|
This series is about the ancient crime investigators and their
organization, "Gim Lung Moon."
Characters
- Chuek Bat Fan (Hugo Ng)
He is the detective figure of this series. A witty semi-player
at first but only to accomplish his mission of mystery solving.
His true love comes when Wan Yin appears before his eyes.
- Chin Bing Jing (Jacqueline Law)
A conniving and manipulative woman that has 2 main goals throughout
the series: to avenge for her father and to become the ruler
of her stepfather's country. She seems to like Bat Fan.
- Lok Koo Fung (Jimmy Au)
A solitary swordsman known to be loveless, expressionless, and
speechless. But all that changes when he meets Gim Chi, the
love of his life.
- Been Sau Teet (Yu Kar Lun)
He is Bing Jing's stepbrother and seeks to claim the throne
as well. He likes Wan Yin too but is detrimental to many other
good characters.
- Kuk Wan Yin (Anita Lee)
A responsible woman, to her honorable household and especially
to her brother. Not so chummy with Bing Jing because they both
like Bat Fan.
- Han Chui (Dickson Lee)
A comic relief of this series. He likes to follow his girl around
but usually is carefree and funny. His job in Gim Lung Moon
is to find people.
- Gim Chi (Lau Sau Ping)
A skilled pickpocket, learned from her father. Eventually falls
in love with Koo Fung but not so fruitful.
- Chiu Tin Tin (?)
Like a typical princess, she too is spoiled and whiny most of
the time. Beats around her boyfriend (Han Chui) way too much
but has a kind nature and quite funny as well.
- Man Yuk Tong (Wong Wei)
The leader of Gim Lung Moon.
- Luk Siu Dip (Wu Mei Yee)
She owns a brothel upon the order of Gum Lung Moon to rake info
from her customers.
- Kuk Wan Ho (Wu Yuet San)
He is Wan Yin's younger brother and a troublemaker. Really bothersome
to people with his falsified pride and inferiority complex.
Chuek Bat Fan (Hugo Ng), Han Chui (Dickson Lee), and Lok Koo
Fung (Jimmy Au) are all top agents of Gim Lung Moon [Golden Dragon
Clan], led by Man Yuk Tong (Wong Wei). Gim Lung Moon is an organization
that works for the high official in government, who is the direct
advisor of the Sung emperor. Their main job is to investigate
ongoing crimes. Bat Fan is adroit in mystery solving, Han Chui
is good at finding people and Koo Fung is a swordsman. Bat Fan
and Koo Fung don't know each other at first but after a competitive
swordplay, they soon become good friends.
Gim Lung Moon also owns a brothel, operated by a charming lady
named Luk Siu Dip (Wu Mei Yee). Bat Fan, being the semi-player
he is, one day meets Wan Yin (Anita Lee) at the brothel. Wan Yin
is there to find her troublesome younger brother Wan Ho (Wu Yuet
San) and her future husband. Wan Yin's household is very powerful
and famous in terms of kung fu, and Bat Fan takes interest in
her because she is quite pretty. She later breaks her engagement
with her fiance because he is a loser.
Bat Fan then meets Chin Bing Jing (Jacqueline Law) who broke
into and entered Wan Yin's house, saying that Wan Yin's father
is her enemy. Her real identity is the princess from the neighboring
nation, Yiu. Bat Fan steps in to stop her vengeance but she is
rather persistent. Her other goal is to distribute drugs in the
Sung nation, leading it to corruption so her country would take
over. She develops affection for Bat Fan and becomes jealous of
Wan Yin because Bat Fan obviously likes her. Bat Fan suspects
that she is rather a secretive woman, so he decides to watch her
for a while. Together, they try to locate where her father's grave
is. Because of this, Bat Fan inadvertently clashes with Wan Yin's
household and Wan Ho starts to build some kind of resentment towards
Bat Fan for being a smart aleck. Wan Yin too, is not very fond
of Bing Jing for her conniving thoughts and deeds.
Bat Fan also meets Been Sau Teet (Yu Kar Lun) and befriends him
because he seems to have talents. His identity later gets revealed
as the 2nd prince of Yiu so their small friendship breaks. Sau
Teet too, just like Bing Jing, is up to no good. He spots Wan
Ho who feels totally inferior to Bat Fan, and offers Wan Ho that
he'd teach kung fu. What Wan Ho learns from Sau Teet is an evil
kung fu, so this leads Wan Ho to accidentally kill his father.
