Honour and Passion

Infobox Television
show_name = Honour And Passion
" _zh. 宝家卫国'

caption =
genre = Contemporary Drama
format =
runtime = approx. 46 minutes
creator =
director =
producer =
writer =
starring = Tay Ping Hui
Bryan Wong Lu Jiang
Felicia Chin
Rui En
Pierre Png
Dawn Yeoh
opentheme = _zh. 跟着我一起 by Tay Ping Hui
endtheme = Wo Shou De Ju li by Tay Ping Hui

endtheme1= Ti Liang by Tay Ping Hui,Bryan Wong,Huang wenyong,Felicia Chin,Dawn Yeoh

endtheme2= I believe by Redwan Ali
country = Singapore
language = Chinese, with English dialogues
network = MediaCorp
first_aired = July 24,2007
last_aired = August 20,2007
num_episodes = 21 (Including special episode)
preceded_by =
followed_by = Like Father, Like Daughter
related =
website = http://ch8.mediacorptv.com/shows/drama/view/878/1/.html

"Honour and Passion" (Simplified Chinese: 宝家卫国, Traditional Chinese: 寶家衛國) is a Singapore Chinese drama which was telecast on Singapore's free-to-air channel, MediaCorp TV Channel 8. It was hyped for being one of the few Mediacorp series that was sponsored by the Singapore Ministry of Defence. This drama serial consists of 20 episodes. It made its debut on 24 July 2007 and ended its run on 20 August 2007, which is then followed by Like Father, Like Daughter.

Cast

The Po Family [The family's surname appears as Bao (the standard Pinyin translation) on all English subtitles, but is referred to by other characters in spoken English dialogues throughout the series as "Po".]

*Po Pengju (宝鹏举, portrayed by Huang Wenyong (黄文永))- A Warrant Officer in the army, the father of four had to raise the children alone (with help from Liu Ya-mei) after his wife died years ago. He cares for his children, but maintains a strict regiment in his household, running his family like a military camp, even to his daughter. It did not take long before his own children start to resent his manipulative behaviour.

*Liu Ya-mei (刘亚妹, portrayed by Hong Hui Fang (洪慧芳))- The sister of Po Pengju's wife and also a chief clerk in the Army, who promised to help Pengju raise his four children before Pengju's wife passed away. She is effectively the mother figure in the family for years but Pengju does not regard her as a part of the family, merely as a friend. She loves Pengju secretly, and refused all other romantic advances. However, her love was not reciprocated until the very end of the series when Pengju decided to retire.

*Po Wenjing (宝文精, portrayed by Tay Ping Hui (郑斌辉))- The elder son in the family. He followed his father's footstep, and pursued a professional Army career. He is considered to be an outstanding soldier, but he is crippled on the romance front, being not able to profess his true love to a fellow Army officer, Ouyang Pei Pei. He attempted to woo her several times, each time ending either in comedic failure or disappointment. He eventually achieved success though by showing his prowess in defeating the world renown terrorist Wu Cheng Yi.

*Po Wen Wei (宝文卫, portrayed by Rui En (芮恩))- The only daughter in the family, she was raised as a boy ever since her mother died, and this has caused her to act more like a man than a woman. Her ex-boyfriend cheated on her and broke up with her for that very reason, and this was a source of conflict early on in the series. Her job at an advertising agency allowed her to work with her future love interest - One of them being Wu Cheng Yi, an Islamic terrorist, and another being Picasso, whom she fell in love with much later on.

*Po Wenzhong (宝文忠, played by Bryan Wong (王禄江))- The second son in the family, he works in a computer company after his NS stint. He acts as the mediator in the family during family arguments. His caring personality has attracted love interests, even unwanted ones like Amy. He was revealed to be a homosexual, who unwittingly aided Cheng Yi in his terrorist plans. However, after learning of Cheng Yi's true nature, he committed suicide.

*Po Wenguo (宝文国, portrayed by Nathaniel Ho (鹤天赐))- The youngest son in the family, he is about to serve his NS stint after graduating from school. He is drilled heavily by his father before he has to serve his NS stint, and this has created conflict between Wenguo and his father. However, during the passage of his time in his BMT (Basic Military Training), he discovers that the tough training before he got enlisted helps.

