Warning: Ending Spoiler!!
[All my posts contain spoilers, but this is the ending, so an extra warning message ^__^]
Before watching the final episode, I’ve heard lots of comments saying the ending was very sad and tragic (shocking?) so I was trying to imagine the worse ending possible. I wasn’t looking forward to episode 20 after seeing the happy ‘ending like’ thing happening in episode 19 because I knew it wasn’t going to end that way. I think it might of been this thought I had at the back of my mind; I thought I would hate the ending.
It was sad and tragic ; but I liked the ending. Its different (a little odd), but it worked for me.
If the series ended with episode 19, the series would of had a happy ending but I wouldn’t be as satisfied. I guess its because Louisa’s character doesn’t end up dying yet and seeing all the bad things Louisa had done, I don’t think she’ll change for the better. She continued to speak as if she suffered so much but I personally don’t think she is tortured or had suffered enough for everything he has done.
Leila’s character faced a really sad tragic death scene. I had a feeling Leila wouldn’t accept Jack and this series would probably be its first I’ve seen where a main character girl doesn’t get moved by all the things the main character guy(for her) did for her. She rejected him again and again (from the first episode till last) , numerous times even after he waited for her for 4 years! (to get out of jail) His proposal failed after all they have been through together, but perhaps somewhere inside her she had already gotten used to having him by her side when she needed someone. So when Jack told her that he had to leave, going back to England and possibly never returning (because his mother had already found him a potential partner and he felt that he couldn’t win Leila’s heart), Leila becomes disturbed (it bothered her, if that was the word) and Krystal commented that it was because she was getting jealous. Eventually Krystal convinces Leila to consider him and Leila planned to go back to England with him. Why did she have to follow Louisa? ? ? Louisa lures Leila to follow her and attacks her from behind! After their final talk, Leila gets beaten to death!! Louisa threw Leila into a box
and nailed it…the sad thing is- at the time, Jack and Krystal didn’t even know. When Krystal arrived at the wharf and she saw Leila wandering around, she should have went out to look for her after seeing she didn’t
return for so long! Wouldn’t they think something might of happened to her? They do that a lot in other TVB Series =( Instead, while Leila was getting beaten and struggling to use her last breath to open up the nailed box she was in, the two did nothing except sit and wait!! T_T
They were waiting for Leila to show up, but for the audience, it was like they were waiting for her to die T_T Eventually, Jack leaves, thinking that Leila wouldn’t come, possibly because she changed her mind.
“Ma Hak (Jack Wu’s character) , all these years, no matter what happens..you’d always be by my side. But why aren’t you here this time..why?”-Leila
“Remember to help me say good bye to her“-Jack (getting ready to leave) to Krystal
*As Jack walks away into the ship, Leila uses her last energy and slips the marble out of the box.*
“Good bye…”-Leila
I really liked Leila’s final scene. I didn’t want Leila’s character to die or anything, but I thought it was well captured. It took Leila’s death before Krystal realised that Louisa had to die. It was Krystal’s “stupidity” of believing Lousia again and again that caused Leila to die. At the end, Krystal helps Leila take revenge by shooting Louisa at the execution place..
There were 2 parts in this episode I would have been really annoyed if they had left it like that. Firstly would be the part when the marble covered in blood rolled out to Krystal. If she was so dumb not to realise, especially seeing Louisa suspiciously run off from that direction that would have been very frustrating! Secondly would be the part Krystal said she’ll kill Louisa. If Krystal let Louisa go, that would have been one of the most annoying endings ever.
Characters looking 4 years later: I thought Krystal’s hair looked bad on her. It looks like she’s wearing a wig, yet still looked kind of bald. It’s just four years, but TVB seems to like to add a mustache on characters, i.e Jack just to make them look older XD
Series Overall?