He wants to hide this matter from Wan Yin, so he clings onto Sau
Teet, basically willing to be his dog.
Sau Teet and Bing Jing, although they are stepsiblings, are both
looking for chances to kill each other. But on the outside, they
seem to team up so they can first take over Sung and later fight
each other for the throne of Yiu. Sau Teet likes Wan Yin and offers
her to come with him to Yiu later on, but she declines, which
hurts his pride.
Han Chui meets the daughter of a king named Chiu Tin Tin, who
idolizes Bat Fan known as the Jade Fox for all his heroic deeds.
She is whiny and bratty but cute as well, so Han Chui pretends
that he is Bat Fan so she will like him. When he gets caught doing
this act, she gets really upset but eventually forgives him, so
they become a nice little couple. Her father, however, doesn't
approve of this relationship. Plus he is the evil king that pairs
up with Bing Jing to take over the nation. This king is also not
in good terms with Man Yuk Tong because they both like Siu Dip
(the owner of the brothel).
Meanwhile, Koo Fung is acquainted with a pretty pickpocket, Gim
Chi (Lau Sau Ping). They are not so friendly at first because
she is a thief and he works for the government. But as the time
goes on, they start to like each other. Her father is a slick
thief that steals just to go against the emperor. Gim Chi's birth
is shrouded with an unknown fact that she is dying to find out.
Eventually, Bing Jing finds out that her father is not quite
dead but is a monk in Shaolin Temple. She visits her father and
tells him that her mother is waiting for him desperately in Yiu,
but her father says that he is no longer involved in worldly matters.
Upset by this, she argues with him and steals a treasured kung
fu booklet. She also speeds up the plan of taking over the Sung
nation. She captures and drugs up Wan Ho and tells him that she
will make him the top martial artist. Wan Ho, unable to resist
the drug, becomes Bing Jing and Sau Teet's puppet.
The Sung's colonial country offers the Sung emperor a joint marriage.
In order to do so, the emperor has to send off a princess but
there is not a princess who is willing to go. Just in time, Bing
Jing kidnaps Gim Chi's mom and threatens Gim Chi's dad to insert
a weapon into the gift that is to be presented to the emperor,
brought by the representative from the colonial country. He is
very good at unlocking keys and such so he does what he is told,
and later reports to Gim Lung Moon about this.
Bing Jing almost gets caught because of this and in order to
avenge, she frames Gim Chi's whole family for attempting to murder
the emperor. The family gets arrested and in order to save Gim
Chi, her mom reveals her true identity. Gim Chi is actually an
offspring of the previous emperor, which makes her a princess.
The emperor, in place of releasing the family, decides to send
Gim Chi to marry the prince of the colonial country. Koo Fung
is the one to break this news to her and she is very crushed (especially
because this was said to her at the time she wanted to marry him),
but she listens to him and goes off to be married. However, on
her way, Bing Jing and Sau Teet kidnap her because they want Sung
and the colonial country to fight against each other.
When Koo Fung finds out about this, he becomes very desperate
in saving Gim Chi so he strikes up a deal with Sau Teet. Sau Teet
wants Koo Fung to kill Bing Jing. Koo Fung tries as told, but
Bing Jing's kung fu has gotten way strong since she stole the
high kung fu from Shaolin. Koo Fung couldn't win over her and
Sau Teet wouldn't release Gim Chi, so Koo Fung gets very upset.
Koo Fung then does something that greatly overturns Sau Teet's
plan, so out of spite, Sau Teet rapes Gim Chi. When Koo Fung does
get to rescue Gim Chi eventually, she kills herself in front of
him out of shame. As he vows revenge, he disappears for a time
being.
Wan Ho in the meantime, is still being controlled by Bing Jing
and Sau Teet. Wan Yin overhears Wan Ho and Sau Teet's conversation
coincidentally, and finds out that her brother has turned into
a bad guy. She was hiding inside a big bell and when Sau Teet
hears that someone is eavesdropping, he kicks the bell. Because
of this, Wan Yin seemingly becomes a patient with aphasia and
no memory, but she is actually putting on an act to unfold Wan
Ho's conspiracy. She is later rescued by Bat Fan. Bat Fan and
Wan Yin both try to force Wan Ho to quit drugs and betray Sau
Teet. Wan Ho, hence, is reformed.
