Burning Flame 3 - Post-Ending Thoughts

The Cast and Characters - 4/5
Kevin Cheng --- Rex
Wong Hei ------ Sing
Bosco Wong ---- Encore
Myolie Wu ------ Ying
Aimee Chan ---- Easy

Well there are five main characters and so each character/cast is worth 1 point. I really have no complaints on the characters Rex and Ying. I thought they were well written and played well...so 1/1 for each! Easy and Encore's pairing was really interesting and entertaining until they got married and I found their arguments revolving the baby a bit draggy. It was just a pacing problem...it just seemed like the script writer just ran out of ideas and their story would have better fit a 25 episode series. Therefore, I give them each 0.75/1. Finally, Sing's character is the character that I'm on the fence about. Generally he is a loyal, faithful, strong and positive one because of his persistence, but his persistence also brings harm upon himself and others around him and it got annoying after a while, so I'm going leave it at 0.5/1....1+1+0.75+0.75+0.5=4

The Story - 3.75/5
I don't really remember the story or characters of part one (1998) at all besides the presence of Wong Hei because he's in all three. After doing research, Esther Kwan and Louis Koo were also in it. I remember a bit more in the second one (2002), I remember Wong Hei, Maggie Cheung and Kevin Cheng. Though it was Kevin's debut/comeback series and he had a very small role, he was sort of the villain and the older brother of Wong Hei. Wong Hei's girlfriend was Maggie and he also had a daughter. I remember that in the end, Wong Hei dies in the fire and Maggie takes care of his daughter for him...

I don't remember very much about the other two installments so I'm not going to compare BF3 to them. I'm glad they kept the series at this length of 32 episodes, it was long enough to cover the prologue, build up, climax, and follow through. It is the shortest of the Burning Flame series (though none really relate), the others were 43(I) and 35(II) episodes, but it was a bit draggy at times. A lot of the screen time was spent on the complex (triangle) relationships between the characters giving it a proper development and follow through. However, I wished they could have emphasized something else in addition to just the love/romance, I would have liked it more if they kept the romance part simpler and gave the screen time to the fire fighting. I don't mind strictly romance series if there's a lot of chemistry, but I don't think anything can top Kevin/Niki and that is what made The Seventh Day work for me.

The Ending - 4.5/5
Well it turned out to be another classic TVB ending! I'm really glad they got the messed up relationships figured out earlier on in the 31st episode because I was pretty annoyed by the 30th episode at how things developed. It was nice to see Sing finally see through and repair relationships. I was quite surprised that Rex, Ying and Sing found each other so easily at the airport. The fact that Rex left his phone at home sort of foreshadowed that he wasn't going to be able to catch up with Ying. I thought she was going to fly away to China and maybe come back after or during the final blaze. Usually, there is at least a chase inside the airport, but I'm glad they quickly jumped to the main course without the appetizer(s).

Easy and Encore were able to get back together with the help of Sing. He staged an event to allow Encore to see inside Easy's heart. He used 8 restrictions to remind Easy of what Encore has given her, in particular, family. Aside from resolving the misunderstanding, Sing made them both realize their own wrongs. Being able to find 'Ka-poon' (the dog that Easy caused Encore to lose) again was sweet and nicely finished their story. The other pair, Mun (Rex's sister) and Lam (Ying's brother) was entertaining and funny too. I've noticed that they've collaborated several time already, either as couples or siblings in A Journey Called Life and Speech of Silence, the pair does have some chemistry.

There were a lot of false foreshadows in the last two episodes. First Rex's phone, but then after everything seemed to be settled, Sing's actions (will, bank account, getting up a night, and buying a home for his father) and things he said (a firefighter should die in a fire) sort of implied that he was still suicidal. This gave me second thoughts about him, but I'm glad he wasn't and it was just a misunderstanding. I really thought Sing was going to drown or die in the blaze just like in BF2, but I was so happy and emotionally touched when he regained his conscience, I was right there with the rest of them during that scene. I'm so glad that he finally accepted June after seeing flashbacks of her before becoming unconscious, which officially made it clear that he has moved on.

Overall - 4.1/5