Other Characters

*Ouyang Pei Pei (欧阳佩佩, portrayed by Felicia Chin (陈靓瑄, credited as 陈凤玲))- An instructor at the Army Artillery School, she maintains a feisty surface, but is tender and funny inside. She has a crush on Po Wenzhong since Secondary School. Wenzhong's elder brother, Wenjing, has a secret crush on Pei Pei, but she does not appear to be interested initially. Her crush on Wenzhong almost cost her her life, when a gay man who wears makeup attacked her.

*Amy Lim (portrayed by Constance Song (宋怡霏))- A mentally unstable divorced woman who crossed paths with Wenzhong during a business venture. She loves Wenzhong, but the love is not mutual due to his homosexuality. Thinking that Ouyang Pei Pei is the one who stole Wenzhong from her, she attacked Pei Pei, and was committed to a mental facility as a result.

*Picasso So Jianwei (苏健威, portrayed by Pierre Png (方展发))- A worker in Po Wenwei's ad agency, he was hired because of his close relations to Wenwei's boss. Picasso has a rather stingy and slack personality on the surface, and this has brought criticisms from his co-workers. However, it turns out that his stingy demeanors are a result of his fraternal brother's incapacity, in which Picasso promised to save money to help out his brother, so that he doesn't starve. He has crossed path with Wenwei several times before they worked in the same company, each time ending in conflict.

*Ben Phua (portrayed by Vincent Ng (翁清海))- The fraternal brother of Picasso So. He got to know Picasso during their NS stints. They were assigned to the same sections, and immediately became best partners. During a shopping trip for his new son, Ben was thrown off a pedestrian bridge after he tried to subdue a thief (Which later revealed to be none other than Cheng Yi), and was crippled as a result.

*Liang Xiao Nuo (梁小诺, portrayed by Dawn Yeoh (姚懿珊))- Xiaonuo has done some bad deeds in the past to earn money. She walks with a limp. After getting together with Wenjing, she still kept secrets from him, namely her part-time work in a cafe. In the end, she got married with Wenjing, with blessings from Pengju, Wenzhong's father.

*Wu Cheng Yi (巫成义, portrayed by Ix Shen (沈倾掞))- The antagonist of the series, he is the love interest of Wenzhong. He is revealed to be a homosexual terrorist in the show who tries to threaten Singapore to legalise homosexual marriages, to no avail. However, towards the end of the show he does show that he still has a conscience.

ynopsis

Introduction

Po Pengju (Huang Wenyong), a Regimental Sergeant Major in the Singapore Army, lost his wife many years ago and is now given the burden of bringing up his children. Pengju has three sons and one daughter. His eldest son is Po Wenjing (Tay Pinghui), who is an officer in the Special Operations Force and is the source of Pengju's pride and joy. Wenjing's love interest happened to be another officer that he stumbled upon in camp: Ouyang Pei Pei (Felicia Chin). Pei Pei is a mysterious officer with a past whom even her close friends were not so clear of yet. She wasn't aware of Wenjing's feelings yet. Although intelligent and talented at his work, Wenjing is extremely shy in front of Pei Pei, so much so that his tongue is tied when in front of her.

Po Wenzhong (Bryan Wong) is a computer engineer. His sense of humor and charming nature makes him popular with women, often giving them the wrong idea. This resulted in Wenzhong having run-ins with psychotic women obssessed with him. This however, does not stop him from having his own ideals of love which his family has no idea of yet. As for Po Wenguo (Nathaniel Ho), the youngest son in the family, he awaits enlistment into National Service but resents it because of the pressure from his father, and often resorts to malingering to escape from camp trainings.

Pengju's daughter is Po Wenwei (Rui En), an advertising executive. Pengju runs the family like a military camp, with regimental duties like area cleaning and breakfast preparation being the norm. This means Wenwei has little chance of living life as a woman, and thus she became more of a tomboy than a woman. In her working place she faces her archenemy Picasso So Jianwei (Pierre Png), who often gave her trouble, but she also met a friend by the name of Wu Cheng Yi (Ix Shen), who holds a dark secret...

