黑糖群侠传 is Surprising Not Bad

Initially didn't really wanted to watch the not-so-good acting of the 棒棒堂男孩 & 黑girl (previously known as 黑涩会美眉).

But at that time, didn't find any other good shows to watch, & had thought the sypnosis quite interesting, so gave the 1st episode a try.

Now I'm on to episode 5, and frankly speaking, I find the show slightly more engaging that the 篮球火!

Oh, the youngsters' acting have only improved slightly, but fortunately, the plot isn't all that complicated. You can't go too far wrong with all the usual love triangles and 欢喜冤家 kind of couples in the popular 偶像剧 format.

What's interesting is how the drama incorporates the 古代武侠 elements into the present day situation. Imagine all the gongfu in 金庸's stories actually existing in the modern society. There're schools (hidden in bamboo forests of some 八卦阵) to teach potential students the different types of gongfu.

Chemistry is actually the art of making poisons. Physics is the skill of 暗器. And the students all dread the exam of Modern Gungfu History, where they have to memorise the various fights & gongfu styles used by 黄飞鸿 & 霍元甲!

Of course, in the spirit of traditional 武侠小说, there will be some secret gongfu manual the 邪教 is trying to lay their hands on, which is kept in the school's 藏经阁 (ie. the library). So the good guys will have to train their young proteges in some formidable gongfu to defeat the bad guys. What a totally predicatable but always popular plot!

To add a further mockery to the gongfu setting, all the key characters have names & certain characteristics that resemble some popular 武侠小说 character: eg. 令狐聪 is the 1st disciple & has the best kungfu，郭敬 is slow to learn but very upright，小聋女 has poor hearing cos she trained in 狮子吼!

All in all, an entertaining show for someone looking for light-hearted brainless relaxing hour of fun. Just my type of drama right now!