SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS
FUNNLING METRE
Travesty continues. After episode 19, whatever Sik Sik feels or does, it is just bad storytelling. And as predicted, she has second thoughts and asking the most insane question ever. Thanks to Chin Chun for putting it very succinctly to her.
Recap and a short one.
Sik Sik and Ruco still work closely together, except now she is in the arms of another guy who trusts his girl with his best bud. Ruco still tries hard to make her laugh and what does she do? She laughs as she whips him, jokingly. If being familiar with each other is new definition of romance, then she and Nic is doomed in the sense she never whips him. BUT she does tell Nic her deepest feelings so how ah? Who does she love ah?
Meanwhile Yee Kiu wants to end her contract because she feels she is not given promo priority and her manager basically says if she doesn't have a new good song she is done! So she goes drunk before Ruco and cries how she deserves his hate and the comeuppance for what she did to him with much regret blah blah blah. And guess what Ruco do? He quits his job which Char Gor pleadingly pleads with him to reconsider until Sik Sik sees his eye wink thing and explained who he really is much to everyone's ooohhhs and ahhhhs and wows. So Ruco goes back to music business. But he isn't happy because he has got no inspiration. His mom sees him not happy at all and wishes he doesn't go back to music world or even do Yee Kiu's bidding but Ruco says he and Yee Kiu are just friends and he is doing this because he wants to compose again.
Meanwhile Sik Sik discovers a few things. She discovers prior to leaving Ruco saw Char Gor and explained that if Sik Sik is ever blamed for anything, Char Gor must not believe those rumours because Sik Sik is a capable staff and she is like mother hen protecting her fellow colleagues so she will take all blame. Sik Sik is very touched by this revelation. She also discovers Ruco has a similar green shoe (prior to him leaving but Ruco explains he bought that for a friend and everyone guessed Yee Kiu). She finds that she misses him, sees durian and coconuts she remembers him, remembers the accidental kiss and did see him one time far away, in a car with Yee Kiu and decides to turn away, regretfully. Basically she misses him.
Anyway Sik Sik is walking and bumps into Ruco's mom and Ruco's mom introduced herself and they ended up chatting. Sik Sik asks if Ruco is ok and how's he doing and Ruco's mom sadly says that he is not doing well, hardly smiled. That he was so stylish and handsome sitting in front of the keyboard, now he is sulky and unsmiling and unhappy. Sik Sik asks isn't he with Yee Kiu and Ruco's mom laughs at that quite cynically and says they're not together and thank god for that and Sik Sik says Yee Kiu is nice, she encouraged Ruco to return to music world so she is nice and his mom says she has ulterior motive and moreover Yee Kiu hurt Ruco a lot in the past and stupidly Sik Sik says they parted ways due to some argument, didn't they but his mom explains the whole sordid tale and Sik Sik finally knew why Ruco didn't want to go back to music world and says in a quiet voice that she helped Yee Kiu in persuading Ruco back to the music world.
Pause.
Sik Sik, puh-lease don't give yourself too much credit. He returned due to Yee Kiu and his pity for her and also not to waste his or her talent. Not because of you. You did nothing except to sulk and emotionally blackmail and then shutting him out of your friends zone. And don't say he left to avoid her unless the script was changed after it was filmed.
Continue.
Mom asks Sik Sik to have a chat with Ruco sometimes because she feels Ruco was happiest when with the agency and someone there made him really happy. Sik Sik kinda knew who she was talking about. And mom notices her shoe and remarks that Ruco has the same pair but sitting in the room for a very long time.
Sik Sik is curious. She chats with Chin Chun, she keeps asking why why why about Ruco, why he bought the shoe lar, etc and yet not own up to it. Chin Chun couldn't stand it and blasts her as he says "Does it matter? Doesn't mean he is in love with you! Because you were both in Malaysia so long he didn't say a thing. Ok, so what if he is in love with you? So then what? Will you leave Nic for him?" and Sik Sik says noooooo and Chin Chun continues "There! You said it! Don't confront him. What if he says he doesn't love you? You will be put on the spot and be embarrassed, And if he is? He is Nic's best friend! What will he do then? Forget about it Sik Sik!" and so she shuts up.
GOOD CHIN CHUN!! You said it so well!!
Before that after meeting the mom or is it after Chin Chun, either one, she buys 2 coconuts and waits
Meanwhile Ruco has a terrible time writing the music and Yee Kiu doesn't appreciate his slowness and pressures him to do it quite and he glumly says no worries. When he does give her the song, she hates it. She scolds Ruco, accuses him of deliberately writing a subpar song for her as revenge so that her career will be ruined! Ruco is hurt by the accusations and explains 3 years ago he had a car accident and since then he can't even play the piano or write music. Now he thought he could give it a try, perhaps find that composer in himself again but realises he has lost his musical mojo. So he can't help her and sadly he leaves and only then Yee Kiu realises how much she has hurt him, 3 years ago and now. B-I-T-C-H. But at least an honest one.
School reunion or something and suddenly Wong Kei Ying is remembered, she appeared looking lovely and doesn't go new Sik Sik and Chin Chun where Chin Chun criticises Kei Ying, saying at least she dares not approach them.