Rise of the Commandos

One night, three intruders armed with loaded M16 rifles inflitrated the Commando camp where Wenjing is training at. They burst into camp during midnight, which was the least expected time for enemies to break into a Singapore military camp. The guards at the gate (Also known as Regimental Policemen) were terrified when they saw the intruders, knowing that the keys to their rifles and ammunition was with the Guard Commander, who has switched off his handphone and is sleeping in the mess. The intruders however understood the plight of the RPs and offered them S$200 each. In exchange for the money, they have to be knocked unconscious with rocks and batons. The guards gladly accepted the bribes and were knocked unconscious, thus allowing the intruders to enter the camp silently without notice.

The intruders did not know that Wenjing had been tailing them in the dark. One by one, the elite Commando subdued them before they knew it and woke the Guard Commander up as well, ordering him to inform the Duty Orderly Officer of the break-in. After investigations, it turned out that the intruders were trying to gain access to top-secret documents in the Camp Headquarters, but before the investigators could probe further the three strangers committed suicide by swallowing cyanide pills. To Wenjing, this foreshadows that a major disastrous event about to happen to Singapore.

Wenjing was promoted to Captain because of his heroic deeds. It was during his promotion ceremony were he saw the love interest of his life - Captain Ouyang Pei Pei. Wenjing has a major crush on Pei Pei, but yet he was too shy to approach her. Wu Cheng Yi, a contractor working in Wenjing's Commando camp and is also one of Wenjing's friends, offers to help bring him and Pei Pei closer, although the attempts often fail due to Wenjing's inability to express his thoughts well. At SAFRA, Pei Pei saw Wenjing's brother Po Wenzhong, recognising him to be one of her worst enemies during Primary School - They often fought in the past, and now the quarrels are starting all over again. When the two met again, they almost immediately started to taunt each other, with Pei Pei insulting Wenzhong by calling him gay. Little did she know how true that was.

Beginning of Troubles

Women stalkers began to appear in Wenzhong's life, often claiming to be his girlfriend. This is due to Wenzhong's charming personality, which often gave women the wrong idea - Except for Pei Pei. Xiao Nuo happened to be one of his most prominent stalkers whom Wenzhong tried to avoid constantly. Wenzhong actually harboured a shocking secret about himself that not even his family knew: He is a homosexual. Further trouble brews when Wen Wei's new superior Picasso Soh began giving her trouble, often causing both of them to quarrel and backstab each other during work. Wen Wei met Cheng Yi, who was also Picasso's good friend. She decided to hire Cheng Yi for a major project that was entrusted to her, after seeing how good Cheng Yi was in dismantling and setting up computers and air-conditioners. She invited him to dinner with her family, and Wenzhong began to take notice of Cheng Yi...

Much to his dismay, the lazy Wenguo found out that he was to be enlisted for National Service on his Birthday. Wenguo resorted to malingering when he went through his BMT (Basic Military Training), as he has no desire to train on to become an Officer or Specialist. His father was infuriated when Wenguo repeatedly took MC before his weekend bookouts. Wenguo eventually managed to get into a slack vocation after his BMT, becoming an RP (Regimental Policeman), whose main role is to do guard duty to protect a particular camp or base. However, a bizarre twist of fate brought him into the Commando camp where his brother is in, and Wenjing was told by his father to keep watch on him whenever he is the Duty Officer.

Under Wenjing and Pengju's supervision, Wenguo still has to train hard for his IPPT (Individual Physical Proficiency Test). After some pushing by his brother Wenjing, Wenguo managed to get Gold for his IPPT, and he secretly used the $200 award that he received to buy some illegal 5.56mm M16 rounds at Beach Road. Wenguo also noticed that an apparently fake model of the SFG (Singapore Fragmentation Grenade) was put up for sale at a cost of S$30, and decided to buy it to put on his shelf for display. When he reaches home, he was shocked when he realized that was a real grenade that can kill people! He decided to keep mum about his lucky find.

Wenzhong befriended Cheng Yi and the latter was revealed to be a gay as well. The homosexual relationship between the two men began soon after the revelation, but Picasso began to have doubts about his friend Cheng Yi. Picasso has the special power of sixth-sense, and he sensed that Cheng Yi is hiding something from everybody. He decided to end Cheng Yi's contract, much to Wenwei's dismay when she realises that her project would fail without Cheng Yi. Her mind snapped and she used a knife to injure Picasso, resulting in him being sent to a hospital. Picasso reported her to the police and Wenwei was arrested, awaiting bail. However, the police made a mistake - They thought Wenwei was a man, and sent her to stay in a cell with men! The police realised their mistake only after Wenwei insisted that the Prison Warden check her NRIC.

