Face to Fate

Year: 2006
Chinese title & translation: 布衣神相 - Bo Yee Sun Sheung
English title: Face to Fate
Number of episodes:30

Cast
Lee Bo Yi - Frankie Lam
Lai Yeuk Yi - Raymond Lam
Yip Mong Sik - Tavia Yeung
Yin Ye Loi - Selina Li
Sum Sing Nam - John Chiang
Yeuk Lan - Anne Heung
Sum Gong Hung - Nancy Wu
Lau Fun Yu - Derek Kwok

WARNING: **SPOILERS**
Synopsis

For decades, conflict between the sects of Hak (Black) & Bak (White) have continuously raged for sole domination and claim of the martial arts world. In an effort to justify some dispute, a Gam Yin tournament is held every 5 years, with the winning sect rewarded with claim to control until the next tournament.

An ingenious Taoist fortune teller by the name of Lee Bo Yi fatefully comes across a dark case involving the brutal assasination of martial art masters, each revealed as Gam Yin representatives of the Bak side. He indulges in solving the mysterious murders, unravelling them as a result of the Heart Devil's masterwork - causing irregular abruptive heartbeat until it explodes leading to death by compelling one's darkest fears or secrets.

In account to this unfortunate case of event, he crosses roads and befriends a few certain individuals, such as the divinely skilled doctor, Lai Yeuk Yi (Raymond Lam), and a young female Bak sect disciple warrior, Yip Mong Sik (Tavia Yeung). With their help, he sets on a quest seeking five other members to replace as representatives before the deadline of Gam Yin tournament comes calling...

Character synopsis

Lee Bo Yi - Frankie Lam
Lee Bo Yi, a righteous and ingenious fortune teller, was from neither Hak or Bak sects, making him neutral. However, his big yearning heart for righteousness results in himself ignoring the personal moral rule of siding with neither side and he goes on to contribute his assistance to Bak. Highly talented in both fortune-telling and martial arts, calm, resourceful, mature and realistic are also some of his traits.

Lai Yeuk Yi - Raymond Lam

A divine extremely skilled doctor known to cure any disease known to man, Lai Yeuk Yi also possesses a nature of arrogance with a strong attitude and ego.

A descendant of the Lai family, a bloodline and generation of highly talented doctors of brilliance, Yeuk Yi also inherited an incurable disease that causes the oldest member of the Lai family to age quickly with a head full of white hair. Even though the Lais retained such merits, their unfortunate tenure followed and haunted them generation after another, these being the reasons why the young doctor derived his view of life as a world of injustice. Thus, knowing he wouldn't enjoy to live a long life, most of his time is spent womanizing.

That being said, this character isn't exactly the cold and harsh young man you'd be expecting. Lai Yeuk Yi is an interesting one - carefree and laidback, he's pretty straightforward, says what he thinks and wants for God cares what others think. It's really no wonder why he's disliked by many. Lai Yeuk Yi also has a mere joy of teasing Mong Sik and some of those scenes were pretty hilarious.

Three standard reasons of his refusement to cure: no money/poor, dislikes that person, or if he doesn't feel like it/ in a bad-mood.

Yip Mong Sik - Tavia Yeung

Stubborn, impulsive, immature, yet righteous and courageous, are the words to describe Yip Mong Sik, the 3rd disciple of Flying Fish Mountain sect and Bak leader, Sum Sing Nam. Adopted when she was three, the young fighter saw Flying Fish Mountain as her home, her fellow disciples as siblings, and leader Sum as a father. Because of her quick judgement of things and situations, she disliked Lee Bo Yi at first and only saw him as a culprit no matter what. However, as time progresses she sees for herself what kind of person he truely is and views of him changes, as well as her level of maturity.

Yin Ye Loi - Selina Li

Beautiful, young, independent and brave yet with a sense of elegance - Yin Ye Loi is a young widow and mistress of Ye Loi Inn. Little did anyone know behind that sincere smile and a simple life concealed the dark identity of a past heroic bandit, Yuk Foo Yung, who stole imperial goods and wealth to help the poor.

Cast synopsis

FRANKIE LAM as Lee Bo Yi

Frankie hasn't failed to put up a solid performance in most of his series, and this is just another example. Very convincing as the mature and clever talented fortune-teller Lee Bo Yi. Overall, I think he played his role perfectly and was the right candidate for this character.

My rating: 5/5

RAYMOND LAM as Lai Yeuk Yi

Raymond portrayed the young doctor and his characteristics of a big attitude well and his expressions were timely and perfect. When his older brother died his crying and tears were so convincing that I must admit, my eyes were watery. This character is not quite a smooth one to portray but it seems like he pulled this one off easily and successfully. A solid performance by him.

My rating: 5/5

TAVIA YEUNG as Yip Mong Sik

Tavia did a pretty good job as Mong Sik and much like the other two, her performance was nothing short of solid. What a versatile actrss she is! The character development from the stubborn, immature and impulsive Mong Sik to the mature, understanding, and reasonable later on in the series was equally convincing. I really love her pissed off and confused expressions - especially the ones from the scenes between her and Lai Yeuk Yi, who loves ticking her off like a minute bomb.

One of my favorite scenes is probably when Mong Sik begs him to save her master and fellow sect disciples when they were poisoned and Lai Yeuk Yi's request was in order to do so was for her to call him "Lo gong jai" (hubby) three times and a kiss. Her mixed expressions - mostly that of anger and confusion - were so hilarious it adds more to that comedic moment. However seeing her constipated look, he called off the kiss but I can't imagine her expressions and reactions if she did kiss him.

And from then on whenever he talks to her he would always tease her by going like "- right, LO PO JAI?" and she would turn away in embarrassment and disgust while he's chuckling at her expense.

My rating: 4.5/5

SELINA LI as Yin Ye Loi

Although Selina's performance is nowhere solid yet, I must say - personally, I'm amazed at her huge improvement. She has obviously improved heaps since I last saw her - which was probably Yoyo in "Just Love" and each time she just gets more comfortable and confident onscreen which is a good thing.
With the progress of improvement she's advancing at - I'm sure she would be able to put up some good performances soon in the near future. Keep up the good work Selina! I guess my expectations of her very low coming into the series - explaining why I was rather pleasant towards her performance although it was nothing near solid. I thought her appearance fit the look of the character Yin Ye Loi.
Nevertheless..

My rating: 3-3.5/5

JOHN CHIANG as Sum Sing Nam

I was too lazy to get into a character synopsis of Sum Sing Nam and some others but I MUST give credit to John's wonderful and solid performance of his character. He is definitely a true veteran.

My rating: 5/5 (not surprising huh..)

ANNE HEUNG as Yeuk Lan

I think Anne Heung did a good job as Sum Sing Nam's young and beautiful wife, Yeuk Lan, who has been said by many to possess legendary beauty as well as that of wit. This passionate character definitely makes the series more interesting and better. I also heard "Face to Fate" would be her last TVB series before she leaves for mainland so I'd like to give her some credit. Her portrayal wasn't bad either.

My rating: 4/5

Overall, I think this series is pretty awesome. Especially during the first few episodes I was easily hooked to an addiction of this series. I have recommended this to many and even most have came back to me with strong praises towards it. Unlike most ancient wuxia, this series revolves around a fortune-teller and a divinely talented doctor which in my opinion, is quite unique, refreshing and original in some way. Not to mention, it is very good.

Highly recommended to all of you out there that haven't watched this series yet, and if you're considering about it, I can guarantee you won't be disappointed!

Overall rating for this series: 5/5