A Fist Within Four Walls 城寨英雄 TVB - Week 2 Review (Ep 8-14)

Hello! Hope you had an awesome week! We are back with the weekly review of A Fist Within Four Walls! If you have not seen our first review, it's just the post before this one or you can click this.

We are going to try keep this review shorter since we are a bit short on time this week so sorry about that. This drama has been getting a lot of great feedback and the viewership ratings are some of the highest TVB has seen this year. Our top three concerns still remain concerns because Ruco is just adequate here and good in his fight scenes but the character seems to have forgotten about where he came from and his family history and now he's just happy and irrational when it comes to saving people. Nancy has definitely surpassed our expectations as we said in our last review and continues to do so this week but we heard that she was going to show up in her black leather fighting suit soon so there will be more of her fighting scenes after a break for most of the second week. Thirdly, Ben is still very wooden but he has a rival for wooden-ness! Philip Ng is proving to be more wooden than Ben and Moon's Audrey even calls him out for it.

Episode 8:

This episode starts off with people mourning the tragic death of Yam Yam. Honestly, we were very sad that she had such a tragic end even though the Walled City neighbours all worked hard to bring her out of the Walled City. Next time something like this happens, hopefully the Walled City heroes (Kuen Lo and Ah Lo) will be successful in saving the person and helping them find a better life. By the way, we wonder what happened to her dad Lee Fat. Hope he stops gambling or even just gets hunted down by the loan sharks or people of The Association. He was a horrible father and even put his daughter up for sale, just despicable!

For the relationship line between Tiu Lan and Ying-Fung, we are sensing that they are just good friends. She doesn't seem to really like him and we think she is in love with the idea of being with him since he's a dentist, he's kind, he fights well, he's good looking and has a great body but when it boils down to who she really likes, we think it will be Kuen. They have more chemistry together as well. Ying-Fung suspects that she had a cardiac arrest while saving Yam Yam and that means that she has a heart disease and should not fight or do anything that causes stress physically or mentally. It feels to us like they are "guarding" each other and looking out for each other but that is what good friends do.

Next scene that is worth mentioning is actually quite disturbing. It is of Tiu Lan's past as a poor child who had to kill people for a living. We did not really recognize the little girl as Chiu Ha, Kuen's sister so maybe this is just a different girl with a very sad childhood as well. So this is how she got all the money for her flat and the hair salon. Her split personality will be interesting for Kuen to discover and we are looking forward to that scene.

Moon is now a teacher for the Walled City children and to get them to pay attention she has to buy food for them since they're too hungry to even hear what she has to say. We would not want to be this teacher, pouring in our own money for kids haha. A little selfish of us but realistic when your dad is not as rich as O Man Cheong haha. So turns out that the jelly pudding cake that she bought were poisoned and she immediately blamed it on the owner of the jelly pudding cake company who we find super suspicious and may even be an assassin... This is a set up for But Duc Liu to register for the black market boxing event and of course, the two heroes of the Walled City will fight for him! The pudding cake was actually poisoned by Fuk Sau-Kam and gang because the pudding cake owner refused to deliver their drugs out of the Walled City, hmm... is there another side of the story?

This is another round of guesses for the assassins and another great episode! Although this one did not have as many fight scenes, it sets up the stage for next episode!


There are 9 choices so far:
A: O Man Cheong (KK Cheung) - he seems to be hiding his kung fu
B: Lee Fat (Ngai Wai-Man) - OUT
C: Fung Mei-Chun (Carlo Ng) - YES
D: Mr. Dei Zee  (sorry his name is not on the wiki list :( ) - really don't know who he is
E: Fuk Sau-Kam (Vincent Lam) - haven't seen him fight yet but maybe
F: Yeung Chuk-Lun (Jimmy Au) - HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS
G: Duen Chit-Keung (Stephen Ho) - again suspicious but he is not an assassin
H: Yuk Bo-Fung (Yuen Chau) - Wasn't she in Thailand?
I: Lung Sing-Fu (Philip Ng) - OUT

Episode 9:

This was one of our favourite episodes so far!!! Last episode ended with a cliffhanger of But Duc Liu waiting to die in the boxing ring. The Walled City Benefits Club is finally stepping out to show their strengths! Their first fight was an ok scene and they each took on one of their opponents in the end and Kuen used his Chiu family Bajiquan. When Ying-Fung asks him how he knows the Chiu family Bajiquan, Kuen brings out the whole, "Ohhh I'm friends with Chiu Yeung so he taught me a few move..." We can't wait until Ying-Fung finds out that he is Chiu Yeung. That better be a highlight for the two actor's performances. If Ben Yuen is looking super wooden in that scene, then he just missed a great opportunity to show off his acting.

