Episodic Thoughts: “Triumph in the Skies 2” Episode 20

Triumph in the Skies 2 <衝上雲霄II>
TVB Series 2013

Cast: Francis Ng, Chilam Cheung, Myolie Wu, Fala Chen, Ron Ng, Kenneth Ma, Elena Kong, Him Law, Nancy Wu, Rebecca Zhu, Eliza Sam, and Kelly Fu.

Disclaimer: This is a watch as I write episodic thoughts and some information may not be accurate since this is memory based. Certain dialogue is reproduced with some creative license adopted. I apologize if there is any mistake. All opinion remains my own.

EPISODE 20

“If you’ve given up on this series at this point, I’ll understand.”

More than half of this episode on Teddy and his non existent dilemma that I really don’t care about and then some on a huge development in plot as in the past that is Jayden and Summer’s past although just a few minutes, like a huge leap forward by going back to the past. Now I wonder when will we EVER get to see the future without going back to the past? Oh yeah, also on Roy and how he settles his issue with sleeping with 2 girls, not necessarily at the same time. If he isn’t Kenneth Ma, he is to me the ultimate douche bag.

RECAP.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Urghhh Teddy. Long story short, his team questions his decision to try out for the cadet program and wonders if it is because he wants to (NOT!) or because of Isaac (yes!) or because to get on the viewers’ nerves by adding YET another young pilot (DING! DING! DING! FIRST PRIZE!!). Summer pretends to be pissed off when actually earlier it was Chiu who finally tells her why Teddy’s father isn’t wrong; all fathers would want their sons to be pilots as in rather cool rather than be a technician and be covered in oil and grime. Chiu even says what is engineer when he can be a PILOT.

Yeah yeah, and I am sure the designer of Roman aqueducts, the architect of the Great Wall of China and the engineer who created so many engineering feats closer to our Star Trek dreams will weep because you know, it doesn’t matter. Pilot is cool. I mean what utter BS. Teddy won’t be a technician forever. He will be a certified ENGINEER and a pilot can’t fly without the engineer certifying it ok to fly. So who’s cool and who’s the boss? And at least as an engineer or technician all you are is covered in grime and oil. A pilot? Potentially crashing and dying and taking with him 300 passengers. Which is safer? And not like he is a mechanic!

What utter BS! TVB, we have enough of pilots already! Now that sulky temperamental rude Teddy? NO! NO! NO! I only hope Sam will squash him because Jayden is useless in this regard as you shall see.

Anyway Teddy himself says to Summer he doesn’t want to be a pilot, he just wants to prove to everyone he can do it and if he can’t he will come back to her team. Sam will die if he listens to this! Teddy is WORSE than Holiday. At least Holiday wants to see the sky. Teddy? All about ego. And Summer scolds him that he should have more respect for what he chooses to do and if he intends to be a pilot, then he should go all out for it. “If you pass, good! If you fail, don’t bother coming back” and urges him to do his best. Teddy leaves and Summer softens as she quietly says “Good luck”. At the hanger Summer issues some orders to Teddy who isn’t there, his mates call him traitor but Summer emphasises she approved his leave so he can study.

Pause.

So there is this rivalry between pilots and technicians issit? Never knew.

Continue.

Holly and Jayden at home, lovey-dovey and Jayden very free since he is suspended from work but he is working on reinstatement by passing a few tests. He wants Holly to move in with him and share his bed but Holly refuses and is only staying temporarily as her own apartment has burst pipes and landlord is fixing it. So… Sam is wrong! She is not living in with Jayden. Holly also says she is trying out for the cadet program and Jayden sorta warns her this is not PPP, she gotta be serious, he can’t help her much and Holly wonders why everyone seems to think she isn’t serious. Jayden emphasises the TC is Sam so it is out of his hands and Holly says to herself she will not lose face to Sam! Anyway Jayden receives a call and cryptically he sorta whispers “Oh it’s you. You never call me… dinner with me? I will cook” and Holly takes her leave, let him has his dinner with that mysterious someone and she leaves.

