Lost in the Chamber of Love

Chinese Title: Sai Sheung Kei Yuen
English Title: Lost in the Chamber of Love
Producer: Cheung Kan Man
Theme Song: Ga Yee Hong (I think) sung by Ron Ng and Myolie Wu

Cast
Ron Ng as Cheung Gwan Shui
Myolie Wu as Hung Leung
Michelle Ye as Chui Ngun Ngun
Kenneth Ma as the Emperor/ Wong Mun Bun (Wong Gong Tzi)
Kiki Sheung Tin Ngor as Cheung Lim Yun
Nancy Wu as Cheung Lim Wai
Chan Kwok Bong as Suen Fei Fu
Hui Siu Hung as Do Fai / Yut Ping / Cheng Sum

Plot

Student Cheung Gwan Shui (Ron Ng) and Hung Leung (Myolie Wu) meet at a lantern festival and each picks up half of a Yin Yeung Kau (a little stone split in half that brings two people together). The prime minister's daughter Chui Ngun Ngun (Michelle Ye) is saved by Gwan Shui from kidnappers. The prime minister's family was very worried at that time and said whoever saved their daughter would get to marry her. Meanwhile, the two spend a night in the forest together and they fall in love.

Hung Leung is devastated as she is also in love with Gwan Shui, but she is Ngun Ngun's servant (and good childhood friend) so she tries very hard to get the two together. But Ngun Ngun's parents don't want her to be with Gwan Shui because he is poor. Ngun Ngun does everything she can to convince her parents to let them meet, and she even starves herself. Finally, her parents say that in order for them to marry, Gwan Shui has to get the position of "Zhong Yuen" the number one scholar. Ngun Ngun's mother invites Gwan Shui to live in the West Chamber to study, but the plan behind that is not to let the two young lovers see each other. Ngun Ngun breaks her mother's rules and visits Gwan Shui almost everyday. Hung Leung also helps Ngun Ngun bring letters to him very often.

Wong Mun Bun, who is actually the Emperor, disguises himself to court Ngun Ngun. Her parents are very pleased with Wong Gong Tzi because he is very rich. He does many things to melt Ngun Ngun's heart, including magic tricks and flying with her to touch the stars in the sky.

Gwan Shui, Ngun Ngun and Hung Leung bring Ngun Ngun's brother outside to play and the prime minister gets angry and the family kicks Gwan Shui out of the West Chamber, and invites Wong Gong Tzi to live there instead. Soon, Ngun Ngun falls in love with Wong Gong Tzi and no longer loves Gwan Shui. Hung Leung tries to convince her not to let Wong Gong Tzi to trick her, but to no avail.

The scholar tests are soon, and Hung Leung keeps a break-up letter from Ngun Ngun away from Gwan Shui so that he doesn't lose hope. But at last, he finds it but he is not discouraged because he is not doing the exams just for Ngun Ngun. He is doing it for his father, for his sisters and his family store that makes lanterns. During the tests, there is an emergency at the palace and Wong Gong Tzi's real identity is revealed to Gwan Shui. There is a flood in a part of the country and Gwan Shui helps the emperor to fix it. Because of this, the emperor's mother advises him to announce Gwan Shui as the number one scholar.

At this time, a thief that was saved by the Cheung family decides to start a new life and never steal again. He works at Gwan Shui's family store and he falls in love with Lim Wai. She likes him too and the two get together. Gwan Shui also realizes he loves Hung Leung and they also get together.

The prime minister's wife and sister are planning to rob the palace's gold because they were in need of money. The emperor instructs Gwan Shui to find out who's behind this, and the whole family is prosecuted. But Gwan Shui saves them, including Ngun Ngun, and they have to live in a poor area. Hung Leung stays with the family to help them. Ngun Ngun's mother is touched and says she is sorry for being so mean to her before.

Ngun Ngun is devastated because she cannot see the emperor anymore since her family committed a crime. Fei Fu is promoted to a position in the palace because he helped with this case.