There are a variety of different fighters for this boxing tournament and Lung Sing-Fu has been the winner for the last two years already. This time, he is fighting with a partner who placed second last time and they are paired together for a sure win. His partner, played by Otto Chan, just fans at the corner of the boxing ring. They will probably fight Kuen and Fung for the final and Fu looks like he wants to take out Kuen completely and kill him. Of course, we are looking forward to a great fight between the two teams and some blood and bruises (none of that fake CGI blood pls lol). Thai Po, Fu's mom is not pleased that he is fighting again and urges him to have mercy on his opponents. We really don't like Philip's voice here because it is super harsh but his face is still wooden so it does not match and makes it look very awkward on screen.

Ying-Fung's uncle is against him fighting in this tournament and even punches him a couple times and injires him hard. So wow... how did Tiu-Lan endure BOTH Kuen and Fung punching her chest that episode? Must be superwoman haha. This uncle is suspicious indeed, he has been hiding away his Bajiquan for years and lives with the lie that Chiu Mang-San killed his brother. He must have been tied into the death of him somehow and we are eager to find out what happened. Anyways, the two heroes are taking on the two masked girls. This is our favourite part of the episode because it is super funny as Tiu Lan changes into one of the girls and starts to touch Fung all over!


Screenshots retrieved from: http://icdrama.se/watch-online-a-fist-within-four-walls-episode-02-46675.html

Of course Kuen recognizes it is Tiu Lan and just lets her have a go at Fung hahaha. Also we want to correct something from our last review. So it turns out that from the original script, the relationship lines have changed and Ben won't like Moon, but instead will be paired with Grace Wong and then Moon will be with Philip. Back to the drama, we laughed super hard during this scene even though it was a fight scene. Great way to add comedy!! Nancy's Tiu Lan is really uplifting to see in this drama and so is Moon Lau's Audrey O. The guys haven't had much to do but fight these few episodes.

Grace Wong finally shows up as Fa Man, a beautiful woman who wants to bet on the boxing tournament and by chance of the die, she chooses to place her suitcase of money on the two heroes. We believe that she may be the piece to our puzzle, (she is Chiu Ha) but we are just waiting for her to show off her kung-fu!

The end of this episode is another cliffhanger! Turns out the fan guy (Otto Chan) slices Fu's neck with poison and blood squirts our and he is no longer able to hold his balance! Looks like Chun Mei is behind this plot! He is back to take revenge for his brother and looks like The Association is back with another member. This is going to get interesting and Carlo is going to show us more of his acting chops with this great role. Overall, awesome episode with comedy and action! More development on the character relationships and also the return of Chun Mei Gor!

Episode 10:

Screenshot retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8W4pfGkw-k

The action continues as Fu keeps fighting off even though his blood is splattering out of his neck. Super graphic of TVB considering what they have shown this past year. Saving the best for the summer? lol. Amazing summer for sure, not Daddy Dearest as much though. Anyways, Fu could have killed Kuen with his elbow as he was charging down but he remembered his mother's words and just hits his shoulder. O Man Cheong is pissed at this and wants Fu to win so the bets go well. The fight ends as the three are all in mid-air and each take a jab and they all come flying out of the ring... except for Kuen who hangs on at the last minute! They take the title and their club starts getting noticed by The Association! So whoever is the first one to take them out gets to be the new leader. One thing that we didn't like about this fight scene was how Fung took off his glasses... like, can you still see Fu's punches? What is going on? We thought it was very illogical of the scriptwriters to have him take off his glasses lol.

Fa Man is a dancer who works under Chun Mei and things are going to get interesting because we believe that Chun Mei is one of the assassins who killed Chiu Ha's father and if we are correct, Fa Man is Chiu Ha. This is really all we have to say for this episode. We are happy that Fu has gotten his senses back and we hope his relationship with his mother will improve as well. Very good chemistry with Moon Lau so far!

