I’ve finished this series quite awhile ago and started writing up this Overview, but then got a bit lazy and then left it……..XD So! With some determination, I’ve finally got something to put up =)
*contain spoilers* The series has some funny moments; but I did get bored at other times and found the story a bit draggy but I guess life isn’t always that exciting either ^^;
Family Problems and Characters/Actors
- Sheren Tang , Michael Tse, John Chiang
Sheren and Michael play a happily married couple with a pair of twins (boy and girl). Michael faces many problems at work (including the fact he doesn’t like his job) and feels immense stress, while Sheren is trying to do her part as best as she could as the housewife, looking after the children, and family, trying to help their children with their education, being actively involved in their children’s activities and using their family’s money efficiently (like the other housewives). Problems start arising where they seem to lack understanding of each other. With this couple, we often see a miscommunication happening with both of them thinking the other doesn’t try to see things in their perspective or understand them more. When an argument occurred, Sheren would say what she believed, Michael would stick firmly to what he believes, but there wouldn’t be any compromise. It was like two different arguments altogether, not willing to hear what the other had to say.
John Chiang was originally a Health and Safety Inspector but after he decides to retire early to look after his daughter, he becomes really good friends with the housewives. Because Michael is busy at work most of the time, John is there to help Sheren when she has problems because Sheren doesn’t want little house matters to bother her husband while he was at work. She doesn’t tell him things that happen, like how the window was about to fall off etc and John ends up telling Michael to treat his wife better. This makes Michael angry and jealous, thinking his wife didn’t ‘need’ him. Sheren only treated John as a friend, but John actually developed feelings for her. This is when Michael becomes stressed where his work mate takes him to some night club where he dances to relieve stress. He realises that his passion for dancing still existed and starts to get ideas of quitting his work and pursue a career in performance. He ends up forming a group, cross-dressing and performing at night, trying to hide the fact from his wife after talking and realising she strongly disagreed that he should pursue his dreams. Little did he know that Sheren had already found out he was a cross-dresser and became so scared that she has developed anxiety disorder.
At the end, I’m glad things worked themselves out. I felt the happiest for this couple because this was the couple I wanted a happy ending for the most. They love each other a lot and I started feeling really sorry for Michael’s character towards the end where his career in dancing was failing and was ‘losing’ his wife.
I think Sheren Tang is a great actress! Her character as ‘Ah Mong’ feels really realistic and convincing, the most easy to relate to out of the three housewives and I liked watching her funny moments, like when she trying to learn to dance.
I wonder if Michael Tse had a fun time playing this role with all the cross dressing and dancing! Personally I feel so embarrassed for him! I was really freaked out when he dress up like that!! I would feel so scared if I was Sheren’s character..the parts leading up to finding out /guessing were enjoyable though. I thought his acting was quite good as well =)
I didn’t like John Chiang‘s character throughout. He seemed so fake and superficial (can see it through his facial expressions); especially after he decided to retire early and look after his daughter. He turned women-ish..was that the whole point? I really didn’t like it when he tried to get close to Sheren, it freaked me out. I just wanted him to keep a distance lol
The thing I just couldn’t understand Sheren was near the end (2nd last episode?) when she told Michael she wanted a divorce. I felt it was so slack because I thought that was what she wanted -for Michael to say to realise that what he did to leave the family was wrong in the first place and that he should have a stable job, not be so selfish to pursue his dreams etc. To me, it felt like she was divorcing for the sake of the story because Kiki and Cecilia were also having a divorce with their husbands… She explains it later and I guess the explanation was ok but still inconsistent from before..did she change her mind it and want him to do want he loved doing the most?
- Cecilia Ip, Derek Kwok and Fala Chen
This is the first series I’ve seen Cecilia in; I haven’t seen her before either. Her character speaks a bit funny and doesn’t seem to be able to stand still, wobbling while standing which makes me wonder if thats the character she was trying to portray or if its her acting is a bit funny. Cecilia plays the one who is more stuck up; yet the more intelligent one with self control. She’s also the most educated out of the three housewives graduating university before getting married.
Cecilia and her husband Derek used to be rich, but because of the fall in the the value of investments, they lose their money and moved back down from the mountains, so Cecilia had always wanted to move back up and live in her rich home- become a happily married rich women.
