ROTC

Wish you Well (Themesong) -- Julian Cheung

Listen, you don't have to call me
Although my heart is silent and heavy with burden
It's hard because I can't say this love will not be fulfilled
My mouth and heart is locked tightly

Look, you don't have to say another word
I'm afraid I will hurt you for the rest of your life
All I can do is be thankful that I met you
But I gave you too many sorrows

Chorus:
I rather not hold you and grow old with you
I'm letting you go find another while you stay in my heart
If you happen to find someone better than me
I will wish you both happiness from a safe distance
Even if I might not be able to say it out loud

Speak, there are just too many words I want to say
But I have to leave and say goodbye
To lose myself in this big ocean sky
I only need you to stay as pure as snow

Synopsis

This series, also known as Macau Street, sees the return of Julian Cheung Chi Lam to TVB. He's been missed since Cold Blood Warm Heart so the main attraction for this series is to see Julian. Other stars in this series are Charmaine Sheh (yes, again!), Nancy Sit, Michael Tong, Steven Ma, Sherming Yiu and Yung Hung. Julian has been deaf since childhood. Charmaine acts as his sister with Nancy as their mother. Nancy is not Julian's real mother. Michael, Sherming, and Yung Hung are their childhood friends and all of them grew up in Macau. Steven is a reporter from Hong Kong who gets involved with them.

Julian's mother tried to pour some type of liquid cleaning product down his throat when he was younger in anger because the father ran off. Nancy saved his life and rushed him to the hospital. His vocal cords were not damaged but for some reason, Julian was never able to talk again. Charmaine is a tomboy who is very out going. Sherming likes Michael and they both work in the casino owned by Michael's dad. Michael's dad considers him to be a bastard so Michael was looked down upon. His stepmother hates Michael and does not allow her two sons to associate with him. But the older son is kind and gentle. He treats Michael as his brother and he is in love with Yung Hung. The younger son is a playboy who is attracted to Sherming. The stepmother is also Nancy's younger sister. She is very mean and evil. She believes that she is right all the time and likes to treat people as if they're beneath her.

Both Julian and Michael end up liking Charmaine. However, she has already starting to date Steven (who's from a well-off family) before she realize that she like Julian in a not-so-brotherly-way. Even though Nancy knows that Julian likes her daughter, she pushes Charmaine in Steven's direction because he can provide Charmaine with a better life. In order to make the competition more fair, Steven tries very hard to help Julian recover his voice. He finally succeeds in tracking down a well-known doctor who eventually helped Julian get his voice back. Alas, Julian, knowing that he cannot provide Charmaine with the kind of life she deserves tricked her so she will go with Steven.

After Michael rejected Sherming, she hooked up with his evil half-brother (the playboy) and became his kept woman. Because he lost a lot of money in the stock market, he planned on robbing his own casino. But Michael realized what he was up to and with the help of the older brother, they stopped the robbery in time. When the mother found out, she decided to place the blame on Michael so her precious son would not be blamed. So she hired some people to chop off his hand. Sherming tried to warn him but Michael didn't listen and his life-long friend (who couldn't resist the temptation of money) cut his arm. Michael's arm was saved but he can no longer lift anything heavy. He leaves town.

In the end, the stepmother and Michael's dad goes crazy with grief because the two sons died in a car accident. Yung Hung ends up having the older brother's baby. After being dumped by the playboy, Sherming became one rich man's mistress after another. Charmaine leaves with her father to go to school in New York. She married Steven and they had twins. Nancy, Julian and Michael opened a restaurant in China. Charmaine comes back to visit and bumps into Julian. She finally realizes the sacrifices Julian and her mother made so she can have a better life.

My personal opinion is that was nothing special with Julian learning sign language. Louis also used sign language in "Sealed with a Kiss", a movie starring opposite Yoyo Mung so it wasn't as a big a deal as the press made it out to be. What strikes me instead, was his facial expressions which allows what he can not say shines through. Nancy is good in the tragic, self-sacrifice, mother type but her Kindred Spirit's Ho Yee still lingers in my memory. Michael shows real potential. TVB needs to promote him more because he is not only cute, but can also act! Charmainehmm, what can I say about her? Let's just say that by cutting your hair does not automatically make you a tomboy. Although her character in the beginning of the series was a refreshing change from her normal "good/weak girl" roles. Alas, towards the end of the series, she does revert back to what she is comfortable with which is a shame.

Some interesting gossip: Julian and Roger Kwok are rumored to be in next year's epic drama, about two brothers who are involve in the stock market. Sort of like Greed of Man & Secret of the Heart combined. With these two as the main leads, I'm looking forward to it. Speaking of Charmaine, she will be filming/just finished filming a movie opposite Julian and Michael. Plot is on a love triangle between these three main leads (I think). Supposedly, this movie was cast before Return of the Cuckoo so the casting is just a coincidence.

And the real life rumors surrounding Charmaine are plenty interesting. First Charmaine was rumored to be involve with Gordon Lam (after filming Crimson Sabre), but he came out and said that she's not his type; that they are just friends. Then it's her with Steven Ma. How on the set of ROTC, he was always being nice to Charmaine and getting things for her. Whether Steven Ma likes Charmaine is still a mystery. The other two men linked with Charmaine are Julian and Michael. Julian is still happily with Anita Yuen so the rumors of him and Charmaine are false (I got this from a radio interview they did with Julian). But regarding the rumors if her and Michael are currently dating, that I don't know cause neither of them has denied nor confirmed. But Michael, Charmaine and Gordon will be starring in Plain Love III.

My rating: $$$