coulda but didn't #1

When we watch or read something fictitious, we sometimes find ourselves wondering, "Well, why couldn't this have happened?" or "Why did that happen instead of this?" These thoughts inspired the latest on-going feature at TVB Musings - Coulda But Didn't.

Safe Guards

In either the first or second episode of Safe Guards, it was revealed that Steven Ma's character of "Seung Chi" had been married when he was just a little kid. However, because of a great fire, Chi lost his newly married wife as well as his family members - becoming an orphan. It's because of this that the Seung family took him in and raised him.

It was unclear whether Chi's childhood wife had died from the fire or had survived. In any case, she had disappeared.

The Could Have
What could have happened to Chi's childhood wife?

She died

She survived

Now, the first option wouldn't have been very interesting. Let's say she survived, what are the storyline options then?

She and her parents went on to live their lives in another village and forgot about her marriage with Chi

She and her parents try desperately to find Chi because they value the two's marriage, but because he was taken in by the Seungs, it's hard for them to find him

She survived, but her parents didn't. She was then adopted by another family who took pity in her and took on a new identity

Let's forget about the first option because it doesn't relate to Chi at all. What about the other two? What would happen if TVB had decided to develop those two potential storylines?

Just when Cheung Fung (Elaine Yiu) and Chi were about to get together, in comes Chi's childhood wife - who has finally found him after searching for him for many years. Thus, a complicated and traditional TVB love triangle ensues. Who will Chi choose? Will he remain with his true love or choose his childhood wife because of pity and duty?

Cheung Fung turns out to be Chi's childhood wife. As a result, the situation with Cheung Fung being married to another man could have easily been resolved because Chi had been her first (husband). Therefore, he wouldn't be marrying a "married" woman because she was his from the start. Thus, the childhood couple fatefully became lovers and lives happily ever after.

The Did Not
Aside from the mention/flashback of Chi's childhood marriage in the first or second episode, "she" and the story are never mentioned again.

Thoughts
The Coulda But Didn't from Safe Guards was a blessing for the series. If TVB had chosen to bring the childhood bride back to create a love triangle or more cheesily (and predictably) made her out to be Cheung Fung, it would have been very mundane and typical. I groaned when I saw Chi's "childhood wedding" because I had a sinking feeling that his "missing wife" would turn out to be Elaine. Luckily, that didn't happen. I really loved the way Safe developed the romance between Chi and Cheung Fung. It was different and touching. It was great that they decided to leave the childhood bride out and honestly, the general audience probably forgot about her after the few couple of episodes anyways.