Slim Chances

Main Cast:

Lydia Shum Din Hua – Salina
Fennie Yuen – Mao Kuat (Margaret)
Rain Lau – BoBo
Annie Man – Tin Mao
Ronald Cheng – So Peng Man (So Man)
Kevin Cheng – Song Si (Sean)
Cheung King Kei – Hing Kei

I read a review here about this series, and the reviewer gave quite a high rating for it. Fortunately, I only watched this series from my cable TV and did not go and rent it, because this is really one of the worst TVB series I have ever watched.

First, the main plot is not strong enough. In the first few episodes, I was given the impression that the main plot of this series is about how the characters here struggle with their jobs and try to fit into their work environment, how they handle their supervisors and bosses, which is quite good. But after that, the story went sidetracked. I did not even really follow each and every episode, but I still managed to understand the story line. This is because there is not much story for this series. Believe me, this has a very, very weak plot.

Secondly, Lydia Shum gets most of the screen time, which is very boring.

Thirdly, 25 episodes for this series is too long!!!! They should make it only 20 episodes, because when this series became sidetracked, the whole story line became pointless and meaningless. I don’t even know why they want to make it that long! Especially the sub-plot where Salina got diabetes and all her friends advised her on what type of food she must and must not take. This sub-plot is totally pointless and meaningless! This series should have ended a long time ago when Salina and Mao Kuat were successful in opening their own restaurant.

Cast

Fennie Yuen

The character that she plays in this series does not have much character development and it makes her story boring to watch. I have to say that her best performance is her performance with Wong Hei in a cooking series. I think the title is Food Of Love (I don’t really remember though; correct me if I’m wrong). Then, I saw her second performance in Face To Face, in which her performance is worse. Then, in Law Enforcers, that is the worst performance by her. Her performance here is slightly better but still below average, compared to her first performance with Wong Hei. I think that it is better for her to play a lively, active and talkative character, rather than the quiet and introverted type of character, because when she plays a lively, active and talkative character, her facial expressions are very well done. But when she plays a quiet and introverted type of character, her facial expressions are poorly done, as if she is faking it and her whole face becomes lifeless and emotionless. If you have watched this series already, notice the differences in her facial expression when she is sad and when she is happy and full of energy. She even failed to show her “falling in love” expression when she starts to fall for Ronald’s character. Compare her characters that she played in Face To Face and Law Enforcers with her character in Food Of Love and you will know what I mean.

Ronald Cheng

The first time I saw him was in Colourful Life. This is the second time. I do not know much about this actor though. All I can say is that his character in Colourful Life is very different from his character here and he can play different types of characters very well.

Rain Lau

What a disappointment. I love her in Eternal Happiness, but what has happened to her here??? She still plays the same type of character here as in Eternal Happiness – funny and always want to marry a rich and handsome man, but she still lacks something which I can’t quite put a finger to. Maybe it is the chemistry that is missing. In Eternal Happiness, she had great chemistry with Michelle Yip, but in this series, her chemistry with Fennie Yuen and Annie Man is not that good.

Annie Man

TVB, why? Why give her such little screen time? She is my favourite character in this series. I love all her performances in all the series she has acted in. But her screen time in this series is so little and she seemed to be constantly in Fennie Yuen's and Rain Lau’s shadows, that I do not know how to comment on her performance here.

Kevin Cheng

His performance still has not improveed much from the last time I saw him in Burning Flame 2. He is still rather stiff. However, he is good in showing his facial expressions. His sad expression when he saw Annie Man getting close with Hing Kei after they broke up is quite well done.

Lydia Shum

I think I have never seen her in a TVB series before. At times, I find that her character in this series is very irritating and annoying because she does not want to listen to her friends’ advice when she had diabetes. The way she speaks in this series is also very irritating and annoying because she her voice is so loud! Is it because her true personality is like that when she speaks, or is it just for this series’ character? I don’t think I can comment much on her performance here. I already hate her character because she gets most of the screen time, which makes this series rather boring. I would be biased if I still continue commenting on her performance.

Cheung King Kei

He plays Rain Lau’s brother in this series. Nothing special or outstanding about his performance here, because he is another actor that gets very little screen time in this series. I have to say that his best performance (and maybe his only best performance?) is in Burning Flame 1. However, the songs that he composed and sang in this series are very good! His voice is very nice. I wonder if he is a singer in Hong Kong, because if he is not, maybe he can try out to be a singer! Are all the songs he sang in this series original or a cover version? If anyone knows the title of the songs that he sang in this series, let me know, because I want to find them.

More Complaints!!

