Palace-scheming dramas have often been well-received by the public. With the weakened Southern Song dynasty as its backdrop, the TVB palace drama King Maker <造王者> is also expected to rake in decent reviews. Five episodes of the drama have already aired in Hong Kong, and as predicted, the drama has already drawn in a loyal following. King Maker tells the story of two opposing king makers, portrayed by Kent Cheng (鄭則士) and Wayne Lai (黎耀祥), who each compete to have their favored prince win the throne. King Maker is deemed as the successor of The Greatness of a Hero <盛世人傑>, which is currently Hong Kong’s fourth highest-rated drama of the year. In this week’s episodes of King Maker, Yu Jing (Wayne Lai) gets exiled after being framed by Left Chancellor Tung Chiu (Kent Cheng). Yu Jing and his younger siblings also become separated. With the help of the evil Consort Wai (Florence Kwok 郭少芸), Jurchen forces capture the crown prince (Ngo Ka Nin 敖嘉年) back to their kingdom as their hostage, where the prince gets tortured as their toy for the next ten years. Episode 6 Yu Jing fails to protect the emperor (Kwok Fung 郭鋒), and under the influence of Tung Chiu, the emperor sends Yu Jing to a prison in Yazhou, the southernmost city of the empire. He and his younger siblings also become separated, and Yu Jing spends the next ten years in the Yazhou prison. Episode 7 Meanwhile, crown prince Chiu Kwai Sing (Ngo Ka Nin) suffers under the torture of the Jurchen army. He is brutally beaten every day and is frequently starved to death. He becomes mentally incapacitated, and loses the ability to walk and talk properly. Episode 8 The emperor grants amnesty to Yu Jing and he returns to the capital. Yu Jing finds Kwai Sing and brings him back to the palace. Kwai Sing’s mother, the empress (Kingdom Yuen 苑瓊丹), allows Yu Jing to return to the palace to support Kwai Sing. Upon realizing that Tung Chiu has changed gears to support the second prince to the throne – and knowing that Tung Chiu’s daughter and Yu Jing’s lover, Tung Yuk Kiu (Elaine Yiu 姚子羚), has already married his nemesis Yeung Chi Shan (Joseph Lee 李國麟) – Yu Jing punches Tung Chiu. Episode 9 Yu Jing finds his younger sister Yu Ching, now named Fan Hung Ying (Natalie Tong 唐詩詠). Yu Jing is injured while trying to protect Ying from the attacks of Consort Wai’s assassins. Ying begins to develop feelings for Jing, without realizing that he is her older brother. Creds: Sudden Weekly
