EPISODE 30

Oh the tragedy! Oh the tears! Oh Vincent, oh Vincent, gone but not quite gone, dead but not that dead! Vincent...oh! You will definitely need your Kleenex, but not when Vincent died, but when seeing how Sam reacted to the news that Vincent died.



Story continues today with Vincent about to leave for Rome and Belle crying like no control. They were saying goodbye as if Vincent was never coming back (which was true) and then when he left, Belle ran into the arms of Sam, crying which was exactly what Vincent didn't want her to do. This woman really really was getting to me.



Anyway Vincent was in Rome and Sam and Belle trying to talk things out. Before that Zoe did approached Sam and asked him is everything a-ok, should she be worried about Belle in Sam's life but Sam said silly, don't think such stupid thoughts. But Zoe was worried, very very worried. One thing good about Zoe is when she is worried, she is not like Belle, going to everybody BUT the source. Zoe will go straight to the source that is Sam and basically all a-ok for now.



But Sam needed to talk to Vincent, and he called Vincent, left him a message saying words to the effect that "Hey buddy! Don't worry; I won't seduce your wife, friendship is more important than women". Don't know if Vincent got the message.



Then Sam asked to see Belle and whilst they talked about their relationship, Belle confessing her answer to Vincent was the classic I don't knowwwwww, Sam said he didn't give Vincent an answer because he felt saying I don't know was an answer in itself. In a way Sam was confessing that indeed he was still thinking about Belle. Now Belle was confused but they continued their talks.



Then Vincent at Rome was still quite miserable when he saw a lady dropping her bracelet and the newspaper vendor picking it up, ran to the lady and they were chatting like old friends. Suddenly Vincent was smiling happily, ran to a phone booth (which was a work of art, such a beautiful phone booth) and called Belle but Belle wasn't home as she was with Sam. So he left a message saying "Belle, I finally understood, I finally got it! Belle..." and we will never know what he said as I am sure that would be left for Belle to listen in a more dramatic scene later. But I suspect this;



At this juncture my family were having this argument, that what he meant by saying he understood. My second sister, the one with the most vocal opinion said Vincent was right to dump Belle as he should never settle for less than 100% love. In a way I agree. Vincent gave Belle the ultimatum; take me 100%, love me 100%, give me 100% of your heart or nothing at all! But I for one was of the opinion Vincent knew what he was getting into. In a way he was right to leave Belle with that ultimatum, to give her the chance to choose all over again, either him 100% or nothing at all. But it was a bit unfair to Belle as sometimes, women get very nostalgic when it comes to forst love. There was no denying Belle loved Sam first and will always love him, think about him, talk to him but she does love Vincent in her own way. Maybe not 100%, maybe 80%. But if Vincent can't take 80% only, I guess it will be for the best to leave her because this woman is incapable of giving more than what she can. It's not that she's not prepared to give Vincent that much, it's just that her memories of a strong intense past love prevented her, she is tied emotionally to Sam in some ways. Of course my second sister disagreed as one should not settle for less but I countered saying in life, if you want to achieve a certain level of happiness, you must settle for less, but not less to the point that it becomes a liability but less to a point that sometimes maximum isn't 100%. My eldest sister summed up our discussion by saying "Shut up! This is just a TV series, it will never happen in real life, moreover, Belle deserves to be miserable, she can't even make up her bloody mind!". Well, I find this complex emotions very real. Everyday, many women married a man they may like but not passionately in love with for a variety of reasons whilst men, seek affairs to rekindle the passion they once had but that may not mean real true love. It's very real.



Anyway, enough of that. Back to the plot...



Vincent was walking happily, because I think he accepted the less than 100% but gained more than he could get from Belle concept when he saw this stupid little girl playing in the middle of the road and a car was fast (actually slowly) approaching and Vincent ran towards the girl's direction. We never see the impact but we will get to see two shocked bystanders running to Vincent and there he was, flat on his back hugging the little girl tightly and his head was bleeding and the guys were panicking. The little girl was ok but Vincent was dying since he got this massive head injuries, only that I didn't really see that massive head injury except for a tiny pool of blood but it was true, Vincent was dying.



Now let me digress a bit about Vincent, his dying moment and Joe Ma.



This episode clearly illustrated two acting powerhouse, as in one fully charged powerhouse and one in serious need of power.



