“Final Destiny” Entertains With Its Bizarre Genre Mashup

*Spoilers

Despite the odds stacked against it, Final Destiny <一笑渡凡間> proved to be quite engaging. At first glance, it may appear to be a fantasy gag comedy, but it also offers suspense and character development. A bizarre mashup of different genres, Final Destiny is more of an experiment without placing viewership ratings as its top priority.

With limited budget and local resources, TVB has shied away from filming historical dramas in recent years. Final Destiny certainly does not impress with its paltry costumes and the same set which is used in 99 percent of TVB’s historical dramas. Viewers have seen all the settings and props, leading them to not have high expectations for locally-produced historical dramas.

While not visually compelling, the interest is quickly shifted to what makes Final Destiny different. It is clear that the staff put effort into the details of the drama. In the second episode, Edwin is asked to compose a poem, which turns out to be a reference from Ji Gong’s Stories <濟公全傳>. However, despite being set in the Song Dynasty as the background, the drama is also full of modernities, especially in its gag humor and characterizations.

Whether it be a comedy, investigative, or fantasy drama, Final Destiny hooks viewers by creating suspense to continue watching. Suffering from amnesia at the start of the drama, Edwin’s character tries to piece together clues to find out his past. While trying to regain his memories, he gets involved in helping Roxanne’s character crack perplexing investigations, such as the “Case of the Burnt Corpse”.

Edwin delivers a playful performance as the eccentric Ji Gong, serving as the primary comic relief. While he becomes increasingly drawn to Roxanne’s character, they do not receive the typical romantic happy ending.

The supporting cast also deliver memorable performances, especially veteran actress Rebecca Chan (陳秀珠), whose contract has already ended with TVB, making Final Destiny her last drama with the station. Playing a married couple with To Yin Gor (杜燕歌), Rebecca’s loud and aggressive character is in stark contrast to her timid and passive husband as their sparks fly.

The final episodes reflect a deeper Buddhist perspective. Possessed by greed, Sammy Sum‘s (沈震軒) character has a final battle with Edwin in a CGI bonanza. His fate, along with other turbulent human emotions can be summed up with the Buddhist teaching, “Life is like a dream like a fog, and in the end it is a mirrored flower and water and moon. Everything is empty.”

Sources: HK01 [1,2]

This article is written by Kiki for JayneStars.com.

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Responses

    1. @tt23 I “watched” the last two ( three?) episodes cause I wanted see him turn into the Ji Gong. It is a very weird show. Don’t watch if u have something better to do, but it was okay as background noise lol.

    2. @tt23
      Does TVB have any worthwhile series anymore? I have not seen tvb series for many years and may not watch them again as they are so bad…

      1. @hetieshou I would say watch anything with Ali in it! LOL

        I stopped TVB (ok, I would try for 3 episode or so then label it crap then stop) but she’s the one that makes me finish a whole TVB drama

        Try my ages apart, I actually finished all 50 episodes of it

      2. @conan2209
        Ok, thanks for the recommendation. I will give that a try as I do miss tvb occasionally but gosh, I can never even get pass the first few episodes.

      3. @conan2209
        Oh gosh! I was trying to watch with my brothers and we could boy get past the first 3 episodes. He immediately switched to a Korean series. TVB has truly lost it.

      4. @conan2209
        My family and I watch series for
        more than just the cast. The plot and all are way more important. I don’t ever watch just for an actor or actress or any cast member. It needs to be more than that.

  1. This drama exceeded my expectation. The script is very, very good. Even the kelefeh have a lot of dialogue and they are often humorous and memorable, like the physician, loud guy and the vegetable seller. Story has been very consistent from start to finish that revolves around Sau Yuen from him being amnesiac to him discovering his magical power and finally to his godhood. Sucks that it did not end in happy tone but I guess it’s inevitable since it was based on a Buddha’s disciple folklore to begin with.

    What I really wanna praise is the wire-flying and the CGI. For once, this TVB drama has very top notch wire-flying stunts and impressive CGI. The fight between Ching Yee and Sau Yuen was really amazing, same goes for Chi Pang vs Sau Yuen. You don’t see such great CGI on TVB drama nowadays, they are usually very cheaply made and make you think that it’s some fanmade CGi, but not this time. Really hats off for the stunt team and CGI team.

  2. This is your typical “average TVB” drama – the low budget ones that are there to fill in slots while we wait for the good stuff. Watchable, but don’t expect any suprises.

    Having said that, it is well made as an average drama in that it is at the same level of averageness as old “average TVB” drama back in the day, (unlike many other dramas that have “flopped” compared to similar shows from previous years)

  3. I am still watching the drama. I am enjoying it so far, I am now on ep. 10. I have always like Edwin’s drama & I think this is the first time I watched Roxanne’s drama. The other one that she paired up with Jacqueline, I didn’t finish the first ep. probably due to the other actress that turned my eyes away.

  4. I like this series actually, partly because Edwin shines in comedic roles. The casts including the extras seem to have good chemistry with other. I think this is Roxanne’s first leading role but there was no desperate spotlight like Jeannie in Shadow of Justice and overshadowing everyone. Everyone seems to get a good chance of exposure. The veterans did well as usual.

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