Episode 11:

Another episode of action!! This time, Fuk Sau-Kam is finally showing off his kung-fu. This further confirms his role of an assassin back in the day. Two down, one to go and we are suspecting O Man Cheong might be one because after that, the three came into power. Vincent Lam is showing a great performance so far as a drug addict especially in the scene where he takes his drug and then fights without a shred of fear of the three top boxers of the black market.

Fung Chun-Mei is continuing his schemes and got Fa Man to steal Fuk Sau-Kam's store of drugs. Meanwhile he is just sitting back and watching Fuk Sau-Kam scurry around the Walled City to find his stock. Smart move by Chun Mei and it looks like he's back not only for revenge of his brother but also for securing his spot as leader of The Association. It is without doubt that he has the brains and the fist to take the spot but will O Man Cheong fight it out with him? We are very curious to see the three battle it out so The Benefits Club can rise and have citizen support.

O Man Cheong is not one to be belittled but it looks like he is losing his power since his daughter got kidnapped by Fuk Sau-Kam. Remember when we said we were looking forward to Audrey's reaction to her father's ties with the triad? Well here it is! She is unhappy that her dad is a triad boss but still stands up for him in front of the Walled City clan because after all, he is her father. We think that she is not proud of the stuff he does but she knows she can't change what's been done so she has to find a way to have him exit The Association. Maybe she will be the deciding factor for O Man Cheong.

Episode 12:

This is probably the most intense episode of the week, not because of the fighting but because many changes are happening to Chun Mei's plan and also Kuen and Tiu Lan have a life/death moment as well.

Fuk Sau-Kam is making O Man Cheong take out the rest of his drugs and if he can't find it, he will have to buy them off the market in exchange for his daughter. This kidnap was already uncalled for but on top of that, Audrey escapes and now Fuk Sau-Kam can't even find her to use her as an exchange for his drugs.

Meanwhile the stock that is at Mei Mun Dance Club is stolen by Ying-Fung who begins to learn about Fa Man. He knows that Fa Man fights with Bajiquan which she learnt somewhere else (or so she claims) from an old customer of hers or something like that. This is it! She is Chiu Ha indeed! She intercepts between Fung and Chun Mei's fight and helps Fung bring the drugs to a small remote warehouse looking thing and there they start to trust each other. She has a flash of courage where she wants to stab Fung but when Fung asks her to help him with his wound from Chun Mei, she decided to spare him. She is very mysterious right now and Fung seems to place complete trust in her despite this.

The last half-ish of this episode is just as fast-paced as the first half. O Man Cheong barges into The Benefits Club just a second after the drugs Fung stole were given to the pudding cake store owner. Kuen realizes that there is still a small corner of a package on the floor. He quickly retrieves it and swallows it! At first we thought it was just the paper of the package but it actually contained a lot of the drug, (okay we think it is cocaine or something but aren't sure so we are just going to call it the drug LOL). When O Man Cheong and gang leave, he starts showing symptoms of overdose. Tiu Lan frantically tries to remember her acupuncture to see where to stab him but she cannot remember and just takes a stab haha. This scene reminds us a lot of when Charmaine had to stab Raymond Lam on the thigh after his overdose on drugs. This is from the same producer too, so LOL, no surprises there? It was still well done here and put us on the edge too!! When she sliced his wrist, we were scared that he would bleed uncontrollably but that ended up being what saved him because the poison leaked out. ahh! Very intense scene! The ending of this episode was very cute! Them sitting by the tree really added to the feeling of their love for each other. We hope Tiu Lan starts to notice Kuen more and forgets about Fung lol.

Episode 13:

This episode solves the drug stock problem. So first of all, Fu saves Audrey and ends up taking a bullet for himself. Their relationship develops further and we feel that he wants to make an excuse for not falling for her by always saying that it is his job but we are hoping that they get together soon. It is always such a letdown of TVB scriptwriters when the pairs end up together on the last episode! House of Spirits, Between Love and Desire, Angel in the Making and a bunch of other ones have been like that so far!

Kuen finds out that O Man Cheong is looking everywhere for money to rescue Audrey and he wants to butt into the situation by handing over the drugs to save her. Fung and Tiu Lan don't support this because saving one life means ruining another thousand lives to drugs. So those two are the brains of the club and Kuen just has the courage and braveness to rush out there to help those in need. It is a great pairing indeed but as far as acting goes, Kuen's character is just missing a little something to skyrocket Ruco to TV King position. Anyways, the drugs get set on fire by Fung and Tiu Lan amidst the fighting of Fuk Sau-Kam, Kuen and O Man Cheong's men since O Man Cheong finds out that Fu already saved Audrey.