Imagine you were Vincent, you finally accepted whatever you accepted, you were eager to go back to see Belle, because you finally understood, assuming of course you wanted Belle back. You have many happy thoughts, many words to say to her, you haven't had a chance to tell her face to face, you were smiling because you knew moments later you would be seeing her and telling her your innermost thoughts and your happy decision. Then you got hit by a car and you lay there dying. You knew you were dying since you were knocked head on, and you were unable to move. In that very last moment of your life, you must be thinking a whole lot of things like perhaps your friendship with Sam, your marriage with Belle and how happy you were, you decision, your happy thoughts, the moments before where you reached an important decision that involved you and Belle and it must be a positive one since you were so darn happy just moments before, and the realisation that you will not be able to see Belle again, Sam, all, gone in a few moments. You were dying with the regret of knowing you will never get to tell Belle how much you love her, assuming you wanted to get back with her. How would you look?



a. pain, anguish, sadness

b. shocked, numbed, disbelief

c. regret, remorse, pitiful

d. happy, you die smiling, you die smiling like an idiot whilst lying on the street.



Just moments before Vincent's death, he was smiling. Oh yes. I do not know what he was thinking, but I am sure someone as young as Vincent and with some unfinished business and was about to die will not die smiling like a happy contented man. This is not some Korean drama where Belle who died earlier is waiting for Vincent at Heaven and he will be meeting her soon in Heaven. Belle is still very much alive. Joe Ma gave the worst performance in that scene. You may argue he was probably in shocked, since he was smiling moments before, probably he was about to die and that shock didn't really leave him so he had this happy look, frozen by shock. I don't think so. He looked like he was dying a very happy man when he still had a little sister waiting for him back in HK. The worst performance and I am glad Vincent died because I can't stand another second of Joe Ma with his bad English, standard text book acting, uncharismatic presence and in the end, his very inadequate acting. Maybe he had his own interpretation but I didn't see all that. I was sorting out my older reviews and I actually had good comments about this actor in those earlier reviews, that was when he was just a second fiddle with line and some scenes but when he took on significant amount of air time and more lines with more prominent roles, that was when my comments became more and more negative. I want to see him get a role tailor made for him but the problem is I can't see his siganature role yet and he doesn't have the acting capacity to give more. Oh yeah, as a viewer am I ready to accept 60% of effort from him and just ignore my other 40% expectation? Maybe in love but not when it comes to my viewing pleasure. Maybe the writer was bad, maybe the director was bad, or maybe, just maybe, and sorry to all Joe Ma's fans, just maybe Joe Ma doesn't have it. That it being more than the usual acting. He can act, he can act decently, sometimes he can act well, he can be watcheable, he can be entertaining, he can be cute and he can be funny. But he can't take on more than he can handle, and he can't take on roles that require him to be a lead because this is one actor who has no charisma, no screen presence, who when needed to deliver can't deliver and who does not have a personality one can see onscreen. I hope he will get a role that will make me eat my own words because he got the height, he got the looks, he seems like a nice guy with wholesome image but he just lacks the leading man quality. He bores me, even when his Vincent was dying. The only scene he gave more than I expected and a bit more than he usually give was when he was giving this speech for Sam. But those moments are so rare. Vincent is not my favourite character in here but he has his moments and his virtues and I shall miss Vincent but I won't say I will miss Joe Ma. A much better actor may be able to garner our pity, to make us go "Damn! He still needs to go home to Belle, to see her, to tell her all he wanted to say, how can YOUUUU do this!! DAMN!!!" but none of that was coming from my mouth. My only question after all those thoughts of what was going through Vincent's mind as he laid there dying was.."Hmmm, maybe if the director had shown Vincent being hit and thrown a few metres away, that may be more effective or maybe a tear from Vincent".



Anyway, Sam and Belle were still thinking what they didn't dare to say and admit when Zoe ran to them and took the longest of time and in tears to tell Belle, almost hysterical now with worry that Vincent died in Rome. Then we see Henry explaining what happened, and Sam took Belle and a very tearful Coco home.



At this point I must salute Francis Ng who gave his best performance in this series tonight. His Sam walked into the house, already in tears but wiped it away and bravely told his family that it was fated, they had to accept it. He then told them he will accompany Belle to Rome to take Vincent back home whilst Coco will go to her parents and take them to HK. Belle refused the airlines' offer to arrange the funeral as she wanted to arrange it herself.



Back at home and alone in his room, Sam was almost in tears when Zoe, worried sick walked in and volunteered in the wrong time to accompany Sam to Rome. Sam kept saying no, he can handle it but Zoe was becoming far too insistent and Sam really scolded Zoe to back off, to go away and let him grief alone. Zoe was pale with shocked and dutifully left.



Once at home, Zoe confessed to Paul that she was worried that perhaps Sam didn't love her, perhaps Sam didn't want her around when Ruby walked up and right so, gave Zoe a piece of advice in a very harsh way but gentle enough. She said.."If you want others to stop treating you like an immature little kid, you should stop acting like one. You shouldn't think so much into Sam's actions. I too am worried about Belle, I am her best friend but sometimes you must back off and let them grief in their own pace and own time." Zoe realised she was wrong to push Sam so much and she agreed to back off but she was still worried about Sam and Belle of course.



