Who put candle wax on the hair pin, which caused Krystal’s death? Was it Susanna or Michelle? *suspense* *Do not read further if you don’t want to know!* Only kidding. Please do continue reading 🙂
The answer is revealed to us in the first few minutes of the episode. Shown in a flashback, when young Charmaine rushes out to pick some flowers, young Tavia apologies to Krystal. It was really because of her carelessness, that the candle wax dripped onto the hair pin o_o What a twist! It’s sad to think the whole incident was caused by a young, innocent child. At the very least, I was relieved that she owned up to Krystal, and she was able to forgive her. Still, she’ll have to carry the burden with her for the rest of her life. Will Charmaine ever find out? I think this specific incident is a foreshadow of Tavia’s recklessness as an adult. Yes, she’s only a child and that it’s normal for such a thing to occur. However, have you noticed that even as little kids, young Charmaine and Tavia’s actions are strikingly relevant to their grown-up personalities? *gasp* (What a long sentence..) I could probably go on and on about this but maybe I’ll save that for another day. ^^;
In the following episodes of [Beyond the Realm of Conscience] 宮心計, the plot starts to advance forward. My views on some of the characters are already starting to change. Well, let’s get started! 🙂
Susanna, as the Head of Jewellery Proceedings, was ordered to destroy the hair pin. Susanna however, is extremely hesitant and it’s at this point where I’m convinced she’s not evil. She genuinely seems to care about Krystal; reflecting back on their last conversation, where they exchanged smiles and expressed how much the jewellery meant to them.
After much dilemma, she grabs the hammer and slams it towards the accessory. Next, we see her with a bandaged hand. Did she injure herself on purpose, or is her hand not actually injured at all? Either way, she successfully convinces the Grand Empress the pin is cursed, and destroying it will not eliminate its darkness. This hair pin appears to have a lot of significance so far. In episode one, Tavia is seen wearing it on her head. I’m sure this hair pin’s lifespan will be longer than most peoples’ in the palace…
Young Moses, whose role is “Sill Wong Yea” and his mother Mary are both victims of Palace politics. Mary is absolutely terrified by The Grand Empress (played by Susan). The very sight of her causes her to breakdown and tremble in fear. Although Mary has no intention of gaining power (let alone overthrow the King); Susan sees both Mary and young Moses as a huge threat. To kill two birds with one stone, Susan “curses” Mary by forcing her to wear the hair pin. She smirks, rather proud of her witty idea- but I found that absolutely hilarious XD I guess it’s because we know the pin isn’t actually “cursed”.
What a horrible women! Susan plays her evil roles rather well though. (How creepy does she look in the third shot?)
Fearing for her son’s safety, Mary makes young Moses pretend a bump on his head caused him to become mentally ill. Susan of course, was not easily convinced. She deliberately picks up a pebble and tells Moses it’s a lolly. Luckily, Moses was brave enough to play along and attempts to eat it. As a result, Moses lead everyone to believe he really was “dumb”- and was sent out of the Palace. Sadly, Mary was forbidden to leave with him, so the two are to be separated.
A very teary Moses is sitting inside a carriage, only with his pet turtle his mother gave him. Upon hearing the news, young Charmaine chases after him to say good bye. Seeing him so sad and lonely, she gives him a bag of sweet lolly to make his life feel less bitter. Aww…a very cute and emotional scene ;_; These kids can actually cry.
Meanwhile, Young Tavia and Charmaine sit through a test hoping to be accepted into 1 of the 4 proceedings department. Charmaine’s talent in Jewellery far outshone the others, but because of Michelle’s scheming- Susanna forfeited Charmaine to her. Susanna ends up accepting Tavia into Jewellery, while Charmaine follows Michelle in embroidery. Although disappointed by the outcome, Charmaine looks at it positively and will do her best.
Fast forward 17 years
Edwin Sui becomes the new King. Everyone has aged in time (Yes, much thicker make-up for the older ladies XD). Charmaine is living up to her name as “劉三好”- who’s facing everyday with a smile. Charmaine and Tavia are both very close; and would do anything for each other 🙂
Although many years have passed, Susan’s existence still causes Mary to live in fear. One day, Mary notices the “cursed” hair pin was missing from her head. It was accidentally dropped onto the Palace grounds. To make matters worse, Susan almost immediately appears before her! Just as Mary prepared for the worst, Charmaine- who happened to find the hair pin- rushes to Mary’s side and returns it to her. She pretends it was her fault Mary wasn’t wearing it. Mary and Charmaine were both relieved when Susan seems to let the issue slide.
