"Slow Boat Home" Theme Song

The theme song for Slow Boat Home is "Still Want" (還想), sung by Kay Tse.




The sub--theme song is by "Both Sides Now" by Cilla Kung.





Historical Context posts for Slow Boat Home:
Cheung Po Tsai
Cheung Chau Bun Festival 

Other Related:
Slow Boat Home - Overview
Official Poster for Slow Boat Home
Slow Boat Home Promo Clips

Bullet Brain Review

Producer: Lee Tim Sing

Genre: Science-fiction

Cast: Wayne Lai, Pierre Ngo, Sire Ma, Natalie Tong, Edwin Siu

Plot: A brilliant detective goes head-to-head against criminals and outsmarts them at every turn to keep Hong Kong safe. But I must have accidentally flipped the channel to another series about schizophrenia, stupidity and the supernatural.

Review:

The problem with this series is not with storytelling. Some viewers may have found it confusing that the backstory is given in separate parts, but it is actually quite straightforward. We know the brilliant Detective Columbo used to be very dumb but nice. Something happened to make him smart yet arrogant, but that something isn’t revealed right away. Simple.

No, the problem is with the story itself. First, this "detective" series isn't about solving cases, but Lee Tim Sing already warned about that before its release. What I had expected was a battle of wits between Wayne and Pierre since that was how the series was advertised. The battle of the wits never happened. Actually, if you really think about it, Wayne with IQ of 283 was outsmarted by Pierre with IQ of 203 most times, but he got lucky. Still, we got a weird lighting fighting scene, if that helps. 

What this series turns out to be is Wayne and Pierre taking turns vowing to help the other find their “conscious” back. Why is this so important anyways? The idea might sense for Pierre’s character since he was clearly evil. But for Wayne... sure, he was one arrogant bastard, but he was not evil. Aside from the bank manager case, nothing else he did was immoral, so I don’t understood Pierre’s desperateness to “save” Columbo by changing him back to the stupid Dai Hei.

Further adding to the problem with this series is the heavy focus on Sire Ma. She is, by far, the most annoying, immature, dumb madam EVER!! “9527, this is an order!” *teary-eyes* “Bo Bo!” Goodness, can someone explain to me how she could have been an elite graduate from Scotland Yard? And someone please tell Tim Gor that this diary thing is an absolute drag (recall Fala Chen in No Regrets?)

There are three versions of Wayne Lai in Bullet Brain and he performed well in two of them. As Columbo, he was absolutely despicable and displayed so much arrogance. You want to wipe that smug look from his face, which is exactly what Columbo is – the most hated man at the police station. As Dai Hei, he was a shy and innocent man. He shows the character’s insecurity as he tries to hold onto everyone’s hand. Wayne is able to draw a clear distinction between the two characters so that the continuous flashbacks are not confusing. Where he goes downhill is when he regained his memory and intelligence in the second half of the series. As Dai Hei x Columbo, all he did was look constantly worried or grieving.

Pierre Ngo did well until his character became smart and evil. After that, he was overly exaggerative in a bad way. While Wayne’s exaggerative gestures was to show Columbo’s arrogance, Pierre just came off as crazy. His hair and his laugh were plain weird.

Sire Ma… No words can describe my frustration with her. No doubt that her annoying character makes it easy to hate on her, but her acting definitely contributes to the annoyingness. A lot of times, she just stands there as stiff as a stick. Her emotional scenes need work and her pronunciation could see improvement.

Edwin Siu was the stereotypical good guy. There’s nothing special about him, except I would have loved it if he could slap some sense into Sire. Actually I thought he would have ended up with her, but instead Sire gets to be with her “Bo Bo”, which makes no sense whatsoever.

Natalie Tong was the shining star in Bullet Brain. She was very, very convincing as a deranged lady and she can easily make the switch to “normal” 40-year old in front of others. The last scene before her death was so touching that I actually got teary-eyed. She was even better than Wayne in that scene. Playing the daughter role, her best scene was when she sat with a slightly satisfied smile after pushing Pierre out of the car. This is definitely a breakthrough for Natalie; a pity she was cast aside in favour of Sire.

Conclusion: Stick to normal crime-fighting next time.

Rating: 1/5

Overview - A Change of Heart

Business mogul Michael Miu does not hesitate to use ruthless tactics when pursuing his money-making ideas. Unfortunately, he suffers from a serious heart disease and can only survive with a heart transplant. Coincidentally, his doctor, Bosco Wong, dies in an accident and has a suitable heart for Michael. After the surgery, Michael has a huge personality change, becoming friendly and casual, just like how Bosco used to be. His resemblance to Bosco leaves his wife (Joey Meng) and Bosco's fiance (Niki Chow) in a confused state. The relationship between the three people begin to change.

Bosco's twin brother (also played by Bosco) returns to Hong Kong and meets the people that had been in his brother's life. He finds that he is developing feelings for Niki, but also gets involved with "PR lady" Mandy Wong. Meanwhile, Michael invites Bosco to work in his company. With Michael's backing, Bosco quickly rises through the corporate ranks. Bosco see Michael as a mentor and treats him like a family member, until he discovers his brother's death wasn't an accident...


Watch Promo Clips here






Character Map:

Historical Context - The Peony Pavilion

Moses Chan and Eddie Kwan perform The Peony Pavilion.

The Peony Pavilion (牡丹亭) is a famous Chinese opera play. It is part of the Four Dreams collection by playwright Tang Xianzu (湯顯祖).

The story takes place during the late Song Dynasty. Du Liniang (杜麗娘) is the daughter of a government official. One day, she falls asleep in the garden. In her dreams, she meets a scholar named Liu Mengmei (柳夢梅) and becomes madly in love with him. When she awakens, she is so consumed by love-sickness that she eventually falls ill and dies. Before she dies, she requests to be buried in the garden and also hides a self-portrait there.

Three years later, the scholar Liu stops for a rest in the garden while on his way to write the imperial exam. There, he discovers the portrait of Du. The couple reunite in his dreams and Du asks him to dig up her coffin. To his surprise, she is brought back to life when he opens the coffin. The joyous couple get married and then travel to the capital city where Liu writes the imperial exam.

Just at this time, war breaks out. Worried about her father, Du sends Liu to look for him. When Liu reaches his father-in-law, he tells him about Du's resurrection, but his father-in-law doesn't believe him. Instead, Liu is jailed for robbing Du's grave.

In the end, Liu is saved when it was announced that he was the top scholar of the imperial exam. The Emperor gave his blessings to the couple for a happy ending.

The Peony Pavilion is the favourite play of Consort Yu (Sheren Tang) and Consort Dowager Shun in Beauty at War. The play exemplifies the pursuit of true love against all barriers, even the separation of life and death. The free romance between the main characters is something that the concubines in the palace can only dream about.