Sam driving a cart, sees Holly and goes “HO NIN HEI!!” and Holly surprised asks why he likes to sound as if he is scolding her by saying her full name. I thought it was cute of Sam to do that. He routinely calls Coco and Isaac and even Roy by their full name which means Holly is officially family. Anyway Holly gives him a fruit basket or something and he knows she is up to no good. He knows she is going for the cadet program and she tries to convince him she has studied hard and is keen on being a pilot. So he tests her; bake a cake and answer some aptitude test questions. 4 questions and she gets 2 right, and 2 wrong and to Sam that is poor and reminds her the seriousness in getting everything right. Anyway they tried her cake and it was awful. Sam then takes her back to the jetty for transport and Sam looking reluctant says to Holly; “I have something to ask you..” and Holly immediately says “Tri-angel” and Sam is quiet as Holly asks him where he was when Zoe died and he doesn’t answer and Holly wisely says “If you can’t face the past, why bother with it?” and she leaves and Sam sits there in the cart quietly.

Jayden and Summer at Jayden’s place, table full with food and Summer says there’s too many and Jayden says he cooked a lot because he doesn’t know what her taste bud is now like and Summer teases if he actually cooked them and Jayden confesses yes, he didn’t cook them at all. But Summer eat happily as Jayden mentions Summer is so smart to figure that out and says a woman can’t be too smart if not they will end up alone and Summer says she likes being alone but she added ..”but now I have you” and Jayden smiles charmingly and is very pleased. I tell you, Summer is his favourite girl! Anyway he did make an apple crumble or something like that and he says they should play a game to see who gets to eat it like how they used to as children when the apple crumble was made by I suppose their servant, Auntie Yiu. Jayden wins but he gallantly says “I WIN!! Which means.. you eat” and Summer tucks in.

Pause.

Love this simple scene and their interaction. Jayden really loves his sister.

Continue.

Holly at Jayden’s house pretending to want to take her notes as she calls Jayden to see if she can do so and Jayden knows he is checking in on him and the mysterious girl and he introduces her to a shy Summer and she finally knows Summer is his sister.

Pause.

I was surprised she didn’t know and if she didn’t, I am surprised how not surprised she looked. I blame Fala if she is supposed NOT to know and I blame the script if she knows but right now as if she doesn’t know.

Continue.

Holly observes that “Summer, on you can change his sex” and both surprised and Jayden asks if she meant “Juen Sing” (change personality) rather than “bin sing” (change sex) and they had a good laugh at the mistake. Holly mentions their parents and Summer says she looks like mom and Jayden looks like dad and Jayden immediately say “I am not anything like him”. Summer knows Jayden’s feelings but Holly seems surprised at the sudden outburst. Jayden explains that every since their dad hit it rich, he changed. Their mom was actually the second wife/mistress. Their father was rarely there but money wise, they had no problem. Mom was beautiful and kind and until the day she died, she was still madly in love with their dad. Jayden promised himself he won’t put any woman in such a situation since he won’t marry anyway.

Pause.

That chucks my entire theory of Jayden being of poor ordinary background out the window. So who’s the dad?! I always assumed they were orphans.

Continue.

Jayden sends Summer back and Jayden asks Summer if she wants to move in with him and Summer immediately says yes and that surprises Jayden and Summer explains she is kidding. She has her team and she needs to take care of them. And Jayden has too many women in and out of that place anyway. He knows about Teddy and he asks her if she wants Teddy to pass or fail? She is reluctant to answer until he pushes her and she says yes she wants Teddy to pass and Jayden declares; “Ok, I know what to do”.

Ahhh cheating!!

Anyway she asks if he is serious with Holiday and Jayden basically admits he is not serious with Holly and has no interest in being serious with her and he asks Summer if that is important and Summer admits no.

Teddy on leave and studying at the cafe AND YET he is still wearing his technician uniform. Talk about dedication. Summer is there when he sees Jayden sits himself in front of Teddy and basically tests him on a lot of Skylette policy and planes whilst Teddy is just studying on technical stuff. Basically Jayden is giving him a tip; the test will be on Skylette related matter and not general aviation matter and he tells the rude Teddy that Teddy is so stupid he can’t pass and Teddy being angry of course will work harder.

