Burning Flame II recaps

In light of the upcoming Burning Flame III, I have decided to watch Burning Flame II again. Why BFII and not BFI? Well because I have tapes to BFII but not BFI lol. Anyway, I find that I quite enjoyed it the second time again. Overall I think BFII isn’t as bad as a sequel and can even be said, even better than the sequels to Healing Hands. Their winning factor? Better chemistry in general with every one. There were a bunch of pros about BFII now that I re-watched it again (not that I didn’t like it before, it’s just that I appreciate more now compared to before). I can’t compared it with BFI because sadly, I have only watched clips of BFI. So for those who are looking forward to BFIII, and want a refresher of BFII. If you have not watch BFII and don’t want to be spoiled, do not continue reading.

.//Love Relationships//.
The relationships were quite memorable, and the chemistry between couples are there.
1. Annie Man and Stephen Au: They were adorable as a couple, and their relationship from sifu’s girlfriend/lover and disciple to actual lovers was very enjoyable and hilarious to watch. At first, Stephen had to overcome his viewpoints about them being ‘incestuous’ (though they don’t have the same blood) since Annie is Stephen’s sifu’s girlfriend/lover. Then, they had to hide from the other disciples after they begun dating. After that, they had arguments over whether they should live together, whether he should still be a firefighter, etc. Their best scenes? During one particular fire mission, Annie was also there at the time, and Stephen was running into a dangerous zone to save a person. Then there was a huge explosion, but he ended coming out safe, and Annie rushed to him with tears in her eyes. I think that shows how much she cares for him. Another scene would be Annie finally accepting Stephen as a firefighter. Actually, I looked forward to all of their scene together in the serie. I think they were one of the best things about BFII.

2. Maggie and Wong Hei: Their relationship started off on the wrong foot. Wong Hei thought Maggie is an arrogant bitch, and Maggie though Wong Hei was someone who is always silly and not serious. Through Wong Hei’s daughter, their relationship got closer, and they began to appreciate each other as friends. Maggie & Wong Hei’s relationship was not as cute as Annie & Stephen’s, but I like how they appreciate each other’s attributes and how they bicker with each other over little things. They always seem to be there for each other when they have problems. Because Maggie is dating Wong Hei’s brother, Kevin, they couldn’t be together, but it was cute watching Maggie gradually fall for him. Their best scenes for me? When Wong Hei was teaching Maggie the Para Para dance, how to ballroom dance, and when Maggie had appendicitis and Wong Hei was by her side? And then when Maggie showed up at the wrong time for their date, Wong Hei grabbed her and hugged her saying that it is enough that she came. That was so sweet! Oh and in one scene it was hilarious how he dressed up like a triad to meet Maggie’s father, and the proposal scene was very sweet too. Interesting to note how he has chemistry with both Jessica and Maggie, who are rumored to be rivals/not on good terms. However, I think he has more chemistry with Jessica though, but he does have chemistry with Maggie too.

3. Alex Fong and Yoyo Mung: I would say the couple with least chemistry out the three main couples is Alex-Yoyo, but I thought their relationship was still interesting to watch. I could understand people being bored watching them as a couple because their personalities are very different which leads to lots of fights. Alex Fong is the masculine, somewhat chauvinistic type of guy, while Yoyo is the more shy and innocent girl. Their personalities are so different that I keep on wondering what made them get married in the first place. Later on, after they divorced, we get to saw how they first meet and how it was love at first sight for them. However, I don’t know whether it’s Alex’s acting or it’s very subtle, but whenever Yoyo mentions that she can make him happy whenever he gets mad, I just don’t see it. Yoyo’s character ah Yan can be very, very annoying/childish at times that it can be tiring to watch her. Nonetheless, their relationship was still watchable. I guess, when you see them together for such a long time, you hope to see them stay together.

4. Flora Chan and Alex Fong: Flora plays the third party of Alex & Yoyo’s relationship. However, it’s not hard to see that other than sharing the same tastes, they also share a lot of fate. It turns out that they knew each other when they were young. As kids, they share the same desk of a classroom, but young Flora had class in the morning, and young Alex had class in the afternoon. They communicate by exchanging letters. Young Flora would leave her favorite candy and letters in her desk, and young Alex would receive them and write back. In the present (of the serie), fate likes to play games and they bumped into each other again and again. I wouldn’t say Flora and Alex have a lot of chemistry but I do enjoy watching their ‘fate’ scenes.

5. Maggie Cheung and Kevin Cheng: Maggie has a long teenage crush on Kevin, Wong Hei’s brother in the serie. They ended up dating for a while, but Kevin’s character is quite ambitious and manipulative. At one point in the serie, he even said it is important to find a girlfriend with a clean background. Maggie & Kevin had quite a few scenes as a couple, but they don’t have a lot of chemistry. They were ok as a couple, but Kevin’s character was ‘one foot stepping on two ships’ towards the end, and because Maggie realizes that they share different beliefs, they broke up.

