Friday 7 January 2011

Links to Temptation


Links to Temptation had its highs and its lows, the plot was interesting and some areas were developed really well but there were also many illogical sections of the storyline. One of the few illogical parts (SPOILER) was Timmy Hung's character. The fact that he was the one who killed Lau Dan and Yoyo Mung on Kenny's orders was just totally random. Whilst I understand the logic in why Timmy would do that, Kenny being his only "friend" that stuck with him, I think they should have developed that a bit more. That part of the plot makes sense but it doesn't flow smoothly. However I did like how we all forgot about Kenny but he was in fact the person behind the chaos - that was really well developed in my opinion. The whole series were filled with these clever plots/illogical plots, I enjoyed watching Links to Temptation because it was different, very characteristic of Tsui Yu On but I think the story needed a bit more development.

This story had the potential to be big but it failed on some accounts and the ending was a bit anti-climatic, like a lot of TVB series.

Best Actor
Steven Ma

It was a solid performance from Steven Ma. It wasn't his best though. Whilst there was nothing to complain about he just didn't stand out for me, neither did I like his character. One of the flaws I found in the plot was Steven's undying love for Fala, where did their relationship develop? All I remember is that Steven one day went to Macau, saw a poster of Fala and suddenly fell head over heals for her. Now that sounds really really shallow. Steven's love for Fala didn't develop, it started and ended the same crazy way. I think it would have been better if we were introduced into the story in a different way because the Steven/Fala plot just didn't work for me.

Best Actress
Yoyo Mung

Yoyo Mung was undoubtedly my favourite in this series. Her acting may not have been solid in every single scene e.g. her eyes still lack emotion at times, but she did a very good job overall and her character was much more interesting, though slightly illogical, compared to the rest. I think this is one of Yoyo's best performances and I'm surprised she could act her character so well.

Fala Chen

By the end Fala's character annoyed me but I do think Fala did a decent job in this series. I think this type of character suits her quite well. Fala is becoming a very well rounded actress, whilst I don't agree on her having won two best supporting actress awards already I think she is becoming one of TVB's best young artistes. I just want to comment on her character though, it annoyed me that she followed Yoyo so diligently to the point she'd drug Lau Dan, yet again the story needed to develop the strong foundations between Yoyo and Fala, possibly through flashbacks because we were just introduced to their "strong" friendship and nothing was done to make it believable.

Best Supporting Actor
Johnson Lee

I guess his character was the most normal, but how he was written didn't allow the viewer to relate to him, he always provided logic but he never showed that much emotion and that's where his character failed to gel with the viewer but Johnson did do well in this series. You forget that Johnson is actually a decent actor after watching him in stuff like Fuk Luk Sau.

Kenny Wong

I think Kenny did well in this series, he was annoying and utterly evil, but one thing which was good was that he stayed that way throughout. His acting was believable and he played that spoiled son character convincingly. It's important to have a character to hate throughout and he played that character well.

Lau Dan

Another character I felt pity for, Lau Dan made this role very nice to watch, it was interesting to see what would happen with him and Fala and throughout the series he was one of the characters of reason, somebody neither crazy, delusional or OTT. It was quite sad seeing him being plotted against because he was a lovely father.

Best Supporting Actress
No Nominees

Best Couple
No Nominees

Most Improved Actor
No Nominees

Most Improved Actress
No Nominees

Favourite Male Character
No Nominees

Favourite Female Character
Yoyo Mung

Yes really. I hated her character at the start, how she tied up her mother, bent on revenge and lied to every "friend" she had, but after everybody found out about her craziness her character became more likeable. By the end when she died I just couldn't dislike her, instead I pitied her character. I just seemed to forget about all the atrocities she had done but instead came to, in some way, understand her character. I think a mix of good character development and acting allowed Yoyo's character to be rather likeable towards the end.

Breakthrough Performance
Sarah Song

This is the second series I have seen Sarah Song in, the first she was a cameo in Twilight Investigation but she held a larger role in Links to Temptation. I think Sarah's acting is quite natural actually, I'd definitely like to see her in more series. She was also a true and realistic friend.

Best Chemistry
No Nominees

Most Annoying Character
Timmy Hung

Timmy's character didn't annoy me until the big reveal at the end, his character just seemed illogical, as I have already said earlier on. The stuttering I think was meant to make the audience pity him but it just made him more annoying when I think about it, because his character didn't need that, by the end it just got repetitive and irrelevant.

Recognition Award
Mary Hon

Mary Hon doesn't get much recognition from TVB so I'm giving her this award.

No comments:

Post a Comment