrees.
Being the small-time conman he is, Deric fails in all of his attempts to steal the painting. Kenneth, on the other hand manages to easily steal the painting. Kenneth returns the painting to Chan Wong, hoping to please Candice and obtain a greater reward in the future. Deric meanwhile is pissed, complaining about his share of the rewards. He gets into a dispute with Kenneth and they part ways.
Deric, thinking highly of himself, sets out to get Candice. He cons his way into a driver/bodyguard position for Candice. He takes every opportunity he gets to trash Kenneth in front of Candice. Seeing Deric with Candice, Kenneth takes every opportunity he gets to trash Deric.
One day Candice receives a letter from her brother. Candice's village is in trouble and they need money fast. Candice resorts to asking Chan Wong. Chan Wong, not being able to resist the opportunity of being alone with Candice, tries to rape her. Luckily, Kenneth shows up in time and knocks out Chan Wong. Afterwards Candice reveals to Kenneth that, though her late husband did leave his entire wealth to Candice, he also stipulated that any expenditure Candice makes has to be approved by Chan Wong. So in reality Candice has no money. Kenneth was a bit disappointed, but at this point he was already in love with Candice. He reveals his identity to Candice and promises her that he will help con Chan Wong into coughing up Candice's late husband's wealth
Characters and the Actors:
Kenneth Tsang This character was so professional and cerebral. One look at him and you know that he has everything under control. He's one of those guys that can say the most nonsensical thing in the world, but because it comes form his mouth you believe it is correct. At first one may dislike him for planning to con innocent Candice out of her money. However, the negative feeling towards the character is gone when he reveals his identity to Candice. At that point, money was no longer the most important thing to Kenneth's character love was. In the end, you can only pity the character.
This is another version of Kenneth's famous East Hectic/Golden Lion character, but without the threat of violence. You fear this character just as much. That quality only makes the character seem more cerebral. Kenneth was born to play these cerebral and cool types of characters. He would have been great as Go Jun (main character from the "God of Gamblers" movies), better than Chow Yun Fat was. Many people would stone me for saying this, but I strongly believe that Chow Yun Fat's portrayal of Go Jun is overrated. Chow always had that threatening look in his eyes, like if he did not win the poker game he was going to slit your throat, though subtle the look may be. It was a sign of anger that took away from the cool and cerebral factor of the character. There was never an angry look in Kenneth's eyes during the series, but you always knew he was going to win. That IMHO is cerebral and cool. Please Mr. Tsang, less crap American roles like that in "Memoirs of a Geisha" and more roles like this and East Hectic.
Candice Yu This character was the woman of every man's dreams (the three main guy characters in the series were all in love with her). She was stunningly beautiful, exuding elegance and class in every way. She was able to capture both Kenneth and Deric's character's heart at first glimpse. On top of that she was rich (supposedly). This character was very much a damsel in distress/flower vase for the first 3 episodes of the series. Then we find out she's also a very clever lady, planning her own little con to get Kenneth out of prison :). Candice Yu was the perfect actress to play these types of stunning/cute but clever bordering on naughty (in a good way) types of roles. She just has that natural look in her eyes that allow her to shift back and forth between demure helpless beauty and "I know something you don't know" clever looking high school girl. A perfect example of this would be in the scene where Kenneth reveals his identity to her. I won't say much more so as to not ruin the series for anyone that plans to watch it for the first time. IMHO, Candice Yu rightfully deserved all the praise she received for her beauty in the 1970s and 1980s (she is still amazing to look at now) beginning with her Princess Heung Heung role in "Legend of Book and Sword (1976)." However, she never received enough praise for her ability to do more than just be a flower vase; her capabilities were demonstrated in ATV's "Reincarnated" and "Fatherland." What a shame as she was seriously so good in those roles but did not receive enough of them. After a near 20 year hiatus she's back to acting now and receiving more roles that allow her to show off her acting.
Deric Wan This character was very annoying. He was always full of himself and rarely came up with any great ideas. Never at any point during the series did I believe that he was going to beat Kenneth for Candice's heart. As a sidekick to Kenneth, his inadequacies only highlighted Kenneth's suaveness and genius. He did have his good points though, as he was a man of his word and was willing to help Candice even after finding out she had no money. In the end, he was no longer obnoxious, he was actually bearable and someone that would be cool to be friends with. Though usually the suave leading man, Deric did a great job in highlighting the character's buffoonery. It was a major contrast to the evil characters he played in "Looking Back in Anger" and "Breaking Point"; which was also a big contrast to his smart and romantic character from "The Blood of Good and Evil." He was definitely one of TVB's more versatile actors in the late 1980s and early 1990's. It was too bad that he kind of went on a 5+ year sabbatical (at least from TVB) between the mid 1990s until the early 2000s. He left TVB again in the mid 2000s, probably due to the notoriously bad contracts TVB makes some of their artists commit to. TVB needs more good leading actors these days, and they could sure use a guy like Deric Wan.
Chan Wong This character might as well be a direct descendant of Ching How Gum (Fat character from Grand Canal ) and Chow Bak Tung (Fat character from Legend of Condor Heroes 1982). Of course all three characters are portrayed by the one and only Chan Wong. This dude was hilarious as usual. So loud and crude, greedy and perverted, dumb and bossy! Only Chan Wong can balance that with funny. Even when he commits evil or acts mean it is funny. Deric's character's buffoonery was embarrassing, Chan Wong's characters's buffoonery was hilarious (even though his actions were more dumb; go figure). Any other actor trying to play this role most likely would have embarrassed himself.
Final Thoughts:
The story was pretty simple and the tricks were not especially spectacular. Anyone expecting cool gimmicks would probably be disappointed. However, this series is very much worth viewing based on the chemistry between the lead characters. They probably would have made a pretty good team in real life. Each character was also able to develop very realistically. I didn't feel that there were any ridiculous plot contrivances and major melodrama that is found in a lot of TVB dramas. This series was very light-hearted.
An added bonus is that the series is only 6 episodes long, so there was not too much of the drag found in typical TV series.
The theme song was sung by I believe Susan Kwan - a very touching and lighthearted song.
SPOILER thought:
Along with "Thief of Honor", this series had one of the sadder endings for a late 1980s TVB series. The ending stuck with me for a very long time, and it is probably the main reason why I harassed Claire on the whereabouts of this series. :)
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