Late last week I finished the first of seven DVD set of My
Date with a Vampire. Yes, it’s that addicting. Every episode discloses
interesting information and you get hungry for more. The next thing you know,
it’s way past midnight. No wonder lately I have been reporting late for work.
白素素 the White Snake’s role in the
series becomes clear here. She is known for her wine which, when ingested,
clears up a person’s muddled thoughts. Different characters have different
reactions and saw different things. It
was instrumental in making王珍珍 confess her feelings to況天佑
when she berated him for being too mysterious and ambivalent. 況天佑 apparently is not affected by the
drink.
馬小玲, on
the other hand, saw herself and況天佑 embracing each other and was
heavily disturbed. First and foremost, her bestfriend likes況天佑. Second, as the heiress of the 馬
clan, she is expected to focus on her profession and goal of defeating 將臣
above all things. But in the scenes following this episode, we see another side
to this seemingly cold-hearted girl. She is willing to sacrifice her own
feelings for her best friend 王珍珍 and even goes an extra mile as
threatening況天佑 never to hurt 王珍珍’s feelings. This can also be seen
as one way of reminding herself never to fall in love.
As for 況天佑, while it is clear that he loves 阿秀,
I doubt if he has feelings for 王珍珍. My guess is that he likes馬小玲
at the onset. He once remarked that he and馬小玲 have
a whole lot more to talk about, compared to when he is with王珍珍. And
he seems to be just hopelessly lured to blind dates orchestrated by his son復生
and 馬小玲.
Speaking more on romance, episode 18 can very well be one of
my favorites. In this episode, 白素素 is already dying and she has just
one wish--- to see許仙 one last time before her death. But
let us first see the events that unfolded before episode 18.
山本一夫, after knowing that the crab-shaped
鎮國石靈in a museum in Beijing has the power to stop him from
his world-domination plans, he had it sent to Hong Kong for an exhibition. He
then concocts a plan to have馬小玲 and況天佑
fight each other, with the hope of eliminating his potential opponents, all the
while holding復生 as hostage. [When未來
learns of the abduction of her little friend, she tries to search for him.]
And so during the fight in the museum, 馬小玲
discovers that 況天佑 is actually a vampire. [The two will
have an agreement afterwards: 馬小玲 will kill況天佑 once
the latter fixes his relationship with王珍珍 and also, once a cure to turn 復生
into a human is found. The latter seems to be 況天佑’s
one and only goal in life.] So anyway, it is during this fight that法海
is released from having been sealed for centuries inside the crab-shaped stone.
The relentless monk immediately searched for the snake sisters for revenge.
Against her will, 馬小玲 helps the Snake sisters despite
knowing that they are not human, but still with the acknowledgement that they
are good-natured. This leads her to question her profession because she will
stop at nothing to capture supernatural creatures. Here we see the difference
between馬小玲’s strict adherence to her family’s profession and王珍珍’s
naiveté which allows her to see beyond physical appearances. Also, her act may
also be in consideration of her student金正中’s
feelings toward White Snake, which shows that she’s not as cruel as she seems
to be.
We also see the character of白素素. As
a supernatural creature like the vampire 況天佑, she
exudes compassion and is the epitome of patience. She fell in love with the
human許仙 many years ago. But time does
not diminish her love and she patiently waits for the reincarnation of 許仙,
holding on to 妙善’s vision
that she will be able to meet her beloved before 天人五衰. And
as stated before, the series owes much to Buddhism. 天人五衰
is a Buddhist concept that refers to the
decay of devas. [The counterpart of devas is angels in Western religions.] 白素素
dreads天人五衰 but has accepted her fate early on, that sensing 法海’s
revival and the imminent coming of天人五衰, she tries to do as much good as
possible to the good people she meets, but more so for金正中
whose clumsiness she finds attractive. In fact, 小青 says
that 金正中 is way way better than 許仙.
While法海 pursues the two sisters and injures
their friends in the process, even山本一夫’s team lends a hand, rendering
the old monk heavily injured. It is then that Buddha intervenes and in a
deux-ex-machina moment, 法海 is given a lotus to sit on to
meditate and purify himself, thereby saving the two sisters.
But then not long, 白素素 is experiencing 天人五衰.
Her hair has grown white and wrinkles have appeared on her face. She hides from
everyone but her friends seek her out. At this time, 金正中 has
no recollection of her, having been hurt by法海
during the fight. He runs away the minute he saw her, leaving白素素 in
tears. 白素素 cries out to heaven in agony, saying all she wants is
just to see許仙 before she dies. Heaven grants her wish and strikes a
lightning, hitting金正中 whose memories suddenly returned.
He runs back to apologize to the woman he loves. And in this special moment [okay
here comes my favorite heart-wrenching scene], for a brief moment, 金正中
previous incarnation flashes in his mind. He saw himself as許仙
holding an umbrella for 白素素 in the West Lake where they met. [This
got me crying!!!]
Meanwhile, 未來 is finally able to track where her
father is hiding復生, but comes too late. 復生,
very hungry from days of no consumption, sucks the blood of a girl placed
inside his cell by Ken, 未來’s lover. This will change 復生
forever, who hasn’t tasted fresh human blood before and suddenly the expired
human blood they get from the hospital is repulsive to him. He tries to keep
this a secret from his adoptive father, feeling disgusted with himself aside
from the heavy guilt he now bears after killing a human for blood.
In episode 19, 復生 asks馬小玲 to
exterminate him, a move approved by況天佑 even though it is also difficult
for him. [And I think it is the first time he cried.]
While all these are happening, 山本一夫’s
other sidekick Herman, seems to want to kill 王珍珍’s
mother who now works山本一夫’s company as headed by Mr. Lim
who has taken a liking to欧阳嘉嘉. The mother and daughter are both
invited to a party and there, the first meeting of山本一夫 and王珍珍
takes place. 山本一夫 is shocked and awestruck at the sight of the woman who
looks a lot like his deceased wife from years ago.
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