Tuesday, July 6, 2010

The Mysteries of Love Review

And TVB disappoints us...again. The Mysteries of Love was one of the most anticipated productions this year but as usual, we are let down.

Characters and Performances

Raymond's a great actor, but his roles continue to become more and more boring. "Kingsley" was an unrealistic character who literally knew everything about anything relating to science. The fact that he did bothered me a lot. Kingsley studies physics, not every aspect of science. While I'd find it understandable and acceptable if he happened to know a bit about different scientific fields, how he was able to chime in with tons of information and observations honestly drove me nuts. Raymond's performance in the series was just mediocre, and his hair in the series was not any better.
Siu Lai does no justice to Tavia's great acting skills. In fact, I still refuse to call Siu Lai "Awesome" because to me, she is not awesome at all. Despite how physically strong Siu Lai may be, she is (very) emotionally weak. I did not enjoy her character at all. I have to give props to Tavia for the scene where she is acting all bubbly and happy at work after going on her first date with Kingsley. She was so adorable in that scene, especially when she was interrogating that suspect. PC was looking and listening to her in disbelief!
With a great hair style and wardrobe, Kenneth managed to look more handsome than Raymond. He was so cool/"yau ying" as Lo Sir. It was fun seeing the professional side of Gordon at work and the playful flirty side of him in his personal life. At times, I'd have to remind myself they were the same person. Kenneth was average in the role, his performance as "Koo Yu Tong" in A Fistful of Stances was a lot better.

The status of second female leads continues to fall lower and lower.  Bernice was more of a guest star than the second female lead.  It's great to see her on screen again, and she looks gorgeous, but there was nothing special about her performance.  The fact that her name "Nicole" was spelt "Nickole" and prounced "nickel" drove me nuts, as did the character's English.  Don't get me wrong, Bernice's English is good, but Nickole, you're in Hong Kong.  Speak Cantonese!

Cases. Not too interesting. The cases were rather boring.  The writers tried too hard to fit physics into the cases.  Ruco Chan and Raymond Wong's cases were the best, especially the latter.  It was thrilling and fast paced.  That case was perhaps the only one that even made you bother to think about it.  Unfortunately, its conclusion was rushed and abrupt.  Raymond's case was the last one, and was literally solved within the first five minutes of the last episode.  It was a very bad ending for such a suspenseful case.

Chemistry.  The couples have great chemistry, but it couldn't make up for the poor development and writing of their love storylines.  Raymond and Tavia (affectionately known as "FungYi") are cute, but Kingsley and Siu Lai were simply boring, if not irritating.  To me, they looked more like friends.  Although I haven't watched Into Thin Air, I love the Kenneth and Bernice pairing.  The two are rather adorable and they are so comfortable working together.  However, their "friends with benefits" storyline was sloppily written.

Conclusion. Many anticipated this series.  Many carried high expectations.  And yet, many were disappointed.  The Mysteries of Love is extremely mediocre.  It is apparent that TVB was aware they had an "all star cast", therefore they didn't bother too much with constructing a decent plot.  While sad to realize, most of us know that TVB knew the cast was awesome, and that it was guaranteed to bring in high ratings.  In the end, this series does not even come close to going in my highlights of the year.

Ratings: 2 1/2 stars

9 comments:

  1. i was expecting a very excellent series with high reviews, and so far, i haven't heard much good reviews about this which is sorta disappointing since i absolutely love raymond and tavia. hahah but like you said, the scene after tavia's first date was absolutely too adorable. i think i replayed that part like ten times lol hahahah thanks for writing a review about this series!

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  2. Anonymous - Sorry if the review is a bit harsh. I like Raymond and Tavia too, but like I said, the series itself is pretty bad. The reviews are against the plot and characters, not the cast. That scene was way too cute. This role was not a highlight of Tavia's acting career, but that particular scene was. Well, at least a highlight in her cuteness. ;)

    Thanks for the compliment!

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  3. Ur review came out...differently than I expected xD lols yah...I love that part where Tavia was talking to the suspect like that too!! That was hilarious <333 I love the ways she acted when they were dating! She was so cute. But yah, she was really weak too. I hoped that her character could be stronger...but eh. Some girls in reality could be like that.

    Totally agree that tvb should give Raymond better roles! It annoys me that he keep on getting these roles.

    Haha, it wasn't exactly dissapointing to me. Didn't meet my expectations...but was still alright.

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  4. LynneD. - Lol, different how? The format? I kinda got lazy when writing this review. It's a lot shorter, and I didn't even bother to label with the character and actor names! xD And I only critiqued the four leads, haha. Oh, I forgot to add that I loved Lawrence! It's awesome how he got to have a significently bigger supporting role instead of a short guest appearance like usually. I love that kid. ;) Some girls are like that in real life (Golly, I hope I don't run into them), but I prefer TV to portray stronger girls. Or at the least, several women with different personalities. The two leads in MOL didn't exactly make women look good. xD "Nickole" didn't handle her relationships too well either. How she went gaga over "Adrian" bugged me. >.>

    Raymond got pretty good roles when he first started! Ex. A Step Into the Past, Golden Faith, Survivor's Law. But now his roles are so boring and bland...and yet they are the roles that make him more popular? O_O

    I wouldn't think MOL was so bad if I didn't have such high expectations. I may've even enjoyed it more. But it still wasn't "good."

