Ho Tin (Leslie Cheung) is an illegitimate son of Fong (Yeung Jak
Lam), the head of the famous weapon-making household. He is best
friends with Cheung (Lee Kwok Len), who is sort of lazy and wishes
sudden fortune. When Fong finds Ho Tin, he invites his long-lost
son to live with him.
Ho Tin finds that the only allies in the Fong household besides
his father are his sister, Wah (Wong Jo Si), and the 4th uncle
(Patrick Tse). He has two brothers - Mun (Bobby Au Yeung) and
Mo (Poon Wung Bun). Mun has a complex because of his cripped leg,
so he's always grouchy. Mo isn't around that much because he is
always sick.
The 3rd uncle (Lau Kong) and his son, Chun (Eddie Kwan), are
always picking on Ho Tin and conspiring to take over the successful
household business, the weapon-making. But Ho Tin does not succumb
- he is very smart and is able to dodge many of the obstacles
thrown in his way, while making excuses for his friend Cheung's
poor behavior.
Eventually, Fong passes away. The household divides between the
3rd and 4th uncle want to gain power. The 4th uncle is kind and
generous on the outside, but in the end, it is revealed that he
is the bad guy.
Ho Tin meets Duen (Maggie Cheung), a princess from a neighboring
nation. Ho Tin and Cheung both like her, but Duen only likes Ho
Tin back. So Cheung gives her up and marries Ho Tin's sister,
Wah. Wah is smart and responsible, and wants her husband to be
the same way, so the two are always arguing. Later, Cheung is
responsible for Wah's death after she gives birth to his child.
Ho Tin and Duen grow their relationship, but a terrible misunderstanding
occurs (the weapons Ho Tin manufactured were malfunctioning, so
Duen's people couldn't defend themselves properly when they were
attacked). Later, this misunderstanding is solved, but they find
out that the 4th uncle was not only a bad guy, but also had a
crush on Duen and wanted to sabotage her relationship with Ho
Tin. The 4th uncle had a relationship with a lady named Suet (Lui
Yau Wai) who had been supporting him for many years - but he pushes
her off the cliff after promising her to marry her.
The 3rd uncle dies while fighting off his enemies (can't remember
who), after he sends away his family. In the end, Ho Tin and the
4th uncle have a duel, in which both of them die. Duen gets stuck
with the 4th uncle's little son, and is seeing walking away holding
the boy's hand.
What happened to the rest...
- Mun died while he tried to attack the 3rd uncle.
- Wah died after giving birth to her baby.
- Cheung died, after confessing that he has always loved Duen.
I forgot how he died.
- Chun and his wife and mother got away.
- Mo (the sickly one) and his wife ended up raising his brother
Mun's infant son, and his sister Wah's newborn baby. All of a
sudden they were stuck with 2 children!
This series had so much potential. It had a good crop of older
and younger actors, Leslie and Maggie, and a refreshing premise
of a story based on a weapon-making family. So I'm not sure how
the plot came out to be so boring and where it failed. All I felt
like doing after finishing this series was sighing... I just felt
this weird nothingness, like my time had been wasted or something.
Perhaps because it was Leslie's only lead role in a TVB's ancient
series, and because he starred with Maggie Cheung, I expected
something better. The truth is, this series isn't bad.
But since I generally associate those two names with "quality"
from their more recent fame, I had forgotten that this series
was made before they became really famous as actors.
There are two things that bother me about this series. First
of all, where is Eddie's punishment? He was a petty villain, always
picking on his cousins and siding with his mean father to take
over the business. It was hard to believe that he could just get
away in the end.
Another thing that bothered me was Patrick Tse Yin's attraction
towards Maggie. I know many of us hail him as the charming man
from the 60's-80's, but to go for his nephew (Leslie)'s girl was
kind of bothersome. I also didn't understand why it was necessary
for him to be secretly evil, since I was enjoying his performance
as the only uncle who supported Leslie and someone who knew how
to have a good time.
I noticed TVB released the VCDs for this series right after Leslie
passed away. I think the VCDs are real hardcore collectors' item.
I love and miss Leslie, but no amount of nostalgia will make me
want to watch this series again anytime soon.
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