Grace Under Fire (2011)

It started so great, but 32 episodes is a bit too long between you and me.

The first 22 episodes were so intense, with Machiavellian conspiracy to remove well respected Wong Sifu and try to dirt his flawless reputation.
But there wasn't only that, there was also Kwai Lan day-to-day existence and worries with her immature brother Sam Sui who just loved to bet on clandestine fights, her uncle Ping, and Kwai Fa who become her friend. There was Lung and his paranoïd father who's been living in the past of his defeat against Wong Sifu 20 years ago.
There's also Wong son Hong Yip, who's an honest journalist that wish nothing more than to reveal the corruption of the high-ranking, especially the evil deeds of the mayor or I don't even know which position he occupy. And the right-hand man of the guy who's start to have enough of his boss egocentrism and neverending thirst for power...
All these people are more or less involved together with their life intertwined. There was almost no idle time, I even whished for longer episodes so that it could have been even more thrilling.

It was supposed to be martial arts genre, but the more you advanced in the episodes, the less fightings you'll see, because seeing Lung participating in these underground fights was not entertaining at all, it was just rough violence with throwing your fists everywhere. I would count 2 to 4 magnificent fights scenes and no more.
The second character I like the least was Lung's Father, Lui Gong. He gave me headache switching from bad to good, and he was also kind of dumb and excessively stubborn even when knowing he was wrong. Always wanting to relive the glorious days of his youth life, that had been wrongly stolen from him... Pfff!!
My number one hated character was Sam Sui, the way his personality goes from an about-turn with ridiculous reasons hidden behind his beahaviour are ludicrous.
My favourite character was Wong Sifu of course, how can you not like the guy, he's humble and despite his age he has the skills and agility that make many envious. His fights scenes were epic, despite being few.

It's a waste how the ten last episodes derive from the original plot, it's like it wasn't even the same drama, with useless fillers that were adding nothing and a tournament I couldn't care less about. And why did they have to kill all these interesting characters like if it was no big deal at all, shame on them. In the end, the title "Nui Kuen" is deceptive too because no real women fight was involved. I was so waiting for Kwai Lan to beat the crap of some big mouth, but it didn't happen like I wish it woud.

Now the music, my goodness!! When I first hear the opening song by Chan Git Líng "Dou Choeng Bat Jap", I thought it was really suiting the drama and that they couldn't have choosen best. I never thought that I would come to like this song that much, so it's a good surprise. The second ending song "Huí Jiàn" by Liú Xuán appears aroud episode 10 and whaouuh, I immediately fell in love with the simple melody that sounds melancholic and is perfect to close an episode.
It's not that often that I like songs in dramas, cause most of the time they are awful to hear, but not here for a change.

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