The Building Blocks of Life

I first started watching this series almost 2 years ago. I loved it at first, then slowly got tired, put it aside, and couldn't find the time and motivation to continue. It is surprising that 2 years later I picked up this series again and started watching from where I left off, and in the end, I love it so much! It is difficult to find a love story in TVB series that tug my heartstrings so much, so read on to find out more.



The story:
13 years ago, Chung Kwok Keung (Alex Fong Chung Sun) was a highly talented and ambitious architect, who had lots of dreams, who believed architecture can change the world. He also has very high expectations and a bad temper. One day, because of a small argument, he quit his job and left his teacher, Kong Shing Yu (Chung King Fai).

Alex settled down as a designer in his sister's construction company. Over the years his temper changed, and got more and more comfortable with his unchallenging life. He also had a girlfriend for many years, Wai Yee (Christine Ng), and were going to get married. For 13 years, Alex never thought of going back into architecture despite his talent, until he met Cheung Man Jing Freeda (Tavia Yeung), a young and passionate architect, who reignited his passion. Alex finally decides to make a comeback, and become colleagues with Tavia.

Meanwhile, Tavia and Alex help each other through many struggles, and as expected, they are in love. It is difficult for them not to fall in love, because the get along so well, from the moment they met. Both of them know that there is no way Alex can abandon his girlfriend. They try really hard to suppress their feelings, but fail sometimes. As the audience, we know it is almost impossible for them to be together, but the way they love just touches your heart. All these develop into a bittersweet love story, which is surprising, and difficult to forget.


Love Factor

Tavia Yeung
What a great actress! Tavia's performance in this series is totally awesome and I just can't think of a second person who can portray ah Da like her. In this series, Tavia's character has to go through many struggles from the start to the end. From the first episode Tavia already starts liking Alex. When she realises that Alex has a girlfriend, she is so disappointed, but has to keep everything to herself. Next, she had struggles with her family and her grandmother's death, in which Alex helped her a lot. And then, her relationship with Alex starts to get complicated, and Tavia gets torn between guilt and confusion. Tavia portrays her internal struggles of being the 'third party' so well, you can totally feel for her, and can't bear to blame here. And then finally, Tavia runs into a car accident, and becomes a new person. She doesn't want anything except for peace and health. You get to see her less and less, and miss her more and more. But you know, Tavia's heart has never left Alex all this while. Tavia's performances (which include lots of tears) are memorable. Her outfits (and herself) are gorgeous (except for the last scene). Without Tavia's performance to pull off the script, this series will not even be close to good.

Alex Fong Chung Sun and his chemistry with Tavia
I've never expected myself to put Alex Fong on a 'love factor' list, because I never found much connection with him, but now I finally did. Alex's character goes through some changes throughout this series, both in career and relationships. At first, he is laidback, he likes to eat, but he is a responsible and good man. You will not expect him to fall for another girl, including Tavia, much less cheat on his girlfriend. As soon as Alex got back to architecture, things started to change. He found his 'fire' back, even though his temper is much better than before. Meanwhile, he starts to like Tavia without himself realizing. This is when I start to like his character, and how he is always there to help Tavia when she is in trouble. I like the way Alex talks. It sounds funny, yet it makes a lot of sense. Without him, Tavia will not find her kinship back so easily, neither will she get over her grandmother's death. I love the scene where Tavia was hiding at the bay/beach, and Alex found her and told her not to cry and wiped off her tears. Tavia said 'why do you always care for me'. Alex said 'because you are very troublesome'. I love that line so much! Contrary to many people who find them a mismatch, I think the two of them match very well and have great chemistry. The age gap is not a problem, it is somewhat intentional and even value-adding

honourable mention- Christine Ng
Christine is a great actress, no doubt. It is difficult to deny her efforts in acting, especially in the scenes when she was being crazily jealous and paranoid. Her character is simple and nice. Her only fault is to love Alex too much. I'm happy for her that she could find her own happy ending eventually.

Don't care factors- certain parts of the story and some supporting characters
Beware that some parts of the story are rather boring at times, and I have fast forwarded certain scenes. For example, I don't care about the office politics and power struggle in the firm. I don't care about Chung King Fai's struggles because it is not even well developed and his performance was unimpressive. I don't care about Power Chan's villain character because I don't see the point in his existance, though his performances were great. And of course, I don't care about Natalie Tong's messed up relationships.

Power Chan and Natalie Tong- what kind of relationship is that?
Natalie dates Sam Chen at first. He did many things for her. They even have a baby, but she doesn't care. Meanwhile, Power Chan snatches Natalie over using lies and more lies. All of a sudden, they are together, they are getting married, and all of a sudden, Natalie loves Power like crazy. I don't understand how she can forgive him for all the bad things he had done. But TVB just wants Power to turn good in 5 minutes and Natalie and Power Chan to end up together, and there is nothing I can do. Hence, like I mentioned above, it is better to put this part of the story under the 'don't care' factor.

The ending including Tavia's ugly outfit
The ending was rushed as usual. Though acceptable, it did not do the story all the justice it should. The concept of Tavia slowly losing her memory and recording everything down on a CD is nice, but it is way too rushed! The CD was way too short. And then, in the last scene, when Tavia and Alex met again at the beach, Tavia's outfit and hair was so awful! Why did she have to look so awful? And Tavia was acting more like she has become stupid, than she has lost her memory. The ending is not horrible. But it could have been better to give the audience a better sense of completion...

The Performances
For the best actress, I have to choose Tavia over Christine even though they are both great. Tavia's performance really touched my heart. Alex is a great actor, and I did not realise this last time. His character is both old-fashioned and charming, and Alex captured the balance very well. His emotions are subtle, but can definitely be felt. Anne Heung plays a small role, simply and convincingly. Timmy Hung, this may be the best of him I have seen. As for the other supporting characters, I don't really want to mention them much. Power Chan deserves best supporting actor, but I really don't care about his character.

Concluding remarks
To sum up, TBBOL may have low ratings, n some negative comments, but for me was totally worth watching. There are boring scenes I don't care about, but there are even more touching scenes I remember. It is a different kind of chemistry, and different kind of story. The characters dialogues are always interesting to hear. Most importantly, the 2 leads, Alex and Tavia, gave a performance which is stemmed from their hearts. Last but not least, it has a great sound track and themesong! ;)