The series had kept me interested throughout but there’s just too many flaws for me to like this series. In a sense, it was annoying to watch yet I wanted to know what would happen. e.g characters like Krystal. She’s supposed to be one of the main character, the kind-hearted one whom we’re supposed to feel sympathy for but she becomes so “dumb” and easily tricked that it becomes frustrating to watch! It’s her character that causes other characters to get hurt, in danger, and sadly, even die. There were also lots of flaws in the storyline that made it feel unrealistic and appear too much of a co-incidence, jamming in lots of things in an episode which made it exciting yet lacking something solid.
- The blood trail left all over the floor in episode 20 was really messy. Did Louisa expect no one to notice?
- In a scene where Sunny gave Jack the document to free Krystal, Jack just held onto it in his hand and let Sunny’s wife see.
- Seems like its not extremely hard to wander around the prison or escape e.g Leila just “injures” her arm to they would take her to the doctors (to see Jack). Louisa and sisters seem to easily communicate with each other by going to the Church.
- There’s more but I’ll just leave it here~
I actually quite liked Sunny’s character and the complex situation he was in: trying to satisfy his mother, having to marry a women he didn’t love, constantly blackmailed having his status/position/reputation holding him back from being with Krystal or saving her (the women whom he loved). There were times I questioned how much he actually loved Krystal’s character but as you watch on, you can really tell he cares about her and their son. Because he was a filial son, his mother was the greatest force holding him back because he didn’t want his mother to die. At the end, Sunny kept his words and saved Krystal, gave up his position and was able to live happily ever after with Krystal and their son at Switzerland. I quite like Sunny in more serious series.
Phoenix Rising?
After completing the series, I still don’t know where the title came from. Maybe there’s a reference to something I’m not aware of, but I don’t see how that connects with anything..Who’s the Phoenix? Louisa? Krystal? o.0?
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I quite agree with your review. I thought the same way… the series has it’s exciting and thrilling spots but there are so many flaws you can’t really ‘like’ it.
yeah, I wonder the same thing. How does Phoenix Rising equates to the story?
Maybe they refer Krystal as Phoenix? Krystal is a phoenix that rises out of ashes(problem, blind devotion to sister) and reborn(with that new haircut) with a pleasant life with Sunny?
yea.. Phoenix Rising is not a good name for that series.. but hey.. its catchy! Lol
but the chinese name is good.. maybe they should have stuck with the old name..
o.o? Phoenix Rising is wierd…i hate LOUISA!!!!
awww the ending for leila was so sad!! =(
i think maybe ‘phoenix rising’ refers to krystal and louisa. to me, phoenix rising means rebirth, and in the show there were many instances (especially for louisa) where the 2 of them faced hardships but managed to step out of it. like going to prison. but it’s probably more meant for krystal the eldest sister because of the word ‘phoenix’ which is a grand creature (i don’t think they meant louisa as grand and noble).
it’s probably when krystal killed louisa that is the actual phoenix rising, because she finally realised louisa’s still evil and finally rids herself of louisa. metaphorically, she is reborn?
Pheonix Rising, this series story line is just so matched to their poster, quite scary.. i not mean scary on you see Ghost …. the scary is from we ” human being ” … the evilness of human being, i m sure in tis world, there’s ppl such as Louisa… that EVIl and that BAD…. any way, i will feel we ” human being” sometimes is more scary then GHOST , cos.. u can see fr LOUISA… so scary, even her sis , she oso can kil.. and betrayed and lie once and once… and her eldest sis kept on give her chances, she still so evil and she just do lots of thing for her own good and dun bother of others life or dead…
tis series, i m not much interested , but i would feel tis quite a good story line and is a good remind to ppl that wan to do evil, any way, i love LOUISA , Leila & Krsytal acting in Pheonix Rising, they 3 is great… just 3 lady, they can bring out their own character out, is really good.. so, actually once i finished watched tis series, i m thinking, will Louisa voted for tis yr end coming TVB anniversary’s Best Actress leh.. wish so, she would being vote lo.. cos.. i woulc felt her acting is good …
so, KTVB, how u felt abt tis series ??
