The Master of Tai Chi
Title: 太極/ Tai Gik
English title: The Master of Tai Chi
Episodes: 25
Cast:
Vincent Zhao as Mo Ma
Raymond Lam as Tuen Hiu Sing
Melissa Ng as Song Ching
Myolie Wu as Yin Ji Kwa
Kenneth Ma as Mai Fung Nin
Selena Li as Yeen Chui Kiu
John Chiang as Mo Chik
Paul Chun as Tuen Tai Bak
Derek Kwok as Moon Yau Ngo
Lau Siu Ming as Kwan Saan Yuet
Synopsis (Spoilers!):
The Master of Tai Chi takes place in the early 1900's and is about an orphan named Mo Ma (Vincent Zhao), who is abandoned at a young age to fend for himself in the wilderness. He grows up strong, stubborn, and isolated from human contact. Fung Nin (Kenneth Ma), who lives in the village where Mo Ma trades his game for rice, admires Mo Ma for his courage and befriends him. The two, after refusing to give into the village chief's demand of a tax increase thus causing his antagonism, run away and enlist in the army to achieve power and money over the village chief. During a battle against an opposing army, Mo Ma and Fung Nin witness the brutal and inhumane attack of two young women, Yin Ji Kwai (Myolie Wu) and Yin Chui Kiu (Selena Li), and decide to rescue them from the battlefield. Mo Ma gets tricked by Chui Kiu to kill the traitor, who caused the deaths of the sisters' parents, as well as to protecting her half sister Ji Kwai from the ensuing danger of seeking revenge herself.
Mo Ma stops Ji Kwai in time from endangering herself, although not exactly for that purpose, and kills the traitor of the Yin's family to get the reward that Chui Kiu lied about. He gets incarcerated and is pending execution for murdering. After being saved by him twice, Ji Kwai falls in love with Mo Ma and tries to save him from getting executed, even risks getting raped by the despicable police chief. Fortunately, Fung Nin chances upon Mo Ma's master Kwan Saan Yuet(Lau Siu Ming), who negotiates a match with a Russian wrestler to pardon Mo Ma’s crime. Mo Ma wins the match and stays with his Master to learn Tai Chi.
Meanwhile, Ji Kwai is forced into marriage with the diseased son of an official and, in a desperate attempt to obtain Mo Ma’s affection, declares her love to him and begs him to run away with her. His refusal devastates her and she decides to escape to Shanghai by herself. After an injury to the head, Ji Kwai loses all her memory and the ability to talk. At this time, Tuen Hiu Sing (Raymond Lam) appears, brings her to a hospital, and saves her from hooligans. Seeing her desolated on the streets, he doesn’t have the heart to abandon her and brings her back to his father's martial arts school. While sheltering and helping her regain her memory, Hiu Sing finds his sympathy has gradually turned into love. He is falling deeper and deeper in love with her and willing to do anything to protect her from the malicious police chief and keep her by his side.
Song Ching and Mo Ma also start to develop feelings for each other while she helps him train in Tai Chi. In a twist of fate, master Kwan learns the truth of Song Ching's identity and realizes her father is the killer of Mo Ma's father, who is a government official involved in Chinese Kung Fu preservation. Master Kwan fakes being the murderer to help Mo Ma learn to give up on revenge and understand the ultimate philosophy of Tai Chi, but dies in the process. Mo Ma, with Song Ching’s help, recovers from the tragic loss and learns the important lesson his master wanted to teach him.
After being deserted by the second elder of the Black Dragon martial arts school and falling down a slope, Ji Kwai regains her memory, including those of Mo Ma and her feelings for him. Hiu Sing finds her and brings her back to the school, forbidding his second elder from abandoning her again. Ji Kwai doesn't want to give up on the man who left such a strong impression in her heart. Hiu Sing, who's now madly in love with her, becomes heartbroken when he learns that the one she loves is Mo Ma and, in a very emotional night, he is unable to resist and possesses a drunken Ji Kwai. The two men, Tuen Hiu Sing and Mo Ma, become rivals in the fighting ring and in love.
All the while, the police chief and mayor's assistant conspire to cause trouble in the capital and overthrow the mayor so that they can take control of the government and sell out to the Russian. Hiu Sing learns of their evil plan and regrets wrongfully blaming Mo Ma for his friend's death and kicking him off a cliff. Mo Ma survives the fall and returns to rescue the mayor. The two conciliate, expose the wicked plan of the mayor's assistant and police chief, and successfully restore peace to the capital.
