{tvb} Silver Spoon, Sterling Shackles Final Thoughts

The title Silver Spoon, Sterling Shackles means that although the wealthy has resources and opportunities, there are still restraints in place that prevent them from doing what they want. After watching the whole series, I think that this title is more apt than Prominent Family as it correctly describes the cast of characters. 

Well, there's too many characters to write about and I forgot some of the points I had to say, so I'll just write  down a few sentences for each of the characters.

Chung Family 

Chung Cheuk Man is a jerk, but I still felt sorry for him in the end. Damian portrayed him very well, and the scene when Sum Lan died was heart breaking. 

I have to admit, I didn't like Sum Lan in the beginning because she was mean to Chi Kwan, but her character probably suffered the most. She had to watch her husband marry three other women, her daughter in law slept with another man, and the family was almost broken. Although she was paralyzed for the few remaining episodes, Mary Hon did a wonderful job.

Yee Yin finally got her freedom, but she didn't appear in the last few episodes, so it was like she was forgotten. I liked Idy's portrayal, much better than when she was in Catch Me Now.

Elena did a great job with Yee Fong, especially during the trial scene. It's sort of weird how some man would court her so soon after she divorced Cheuk Man, though. 

Chi Kwan was a strong, independent character, but she was too in love with Cheuk Man. I would have liked it if she didn't agree to marry Cheuk Man again, but people have their flaws. Also, it may be my bias, but I think Tavia is the only current fa dan able to play this role. 

It's unbelievable what a good guy Kai Sun is. Kenneth gets another good guy role again, but he's good at it. I just wish Kai Sun would man up and beat up Mok Shui a few times. 

In the beginning, I actually thought Kai Yip was a gentleman, especially how he treated Choi Yuet at first. Of course, his character has his flaws, but I felt sorry for him the whole time. The scene where he poured out his heart and then ran away from Damian was heart breaking. 

Ho Yee didn't suffer much in comparison to the rest of her family and there wasn't that much of a focus on her. She's a cute character, though.

For the second half of the series, I forgot that Yee Fong's children existed. I bet the rest of the family did, too.

Others

I thought I would love Siu Yau forever, but her character took a change for the worst. It was a weird transition for her to cheat on Kai Sun, but I guess the scriptwriter wanted to move the plot along...Rebecca did well for her first role, though, and I anticipate her next series. 

Let's just say that I was not glad that Muk Shui lived in the end. 

I liked Adrian Chau as Tat Chi. It was sort of unrealistic how unwilling he was to change for Ho Yee, but their relationship was sweet anyways. 

Ben did a great job with Chai Yat Fai as always. It was unexpected of Yat Fai and Yee Yin not to end up together though. 

It seems Siu Yu was forgotten at the end, too. Bella Lam is really cute haha. 

{tvb} SSSS Ep 10-28 & The Confidant Ep 1-19 Thoughts

Silver Spoon, Sterling Shackles

The series is enjoyable, albeit a little draggy. The main storyline that concerns Arthur Chung Cheuk Man (Damian Lau) and the building project is uninteresting to me. Although he is smart and calculating, I do not like how he deceives Chi Kwan (Tavia Yeung) and his son, Kai Sun (Kenneth Ma) into thinking that he's doing it to help the mui jai (slave girls) when in fact it is just to benefit himself. Granted, that doesn't make him a bad person, but it's sad when Chi Kwan thinks that he is doing it to help her. I also dislike that Master Fok (Sek Sau) blames Lester's (Stefan Wong) death on the Chung family. I imagine some more drama will be coming from his conflicts with Cheuk Man. 

