The Righteous Guards

Cast:
Yuen Biao as Sima Bu Ping
Cynthia Khan as Zhao Yan Ling (or Ning)
Dik Long as Zhao Tian Hao
Yang Jie Mei as Zhao Meng Jiao

Warning! Some Spoilers!

This is not a very popular production and so I do not know much about the actors and actresses. If you know, please tell me!

This is a simple martial arts drama series packed with fighting scenes, relationships, and so on. It sounds like your typical Jin Yong movie right? Yes.

Yuen Biao plays Sima Bu Ping, a young man who likes to butt in other people's business. Well, to be exact, he likes to stick his nose into things that he thinks are unfair. His name shows everything, Bu Ping, meaning unfair. People in the "Mo Lam" world view him as ruthless and nosy, whereas Zhao Yan Ling thinks of him as mysterious and intelligent. His parents were killed when he was little and his uncle took care of him. Besides from taking care of him, his uncle also taught him martial arts. Unfortunately, his uncle soon died and he started to live on his own. His main goal in life is to help all the people who are treated unfairly. So, how does he meet Zhao Yan Ling? Well, one day he walked by an open area and he saw her practicing martial arts. She was trying to do something with her sword and she failed. He, nosy as always, opened his mouth and taught her how to do it correctly. She was annoyed by him and scolded him. After he left, she listened to him and tried what he said to do and it worked. From that day on, whenever Yan Ling looked at the moon, she would remember this nosy man. And when he looked into his wine, he could see her practicing martial arts. He could not help but see her again.

However, each time he appeared, she would get frustrated and would deliberately tell him to leave. He never did listen to her. When he was told to leave, he would hide behind a tree and watch her. Later, he made a big mistake by asking her for her name. When he found out that she was the third daughter of Zhao Tian Hao, he got angry at himself for falling in love with her. Yan Ling's father, Zhao Tian Hao, previously had a duel with Sima Bu Ping and he didn't really like him. I don't know why though, because Zhao Tian Hao is a very good man. Anyway, Sima Bu Ping drank himself silly and decided that he should leave the city before his heart would break again. But he never did leave. Some mysterious people wanted to kill Zhao Tian Hao and he didn't want anything like that to happen. So he stayed and secretively helped Zhao Tian Hao. When Yan Ling knew that he was the one who had a duel with her father, she got angry. She told him that she thought of him as a friend and even told him her name. But when she asked him for his name, he wouldn't tell her. She asked him if he ever thought of her as a friend and why he didn't tell her who he was. He couldn't answer that. Therefore, for a short period of time, she refused to be friendly to him.

Okay, now let me introduce you to Zhao Yan Ling. She's the third daughter of Zhao Tian Hao, younger sister of Meng Jiao and Qi Ying. At first, she was not allowed to practice martial arts although she was obsessed with it. Her father wanted her to be different from her sisters, who had martial arts knowledge. Unfortunately, she was too similar to her father who had a thirst for martial arts. Remember Sima Bu Ping? He taught her some special things about swords and when her father found out about her learning martial arts, he grew very angry and almost killed her. Thanks to Sima Bu Ping. Why? Well, one day Yan Ling returned from practice and her sister Meng Jiao saw her with the sword. So this mean sister challenged Yan Ling and Yan Ling fought with her. In the middle of the battle, Yan Ling did the same stances that Sima Bu Ping did and Meng Jiao recognized it. Meng Jiao went to tell their father and he grew very very angry. However, Yan Ling did something that would change his mind about her learning martial arts. One of their houses were on fire and Yan Ling rushed into the fire to save some people. When he saw her go in, he went in too. They saved the people but Yan Ling almost died. Fortunately, her father saved her and from then on, he allowed her to practice martial arts. Why? Because he seemed to realize that she was similar to him and that she was, after all, his daughter and there was nothing wrong with a daughter being like her father.

Soon the series is focused on the mysterious woman called Tang Shan Shan, also known as "Hao Xin Ren". She wants Zhao Tian Hao and his family dead. First, she tells her lover to use the flute to attract the attention of Zhao Tian Hao. Zhao's followers tried to find the person who is playing the flute and when they come closer to the flute person, they are killed. The more the person plays the flute, the more people die, so Zhao is determined to find the flute person. Meanwhile, Yan Ling meets a man in his late thirties whose nickname is "Hen Xiao Ke". He claims to know the most about flutes, he loves and hates the flute. He is like a wiser and older version of Sima Bu Ping but he wasn't nosy like Sima. Anyway, this "Hen Xiao Ke" also taught Yan Ling some special stuff about the sword and they became friends. He was the one who warned Zhao Tian Hao about Tang Shan Shan and company. He was also the first one to see that nosy man Sima Bu Ping was in love with Yan Ling and guided Sima Bu Ping about his feelings for Yan Ling. Therefore, he became a messenger for both Sima and Zhao when they didn't see each other (mainly because Yan Ling is shy about finding Sima herself).

