The Golden Path is a Ch 8's latest 9pm drama, and boy is it gripping stuff. It revolves around a family of 5 children, 3 with the surname Huang, and 2 adopted with the surname Jin, hence the chinese name Huang Jin Lu, with the main gist of the plot being the fate of this family and the relations between the siblings.
Here is a picture of the family before I proceed any further so that you know who I am talking about.
The family, from left to right: Kaijie, Kaida, Xiaogu, Kaiqi, Jin Feng and Jin LongI shall not spoil the roles of the characters for you, but those who follow the series like me will roughly have an idea of who's good and who's bad, although later in the show it gets more and more dubious, and the fate of each of the family members.
This drama makes for good stuff because right from the get go, the plot is full of twists and turns, loaded with betrayal, dark secrets and bad blood, and the bad guy never seems to get his comeuppance so you are left cursing and swearing, while totally gripped to this drama. Not to mention that the relations between the siblings are really COMPLICATED. I just had to caps it to show just how complicated they were.
For once, Ch 8 has decided to do away with using dramas as an excuse for nation building or sappy love stories. (Except for the unfortunate example of Kinship 2 at 7pm, which serves as a gauge between a good and bad Ch 8 drama) I watched one episode of that, and I was left wondering why I had wasted one good hour of my life.
Another thing about this drama is, despite the relative youth and inexperience of most of the female leads, they deliver solid performances, lifting the show above the ordinary. The male leads are veterans, but the females don't do too badly either. I personally think Felicia Chin and Cai Pei Xuan (Bak Kut Girl) are outstanding, although Joey Feng also puts in a decent performance as Jin Feng.
One thing though, anyone thinks that the seniority order of the brothers is all wrong? The oldest brother, played by Chew Chor Meng, looks the youngest, and the youngest brother, played by Li Nanxing, looks the oldest. I have trouble believing baby faced Kaida is the oldest.
Here are some pictures from the drama
Jin Feng giving her best impression of "I hate big brother Kaida because he told on me." Check out the scrunched up nose. Reminds me of primary school.
Kaijie practices some police brutality and intimidation tactics on his sister Jin Feng. Check out that intense stare.
Kaijie driving Kaida nuts. If Kaida isn't nuts already. Oops.Beware - From this section onwards its all spoilers. Do not read if you do not wish to have your drama spoilt for you.
A character map showing the relations between characters. It tells you who ends up with who. So don't look at it unless you're impatient and dying to know, or can't really care less.
NOOOO!!!! TMD! Ok, that's about all I have to say about this picture.More dramas like this please Ch 8!
Trivia: The drama is actually set 10 years ago, so if you look carefully, you will notice replays of old Mediacorp dramas, the use of the old Singapore dollar notes, and the metal insignia on the uniforms of the Police force, which has already been replaced by stitched on cloth versions today. The attention to detail adds a touch to authenticity to the show, and it is much appreciated.