Review: Destiny in Her Hands

Destiny in Her Hands is a Mandarin drama series co-produced by NTV7 Malaysia and Mediacorp Studios Singapore. It is a story about a lady who was born with broken lines on both her palms. It seems according to Chinese cultural beliefs, if a person is born with broken lines on his/her palms, especially if the person is a female, she would face a life of extreme hardship and bad luck.

The story begins with the main character Luo Jin Yu played by Jeanette Aw of Mediacorp Studios was born to a fried mee hoon seller mother and a gambling addict father. She was born at the backstage of a Cantonese opera travelling troupe that was coincidentally was in town for a performance. Jin Yu's mother was devastated to find out her firstborn daughter was born with broken lines on both of her palms. She had wanted to abandon Jin Yu but an opera performer who found her at the backstage had advised her to instead bring up her daughter as best as she could.

Life proved to be incredibly a long and hard journey for Jin Yu as she experienced indescribable hardships and challenges in life right into her adult life. Adding more misery to her life were the births of her three younger brothers and one younger sister, where her mother favoured them over her as the eldest child in the family.

Jin Yu was denied the basic right to education although she was an above average an conscientious student, she had to stop schooling and was forced to work in a factory at the age of 15 to support her family due severe poverty. After she got married to a colleague working at the same factory, she later discovered that she has the talent for writing and she decided to venture into it to earn extra income to support herself and her family. However, her husband was never supportive of her ventures to keep their family financially afloat.

Her husband was a womaniser and also hot-tempered and abusive towards her and their children, a mentally-challenged son and a daughter, which led her to become independent to achieve her ambition to be a famous script writer and the best possible wife and mother to her husband children. However, there was a time that Jin Yu even contemplated suicide because she believed the broken lines on both of her palms meant that she be destined to fail in her life.

A prolific journalist, Pan Li Hua who later became her best friend, advised her that her life is still worth living, and suicide would not solve the problems she was facing in life. Jin Yu then decided from then on to be in control of the direction her life would take but not at the expense of her family and ambition. She finally managed to take control of the destiny of her life but not without facing some of the most horrendous challenges life has imposed on her. Jin Yu's story ends as how it has begun, i.e. at a Cantonese opera travelling troupe stage but this time she was married to a man as her second husband who shared her passion for script writing and performing in the Cantonese opera.

I do not normally give much notice to drama series shown on the television but this is an exception. Destiny in Her Hands is a Mandarin drama series with an exceptional story plot, which is worth being noted. Jeanette Aw led the stellar cast together with of some of the well-known Malaysian actors and actresses; Steve Yap, Jess Teong, Goh Wee Ping and Monday Kang just to name a few.

In book terms, Destiny in Her Hands is really a page-turner. When I was watching it on NTV7 recently, I would often be in a situation where I was extremely eager to find out what happened in the next episode when the current episode was being shown ended. This Mandarin series also proved that Malaysia has good local talents for the TV as well as the silver screen. They are just waiting to be discovered, and the presence of Jeanette Aw in our local Mandarin drama scene has boosted the credibility of our local actors and actresses, especially those who have worked with her in Destiny in Her Hands.

Destiny in Her Hands is one Mandarin drama series I wouldn't mind watching over and over again. Its excellent story plot and stellar cast made it to be one of those rare series produced locally in Malaysia that should deserve a noteworthy mention. My only regret is that I have yet get to see Jeanette Aw in her first Mandarin drama series produced by Mediacorp Studios Singapore, entitled The Little Nyonya, an award winning Mandarin drama in which propelled Jeanette Aw to fame.