Last Madame

I really liked this story, it was a corker! A pity the main girl in the modern half has no more idea about acting than a cow has of flying. The rest of the actors were hit and miss, but there were enough good performances to carry it through. The 1920's story was really gripping and I loved it. The titular Madame was a brilliant character and that actress pulled it off so very well. The Madame's 2IC was another notable performance, whilst our poor policeman wasn't all that good, but he didn't spoil it, so yay for that. The villains were thoroughly villainous, and you can't ask for more than that; so satisfying.

Every time I was expecting the climax of Fung Lan's story, I felt I was constantly interrupted by Chi Ling's story. The idea of how Fung Lan's bravery transformed Chi Ling is actually brilliant, but I feel like the techniques can be different for the story to be more enjoyable. It's like trying to sleep peacefully but yet the alarm keeps snoozing every 5 minutes... The message about women going against the grain and not bowing down to life or men is what deeply touched my heart about this show. Costumes/makeup, lighting, and sound production is great. Although some characters are stiff in their acting and speech, actress/actors like Joanne Peh (as Fung Lan), Constance Lau, and Lina Ng really kept the overall acting up to standard.

This show is surprisingly well-produced and executed. Joanne Peh's performance is truly the highlight of the show for me. Brandon Wong's performance as Master Seh was also a treat. However, I think the narrative of Fung Lan is sufficient to stand on its own two legs. The to and fro to the present timeline seems redundant/ rudimentary and takes away from the tone of the story (but maybe some national heritage organisation funded this film - I don't know and haven't done any research on the film's background haha). So nostalgic for me as it took me back to the good ol' Channel 8 days where I grew up watching the gripping 7pm and 9pm shows screened daily on TV e.g. The Unbeatables, Price of Peace etc. Not done with season one and am hoping a season two is in the cards. In addition, I loved how the accents of the characters weren't psuedo-American (like many other Singapore-produced films/shows that struggle between sounding Singlish or "step ang moh") and delivered realistically what well-spoken Singaporeans sound like. Not sure if this was intentional but kudos to all in the cast and production team - I'm a fan!

Poor script, poor music background, unreal scenes (eg stabbed in the heart and cut in the face but able to tell the whole story before she dies). Wooden acting indeed.

While this show did seem interesting, it was very predictable and did not seem to have much of a point to it. There really wasn't much mystery or intrigue and what you saw was what you got. The actors were great for the roles they played, but there needed to be more of a storyline to hook you in.

Great acting from Joanne Peh. First half of the 1920s story was good until the Japanese spy turn up and everything became a "wrapping up". Didn't like the modern storyline at all, too much cliche, the story and the acting was awkward.

Overall I think for Singaporeans to speak English and not singlish seems to be unnatural for many. Similar to little nyonya last time but the little nyonya had more realistic expressions and I guess it was in chinese..that perhaps was their mother tongue.