At the Threshold of an Era II

In contrast to the first half of "At the Threshold of an Era", the second half started well and ended in a catastrophe. "Threshold II" is a farfetched tale about revenge that is quite ridiculous. Not only did TVB extend the already too long series to a 106 episodes but also made it so uninteresting to watch by the end that one does not care anymore. Continuing where the story left off, the first few episodes were probably the most interesting--you had to be somewhat curious after watching 50 episodes prior about the aftermaths. We have Yip Wing Tim (Gallen Lo Ka Leung) out to avenge his buddy Hui Man Bui and Hui's wife at all means--even resorting to hiring an assassin. Next up the line we have Yip Hao Lie, the business tycoon, out to avenge the murder of his second son's death, also at all means. Finally, the series main villain, Cheung Chi Lik (Louis Koo Tin Lok), is forever conspiring to destroy the man, Yip Wing Tim, he believes to have caused the death of his half brother Hui.

The whole series is about misunderstandings and a lack of communication between the characters since all of that revenge could have been resolved if only the characters cared enough to check out the truth first. My own theory is that the whole problem lies at the fault of one man, Ma Chi Keung (Roger Kwok Chun On), who unknowingly caused the death of Hui Man Bill when he gave Hui several pills to take. The chain of events that came thereafter--Chueung Chi Lik out for revenge, Chueng Chi Lik losing his girlfriend to Ma, Cheung Chi Lik beating his wife--more or less happened because Ma just would not give up on Cheung's girlfriend and later wife (Ada Choi Siu Fun).

In the second half, Yip Wing Tim's character mellowed down and became a good boy. The role has no challenge for Gallen Lo after that and his performance was at best wooded thereafter. Most of the series was about how Yip and Ma wanted to carry out the late Hui's dream of building a "Mo Yeen" or "Smokeless City". The ex-gangster Cheung Chi Lik quite easily gained an education and rose in corporate power to counter Yip's Smokeless City with his obviously less inspired "Digital City". The irony of it all was that Cheung was actually trying to demolish his revered brother's dream. Louis Koo as Cheung was quite bad since he could not seem to hide a small smirk in a lot of scenes--though he's not to be blamed for a poorly written script. The story just did not make sense after a while. It was also quite corny and typical that Cheung's girlfriend loses her memory just when she's about to tell him the truth. One does feel a tad sorry for the fellow Cheung since he lost everything, including his lover, for the love he had for his brother.

Ada Choi's character was very fickle as she seemed to love Cheung Chi Lik at one time to Ma Chi Keung at another and then back and forth. Kenix Kwok's role as Yip Wing Tim's lover appeared to be promising but later it became apparent that the story just did not allow for any chemistry between her and Gallen. Michelle Saram's first appearance in a TVB series was also terrible as she was casted as Cheung's step-sister who could only smile cheerfully most of the shots.

Overall, the latter part of the series is a lousy show that lacked effort on the part of the writer(s) and without the pomp and excitement that is usually expected of such big productions.