The Truth 谜图

April 29, 2008 in 2008 Dramas, Dramas

This action-packed drama full of twists and turns started on 7 April 2008, at 9pm on Channel 8.

Stars: Zhu Houren, Joanne Peh, Tay Ping Hui, Shaun Chen, Rebecca Lim, Richard Low and Zhu Yu Ye

Su Zhenyuan (Zhu Houren) has managed Soho Group for over 20 years. Soho Group is now an established company, and they handle many big projects. He has a son, Alex (Shaun Chen), with his wife Susan (Zhu Yu Ye).

Zhenyuan and Susan no longer love each other, and they sleep in separate rooms. Susan is having an affair with her long-time love, Raymond (Richard Low), who is Zhenyuan’s good friend, and a major figure in Soho Group.

Raymond has a son, Zhiwei (Tay Ping Hui), who is a police. Estranged from his father, their relationship is sour. Zhiwei disapproves of his father’s relationship with Susan, as she is a married woman. Zhiwei stills mourns his late fiancee’s death, as she died right in front of his eyes.

Alex is a playboy, and works in his father’s company. He is determined to prove to his father that he is capable.

ENTER the Chen sisters – Shuxian (Joanne Peh) and Shufen (Rebecca Lim). Shufen and their mother, Ximei, come down from Malaysia to visit Shuxian, who has been working in Singapore for some time already. Shufen also has to take part in a hair styling competition. But on her first day in Singapore, Ximei goes missing. She ends up being murdered.

In the course of that day, Shuxian gets a job in Soho Group, Shufen meets Alex, and they have a misunderstanding. They also get to know Zhiwei, who handles their mother’s case. Su Zhenyuan becomes the main suspect, as Ximei had met him before she died.

Zhenyuan explains why he had met Ximei and given money to her. 20 years ago in Indonesia, Zhenyuan and Shuxian’s father, Chen Chunsheng met with an accident, running away from their kidnappers. Chunsheng had died saving Zhenyuan, thus, he felt grateful to him and has been trying to look for his family members.

Everyone hides secrets. Zhenyuan has received a treasure map, the second part of his late father’s will, which stated that he could only get this map 20 years after his father’s death. Raymond and Susan are closely watching his every move.

Shuxian’s past as a kept woman is revealed, and Su Zhenyuan not only protects her, but also promotes her. She rises fast in the company, and that gets tongues wagging… everyone says that she has a ‘special’ relationship with Zhenyuan, hence her quick progression.

Spending time together, Zhiwei and Shuxian develop feelings for each other. Zhiwei suspects that Su Zhenyuan is not who he said he is. He slowly investigates on the side. It is revealed that Su Zhenyuan underwent plastic surgery in Indonesia 20 years ago, before returning to Singapore, deeply shaken by the events.

Zhenyuan finally admits to Shuxian that he is Chen Chunsheng. On the surface, she acknowledges him, but deep inside, she hates him, as she thinks he caused her mother’s death. She plots revenge.

Raymond takes her under his wing, and they cheat the company’s money. This is Shuxian’s first step in her revenge plot. Alex dates Shufen, after Zhenyuan helped him get rid of his ex-girlfriend Joey, who was pregnant with his child.

Meanwhile, Zhenyuan finds out about Susan’s affair with Raymond. Susan is miserable after Raymond ignores her. Raymond reveals that Zhiwei’s mother is Susan. Susan is murdered by Raymond, as he cannot trust her anymore, as she is too emotional. Su Zhenyuan again becomes the prime suspect, as he was caught on the CCTV a while before she was murdered in hospital. But the cause of her death is found to be a serious asthma attack.

Zhenyuan’s treasure hunt finally reap results. Gold coins from the Japanese occupation which were looted were apparently buried. Zhenyuan pinpoints the spot on the map, and had bought a huge piece of land in Pahang, where he found a few coins.

Soon, everyone starts playing each other out. Raymond uses Alex, telling him Su Zhenyuan’s real identity, and making him hate Shuxian, as he makes him believe Chen Chunsheng had Shuxian have reunited and have the motive of swallowing Soho Group, which should belong to a real Su, in this case, Alex. Shuxian, blinded by her plot for revenge, underestimates Raymond’s cunning ways. Alex ‘suddenly’ takes an interest in Shuxian, making innocent parties Zhiwei and Shufen deeply puzzled and hurt by whatever is unravelling. This

So… will Ximei’s killer be found? will Alex and Shuxian finally realise that they are pawns twisted around Raymond’s fingers?