The Power of Fear and Uncertainty

Wenjing and a few other Commandos were sent to fight a dozen ninjas who were sighted in the forest. After failing to defeat Wenjing with even their great numbers, the ninjas jumped back and declared that they belong to the Reformed Al-Qaeda of Homosexual Rights. Then one of them cast a magic spell, in which suddenly a naked Ouyang Pei Pei materializes before Wenjing! Although Wenjing knew it is an illusion, he instantly got paralyzed by the sight of a naked woman. The rest of the Commandos have no choice but to help Wenjing to get away from the ninjas using smoke grenades and thus escaped successfully. Wenjing began to wonder who on earth are the Reformed Al-Qaeda of Homosexual Rights...

Back in camp, Wenjing finally managed to woo Pei Pei successfully after countless tries with undying patience and persistence. The Camp Commander gave orders for Wu Cheng Yi to enter camp without clearance, because he wanted Cheng Yi and the other contractors to fix the Air-conditioners and set up new PCs in his Office as fast as possible. Wenjing who heard of that from Wenguo, became unhappy. Although he knew that Cheng Yi is his friend, he still believes in doing everything by the book - Because that is the true spirit of the SAF (Singapore Armed Forces). However, because he is only a Captain, he cannot do anything to dissuade the Commander, who is a Colonel in rank. Back at home, Wenjing's father Pengju, passed down to him a magnificent suit of Samurai armour, telling him that it is a powerful secret weapon that can be used only at the most critical moment.

Unknown to everyone yet, Cheng Yi began using his camera phone to take photos around the camp. When his camera phone was found out by Wenguo and is told to surrender at the Guardroom, Cheng Yi decided that bringing in a camera phone isn't such a good idea. One night, he sent a small dog that entered the camp without arousing any suspicions. The dog is actually a cyborg with bionic eyes and is remote-controlled to take photos. Cheng Yi controlled the dog around and it came across some classified documents which it started to take photos of... Cheng Yi then hires Yan Fei, the King of Gamblers, and asked him to calculate the chances of demoralising Wenjing the Commando by showing him some shocking truth about his girlfriend Pei Pei. Yan Fei said that since Wenjing is a devoted man to love, he would slip into depression if the truth was revealed. Thus Cheng Yi decided to take this gamble...

As for Wenguo who happened to be guarding the gate, he saw Cheng Yi trying to leave the camp with a box of wires and what smells like gunpowder. Wenguo ignores the warning bells that were ringing in his head and lets Cheng Yi leave the camp, but yet during the night he was unable to go to sleep, his mind kept going back to the scene of Cheng Yi and his box... Picasso's sixth sense became stronger, and he fears that something big is going to happen in Singapore soon. His fears were confirmed when news of the Singapore Parliament's destruction by a terrorist rocked the entire nation. Wenjing decided to investigate after Wenguo told them about Cheng Yi something which smells like gunpowder, much to the objection of Pei Pei, who said that it is too dangerous. However, Wenjing convinced her, saying that he must find out the truth no matter the cost - It is the true spirit of the SAF. Wenzhong was shocked by Wenjing's intentions, and he secretly informed his lover Cheng Yi. Knowing that people are on his trail, Cheng Yi immediately decided to carry out his plan to destroy the Esplanade.

The Terrorist Saga

It is revealed from the stolen classified documents that Pei Pei herself is a classified top secret object: Pei Pei is actually a man, cross-dressed as a woman and sent by the Singapore government to replace the death of the real Pei Pei who died during a shootout with a few lackeys of Osama Bin Laden who illegally entered Singapore. The government's logic was that women officers cannot command soldiers well, so a "male Pei Pei" was commissioned to lead the soldiers without causing media attention. This Pei Pei is actually the brother of the original Pei Pei in disguise. A gloating Cheng Yi passed the classified documents regarding Pei Pei's true identity to Wenjing. Wenjing was devastated when he found out who Pei Pei really is. Despite the harsh truth revealed, Wenjing decided not to mess with the classified information of the Singapore Armed Forces - It is the true spirit of the SAF. He broke up with Pei Pei abruptly yet quietly, and resolved not to let his personal feelings get in his way of work, a true professional attitude.

