Moonlight Resonance


Moonlight Resonance is a 2008 grand production HDTV drama by TVB. It is a spiritual sequel to 2007's award-winning series, Heart of Greed featuring most of the original cast members. The series is written and edited by Cheung Wah-biu and Sit Ga-wah. Sponsored by Kee Wah Bakery, the series began broadcast on 28 July 2008. It stars Louise Lee, Ha Yu, Michelle Yim, Susanna Kwan, Moses Chan, Raymond Lam, Linda Chung, Tavia Yeung, Lee Heung Kam, Fala Chen, Chris Lai & Vincent Wan. Its final episode was the highest rated TVB episode ever at 50 points. The series was met with critical acclaim, with praise to the intense plot, excellent performances by the cast, and moving storyline. It went on to receive various awards across Asia Pacific and further cemented its position as one of the most successful and epic dramas in TVB's history.

Plot

Chung Siu-Hor, discovered that her husband Gan Tai-Cho was having an affair with their employee Yan-Hung. Siu-Hor and Tai-Cho owned a confectionery together known as the Moonlight Bakery. Yan-Hung forces Siu-Hor and Tai-Cho to declare divorce.
After this divorce, Yan-Hung and Tai-Cho take on the Moonlight Bakery name and prove successful, resulting in a family asset totaling HK$1 billion. Meanwhile, Siu-Hor struggles to make a living at the modest bakery she once owned with Tai-Cho. Over the next ten years, Yan-Hung manipulates the family to keep relations hostile.
When Yan-Hung has a miscarriage with Tai-Cho's baby, she blames Wing-Yuen to make him feel indebted to her. Meanwhile, Siu-Hor's sister Chung Siu-Sa comes to Hong Kong after divorcing her husband. Siu-Sa is very angry that Siu-Hor let Tai-Cho take the Moonlight Bakery name and decides to sue Yun-Hung and Tai-Cho for the Moonlight Bakery franchise. However, Siu-Sa ultimately loses the court case.
Wing-Ka lacks interest in managing the bakery; instead, he is addicted to the stock market. With Siu-Hor and Hou-Yuet's encouragement and support, he is able to quit gambling. Wing-Ka eventually falls for his cousin, Siu-Sa's daughter, Ka Mei.
When she comes back, the two fall in love again. However, the appearance of Dr. Ling Chi Shun causes So-Sum to abandon her feelings for Wing-Ho. She and Chi-Shun begin a relationship, but as it turns out, Chi-Shun already has a girlfriend named Wing-Lam. Despite Chi-Shun not having feelings for Wing-Lam, he feels indebted to her because she had helped him so much in the past.
However, she sees how concerned her family is about her and apologizes and returns home. Later, she begins developing feelings for Wing-Ka, however the appearance of Ka Mei causes Yuet to become jealous.
Wing-Yuen is the one child that sided with Yun-Hung, due to him believing that he was the one who caused her miscarriage. After breaking up with Wing-Ka, Ka Mei begins dating Wing-Yuen, despite the protest of his siblings and mother. He later has a baby with Ka Mei, but, unsure if it is his, Ka Mei gets an abortion to avoid complications.
Wing-Ho constantly tells her to find a real job, and she finally gets a job as an office clerk. There she meets Kelvin, who begins to fall for her. Initially, Kelvin's mother is against the relationship, but she eventually accepts Wing-Hing and allows them to get married.
Wing-Chung was separated from his family at a young age, being sent with So-Sum to England. His grades were very poor and he did not like university. Siu-Hor, seeing how much her son dislikes school, allows him to drop out.
Yan-Hung becomes jealous and finally decides to take legal action against Siu-Hor and Tai-Cho, wanting to take 90% of the family assets, leaving them with a mere 10%. To prevent Gwan-Lai from gathering evidence for the court case, Yan-Hung kills her. Despite losing the lawsuit, the family is still very happy. Wanting to destroy their happiness, Yan-Hung tells Ka Mei to hold a meeting to reveal that Wing-Yuen killed someone. However, seeing the error of her ways, Ka Mei instead reveals the Yan-Hung killed Sheh Gwan-Lai.
Due to the turn of events, Yan Hung faces murder charges. She tries to convince So Sum to lie and give false testimony and So Sum pretends to agree. Yan Hung later gives Sum 70% of her shares of the Moonlight Bakery as a present for So Sum and Dr. Ling's "marriage". Sum subsequently returns the shares to Tai Cho and Siu Hor and tells Yan Hung she will tell the truth behind Gwan Lai's death. Yan Hung is convicted and sentenced, while Tai Cho tells her that he will give her 50% of the shares once she finishes her jail sentence. Wing Ho and So Sum finally get together, while Hou Yuet marries Wing Ka. In a scene taking place four years in the future, it is revealed that Wing Ka is alive in his late thirties. Yan Hung, now living abroad in New Zealand, refuses to take her half of Moonlight Bakery's shares and approves of So Sum and Wing Ho's relationship.

