Crimson Sabre

Vietnamese Title: Tan Bich Tuyet Kiem
Cantonese Title: Bik Huet Gim

Crimson Sabre Cast:
Gordon Lam as Yuen Sing Chi
Kong Wah as Ha Suet Yee/Golden Snake Warrior
Charmaine Sheh - Ah Gau/Princess Cheung Ping
Sarah Au as Ha Ching Ching
Melissa Ng as Wan Yee/ Wan Sin
Emily Kwan as Ho Hung Yuet

Crimson Sabre starts out with the current leader of the 5 Poisonous Sect who decides to pass on the position as leader to her most trustworthy student, Ho Hung Yuet (Emily Kwan). However, there are some qualifications she must obtained to be leader, which are:
a. female
b. virgin
c. must decapitate one of her arms off to learn a special kung-fu

During the special ceremony, right when Emily's arm was about to be chopped off, Ha Suet Yee (Kong Wah) came and made a commotion so the ceremony was on hold. He came to get the precious items of the Sect which are the daggars, snake sword, and the other kung-fu book that he didn't yet possess. The old leader agrees to give him what he wants if he passes 3 of her tests. He passed the first test with ease. The second test was between him and Emily, and during the test, he kissed her underwater which made her fall in love with him. The third test, I believe, was when he had the chance of getting the valuables if he could come out safely with it. What happened was that the room was filled with poisonous snakes and he was bitten by one so he ran away. If he doesn't get cured quickly, he would die. Emily wouldn't let the new love of her life die like that, so she gave him the immunizations. But before she did, she made Kong Wah swear that she would be the only woman in his life, or else... He did this and was cured and together, they went to steal the flying daggars/book/golden snake sword. Before they were able to, both of them had to be naked and rub a special powder all over their body so that the snakes won't be alert of their presence. Well, to make it more interesting, a steamy scene between the 2 of them occurred, can you guess what? They grabbed the items and Kong Wah saw a map. Emily told him it was a map of a treasure, but none in the Sect ever figured out where it is hidden from the message on the map. He took it anyway and they left the temple. They were discovered so they had to fight their way out. Emily told him to meet her at their old place. Emily came there and waited patiently, but Kong Wah didn't come. Therefore, she went in search of the Golden Snake Warrior for years.

The reason Kong Wah wanted the special weapons was to improve his kung-fu for revenge. When he was little, about the age of 7 I think, his whole family was killed, leaving him alone. The murderers were the Wan's men. He remembered a kind-hearted general who passed by and made all his soldiers bury all of his dead family. He remembered this and vowed to helped the general when he grows up. He saw the general once again, but the general was being framed by a enunich in the kingdom so the 17th king killed him. Before General Yuen died, he asked Kong Wah to take care of his only blood relative left, his son, Yuen Sing Chi. Kong Wah helped Sing Chi learn some kung-fu and left him with a very respected Mo Dong leader where he would learn different kung-fu from both his new sifu and his sifu friend. Well Kong Wah went to seek revenge but at first, he was injured so he had to revive his strength. He was able to capture Wan Yee (Melissa Ng). During the time he was saving his strength, he grew to love Wan Yee. He decides to try and forget the past and accept the Wan's family as his. The Wan's men of course were suspicious, so they poisoned him on the day his daughter with Wan Yee, Ching Ching, was born for a full month. They cut parts of his inner body so he would lose all his kung-fu. Also, Wan Yee was locked up but she was able to get out and her father accidentally pushed her down a well. The other Wan's men came and threw sand in there so even if she didn't die yet, she would by the lack of oxygen and all the survival needs. Emily found Kong Wah, and even when she hated him for not obeying his promise, she saved him. The next day, the Wan family blamed the death of Wan Yee on Kong Wah. Wan Yee's little sister saw the whole event when her sister was killed, but was too scared to speak up, but only cowardly keep the seret to herself. On the other side, Yuen Sing Chi (Gordon Lam) finally grows up as an honest figure, who also is both strong and powerful. Later on, he met Au Gau (Charmaine Sheh) who was supposingly the daughter of one of the 14 kung-fu groups. She was actually the Ming's princess in disguise. She was on a mission with her sifu to stop General Lee Chi Seng from gaining enough strength to overthrow her father's kingdom. He had reunited 7 of the 14 groups as one and even made the 5 Poisonous Sect do good. Therefore, he was someone that the Ming must kill. Gordon Lam was of course on the opposite side with his sifu following orders from General Lee Chi Seng. But of course, he fell in love with Charmaine's beauty and mind. She too, loved him, and she had a chance to kill him, but couldn't.

