Who is the Winner III

Foreword

Betting on the success on the first 2 dramas, ATV produces the third and final segment of ‘Who is the winner’ with some different faces. Can it do well as the first two? Unlike II which was shot in Malaysia, III was shot in France and also Monaco casinos. It made a record of HK3000 million.

Story/ Introduction on characters

1, Cheng Yik Fung – Yam Tak Wah
He is a loyal friend and regards friendship important. He is the top gambler that all renounce to with. Many call him the evil gambler but he is kind at heart. All eye his no.1 spot. 5 years ago, Yik Fung’s family is attacked. He is saved by his servant’s son and good friend, Tin Yeung.

Knowing that Tin Yeung loves his fiancée, Jing Yung, he gives all his property to him and asks him to take care of her. (How stupid – this is not showing gratitude but pity instead. No wonder this man can’t stomach this.) he doesn’t care what happens in the world and goes into retreat.

Kuen is determined to seek him out to take over him. Yik Fung is never known to appear in public easily. To seek him out, he challenges his good friend, Tin Yeung at Tin Yeung’s casino. They gamble on lives. Tin Yeung loses badly and is about to lose an arm but luckily Yik Fung comes to save him after knowing this. He agrees to gamble with him 3 days later. He wins but Kuen refuses to admit defeat to want to gamble again 3 months later.

Tin Yeung’s faking of death makes him lose his hand in the second match. His disability does not stop him from seeking revenge on Kuen. He practices hard and defeats him again. Kuen feels shamed and kills himself. Tin Yeung sees that he is losing and begs for his forgiveness. Yik Fung lets him go but this proves to be another fatal mistake.

2. Yee Tin Yeung – Tong Chun Yip
He is a narrow-minded and scheming man. He is no.3 in the gambling world. He is buried by hatred and spares no one. The defeat is his humiliation. He hates Yik Fung for getting Jing Yung’s love. Kuen learns about this and spins the jealousy fire in his heart to make him kill himself in front of Yik Fung.

His death affects Yik Fung so much that he loses another battle with Kuen. His hand tendrons are cut and Tin Yeung appears. He is only faking his own death. After seeing how he loses again, he secretly learns evil gambling tricks. He becomes the gambling monster. This leaves Yik Fung no choice but to deal with him again.

3. Fong Chun – Kong Wah
He is very calm and capable. He can complete any assignment passed to him.

4. Yuen Siu Fun – Lau Kam Ling
She is wild and liberal. She has a fiery temper and often gets into trouble as she is too nosey.

5. Mr Darwin – Fong Kong
He is a Wall Street businessman. He works with Tin Yeung to buy all the shares in the world.

6. Kwok Jing Yung – Man Yee Mun
She is gentle and also virtual. She makes a good wife as she is also sociable. Yik Fung shows her concern during her kidnap and she never stops loving him although she marries Tin Yeung. She looks gentle but has a strong character. She can’t condone his misdeeds and leaves him in the end.

7. Ling Lei – Ng Wing Mei
She is pretty and also wise. She loves power and is among the famous gamblers. She tries to attract Yik Fung but he only has Jing Yung in his heart. She looks elegant but in reality, she is only a socialite in the gambling ground.

8. Lei Bun – Lo Liet
He makes friends easily and is a loyal friend of Yik Fung. He is the best person to seek for help.

9. Jeung Kuen – Ko Hung
He is the gambling tycoon who thinks and works far. He wants to possess the whole gambling world. He likes to challenge different gambling gods from different countries to become no.1. After beaten the U.S. gambling king, he thinks that he has finally succeeded. To his dismay, Hin pronounces him to be no.2 as no.1 is Yik Hung who has disappeared from the gambling scene for 5 years. Thus he spares no time to seek him out.

Being evil, he cracks plots to frame others non-stop. He nearly turns mad in order to win Yik Fung. But being the proud man, he refuses to believe that he loses to a handicapped Yik Fung so he kills himself.

10. Shek Man San – Cheung Jing
He is also another professional gambler but he prefers to play casually. He is a kind person at heart. What he mostly earns goes to the poor.

11. Jeung Wai – Yan Chi Keung
He is conceited and reckless. He has the courage but often carries out tasks without thinking.

12. Chek Kar Fook – Kwok Yiu Ming
He is talkative and loves to idle. That is why he is jobless for a long time. He brags to be smart but he isn’t.

13. Song Hin – Wong Wan Choy
He is the judge for all gambling competitions. All look for him as he is a fair man.

14. Siu Kong – Ou Kam Tong
He is simple and kind. But because of his innocence, many take advantage of him but he never changes as he is a loyal friend who never asks for anything in return. He knows of Yik Fung’s fame and worships him as an idol. He resorts to cheating in order to win a ticket to watch the match between Yik Fung and Kuen. Yik Fung teaches Siu Kogn some skills and he is attracted to Lei.

15. Lee Kam Cheung – Lo Song Wah
He loves to boast and adores branded products. All tease him as he doesn’t look trendy to appear good in them.

Favourite character

Yik Fung. He is a loyal friend. But that doesn’t imply that he should will everything to his best friend. Doesn’t he think for himself? I believe such a man should not exist on earth.

Most hated character

Tin Yeung. He makes everyone miserable. Jing Yung thinks that he is dead and gets upset. Yik Fung loses his right hand because of him. He is a scum who can never repent.

Interesting facts

Tat Wah left TVB 3 years ago. He learned of the dipping viewership in TVB and shook his head. (That was the darkest period for all fans as it kept producing lousy works.) It really made his own words came true – without a big star, TVB could not survive.

Although ATV was still starting, the procedure was in a big mess. Tat Wah hoped that it would not happen when he was there. He had seen two actresses late for work. He told them that he drew a salary like them. If he could arrive early, why couldn’t they?

It still continued the comic character style in illustrating the story. Besides mahjong and poker cards, it also included chess and billiard. ATV rented hotels and horse racing grounds. Plus computer effects, the car racing and motorcycle stunts were good. However, the viewers had enough of that. Thus the viewership was not as good as expected although the gambling scenes were spectacular.

Conclusion

It is said to do well but not as good as the other two segments. I guess all are tired of watching gambling dramas. That is why it goes downhill. It was wise of ATV to use this as a closure. The story is so unoriginal. It reminds me of ‘The Shell Game’. How can Ling Lei’s name can even be as similar to Cheuk Lei’s name in the latter drama?

If not for Tat Wah and Chun Yip, I could have discontinued watching. No doubt Chun Yip is reprising a villain role. But it is very rare to see him working with Tat Wah. Thus it is still a joy to see how the two pit their acting skills against each other. And yes, both have not disappoint us in any way.

This drama shows how limited resources ATV has to reuse the same artistes repeatedly. I am getting tired of watching it although they play different roles. The storyline sucks. Gambling dramas go the same trend – fake death, seek revenge due to hatred or jealousy to end miserably. After this drama, I had to stay away from gambling movies for some time as I had an overdose of it. I shall not go into details of this drama as it is very plain and offers little surprises.

Sukting’s ratings :

On acting : *** (Scale of 5)

On story : ** (Scale of 5)