Hiu Sing decides to resign his leader position at the Black Dragon martial arts school since his heart is really with Ji Kwai and not the school. He and Ji Kwai, who now realizes that Hiu Sing is the man she truely loves and equally returns his affection, get married in front of his father's grave and they plan on traveling all over the places together. On the other hand, Mo Ma and Song Ching don't end up together because she understands that he is not satisfied with just staying in a small village and wants to spread the teaching of Tai Chi all over the world. Mo Ma is able to fulfill his master’s goal of popularizing Tai Chi and its philosophy.
Characters:
Vincent Zhao as Mo Ma
As much as I enjoy his martial arts skills, his acting is kind of dull in here. I find him to be expressionless sometimes and his character quite cold to the people around him, like he stubbornly wanted to kill his master even though they shared such a special relationship and he even gave up on Song Ching's love for the sake of Tai Chi. His character lacks versatility and seems to be the same from the beginning to the end, which is stubborn and uninterested in other’s feelings.
Melissa Ng as Song Ching
Her performance is okay but the character, Song Ching, really bores me. She is too saint-like in here, willing to sacrifice for everyone else. The character is a flat one and not well developed. Like Mo Ma, she stays the same from the beginning to end: a martyr willing to give up everything for everyone. I don’t find her interesting at all and couldn’t even make myself pity her sacrificial personality because it’s just too unrealistic. She even gives up her relationship with Mo Ma so he can go teach Tai Chi, which I think is plain silly.
Raymond Lam as Tuen Hiu Sing
His performance is commendable in here and shows great versatility. His crying scenes are very touching, like when his father died and when Ji Kwai broke the news to him that she regained her memory and loved Mo Ma. His transition from a carefree, optimistic, playful guy to a mature and responsible leader of the Black Dragon martial arts school, as well as the archenemy of Mo Ma, is very well done and praiseworthy. His kung fu scenes are really believable, even though he doesn't know martial arts in real life. He shows the different sides of his character perfectly: Hiu Sing is a gentleman, protective, and caring towards Ji Kwai, spiteful of Mo Ma, yet time and time again helps him because of his moral inclination, guilty when he gives in to possessing Ji Kwai, and quite scary when he went berserk at her leaving. His presence makes the series all the more interesting and exciting.
Myolie Wu as Yin Ji Kwai
Despite criticisms, I actually quite enjoy Myolie's performance in here because she portrays a character with two opposite personalities so believably: the spoiled, headstrong, and unyielding daughter of a warlord who suffers a great blow at the traumatic deaths of her parents and brother, and the pitiful, peaceful, and caring cousin, devoid of past memory, of Tuen Hiu Sing that encourages him in his time of need. The character is such a lost soul and gets devastated time and time again, it is no wonder that she becomes bitter and vindictive. Ji Kwai/Sze Kam is challenging to portray, as she must present two polar opposites and bind them together in a convincing way, but Myolie did a great job in presenting such a contradicting character and made me loath, pity, and love the character at the same time.
Favorite Moments:
1. Scenes of Hiu Sing and Ji Kwai caring for each other. They are so cute together and their chemistry is irresistible. It is so touching when Hiu Sing finds a lost Sze Kam and embraces her in the woods and when he sees her downtrodden on the streets and hugs her. Also, the river scene, where Ji Kwai holds Hiu Sing's hands to console him after his father’s death and encourages him to be a better person, is very heart-felt.
2. Mo Ma defeats the Russian wrestler by applying the philosophy of Tai Chi.
3. Scenes of Song Ching helping Mo Ma train for tai chi, like by throwing eggs at him and tying him up in a tree, are funny and provide relief from their serious personalities.
4. The fighting scenes, especially between Hiu Sing and Mo Ma, are good and very realistic.
Final Thought:
The Master of Tai Chi is a great series if you like martial arts and bittersweet love story. It's like an emotional roller coaster and once you start the ride, you can't get enough of it. The scenary is breath-taking, such as the yellow flower field and the ridged valley. I admit I initially thought it was boring but as soon as Ji Kwai lost her memory and Tuen Hiu Sing appeared on the scene, I was immediately pulled back in until the very last episode. The volatile love that Ji Kwai and Hiu Sing shared kept me absorbed and curious as to what will happen to this pitiful couple. Also, Vincent and Raymond perform the fighting scenes very convincing and their battles are enjoyable to watch. This is one of the best series TVB has produced in years because it has good and realistic Kung Fu actions, not the obviously fake computer ones we see so much nowadays, and such beautiful and heart-wrenching romance.