Pre-release

Development

TVB's 2007 series, Heart of Greed, was successful enough to commission this series. In June 2007, Louise Lee presented on the Heart of Greed chatroom that the producers had already begun to write another series with the same actors but a different story line. Details about the new series were leaked by the media in October 2007 and Lau Kar Ho, the director, writer and producer of the series, vowed to catch the person who leaked this information because few people knew about the new series. The sales presentation clip was released on 19 November 2007. The clip gave clues about the new series which featured Michelle Yim as the new villain and a mooncake business instead of the abalone business in Heart of Greed. New cast members included Kate Tsui, Lee Heung Kam, Vincent Wan and Wayne Lai.
On 28 January 2008, the cast celebrated their kick-off in filming, which included a costume fitting. Lee, Raymond Lam and Fala Chen had to attend baking lessons in order for them to film baking scenes realistically. Filming commenced on 14 February 2008, where Lee, Lai and Lam were the first to shoot at a bakery. The main cast and Lau Kar Ho celebrated the blessing ceremony of the series on 7 March 2008. The release of its official trailer was aired at the Shanghai Television Festival on 11 June. Principal filming ended on 1 July 2008, and its official English title was revealed. TVB officially began promotional and advertising work on the series on 5 July 2008, with an advertisement being aired followed up with its official website being released on 8 July 2008.

Music

The opening theme song for the series Mo Sam Hoi Ni was performed by Susanna Kwan, while the ending song Ai Bu Kau was performed by Raymond Lam and was featured in his album Your Love. The ending theme was nominated as one of the top-10 song of the 31st RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. A featured song for the series entitled "" was written and produced by London-based production team DNR DNR who are better known as .

Casting dilemma

was originally cast as the character who would eventually become the husband for Susanna Kwan's character. However, Lai explained on the celebrity talk show Be My Guest that due to health problems, the role was offered to Louis Yuen instead. Lai took over the part of the baker Nin Tze Yung, which Yuen was originally assigned to.

Release dates

Cast

Chung Household

Gan Household

Others

Characters

The Elders

The initial critical response for the series was excellent with the first episode receiving an average of 33 rating points with a peak of 42. The cast of the series were happy with that result. Since then, the series has been receiving very good ratings with peaks above 35. Like its predecessor, the 2-hour series finale was once again premiered at a Hong Kong shopping centre, Discovery Park, in front of hundreds of guests and supporters. The finale was shown in the form of a variety show, 家好月圓慶團圓 and the viewership for that had reached 44 rating points. Viewership was higher than expected, with the final episode receiving an average of 47 rating points and a peak of 50 in the scene where Linda Chung and Michelle Yim were arguing. As a result, Moonlight Resonance outperformed Heart of Greed, and is currently the highest-rated TVB series ever made. Its rating is tied with Dae Jang Geum, a Korean drama series on TVB that also garnered 50 points. Moonlight Resonance was nominated for 18 TVB Anniversary Awards in 2008 and won a total of 6 awards, becoming the biggest winner in the awards presentation.
;Ratings for Moonlight Resonance
WeekEpisode NumbersAverage PointsPeaking PointsReferences
1 1 to 53337
2 6 to 93641
3 10 to 123334
4 13 to 173237
5 18 to 223437
6 23 to 273638
7 28 to 323436
8 33 to 373839
8 3834 No peak points
8 39 to 404750

List of awards and nominations