Hung Leung finds out that she is To Bor's lost princess and she goes back to To Bor to meet her father. Meanwhile, the palace's eighth "wong yeh" is plotting against the king because he thinks he's a bad ruler. He sends the emperor out to the battlefield and sends people to kill him. But he is not dead and Ngun Ngun goes to find him and convinces him to go back and save the nation because she found out she has the emperor's baby. Eight Wong Yeh has sent soldiers guarding everywhere to check that the emperor isn't going to come back. He also poisoned the emperor's mother so she can't object to his succession of the emperor. He invites To Bor's king to the ceremony. Hung Leung convinces her father to help the real emperor because she and him have an engagement. He agrees, and they successfully bring the emperor back to his throne safely.

Because of this event, Ngun Ngun's father (who helped with the plan) is promoted back to Prime Minister. Fei Fu is promoted to a higher position for protecting the emperor's mother.

Now, Hung Leung has to follow through with the wedding that was planned years ago for the To Bor princess and the emperor. Hung Leung, Ngun Ngun, Gwan Shui and the emperor are all very sad on the wedding day. Why did God have to break all these good couples? Suddenly, Hung Leung's aunt (former concubine of the To Bor king) appears and says that Hung Leung and the king can't marry, because Hung Leung isn't the To Bor princess! Hung Leung is actually the prime minister's daughter and Ngun Ngun is the real To Bor princess! Everyone is so surprised and Hung Leung's aunt continues to tell the story. She ran away with the baby princess because she was jealous of another concubine, and she ended up in the prime minister's house. She feared that the princess would not have a good future if she stayed with her so she switched the prime minister's baby daughter with the princess! The To Bor king is so outraged and asks how she can prove that Ngun Ngun is his daughter, and she said there's a scar on the princess' left arm, and indeed, there is a scar on Ngun Ngun's left arm! The emperor is delighted because he can marry the true one he loves and he lets Gwan Shui and Hung Leung have a marriage on the same day!

Fast foward to a few years later, Gwan Shui's sister Lim Yun has married Do Fai, and had twins. Lim Wai has married Fei Fu and they are very cute couple. Gwan Shui is very happy with Hung Leung and at the end, she tells Gwan Shui that she has a baby!

Plot Review
The plot was actually very interesting, but everything happened so fast! The first ten episodes were basically about Chui Ngun Ngun and Gwan Shui's love story. They tried so hard to get together. And then suddenly, Wong Gong Tzi came out and Ngun Ngun fell in love with him in a flash. I'm surprised that Gwan Shui fell in love with Hung Leung so fast, but I would understand that since he saw and talked to her a lot more than Ngun Ngun (through transferring letters).

Also the side characters of Do Fai (the pretend eunuch), Lim Yun, Lim Wai and Fei Fu were very good. It was good comic relief during the series.

The most bizarre thing though about this series is the ending! I was wondering how in the world they were going to get the right people together at the end! The last half hour of the series was definitely very exciting. During the wedding scene, it was so intense and a bit confusing at first, because just a few episodes before it was Hung Leung, who was mistreated and slapped by her mistress regularly, being suddenly the long lost princess of To Bor! and then it became "No! Hung Leung isn't the princess, she's the prime minister's daughter, Ngun Ngun is the real princess!" Very unexpected, but a very good way to bring back the right couples together. Really smart, whoever thought of this is a genius!

Cast Review
Ron Ng as Cheung Gwan Shui
I think that Ron Ng's acting has improved, although sometimes he doesn't have a lot of expressions on his face. His acting sometimes looked like he didn't know what was going on and he always had a confused tone when he was saying his lines. But when he was in romantic scenes with Ngun Ngun and Hung Leung, it was really good to watch because he really looked like he loved (whoever he was with in the scene).

On Gwan Shui the character, he was poor and didn't want to study for the scholar tests, but he had bravery and integrity. He was very heroric in saving Ngun Ngun, and I could tell he matured after meeting her and studying for the tests for her. Falling in love with Hung Leung, I could tell he learned what real love is.

Myolie Wu as Hung Leung
Myolie Myolie Myolie! I loved her in LITCOL! I didn't really like her before, but this series definitely changed my mind. Boy, does this girl have crying skills! She had numerous crying scenes in this series and she did them perfectly. Her acting has improved, in my opinion, probably also because of the character she's playing.

