Land Of Wealth- my final thoughts

After 6 interminable weeks, I finally finished the series Land of Wealth. Remember some time ago I gave quite a positive review about the first 10 episodes of LOW? Well, I guess it's time for me to turn the tables against this series which has one of the most major disapointment of the year.




Don't leave, read on to find out more



If you have read Metal's review before, he mentioned that it was only after 18 episodes when "LOW wakes up and realises that it has a story to tell". That is SO true. I liked the first 10 episodes because they managed to trick me into thinking that 'everything is just building up' and that 'more excitement is ahead'. Unfortunately after the next 8 episodes I was going to switch off my television. But I still pressed on.


For the next 14 episodes, things did get more exciting. Not only exciting, but also messed up, and screwed up. I feel like the producers are still in control of the story line. That's a good thing. But I do not understand why did they choose to mess up the story line like that.



I couldn't make myself love the story. The political and banking parts are not exciting enough. The love parts were messed up, vexatious, and left the audience with lots of regrets. It was so twisted, everyone married the person they do not love, no one gets to be w/ someone he or she truly loves. Couples are ripped into pieces and the pieces are thrown everywhere and anywhere.



ok I'm exagerating, but i'm just trying to show my disappointment.


It could be a masterpiece


Look at the grand costumes, the gorgeous scenery, the upbeat themesong and themevideo, four lovely main characters, and the awesome performances from the leads and supporting cast. All these is useless if the story line sucked, but it's also a waste of money and resources to create these beauty. LOW could have been the best series of the year, but because of the lousy story, it has become one of the worst series of 2006. (Not as bad as War and Destiny which I gave up on after 8 episodes... at least i made it thru 32 episodes of LOW)


The perfect couples broken up

I wasn't paying much attention to Moses and Sonija as a couple but soon realised that they were very much the focus of the series. I started to like them tgt quite quickly, especially because Sonija's character was so energetic and cute, all the way up till episode 22 or 23, when a stupid misunderstanding changed their relationship so badly without any turning back. It just made me miss those days of their innocent and cute interaction.

Steven and Tavia were the number one reason why I wanted to watch LOW, but also the number one disappointment. Their chemistry was definitely present, and it really rocked. But the scenes with them are really WAY TOO LITTLE. In fact MANY of their scenes were cut. It gives me a feeling that the producers hate them tgt. Also, in the end the story got really twisted as well. Another stupid misunderstanding break them apart. Tavia marries Moses and all of a sudden does not seem to love Steven anymore. Steven gets tagged by a not very pretty girl called Erica Yuen. Tavia dies, and I don't even see Steven at her funeral...

the scenes which got cut:

- the snow storm scene which looks totally gorgeous got so truncated. I still enjoyed it, but it was WAY too short!

- The scene where Tavia and Steven were getting buried alive by horse thieves. I saw the filming of it and I cried, but in the actual series it got cut...

- Steven standing at the side looking and crying when Tavia dies. In the version I watch, there is no Steven at all when Moses carries Tavia out of the prison

Give me those scenes! I want to watch them so badly...

In the year of 2006, the costume dramas looked the most promising, but also turned out the most disappointing. Watching LWOLAP, DOP and LOW gave me quite similar feeling. It made me thinkg 'Why can series look sooo awesome from the outside but turn out to be just a beautiful empty shell?' This can make u feel very dejected and upset. Of course, among the bunch, LWOLAP was a much much better series, with awesome characters and a story which kept me very much interested, unlike DOP and LOW which i was watching half-heartedly most of the time.

The Verdict

My suggestion, give this series a cursory glance, don't skip it totally. You need to have a feel of teh grandness and beauty of Land Of Wealth. It's cinetography is one of the best in recent years. However, don't pay too much attention to the story, it can make u very vexed. Like I said, performances rocked but the story sucked. Browsing and watching selected scenes where ur favourite actors and actresses perform is more than enough.