On the way out a guy hands over a box to Jayden who opens it and in it a beautiful apple crumble. Isaac is there and asks if Holly gave him that and Jayden smiles and says “There is always another who will give me this” and Isaac knows it is Summer as Jayden observes Summer cares a lot about Teddy and Isaac I think mentions the feeling is like how he cares for Summer. Jayden asks Isaac if Isaac is interested in wooing Summer and Isaac denies that. Roy appears looking tired and both Isaac and Jayden tells him to wash up and perk up as Isaac scolds Roy for taking too much on his plate aka that 2 girls. I mean sex with 2 women at different times is very tiring.

Roy stumbles into the wrong briefing room and Heather is there and even Heather knows what is bothering Roy.

At home, Heather and Roy chatting, Roy says he made a mistake by mixing the names of the girls and now they are both angry with him. She urges him to pick one but Roy keeps saying both are as nice and as troublesome; one is passionate and the other compassionate. He just can’t choose. Hince he is taking the captain’s exams, she tells him maybe he should take time off to study alone and he thinks of Kaoshiung, Taiwan and decides to go there tomorrow away from the 2 girls. He calls the girls and tells him he is going away and both girls didn’t take the news well.

On the Skylette plane, Heather and Rachel welcoming the passengers when the air stewardess Joanne boards the plane and wants to sit next to Roy. Heather says company policy says they can’t change seats but she will see what she can do. The beach girl comes on and she also wants to do the same and again same answer. Pink Pink comes on board and Rachel says her mother is gonna have WWW III coming up. Heather asks Pink Pink to sit next to Joanne so that she can stop Joanne from leaving her seat but she asks her if she can do so since her seat number is different and Heather says for others, no but for her, yes. Roy comes on board and is dazed with panic at the news. Heather calls Jayden the captain if a passenger can seat at the rest area of the plane to avoid meeting his 2 girlfriends and Jayden says not the policy and who is the guy who is as flamboyant as he is and Heather says Roy and Jayden goes “Oops”. Yeap, very very oops.

Roy with Heather and Heather advises maybe he is not that keen on both if he keeps comparing them to one another without a decision made. Roy asks himself is it true his decision stems from the fact he doesn’t love them both? Finally a decision made.

Each girl is placed at the same row and Roy sits in the middle and Roy introduces them both and basically confesses and wants to break up with them. Instead of getting angry they both wanted to let the other have Roy and Roy looks at Heather and both girls think Heather is the 4th party and Roy says no and explains it’s just that maybe he can’t choose between them because he doesn’t love them both. Both girls very offended each slaps Roy once and leaves. Roy sits alone, dumbfounded as everyone else, Pink Pink included looks at him with a sense of pity.

THE END.

And I was clapping because that’s the end of this boring storyline. At least some moving forward. Frankly of the entire episode, I only like Summer-Jayden story and in some ways Sam-Holly story. The rest are forgettable.

Performance wise, Jayden and Sam are faultless. Myolie is slowly coming out of her self of self awareness. Kenneth is saddled with a bad role and Elena Kong is just Elena Kong.

I am finding it increasingly hard to recap this series because it is wasting a whole lot of time on unnecessary characters. I feel it is just diluting our concentration and in the end it makes me wonder out loud are these subplots even necessary at all?

If you’ve given up on this series at this point, I’ll understand. I hope now the story will go back to Summer, Jayden, Holly, Isaac and Sam. At this point I even welcome Holly because with her means it is Jayden and Sam and these 2 aren’t that off the mark in terms of the main plot.

RELATED ARTICLES

This Episodic Thoughts was written by Funn Lim, a Contributing Writer at JayneStars.com, and was originally posted at http://p2e-tits2.blogspot.com/.

Related Articles

Responses

  1. I totally agree. The whole Teddy thing and Rebecca Zhu are unnecessary. It actually drags the whole thing and ruins the main plot. Waiting for some meat to come soon ):

  2. “Anyway Jayden receives a call and cryptically he sorta whispers “Oh it’s you. You never call me… dinner with me? I will cook” and Holly takes her leave, let him has his dinner with that mysterious someone and she leaves.”