As misunderstandings get deeper, and are compounded, who will be able to ravel THE TRUTH?

Just in Singapore 一房半厅一水缸: FINAL REVIEW

April 13, 2008 in 2008 Dramas, Dramas

This 30-episode drama ended on Friday, 4th April 2008, at the 9pm slot on Channel 8.

FINAL RATINGS: 4.3/5.0 (VERY GOOD!)

It was a simple story revolving around–

– the residents on the 8th floor of a block of one-room HDB rental flats

– a water vat whose value has just been discovered to be worth a few million US dollars (!)

INTRO HERE

Stars: Fiona Xie as Lin Xiuming, Kang Chengxi as Su Dingyi, Chen Liping as Nancy, Huang Wenyong as Lin Bang, Adam Chen as Ma Zhigang, Li Yinzhu as ‘zi-dong’ sao, Patricia Mok as Mary, Nelson Chia (Xie Shenjie) as Robert, the late Lan Qingxi as Qiang (San Wan), newcomer Paige Chua (Cai Qihui) as Xiuzhen, Apple Hong as Qianqian, Liang Tian as ‘ka-fei’ shu, He Bin as ‘ka-fei’ sao, Hong Da Mu as Ma po-po, Ong Ai Leng as Shumin, Peng Xiuxuan as Weijie, Yan Bingiang as Pao, Rayson Tan as Jianhui, Zhang Wei as Mr. Fang, Hong Huifang as Wang Jiao, Li Tianle as Meiling, Chen Huihui as Lian, Vivian Lai as Jinyan, Belinda Lee as Fang, Elizabeth Tan as Jianhui’s wife, Lin Jia’an as Tingting, Lin Jun Hao as Weiye, Iko Liu as Paris, Hayden Hee as Roger, Suresh as Kumar, Jasmani as Ali, Asmiyati as Yati and Henry Heng as Mr. Su

Handed down from his ancestors, “ka-fei shu” (Liang Tian) has had this water vat in his house for the longest time. He and his wife “ka-fei sao” (He Bin) use it to store water for their baths. This vat first moves when their younger daughter, Shumin (Ong Ai Leng), brings her son Aloysius (Kyle Tan) to stay, and is worried for his safety, as he likes to play with the water in the vat, and she is afraid he might fall in and drown.

The vat is moved to their neighbour, Ma po-po’s (Hong Damu) house. Her lazy, good-for-nothing grandson, Ma Zhigang (Adam Chen) wants money, and hopes to sell the vat for a few hundred dollars. However, on the way there, he is chased for some creditors, and the vat goes missing.

The trolley it was being transported on rolled down the slope into a rubbish heap. Mary (Patricia Mok) and Robert (Nelson Chia)’s oldest son, Weijie, picks it up, hoping to use it to store water, as they always get their water and electrical supplies cut off.

Taking advantage of the public’s sympathy, Mary and Robert go on TV and make themselves out to be extremely miserable. They use the donations to buy electrical appliances such as a washing machine, and a computer and a TV. Because their toilet is very small, and since they now have a washing machine, Mary laments that the vat takes up too much space, and she and Robert move the heavy vat. Being lazy, they just leave it in the lift.

“zi-dong” sao (Li Yinzhu), sees the vat, and asks her Vietnamese daughter-in-law Qianqian (Apple Hong) to help her move the vat. She wants Qianqian to use rotten vegetables to make achar to sell, and store it in the vat.

Mary and Robert soon realise its value, and send their children to everyone’s house to see where it had gone. They do not manage to go into “zi-dong” sao’s house, as she uses a combination lock to lock Qianqian in.

“zi-dong” sao panics when she meets a health inspector, and realises that her food caused severe food poisoning to those who consumed it. She empties the vat, and leaves it on the corridor.

Then the whole saga about a winning 4-D ticket — Kumar won $150K, but the ticket goes missing. It was on the corridor. Then Qianqian swept it into “zi-dong” sao’s house. Mary stepped on it, when she was looking for the vat. It then stuck to her slipper, and Roger (Hayden Hee) picks it up. Kumar is so devastated, he attempts to kill himself many times. Meiling (Li Tianle) and Roger return the ticket to him, and he goes back to India to look for a wife.

Lin Bang (Huang Wenyong) brings the vat back home, and fills it with water to create the illusion of a spa in his own toilet. His daughter, Xiuming (Fiona Xie) also tries the ‘spa’, but ends up itching all over. Her mother, Nancy (Chen Liping) decides to sell it to the karung-guni for $20.

