A Step into the Past

Thoi Dai Chien Quoc

Reviewed by hkopinions

Rating 4 stars

Cast

Louis Koo as Hang Thieu Long

Raymond Lam as Emperor Cheng/ Trieu Bang/ Minh Chanh

Jessica Hsuan as O Dien Phuong

Joyce Tang as Tinh Nhu

Sonjia Kwok as Cam Thanh

Michelle Saram as Princess Tieu Tien

KwokWah as Liu Tang/ Lo Kai

Yu Ying Ying as Chu Co

Wow. Look at the cast. Seem familiar? Yep, you are right. TVB is using big names like Louis Koo. Joyce Tang, and Jessica Hester Hsuan to promote the new people. Well, who are these new people? Drum roll, Raymond Lam and Sonjia Kwok. A Step into the Past is a very anticipated series since it has so many big names, but it just falls short of being a major hit. One reason is that the series was too long and the plot too difficult to follow. Even with the Louis Koo and other TVB top stars, the series fail to capture the audiences for the entire series to run. One positive outcome of this series is that it jump started Raymonds career.

A brief introduction to the story

A Step into the Past stars Louis Koo who is a top police officer in Hong Kong named Hang Thieu Long. He has a girlfriend for many years named Thanh Thanh played by Sonjia Kwok. However, Louis loves to be independent and fails to realize that Sonjia wants to get married and that their relation is falling apart. Sonjia leaves Louis and gets married to someone else leaving Louis stunned. Louis desperately finds a way to tell her that he is in love with her and wants to marry her, but it is too late. Louis encounters a man who wants him to experiment his latest project, a time machine. The man promises that if Louis completes the mission, he will send Louis back in time to save his relationship with Sonjia. Louis agrees. His mission is to witness the ascension of Minh Chanh, first emperor of a united China under the Chin dynasty. Louis is trained hard and studies the history before his mission. Before he leaves, one of the scientists warns Louis that he cant alter the past and should be careful that history stays as it is or everything will disappear. Louis is given a time traveling device so he can return home after he witnesses the ascension of Minh Chanh. Something goes wrong with the time machine and Louis is sent back in time three years earlier. Supposedly, Minh Chanh has not returned to Chin yet and is still a prisoner with his mother, Chu Co. Louis first gets acquainted with an assassin named Tinh Nhu played by Joyce Tang. Louis also gets into a misunderstanding with a clever girl name Dien Phuong played by Jessica Hsuan. Jessica falls in love with Louis, but he doesnt return her love. Louis also meets Michelle Saram who is a princess, Raymond Lam who is Trieu Bang, Raymonds mother, and Kwok Wah who plays Liu Tang. The story progresses as Louis climbs into higher ranks and finds himself trying to rescue Chu Co and Minh Chanh and causing broken hearts on the way. Later on, Louis finds that Minh Chanh had died and so he uses Raymond as replacement. Louis escorts Raymond back to Chin and Raymond becomes emperor. The story continues, but I dont want to give all the details away.

Louis Koo

At first, when I saw that Louis was the star of the series, I was rather skeptical. Louis is quite a veteran in TVB series, appearing in many like Man's Best Friend, Return of the Condor Heroes 1995, and Detective Investigation Files IV. After watching the firs two episodes, I didnt want to watch it anymore because Louiss character was similar to other roles he played before. I continued watching and began to like the series. Louis fits the role well after the beginning because the plot starts to unravel. The only negative opinion that I have about Louis was his character development. At the end, I disliked Hang Thieu Long because he ends up marrying both Sonjia and Jessica. Louis marries Sonjia because she resembles his girlfriend, making Jessicas marriage with Louis more or less because of pity that she got raped.

Raymond Lam

Wow! The transition of Trieu Bang to Minh Chanh was astonishing. Raymond portrayed his characters perfectly. In the beginning, Trieu Bang is a wimp but had affection to the people around him especially his mother. When Raymond turns into Minh Chanh, his character changes drastically into an evil and manipulative king. Two thumbs up for Raymond! You will definitely see Raymond in future series like Eternal Happiness.

Jessica Hester Hsuan

Great job! I loved her character. Jessica portrayed the part of Dien Phuong to perfection. She had great chemistry with Louis. Casting Jessica as Dien Phuong was a great move by TVB since Jessica appeared in series like Man's Best Friend and Detective Investigation Files IV with Louis. Too bad Jessicas character only appears in the beginning and the end of the series. TVB made a huge mistake by taking Jessica out of the picture so they could introduce newcomer, Sonjia Kwok, who was a horrible actress. Even worst, Louis ends up marrying both Sonjia and Jessica. What a bummer.

Sonjia Kwok

Hmmmm. One word, horrible. There was no chemistry between Sonjia and Louis. Her importance in the series make the series hard to watch when she is with Louis, since Louis is in love with her because she looks exactly like his girlfriend. The series would have been much better if Sonjias character died off or left. The only reason she got cast was because she was Miss Hong Kong.

Joyce Tang

Joyce portrayed an assassin who falls in love with Louis but no one knows that in the series. She did a great job and I can see there was chemistry between Louis and her. Too bad Joyce doesnt end up with Louis but Sonjia does. TVB should give Joyce a chance with a man once in a while. She never seems to end up with a man in any of the series.

Michelle Saram

Well, she wasnt pretty but at least she was less annoying then Sonjia. Good idea of killing off her character in the middle of the story. Michelle was a total miscast.

Kwok Wah

Brilliant! I love to hate him. Kwok Wah played an excellent villain next to Raymond. Kwok did a better performance in this series than Crimson Saber. However, Kwoks character was hard to watch in the second half of the series. It was just so boring watching Kwok manipulate Chu Co and Minh Chanh.

What about the story

The plot is very complex and tedious to explain. The series would have been better if it ended with Raymond's ascension or cut the ending. The later half of the series was boring and the intensity died down. There were too much emphasis on Kwoks character and struggles for the throne.

What about the ending

Weird. Louis marries both Sonjia and Jessica. He also becomes the father of Hang Do who helps eliminate the Chin dynasty. He later loses in the power struggle to Liu Bang, emperor of the Han dynasty.

Best supporting actor

Raymond Lam as Minh Chanh

Best supporting actress

Jessica Hester Hsuan as O Dien Phuong

Best villain portrayal

Raymond Lam as Minh Chanh

Worst portrayal

Sonjia Kwok as Cam Thanh

Rating

4 stars out of 5. The series would have received a 5 star if not for miscasting Sonjia and Michelle. Furthermore, the series died down towards the middle.

Watch it or forget it

Watch it. Although the series had its setbacks, Louis, Raymond, and Jessica make up for the flaws that the other characters made.

A Step into the Past

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