Summer
Hm~ I guess the “Phoenix Rising” idea does fit ^^;
To Summer: Yupyup, i agree with you about the scary thing is the “evilness of human beings”, not the same as the feeling you get in most horror movies..
‘Phoenix Rising’ hasn’t been released in HongKong yet (not sure if they plan to later), but if they don’t, they won’t be considered for any award in TVB Anniversary…
KTVB : Oh.. is it.. i dun know leh… i though if we got the series in Malaysia, mean HK oso will air it same times as we all can get to watch it… oh, if like tis, would b bit wasted lo..cos.. i would felt Louisa is just so great in tis series leh…
as well as Leila… she is great too…
i think phoenix rising was a good name for the series. the definition of a phoenix is a mythical bird of great beauty fabled to live 500 or 600 years in the Arabian wilderness, to burn itself on a funeral pyre, and to rise from its ashes in the freshness of youth and live through another cycle of years: often an emblem of immortality or of reborn idealism or hope. in the series, louisa keeps on getting second chances from everyone around her, because everyone hopes that she will turn good. however, she never turns good throughout the whole series so its like a cycle of phoenix risings, where this is hope, but the cycle has to continue again because she stays evil and then is given another second chance (the rebirth). also, when they were in prison, they kept referencing the birds in the sky, and how they wanted to fly out of the prison. and then no matter how many times they tried, they still ended up back in prison, so its like a cycle of hope and then death (when they get caught) there too.
To krys: lol, that was an interesting read! ^^ Thanks for sharing! Can’t believe I couldn’t catch the reference to the birds~ but I wasn’t too sure about the phoenix stuff~
The name Phoenix Rising came from a movie also by the name of Phoenix Rising about a man having the same dream about murdering his father. After some investigation, he really DID killed his father, and ran away and passed the ball to some one else, similar to what Louisa did.
i agree with the poster because i think leila shoulent have had to suffered because of louisa should be on the verge to dieing,i also think that it should be a happy ending and not a sad and tragic ending because its not right for the good people to suffer and the bad person to live and not suffer at all! it really annoys me when i read the ending of the phoenix king.But throgh out the whole movie i liked it alot!!!!! XD
i wish leila hadent of had to die! OMG i hate the ending so much! I JUST HATE IT, ITS THE WORST ENDING EVER THAT I HAVE WATCHED/READ! “_”
sad … very sad story
OMG IT’S SO SAD 🙁
I literally cried which watching the episode. And i’m only a 13 year old guy. Why did Leila had to die!??!?!?!?!? WAAAAAHHHHH!!!
But I guess it really made the story better since it made Crystal realize how bad her sister really was. Louisa was killed at the exact location she would have die four years ago, so that was kinda cool.
Overall, great drama series, lots of suspense, very emotional, GG! 😀
Yah, I loved this movie. But, when I saw this last episode. I almost wanted to beat the producer/writer or w/e. I can’t believe they did that! I think sometimes, TVB writers come up with the lamest endings to try to make the viewers sad and w/e. OR if they have good endings, they usually just make retarded endings for the co-stars or less important characters. Idk, I really wanted Jack and Leila to get together!!!!!!!!!!! MAN! I was sooooooooooo angry! I wanted to punch someone!!! GRR!
Anyways, I thought the way Crystal killed Louisa was retarded! I thought the writers could make it so that Leila didn’t die and she and Crystal get Louisa back into jail and on death row again. Then have the mean prison ppl beat her up…. And have Louisa’s son come and call her ugly or something!
This movie was wonderful, except for the dumb ending. =]So, I made up my own ending. HEHHEE….
That was mean! When lousia was beat lelai with a shovel, and almost shipped her away!
okay bad grammer 😛
Lousia beat Lelai with a shovel
Then she almost shipped her away. you know? cuz its a box… To ship? That bettta? IS TAT BETTA?
O btw, i thought in the summary, u said lousia filled the box with marble. xD
I think the drama is great and quite unique.