Pause.
If Sik Sik can forgive Nic, why can't she accept Kei Ying, again? Why the double standard?
Continue.
Kei Ying gets insulted by a creepy old school mate who says she is easy and sleeps with best friend's fiance so why won't she go easy on him?
Pause.
Pause.
Nic is handsome, tall, rich and somewhat nice. Even sluts have standards you know?
Continue.
Kei Ying is disturbed as the guy sexually harasses her and Sik Sik and Chin Chun to the rescue and each kicked and slapped him and they left the venue as friends. Kei Ying stops and apologises to Sik Sik with much regret and Sik Sik forgives her and that's when Kei Ying knows Sik Sik is back with Nic.
Meanwhile Sik Sik sees Nic with another girl and realises she can't trust him but it turns out the girl is asking for direction and Nic did not lie to her so she breaths easier. She sees her sis checking on Jun Weng and even installed a tracking app in his phone and Sik Sik realises she worries what Nic is doing. Chin Chun says probably meeting or ran out of battery or something. Anyway she helps Chin Chun to deliver cake to a customer, is walking when she sees Nic who canceled their lunch or something with Kei Ying in a flower shop chatting closely. She is alarmed and calls Kei Ying and Kei Ying lies she is in a meeting and as she puts down her phone, unfortunately Nic and Kei Ying also laughs and in Sik Sik's mind, quite sinister way whilst in my mind she is probably helping Nic to choose flowers for Nic to propose to Sik Sik again. But Sik Sik no longer trusts Nic.
And my guess is next episode she will reject his proposal and gives a teary explanation how she no longer trusts him and so shall leave him. But the question is does she still love him?
Sigh... what a total dud. Everything is just excuses. If she leaves Nic this way, it just shows she doesn't have it in her heart to truly forgive, unlike Ruco who forgives Yee Kiu and even helps her out. She should learn from Ruco; if wanna forgive, do it 100%, if wanna reconcile, do it with a trusting heart. Nic really changed I think and if so with Sik Sik leaving him just shows Sik Sik in a poor light. I'd rather he gives her away as his last act of gallantry to her and to his best friend, Ruco.
As for her forgiving Wong Kei Ying, well it does happen in real life. No comment.
No comment on performances except on 4 actors;
Ruco Chan rules. So handsome.
Tony Hung is doing fine as an actor. He can act and I like how he casually scolded Aimee's Sik Sik. Very natural body language even if I don't quite like Chin Chun, eventhough he has given up on Sik Sik.
Matt Yeung is like reciting his line, without emotion, passion or even life in him. Is he the walking undead in the undead romance series?
Aimee Chan.. I have 3 people telling me on separate occasions on;
1. how fake is her happy big laugh like she was forcing herself to go ha ha ha when Sik Sik is supposed to be naturally boisterous and laughing loud and nothing pretentious but to these 3 people, she was pretentious in her laughter. My explanation is she has no middle path to her acting; either too happy or too glum. Sik Sik is clearly not her role. I stand by my opinion; she is a total miscast as Sik Sik.
2. she has zero chemistry with Ruco Chan. Zero may be a bit too much but I do find that individually each gave their all in scenes together; Ruco was really in top form as playful Luk Kung Tzi except in this episode he was a bit forced because we know Luk Kung Tzi's heart is hurting so whatever he did to make Sik Sik laughed was his way of shutting up his sadness. Aimee also tried very hard but I feel she was never fully relaxed with Ruco in some ways eventhough this would be her most energetic performance except she was not natural in every way and more importantly, it is true there is no chemistry between she and Ruco Chan during the most important moments like kiss, lingering looks etc.
3. her bad acting. This I am not so sure. She is a competent actress but Sik Sik isn't her.
My friend even lamented how Ruco never had a good lady costar that fits him well. In some ways this is true. Or maybe he is just not like Bobby Au Yeung who fits every lady actress thrown in his way.
The fact remains, this series is going nowhere except the inevitable end. The journey is insipid and uninspired. For a romantic feel good series, I have said before, it is undead roundabout non-romance non-feel good series. It just throws in every classic supposed romance settings but never quite even got the 2 characters close to lingering looks at one another. They were flirtatious colleagues. The fact that neither Nic or even Yee Kiu is a villain, especially Nic made the whole romance impossible. And the fact that neither Nic knew about Sik Sik's sadness or Sik Sik about Nic's turmoil made me wonder how these 2 can even get together in the end. Because Ruco already loves Sik Sik for reasons I never quite understand and Sik Sik will return that love because of what he did for her rather than what she felt about him. I said this a few episodes before. There is nothing deep in their attraction to one another and I feel Nic knows Sik Sik more than Ruco and Sik Sik knows so little about Ruco except assumptions, presumptions and what others tell her. They never had this deep connection except both were hurt before and even that hurt never quite manifested as a talking point between them. If only in Episode 19 whatever Sik Sik said and cried and all was to Ruco and not to Nic, I will see that emotional connection. Because of the lack of it, their togetherness to me is so fleeting and not deep enough.
