I've watched this kind of 'rich spoiled girl turned to good person' -dramas before so I was really curious how the story would go in this one. The beginning was promising; funny scenes and lots of chemistry between leads so I was enjoying watching it. But somewhere around episode 8 or 9 the whole story started to get really ridiculous. It felt like in every episode someone got into accident or into fight and was admitted to hospital. And this lakorn had like all the cliches a drama could ever have. So after halfway it started to get really heavy and hard to watch forward. The ending was totally ridiculous, "let's pair every character with someone".
So I'd say if you're not into very cliche romance stuff, don't watch this. I gave overall points up to 7.0 because the first episodes were really fun and entertaining. The ending half of this drama I would rate something like 4.0.
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I'm relatively new to Thai dramas. The previous drama I completed was I Wanna Be Sup'tar, and after that I gave up on Thai dramas, until the adaptation of Princess Hours came and I decided to get myself accustomed to the Thai language while waiting for the episodes. I shall be completely honest; I watched this drama purely for Davika Hoorne (Mai). Imo she's arguably the most attractive Thai actress currently active (not that I've seen many though). The main reasons that kept me off Thai dramas previously were my general distaste for the male leads they pick [1] and the ridiculous tropes they employ [2]. I'm happy to say that the male lead was fine in this instance (exactly why I decided to try it) and the two of them have great chemistry but unfortunately the second half of this drama was riddled with typical Thai drama cliches.
Did I mention that Davika Hoorne is unbelievably gorgeous? She looked stunning in every single piece of clothing she wore; the drama was like her individual fashion show. She was absolutely hilarious as Rosalin. It's not the first drama I watched her in actually. I vaguely remember dropping a drama where she was being tortured by every single character in it and I thought then that she was a pretty bad actress. This drama changed my mind. She has great comedic timing and great gestures as well. I mean, some actors have awkward hands when they act (like they don't know where to put them and what to do with them), but perhaps playing such a flamboyant character makes things a little easier. On the other hand, Kan who plays the male lead... Well, I'd say that he was average? He didn't really shine, but he wasn't bad at all. I guess I just didn't remember much of him. The triad boss character did leave an impression though, in that he was so stiff that even I took notice. The other side characters were all decent. This drama is essentially a comedy, and I think they did the comedic parts pretty well.
SPOILER ALERT
The drama started out great actually. There were a couple of cringe-worthy staring-in-each-other's-eyes-for-longer-than-necessary moments, a couple of super-fake-fall-to-initiate-skinship moments, but they were tolerable. I mean, when the comedy was there, I can still neglect those. It not as if this is a Thai drama problem, Chinese and Korean dramas have this sort of interactions as well. However, following that, everything went wrong. I was expecting it though. They pretty much exhausted everything they could in the farm, and they had to pull all the tricks out of their hat to extend the story to 15 episodes (mind you, each was ~1h 30min long). What happened next? Well, they had a misunderstanding, he explained but the evidence was accidentally destroyed, she refused to listen, then the second leads came out to wreck havoc. It doesn't stop there though. There was this cycle of her getting injured and him getting injured, and those little moments of intimacy to appease the viewers for delaying progress (my assumption, that is). How many times did Rosalin get injured? I think about 10 times. By the time I got to episode 10, I could barely take it anymore. Then they played their last hand by using the amnesiac plot point. Faaaantastic.
There were more than a few moments where I was on the verge of pulling my hair out. Some parts were really incomprehensible. Like how Rosalin's grandfather claimed that he was totally not forcing her to marry Tawan but actually trying to help her. Typical dramaland bullshit. We all know that it's drama for the sake of drama. They should really stop using such weak excuses, but just brush over it. Why highlight your own flaws? And how Tawan objected to Rosalin modelling because it wasn't "meaningful"? *sigh* There's also Tawan's feud with the triad boss (his father killed his father) which was so lame. Additionally, towards the end where they encountered the thugs and he got off his car to check them out, I was shouting in my heart for him to just drive away. It was simply too illogical for words.
SPOILER END
I gave a passing mark for the story solely because of the first part (the second half should be forgotten). The acting was 8.5, on account of Davika Hoorne's acting as well as the cuteness of some of the secondary characters. I swear it's completely unbiased. The music was so-so. The drama actually has rewatch value, if someone is willing to cut off parts in the second half and end the drama where it should have ended. Overall it's not great, but compared to other Thai dramas where I was turned off by their synopses immediately (or by the cinematography in the first episode), I think this can actually be considered "refreshing". Just skip to the last episode when things get bad (or end it after their first kiss [3]).
-- Footnotes --
[1] I think some Thai actresses can be very beautiful, but in comparison the Thai actors are less appealing. They also tend to pair someone I like with someone I just don't get a good vibe from on first glance (I call this a lack of audience affinity but it may be just me). I've seen pairings with HUGE age gaps as well.
[2] Thai dramas also tend to sway towards the makjang end.
