Best Bet


Reviewed by: michx

May 19, 2007

Rating: four-point-five

How Long:
20 episodes (DVD) - Cantonese

Foreword:
This story mainly revolves around the main cast and gambling. It gives you a good insight of the different ways to gamble. This series is definitely a comedy although it has scenes that are quite sad. This series is fast-paced so viewers will not feel that it is too long or there are scenes that are unnecessary.

I have just finished this series and it is still fresh in my mind, thus I apologise for the long summary below.

Main Cast:
Michael Tse as Hor Yi (Cantonese) / He Yi (Chinese)
Yi is the young master of a rich family. He loved gambling since young and it is must for him to gamble every single day. Years have passed and Yi does not do anything else other than gambling.



Linda Chung as Do Lai Ying (Cantonese) / Du Li Ying (Chinese) Ying is a nurse, she works in a charity organisation and is hoping to further her studies in medicine. She hates gambling as her father was a gambler and had indirectly caused the death of her mother.


Wayne Lai as Tsang Dak Seng (Cantonese) / Zeng De Sheng (Chinese) Seng is the young master of the gambling den that Yi frequently visits. Seng and Yi used to be the best of friends when they were younger but because of some twist of events, they became enemies.



Anne Heung as Kwong Ma Lei (Cantonese) / Jiang Ma Li (Chinese) Lei used to be from a rich family in Shanghai and a cousin of Yi. She came to Foshan to seek refuge from Yi after her family ran into some problems, but she never told anyone her family is in trouble.

Plot: (Spoilers!)
In the beginning of the story, Yi (Michael Tse) had gambled for 3 days and 3 nights, he was so tired that he fainted on the streets. He was saved by the kind-hearted Ying (Linda Chung) and fell in love with her at first sight. Yi finds out that Ying works in a charity organization and have done many things to get into her good books. At first, Ying had a good impression of Yi but when she found out that Yi is an avid gambler she immediately broke off her friendship with him.

Yi does not give up courting Ying and he even hopes to be the director of the charity organization she is working in, in order to be closer to her. Things get complicated when Seng (Wayne Lai) wants to take over the charity organisation and rebuilt it as his new gambling den. Yi and Seng settle this problem by gambling, of course Yi wins and he becomes the new director of the charity organisation, but Ying still hates Yi as he uses gambling to settle the problem.

Lei (Anne Heung) just arrive in Foshan and because her servant had got the wrong address to Yi's house, she asked directions from Seng, not knowing that Seng and Yi are arch enemies. Seng wanted revenge on Yi so he tricked Lei into walking through a small lane causing her to be molested. Lei and Seng became enemies ever since then.

Gambling has caused many family problems in Foshan so Ying has organised an “Anti-Gambling” rally. Ying's rally was so effective that the local government has supported her idea and gave a law that there should be no gambling in public areas. Actually the local government laid down this rule so that Seng would pay him so that Seng can reopen his gambling den.

Ying was infuriated when Seng's gambling den reopened and quarreled with Yi. She even declared that she will never marry a man like Yi. Yi was very frustrated and hurt when he heard that. He gambled for days and nights, being exhausted and restless, he slipped and fell from the second level of the gambling den. Yi was in a coma and a high priest said that he can only wake up if he gets married.

Yi's parents immediately thought of Lei, but Lei is not sure if Yi will wake up or die, so she refused to marry Yi. Yi's parents quickly notice the whole Foshan and are willing to pay 500taels to the girl who will marry Yi. Ying has agreed to marry Yi as Ying's father got into trouble and needs money to save him. Although Ying is very angry with her father, she still loves him very much.

During the wedding, Seng bought an invitation and so happen to be sitting beside Lei. Seng fell in love with Lei soon after he sees her feet. After the wedding, Ying takes good care of Yi hoping that he would wake up soon. An accident caused Yi to be struck by lightning and he wakes up from the coma, but he sees himself as a 7 year old.

When Yi has recovered, Ying wanted him to divorce her so that she could further her studies in medicine. Yi wouldn't oblige and finally moved Ying when he promised that he would give up gambling if she is willing to stay by his side. Unfortunately, Yi succumbed to his addiction and gambled behind Ying's back.

Meanwhile Seng begins to court Lei and because Seng is rich, she decided to give Seng a chance since Yi is now with Ying. Lei wanted Seng to be a gentleman so she controlled Seng and even made him learn English. Seng also pretended to want to reconcile with Yi and hope they could become best friends again but Seng has another agenda in mind.

Over time Lei unknowingly developed feelings for Seng. They were about to be engaged when Lei's lies were uncovered. Seng was infuriated that Lei has lied to him that he slaps Lei. Yi's parents also chased Lei out of their home, and Lei's servant made things worse by running away with all her valuables.

Lei tried to kill herself but was saved by the owner of a prostitute house. She had no choice but to also become a prostitute. Seng still loves Lei and didn't want anyone else to touch her, Seng found someone to pretend that he had some weird disease and made everyone in Foshan think that she has it too. On the surface, Seng seems to be making thing difficult for Lei but he is actually taking care of her and protecting her.

Seng gambled with Yi all the time, Yi some how lost all his good luck and loses whenever he gambles. The more he loses the more he gambles. Ying found out the Yi was still gambling, she was very disappointed, she tried to stop Yi from gambling but Yi blamed her for his loses. Finally he lost all his money and even pawn Ying to Seng in order to gamble. Of course he loses and had no choice but to give up Ying.