Outbound Love fails in every respect in terms of two people meeting, falling in love, torn apart and got together. At each stage nothing much happened and whatever happened will not incite that gleeful joy in me that goes YES! YES! YEAHHH!! when they do get together. In fact I think she is better off with Nic and Luk Kung Tzi better off with ... me perhaps, just not Sik Sik.
2 more episodes, tomorrow back to back, will it move earth or will it not even move dirt? We shall see!
Ruco... you have been cheated of a good story. What a waste of a handsome talent. If anyone tells me Aimee and Ruco is such a fine pair in this series which is so romantic,clearly you do not know a good romance series. This is an example of a failed one. 20 episodes and still nothing in sight. I am waiting for Sik Sik to do something for Ruco but so far she had done nothing.
I actually had the feeling of Nic and Kei Ying wanted to give a surprise to Aimee, but Aimee thought Nic and Kei Ying were back together. And based on what you predicted in the end, I think there will be a combination of the two: Aimee breaks up with Nic tearfully, saying that Nic isn't her guy, and at the same time, finds out that Ruco is the "White Prince" to her dreams.
ReplyDeleteAnd Nic gives his blessing to Sik Sik and Ruco. Urghhhh
DeleteSo cliche right? Man, the ending will be crap. I actually didn't mind if the relationship between Sik Sik and Ruco started in episode 10 haha. They could be as lovey-dovey as they want, since it's a romantic love story right?
DeleteOh my, just read a huge spoiler from the official website. Seems like you predicted correctly..
DeleteI've really enjoyed your last few recaps. I agree that at this point, this love story is playing out like pulling teeth - long, drawn-out and painful to the viewers.
ReplyDeleteThis is really a poor romantic story. There is a strong hero we're all rooting for, but a heroine is nowhere in sight. Hopefully that will be fixed by the time the series is over - Sik-Sik will realize she loves Ruco and Ruco only and would be willing to fight for him, protect him, love him, etc.
But for now, we see a Sik-Sik who is not a lovable heroine but only a young woman demonstrating human frailty. Despite all her strength in loving her family, friends, and even co-workers, she is utterly weak when it comes to loving herself. She neither understands herself nor loves herself enough to let go of Nic. Perhaps this is because she never experienced unconditional love as a child. So she falls back into the arms of Nic, a man who offers her protection, an emotional safe haven, and seemingly unconditional love, everything she lacked as a child. It was the easy thing to do.
If Sik-Sik was a little stronger, or understood herself a little more, she would have realized that she is a romantic at heart and because of that there is no way she and Nic could ever be together again because he betrayed her and the trust is gone. Even if that trust can be re-built, it would need a lot of time and space, with both parties acknowledging the issue and working towards rebuilding that trust.
I do feel sorry for Sik-Sik and I don't blame her for going back to Nic. But in doing so, she fails at being a heroine and her weak character makes for a poor romantic story.
"And my guess is next episode she will reject his proposal and gives a teary explanation how she no longer trusts him and so shall leave him. But the question is does she still love him?"
I agree. I hope I don't see Sik-Sik falling into the arms of Ruco only because she cannot trust Nic and Ruco is there waiting for her. A better storyline would be for Sik-Sik to be strong and realize that she is truly in love with Ruco despite Nic and everything he's doing for her. But that would involve developing the romantic connection/relationship with Ruco, which this series somehow refuses to do.
What a frustrating series. This is my first time watching a HK romantic drama and I have to say, it's not what I had expected. The only thing that keeps me watching is Ruco, both as himself (gorgeous and stellar acting) and as Luk Kung Tzi, who I want to have the happy ending, even though the princess doesn't deserve her prince.
"Perhaps this is because she never experienced unconditional love as a child. "
DeleteAnd Ruco represents the unconditional love but I will say she doesn't deserve those unconditional love. I wish this series is cliche in the sense she does things for him, even make him some bento box or something. But I failed to see her lifting a finger for Ruco. It is too one sided and she being so weak willed made her undeserving of my support. I do understand why she went back to Nic; she already seen him as her lucky star, loves him and so how can any girl not go back to the guy who mended her relationship with dad. But that is the problem with this series; it is an unjust excuse, at least to Ruco who did as much or even if lesser, it is not how much he did. It is what she feels. I wished ep 20 is the last episode and what I wanted to happen in ep 19 happened.
You will get your happy ending but for me this is almost like Brother's Keeper and the problem with Rachel; the hero worshipping thing, but for Sik Sik it is to a lesser degree. She is looking for a literal white knight but sometimes love isn't supposed to be that literal.
I think this series would be much better if you only watched 5 or so episodes:
ReplyDelete1. The episode where Ruco saved Sik Sik.
2. The episode where Ruco and Sik Sik started working together in Penang.
3. The first kiss episode.
4. Episode 19.
5. The finale.
-Tsul Kalu. (I couldn't wait until it appears on the other site to complain. LOL)
Or episode 20 instead of 19. At least in episode 20, Ruco's mom told Sik Sik about what happened to him and we can assume ourselves that they developed a deep emotional connection that way.
Delete-Tsul Kalu