The start of part 2 follows a pair of high heels, literally. While a well dressed woman Crystal (Charmaine Sheh) walks into an office building, we also see a geeky looking guy Oscar (Kenneth Ma) walking into the same building. He gets into the lift and just when the door was closing, Crystal tries to rush towards it but missed.
In an empty office, Oscar wonders whether he should call his mum or wash his clothes first. He decides to do the washing first. As he’s in the bathroom washing his socks, cleaning his shoes etc, Crystal sits down at her office. She’s looking at a wedding invitation deep in thought while Oscar goes back to his desk and starts calling his mum.
He tells his mum it’s Sunday and he has to work overtime. But he’s using this opportunity to call her since the overseas call won’t cost him anything. They talk about a bunch of things, mentioning his five sisters and if they need stationery, he can just steal them from the company. (This includes A4 paper LOL.)
Crystal’s phone rings. The person on the phone tells her he couldn’t make it today. Crystal is annoyed and hangs up. As she closes her eyes to think about what to do next, Oscar starts talking loudly to his mum.
What? I’m talking loudly? Don’t worry. The evil lady boss doesn’t work on Saturdays and Sundays.
And of course, Crystal heard it. She walks over to his desk and asks him what he’s doing. He tries to pretend he’s talking to a client but she just signals him to go to her office. Oscar starts to think she’ll fire him, since he has only worked there for just over three months and made a lot of long distance phone calls to Hong Kong. He tells her he has a huge family to support so he needs the job, but Crystal just cuts him off and asks whether he’s free at 4pm. She tells him to go to Orchard Road at 4pm in a suit.
On Orchard Road, two officers (are they police officers? Someone from Singapore correct me if I’m wrong) are standing and waiting for their next ‘target’ – they’re trying to catch jaywalkers. When Oscar crosses the road just when the little man turned red, the officers catch him. Oscar tries to wiggle his way out of it, but it’s been a few days since the officers have caught anyone, so although one of them is also from Hong Kong, Oscar is booked.
Crystal, looking smoking hot arrives to meet Oscar – of course he’s gawking! But when she sees him, she asks what he’s wearing, since it’s too casual.
They go into a high end fashion store, where Oscar tries on a few outfits. (I didn’t realise it’s now fashionable to be in a three piece suit but no socks?!?!)
Well, this just calls for a gif doesn’t it?! When they finally decide on a suit, the salesperson tells them it’s $5,200 SGD. Oscar thinks she will pay for it, but Crystal says since he’s wearing it and he gets to keep it later, he should be the one paying for it. He reluctantly hands over his credit card. When Crystal sees this, she offers to buy him the belt but he refuses since he thinks that’s nothing compared to the suit anyway. But when the salesperson tells him the suit costs $2,400 SGD and the belt costs $2,800 SGD, Oscar is annoyed.
After they exit the store, Oscar asks Crystal where they’re going since he had to buy such an expensive suit. She tells him it’s the wedding of her ex-boyfriend. He speculates she must’ve dumped him since she’s still willing to go to his wedding. She just smiles and doesn’t correct him. But then she suddenly smells something bad… and it’s coming from Oscar. She decides to go and buy a new cologne for him while he stands on the street waiting for her.
As he was standing, holding the bag she gave him and just getting bored in general, he accidentally hit a scary looking guy and dropped the bag. As he picks up the items from the bag, he realises they look rather suspicious…
Just as he is picking them up the two officers are also nearby. He makes up some lame excuse he’s there… resting? And the three of them just lie on the footpath… taking a nap? (I guess it’s clean enough in Singapore to do this?! LOL.)
When Crystal returns, Oscar is getting scared about what she’s planning to do at the wedding. She tells him her ex and his bride have only met for three months, and already he bought a mansion for her. Again, Oscar tries to get out of it by saying his friend has an emergency, but he can’t even pretend properly since he has his phone on the wrong side when ‘talking’ on it.
They make their way to another place where Crystal picks up a box. She says it’s a gift to her ex. Oscar can hear a ticking sound coming out of the box and he suspects it’s a bomb… His imagination starts running weird about what Crystal will do at the wedding.
Oscar and Crystal bump into the two officers again. This time, they’re reading a magazine with Crystal’s ex on the cover. She gets angry because the magazine called her a ‘pork chop’ (= ugly) while they described the new bride as ‘princess’. She tears the magazine apart. Oscar tries to stop her since there’re penalties for littering in Singapore, but Crystal is determined. When the officer takes out another two copies of the magazine, she does the same thing to release her frustrations.