Ying was so disillusioned that she gave up all hope and left with Seng to be his servant. Seng makes things difficult for Ying and even tries to rape her when he is drunk. Seng's younger brother does not want to see Ying being bullied because he has feelings for Ying, so he married her in order to protect her.

Yi finds ways to earn enough money to bring Ying home, and even cheats with Lei to win while gambling. Lei owns one of the loan sharks money and is unable to pay back in time, so the loan shark wanted to rape her. Seng sent one of his henchmen to save Lei and to treat her like his that the mistress. As Seng has spent the night with the drunk Lei and wanted his henchmen to take good care of her.

Ying still loves Yi but she hates him for thinking that gambling will solve all the problems. Yi was on a winning streak until Ying gambles with him. Yi loses to Ying and loses the only chance to bring Ying home. Yi tries to stop Ying from marrying Seng's brother but was caught by Seng's henchmen. They dragged him away from Seng's home to a cliff. During the tussle, Yi falls of the cliff into the river. Ying was devastated when she knew that Yi has fallen off a cliff.

Months passed, Lei is now a dealer of Seng's gambling den, Yi's parents are working in a pastry shop opened by Ying in order to earn money to search for Yi and Ying has not told Yi's parents that she is pregnant with Yi's child. Yi did not die when he fell off the cliff; he was saved by a monk and has come back to Foshan.

Yi pretends to not have learnt anything from his lessons and is still an avid gambler. He even helps Seng to get the rental fees from his parents in order to gain Seng's trust. When Ying told Yi that she is pregnant with his child, Yi did not want to have anything to do with child. Ying was disheartened but does not know that Yi is a changed man and has pretended to be hardhearted towards her in order to keep her safe.

Yi wanted to gain Seng's trust and get the evidence of Seng bribing the government, so that Seng's gambling den would fall and also to fulfill Ying's wish of “World without Gambling”. Yi was able to obtain evidence against Seng with Lei's help and Ying has found out the truth of what Yi has been doing all this time. Ying is very touched and is ecstatic that Yi has learnt from his lessons.

Twist of events, Lei found out that it was Seng who has protected her and taken care of her all along. Seng confessed that he still loves Lei very much and Lei also loves Seng.

After much struggling, Lei told Seng the truth about Yi and his motive for sticking to Seng. Seng was able to inform his henchmen in time and prevented Yi from notifying another government.

Yi and Ying were caught by Seng's henchmen furthermore Seng has found out Ying's child belong to Yi, not his brother. Seng wanted to send the both of them to another island or country and never let them come back to Foshan again. In the end, the evidence still got sent to the other government and Seng was caught.

Seng accused Yi of being the accomplice and there were no evidence to prove Yi's innocence. They were put into custody and Lei managed to visit Seng. Seng is touched that Lei is still willing to see him. He decides to give Lei the box of gold buried in the backyard of his home and asks her to leave Foshan. But Lei has some other use for the gold.

Lei uses the gold to get Ying and her to see Yi and Seng respectively for the last time, but the prison warden mixed them up, Ying ended up with Seng and Lei with Yi. Ying gave birth in the prison, Seng seeing how innocent the baby is, wakes up from his mistakes and tells the truth. Yi is not the accomplice but there is no evidence that Yi is innocent, so the both have them have to be beheaded. Yi is very thankful that Seng is willing to prove that he is innocent although it is not enough to save him. They became best friends again and Seng became the godfather of Yi's child.

The last reunion of Seng and Yi with their loved ones was the few minutes before they were executed. Just before they were being executed, news of Qing dynasty being overturned by revolutionist came. Yi and Seng did not have to die since the law they have broken belongs to the Qing dynasty which was over.

A year has passed; Seng and Lei are happily married. Zeng and Hor family have made up and are not fighting with each other anymore. Yi's son is a year old and Lei just found out that she is pregnant.

My thoughts:
At first I thought this series was going to be boring because it sounded a little concentrated on Ying and Yi, but nevertheless I rented this series, and wounded up loving it. It is not all concentrated on Ying and Yi; it nicely ends in 20 episodes like all good TVB comedy. The theme song is sung by Linda and I have nothing but praise for it.

The sets and the actors' costumes are all very beautiful. Linda's and Anne's character (Ying and Lei) costumes have an Eastern and Western flair. From the first look, you will know that they are influenced by the English. Ying's costumes are usually white, brown and red, nothing too flamboyant. Lei's costumes are usually white, turquoise blue and sometimes purple. The main difference is the design of their costumes, Ying's costumes are simple and not attention seeking but Lei's costumes are the complete opposite.

Michael's and Wayne's character (Yi and Seng) costumes are the usual traditional Chinese costumes. Yi's costumes are mostly beiges and blues, while Seng's costumes are mostly a mixture of orange, green and maybe purple. Yi's costumes are similar to Ying's, simple and nothing too flashy while Seng's costumes are similar to Lei's.

The sets are not bad but there is one that I am quite disappointed in. The set outside of the Western Restaurant, it has a signboard that says “INTRENET” at the top of the set! What is something so modern doing there? TVB should have been more careful with their props. Nonetheless, the rest of the sets are good, that should be the only flaw.

I am pleased with the performance of the actors. Michael is convincing as Yi, the son of a rich family and a gambler, but I felt that he could have been better. Linda's performance is as good as usual; it's always a joy to watch Linda. Wayne is a natural comedian. His performance is the best among all of them. Anne's performance is also very excellent. She has improved and is very convincing as the money-loving Lei.

Overall I think this is one of the best TVB comedies, but maybe because I am being bias. I like all the main actors so I have nothing but praise for this series. Whatever it is, this series is definitely worth watching.


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