The Mysteries of Love

Chinese Title: Taam Ching Suet On
English Title: The Mysteries of Love
Genre: Mystery, Romance
Episodes: 24
Broadcast Period: January 2010 to July 2010

Cast
Raymond Lam as Kingsley King Pok
- Lee Kwok Lun as King Yin (father)
- Mary Hon as Chueng Wai Chu (mother)
- Candy Chiu as King Chi (aunt)

Tavia Yeung as Chui Siu Lai
- Law Lok Lam as Chui Hon Fei (father)
- Fung So Bor as Leung Sau Ngo (mother)
- Evergreen Mak as Chui Kwon On (brother)
- Ng Wai Shan as Tai Choi Sheung (sister-in-law)
- Lawrence Ng as Chui Ka Hei (nephew)
- Alex Lam as Chui Kwok Leung (brother)

Kenneth Ma as Gordon Lo Ting Hang
Bernice Liu as Nickole Ling Man Ka

Synopsis - WARNING! Contains spoilers!
Tavia Yeung plays the role of Chui Siu Lai, who is following in her father's footsteps to become a respectable police officer. At her new job, she meets her playboy supervisor, Gordon. Gordon has been involved in a friends-with-benefits relationship with his good friend Nickole, but she leaves him eventually because she feels that if she spends any more time with him, she will actually fall for him, which she believes will only complicate their relationship.

At this time, Siu Lai meets Kingsley, a young genius physics professor. He often assists Siu Lai and Gordon with solving their cases. Along the way, he becomes attracted to Siu Lai, concluding that he has fallen in love with her due to a love hormone called phenylalanine. He asks her to be his girlfriend, which she gladly accepts.

However, eventually Kingsley's family begins to object to his relationship with Siu Lai. As Kingsley comes from a rich family background, they believe that this policewoman is not good enough for him. Siu Lai transfers to do office work rather than solving cases, giving up her lifelong dreams. She feels that this way, she will appear more presentable and she will be in a more stable job so that she can be worthy of Kingsley. However, this still does not work for his family and Kingsley is torn.

Eventually, he breaks up with Siu Lai, telling her that they can't be together simply because of a hormone. He tells her that he has "hypothesized" wrong, and that there are many other factors that contribute to a relationship. Heartbroken, Siu Lai believes that Kingsley never loved her, and was only with her to prove a theory. She sends him away, falling into depression and even quitting her dream job to avoid seeing him again.

On the other hand, Gordon eventually sees Nickole again. But this time, she returns with the news that she is getting married. Gordon knows that her fiance is cheating on her, but Nickole does not seem to care. He does everything he can to get her back, realizing that he is in love with her. Nickole succumbs to her feelings and returns to Gordon.

Siu Lai wins the Kings' favour when she saves Kingsley's mother after she has been abducted. However, she has no intention of ever getting back together with him. In fact, she brushes off their thanks, saying that anyone else would have done the same. After a near-death experience, it is Siu Lai that brings Kingsley back to consciousness. He realizes that he truly loves Siu Lai and wins her back, and they get back together.

The Verdict
I didn't include as much of an in-depth summary as I do with my other reviews. Mainly because I can't remember all of the cases. And because if I exposed the cases here, then I would MAJORLY spoil the series for those who haven't seen it. The mystery is the best part.

Anyway, I watched this series for two reasons: I'm a mystery-junkie. I love these kinds of shows where they try to solve cases and such. Another reason is for Tavia. She is and will always be my favourite Hong Kong actress. I've watched all of her series and she never disappoints.

However, although "The Mysteries of Love" garnered lots of attention, I can't help but think that this series was not as good as I was expecting it to be. The plots were rather cliched and predictable, especially Gordon's and Nickole's. I'm not really a big fan of Bernice Liu, although when I first saw her, I thought she looked promising. However, her acting is still rather stiff and it seems that she always speaks in a mixture of Cantonese and English, not that there's anything wrong with that.

I was satisfied with watching the mysteries and watching the murder cases unfold. However, the actual storyline between the main characters were just so...overused. It was so obvious that Kingsley's family wasn't going to approve of Siu Lai. And I completely saw it coming when his mother was kidnapped and Siu Lai saved her. Gordon and Nickole's side story was even more so. There is always the couple that starts out friends, the boy is always the player and the girl is in love with him, but she's scared so she runs away.

There wasn't much originality here, although I was still very happy with Tavia's performance. Maybe it's because I'm a little bit biased? I also enjoyed Raymond's performance as well. I like his flexibility as an actor and I find that he does well in every role he lands.

If you are hoping to see a great romance side story, then "The Mysteries of Love" isn't where you should look. However, if you enjoy a good mystery series then you can't go wrong. Just don't expect too much out of the character interactions and such.

It wasn't a bad series, and I didn't mind watching it, but it wasn't impressive either. Overall, I give "The Mysteries of Love" a two and a half out of five rating.