    Not that it matters but there was a shot of Jayden’s phone when it was ringing and the caller ID was “Ha Sun”.

    1. I cannot stop laughing when Kenneth got slap for two timing and the end track arises when raymond lam ‘s on my way start to appear. That is a awkward momment. Remind me of Raymond’s scandal

  3. I wonder if its his character or face but teddy is seriously annoying….
    Prefer TITS1 hands down, much more sincere heartwarming plot abeit draggy.. But TITS2 is really “forced” with all the extra characters and if it’s not for Sam I would have just given up.

    1. Adrian Chau played this type of role in SSSS, the determined kind. He looks the same in both.

    2. But in person I’ve seen his interviews and all, he is rather nice. But why in acting he looks like I want to slap him?

  4. Definitely him. His facial expression, his accented cantonese and his diction. The annoying characters that he always portrays just add fuel whenever I see him on screen. I skipped all his parts in Silver Spoon, Sterling Shackles.

  5. I think Holly knows Summer is Jayden’s sister. She just didn’t know it was Summer who called Jayden earlier. With the way Jayden spoke, one would have mistaken it as a girlfriend not family.

    Hahaha. I have to agree. Holly seems so bearable now that we have Apple, Bee and Pink Pink. I’m disappointed that there’s not much of Sam and Jayden. Hopefully, the focus will shift back to them.

  6. Teddy doesn’t actually annoy me so much as his whole story arc being so fake dramatic. I understand if his dad starts complaining about his career over dinner not bursting into the dorm in the middle of the night. Again with career trajectory – wouldn’t next logical step for technician to engineer be designer or architect? Which is probably more prestigous than pilot… its like pink pink aspiring for long hours of stewardess.

    I guess in tvb land only air personnel worth talking about are pilots, cabin crew, and technicians.

  7. Agreed that there’s too much unnecessary characters and stories in this series, I have a feeling the writer is just trying to lengthen the series to 40 so that it looks grand but with all the boring stories and bad cast. Sam and Jayden (Basically the only reason I’m still watching this) are having lesser scenes.
    I really can’t stand Pink Pink anymore, whats the purpose of having her in this anyway? Its just so awkward looking at her act. and ah B too.
    By far I’m only interested and loving Jayden-Summer scenes, they are so adorable together! Not sure if it’s Chilam’s acting (If it is, he is brilliant) or they both really have a sibling-like feel in them. Its enjoyable looking at them, have more of them please!
    p/s: I feel so sorry for Kenneth, why did he get such a role in the first place?

  8. Terry is a major dislike…but what do you think about Adrian’s acting skills?

  9. To be honest, I actually tuned out the last half of the series cuz it was so boring (sorry, but I really don’t give a crap about Kenneth’s character or his romantic woes in this series)…though of course, I dislike Teddy just as much as I tuned out most of his scenes as well.

    Actually, come to think of it, I’ve been tuning out most of the scenes that don’t involve Sam or Jayden (obviously the 2 of them are the main reason why I’m still watching this series). I did like the Jayden/Summer dinner scene (though didn’t really appreciate Holiday ruining it) and of course any scene with Sam in it is definitely a joy to watch (even the ones with Holiday), though my favorite Sam scenes are still the ones where he’s with his family (Isaac and Coco) or with Zoe (via flashbacks). Francis and Chilam are definitely the 2 pillars of this series — though unfortunately, the scriptwriters don’t do justice to their storyline and add in too much stuff that’s just not worth wasting time on…

  10. i feel your pain, Funn. will fully understand if you discontinue recapping. i kinda lost the enthusiasm le. 😐

    1. I did not watch the latest one on time. I feel like I need to get away from it. Too many spoilers discourage me from watching. It is like I already know what will happen, I can imagine the performances, why bother?

      I stumbled on TITS 1 yesterday. Everyone looked so young but darn it, Francis then as Sam is same as now. Amazing. And Myolie was so fresh, young and eager, when her eyes had passion for acting. Nowadays I find her eyes dulled by the fame and money. I miss the old Myolie.

Comments are closed.