Cheng Yi soon kidnapped Picasso to prevent him from leaking out his secret - He is actually Qusay Bin Laden, a technological genius and one of the illegitimate sons of the infamous terrorist Osama Bin Laden. He was one of the terrorists that planned and caused the September 11 tragedy in 2001. Later on, he underwent surgery to change his face, and came to Singapore with the false identity of Wu Cheng Yi. Qusay Bin Laden is the founder of The Reformed Al-Qaeda of Homosexual Rights, which aims to create a new haven for gays and lesbians in Singapore, where they would dominate and rule. Cheng Yi did not want to kill his good friend Picasso, instead leaving him in the care of the police before setting off for the Esplanade to blow it up. Wenzhong commited suicide after learning of Cheng Yi's true identity, and his family mourned for him, knowing that at least in heaven Wenzhong would find true peace.

After so much tragedy had occurred, Po Pengju cannot help but reveal his own secret to his sons and daughters, as well as his wife's sister, Liu Ya-mei (Hong Hui Fang): The real Pengju died many years ago of a broken heart after his wife died giving birth to Wenguo. The current Pengju is actually Zordon, the founder of the original Power Rangers. Zordon decided to retire from fighting the alien invasions and the supernatural, and conveniently possessed the body of Pengju to live a normal human life. That was why he was so indifferent to Ya-mei, who frequently drop hints about her love for him. Zordon regreted that he failed to bring up Wenzhong into a hetereosexual man, and also apologised to the family for having deceived them for so long. Zordon told Po Wenjing that the samurai armour he gave him earlier is his life's work - It is the morphing device for the ultimate Power Ranger.

Finale

A race against time to seek out and capture Cheng Yi, or Qusay Bin Laden, thus began. The authorities and Wenjing failed to find the cunning terrorist, and he successfully blew up the Esplanade. He passed a video to the Media, stating that if the Singapore government refuses to break their alliance with the United States of America on the War on Terrorism and also fail to legalise homosexual marriages, the future consequences will be worse than the destruction of the Esplanade. Intelligence officials managed to find out the location of Cheng Yi and his fellow terrorists: The island of Tekong. Thus the Army sent the Special Operation Forces, led by Wenjing, to deal with the terrorists. Wenjing swore to avenge his brother Wenzhong and the insult dealt to his beloved nation Singapore. Cheng Yi, who is now disguising himself in a heavy cloak, announces his deadliest plan yet - Complete destruction of Tekong with Nuclear weapons, where thousands of Army recruits would be staying there!

In Tekong, the Special Operation Forces were ambused by Cheng Yi's ninja warriors. While they were tackling the agile Ninjas, Wenjing himself headed straight for the forest, which is where Cheng Yi would plant and activate the Nuclear Bomb to wipe out all living things in the island. Wenjing managed to catch up with Cheng Yi, but it seemed too late. Cheng Yi shed his cloak, revealing that he has undergone a bizarre surgery, turning himself into a metallic cyborg that can transform into an aerial vehicle of some sort! Wenjing was unable to defeat this new Cheng Yi in his current form, and he retreated into a cave leaving the cyborg outside taunting and challenging him. Wenjing resorted to the gift that his foster father Zordon has given him: He took out the magnificent set of Samurai armour from his pack. He don the armour and transformed into a Samurai Power Ranger.

A fierce battle raged between the two super-powered beings, and Wenjing the Power Ranger turned out to be the victor, albeit with a little help from Wenguo who threw the grenade he bought at Cheng Yi to distract him, revealing his vulnerability: The flashing red light at his chest. Wenjing then used the M16 and live rounds that Wenguo smuggled out of camp to shoot Cheng Yi at the chest and kill him before he could press the control to destroy Tekong. These heroic deeds made Wenjing and Wenguo into the headlines of the Straits Times. Wenguo was however sentenced to 3 months in the Detention Barracks for smuggling firearms out of the camp without permission, and thereafter the Camp Commander personally passed him the award for bravery.

Viewership

ee also

*List of MediaCorp Chinese series (2007)

Notes

External links

* [http://singaporehero.byethost13.com/pgWorks.php?id=3 Official website (English edition)]
* [http://ch8c.mediacorptv.com/shows/drama/view/2023/1/.html Official website (Chinese edition)]