Koo Fung comes back with Gim Chi's dad (her mom died when Bing
Jing kidnapped Gim Chi) and tries to kill Sau Teet, but fails,
even with the sacrifice of Gim Chi's dad. Sau Teet also turns
against Bing Jing openly, which makes her team up with Bat Fan
to reveal his evil plans. Tin Tin's dad, the king, is to be the
one to report to the emperor about Sau Teet's conspiracy (the
king would listen to Bing Jing because he used to work with her
and he is afraid of dying). But Sau Teet finds out about this
ahead of time and captures the king as he plans his way to escape,
and the king is eventually killed when Sau Teet's ship explodes.
Wan Ho puts on a fake act and pretends to threaten Koo Fung's
life, which attracts Sau Teet to come out of where he is hiding.
After they convince Sau Teet that they are on the same team,
they strip Sau Teet's desire to take over the throne in front
of the king of Yiu. Sau Teet is jailed for treason but he manages
to persuade his father to let him out. Afterwards, Sau Teet kills
Wan Ho, captures Bing Jing and Koo Fung, and threatens to kill
the two with a cannon. Before Bat Fan can say anything, Koo Fung
breaks himself free, dashes to Sau Teet to the cannon and explodes
when the cannon ball is loaded.
The final battle is between Bing Jing and Bat Fan. Bing Jing
inquires Bat Fan to help her and her country but Bat Fan declines.
Bing Jing captures Wan Yin as a hostage and to save her, Bat Fan
fights Bing Jing on a wooden built tower. Bing Jing falls off
the tower and dies in Bat Fan's arms. Bat Fan then announces to
the king of Yiu that they shouldn't invade Sung because Sung is
not an easy target.
In the end, the three couples.. Bat Fan & Wan Yin, Han Chui
& Tin Tin, Man Yuk Tong & Siu Dip .. all live in seclusion,
happily ever after.
|
|
This series, as disturbing in some parts as it is, made me watch
it 3 times anyway. The first time was out of curiosity, and the
last 2 times were because of Jimmy (figures huh?). It is really
depressing on his part and only his part because the bad guys
die, which is expected and the others just merrily hop away to
live happily ever after. Har har the end.
More seriously, this series is entertaining in some ways. If
you like Jacqueline and would not prefer to see her in annoying
roles such as this and in 'Golden Snake Swordsman,' this series
is not for you. If you like Jimmy, you probably should give it
a try because his character is really likeable. He doesn't say
much because he's supposed to be all quiet, but it's quite interesting
to see him being provoked when Lau Sau Ping is jailed, kidnapped,
and dead. I liked the flow of how his character turned out towards
the end. The only flaw he had was his hair, the freakin' wig,
but I suppose we can overlook that one little (not so little)
mishap. We just gotta kill those TVB hair designers, that's all.
Jimmy had another pairing with Lau Sau Ping in 'The God &
the Demons of Zu Mountain.' Unfortunately, she died before him
in this one too and he later died. I guess they just aren't meant
to be an on-screen couple. Might I note, his hair in this one
was absolutely despicable, maybe it's his hairdo that's hexing
his love.
The guy who played Wan Ho was also in 'The Commandments' as the
bad guy, 'Story of the Water Margin' as the bad guy with no ears,
and another ancient series that had David So as the lead.
I just reread my own summary and it doesn't seem to make sense
at all. @_@
I have not much to say about Jacqueline, just imagine her as
the same character in 'Golden Snake Swordsman' with less compassion.
Lovely, ain't it? I mean, sure, that lady pulls off evil roles
extremely well because she is versatile but sometimes the characters
she plays can be very twisted.
Another notable character was Dickson Lee Ka Sing. He just has
the face that I can't stop liking, no matter what role he plays.
He is the only character in 'The Sword of Conquest' that saved
the whole series from being bleak. He did the same thing for 'The
Jade Fox,' and since he is still acting, I sure hope to see him
more. Another good series that stars him would be 'The Black Sabre'
with Hugo (again), Eddie Cheung, and Margie Tsang. Quite a lovely
spice there too.
|