Hung Leung is a kind-hearted girl who does everything to help Ngun Ngun, who is like her sister. She is so nice that she can even give up her own love so that Ngun Ngun could be happy! I love Hung Leung's character!

Michelle Ye as Chui Ngun Ngun
Michelle Ye is absolutely gorgeous in LITCOL. At first I really wanted her and Gwan Shui to end up together (just because of who they actually are, not because of the characters in the story) so I thought, Michelle should have played Hung Leung. But Ngun Ngun is supposed to be extremely pretty here (because that's how the emperor first meets her) so that makes sense. She is also very good at making facial expressions like the scene at the end. Michelle's acting here is really enjoyable to watch.

Ngun Ngun's character here is selfish because she holds a high position in the society and even though she treats Hung Leung like a sister, you can tell there is still a gap because Hung Leung is only her servant. When her family is kicked out of their house because of the crime, she shows true friendship to Hung Leung since she is no longer 'above' her in status. At first I didn't like Ngun Ngun for giving up on Gwan Shui for Wong Gong Tzi, but in the end we see that she truly loves him.

Kenneth Ma as the Emperor
I haven't seen Kenneth in many series, just in The Driving Power (he was Michelle Ye's lover in that series as well!). So comparing these two series, Kenneth did a superb job in LITCOL. He acted the characteristics of an emperor very accurately and he brought out his character very well.

The Emperor is an immature person who likes to go out and play and does not care about the nation. But when he meets Ngun Ngun and starts courting her, he learns to mature and when he finds out her family committed a crime, even though he wants to save Ngun Ngun, he knows he can't. He did his duties in the end very maturely and responsibly.

Nancy Wu as Cheung Lim Wai
I loved watching Nancy here! She is very pretty and since her character is pretty young, she is very suitable for this role. Her smile just brightens the screen and her expressions were funny too.

Best Chemistry
Well I don't want to say which couple had the BEST chemistry because honestly it would be a really hard choice.

Myolie and Ron - Lovers 4.5/5
These two developed a friendship first, and then it blossomed into love. In the end few episodes they had some romantic scenes and it was very touching! The love they shared was very deep and wasn't like the love Ron had for Michelle, and they truly cared about each other.

Michelle and Ron - Lovers 4.5/5
I really loved this couple in the beginning. Although these two loved each other very much I think it was mostly just infatuation. The two dreamed of being together having fun on the beach, and Michelle dreamed of getting married with Ron. But I really loved their romantic scenes where they were alone in the forest for the night! I'm glad these two remained good friends in the end.

Michelle and Kenneth - Lovers 4/5
Kenneth did so many nice things for Michelle and they were all so cute! Like how he said that Michelle's earrings didn't match her outfit then out of nowhere he has these earrings for her. Another one is when they went for a fly on the rope and also all the soldiers holding up cards that made a picture that says "I Love You." These two were a cute couple!

Nancy and Chan Kwok Bong - Lovers 5/5
These two were so fun to watch! When Chan Kwok Bong started working at the lantern store, Chan Kwok Bong knew that Nancy liked him but he thought that she would mind because he used to be a thief. But Nancy didn't and soon, they got together! The scenes between them are so funny!

Myolie and Michelle - Friends 5/5
These two were childhood friends, and since Myolie was the servant, she was always getting blamed and punished for Michelle's wrong doings. They love each other very much and really care about each other. They went through some misunderstandings but they still remained the best of friends because their relationship was so strong!

Ron and Chan Kwok Bong - Friends 4/5
Although these two did not have a lot of screentime together, in the scenes that they WERE together, you could tell they were very good friends. When they had troubles, they would drink with each other, and eventually talk about it together.

Best Comic Relief
Nancy Wu and Chan Kwok Bong

Funniest
Chan Kwok Bong

Most Emotional
1. Myolie Wu
2. Michelle Ye

Cutest (male)
1. Ron Ng
2. Chan Kwok Bong

Cutest (female)
1. Myolie Wu
2. Nancy Wu
(Michelle was more "beautiful" than cute)

Best in Costume
1. Michelle Ye (she had so many different outfits and they were all so pretty!)
2. Ron Ng

Best Hair (female)
1. Michelle Ye
2. Myolie Wu (the loops with her hair are really pretty!)