Back home, Belle laid down Vincent's uniform and she cried and cried. She had yet to hear the message from Vincent yet. Sam meanwhile was looking through the old childhood photos and I can tell you to get ready with your Kleenex. Sam then broke down and cried really hard and I was almost in tears. Sam lost his only friend actually, someone he knew for over 20 years. Poor Coco too.



Next day, they went to Rome and took home Vincent. They saw the little girl and her mom praying for Vincent by the road side and suddenly Belle couldn't take it. She was hysterical and Sam had to calm her down as she begged for Vincent to come home. I think she finally realised she loved Vincent more than she thought she did. Very sad actually but Flora killed the sadness and I shall explain later. Back on the plane, Belle thought Vincent was still alove as she was served with her favourite drink when Sam calmed her down and said it was him not Vincent who told the air stewardess to serve her that drink. I think Belle is suffering from delusions, denial, guilt and later, nervous breakdown.



Back home, Sam was told he wil be given the award Most Outstanding Youth and Henry asked Sam to go but Sam didn't want to. Henry said it will be Vincent's wish for Sam to go since Vincent recommended him and Belle said please go.



Of course strange thing was such an award which should take place in a hotel took place at the airport and everybody was there, even I think Vincent's grieving parents which was ridiculous of course. Then the whole ceremony started off with Sam and ended as Vincent's make-do funeral as Sam delivered a heartfelt obituary after he heard Vincent said what he said one episode before. Sam was in tears and everybody was in tears actually. Strange was Vincent's parents wasn't in that much of tears. Are they his parents??



Anyway the scene ended there and as the credits rolled, we learn about backbox.



Then when the song ended, Wah Lai Toi showed a short tribute to Vincent and ended with Vincent's not so smiling face, the last one we saw as Sam saw during the ceremony, freeze framed with that eagle pendant or whatever you call it with the series' title right across his face. It was like a tribute to Vincent, his obituary but it was creepy as it looked like Joe Ma's obituary when he is still very much alive. TVB of course wanted to be sentimental but the ugly truth is, the tears induring part wasn't when Vincent died, not by Vincent dying that it was sad but it was how Sam reacted to it. I thought his death scene was very lame.



Now performances.



Francis Ng was perfect in here. His tearful eyes, not wanting to cry, controlling his emotions and letting it all go when he was alone in the room. I can't fault his performance tonight. He deserves an award for this episode, truly amazing performance.



Myolie Wu gave Zoe a very pester-eager kinda attitude tonight and I feel very apt because Zoe being much too young didn't quite understand sometimes people want to be alone for a little while. She too gave an amazing performance tonight. Fear all there. I think her Zoe insisted on going to Rome with Sam because she knew Belle was there and Sam and Belle were at their most vulnerable with Vincent's death. A bit selfish but totally understandable and Myolie gave Zoe such depth in her performance.



If Joe Ma gave the worst performance tonight, Belle certainly gave the second worse or the worse for a female actress. Whenever Flora cries, I can't hear her dialogue. She tends to mumble and I hate that. I didn't get a single word she was saying as she was crying and mumbling. And her crying was truly horrible. It was fake, it was crocodile tears, didn't see a single red eye (whilst Francis' eyes were really red) and her make up still perfect with her rosy cheeks when she should not look so impeccable. She should look old, tired and grieving. She didn't look grieving.



Everybody else looked shocked which was good because they should be.



Tonight's episode highlighted the weak writing, some really bad performances and of course showing to us why Francis Ng won so many awards.



One thing I must mention. I think being a captain at Solar Airlines is a jinx kinda job. First Sam, moments after becoming a captain suffered a devastating blow to his career and sometimes losing his eyesight whilst Vincent, on his first maiden flight as a captain DIED.



And I must also mention this. 2 episodes back, Vincent became a captain, something I forgot to mention. What was strange was Vincent was so upset Sam became the first captain and the airline made it very clear they had room for one captain only. Moments later Vincent became a captain. Maybe because most captains were retired and Sam was incapacitated.



And one more thing. Yesterday's episode, Vincent I think said his friendship with Sam was since primary school, some 23 years ago. He was very specific about the year. How old is Sam and Vincent? 36? Minus 23 years and that would make them 13? And they met when? Secondary school or primary school? Today, Sam said 20 years which was worse but the photos showed them perhaps 10? 11? Can't the writer be more consistent?



Next week drama!! Sam kisses Belle, Zoe's very very sick and Zoe said to Sam, no more relationship!! Oh the drama!



Anyway, RIP Vincent. At least Belle will not be confused anymore. Now it is Zoe's time to be confused!