In the meantime, “ka-fei” shu’s son, Jianhui (Rayson Tan), and his wife, Isabella (Elizabeth Tan), have realised the value of it, and are searching for it. They want to sell it and keep the money. His sister, Shumin, overheard their conversation, and is also on the look out for the vat. “zi-dong” sao and Nancy also find out, and they all run up and down looking for the karung-guni.

Jianhui buys the vat when he meets the karung-guni in the lift. He and his wife take a taxi to a hotel, and plan to sell it and go back to America. However, Isabella drugs Jianhui, and runs with her lover, with the vat. They meet with an accident, because of underworld character Bai-ge. Bai-ge had just driven away from a police roadblock, as he has drugs worth $300K in the car. He disposes of the drugs in the bushes, and drive right into the van with the vat.

Isabella is reduced to the state of a vegetable. The vat is nowhere to be found. Bai-ge goes back with his men to retrieve the drugs. They see the vat, and also Jianhui, whom they presume to be C.I.D. So they dump all the packets of drugs into the vat and escape.

Zhigang owed Bai-ge’s boss, Hei-ge money, and he was forced to marry Paris Newton (Iko Liu) to get her a P.R. Now, these underworld people use Ma po-po’s house as a ‘holding centre’ for their goods. This is how the vat ends up in the block of flats again.

Mr. Fang (Zhang Wei) was the first one to notice the vat when it was in Ma po-po’s house in the beginning. He knows that it is worth a million US dollars, as he checked an antique guide. Now, he sees the vat again, and steals it, needing money for a treatment to get his wife out from a coma. As Kumar had entrusted his key to Mr. Fang before he went back to India, Mr. Fang stores the vat there.

Zhigang is under fire, as the drugs worth $300K have gone missing. He, and Mary and Robert’s second son, Weiye, overhear where the vat, and also the drugs are. Zhigang threatens Mr. Fang, and Mr. Fang leads him to the vat. The drugs had been flushed down the toilet. Zhigang knocks Mr. Fang out, and attempts to leave with the vat. However, Mary and Robert knock him out and steal it.

Zhigang informs the underworld people that the vat is worth a few million dollars, and they hang around everyday, as they know the vat is somewhere on that floor.

Mary and Robert use the pretext of emptying their faeces to try and escape with the vat, shaking off both the underworld people and all their neighbours. However, ‘zi-dong sao’ has a stroke, and they all pile into the lift with Qiang and Qianqian. ‘zi-dong sao’ sees the vat, but they only realise what she is talking about in Lin Bang’s taxi on the way to the hospital.

Zhigang sees them, and tries to stop Mary, Robert and their family. Driving a truck, he knocks Weijie, who was helping Tingting get up from the road. Weijie’s leg has to be amputated! So Zhigang runs with the vat.

He brings it to Bai-ge and Hei-ge. Paris and Zhigang attempt to run with the vat, and set Bai-ge and Hei-ge up by planting drugs in their car. The police come, and as Paris and Zhigang are not around, they manage to get Bai-ge and Hei-ge arrested!

Paris and Zhigang find a buyer, but Zhigang does not trust Paris, and true enough, she was going to run off with the vat, when he was sent to withdraw money with the “buyer”. He didn’t get tricked, and returned to the hotel room, and ‘strangled’ Paris…

Zhigang returns to the surrounding area around the block of flats. He just wanted to get his passport, so he can leave the country with the vat. But ma po-po told Paris, and Paris and Zhigang start a fight. Meanwhile, all the neighbours see them, and harass Zhigang — Mary and Robert want him to return their son Weijie’s leg, and everyone else asks about the whereabouts of the vat; Sanwan and Qianqian are after him with the police, accusing him of running a massage palour which provides “special services”…

In the confusion, Zhigang gets crushed to death by a car. A crane had lifted a car, and the driver lost control. The car fell on Zhigang!

Ma po-po returns the vat to ka-fei shu and ka-fei sao. Zhigang had told her its whereabouts before he died. ka-fei shu and ka-fei sao decide to give the vat to Jianhui and Shumin, and the siblings decide not to sell it, as it would let their ancestors down.

OTHER than the story about the vat, small stories concerning zi-dong sao’s family, and Nancy’s family were focused on.

zi-dong sao ill-treated her Vietnamese daughter-in-law, Qianqian, so much so that the poor girl almost died! She was malnourished and overworked, and fainted in the house. She was locked in, and a fire started because of a wok of oil boiling… Luckily, the neighbours managed to save her.