Best Hair (male)
Chan Kwok Bong - He's the only one that actually changed his hair in the series, he looks supercute with the neat, scholar-type hairdo!

Best (Touching) Scenes
1. When Ron saved Michelle from the kidnappers and they had to start a fire in the forest but she was still cold, so Ron was like, "You know, you can be warmer if we..." and before he finished the sentence, Michelle rested her head on his shoulder.
2. When it was the day before the plan to overturn Eight Wong Yeh, Myolie knew that she would have to marry Kenneth so she told Ron to light all the lanterns and for each one, he had to name one reason why he liked her.
3. When Ron became the best scholar and he came back to look for Myolie. He was outside the door telling her to come outside and ensuring that she was the only one he loved. And she finally opened the door and they hugged.
5. When Myolie was going to leave the city and she was talking with her aunt. Then she saw all these lit up lanterns, and the big lantern in the sky that Ron made. And they ran towards each other!
4. When Kenneth was getting married with Myolie. Michelle and Kenneth looked at each other in sorrow, and Myolie and Ron shared intense eye contact as well. Done really well!

Cute Scenes
1. When Chan Kwok Bong bought earrings for Nancy and he was really shy to give it to her! So cute!
2. When Nancy and Chan Kwok Bong were taking a walk in the house and they walked past Kiki and Hui Siu Hung, and Nancy asked Chan Kwok Bong, "Do you think of me when you're fighting people?" and he's like, "No way!" and she got mad and she stomped off, and he's like "If I do, then I will lose concentration and then I'll get chopped to death!"
3. When it was Myolie and Michelle's birthday, they both gave each other the same gift!
4. At the very end, Myolie told Ron she was carrying his baby and he jumped up and exclaimed, "I'm going to be a dad!" Cute!

Funny Scenes
1. When Michelle spent a day at Ron's house helping around and she cooked a meal. The grandmother said, "How come some of the dishes are so tasty but the other ones are just plain bad?" but someone else said, "Well, the good ones are the ones that Myolie cooked, and the bad ones..." then Michelle went, "..I made it...it's not that bad right?" she tasted it and spat it back out.
2. When Ron really wanted to vent out his anger, he told Chan Kwok Bong to fight with him. Then in the middle of it, Chan Kwok Bong asked, "Where did you learn your kung fu?" Ron answered, "Lei Bak" (who is a poet) and Chan Kwok Bong said, "What? That Lei Bak is no good, next time you learn kung fu, come to me!"
3. At the very end, Michelle was looking for Kenneth in the city and she saw him trying to woo another girl with a "yin yeung kau" and she just grabbed him by the ear, and she's said "If you have so many yin yeung kaus then why don't you give ME one?" and her looks were so funny!

Dislikes
The To Bor costume that Myolie wore, I didn't really like it because it was so dark and thick, unlike the Tang dynasty clothes which are mostly silk-like, and more flowing. Also the To Bor hairstyle that Myolie had made her look a bit chubby, she looked a lot better with the Tang Dynasty clothes.

The ending, although it was good, it was also a bit rushed during the wedding scene. It's hard to believe that the To Bor king could accept and be so happy that Michelle is his real daughter so quickly. I mean, one second he's flaming mad at Myolie's aunt, then suddenly he's almost crying because he's finally found his real daughter. Also, it was totally awkward seeing Myolie and her REAL mother and father (prime minister/wife). As an audience member, it's hard to accept that change so quickly, especially since for so much of the series, Myolie was mistreated and slapped by them (mostly the mother). But of course, Myolie had a big heart and the parents also truly appreciated her in the end!

Overall
Overall, this series was very enjoyable to watch and I recommend this to any Ron, Michelle, Myolie and Kenneth fans and those who like plots that are focused on romance and relationships.

I give Lost in the Chamber of Love 5/5!