6. Leila Tong and Kevin: They started off as friends. In fact, I don’t even know whether Kevin really likes her because he got closer with her after knowing her god-father is a high fireman official. I don’t think they match each other since Leila looked so young, and they seem more like siblings to me when they are dating.

.//Other Relationships//.
1. Jenny Shing and Wong Hei: Jenny Shing was adorable, and I love watching her and Wong Hei as daughter and father. They seem like real father-daughter too. He always tickles her, and try to make her smile. Her facial expressions were so cute, but it’s really the best when she would bust the adult’s schemes and wishes lol. They never get mad at her for doing it either lol. Her best scene was definitely the ending when she went to Wong Hei’s bed and told her uncle that she knew her dad would never come home.

2. Annie and Yoyo: They are good friends in this serie, and I quite like watching their scenes together. It’s not like they have extreme chemistry as friends, but I quite like how Annie is always there for Yoyo when she has problems, and vice-versa but it was usually Annie there more for Yoyo. There are many scenes of them talking to each other about their problems or just hanging out, and these scenes are very nice to watch. I miss watching friendships like these.

3. Stephen Au and Wong Hei: Stephen Au is Wong Hei’s elder brother in-law, and they don’t get along very well. I think they’re quite hilarious to watch. They always bicker over Yiu Yiu (Wong Hei’s daughter), trying to win her attention and love. Despite their many bickerings and opposite beliefs, deep down, they do care for each other. At the beginning they don’t get along, but later on, they give each other advices about the relationships with Annie and Maggie respectively. I wish they had more scenes together though.

4. Jenny Shing and Stephen Au: They were also very cute to watch as uncle and niece. I’ll bet when people watch BFII or remember BFII, they would only remember Jenny with Wong Hei, but Jenny was actually pretty cute with Stephen Au too. Before he got with Annie Man’s character, there was even a point in which Jenny Shing was more attached to him more than Wong Hei, and of course there was the ending scene between them two.

5. Flora and Yoyo: Flora became Yoyo’s boss after Yoyo decided to separate with Alex Fong. Flora became somewhat of a mentor to her, and they became good friends after a while. I guess Flora served as Yoyo’s motivation since she is really intelligent and individualistic. I also like watching them as friends, so it was good to know that they still ended up as friends.

6. Wong Hei, Ellesmere Choi, Cheung Chi Kwong and the rest of the firemen on Wong Hei’s crew: They play good buddies and partners at the fire station. They have good chemistry with each other, and it seems like they really have fun together. Especially love the scene in which Wong Hei posed as Miss. HK winning, and Alex Fong came out and presented him the helmet…yup Miss. Hk music and all.

7. Yuen Wah and Leila's family: Leila is Yuen Wah’s daughter, in which he hasn’t seen in a long time. The mom is mad at Yuen Wah because he failed to save their young son's life many, many years ago. Later on, they try to convince the mom to forgive Yuen Wah, and those scenes were quite funny.

8. Stephen Au’s si hing-dai/group of friends: This is the group that included the young Ron Ng and Johnson Lee (Chi Ling and Lee Sai Man from Twins of Brothers!). The group does provide some comical relief especially when it comes to Stephen and Annie, but aren’t really that necessary.

.//Best Fire Scenes//.
-The mission in which Alex Fong saved the rest of the team by blowing up a wall, and Wong Hei, Ellesmere, and Cheung Chi Kwong grew to respect and admire him. He lit several gas bottles (I'm assuming) and it blew up the wall. It was pretty cool.

-There was another scene in which Stephen Au jumped onto what looks like a bamboo structure (you know, the stuff they used to build buildings with) to save someone, and Wong Hei rescue him, and then later on when a metal structure fell from above, Stephen pushed Wong Hei so that it wouldn't hit him.

-As mentioned above, when Annie saw Stephen Au coming out of the explosion

-There was a brief rescue mission with dogs, and I liked it because it showed a shot of the firemen looking very relaxed and happy after the dogs were rescued. It seem like a very blissful moment.

-The five-grade fire mission when it showed all the family members/friends of the main firemen (Wong Hei, Alex Fong, Stephen Au, Yuen Wah) worrying for them. I think it was really realistic and yet, also warm how they show these people caring for them. We see Flora and Yoyo looking at the news coverage of the fire on the streets/work. We see Maggie worried about Wong Hei at the scene. We see Annie rushing and being there at the scene. And we see Yuen Wah's family watching the news coverage at home.