A storyline I prefer to the business one is the one concerning Yee Yin (Idy Chan), Cheuk Man, Chai Yat Fai (Ben Wong), and in a way, Chi Kwan as well. It is surprising how wishy washy Yee Yin is to regarding her love life. She tells Cheuk Man that she does not love Chai Yat Fai anymore, but later when she hears he got beat up, she is willing to drop everything to go visit him. I don't think that she is truly in love with either of them. It feels more like she feels guilt towards the both of them. Anyways, I'm glad that Yee Yin and Chi Kwan are good friends. Chi Kwan learns more about Cheuk Man while observing the conflicts, and Yee Yin has someone to help her during her hard times. 

I also enjoy watching Siu Yau (Rebecca Zhu) and Kai Sun together. So far, Siu Yau is such a sweet character, and Kai Sun is also such a good man and loving husband. Muk Shui (Ron Ng) comes back and just has to ruin everything, though. After he comes out of his coma, it's so obvious that he is faking losing his memory. I've got to hand it to Ron, though, because he shows elements of Muk Shui onscreen when nobody is looking, and so only viewers could tell that Muk Shui is only pretending to be mentally challenged. Although I greatly dislike his character, I'm looking forward to how this storyline plays out. 

And last but not least, I just have to say that I love Ho Yee (Sire Ma) and Tat Chi (Adrian Chau) together. 

The Confidant

I am loving this series right now, after spending a few days to watch from the beginning to episode 19. I really loved the beginning, especially the Jing Ren palace and how Lady Yuen (Selena Li) and the eunuchs and maids interacted with each other. The beginning really made me dislike Empress Dowager Chee Hei (Michelle Yim), but as the episodes passed, I've come to like her. I just don't enjoy the politics scenes or the ones with Empress Dowager Chee On (Maggie Siu), though. The eunuch group of Li Lin Ying (Wayne Lai), On Tak Hoi (Raymond Cho), Sheung Hei (Raymond Wong), Pang Sam Shun (Power Chan), and Tin Sau (Edwin Siu) is especially cute to watch. I didn't like Pang Sam Shun in the beginning, especially when he bullied Sheung Hei and Lin Ying, but he wasn't a bad person. I could tell that he changed after he caused Sin Yung (Nancy Wu) to miscarry. 

I don't particularly care for the Emperor (Oscar Leung) or his empress troubles, even though I am glad that Oscar is finally getting screentime. I actually liked the kid emperor story with how Lin Ying helps him know about the Empress Dowager Chee Hei's love for him. I don't like the Princess (Aimee Chan) either. Hopefully, there are more scenes of the eunuch group before it gets all broken up. 

{tvb} Silver Spoon Sterling Shackles Initial Thoughts

I made a new header, featuring Chi Kwan (Tavia Yeung) and Kai Sun (Kenneth Ma)! I know they aren't a couple, but their scenes together in the ten episodes that I've watched are telling me otherwise. I am not shipping them together, though, because I like the Siu Yau (Rebecca Zhu) and Kai Sun coupling a lot. Although I would have loved it if Fala was the one to portray Siu Yau (because of the Ronla pairing and having scenes with Tavia), I think Rebecca is really cute. She's not a bad actress, and there's just something about her that I like. Normally I would not like the typical good girl characters like Siu Yau, but I can't help but like her. 

Chan Cheuk Man (Damian Lau) is a very interesting man. He's clever and things always go his way. I wonder why he is so much in love with Yee Yin (Idy Chan) when he knows that she still loved her ex. So far, I don't think he loves Chi Kwan, so it'll be interesting to see when he finally falls for her. I was afraid that the episodes will be too draggy, but at the pace that I'm watching it doesn't seem as bad. However, when it focuses on one storyline, I'll be aching to see what happens in the other one. I think my favorite scene is in episode 10, where Kai Sun is teaching the children English. Kam Muk Shui (Ron Ng) fell asleep, and then he bumps into a little boy and makes him cry. The other kids call him a bully, then they test him to see if he was paying attention to the lessons. It was funny when the kid yelled "Kam Muk Shui is a dog!" LOL. I wish Ron played a better role, but I still like him nonetheless. Hopefully the series stay interesting for the whole 40(!) episodes.