Many forms of entertainment are judged on the foundation laid by other similar forms of entertainment simply because there has to be a baseline, a scale of sorts. You don’t know how good something is until you’ve seen something worse, just as you wouldn’t know how bad something is until you’ve seen something better. There are exceptions. Certain dramas are so uniquely good, they shouldn’t be compared to anything else. Similarly, obscenely bad dramas don’t deserve to be compared either. Beyond the Realm of Conscience is one of those exceptions and it, unfortunately, falls into the latter category.

I jumped onto the bandwagon back when Beyond first started filming because I firmly believed I would one day witness a glorious, fascinating, poignant, outstanding hybrid of two magnificent hit productions–War and Beauty and Dae Jang Geum. What I failed to remember is that this is TVB. What I failed to notice is Choi Ting Ting. Choi has done her fair share of scriptwriting, some of which include Last One Standing, Forensic Heroes II, Burning Flame II, To Catch the Uncatchable, Slim Chances, Hard Fate, Always Ready, and soon-to-be-aired A Watchdog’s Tale. Most of her scripts are decent and I had enjoyed some of them. However, I overlooked the fact that she wrote The Threshold of a Persona. And guess what? I feel the same indifference for Beyond as I did Persona. Seriously, I don’t get why TVB didn’t pull Cheung Wah Biu (Heart of Greed, Moonlight Resonance, Rosy Business) over to write the script for Beyond? Why? Beyond has everything! Everything!! All but a golden script …

Story

At the beginning, Beyond displayed itself to be a tale about two unrelated “sisters” and their struggles in the palace, emphasizing on how they each deal with obstacles differently. Later down the road, Beyond turned into a boring Tang dynasty false reality show. Maybe the director fell asleep? Because the cameraman basically zoomed in on any big character he could find, as long as he could capture their palatial sufferings. This is one of the biggest problem for Beyond. The focus was lost. The story wasn’t about Sam Ho (Charmaine Sheh) and Kam Ling (Tavia Yeung) anymore. It was about everybody and because of that, it is difficult to see any consistent character growth or feel any sympathy.

Shortcomings

What’s worse, Beyond is so fake. The relationships are downright silly. For all types of media, the common rule is to show, not tell. Forget about that, okay? Skip to a random scene and characters in Beyond will tell you exactly what they’re feeling and what they’re going to do about it. They will continuously remind you of their virtues, mottos, relationships, and lifelong dreams. Sam Ho will never forget to tell you that she lives to “speak good words, do good deeds, and show good will”. Kam Ling will stop at nothing to hold Sam Ho’s hands and tell you that they are good “sisters”. Hin Yeung (Kevin Cheng) will grab any chance to remind you of his marriage vow to Sam Ho. That is how they brainwash you into thinking they had shown you the developments. Don’t fall for it.

Lurking Potential

Honestly, Beyond had a lot of potential. I saw them. But they were never exerted and that’s what frustrates me. The threads tying the four leads Sam Ho, Kam Ling, Hin Yeung, and Li Yi (Moses Chan) together were not strong enough. The sisterhood/rivalry between Sam Ho and Kam Ling should have been the central theme of the story, but it got left in the shadows after episode 10 and only got re-instated around episode 30. The love between Sam Ho and Hin Yeung was lacking and more terrible than that, there was no real love between Kam Ling and Li Yi.

How Sam Ho became a concubine was rather lame as well. If I was writing Beyond, Sam Ho would see the insatiable greed Kam Ling harbors and work her way to become a concubine in order to stop and “save” Kam Ling. Thus, she sacrifices her love with Hin Yeung. That is true friendship and tragedy.

Characters and Performances

Overall Enjoyment

From a distance, from the poster and trailers, Beyond appears to be a radiant gem you don’t want to miss. But in reality, it is nothing more than a rock coated with faux gold. Scratch the layer of glimmering gold off and Beyond is nothing but pretty junk I’ll gladly throw at a window of the TVB station. I wasted 33 hours of my life watching viburnum leaves fall to the ground. I hope you won’t foolishly do the same.

My rating for Beyond would have been 1.5 stars if I strictly follow my rating scale. However, up that by 1 star thanks to the grand cast, skillful acting, delightful music, and pleasant cinematography.