[3] On the topic of kisses, it's really weird that the only real lip-on-lip kiss in this drama is in the first episode.
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A bumpy "ride"...
Let's see: good-looking cast, nice music, nice title song... no real kiss.I don't understand how in the world is this related to 'My Sassy Girl', but it's not important to me, anyways.
There is a bad guy/love rival who looks neither menacing nor handsome.
I fell for Kan Kantathavorn in 'Pang Sanaeha'. But then, his other "meh" roles (like in 'Lueat Tat Lueat'), or "side-villain vampire" roles (well he DOES look a bit like a vampire, LOL) did not do it for me, and here's not much better. She is a pretty girl, but the kind that's boring to watch. There's nothing asian about Davika Hoorne, even her eyes look completely european. So if not for Rapeepat Eakpankul wearing really colourful clothes the whole time, I would be bored with the cast.
Any fun there is here is shortlived. The lead couple decide they like each other after a few episodes, then of course it's side-character's business to cause them to separate.
There is heart-breaking scene when nang'ek decides to leave the farm due to some nang'rai plotting, when a child that long refused to speak finally does: in order to beg her to stay. Nang'ek still leaves, she doesn't stay even when the child is running after her car, even after the child falls on the ground. I thought that wrong. Should she only stay for the pra'ek?
I had fun again for a little while, when the spoiled Rose is back in the city and decides to become hardworking person, and start from the bottom. Working at the hotel, she even does maid service:) This doesn't last long enough either, though. Soon we're back to the side-character plotting "drama".
Rapeepat Eakpankul's character ceases his antics for one second to kiss the cute Mink but it's yet another fake "kiss" that looks veery awkward.
Then the pra'ek & nang'ek get together again... and there are still four 1,5 hour episodes remaining, again. So, there comes another EXTREMELY stupid plot to separate them, yet again. And they get saved, again. Rapeepat Eakpankul's character features in a badass scene. Do you know my motto 'Lakorn characters should be prohibited to use guns'? This is even a "comic relief" character using a gun. Honestly I don't know how many minus points I am going to charge in my overall rating for a thing like that:)
When it looks it's all resolved, somehow still three 1,5 hour episodes remain. It seems endless... (Another points down.) It was never a good story flow and once again, lakorn characters should NOT use guns. I tried more than once to emotionally connect to this or just enjoy the simple ride, but it skipped to a halt and then restarted again, more than once. Usually I wish thai lakorns to concentrate more on the romance and give up on a corny crime villains that only are coming across as ridiculous. Here we have one who also tries to get the nang'ek romantically but the actor (apart from low acting skills) really isn't a looker so that aspect is not working out. I could forgive the totally over the top "action/kidnapping" silly episode if it happened once in the series, not three times. In fact most lakorns - in their quest to fill the long runtime - use the "self rip-off" script where they basically replay the same thing several times, you realize it when you think of it. Here it really stands out without thinking:) So it's especially ridiculous and not enjoyable.
I watched the "action rip-off" episode with all the couples joining in (of course everyone carries a gun, the lovers, the doctors, the funny fatsos...) and it STILL wasn't the last one. Still 2 hour-and-halfs left to go... Watching those, I got in a state of mind where if nang'ek got shot, I didn't get stirred. Of course we needed the scene where doctors are idiots and leave the body of supposedly dead person because all is needed are the tears of the pra'ek for them come back to life... I guessed if she wakes up, she'll have amnesia. Was I right? Would that even be a spoiler if I write it here? This series is practically a lakorn & a parody of a lakorn all in one. But wait, first we need the scene where Kan Kantathavorn does fyzioteraphy, pedicure and singing while playing his guitar for the sleeping nang'ek. So I thought I really got as much "fun" as I am even able to handle... Luckilly, Davika Hoorne's character wakes soon and rescues the audience. Rest of the episode we're away from hospital or any gunshooting. And only one to go.
Kan Kantathavorn should not sing. If he also sang the title song then I apologize, but his "live" singing in the lakorn was... Eh, I mean it was funny once, but no audience laughs twice at the same joke.
Ew... another aawkward fake not-kiss in final epi. If that was supposed to be the climax of everything, then, yeah. Other two couples also had their little happy endings. One couple had more attractive and cute woman than the lead one, actually. The other was the "funny" couple consisting of weird characters who acted like bufoons one minute, then badass armed fighters the next. The two dads and the kids and funny countryside returned, we were finally free of the overdone bullsh*t... Still the final dragged for me. It was just a late reminder of what atmoshpere this show SHOULD have kept. And then this review of mine wouldn't need to be this long (but it kinda mirrors my viewer experience).
Eh... Counting everything in my overall rating, it got at the level you can see... fairly counted from the perfect average 5.0, of course (which equals any mildly enjoyable romance series). Would the lakorn makers learn they'd be better off if they'd keep things simple? I somehow doubt it, but who knows;)
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