Eventually, the officers take them back to the police station for… stealing magazines? (Or something like that, I don’t think this was supposed to make sense anyway!)
At the police station, Oscar and Crystal are questioned separately. Crystal is still going on about how ridiculous it is her ex is getting married so soon. While Oscar is nervous and starts asking weird questions like what if he has rat poison, acid, a spanner… the officer tells him there’s nothing wrong if he only has one of them.. but if he has all of that plus a gun, then Oscar is finished.
In the other interrogation room, the officer is growing sympathetic of Crystal as they cry together listening to her story. OK, point is, after everything, they’re released. Just as they’re leaving, Oscar forgets to take the bag but when the officers want to give it back, he refuses to take it. After going back and forth, the bag is dropped, revealing its contents.
Of course everything has a simple explanation! The ‘acid’ is just water, ‘rat poison’ is candy, ‘spanner’ is edible, ‘gun’ is a lighter and the ‘bomb’ is an alarm clock. Crystal explains they are new products for her company. So finally – all the misunderstandings are cleared up.
By the time they leave the police station, it’s dark already. Oscar tells her it’s too late, there’re no taxis nearby so they shouldn’t go. But Crystal insists and asks whether he knows how to ride a bicycle.
Crystal rushes inside the wedding venue but the reception has already ended. She asks someone where the groom had gone and he tells her Merlion Park. She just decides to run there – with no shoes, while Oscar has no idea what’s going on and just runs after her. When she can’t run any further, he tells her to stop. Why is she doing this?
Crystal: I really really really want to see him!
INSERT BACKGROUND SONG + PIGGY BACK!
At the Merlion Park, they finally see her ex. She introduces Oscar as her boyfriend and he proposed to her today. She gives them the clock as a gift… (hrm… isn’t it bad luck to give a clock?! LOL. It’s like cursing someone to die!!!) Oscar suggests they take a photo together, while Crystal couldn’t keep her eyes off her ex. As they take the group photo, Crystal hangs onto her ex’s arm with tears in her eyes… The newlyweds then leave.
Oscar asks Crystal whether she’s ok. She doesn’t say anything and just hugs him as she cries.
Eventually they sit down and she talks about how they met. He was her first love. She didn’t have a boyfriend while she was studying and it was only when she started working in a large company that they were together.
Crystal: He told me he didn’t like getting married, didn’t like being restrained. He just didn’t want to marry me. Ten years, it was all like a dream.
He asks her what he can do to cheer her up. When she replies: “Anything?” and he says – Yeah anything… She bit on his arm and he screams in pain.
She then tells him she’s ok now. He suggests that she should take a day off tomorrow, but she shot back – “Why? Of course not! Be on time tomorrow!”
At the office, Oscar arrives in a suit with a bunch of flowers. Even if he’s looking like that, she just tells him to get back to work. Just when he’s leaving, she asks him whether he is free today at 4pm?
*THE END*
Part 2 – Singapore’s theme song is Jinny Ng’s Rest Note. Although I’m usually more picky in terms of female singers, I’m loving all of A Time of Love’s songs so far! (Since part 3: Korea’s song is sung by Linda Chung, will the final part have a male voice?!?)
So when I saw the theme was City / Metropolitan I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I definitely wasn’t expecting so much wacky comedy which dominated most of this part. The comedy was a bit awkward since I didn’t find it… very funny? It really took a long time to ‘get to the point’, which is a concern since each part is so short already!
It was great to see Kenneth and Charmaine together though. Kenneth is very solid in comedies while Charmaine nails it in the limited emotional scenes. The part where she was holding onto the groom’s arm, with tears in her eyes… TVB must be so glad to have her ‘back’, even if it’s on different terms and a lot more money. But she’s definitely worth it.
Otherwise I don’t have much else to say about part 2. I probably enjoyed it the second time more than the first time I watched it because I knew what to expect and saw more of the details. Now that I think about it, it’s funny she gave her ex a clock and he was like – “OHHH thanks! You remember I love clocks!!!” but I’m thinking – she’s totally cursing you to die.
OK finally – if Raymond Lam did film this? Hrm. I think Kenneth Ma was more suited to the role!? :O
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