Wednesday, May 25, 2005

The Story of Square Pegs

Just finished watching the last episode of Square Pegs (by TVB productions). It's a very short serial - only 20 episodes, but it's one of the most touching stories I've ever seen.

Official Website : http://tvcity.tvb.com/drama/square_pegs/story/index.html

Released : 2003

Main Cast :

Roger Kwok - Li Jizhong / Ding A-Wang

Jessica Hester Hsuen - Caifeng

Leila Tong - Caidie

Raymond Tso Weng Nin - Bao Jizhong

Winnie Yeung - Yang Peijun

Yuen Wah - Master Bao

Set in Wulong town, the story is basically about this guy called A-Wang. He's a dimwit and the only son of the owners (the Ding family) of a biscuit shop called Xiao4 Kou3 Su1 (Smiling Biscuits). He went missing when he was about 7 years old. He was very sick then and his father brought him to the Capital to seek treatment & lost him there. When his mother heard the news of his disappearance, she lost her mind.

Many years later, this dimwit A-Wang appears at their door and calls out for his mom before passing out. The owners of Xiao Kou Su then took him in and the wife insisted that it's her son that has returned after many years.

As the story unfolds, it turns out that the real A-Wang passed away in the Capital and as the boss of Xiao Kou Su didn't dare to break the news to his wife, he lied to her that their son went missing. The A-Wang that turned up at their doorstep is actually the son of this rich man, Old Master Bao.

Years ago, Old Master Bao's nephew, Dafu, framed Master Bao's wife of having an affair with the gardener and Master Bao chased her out of the family. She was then pregnant with their son, Jizhong. After she was driven away from the family, Master Bao married a 2nd wife but they had no kids. After the 2nd wife's death, Master Bao sent Dafu to look for his 1st wife & son. This Dafu then took the opportunity to pass off an imposter Jizhong as the real son. (This imposter was an orphan who had no knowledge of the scheme.)

To take care of the dimwit A-Wang, his parents got him a wife, Caifeng. Caifeng was forced by her stepmom to marry A-Wang and tried ways and means to get out of the marriage at first. A-Wang, however, loves her dearly and always does everything he can to make her happy. By a twist of fate, Caifeng's sister, Caidie marries the imposter Jizong.

One day, a young lady Peijun, turns up at the village looking for her fiance who went missing when he was supposed to go to the Capital to study. She recognizes A-Wang to be her fiance and that his real name is Jizong!

Peijun infiltrates into the Ding family and becomes Jizong's tutor. She tries ways & means to help Jizong recall his past. Caifeng finds out about this and decides to investigage Peijun's background. When Caifeng realised that A-Wang was Peijun's fiance, she agrees to help Peijun solve the conspiracy that led to Master Bao's 1st wife being murdered, and his real son being hit on the head, reducing him to a retard.

Initially, Caifeng had no feelings for A-Wang and only treated him as a kid she had to babysit. But A-Wang's unconditional love for his wife eventually moves her and she falls for him too...

At the end, the ultimate baddie, Dafu is arrested and A-Wang regains his memory, as well as his love for Peijun. On the other hand, he also loves Caifeng very deeply.

As Caifeng promised Peijun earlier that she will "return" A-Wang to Peijun once he regains his memory, Caifeng chooses to leave Wulong town & goes to Japan to study the art of brewing tea.

Peijun realises that A-Wang still loves Caifeng, and she decides to back out too, and goes to London to study English literature.

A-Wang also decides to leave as he does not want to make a choice between the two ladies. A-Wang moves to HK to start up his lao po bing (Wife Biscuit) business there.

Three years later, all 3 return to Wulong town for a visit and bump into one other. It was the happiest ending possible in the sense that no one was forced to make a sacrifice... and I guess u could say that they all loved each other truly 'cos they believed that as long as the one u love is happy, u don't need to be with him/her.

And that's how the story ends.

While watching the show, I was greatly moved by the little things A-Wang did for Caifeng. The way he loved her unreservedly made me wonder if it's possible to gain another person's love if you gave your all. (Freak! He even invented the wife biscuit 'cos of her!) But when the ending came, I was sadly reminded that if you love a person, that person doesn't need to be with you. As long as he/she is happy, u would be too. I also truly understood how Caifeng & Peijun must have felt when they saw each other - the sense of awkwardness 'cos u like the same guy, but yet u're also concerned about the other person's well-being and happiness 'cos u treasure the friendship. My heart just went out to the 2 gals!

So maybe the choice the 3 leads made at the end was right... to move away so that the feelings will always remain the same. After all, it's the love that remains that matters right?