.//Other Bonuses//.
-Screen-time of young Bosco, Ron, and Kenneth and Jack Wu. I did not even realize these good-looking guys when I watched it the first time. Bosco actually has a lot more lines than Ron at the beginning since he was part of Wong Hei’s diving team.

-Three Fa Dans in just this serie alone. Jessica Hsuan plays Wong Hei’s dead wife, Flora plays the third party to Alex Fong-Yoyo’s relationship, and Maggie Cheung Hoi Yee is a pair with Wong Hei/Kevin Cheng.

-Gilbert Lam is a great actor, and it is a shame TVB let him go. In BFII, he plays a gay guy, and while his subplot may not be that important and sometimes a little annoying (since his actions/influence on Yoyo angers his brother a lot), I enjoyed his presence and his tragic ending.

-I didn't know who Leila Tong or Kevin Cheng were before this serie, so there's another bonus.

.//Some Questions To Think About//.
1. Why Yuen Wah doesn’t save all the children instead of one by one? In this serie, Yuen Wah’s son died because at one fire mission, he saved all the other kids before his son. But I was thinking, how come he and the other firemen not save two or three kids out at the same time? It seemed like they saved one kid at a time, but if they saved two or three at the same time, the building might not have collapsed on his son.

2. Is it wrong for Annie Man to be mad at Stephen Au for being a firefighter and calling off the wedding? When I watched this the first time, I thought Annie was being childish for being angry at Stephen Au being a firefighter. Now, after I watched again the second time, I think she was still wrong for trying to force Stephen Au to stop being a firefighter, but I can understand why she was horrified. The girl saw with her own eyes how dangerous a mission is, and she experienced losing a lover (the sifu) before, so it’s understandable that she only wants the best for Stephen Au, even though it's something he wants to do.

3. If Alex Fong were to meet Flora and Yoyo at the same time, who would he choose? At the same time, I think he would choose Flora. I think, with Yoyo, it’s because they’ve been together for five years, so overtime his love grew for her. Even when they meet, they met at secluded airport base in which she is the only thing to keep him amused. But if it was at the same time, I think he would choose Flora since they share a lot of similarities of thinking and interests. At the end of the day, it’s nice if your spouse is sweet and caring, but it’s even better if they understand you and share your beliefs/thinking which I believe Flora is more capable of. Yes, Yoyo understands Alex Fong too but there are many times throughout the series that she just doesn’t understand and listen to him. For example, the bringing cake to the station which he repeatedly asks her not to do so, but she does. Later on, when she changed, she was capable of understanding him, but then she was almost like Flora 2.0 - mature and confident.

4. Isn’t it strange that Yoyo revealed that she received Alex Fong’s email when the email doesn’t exist? It is weird because supposedly Yoyo receives Alex Fong’s email even though the emails supposely didn’t go through. I think the first one probably didn’t, but I think Yoyo probably set up an account which received the rest of the emails because whenever Alex Fong pressed send after the first email, the scene did not continue onwards to show that it was an error.

5. Do I like the ending? Wong Hei’s ending was sad, but yet it was memorable for the serie. Whenever it gets to the scene when Yiu Yiu cries about realizing her dad is gone, I would tear up. That scene is probably somewhere up the “Top 10 TVB scenes to make you cry” list. I feel so bad for Yiu Yiu and who wouldn’t if you seen the whole serie? Throughout the series, we saw her and Wong Hei together so much, it’s like a bond that you want to keep forever.

How could Maggie live with Yiu Yiu (Jenny Tsing) after Wong Hei died? Maggie wasn’t Wong Hei’s wife yet, so shouldn't Yiu Yiu live with Stephen (the uncle) instead? I think they did that so that Maggie wouldn’t be alone, but legally I believe the chances are low that she could adopt or be Yiu Yiu’s guardian though.

Loved Stephen & Annie’s ending. Glad to see they had a happy ending together. Overall, the ending was alright. The only ending scene I didn’t like was Yoyo and Alex’s. Their scenes just don’t show how Yoyo cares about Alex romantically. She seems so independent and career-driven and not a least bit interested in Alex again. As I said before, having seen them for so long, I wanted to see them together, but still their getting back together again wasn’t as great as I hope it would be.

6. So now am I looking forward to Burning Flame III? VERY MUCH SO! Other than Bosco Wong, thanks to BFII, I’m really hyped up for BFIII. Can’t wait to see Wong Hei again! I can’t wait to see how the relationships and friendships would be written, and (hopefully) the great chemistry between everyone! And of course the potential uprising stars that might make some appearances aka the young Rons, Boscos, Jack Wu, etc. of today. I wonder who would sing the themesong? Andy Lau and Aaron Kwok did a good job with the songs for BFI and BFII respectively, but I doubt they would sing for BFIII. I hope Eason would sing the themesong, and Miriam would sing the sub-themesong.