麻婆斗妇

Image credits to Xin.msn



A 35 episodes family-oriented serial along the likes of never-ending taiwan drama "爱", with viewership somehow able to dethrone the almightly "爱" that occupied the 7pm slot for n*10000 years and claimed top spot for that couple of weeks.




Story revolves around the Seow family, with matriarch 林宝珠 （李司琪）helming the tight reins around her 2 boys whom she had raised single-handedly after the death of her husband by an accident, while managing the family ting-kat catering business. She maintains an iron rule for the family that each and every member have to be home for dinner at 7pm, no excuses tolerated and everyone takes turns to cook the meal.

The elder son, 萧建业 （林明伦）, is the homely and sensible one who does the business development and marketing for the business. His wife, 严秋桦 （许美珍）being a free-spirit however, prefers to have a home of their own and is always rebelling against 宝珠's traditions and strict regime, thus putting 建业 in a tough position.



The baby of the family, 建海 （方展发）, constantly requires other members of the family to keep a lookout for him as he is too gullible and kind-hearted. He manages the operations of the business but is often seen hands-on helping out with the deliveries when the staff are short-handed. On one of these occasions, he noticed the authorities attempting to chop off the tree which he had fond memories of and steps up to protect it, and to his surprise, he met the crush of his younger days, 茶碗珍/王佳珍（瑞恩）.

茶碗珍, so nicknamed by 建海 as she loves the chawanmushi made by the stall in the school canteen which was run by 宝珠 before the business developed into an established label in the food delivery industry, works in the National Parks Authority for her love towards trees. Similar to 建海, 茶碗珍has a kind-hearted soul and is always helping others in difficulty.

As the story develops, 茶碗珍 gets two-timed by her devious and possessive boyfriend/colleague 白子俊, and ends up marrying 建海 for the notion that at least 建海 will take good care of her even though she does not have feelings for him then. It was only during their first official date and meet-the-parents did she see the environment that 建海 lived in and realise that he is not the humble delivery boy that she had thought he was and that his brother is 建业, whom both had feelings for each other during university days but did not develop from then on.



Coincidentally, 秋桦 only realised that the girl 建海 is marrying is the same one that had embarrassed her in public (by accident) when he brought her back for the first time. And because she could not stand the way the soft spoken 茶碗珍 is agreeable to the ridiculous rules of the family, coupled with the approval and biasness of 宝珠 and 奶奶(金銀姬）towards the well-mannered little daughter-in-law, she sets out to devise little tricks to make 茶碗珍 fall out of favour.




This show (ok actually all shows featuring Rui En as lead) had me returning home diligently before 9pm to switch on the tv, in the process turning down quite a few dinners. Seriously not for the plot but for the acting.

The strong performance from the whole cast totally makes up for the unrealistic storyline, which I-dunno-why but it managed to make people chase episodes after episodes (probably it figures out the "爱" viewership potion). Everybody is linked to everyone else in the cast and one has to be really really "lucky" to get a cheating/over-possessive ex-boyfriend, an inflexible/unreasonable matriarch, a scheming/vengeful sister-in-law who has some dark dark secrets herself and a mummy's boy for husband all in a lifetime.

But I was so engrossed that I was actually cursing and swearing at 秋桦/子俊/Mother, feeling pitiful for 建海佳珍, laughing at 奶奶/佳珍's dad, etc over Twitter and FB.

Rui En totally transformed into 佳珍, which possibly is going to garner her another BA nomination with her natural portrayal (though I prefer drama queen 雅樂 from her previous show more), unless there's some dark truth behind the awards (opps!). The mannerism, kindness, hatred, not too much, not too little, just nice just right acting/living the character. It can all be seen in her eyes.

And the cryings are just so .... [I am speechless] thumbs up thumbs up

(Sidenote: Not sure if its make up or what but her face is probably 4 tones fairer than her body? Ermm.. over-whitening? There were a few scenes where the lighting were literally reflecting off her face like a reflector board! :p Weird la..)

Cynthia Koh did a really good job with 秋桦 making people hate her and then surprised everyone in the last 30 min of the series turning all demure and nice. Another BA nominee!

I'm torn between the 2 of them. Can co-win?

Isn't the first time that Pierre lands such a goody guy role but there are some notable scenes which Pierre did very well that sets 建海 apart from the rest. One of the memorable ones is of him signing the separation agreement on the hospital bed. Really hurts.

Darren wasn't very prominent until the last 5 ep and especially the part he cried in Mother's arms.



Apple Hong was outstanding in her role as the sister-in-law in 佳珍's family side. Best Supporting Actress nominee? Oh Belinda as well, for behaving so much like a spinster in her role as 宝珠's sister-in-law!

Of cos there's still the powerful Mother, 德明 (Apple's fostered kid), etc etc. Thanks to 奶奶 and 佳珍's dad for bringing the laughters. And also the choreographers for the nice clip of 建业秋桦 drowning their sorrows with liquor.

Giving it 90 points with 10 points deducted for crappy/predictable story development.