Why does Tang Shan Shan want the Zhao family dead? Simple. She has a godfather whom she thought was really doing things for her but in fact he was using her to kill Zhao Tian Hao. Why? Mainly because some years back, Tang's godfather killed Tang's parents (because Tang's godfather was in love with Tang's mother who hated him) and some other people. Being a righteous man, Zhao went after Tang's godfather who was also his friend. Unfortunately, Tang's godfather did not die and he brought up Tang Shan Shan, telling her that Zhao was the one who killed her parents. Tang believed this and together with her lover, Yun Fei (Hen Xiao Ke's brother), they tried to kill Zhao. However, Tang's godfather couldn't forget Tang's mother (because Tang looked like her mother) and he tried to rape Tang. That's when the truth spills out. In the end, Tang's godfather dies and so does Yun Fei (he protected his brother from being stabbed). Because of Yun Fei's death, Tang Shan Shan decided to become a nun. Hen Xiao Ke took his brother's ashes back home and never returned to the "Wu Lin" world again.

As for the rest of the story, it will remain a secret because if you want to know, then you must rent it yourself. Yeah, I know. It kills when someone leaves you half of the story, but hey, this is a review, not a synopsis! But it seems like it is right? Sorry!!!

I find Yuen Biao's character very cheesy, especially the way he smiles when he sees Yan Ling. There was this one scene where Yan Ling and he met at the "Lao Di Fang". He had this very cheesy smile on him, the smile where you can see his teeth. Yan Ling was like, "Why are you smiling like that? Is your teeth really that pretty?" Other than those cheesy smiles, I like him when he's drinking wine. He has this serious look on his face, but when "Hen Xiao Ke" mentions Yan Ling, he has this little tiny smile. That's the smile I like, not the cheesy one. I also like his stances, they are very, very powerful. My father says that he's better than Jackie Chan. I agree with that. I mean, his kung-fu is definitely better than Jackie's. All he needs is someone famous to back him up. Can you believe that he's in his early forties? At first, I thought he was like 30 something! Anyway, I really liked his character, but when it comes to girls, he's a loser. After what happened to Tang Shan Shan, he decided to leave the city. But his heart still thinks about what would happen to Yan Ling if he left. However, he left the city because...well I have no idea. He just left! I still hate the scriptwriter for making him leave! Because after his departure, another mystery man called O Yang Wudi comes into the story. He is like Sima Bu Ping, only Sima is much better at martial arts. O Yang persuades Yan Ling to learn his kind of sword techniques, but she refuses. If it was Sima who asked her, she'll probably say yes the second after he asked. That's how important he is to Yan Ling and same goes for Sima. BUT WHY DID HE HAVE TO LEAVE? The moment he left the city, I could feel that the story wouldn't be the same without this "Bak Kwa Lo" which means "Nosy man" in Cantonese. =(

Cynthia's Yan Ling is very strong-willed and has a thirst for learning. I like the way where she yells at Sima, you can see that she's really not angry at him. She always gets angry at Sima's comments but in fact, she likes to hear him comment. I feel really sorry for her. That "nosy man" left without saying goodbye to her, leaving this poor girl missing him all the time. If he had said goodbye to her, then she wouldn't be missing him. After he left, she kept on practicing the stuff that he taught her, probably because that "nosy man" taught her so much that she can't forget them all. Or probably because she misses him too much so she uses this to remember this "nosy man". Whatever the reason was, we viewers can see that she loves this guy no matter how many times she denies it. By the way, why are heroes losers in love? This question pops up in my mind every time I watch Jin Yong movies or just plain martial art movies. Well? Anyone have the answer? Okay, enough of my questions. Let's continue our discussion on Cynthia, shall we? I don't know how many times Cynthia popped onto the television screen when I was alive (I am still alive!) but I say that she's a good actress. She gave an average performance. The last time I saw her work with Yuen Biao was in "Tough Beauty and the Sloppy Slob" which came out in 1995. Six years. This series came out in 1999, I think. I couldn't find any information about this series, probably because it wasn't a big production. If anyone knows any websites about this series please contact ASAP! Thank you in advance.

Dik Long's character was boring. I know he's a good actor and all that, but his frowns, especially the one he had when Tang Shan Shan's godfather died, was so fake. Everything was fake. His sighs, his smiles, they were all fake. He gave a bad performance.

Yang Jie Mei's character, Zhao Meng Jiao was...stubborn, strong willed and so much like Yan Ling but she is more mature. I didn't like the way she pestered Qing Shan, she acted as if she was the male chasing the woman.

I can't say anything about the other actors because I don't know who they are! However I do like the man who played Zhao Tian Hao's third godbrother. That actor did very well.

Overall:
1. The two main characters were excellent
2. The music was great (especially the themesong)
3. The story wasn't boring
4. Sima Bu Ping's sword stances look very good
5. Real martial arts from Cynthia and Yuen Biao
6. Actresses who can actually cry
7. Actors who can actually make you vomit (especially the guy who played O Yang Wudi)
8. The previews at the end of each episode are good
9. The flute music is enjoyable
10. What else can I say?