Men in Pain

Is there such a thing as a "male menopause"? Apparently, that is what the main character (Damien Lau) was suffering from. All of a sudden, he found his temper increasing, his family members a burden and impotent to respond to his wife.

This light-hearted family drama touches on the problems families face. There are three sisters - Rebecca Chan, Louisa So and Florence Kwok.

Rebecca Chan is a doctor. She married her construction supervisor husband after a whirlwind romance, in a fit of anger from her previous boyfriend. Because she is the eldest and highly-educated, she deems herself right in everything, and controls her husband and children in whatever they do.

Her husband did not speak up at first, then after they bumped into her ex-boyfriend while jogging one day, he finally realised that she was always comparing him to the ex, after all these years. Hence he left.

However, after he left, she realised how much he meant to her, so asked for his forgiveness and started being a different person - more caring to her husband and children and not as autocratic and bossy as before.

Louisa So is the other main character. She married Damien Lau and became the step-mother to Ron Ng, who used to be her student. Suddenly, from the way Damien was behaving, she started to find him unbearable and felt that she could no longer live with him. Hence she filed for separation and decided to live life anew.

However, Damien still cared for her as a friend. One day, they got drunk (I think) and spent a passionate night together. She discovered she was pregnant shortly after. Damien thought the baby belonged to Rocky, whom he thought was her new boyfriend. In the end, it was established that Damien was the father of the baby and they got back together.

The youngest sister (Florence Kwok) never believed in marriage. Her newest guy tried changing her mind, but she turned down his proposal. Out of respect to her, he continued on with her without getting married, but hoping she would change her mind one day.

Ron Ng fell for Toby Leong and she was pregnant after a night of passion. He took the responsibility by marrying her. However, once they were married, the stress of being a newly-married couple, heavy workload from her school and her father-in-law problems caused an early delivery.

Initially she thought it was due to the quarrel from her father-in-law, but later the doctor said it was due to her stress from her school work. Yet, she ignored her father-in-law's good intention (Damien renovated the room for his grandson), and she and Ron Ng moved in with her family.

Ron Ng turned from a frivolous guy to a responsible and caring husband and father. He supported his wife in everything she wanted - school, overseas studies, taking care of the baby. He even made a scrap book of the baby's first steps and words as a gift for her to go for her overseas studies, before the baby could even do all that!

In the end, as with every family drama, the family stuck together and all reconciled. That is what families are - to be with you through thick and thin, no matter what upheavals, to solve problems together, forgive, forget and start over.

I would recommend this show, as it is a heartwarming, albeit comedic, family drama. It shows the essence of a family - the man being the head of the house and taking care of his wife and her family, he having all the problems but refused to talk to anyone, and the couples finally having learnt communication to overcome their difficulties and start anew. I think it would also be useful to couples, be it married or not, with kids or not, as there are lots to learn from the show (like communication, acceptance, tolerance and understanding) which may make one's relationship stronger.