Feliz Aniversário (2018)

OMG!. What a great drama. You know what's the difference between Asian and Western dramas? It's how the facial expressions win the hearts in the Asian dramas , specially the eyes becomes so much expressive whether be it a joyous moment or a sad situation. This drama made me cry a river but I didn't felt too bad. In-fact I could feel my heart fill with positivity after each passing episode. I mean it was a beautiful portrayal of how a person's life is never his or her own. There are a lot of people affected by our actions as it happened in Thannam's case. And how Thannam 's soul, makes them embrace their lives again through her brother, Tonmai.

The story-line is excellent. It's new, different than I've ever seen before. Most of all, it has something for every character. There are good twists. And the most impressive part was that even though Tonmai have never met his older sister before yet it was beautiful how he could share all her feelings.

All the actors were fabulous. However, I liked Tonmai best here. Because, each and every feeling of Thannam reached to the outer world through Tonmai. He is the star here. I felt a little sad and a little a happy for him. Sad because without any fault he had to suffer the coldness of his father. They never celebrated his birthday at home. But it was beautiful how he understood it all. I was happy for him when got to meet his sister. It so happened that his sister became the fairy guide for him. Their love was so sweet. I totally loved the duo's scenes with Tee a.k.a. Push. It was so deep, how all of Thannam's words were spoken by Tonmai to Tee but you would never feel it to be artificial. Even when Tee is looking at Tonmai's eyes, it totally felt that he was looking into Thannam's soul. My heart totally cried for them.

Over and all, it's an excellent show to watch. There are numerous unexpected moments and twist and turn. It was totally binge-worthy if you're comfortable with crying for hours. It can be re-watched but just let some time pass before doing so. After-all, you need to cleanse your already filled heart to absorb the galaxy of emotions in this drama. LOVED IT. LOVED IT. LOVED IT. A must watch.

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I'll keep this review simple. Happy Birthday the series is one of the best series you'll ever see. It will teach you how suicide affects not only the victim but most especially those who were left by the person who decided to do the act. It gives the sensitive issue of suicide different angles on why people do it, the pressure from society, how much important support is, and how forgiveness is hard to do but is essential in growth. Just like the main lead's name suggest (Tonmai in Thai means tree), you will see each character's development as the story goes. The addition of 'a ghost sibling' makes it easier for people to comprehend why such actuons were made. Also kudos to the actors because you can feel every bit of pain from each tear drop they shed and how sincere their happy moments were.

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It is good, but...

This drama did bring attention the sorrows of suicide, how much suicide affects the people around the victim, years after the victim is long gone, the pain is still there.

All the above was portrayed in this drama and the victim was given a chance to alleviate that pain, even a little, by properly communicating her thoughts to all those who were suffering because of her suicide. This chance was due to her brother who was able to see her and whom she could possess by holding his hand and thus able to communicate directly with the loved ones.

This drama was largely captivating and touching. The only negative thing I have to say about this drama is, towards the end when the victim said her final goodbyes to each of her loved ones (which was inevitable, she had to leave), yes, I felt touched by the various goodbyes, but honestly, after a while, I did not feel as touched as I thought they should make me be. Perhaps, there were too many dialogues - which I concur were absolutely necessary because after all it was these lack of communication which contributed to her suicide - and the content of these dialogues were somewhat similar, so I felt somewhat exhausted watching at the end.

Nevertheless, this drama was worth a watch. It reminded how precious and fragile life is, how important communication is and how much regret a victim brings to his/her loved ones after ending his/her life. This drama reminds us, it is not the person who leaves, but the people left behind who feel the pain and suffer the most.

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MASTERPIECE

This series is a masterpiece!!!!!! One of the best thai series that GMMTV made. The casts are perfect for their role. I cried a lot in every episode of this series. The plot is very complicated but it is so interesting. I recommended this series to my friend and she liked it. She is so grateful that I introduced this series to her because its a masterpiece. No words can explain how beautiful this series is. It is not a typical high school series. The plot is unique. The lines are so heart catching. I became a huge fan of P'Mild and P'Pluem because of this series. No wonder why P'Pluem was nominated of being the Best Supporting Actor. Hoping to have a Season 2. This series is highly recommended!!!!!!!

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Great, except for one thing

Warning: This series does deal with the subject of suicide. I know this is a spoiler, but I feel this is an important thing to know before you start watching the series.

I placed all other spoilers at the end of this review.

This series is not for you if you don’t like paranormal storylines. However, this has a very endearing storyline about the different aspects of family and relationships. It also sends a message about the dangers of not communicating with loved ones. It has an excellent script with one exception. See the spoiler alert at the bottom if you want more info. They did a great job switching between the past and the present. The series has an incredible cast with great acting. I like how they kind of made a parody of GMMTV in various episodes and involved some of the artist playing themselves.



******Spoiler Alert******
My only criticism about the script is the soul displacement. I’m not a fan of the soul displacement/shift storyline concept. This aspect of the script caused an unnecessary conflict of having people questioning Tonmai and Tee’s sexuality. This was an element of the series that was really unneeded.

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A heart-warming mystery series that will make you cry buckets

Story

A teen boy finds out his older sister who committed suicide on the day he was born is still lingering in the house as a ghost. They bond quickly, giving each other a lot of love and warmth that they both needed so much. But there is a big mystery about her death and why she is still around. And the incident had huge impact on various characters in the series, including their family members and her boyfriend, and this will propel the story forward.

Writing

Superb. Thai series typically have less than stellar writing that doesn't feel so polished. But this series shows another level of writing quality. It's amazing how different pieces of the truth are given to us at different times and are tied together to give us the big picture later. They also dig deep into the different emotions and desires of humans. While it's essentially a story of life and death, it's also a psychological study of the human mind.