However, a curious Susan suddenly asks for Charmaine’s name and the department she was from. After revealing she was from the embroidery department, a furious Susan questions her honesty. Why would someone from the embroidery department be involved with the handling of jewellery? Seeing Charmaine in a pinch, Tavia hastily comes out from the bush and explains Charmaine was only replacing her since she’s sick and didn’t want to spread her germs. After much heart-pounding, Susan finally let’s it go, although is still a bit irritated. What a suspenseful scene!
Somewhere outside the Palace, Moses is alone with his pet turtle he named after the lolly Charmaine gave him. He appears to live a carefree life, playing and feeding his pet. The guards smirk in amusement seeing Moses act like a 10 year-old.
Moses is so cute and funny!
One day, Moses is called back into the Palace after news his mother has fallen ill. It was a touching scene for them to finally reunite after 17 years :'{ Although his cute childish behavior was amusing to watch, there was a degree of sadness in it as well. He wonders in the Palace like a little child, not taken seriously by anyone.
While playing in the Garden, Moses encounters Edwin and his concubine Tracy. After hiding the turtle from Moses, Tracy gets bitten by it. Furiously, she smashes the turtle against a stone, crushing it instantly! How mean!!! >:{ Moses is completely devastated but Edwin and Tracy laugh it off, blaming the turtle for its own misfortune. In tears and anger, Moses goes back to see his Mother. When no one else was present, Moses reveals his true self. Below the surface lies is a serious, level-headed individual who is disgusted by the King’s character. He genuinely wants to take action, but Mary begs him not to do anything. He suffered all these years apart, pretending to be “stupid” for the purpose of survival. It would all go to waste if he reveals the truth now. Poor Moses.. and poor Turtle >.<
As Moses is mourning over the loss of his turtle, Charmaine notices his sadness and attempts to console him. When she offers him the same lollies she did 17 years ago, he bursts and reveals the turtle is dead. Upon hearing, Charmaine takes off but shortly returns with some white flowers- the same ones he gave her when Krystal passed away. He notices the flowers and immediately realises she was the girl he met when they were young. He recalls both the times when he gave her flowers, and the time she gave him the sweet lollies. Her kindness meant a lot to him- it was because of the lollies she offered him, he was able to smile and live on each day..
I really enjoyed watching Charmaine and Moses’s interaction. They were all rather cute moments. I love seeing Moses being serious even more-so than being childish. He is so charming! At the end of the episode, Kevin makes his appearance. I’m really liking the Charmaine x Moses relationship at the moment- I wonder how Kevin will compare when he’s given more screen time with Charmaine?
Click here to read Episode 4-6 Synopsis >>
I think the story is quite good so far. What about you? Is the series turning out as good as you expected? What about Moses? Do you think you’ll enjoy watching him more or Kevin? Drop a comment and let us know 🙂
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Hey Chibi , i think the storyline is getting good so far too ! =D i’m so excited about what gonna happen next. i’m currently up to ep 4. can’t wait for ep 5 when kevin battle with the japanese chess player played by ben wong. it getting interesting so far. what do you think ? do you prefer BTROC or BR ? oh and i think ill be enjoying moses more than kevin cos’ moses seems so cute and stuff , how bout you ?
I only have time for one TVB drama, so I haven’t watched Born Rich yet. I will watch it after BTROC finishes ^_^
thanks Chibi. The serie heating up, I love it! I have an exam tomorrow morning yet i still have to find time to read this XD . Btw I’m confused are there 30 or 33 ep of BTROC in total?
I think the HK version has 32 eps (with a 2-hr finale) and the oversea version has 33 eps.
I read it off wikipedia! =)
Thanks for reading 😀 I’m glad you enjoyed my summary/thoughts!
I think the series pretty good so far, and it’s up to my expectations so far. There’s something new happening in each and every episode so far (i am at ep.6). I chose to watch this series instead of Born Rich (since I only have time to watch one of them).