The Love Triangles
Emily Kwan likes Kong Wah, but Kong Wah and Wan Yee loves each other with no suspicion. Even though Wan Yee is dead, he still loves her wholeheartedly. Wan Yee's little sister, Wan Sin, who had admired Kong Wah since she met him, loved him. He eventually likes her too, but Wan Yee will always be the most important woman in his heart.

Sarah Au fell in love with Gordon Lam early, but at first he loves Charmaine, as she too loves him, but because she's the princess, they couldn't be with each other. Gordon then begans to like Sarah Au as she matures, but I believe Charmaine is still important to him.

Well, oh duh her identity was revealed, but she still couldn't stop General Lee Chi Seng from overthrowing her father. Her father went mad and accidentally chopped one of her arms off and almost tried to kill her because of the stupid traditional respect thoughts. Gordon Lam came to the rescue though and Charmaine's sifu rescued the king from danger. The ex-king committed suicide on a tree at Mei Shan by hanging himself because he finally sees that the empire that his great great grandfathers had conquered centuries ago is gone. He, as the 17th dictator, ruined it all and the loyal servant followed. General Lee Chi Send becomes the new king but he was not the heroic figure anymore. He was entranced by the beauty of this mistress who was also a mistress of the general who was holding the Manchurians from attacking, but the king was still a horny bastard so his dynasty fell shortly. Kong Wah, Sarah Au, and Melissa Ng went back to the Wan's house.

Emily Kwan was there and threatened Kong Wah to marry her or she would kill Sarah Au and Melissa Ng. He decides to get married with her. After they got married, they kissed and what happened was Kong Wah put poison on his lips so she got poisoned and died. Melissa Ng kissed him, knowing she would get pisoned since she loved him dearly, but she didn't care. The 5 Poison Sects's leader (Fiona Yuen) had an idea to cure both of them and it worked eventually. The Hmong started the Qing Dynasty, which really helped the Han people better than the 2 previous kings. Charmaine disappeared and was later discovered that she is now a student of Gordon's sifu friend. She had shaved her head, so what do you think of her love life now? Gordon killed the evil taoist who obeyed the Hmong since he captured his student (Fiona), Ching Ching, and Charmaine. Kong Wah and Wan Yee decides to live at the Wan's old house now since the 5 Great grandfathers are dead too. Well the ending for the hero was that the Hmong king let Gordon Lam and Sarah Au go so they could live a peaceful life away on a private island together.

Best Actor:
I'm not dissing Gordon, but Kong Wah is just ALL THAT. He portrayed and fits his character much better than Gordon. Ha Suet Yee is a character that is handsome, fearful, ruthless, a loner, yet has a good heart. The way Kong Wah speaks every single word so clearly but also defines the meaning and how his eyes speak sorrow with a touch of fear. He's always been an A+ actor since he was at ATV when he was a major star.

Best Actress:
Read my LIPS - E-M-I-L-Y K-W-A-N... Why not Charmaine Sheh? Umnn... is that a rhetorical question? Alright, Charmaine did improve on her acting but was still not good enough. What about the new girl Sarah Au? Let's just put it this way, she beat Charmaine for the Worst Acting Award for this series. Now you're thinking that I forgot the innocent Melissa Ng correct? Well, no I didn't... I admit, Melissa's overall acting ability in all of her series proved that she is one of TVB's better ones. Though, here she indeed did met the standards, but her performance wasn't strong enough. Emily Kwan never sucked at acting if you really think about it, she just never really stood out because she's always on the supporting cast. In this serial, her character is a crazy maniac who deeply falls in love for Ha Suet Yee and who is jealous of Wan Yee/Wan Sin. Her envious body language and speech made this seen as clearly as possible.

Jennie's Opinion:
Crimson Sabre had many bashing from critics. I agree that it wasn't the best or better than the 80's version, but it's not the worst Jin Yong's TVB adaption. I feel that the storyline doesn't leave a strong impression, many scenes just dissapointed me. From my own personal standards, it will get 2.5/5 stars.

Extras:
1. The lead actor, Gordon Lam, will be leaving TVB after his contract expires because no negotiations could be made between them.
2. Kong Wah told reporters that theres a chance he might go back to ATV (yay!).
3. Sarah Au is still in TVB, believe it or not, and is a K-100 host.
4. The sequel Jin Yong written for this is "The Duke of Mountain Deer".

Official TVB site: http://tvcity.tvb.com/drama/drama1/bloodsword/