Fala is the third party their relationship. It turns out that Derek used to go after Fala years ago, but got rejected. Fala now wants Derek and tries get into their relationship, even though he’s married already. She uses her position as Derek’s potential business partner to take advantage of him. I was watching this series at the same time as Heart of Greed and I couldn’t stand her here..I prefer the cute Fala in HOG; she was so much more likable than her here trying to act more older.
One of the memorable scenes for them was when Fala ‘drugged’ Derek at her home and Cecilia went to save him. Leila then appears, pretending to be a psycho- another girl Derek was seeing and scared Fala off. I have no idea how they got into her house, but it was quite funny!
- Kiki’s family problems
Their portrayal as housewives are quite impressive, especially Kiki~ she acts just like a typical one! Kiki plays the dumb-ish one out of the three, yet brave enough to stick to her beliefs and stand up for herself, like when the other rich housewives were looking down at her for using sample products etc. Kiki’s family is the least emphasised out of the three. her husband owes a lot of money and ends up running away from home, neglecting his family. Kiki ends up taking Government Social security payments. He later returns, but still in hiding and turns out that he’s having an affair, in which the other women is controlling their lives. She blackmails Kiki, telling her to back-off ‘her’ husband or she’ll report to the police that they have tricked the government’s money. I personally think Kiki should have just reported to the government that her husband has been found and stop their payments. She can’t live on her life being blackmailed forever, and losing her husband and having the family break apart. When the other women said she was pregnant with his child, Kiki actually wanted her to keep the baby…got on my nerves!
- Leila, Kenneth and ‘Yoyo’
Leila plays ‘Yoyo’ (Kenneth’s character’s wife who had recently passed away) ‘s friend and the sister in-law of John Chiang. I didn’t like her character at the start, especially how she was so stuck up, lazy, and had nothing better to do than to cause trouble to the three housewives. She always thought that the housewives caused the death of her friend because they “gossiped” about her having an affair with another man. Eventually she becomes their friends and falls for Kenneth who has been looking out for her as his wife’s friend. Personally I didn’t like this couple. Chemistry? Maybe just a little. I also didn’t like Kenneth’s frizzy looking hair and his character was a bit odd too (Same feeling I got from John Chiang’s character, minus the woman-ish part).
I was interested to find out the truth behind ‘Yoyo’s death though~ I couldn’t quite figure it out XD
Ending
A very happy ending =) I think its very, very, very complete..
Mistake?
*Kenneth didn’t know that the man who was bothering his wife was Leila’s brother; so was surprised when he saw her brother’s photo. But in the final episode, the video clip recording his wife did before she committed suicide had already said that that man was Leila’s brother.
*In episode 17, Leila crashes and falls off her bike, hitting her head hard on the ground and her head is bleeding heaps, but the next second she doesn’t look hurt at all…I found that part really unrealistic..
La Femme Desperado?
Firstly, the themesong is sung by Miriam Yeung again . We have Sheren Tang and Michael Tse as the leading couple in the series but this series is like going back to the traditional views of women (quite the opposite) of staying at home and being housewives. The three women gave up their dreams to look after their husband and children and they are committed and really happy housewives. They want to be the best housewife and they understand that their husband works hard and is the bread-winner in the house, going back to the traditional views. Both the men and women in this series face their own problems. Maybe its a mix of La Femme Desperado and Men in Pain but quite different in issues faced.
Recommend? Not really..Personally I didn’t think it appealed to me much. I don’t feel that I’m their target audience. It’s not a bad series, but I wouldn’t mind skipping it.
Loading ...
i actually think LFD was better than TFL, but they’re both good movies. LFD had more action and sheren nd michael made a better coupl.e in TFL, they were kinda weird. sheren looks better with makeup than a housewife (si lai)
LOVe kenneth in this series he had this misterious charator that made me wonder, and he looks hott here. Kenneth and leila make a cute couple!!
Hey there, im trying to find the song that’s played when they [Kenneth and Leila] were in the garden. The part when Kenneth found out that he really loved her and decided to go to his garden where Leila was waiting to express his feeling…I like that song and I’ve been looking for it for a long time but still no clue. Just in case you know it, pls lemme know. Appreciate it ^^
the 3 si lai is like so funny. and its amazing how they can sometimes be so annoyed at each other but are bffls.