I enjoy watching Moses more than Kevin. Don’t have a particular reason but I just don’t enjoy watching Kevin act. I hope Moses will have more screen time with Charmaine and Tavia!! =)
I found Susan’s (the king’s grandmother) acting really good, she gives me thrills when she’s eyeing someone!! She makes me feels like ‘I’ did something wrong. lol~ =)
Last but not least, nice review Chibi! Keep up the good work!! *winks*
Thanks so much! I agree with you, the story is getting better by the episode 🙂
I think Susan is playing her role perfectly. She really does give off that creepy vibe..It’s all in the face, lol. I will talk more about her in my next post (along with my thoughts on Kevin/Moses/Charmaine)
Stay tuned!
Cool =)
I defintely prefer moses over kevin. i dhink it’s because i see kevin more often so i have this connection with him when he’s acting. but both are very great great actor…..and kiki is right. susanna act out her role very well. these types of character are very suitbale for her. and she looks absolutly stunning in her outfit…with all the accessories and all. wow……….but anyway chibi….i have a question to ask you. how do you make all those photos. i really want to know……..and what are you
Oh, Kinki was referring to Susan (not to be mistaken for Susanna).. Did you just type the name wrong, or were you really referring to Susanna? ^^;
And um..what do you mean by “what are you”? ^^;
oh ahahah my bad. yeah i meant susan..typo…but what are you. are you chinese, dude or chick
I’m a Chinese chick born in Sydney xD
the series is quite good so far.
i definitely think the moses and charmaine’s pairing is better 🙂
they have such an interesting and cute relationship.
when will Selena appear?
yea i know rite. they just want to pair charmain and kevin because of the who rumor crap going on rite now to help promote the series. and i know rite. i want to see selena so bad
Hi turtle88! I’m not sure when Selena will appear.. guess we’ll just have to watch it to find out 😀
I prefer Moses and Charmaine too! I’ll have a look more into the relationship in my next post. Look forward to it!
hey i think i read it from hyn5 but they said that selena should come out when moses become king. dnt know what episode though
I haven’t watched these two eps yet, but couldn’t help reading the whole post! XD Sounds interesting. i think everyone prefers Moses more than Kevin, I think I will too… Tavia has very less screen-time by the look of it O.o
Hi Sharon, Thanks for reading!
Tavia does have pretty little screentime..for now, anyways. The drama seems to focus heavily on Charmaine at the moment.
Tavia did have a few minor scenes in Episode 3, but I didn’t include it in this post (since it wasn’t really..important XD)
Hey thanks Chibi for your review!
I’m up to episode 8 right now but its great to go back and re-read the storyline again (since my understanding of historical-canto sucks).
I still need to adjust to the fact that Susanna (Head of Jewellery Proceedings) is (so far) actually a good person. It’s weird cause I’m so used to seeing her being the annoying mother/auntie in HOG+MR. LOL.
I’m rooting for the MosesxCharmaine duo, but judging by the opening credits, it begs to differ. thanks again!
Hi Rowena 🙂
hehe, you’re watched more than me XD! Glad you enjoyed the review!
And yesh.. It does seem like the story will be Charmaine x Kevin…. o_o
aww Moses must have loved his turtle a lot
aww..yeah. So sad 🙁
He does such a good job playing dumb
Very cute aye!
I think it’s too early to judge if charmaine and kevin will be better or charmaine and moses in this series….Kevin’s character haven’t even developed yet with Charmaine so it’s too early to tell…ya charmaine and moses had cute moments but i think they will distinguish between love and friendship when the plot thinken later on…also it was cute with the kids acting as them…also susan is already so evil!! Can’t wait to watch more of this series!!
haha yeah, but it’s always a bit of fun to speculate and see if our guesses are right or not ^_^ I sure hope there will be more sparks and chemistry 🙂
I have always like Charmaine and Kevin as love screen couple BUT when watching BTROC from the begining of the series I happen to like Moses and Charmaine as a couple in this series. But we know this series is meant to be Charmaine and Kevin. O well hopefully TVB will do another good series for Moses and Charmaine to pair up.