    Lol, this comment is pretty long...

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  5. Ah yes!!! Lawrence <3 Now that I think carefully...he is probably my fav character o.O lols like when Ray asked Tavia out, he was staring at them :P I love him and Tavia together. Such a cute aunt and nephew! Speaking of Lawrence kinda remind me of Jacky Wong too! Wonder where he is now?

    Haha, yah. Cause when they're on tv...they get annoying <.< Though Tavia wasn't really annoying to me. Yes agree. I though that Tavia was going to be stronger than that...and I would've prefered for her to be stronger too. Her character in here didn't really shine.....actually none of the mains really shined. But they did had their moments though xD Yah, it was really unrealistic how Bernice just madly fell in love with Adrian. Does not make sense....

    Yah! Remember Face to Fate too! Ray's talent is shown limited when they just give him boring roles. Maybe because of his looks? singing? I know he's a fav. to many people xD He's an actor I really wanna know more about...like his personality? He's usually...still. or maybe I just don't read enough about him xD

    Speaking of interesting roles, Kenneth on the other hand have been getting good roles. Hehe, can't wait for his evil role!! The only reason (and Fala) I'm looking forward to the new series..
    High expectations usually results in the biggest dissapointment. lols maybe b/c of previous series, I did not have much expectations for the series....more of the couples. Since I've never seen FungYi I really wanted to see them. but they fell kinda short.

    lols my is even longer =3

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  6. i agree with everything you wrote in ur review lol :D the series had so much potential, but the cases and relationships were so poorly written~ raymond and tavia's characters were so typical and boring, and so is their relationship~ i only watched the series for kenneth~

    the cases were soooo LAME! it wasnt intense and exciting at all~ the last case with raymond wong was good, but the ending was too rushed, i would love to c more interactions with raymond wong and the other characters, but when they "found" him, they killed him O_O.... wth? lol~

    IMO i think this series is way too overrated!

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  7. LynneD. - Lol, Lawrence was prolly my favorite character too now that I think about it. Loved him in that scene you mentioned! He's so cute. Jacky is probably focusing on his studies. I actually like Lawrence more than Jacky. :)

    I haven't watched Face to Fate but I've heard praise about Raymond's character and performance. Lol, I actually don't know much about Raymond either. He seems so "cool" and a bit introverted.

    Kenneth on the other hand has been getting very good roles lately, like you said. :) Looking forward to seeing him portray a villain.

    wing - Glad we share the same views! Ah, don't you hate it when TVB kills potential?

    Raymond Wong's case was so climatic yet the ending was so anti climatic. After all that, Raymond just commits suicide in a sad attempt to kill Kingsley too? Another example of potential gone to waste.

    Totally agree with you on that one! :)

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  8. this series could have been so much better. like you, it bothered me a GREAT deal that kingsley seem to be an expert in not just all different fields of science, but also basically almost everything. for eg, considering that he spent most of his time in science and research, it's incredulous he even knows the music is often used for yoga classes!!! while i like raymond lam, his performance was truly boring boring boring. i'm ok with tavia's performance and her character though. and i'm slowly starting to like kenneth more and more with each of his new series now. he has really matured as an actor. the WORST and most unbearable character and performance is by bernice liu. i was her fan and so anticipated her return to tv but, gosh.... her acting is raw and unnatural! the character, i hate even more! i would presume, having travelled the world for her journalistic work for many years and having published several books etc, she would have been an independent and strong woman. but no, she was crazy and dumb esp when she was with that playboy adrian! her behaviour just didn't match what we knew abt her being an independent career woman. siu lai, on the other hand, i can still accept her being emotionally weak because she has always been sheltered in a loving, close-knitted and supportive family.

    all in all, despite this series being a disappointment for me too, i've enjoyed it just cos of its cast and that it's a genre that i like. i give it 3 stars. :)

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  9. queen_owl - LOL! Good point. He's supposed to know about physics. It's already pushing it that he shows such an in depth knowledge of other fields of science. How could he possibly know what music was used for yoga, given he was so unathletic? Haha. I wasn't too fond of Lo Sir (or TVB's sudden open mindedness to include so many bed scenes) but I am starting to like Kenneth more too. It was funny how he could never pronounce that one acid and always said "what what what what acid." You make a very good point with Bernice's character. That never crossed my mind for some reason. She should be street smart and practical. It would be pretty much impossible for a woman with Bernice's personality to survive in the work she does. What kind of journalistic attitude is that? Haha. You make another good point with Tavia. People who grow up in more loving and sheltered environments will have a hard time when they go out into the "real world." She was pushing it though when she tried to commit suicide. I'm rather sure her parents taught her to be smarter than that. It also makes me wonder how she survived any previous relationships? I doubt her past boyfriends broke up with her any more nicely.

    Thanks for all the comments, queen_owl! Sorry it took me so long to reply to them. Will be more efficient and quick in replying comments from now on. :)

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