The drama, The Life and Times of A Sentinel <紫禁驚雷> that Steven Ma (馬浚偉) took pains to finish will be broadcasting it’s finale today. This caused him to have mixed feelings in recent days, anxiously anticipating for the ratings to hit the ceiling but at the same time, afraid that he might feel dejected.
The periodic drama that Steven Ma is the main leading man for, will be ending its run tonight. Towards the series that he toiled hard to film finally coming to end, Steven professed that he had mixed feelings, hoping for the last episode to air soon so that viewers could see the fruit of the labor by the entire drama team of cast and crew. But at the same time, he was also afraid for all good things to come to an end and thus felt dejected and unwilling to part with it (the drama series).
Becomes Scheming for Revenge
*Warning: Spoilers for The Life and Times of A Sentinel Ahead*
Steven expressed that the drama series, The Life and Times of A Sentinel < 紫禁驚雷>, has a substantial position in his acting career and filming journey thus far, “I have never acted before such intense hatred character like Nip Dor-Po. The week leading up to the finale, he will undergo a massive psychological change, to seek revenge, he will become extremely scheming, and during the last few remaining episodes, he will also break away from Kenneth Ma’s (馬國明) character, Fuk-Tsuen, and both men will seek closure and have a clean break once and for all. The ending will be very tragic but someone will also jump out and reveal an earth-shattering secret. I really anticipate the viewers’ reaction to our drama’s finale.”
Steven Ma Is Brothers with Kenneth Ma
Steven revealed that he had a pleasant time co-operating with Kenneth, “This time our filming duration is short and especially since this is also a big palace court-themed drama thus it was a rather tough filming experience. However, thankfully, the cast and crew were very diligent and my fellow counterpart Kenneth is an actor who’s more than willing to communicate and interact. Furthermore, since both of us share the same surname, ‘Ma’ (馬), it was such a comfortable collaboration that we were such good friends, akin to brothers.”
As for the viewership ratings, Steven professed that he was overall just satisfied with it, “For the previous few weeks, the ratings have been fluctuating between 26 and 27 points. However the previous dramas that were broadcasted at the same 8.30 PM time slot as our drama, have all suffered relatively low ratings. Thus, I greatly anticipate for the final episode to receive a high viewership rating.”
Source: Oriental Daily
This article was translated by Ah K, a Contributing Writer at JayneStars.com.
Tags: Kenneth Ma Kwok Ming, Steven Ma Chun Wai, The Life and Times of a Sentinel
I really like Steven Ma!
same he is such a good actor! love him
the finale was great but overall a boring series despite having steven in it.
the series had its ups and downs.
steven ma is really great but he’s never given the grand opportunity to really shine and take the reign. think about all those awful sidekicks he gets and the story line. he truly makes them the best he could.
i love steven and sad to see him go. his recent story in east week pretty much confirms this.
with steven gone only ruco and kenneth to root for lol
Ruco has more potential to act in more interesting characters… hopefully, as long as TVB doesn’t want to milk his image into another Mr. Perfect. I like the gray characters he portrays.
Steven and Kenneth are boring after watching them a few times.
I agree! The finale and Steven’s identity revealed was unexpected, but overall I found the series draggy and too dramatic.
i find steven ma’s acting extremely fake. through his years of acting he never changes his style when he acts. he’s always plain “like that”. it annoys the hell outta me after this series. before, i was still looking forward to his series after ghost writer. his acting is getting more and more dull
in comparison, kenneth ma did a great job and he portrayed his role very well!
anyway this is a personal opinion so dont flame me!
yea a difference in opinion .. the dullness u refer to in my opinion is subtlety. Lol.
i understand why there are mixed reviews on his performance.
i adore his comedic roles too
Even when he was narrating his lines it was as if he kinda forgot halfway. especially fast fierce lines to show his anger and hatred. he failed totally
and i dont think he really cried in any of the scenes, those must be eyedrops or something. well u can tell bcs his face remained the same (pale white). supposed to have red eyes, red nose, red face, red ears, at least?
idk. hahaha cant help it!
@ABC:
Erm, I don’t know about Steven Ma’s performance in “The Life and Times of A Sentinel” but to speak a word of fairness, in his other dramas (I forgot which) “A Journey Called Life”, “A Watchdog’s Tale” or “Ghost Writer”, he cried and his eyes did turn a little red.
yeah kinda agree with you acting wise steven seems to have stalled. maybe he is sick of tvb already.
kenneth have imporoved alot especially his crying scenes maybe he learned from tavia hehe.
Steven Ma? There is something very EARNEST with his acting which is why I like him. When he retires, I think Kenneth Ma can takeover the earnest roles. Very few actors can be earnest. Of course his acting is not the best, but Steven Ma is dependable, something very honourable. Maybe it is Safe Guards but I think I like what I see. I hope Kenneth will take his path.
Tavia is not a good crier since she tends to cry loudly these days. Something rather forced. Linda cries loud but cries so hard as if the director slapped her 100 times before filming.
hey, my husband and i were impreesed with kenneth ma’s acting, as what u stated, portrayed his role well as a villain, look at the eyes, those smirked smile, those expression of the face, the movement, and the way he speak.
Same for JOE MA in the drama with Micheal aka laughing gor….. gooody, fantastic… marvellous…
i think steven ma was very good and always i have enjoyed his series..
as for kenneth ma , a very good actor playing villians lately…
must say kenneth ma wife in the series, has made a major improvement on her acting skills …
excellent .. keep up the good work xx
i don’t know why but I’ve always been attracted to Selena Li. Her interactions with Steven Ma made it for me on this series.
Stephen Wong was also not bad. I was disappointed in Evergreen Mak’s lack of story development though.
The series made an attempt to replicate the mainland market, slower pace and more character development but somehow they deleted a lot of important scenes. I was pretty frustrated with that myself.
The final episode with Steven Ma crying to his great grandma and later Selena Li was not a problem for me. I enjoyed how it wasn’t forced at all. Kenneth Ma was a bit forced but still had strong body language to cover it up.
His wife at the pasture was pretty good with the crying and she did not have the “red eyes” sort of crying either.
I actually think the whole red eyes, runny nose thing don’t work well for me. I’m usually like that after 15 mins of crying but if I’m suddenly sadden by something, my crying is very similar to Steven Ma’s.
Kinda sad that Selena died. I thought that was kinda unnecessary and it was too quick to digest. I don’t know which is better: her knowing that Steven is her half-brother or dying in his arms and never knowing the truth, thinking he loves her?
yeah i know. i initially thought steven as a royal was a cover up. would have prefered them ending together. don’t know if she could handle the truth? maybe she would’ve died anyway at least in her heart LOL
Can write spoilers next time at the top before posting? Can see this in 100 new comments. Many haven’t seen the series yet.
Oh well, too late. And if u put spoiler alert, just makes people want to read even more.
Anyway, I think it’s better selena died b/c it would’ve been too sad for Steven to “break up” w/ her. Just can’t believe it was the maid!
Glad to see that Steve and Kenneth are good brothers! I just get so happy to hear when co stars become such good friends/brothers and get along so well… Can’t wait to see their new series!
Interesting ending to the series, everyone loses…
Steven’s identity was a surprise!
The series in its whole was predictable and kinda stupid, but when Steven’s identity was revealed, oooolalala!
Selena talks like asthma attack in sad scenes.
i know, it was annoying
you mean when she was dying?
if so i think its normal as she was out of breath
Can write spoilers next time at the top before posting? Can see this in 100 new comments. Many haven’t seen the series yet.