Monday, February 08, 2016

Overview - Short End of the Stick



A regime change has brought the imperial era to an end. Three recently unemployed eunuchs - Wayne Lai, Power Chan and Raymond Cho - become commoners and must rely on themselves for survival. Unfortunately, they encounter a con-artist posing as a eunuch (Edwin Siu). The three of them end up being sold into the Kam family as servants. Nancy Wu is the head of the household and runs the family's rice business, which appears glamorous on the outside, but is actually full of problems internally. The family's eldest daughter, Rosina Lam, who likes to dress as a male, is always getting into trouble. The village is suddenly plagued by a curse and Nancy is pressured to find a husband to counter the bad luck. Through a series of accidents, Wayne becomes the family's new son-in-law, which shocks the four eunuchs. A rivalling family sends a spy (Natalie Tong) into the Kam family to spread rumours. She becomes entangled with the uncle (John Chiang) and Edwin. With the family on verge of falling apart, Wayne stands up for his wife, but cannot reveal his true identity. Nancy employs soft and hard tactics to pressure Wayne to produce a heir. Wayne and his buddies tries to turn things around, but instead makes the situation more chaotic and dangers spring up everywhere...


4 comments:

  1. Is this a good series?

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  2. Hey miriamfanz,

    What do you think of this series so far?  I watched the first few episodes, but unfortunately still can’t get into the series despite the great cast.  Not sure if it’s because TVB went too far off the deep end with all the crappy series they aired last year so now when they try to ‘salvage’ things, it’s too little too late -- or perhaps because I got too used to watching HKTV’s ‘quality’ series this past year so TVB’s series feel very odd now.  Maybe it’s a combination of both.  Either way, I don’t get the ‘chasing series’ feeling from TVB series anymore (actually, I haven’t gotten that feeling from their series in a long time) – if I miss an episode, then I miss an episode…I don’t bother going back to re-watch (and sometimes I stop watching altogether after I’ve missed one episode).  Bringing back veteran actors doesn’t seem to help either, as there were a few series last year where they brought back veteran actors I actually liked to star in the series, but I still couldn’t get into it.  With this series, I like John Chiang well enough and even watched and enjoyed all of his HKTV series, but can’t say the same about this one despite his acting being up to his usual standards – oh and I love Power, Wayne, and Raymond (can't stand Edwin though) and of course, their acting is up to par, but even they can’t motivate me to watch.

    I’m going to wait and see what happens this year, as there IS one TVB series that I’m actually looking forward to (the one with Uncle Chi) – but if that one ends up disappointing too and I can’t find a single watchable TVB series this year (which would be a first, since I’m usually able to find at least one or two ‘watchable’ series each year), then maybe that’s a sign that I should stop holding on to my sentimentality toward them and actually ‘give up’ as I’ve been saying I would for the past couple years (but just haven’t had the heart to do – after all, 30+ years ‘following’ TVB is no short amount of time)….

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    1. I watched 1.5 episodes. The series didn't seem to be any more than the typical TVB comedy. They're fun to watch (sometimes), but they never go anywhere. Add in the fact that I can barely find time to watch dramas anymore, I'd like to watch a drama that is actually worthwhile. I'll say there hasn't been a drama like that for a long time. The last full drama I watched was The Fixer (which was a disappointment). The last drama that was even remotely worth my time might be Eye in the Sky from a whole year ago (although I heard Lord of Shanghai is pretty good. Need to watch that when I have time.)

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  3. Singaporean in the eastApril 28, 2016 9:24 am

    Same for me. I do not have the chasing series on TVB dramas for many years as it getting boring and unable to find a watchable TVB drama. But for a very long time,I finally able to watch a hk drama. This drama click in all the right places for me..the refreshing plot and likeable characters. It was addicting for me. But only up to ep 29 when you feel the drama is losing it shine and getting boring.

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