|
"Gambling On Life" is not really a series about gambling
any more than the actual lives of the gamblers. This differentiation
is important if you are expecting similar quality of work from
this series as "Who is the Winner" series or "The
Shell Game" series. Really, all this is an ordinary modern
series with angst, drama, romance, and not enough action.
Having said that, I enjoyed this series nonetheless because of
its unconventional ending and a bit of plot twist here and there.
Eddie is not too bright and quite lazy. He is the son of Kong
Han, one of the most influential casino figures. His older brother,
Lam Wai, is a smart but meek doctor. Eddie and his brother get
along really well and always look out for each other.
Eddie and Lam Wai both fall in love with Fiona, who is the daughter
of their dad's archrival. Fiona loves Lam Wai but the two meet
her dad's fierce opposition and many plans to break them apart.
Lam Wai and Fiona once rescued a gambler who had cut off his
own hand upon losing his game to Lam Wai's father. This man, Lok
Ying Kwan, developed feelings for Fiona. He actually worked for
Fiona's dad and tried to bring down Lam Wai's father, but when
it didn't go well, Fiona's dad treated him like dirt.
Lok Ying Kwan later takes over Fiona's dad's casino, as well
as Eddie & Lam Wai's dad's casino. He tries to kill Fiona's
dad, but she steps in and pleads for his life, in exchange for
her marriage to him (eww!). Lam Wai, when he hears this, fights
for Fiona against Lok Ying Kwan to get her back. His fighting
method - gambling, which he has no clue about - but he is introduced
to a mysterious woman played by Emily, who teaches him how to
gamble.
Trained by Emily, Lam Wai wins the match. But Kong Han gets suspicious
of his newfound talent in gambling and finds out that Emily has
been teaching him. This becomes a problem, because Emily used
to work for Lam Wai's biological dad, whom Kong Han tricked into
losing their crucial match that caused his death. Kong Han, threatened
by the possibility that Lam Wai might seek revenge, tries to kill
him.
This move fails and when Lam Wai finds out the truth about his
biological father, he becomes confused and extremely enraged,
mostly by the fact that he was almost killed by someone he knew
and loved as a father. In the heat of the argument, he causes
Kong Han to collapse and die of a heart attack. Eddie comes and
spots this, but while struggling against Lam Wai, he is pushed
off the stairs, injures his head, and slips into a coma.
Eddie is hospitalized, where Lam Wai keeps him under close watch
and gives him injections that would slow his recovery, even causing
him to be retarded. Lam Wai's new goal is to now take over the
gambling world. The only person he cares for is Fiona, but when
she is forced to watch Lam Wai transition into someone who was
sweet to now evil, she can't bear the sadness. She hence commits
suicide.
Meanwhile, Eddie somehow gets away free from Lam Wai's grasp,
but he is now retarded due to all the injections he has been receiving.
While he is wandering in the streets, he is spotted by a spunky,
somewhat fierce "volunteer" (played by Fiona, in her
2nd role for rest of the series). She takes him to the mental
ward she works in. There, she finds out the evil intentions of
Lam Wai and helps Eddie recover slowly.
Lam Wai, when he sees Fiona, of course thinks she is his old
love and tries to pursue her, much to her disgust. In fact, she
is in love with Eddie, who is trying to avenge his father's death.
It is also discovered that Lam Wai's biological father is not
dead, but has pretended to gone crazy and is in the mental ward.
Lam Wai sees him as an obstacle to his success and tries fiercely
to get rid of him.
Towards the end, Lam Wai is just so evil that he cares little
for the death of Emily, who has served him loyally. He wants to
get rid of his dad (I think he died), Eddie, and get Fiona and
rule the gambling world. He and Eddie hold a final match and he
is certain to win - but Eddie uses a small trick that deceives
him, causing him to lose. This drives him insane.
In the end, we see Lam Wai in the same mental ward that Eddie
was once in. Eddie and Fiona get together and live happily ever
after... sort of.
There are 2 things that I find interesting in this series.
- The main guy is not perfect.
This is actually true for many series. But the difference
is, the main guy stays not perfect in "Gambling On Life"
throughout. Eddie was a pretty talentless thing here, and
the funny part is, his gambling skills never improved all
the way till the end! Basically, Lam Wai's downfall was due
to his own greed, craziness, and obsession, and had little
to do with how smart Eddie was, except for the fact that Eddie
pulled a little trick on Lam Wai based on his greed, craziness,
and obsession.
I usually see 2nd lead characters playing complex-driven
figures. But in GOL, Lam Wai is (was) the perfect guy. Eddie
was not smart, didn't have gambling talents, and despite his
good looks (bias!), he couldn't even get the girl he wanted
at first. The only thing he could do better than Lam Wai was
fighting, but even that didn't do much good. He was the ugly
duckling in his family. His only virtue was probably his love
for whom he once thought was his brother, because he was never
jealous of the fact that his father favored Lam Wai more.
- The "King of the Gamblers" does not retire.
After Eddie managed to make Lam Wai go nutty in their final
match, I really expected something like this:
Fiona: Darling, I'm happy that you got what you want but
I really think gambling is the root of all evil.
Eddie: You're right baby, I think I'll give up everything
I have and just settle down in peace with you.
(And the ending scene shows the two walking away to some
exotic place where there would be no worries.)
I was dead wrong, this was not what happened in the end.
According to the traditional ending formula for sundry series
(especially the "gambling" and the "mo hap"
ones), the main characters should retire with their loved
ones after going through ordeals, if they are not shot to
death or stabbed first that is. In GOL, Eddie actually elected
to stay in the gambling world, keep his casino business, but
make a lot of donations under Fiona's name with the money
he earns. Pretty satisfying of an ending if you ask me - I
would've been mad if he gave up his wealth after all he had
gone through, when he could make so much difference in society
with the amount of money and reputation he has.
I neglected to mention Ng Wing Hung's role as Eddie's childhood
friend and someone who had a big crush on him. She died early
on in the series.
This I believe is Eddie's first pairing with Fiona as a couple
(I think the next one was "The Rise of the Taiji Master").
They have been in other series before, but not as couples.
Again, I stress that this is a very ordinary series. You are
not going to see any spectacular card/dice moves and exciting
casino scenes.
The scenes with Lam Wai and Fiona #1 feature New Kids On the
Block's "I'll be loving you," sort of romantic but extremely
high-pitched song.
|
