Series: Change of Time Year Released: January 1992 Length: 40 Epi Storyline: A- Cast Performance: A Maggie's performance: A+

Summary and Review written by: Daryl

Overview: "The Change of Time" is a story about 3 youths from China, Taiwan and Hongkong crossing paths with each other, and how their characters determine the choices they make and their destiny. The youths are Man Hoi (Hongkong), Gor Hoi (China) and Kei Lo (Taiwan). Man Hoi and Gor Hoi are half-brothers but they don't know about each other's existence until they become adults. The story begins in China..... Cast: Francis Ng -- Yeung Gor Hoi Frankie Lam -- Yeung Man Hoi Maggie Siu -- Kei Lo Gigi Lai -- Cheuk Ngar Woon Lee Si Kei -- Yeung Gor Hoi's mother Story: Lee Si Kei, husband and their young son Gor Hoi, are a poor but happy family living in China. However, Si Kei wants the family to move to HK to give their son a better future. Out of her desperation to earn more money for their trip, Si Kei took the risk to smuggle drugs. The police detained mother and son on the platform of the trainstation, while the husband continues his journey to HK alone. When the husband arrives in HK, he immediately tries to get news of his wife and son in China but Si Kei's brother gave him false news that they died. Husband was very sad and later found a job in car repair shop. He married the owner's daughter and took over the family business which flourished under him. After Si Kei was released from jail, she took little Gor Hoi with her to HK to look for her husband. When she saw her husband in the hospital with his other wife and newborn son (Man Hoi), Si Kei left in a fit of anger, thinking that her husband had been unfaithful to her. The husband chased after Si Kei to China to explain but she refused to forgive him. He tries to make it up to her by sending her money through Si Kei's brother, not knowing that her greedy brother kept all the money to himself. Many years later, Man Hoi (Frankie Lam) grows up to be a rich, pampered son but he is intelligent, playful and charming. His parents dote on him. In university, Man Hoi got to know Cheuk Ngar Woon (Gigi Lai) who's a freshman. Ngar Woon is also a pampered child with an elder brother (he's Man Hoi's best friend), but her family is not rich like Man Hoi's. At first Man Hoi and Ngar Woon bickered a lot, but they soon fell in love and started dating. Meanwhile in China, Lee Si Kei worked as a road sweeper to bring up her son, Gor Hoi (Francis Ng). Gor Hoi is a very obedient son. He and his mom live peaceful lives and Gor Hoi is overjoyed to get a job as a waiter in a new hotel. Across the straits in Taiwan, Kei Lo (Maggie) lives with her dad. She was separated from her mother as a little girl. Kei Lo's mother had two childen with her first husband. This husband was a hopeless gambler, drug addict and rapist. When Kei Lo's mother divorced him and remarried Ngar Woon's dad, Kei Lo's father wanted to spite her mom so he abducted Kei Lo and took her with him to Taiwan. Kei Lo's mother was very distressed but the father hid them both and thus, they couldn't be located. The father poisoned Kei Lo's mind into thinking that her mother didn't love her and had abandoned her. Therefore, Kei Lo grew up hating her mother and having to shoulder her irresponsible father's gambling debts all by herself. She was a tough girl and worked hard to support them both, while at the same time working her way through college. But one day, her father's gambling debt was too huge for Kei Lo to handle. She struck a deal with her roomate's brother, agreeing into a false marriage with him in exchange for him settling her father's debts. This man had fooled around with a triad leader's mistress and was found out. He ran to Taiwan to lie low and had to get married before he could return to HK. Kei Lo agreed to be his fake wife because she loves her dad very much and would do almost anything to save him. When Kei Lo came back to HK with her 'fake husband', he tried to control her and even tried to rape her. She escaped from him and ran out into the streets with no money and no where to go. She found herself odd jobs washing dishes in restaurants to pay rent for a small room. Her dad had also escaped to HK to hide from the loan sharks. He looked up Kei Lo's mom to ask her for money. The mother gave him the money because she really wanted to see Kei Lo. Kei Lo's mom never forgot this daughter and always worried about how Kei Lo was doing. But the father lied to her and didn't give her a chance to see Kei Lo at all. Kei Lo drew portraits on the street for money. One day, Man Hoi and Kei Lo's elder brother passed by and saw her sketching people. Man Hoi was amused and asked Kei Lo to draw his portrait too but Kei Lo stopped sketching because she didn't like his face. Later, tensions arose in the family when the mom and Kei Lo met again. Kei Lo brushed her mom aside, like a total stranger. When Ngar Woon found out she had a half-sister, she didn't take the news very well. Ngar Woon yelled at Kei Lo because Kei Lo was aloof and cold towards their mother. Kei Lo just ignored Ngar Woon and walked away. Kei Lo had a high fever but she stubbornly refused to stay at her mom's place. She groggily fumbled down the long flight of stairs from their apartment down to the street despite her mom, Man Hoi and her brother all pleading for her to stay until she got well. Man Hoi's aunt (Koo Mei Wah) is a charismatic, headstrong lady who was also a prodigal daughter. She left home after having a row with her father over her boyfriend, who was a gangster. Now as a mature lady, she is running her own business and gets along famously with her nephew, Man Hoi. She took notice of Kei Lo, as she saw in Kei Lo a younger version of herself. The same stubborness, wild daring and pride. She helped Kei Lo get her fake marriage annulled and gave her a job as her personal assistment. She encouraged Kei Lo to continue her work in designing and Kei Lo proves herself to be a talented designer. Gor Hoi finally has his travel visa to HK approved, and he goes to HK for a short training stint in a hotel. While in HK, he got to know Man Hoi and they hit it off as good friends. Gor Hoi also meets Man Hoi's dad before returning to China. He soon finds out who his real father is when Man Hoi's dad goes to China for some business. Gor Hoi invites him to his house, and there Si Kei saw her husband again. She tells Gor Hoi the truth about his father. At first, Gor Hoi was upset at his father, but father and son soon made up and Gor Hoi goes to HK to live with his dad. The whole family accepts Gor Hoi warmly and Gor Hoi helps his dad in his business. Ngar Woon was a little jealous that her mom always fusses over Kei Lo. Her father explains to Ngar Woon that while Ngar Woon always had loving parents, Kei Lo didn't have a mother's love growing up. She was all alone in Taiwan with a useless dad, and their mom was trying to make it up to her now. Ngar Woon begins to understand her sister more. The animosity between the sisters slowly dissipates. All is well until Gor Hoi accidentally runs over a man in China and Man Hoi gets blamed for it. Gor Hoi didn't own up to the crime and Man Hoi was sent to prison in his place. Gor Hoi starts to change when Man Hoi was in prison. Gor Hoi takes over Man Hoi's position in the family, he even woos Ngar Woon and dumps his China girlfriend. When Man Hoi get's out of prison, Gor Hoi discreetly sabotages his attempts to start anew. Luckily, Man Hoi still has his aunt and good friend Kei Lo to help him get on his feet again. Later, Man Hoi finds out that Gor Hoi had committed the crime in China, and they became enemies from that point on. Gor Hoi marries Ngar Woon, despite her sister and Man Hoi's cautioning her about Gor Hoi. Man Hoi gradually fell in love with Kei Lo. He started his own company and they were happy until they found out that Gor Hoi had killed Ngar Woon accidentally, in a moment of anger over his business failure....what happens next? Will Gor Hoi frame Man Hoi for his crime again? Who can stop Gor Hoi? What happens to Man Hoi and Kei Lo's relationship after Ngar Woon's death? Watch to find out.

