The Building Blocks of Life

Cast:

Alex Fong Chung Sun as Chung Kwok Keung (Isaac)
Christine Ng as Ching Wai Yee (Winnie)
Tavia Yeung as Cheung Mun Zhing (Freeda or Da for short)
Chung King Fai as Kwong Shing Yu

Once an ambitious upstart, architect Chung Kwok Keung (Alex Fong), lost all verve for life when he left an architectural firm to join his family business. He is in a too long and too comfortable relationship with Ching Wai Yee (Christine Ng). No love sparks fly between them. They make wedding plans because (1) they have been together for a long time and, (2) everyone who knows them expect them to.

Kwok Keung used to be a favorite student of renowned architect Kwong Shing Yu (Chung King Fai). When they finally met after some years have passed, Shing Yu managed to get Kwok Keung to join his company. Initially, Kwok Keung was blurred in his job because he had been out of "commercial" work for some time and also because he had to deal with new technologies (like doing architectural drawings on computers). I would not say the architectural discussions and works are close to real life but you get an idea of what goes on before approval and construction of a site begins. For example, developers and architects are interested in the views and expectations of the general public, and of the eventual owners. Shing Yu, the old and renowned architect, is not given a role to shine nor show that he is talented. He and his family problems make up the sub-plot of this story.

Freeda/Da (Tavia Yeung), Kwok Keung's colleague, has a soft spot for Kwok Keung and is there to support him in his work. As luck would have it, an incident led her to forge a new friendship with Wai Yee. They become good friends. So as not to come in between her good friend and her fiance, Da tries hard to curb her feelings for Kwok Keung. She fails, of course (what do you expect of love triangles in movies?).

Like any long-term relationship where no effort is put in to rekindle love, Kwok Keung and Wai Yee become too familiar with each other. In the humdrum of working and his too-familiar relationship with his fiancee, Kwok Keung comes to like Da too. In order not to hurt Wai Yee, Kwok Keung and Da are careful not to pursue their love interests openly. As much as possible they try to suppress their newfound interest in each other.

This is a so-so production. A yawn. I would not lose sleep just to stay up to watch the series. The cast is not that great. Alex Fong looks dead in his role and displays nonchalance in the character he plays - humdrum, workaholic, unromantic, down-to-earth, boring and lousy in relationships. Given his long-standing relationship with Wai Yee I can understand the non-existence of fiery love but when he comes to like Da there is no thunder-clapping spark either. Well, let's say they just fall in love (bu zhi bu jue). Nothing romantic nor cupid-driven with bow and arrow. Given that this is of romantic genre, I warn you that there is no heart-stopping moment. The little romantic scene that Kwok Keung and Da had on screen fails to sizzle.

The ending is no great shake either. I think the only saving grace is a lovely English song, "No Matter" by Angel. This song is also featured in another recent TVB series, "Steps". Really, background songs do provide an oomph to a show.