Lady Fan

Cantonese Title: Fan Lei Fa – Fong For Kei Yu Kit Leung Yun
Chinese Title: Fan Li Hua – Feng Huo Qi Yu Jie Liang Yuan
(Roughly translates as “Lady Fan - A Match Made From A Chance Encounter In Battle”)

The Cast
(In Cantonese with Chinese pronunciation in parenthesis)

Jessica Hester Hsuan – Fan Lei Fa (Fan Li Hua)
Joe Ma – Sit Ding San (Xue Ding San)
Kong Chi Nei - Chan Kam Ding (Chen Jin Ding)
Mimi Lo – Sin Tong (Xian Tong)
Cindy Au – Sit Kam Lin (Xue Jin Lian)
Power Chan Kwok Bong – Sit Ying Long (Xue Ying Long)
Sek Sau – Sit Yan Kwai (Xue Ren Gui)

Introduction

This is an adaptation of a Chinese historical legend about a trio of general fathers and sons from the Tang dynasty era, and this serial portrays the trials and tribulations of Sit Ding San, the commander from the second generation. Some readers might have seen an earlier adaptation, “General Father, General Son” starring Felix Wong and Chan Man Yee, where Chan Man Yee steals the show even though the limelight was supposed to be on Felix Wong’s Ding San. TVB has since realised that Fan Lei Fa, Ding San’s suitor and adversary, makes for a much better protagonist, so this particular adaptation is basically told from her point of view.

The Story

The Tang Dynasty and Sai-Leung, a neighbouring country maintains an uneasy truce. Fan Lei Fa (Jessica Hsuan) is the daughter of Sai-Leung’s General Fan, an important commander who safeguards the border between his country and the Tang Dynasty. A very able fighter and adept at sorcery, Lei Fa is told by her teacher one day that she is destined to marry a man, and together, they can bring peace between the two warring countries. Unwittingly, she finds out that her husband-to-be is actually Sit Ding San (Joe Ma), son of Sit Yan Kwai (Sek Sau), one of Tang’s greatest generals and her father’s archrival on the battlefield.

Hoping to advert senseless war, Lei Fa leaves home and forces Ding San to marry her and fulfill the prophecy despite the fact that Ding San is highly prejudiced against her people and a stubborn mule who refuses to admit his faults. Consequently, Lei Fa’s deed seals her as an uncivilised barbarian in the eyes of the Sit family, and a domestic campaign starts up between Lei Fa and her in-laws who try every means to oust her out of the family.

Lei Fa tries hard to gain their acceptance, beginning with the help of the Tang emperor who favours her because she is the most powerful fighter and sorceress of the era. But just when things are beginning to go well for her, she encounters obstruction in the form of the vengeful Yeung siblings whose parents were killed by Sit Yan Kwai years ago in war. Brother Yeung Fan schemes to wrestle control of the Sai-Leung army from Lei Fa’s father, while sister Kam Ding (Kong Chi Nei) attempts to infiltrate the Sit family to acquire military secrets.

Kam Ding soon sinks her claws further into Ding San, forcing him to marry her and works to destroy Lei Fa’s hard-earned credibility in the Sit family. Finally, Yeung Fan uses sorcery to orchestrate a battle between Lei Fa and Sit Yan Kwai, leading Ding San into thinking that she has always meant him and his family harm all along. After numerous misunderstandings, Lei Fa finally gives up trying to make her marriage with Ding San work. In despair, she leaves for Sai-Leung, vowing never to return…

The Main Cast

Fans of Jessica Hsuan might be pleased with this series because she has a lot of screen time in here. However, that seems to be all that can be said. Lately, TVB dramas have been accused of sloppy writing and repetitive storylines that simply capitalise on star power to make them work. And that’s exactly what is happening in this series. I am a fan of Jessica myself, but there’s nothing refreshing about her performance in here. True, you get to see her fight and cast magic spells, but this has to be her umpteenth portrayal of a tough, straightforward go-getter, and it’s beginning to grow stale.

All the trappings of the original legend have been cut away, leaving a sterile, streamlined love story that wouldn’t be out of place in a modern setting. Whatever happened to Ding San’s original three refusals to marry Lei Fa? Or his due punishment for misunderstanding and maligning her? Much of what is romantic in the original story has been removed but still, it may have worked if the two leads have sufficient chemistry to carry it through.

Unfortunately, I don’t feel much for Jessica and Joe. Possibly it’s because of the bad writing: Lei Fa’s teacher warns that in order to fulfill the prophecy, the duo must undergo grueling tests and obstacles. Lei Fa does her part, even abandoning her family and country to be with Ding San, but Ding San seems to get the easy end of it. He spends the first half of the series branding Lei Fa a witch and basically makes life difficult for her. When he realises he has fallen in love with her, he doesn’t even have the courage to break off with Kam Ding. Although towards the end, he is led to misunderstand Lei Fa, he continues to deny her the benefit of a doubt until it is too late. In short, this guy is a real loser.

Towards the end, you could almost feel the anxiety of the scriptwriters realising that they’ve made the character of Ding San too detestable. Hence the scramble to balance the odds by having Yeung Fan cast a spell on Lei Fa, causing her commit crimes so that she could be morally ‘on par’ with Ding San and he could redeem himself. All that effort and it felt simply like a pointless exercise of muddying the waters and belittling the characters.

The Supporting Cast

Instead, I found myself rooting for the comic couple in the series, Cindy Au and Chan Kwok Bong. Anyone who has seen "Lofty Water Verdant Bow" will already know that Chan Kwok Bong is a comic talent, and in this series he doesn’t disappoint either. He loses a fight with Lei Fa and has to acknowledge her as his mother. This self-appointed cherub then goes to lengths to help ‘Mum’ win ‘Dad’s’ heart, which is quite funny to watch. Cindy Au plays Joe’s sister, a pert girl whose secret desire is to be a fortune-teller, and her spontaneous performance is a rare breath of fresh air in the series. Mimi Lo’s Sin Tong is refreshing as well, being the first member of the Sit family to warm up to Lei Fa and staunchly supporting her throughout the show. Personally, I find that her quiet pining for Ding San is the most sincere and poignant relationship in the series.

Miscellaneous

Lady Fan is a low-budget production, and it becomes glaringly obvious during the battle scenes. What was TVB thinking? If a series involves warring countries and battlefield skirmishes, why isn’t more effort put into staging them? Forty-plus extras killing each other again and again during a supposedly big battle just brings out the cringes in me, and it’s especially hard to stomach after the lavish battles in "A Step Into The Past".

There are also a lot of computer effects in the series, and TVB even used CGI to make the army encampments look bigger than they are, It wasn’t done too badly, although I felt that the computer graphics were simply an attempt to spice up a sinking storyline.

The costumes are nothing to boast about either. Nobody looks particularly resplendent in their armour, which mostly involved a few pieces of leather tacked together. The Sai-Leung costumes look better, and I also think that Jessica looks particularly old in her Tang costume. Maybe that’s why when she stars in ancient dramas, she usually plays the part of a minority tribe princess because she does look better with the, relatively speaking, more exotic hairpieces.

Conclusion

The theme song is pretty nice. Also, catch the part in the first episode where the script takes a dig at "Square Pegs". Other than that, I found that I really dislike Joe’s character in the series. To quote Lei Fa when she says she feels like she’s the only one working to make her destined marriage work, the series plays and peters out like the sound of one hand clapping. Star power is useless if there is no material to work with. My final verdict? You might want to watch it if you are a fan of Jessica’s. If not, give it a miss, because you really won’t be losing much.

Screenshots:
http://tvcity.tvb.com/drama/lady_fan/story/