The Cantonese title, when translated to English, is “I want to get fit”, but that is not the main theme and has totally nothing to do with this series’ storyline. This series seldom shows the characters working out, and when they do work out, their purpose is not for getting fit or healthy. Really, they should change the Cantonese title.

Another thing about this series is the lack of chemistry between the characters. Mao Kuat, BoBo and Tin Mao are best friends, but they do not look like they are best friends because they lack chemistry. The same goes for So Peng Man, Tuck and Song Si. The love chemistry between all the couples in this series is also not great and a total miscast! BoBo does not look compatible with Tuck and So Peng Man does not look compatible with Mao Kuat. Maybe the problem is with Fennie Yuen because after her great performance in Food Of Love, she seems to lack chemistry with any of her on-screen lovers. In short, the characters lack chemistry this series. Well, except for Tin Mao and Song Si, because Annie Man seems to be compatible and have great chemistry with any of her on-screen lovers.

In my opinion, this series does not need that many casts. Cheung King Kei’s role in this series is totally unimportant, useless and irrelevant. And if TVB did not intend to give many screen time for Annie Man, then why don't they just remove her and Kevin Cheng from this series because their characters seem to be irrelevant as well?

Actually, I don’t know what the main plot for this series is and what message this series is trying to send. At first, it is about how they handle their daily work stress. Then, when they all resigned or got fired, it becomes sidetracked. The plot of this story then changes to how all of them go out to search for new jobs and what challenges they face when searching for new jobs. Then the plot once again changes to “the successful story of Salina and Mao Kuat in opening their own restaurant”. So, when they finally succeed in opening their own restaurant, it becomes a love story for this series, which shows how So Peng Man chases after Mao Kuat, the relationship problems between Song Si and Tin Mao and the marriage problems between BoBo and Tuck. Truthfully speaking, all the love storylines for this series are totally boring and nothing special.

So, in the end, what is the main plot and the main theme for this series? What is this series about? Is it about getting fit and healthy, thus telling the audience about the importance of health? Or is it about dealing with their jobs and trying to fit into their work environment, thus teaching the audience how to handle work stress? Or is it about Salina and Mao Kuat’s journey to success in opening their own restaurant, thus telling the audience about the importance of never giving up if one wants to be successful? I’m really confused.

And one last thing I’d like to complain is the ending of this series. What a stupid ending! The series ends with Salina shouting to everybody, “Let’s get to work!!” and everybody going “Yeah!!!” This is very stupid. Come on, is that necessary? The ending is quite rushed too. I mean, they make this a 25-episode long series, but it does not bring us step by step closer to the ending. One would expect that if a series is longer than 20 episodes, it should be capable of bringing the audience step by step closer to the ending, but this series fails to do that. It just ends like that. Towards the ending, this series is more focused on the love story because when all the couples that are meant to be end up together, it’s the end. Of course, all TVB series are like that, but this series has no main plot and main theme that brings the audience to the ending of this series.

Conclusion

Seriously, this is one of the worst TVB series, with a weak main plot and meaningless and pointless sub-plots, that I have ever seen. If I had to choose, Let’s Face It (another TVB series with a weak main plot and meaningless and pointless sub-plots) is even better because of its stronger casts, compared to this series. The only reason that kept me watching this series until the end is because Annie Man is in this series, and the only story I really have the interest to follow is the love story between Annie Man’s character and Kevin Cheng’s character. She is one of my favourite actresses currently, and she is my favourite character in this series, but she gets the least screen time of all, compared to other actors/actresses in this series.

This series gives me this impression that obviously, the people who work on this series’ storyline had no clear purpose and objective for making this series. I had a very big question mark in my head after watching this series.

So, my advice is, don’t waste your time and money renting and watching this series because this series is a waste of time, unless you really have nothing to watch. But even if you have nothing to watch, try avoid watching this series because you will regret it. If you are an Annie Man or Rain Lau fan, you can give this series a try, but even they cannot save this series because this series is more focused on Lydia Shum’s character. Rain Lau’s character in this series is not as fun to watch as her character in Eternal Happiness. There is not much character development for Annie Man’s role and she gets the least screen time, and yet they put her as one of the main casts? I really don’t know what they’re trying to do.

But if you are a Lydia Shum fan, I recommend you this series because you will get to see lots of her. I would have given this series a one star only, but just because I quite enjoyed watching Annie Man and whenever she is together with Kevin Cheng, I give it 1.5 out of 5.

One last note: It is a very good thing that TVB did not pair up Lydia Shum’s character with Ronald Cheng’s character’s dad in the end although it was subtly hinted that they have a thing for each other. If they did pair up together in the end, it would be very ridiculous and I would fall off my chair laughing my head off.