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In some ways, "Eastern Hero" is a very kiddy series.
It is basically a TVB version of "Batman." But it offers
some great laughs, enticing moments, very youthful Gigi Lai, very
vivacious Hacken Lee, and of course, Eddie Kwan in his post-80's-non-villain
role. This series is set during the Shanghai era.
Eddie is considered a hero because he always saves people from
danger and punishes baddies. When he is performing his heroic
tasks, he always wears black dragon costumes. So people refer
to him as lung ying hup. But people don't suspect that
the true identity of lung ying hup is some poor old (not
literally) doctor. Eddie comes to a village in search of his missing
nephew, Hacken, and opens up a clinic with his partner portrayed
by Chan Wing Jun.
Eddie and Chan Wing Jun find Hacken, only to learn that his adopted
father has spoiled him like crazy. Hacken's adopted father has
3 wives and one of those wives has a younger brother (a maternal
uncle to Hacken). Hacken and his uncle, who is about his age,
are one rambunctious bunch. To shape Hacken into a better person,
Eddie takes him as his student. Hacken slowly learns to behave
and respect Eddie. At this time, Eddie also gets to know the town
leader's only daughter, Yeung Mei Yee. She is always sick so Eddie
has to treat her a lot. They soon fall in love with each other,
but Eddie is always a bit reluctant to get close to her.
Gigi appears as a curious and tomboyish reporter who is trying
to reveal the identity of lung ying hup. At first, she
somehow got the idea that Hacken was lung ying hup, because
he pulled a prank once and pretended to be the hero. Hacken and
his uncle both thought Gigi was a guy because she was dressed
up like one. Soon enough, they found out Gigi was a girl and Hacken's
uncle drooled over her. Gigi also discovered that Hacken really
wasn't lung ying hup, but Eddie was. She started developing
a little crush on Eddie. She began dressing like a "real
lady" to impress Eddie, but seeing that Eddie only liked
Yeung Mei Yee, she was discouraged. That's when Hacken stepped
in and comforted her, and pretty soon, they started dating as
well.
Eddie had some unfinished matters to settle with his long-lost brother
played by Chu Kong. Chu Kong suddenly appeared in town as a charitable
man, always giving to the poor. But behind his good image, he
actually smuggled guns and explosives to Japan. He was also interested
in Yeung Mei Yee (despite the fact that he is probably old enough
to be her father), which motivated Eddie to come forward and show
her how much he liked her. But in some incident, Chu Kong murdered
Yeung Mei Yee's dad and it got framed on Eddie. She was mad at
Eddie until the truth was uncovered. Everyone then found out that
Chu Kong was actually a bad man.
Eddie tried to punish Chu Kong for being a traitor to the country,
but Chu Kong trapped Eddie and poisoned him. This crippled Eddie
and partially whitened his hair. Hacken tried to get the antidote
to save Eddie's life, but in the process, he discovered that Chu
Kong was his biological father. This gave him some problems because
Chu Kong had also been the one who murdered his adopted father.
He broke off his relationship with Gigi. Some time later, she
got engaged to Hacken's uncle, who had always liked her. Hacken
did get the antidote for Eddie but it didn't cure him all the
way.
Hacken then started working for Chu Kong in selling illegal weapons
to Japan, which angered everyone around him. What he was really
doing was to pretend to side with his father so he can attack
him later. But when Eddie and Chu Kong engaged in a duel, Hacken
did not want his father dead. He took the blow from Eddie which
was meant for Chu Kong. After some father-son reconciliation,
Chu Kong broke off the deal he had with his Japanese partner.
The partner then tried to kill Chu Kong in a church, but Hacken
and Eddie fought her off. When she tried to kill Hacken, Chu Kong
blocked the hit and died for his son. A bomb went off upon Chu
Kong's death and Eddie and Hacken escaped.
Eddie, since he was not cured all the way, was now paraplegic.
He decided to retire with Yeung Mei Yee. Hacken, saddened by his
father's death, also left his town, leaving Gigi to his uncle.
I was certain that Eddie and Gigi would pair up as in "The
Link," but Eddie for the third time got paired up with Yeung
Mei Yee (first time in "Everybody Loves Somebody," then
in "Blood and Iron"). Unlike Mr. Batman who still dresses
nicely and acts suavely even when he is not on duty, Eddie looked
very shabby and scruffy-looking in this series when he was living
a normal life, as if he didn't get any sleep for a few days. Believe
it when I say he only had two outfits for the entire series. This
makes a statement that he looks better as a scum! His lung
ying hup costumes were corny at first but amazingly, they
grew on me.
Hacken Lee really shined in here. He was such a funny charmer,
dressed in cool costumes (not fair!). Contrary to how lightly
and comically the series started off, it ended on a very depressing
note. But the restrained use of special effects and more hand-to-hand
combat between Eddie and Chu Kong (probably performed by stuntsmen)
make fighting scenes enjoyable. The theme and subtheme sung by
Hacken Lee is also a plus, given that he has such a powerful voice.
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