The next part is the answer to our question!! Fa Man corners Fuk Sau-Kam into a back alley and reveals her identity as Chiu Ha. Fuk Sau-Kam now has nothing left and still has to run away from the people he owes the drugs to. However, he pleads Fa Man to spare his life so he can help her investigate who the big boss behind the assassination of Chiu Mang-San and Duen Tung-Tin is. Now this part where his skull is all cracked up is a recurring image for people who use the Mang Fu Pa San strike of the palm on someone's head.



Screenshots retrieved from: http://www.on9drama.com/

So the three assassins are: O Man Cheong, Fung Chun Mei, and Fuk Sau Kam. The big boss is yet to be found and there is now a new question! Who is the big boss in charge of these events?


A: O Man Cheong (KK Cheung): He was already an assassin so maybe not
B: Lee Fat (Ngai Wai-Man): Why is he here again? OUT
C: Fung Chun Mei (Carlo Ng): Maybe since he seems super evil but he is also already an assassin
D: Duen Ying Fung (Benjamin Yuen): What the heck? OUT
E: Tiu Lan (Nancy Wu): What the heck again. OUT
F: Choi Suk-Guen (Natalie Tong): We aren't really sure right now
G: Yeung Chuk-Lun (Jimmy Au) - He is definitely on our radar! Maybe he is supporting Kuen and Fung to build their own club to defeat The Association since they are getting out of hand or he is losing control of them.
H: Duen Chit-Keung (Stephen Ho) - Extremely suspicious
I: Yuk Bo-Fung (Yuen Chau) - She was probably in Thailand again so OUT
J: Lung Sing-Fu (Philip Ng) - OUT... what is TVB thinking having him as a choice?
K: Fa Man (Grace Wong): Wasn't she a kid? OUT


Fung now knows that Fa Man's main objective is Fung Chun Mei and doesn't really bother asking why because he does deserve to die for doing so many nasty things. We think that they are a good couple as well but Ben Yuen is missing a little bit of expression of admiration for her. He doesn't really show why he likes her or anything. He is just kinda there.

Episode 14:

Last one of this week!! This one is a funny one after all that suspense and action! Audrey is now trying to veer her father away from his gambling business and such. She wants him to do some actual, legitimate business that doesn't have to do with gangs and violence. Therefore, she goes to his gambling places and pours his money out of his pocket as she helps the people win big money. Funniest part is when she runs up to Dai Deng and asks him to pay up! Turns out that O Man Cheong is the one that owes Dai Deng money haha. Moon Lau is very cute and natural in her role and is our favourite new actress so far. Sisley and Grace have just gone downhill with their acting.

Another funny scene is when Tiu Lan finds a pair of flats underneath Fung's pillow and thinks that he bought them for her. So at dinnertime, she keeps waving around her feet in front of Fung to remind him of her shoes. Instead, he gives her some ointment for her bunion or corn and the whole dinner table laughs! We know that the shoes are for Fa Man since last episode, he said that she should buy a pair of flat shoes to wear after work since high heels are bad for her knees in practicing Bajiquan. Ruco goes around trying to find who got the shoes and stares down women's feet and is called a pervert lool. But he ends up buying a new pair for $2.50 and fights with a rowdy woman who raises up the price of the shoes but ends up not buying them! It is so unfortunate that he has no courage to give them to her since she already set up another fight between the two brothers and the deal is for Kuen to win and tell Fung to date Tiu Lan in turn for free rent for the rest of his life. He has the courage to go out and fight for what he believes in but when it comes to girls, he has no strategy and no hope.

We really did not like the kung fu between Fa Man and Fung at the Benefits Club. It was very choreographed and looked like a dance instead. We expected more and something faster. It is heartbreaking when Tiu Lan sees Fa Man wearing the new shoes but inside, we were looking forward to this moment so that she could end up with Kuen. She finds out that Kuen likes her since the shoes that Kuen bought but was too scared to give out lands in her hands. Hopefully, she starts to like him instead!

This is it for this time and we don't think we can make another post for next week. Sorry about that but let us know what you thought of this week's episode!

-CeeJay

Comments

  1. It's a pleasure to read both of your thoughts for this show! I wish you would continue for the remaining episodes, although it may be too late now.

    ReplyDelete

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