Acting

No doubt it is some of the best for Thai series. Both Mind (the sister) and Pluem (the brother) are stellar. You cry when they cry. And I think Pluem won an award for this.

Production

It's nice but nothing fancy, nothing high budget. The music is pretty good and goes well with the emotions of the characters. Editing is good, it flows well.

Conclusion

This series gives us a lot of heart-warming moments, buckets of tears and some shocking twists the writers dared to put there for us. This is a highly recommended piece for those interested in Thai series, especially if you love drama. But be warned of the heavy contents, including abuses, suicide, and other things. They feel real and brutal.

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If only...

I really loved the premise of this drama — I was sure that I was in store for some emotional healing. And the drama did give us that in the beginning. The best part of this drama is undoubtedly the relationship between Tonmai and Thannam; there was no blaming each other and it really just felt like two people spending the time together they never could.

We were always in store for a little more drama, however; the question of why Thannam committed suicide was treated a bit like a mystery — and that's fine. I think the strongest part of this drama was when they showed just how much Tonmai didn’t know about her life, with the message that suicide doesn’t usually result from one big event or person, but from a lot of little stressors that build up over time until someone can’t handle it anymore.

With that being said, the drama devolves into a story that’s a little too cliche and overdramatic. We have a lot of scenes of parents slapping their children (with pretty bad sound design that actually makes them feel weak and unconvincing but that’s another story lol) and one big plot about one single person — Thannam’s birth mother.

I knew there would be a main plot but here’s where my biggest issue with the show comes in: I just don't agree with its final message. In the end it feels like Thannam’s decade of waiting for a parent who left her “for her own good” — with no goodbye and with no contact info — was treated like a good thing. It should be shown as a toxic relationship and a problematic parental choice, but ultimately Thannam was thanked, congratulated, and rewarded for it.

Since the story went that way, it started feeling like there was a weird emphasis on the irreplaceability of biological family, when I would’ve preferred the drama go the opposite way and show how adopted families, found families, and friends could mean just as much.

I know everything I’m saying here would massively change the entire plot of the drama in the first place particularly in the second half. I do still think there were good parts of the story; there are lessons to be had about forgiveness and closure…but it didn’t sit right with me and thus didn’t have the gut punch they intended.

Other than that, the acting was pretty good. I definitely think Thannam’s actress was the strongest of the bunch, but everyone did a pretty good job. Part of that is just character-wise, Thannam is unequivocally the strongest too. I like Tonmai but he felt pretty passive throughout and wasn’t really as interesting. I would’ve loved for Noina to get more of an intertwined subplot because there was so much potential with their friendship but she ended up just being really annoying.

So there we go. It started out good and was pretty well-written, but ultimately not a story I really supported.

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Death is inevitable but suicide is preventable.

FIRST IMPRESSION
When we hear HAPPY BIRTHDAY, all we imagine is a birthday song being sung but loved ones, cake, candles, balloons, gifts, party, like a smiling happy day when no one scolds you for any mistake. Though this drama is titled HAPPY BIRTHDAY it doesn’t have any of these. It rather shows the opposite topic, the biggest reason for sadness and death. it takes away the suffering, it leaves behind the pain to those who are known. And how difficult it is for a person who had to deal with suicide since birth. It had a grim and slow start which felt boring but I decided not to give up, and in a few episodes, it started to grow on me and I felt all kinds of goosebumps and intense emotions.
The series is very layered and narration is done excellently. With each mystery being opened up about the relationships and sufferings of Tharnam, everyone left behind seemed selfish and guilty at the same time. Tonmai seems like a victim of the things he didn’t do. His life is peaceful but not happy. . Tharnam suffered from Autophobia is very dark, if one gets sucked up, it is really difficult to cope. So when she is able to reconnect via Tonmai, I find the living people more selfish than on a guilt trip.
I felt really bad for him, who suffered everything without knowing what he was being held guilty of. Sometimes I got confused with whom should I sympathize, Tharnam who didn’t receive affection when she lived, or Tonmai who receives affection when he is possessed.
Also in this dark tale, everyone could talk about the grim story, but for me, I found a ray of hope in NOINA. So talking about side stories Noina and Tonmai's budding relationship was like ice cream, enjoyable anytime. It gave a cooling effect to the serious and gloomy drama. She didn’t have big role but she lighted up the mood whenever she was onscreen. Well, the ending is heart-wrenching and proves worth the title HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

ACTING is superb by everyone.
-No wonder Pluem as Tonmai won best supporting actor in this series but TBH he is actually the main lead not a supporting character to me.
-Mild as Thannam had the saddest face I have ever seen on a 17-year-old teenager. She just carried the character of Tharnam exquisitely like living into it.
-Push as Tee certainly gave handsomeness to the show, I have seen him in rather rough and arrogant roles, so it was pretty good to watch him in a remorseful and gloomy character.
-Lung Tai was one of the best characters in the show. he definitely played a more father figure to Thanam than her real father.

MUSIC
I loved the BGM's. it is excellent and mesmerizing. The opening tune sets a sad tone, that what we are going to watch could be more than that.

REWATCH
it is a bit difficult. Once you have opened the mystery box, there is no reason to find that box again. Also because it is a grim tale rather than sad which could easily make me depressed cause am a really emotional person.

AFTERTHOUGHT
Death is inevitable but suicide is preventable. It takes one dark moment to overshadow your courage into something grim, so rather than fighting alone, find a comrade to fight.

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