All right, I get that one has to really moderate lower one’s expectations when watching Mediacorp drama. I get that one is not supposed to look too closely because the flaws are too evident and ugly. I even get that perhaps the only reason why Zoe Tay is even in The Ultimatum is because it is supposed to be a blockbuster–so you really need to cast the big guns in this one.  After all, she didn’t get cast because of her great acting skills, did she?–when was the last time Zoe Tay won an award, a nomination or even a rave review for her acting? Can you recall a memorable character she’s played recently?

So while I get that Zoe Tay has to be in this series, what I don’t get is why she defies logic. For instance:

1.  Zoe Tay’s idea of a power suit is a mini bubble skirt (yes, that certainly is the surest way to get respect).

If costumes are supposed to help establish a character, think about what wearing a mini bubble dress to work says of Ms Tay–more interested in looking good than looking realistic, perhaps? Completely out of touch with reality, perhaps? After all, how can anyone take you seriously when you wear that to the office?

2.   Zoe Tay’s first act as Deputy CEO is…to take the day off

Ok so she’s a high powered executive who just got the top job. But what does she do the day after her promotion? Does she get to work? Does she roll up her sleeves and do CEO-type things? Nooooooo…..she takes the day off and spends it on the high seas with her amnesiac boyfriend. Now that’s what smart people do…they skive.

3.   Zoe Tay can run a major corporation but never thought of DNA testing to see if Ah Beng Li Nanxing is really God of Gamblers Li Nanxing

DNA testing would have saved her the ton of money she spent on the brilliant idea that the only way for the Ah Beng Li Nanxing to remember that he is the God of Gamblers Li Nanxing is to keep gambling. Now, that’s a smart cookie if I ever did saw one. Remind me to recommend her for the next job opening for CEO.

4.  Who cares if Li Nanxing is the God of Gamblers, what Zoe Tay wants are the wedding pictures.

After she asks Li Nanxing to take wedding pictures yet again last night, I can’t help but wonder: does she actually want to marry him or is she only in it for the pictures? Think about the logic: when the man you’ve loved for years asks you what he could do to make you happy, the most logical thing to say is…take wedding pictures with me?! That’s all Zoe Tay wants? And when Li Nanxing logically points out that they had already taken wedding pictures, what does Zoe Tay say? Oh, she says, the last time we took them you were coerced! How psycho is that? Or maybe all of this is just an excuse for Zoe Tay to wear another wedding dress. After all, The Ultimatum is really a gratuitous fashion show for Ms Tay, isn’t it?

5.   So what if Li Nanxing is lost again? Zoe Tay can always find him at the out-of-the-way church ruins.

Ok, picture this: she is waiting for him at the bridal shop for wedding photoshoot number 3. He is not only amnesiac but also stupid and forgetful because he goes to the wrong bridal shop. He fails to show at the right shop. She panics and what does she do? Run out into the street to look for him in her wedding dress and high heels, of course. What could be more logical? So that’s what she does. In the meantime, he discovers he’s been a twit and makes a run to the right shop to meet her. So, based on the logic of Mediacorp melodramas, they would meet in the middle, right? Yeah…except that the middle happens to be at the ruins of a church on top of a long flight of steps (see picture of exact site below–Sao Paulo church, Macau).

Same site, different day.

Yes, you have to climb the flight of steps to get to this obvious tourist attraction, which makes one wonder how on earth it could have made sense to the writers/producers/directors/people who came up with the idea? Why would she go there to look for him? Is this the place that immediately comes to mind when a person is missing in Macau? Is that why there are so many bystanders hanging around in the shot? Were they waiting to find or be found? Furthermore, if he is running to the right bridal shop, why would this chapel be on the way?! How can it on the way when you have to climb those steps to get there?

You know, I could go on but what’s the use? After all, it is already painfully obvious that the people who made The Ultimatum, the people who wrote the story and worked out the logic of all of it REALLY REALLY know what they’re doing.