Racing Peak
(Mã Trường Phong Vân)

• You either hate or love this series. Personally, I love it to death. Each chareacter is so unique, and the storyline is full of excitement. It could also be one of those that you might dislike on the first view. I enjoyed the series more the second time because the characters were further understood.



• The characters:
  
  • Felix as Lý Ðại Hữu
    Totally different from all previous roles, Lý Ðại Hữu was neither dumb/naive (as Quách Tĩnh in Anh Hùng Xạ Ðiêu/Legend of Condor Heroes) nor evil (as Lý Mật in Hoàng Hà Ðại Phong Vân/The Grand Canal) nor heroic (as Kiều Phong in Thiên Long Bát Bộ/Demi God Semi Devils 97).
    I am so glad that Felix accepted this interesting role as the charisma Lý Ðại Hữu who is talkative, playful, competent in any situation, somewhat very clever and extremely "crazy." This role served as another remarkable stepping stone that proved Felix's versatile talent. The guy successfully portrayed any role.
    
    Lý Ðại Hữu was a "thrilled" man. He could be a millionaire in one day then went bankruptcy the next day due to his unexpected nature. Don't get me wrong my friends, this type of "craziness" was not totally bad because it had both pros and cons. Pros: he could see things beyond what others could; once he thought of any business ideas, he got to do it right away. Cons: thus, this quick decision maker usually lacked a careful plan. Many of his strengths included to believe in his luck, to recognize people's true talents and to have faith in the loved ones and himself. One of his significant weaknesses was to be too unrealistic frequently.
    
    Always with the spiky hair along with a huge smile, he sometimes irated others without knowing it. The kids in the series gave him a nickname: "Chú Ðầu Chó Luộc Chín!"
    
    Would I like to date this type of guy? Yeah if I were rich and did not have any heart problem. Would I like to marry him? Nope because he could easily raised my blood pressure, and I might have to strangle him (hehehe).... So my final answer to both questions: "no, thanks!" There was one brave woman for him, Tiền Tiễn. Good luck to her!
    
    
  • Amy as Tiền Tiễn
    I saw Loạn Thế Tình Thù/The Good Old Days before this series. Wow, the two characters were completely opposite, and you could hardly believe that was the same actress.
    
    As aggressive as Tiền Tiễn could be, she was the perfect "partner in crime" with Lý Ðại Hữu. They complemented each other as the key-lock relationship. She could fill in his flaws. For example, she could always respond to his slackly plan and cover all the tracks. They could cooperate and make up wondersful stories (that they did not plan in advance) in matter of minutes. Maybe her fast reactions and well spoken talents attracted him although she loved money. Note: her last name was literally meant money!
    
    Many viewers disliked this character. I did at the beginning of the series because I mistakenly thought that she only loved money, nobody else. However, like I mentioned earlier, you could easily miss several important points on the first view. That's the beauty of the series. The audience could have different opinion about it depends on the mood and the number of times watching it. I tend to grasp more ideas as I rewatched and rewatched.
    
    Let me get back to Tiền Tiễn. Again, she was obsessed with money. She hid and lied about money all the time to everybody. This woman was so realistic; her motto: "I love the man, but I also love his money. Without money, I feel insecure." Was there anything wrong with this picture? Not really, especially when you dated somebody like Lý Ðại Hữu who did not do a very good job at handling money. She was not the type of woman that would die together with her man. If he were about to die, she would manage to escape from the dangerous situation and look for ways to get both of them out of trouble.
    
    Amy's small feature enhanced the implication of Tiền Tiễn's strong mind. She was an insistent lady since she was the only one that could put up with a wild soulmate like Lý Ðại Hữu.
    
    
  • Ada as Chung Ái Linh
    Not sure if this was Ada's first TV series, but it was the first time I saw her, and she did a great job as a timid young lady who could never decide anything for herself until the latter part of the film. She looked pretty in many scenes, and I love her long hair. However, she looked "unpleasant" in most of the crying episodes.
    
    I pitied for her sweet personality because Lý Ðại Hữu did not love her at all even though she always supported him during the bankruptcy. As I recalled correctly, no series has done that: the "good" girl did not get the main guy. Also, this is the only series that the groom was dumped twice on the wedding day by two different girls! I think Lý Ðại Hữu made the right decision in reconsidering Tiền Tiễn as the woman he would spend the rest of his life with. Chung Ái Linh was nice and willing to do anything for him, but she could never help him expanding his business and fulfilling his adventurous dreams, mainly because she could not catch up/deal with his "insanity".
    
    
  • I found the love story of the other two characters (Lương Bội Linh and Doãn Dương Minh) a bit boring and very unrealistic to talk about. Why would a millionaire's daughter fall in love with a noneducated widower who had five children? I could not understand that....Well, love is blind! Just like in The Greed of Man, Yammie's character fell in love with Damian's and his kids.
    
    
  • Kudos to two supporting actors: Kenneth Tsang and La Lạc Lâm. In contrast to Blood of Good and Evil, they swapped personality in this series.
    
    • Kenneth Tsang: he and Felix had great chemistry as father and son. They gave the audience a sweet feeling that they were indeed father and son in real life. Stepping away from most of previous roles where he played villain or serious looking man, Kenneth depicts a loving and caring single parent towards his son.
    • La Lạc Lâm: embellished with a completely bald head, big eyes, pale looking skin and a cane while walking, he brought out the significance of a cold person with terminal illness. In addition, he owned the biggest chain of funeral homes. He considered Lý Ðại Hữu as an opponent because he believed that Lý Ðại Hữu stole all of his lucks! Lý Ðại Hữu did not know that the man also owned 95% of the horse race until the gambling day.


• Most boring characters: Lương Bội Linh and Doãn Dương Minh's due to the same reason that I stated earlier.



• Most annoying characters: Trịnh Thế Phụng's daughters!
They were obnoxious, loud, disobedient and always ran around.


• Most interesting parts: both times that Lý Ðại Hữu bet big, lost big once. Moreover, both times that he tried to get married and was dumped on the wedding day! One more thing, I enjoyed almost all the horse races.



• Most memorable part: the ending scene when the horse followed Lý Ðại Hữu's car. :-(