It’s a shame TVB always force Charmaine & Kevin to be paired up… can’t they see she can be compatible with other male leads? ^^;;
haha ya I agree I have always like Charmain and Kevin too but in thes drama i like Moses and Charmain….but actually I think she will be with Moses cuz in the beginning Tavia said that lets see who have a boy….somthing like that so I’m assuming they both with Moses ” later to be king?”
hmm…I remember that too, but judging from the opening credits and stuff, it really sounds like the one Charmaine loves will be Kevin.. So I’m guessing, if she does marry Moses, it will be out of friendship, or kindness or something but love.
Just speculation XD
I remember seeing something about kevin dieing or people thought Kevin died because he was saving Moses so Moses promised to take care of Charmaine for Kevin…but of course Moses likes Charmaine too!!
umm…let’s try keep spoilers minimised as much as possible, thanks 🙂
Hi im enjoying this series so far tho sometimes i wish Gigi Lai was in Tavia’s role 😉 I like the set and look of War and Beauty a bit more too. Oh and can you pls explain why the king from eps 1 died?
Thanks for great work, keep it up =))
Thanks for the comment! ^_^
hmmm… I’m actually not too sure either why the King died…^^;; Sorry I’m not too much help. Hopefully someone else can help you out with this one 🙂
Wow!! Nicely written summaries- I’m quite impressed haha
So far I’m quite enjoying the series! I like watching the bond between Charmain and Tavia and Moses is definitely really cute and charming (real self).
I was shocked/sad to find out Tavia was the one who actually..indirectly caused the death of Charmaine’s mother! It was revealed unexpectedly through a flashback which makes the whole thing so tragic. No one actually schemed to get Krystal into trouble..her death was such a misfortune :< Michelle is really getting on my nerves. The more I see Michelle, the more I like Susanna lol I think Susanna smashed her own hand with the hammer. I think in order to protect the hair pin, she willingly hit her own hand (as she was readily preparing to reveal her injuries to the grand empress. It's such a pretty hair piece and I agree with chibi in that it shows she is genuine towards Krystal and admiration for Krystal's work. Besides..she died making that hair piece..something made so beautifully should not be destroyed. I way they made it seem cursed was interesting too considering how superstitious people were back then. The Grand Empress' idea of forcing Mary to wear it was interesting too! The separation between young Moses and Mary was so sad!! *sniff* Being able to reunite was also touching. I also loved the bond between Moses and Charmaine! it's very sweet to see Charmaine and Moses being there for one another when both were upset (Krystal and Turtle's death and Moses' separation from his mother) p.s So selfish of Michelle to take Charmaine to embroidery when that's where her true talent lies.. pp.s: That 'Bo Gong Gong' seems like a nice guy. He seems to like Michelle a lot tho..? lol
Thank you! Glad you liked my summaries 8D!
No one actuÂally schemed to get Krystal into trouble..her death was such a misfortune :<
What a messy coincidence aye! No one would have guessed such a chain of events would occur >.< With the "blood" leaking from the hair piece, everyone ( including the audience) would assume it was intentional! *sigh* Very sad and innocent death.
Michelle is really get ting on my nerves. The more I see Michelle, the more I like Susanna lol
Lol, I remember Michelle giving me an annoying feeling even from so early on the drama (so along the way I didn’t write about many of her scenes, lol)
I think Susanna smashed her own hand with the ham mer. I think in order to pro tect the hair pin, she will ingly hit her own hand (as she was read ily prepar ing to reveal her injuries to the grand empress.
It’s quite a risk though, to do something so harmful to her hands, especially when she relies on them to create Jewelry! But…makes sense I suppose if she was prepared to show it (or maybe she knew Susan wouldn’t want to see it? Dunno if she’s that clever to plan that, haha)
The Grand Empress’ idea of forcing Mary to wear it was interesting too!
“I want your Head!” LOL, man that scene was terrifying.
p.s: That ‘Bo Gong Gong’ seems like a nice guy. He seems to like Michelle a lot tho..? lol
ehehe yeh! Though I must admit, I barely wrote much about them in my summaries- didn’t know if it was that important to the story or not.. lol
oh i like to see Charmaine and moses Relation ship, But the story showed Charmaine loves kevin.