Zhigang always had his eyes on Qianqian, and persuaded her to run away after she was discharged from the hospital. But Zhigang cheated her. and raped her. She was made to work in the massage palour, and luckily, Lin Bang and Sanwan saved her and brought her home.

In the end, zi-dong sao had a stroke, and she asked Sanwan and Qianqian to put her in an old folks home. They didn’t, and said that they applied for a 3-room flat, and would never send her to an old folks home, but would continue to take care of her. zi-dong sao was so touched that she cried.

THE LOVE TRIANGLE

Xiuming and Xiuzhen are half-sisters, both as different as cheese and chalk. While Xiuzhen is clever, and a university undergrad, Xiuming is not very clever, and runs a small pasar-malam food stall. Xiuzhen is ashamed of her background, and tries not to associate herself with her step-father, taxi driver Lin Bang.

Xiuzhen aka Carol, targets Su Dingyi, a rich man’s son, who is a lecturer at the university. However, he likes Xiuming, but she thinks he is just joking, as she doesn’t believe a rich man’s son can be interested in her.

Carol works on Dingyi’s mother, Wang Jiao, who was an ex-getai singer who has ‘erased’ her past, and is now a rich tai tai. Wang Jiao was the woman who cheated Lin Bang of over $300K 30 years ago. Wang Jiao likes Carol, and sees her as her future daughter-in-law. To be on equal status with the Su family, Carol decides to acknowledge her biological father, Lawrence, a businessman, an old friend of the Su family.

Lawrence’s business is just an empty shell, and he hopes to benefit greatly if Carol marries into the Su family. Sacrifices, however, must be made. Carol has to sever all her ties with Nancy, Lin Bang and Xiuming, and they all sign a legal document to prove it.

With Carol’s plan, Wang Jiao gets Dingyi to work in his father’s company. Xiuming tries to forget Dingyi, when her sister reminds her time and time again that Dingyi is hers.

Xiuming joins a singing competition. She finally accepts Dingyi, and since she is not related to Carol anymore, wants to vie with her for him. Wang Jiao doesn’t like her, and promises her many things so that she’ll leave Dingyi. Xiuming demands $3 million from Wang Jiao in return for the $300K she cheated Lin Bang of 30 years ago.

The situation is tense when a family photo with Carol appears on TV on the singing competition Xiuming is in. This photo was given by Weijie, when Nancy was busy. Wang Jiao demands that Nancy and her family apologise to Carol and Lawrence for their prank (they assumed the photo was doctored). Evil as she is, Wang Jiao makes Nancy kneel and apologise. Carol’s heart breaks, and she calls Nancy “ma”, not caring about the act she was putting up all this while.

Carol finally reunites with her family. She even calls Lin Bang “pa” now.

Dingyi proposes to Xiuming, and Xiuming agrees :)

it is a GREAT WATCH! It reminds me of “Like Father, Like Daughter” – the whole setting; poor/rich people… the fact that Kang Chengxi is again playing a rich man’s son, and romancing another 7 princess… :) This is the first drama for newcomer Paige Chua (Cai Qihui). Formally, she was a model. (when i find out more about her, I’ll be sure to write it down)

“Like Father, Like Daughter”: Kang Chengxi was a rich man’s son. His step-mother was the biological mother of Joanne Peh, his love interest in the show.

“Just in Singapore”: Kang Chengxi is a rich man’s son. His mother caused the downfall of Fiona Xie’s father, and Fiona is his love interest in this show.

STORY

I like how everyone is connected, and this show really kept me entertained for 30 episodes! It really has a simple plot, but the sub-stories are engaging and close to the heart that you don’t get tired of watching!

I especially like the part where this underworld connection brought the vat back to the block of flats in the last few episodes!

ACTING

The acting was great! Chen Liping, Li Yinzhu, Patricia Mok, Nelson Chia, Adam Chen– they all did SO WELL!

Apple Hong’s portrayal of a Vietnamese bride was also very convincing. Her Vietnamese ‘accent’ was present at all times!

This was the late MC King’s last drama. He didn’t even finish filming it, and in a few scenes, we see the substitute’s back. However, his role here was challenging, as the stuttering Sanwan. This is a good role to remember him as a serious, and good actor.

OVERALL, I LOVED THIS SHOW! The storyline and acting were SO GOOD! It was funny, heartbreaking, dramatic, and totally real throughout 30 episodes!