Review: Cast Performance = A Storyline = A- "Change of Time" is a good series. The story unfolds nicely and every main character is well developed and believable. Gor Hoi (Francis Ng)is not your stereotypical villain with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Rather, he's a man who made some mistakes and had to cover up his lies with more lies. It was selfishness that became his downfall in the end. He was also envious of Man Hoi (Frankie Lam) and had insecurities about himself (coming from mainland China). But finally, his mother's unconditional love for him moved him and he repented his ways. The message in this series is that one has to take responsibility for one's own life. It is not your parents nor circumstances which decide the direction your life takes; ultimately, you are in control of your own destiny. Gor Hoi had a very good and loving mother, yet he succumbed to temptation and chose the easy way out. Kei Lo grew up with a lousy dad who was a terrible role-model, but she made something of herself despite her circumstances. A weaker person would've despaired and easily gone the wrong way, but not Kei Lo. She grew up mature, responsible and stubborn (her stubbornness almost made her blind to her mother's attempts to reconcile with her, but it was also one of her greatest strengths). Everybody in the cast performed well. Francis Ng was good at portraying Gor Hoi's change in character from a wide eyed, innocent country bumpkin into an ambitious and scheming man. Frankie Lam, Gigi Lai and the actress who played Kei Lo's mother also acted out their parts commendably. Koo Mei Wah was very well casted as Man Hoi's aunt and mentor to Kei Lo. She carries herself in a very cool, confident and elegant way, yet there is a certain sadness about her. Lee Si Kei acted superbly as Gor Hoi's strong-willed mother. One of the most memorable scenes of this series was when Si Kei used all her might to lift the paralyzed Gor Hoi off the hospital bed. Everybody else had given up hope on him, but she never gave up hope on her son. Maggie's performance as Kei Lo: A+ I must say Maggie's performance as Kei Lo was truly outstanding. She brought out the pensiveness, aloofness and steely strength of her character brilliantly. There was a comfortable chemistry between Frankie and Maggie, but it was in a friendship way. Gigi and Frankie had more of a romantic spark. Perhaps it was because Man Hoi and Kei Lo were good friends first before they started dating. However, what struck me most about Maggie's role as Kei Lo wasn't so much her relationship with Frankie, it was her stormy relationship with her mom - from total rejection to grudging acceptance and finally, love and reconciliation. It was touching when mother and daughter finally made peace with each other. Kei Lo was a very well written character who could stand on her own, unlike many TVB series whose female characters are only there to play the love interest of the male leads. Kei Lo is interesting for herself, she is somebody that you'd want to get to know better. Although she had her weaknesses (one of them is that she was too gullible to her dad's lies), nevertheless she's still an inspiring character. Click on the pictures to view actual sizes! Special thanks to Daryl for the summary, review, and pictures!

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