Eternal Happiness

Eternal Happiness
chU 9pm

Main storyline is about Meng Lijun running away from the guy she was supposed to marry, Huangfu Shaohua, and later falls in love with him. A Mongolian prince, Tiemuer, and a couple of baddies and the daughter of the baddie, Liu Yanyu, seriously complicated matters.

Why I started watching the show?
Because it features two of my favourite TVB actors, Lin Feng and Ma Dezhong. (My other favs include Jiang Hua, Lin Wenlong, Lin Jiadong, hehe...) So the plot goes, Meng Lijun was betrothed to Huangfu Shaohua much against her wishes, but by a quirk of fate, she disguised as a man became sworn brothers with him, Tiemuer and Marco Polo. She had started falling for Tiemuer in the early days but as Tiemuer had to conceal the fact that he was a Mongolian prince, many a times she failed in letting him know of her real identity (that she is a female in disguise). Fate has it that she had to fail in getting together with him.

And by another quirk in fate, Tiemuer's absence let to her falling for the so deeply in love with Meng Lijun Huangfu Shaohua. Huangfu Shaohua is the dumb but loyal kinda character which didnt go too well with Meng Lijun at first, also because he was Huangfu Shaohua, but later deeply touched by his love for the person he thought he had never met (Meng Lijun). Some comic relief in the show of Huangfu Shaohua show of him deeply disturbed that he thought that he was gay (Meng Lijun was supposed to be a guy in his eyes and he was so attracted to him/her/whatever).

But things complicated when Tiemuer had suspected that Meng Lijun was a female and too fell in love with her/him/whatever and that he bacame the Emperor. By then, Meng Lijun had taken the imperial examinations and became the top scholar. As she had became well aware of her love for Huangfu Shaohua and Tiemuer and made it known to her that he strongly suspected (but Meng Lijun denied it flatly, though) that she was a female and wanted h/h/w to share his riches (he IS after all the Emperor).

So, our dear Meng Lijun is faced with the toughest choice of any women's life, is it the dumb but loyal who will stick to you forever or the strong and powerful who can provide you with anything you want (but Tiemuer does have an Empress whom he doesnt really like)? As Tiemuer put it to Meng Lijun, "Do you want to spend the rest of your life with Huangfu Shaohua as a boring commoner or do you want to share half the world with me?" I would so melt if smeone asks me that question, not that it is a question of marriage but the words of sharing half the world is so so strong by itself. (Tiemuer IS after all the Emperor)

Who do I want Meng Lijun to choose?
As we all know, Meng Lijun will end up with Huangfu Shaohua and this remake of the story of Meng Lijun wont change history, but still, it is something good to choose... hehe...

Side track a bit...
Stupidity Symptoms 8
During the first few episodes of Eternal Happiness, Joan found that the character Meng Lijun was so familiar, so she asked her younger sister where she heard her from. The reply, "You have a book about her, dont you remember?" This is in the context that Joan is supposed to be better read than her YOUNGER sister and is supposed to be smarter, but well...

Back to Tiemuer and Huangfu Shaohua,
Tiemuer IS after all the Emperor, he IS the most powerful man on earth and Meng Lijun did fell for him first, but he has a wife. It is interesting to note that he fell for Meng Lijun even though he didnt know for sure that she is a she and when he had to marry against his wishes, he had many a times tried to wriggle his way out from spending the night at his Empress place. And there is this other sorta funny scene (funny only if you do remember that Meng Lijun is supposed to be a male) where Tiemuer forced himself on Meng Lijun and then the Empress suddenly appeared, greatly disturbed by what she saw. Then the next scene showes her and Tiemuer in the same bed facing opposite directions and she tearing. I do want to feel sympathetic for her, but my heart went all out wanting Meng Lijun to be with Tiemuer. Haiz... You all know Joan, the person who thinks that power is aphrodisiac.

But then there is Huangfu Shaohua the big blockhead who was so distrubed that he might be gay that he ran away and got himself entangled with Liu Yanyu whom I think is just too good a person. Another thing about Joan, she doesnt like people who are just way too good. One absolutely disgusting thing about her that Joan and her sister thought was this line which Liu Yanyu harboured "I want Huangfu Shaohua to be reunited with the Meng Lijun he loves so dearly, and I dont mind staying by him on an equal basis as Meng Lijun." Hello, do you know where you stand, Liu Yanyu?! And you still want to share an equal status with Meng Lijun??! But like all diehard loyals, he is so hard to resist after a long period of time being with him. He may be dumb, but dumb people are easier to get along with.

Basically, Joan likes both Tiemuer and Huangfu Shaohua very much and will support whoever who appears on TV together with Meng Lijun. As an observer, a person like Tiemuer is great for romancing, he is the pinnacle for a perfect boyfriend, but never would one want to marry an Emperor, they just have too many wives and life as an imperial concubine or even as an Empress really sucks. In a later episode, I found out from magazines that Tiemuer would use to status as Empress to entice Meng Lijun, "Just one word from you and I can immediately depose the present Empress and make you the Empress." Oh, man, I would just MELT!!! Okay, so NOW you all know that Joan is a stickler for male chauvinism. (someone commeted that Im SM, but, well...) The other side of the story is not very pleasant to the Empress who happened to hear what Tiemuer said to Meng Lijun, especially that she just found out that she was pregnant and wanted to bring that news to Tiemuer (and for the ten tousandth time, Meng Lijun IS supposed to be a man!).

But Huangfu Shaohua is indeed damn cute. Actually, I think its just Lin Feng. Maybe if someone else acted as Huangfu Shaohua, I wont support him that strongly as I do now... This brings me back to another period drama by TVB. Luo Shen... Cant remember the English translation of the title... In it, a smart woman (note the similarity with the smart Meng Lijun) is torn between two men, one holds power, one holds the gift of literature. Right from the start I was on the camp for the guy holding power and when he turned out to be not so good by means of, well, history, I gave up watching that show. My heart pained for him man... So, it seems like TVB scriptwriters dont like men with power... Well...

You know what, now that Im thinking of it I think that if Huangfu Shaohua wasnt acted by Lin Feng, I would have boycotted this show just like how I boycotted Luo Shen.

With Eternal Happiness coming to an end liao, Id grade this drama series with 4-stars. One to Lin Feng, one to Ma Dezhong, one to the soundtrack (esp the dizi and qin music, and the title and ending songs), and one to power. Yup... Do try and catch the last few episodes of it!