F4 Tailândia: Meninos Antes de Flores (2021)

Lost the potential of adapting a classic original romance story.

I have watched every Boy over flower adaptation: Meteor garden(2001/2018), Hana Yori Dango(2005), Boys over flower(2009) and have re-read the manga too many times to count. I'm trash for this franchise, so when I heard a Thai version was announced, I was super excited to see how it would go! I loved the first half of the drama, but unfortunately, after finishing the second half, it lost a lot of potential by having an unsatisfying execution of the boys over flower storyline. If you are a fan of the boys over flower franchise or want to know what the fuss is about, I'd still recommend this drama; just don't expect a lot of screentime for the main couple's romance in this drama remake. It's not the best Boys over flower adaptation for everyone, but it's entertaining most of the time.

SPOILERS
Story:
Rating for first 8-9 episodes: 9/10-9.5/10
I absolutely fell in love with this adaptation for the first half of the story; as a college student too stressed to take a break, the only highlight of my weekend was catching a new episode of F4 Thailand! It started with a bang! The Japanese version(Hana yori dango) is my absolute favorite franchise adaptation. I was so thrilled to see that the Thai adaptation followed a similar storyline in the drama's first half. It did a great job to set up how Gorya started to fall for Thyme; I hated the whole Betrayal scene at the beach with a burning passion in the manga/meteor garden/BOF. I'm glad the Thai version also omitted that scene, similar to how HYD did. So things I liked OVERALL in the series

F4 friendship- it was a good amount of screentime to show how close and strong their friendship is and they had their bromance moments. Kavin and MJ were a funny pair! You can see how close the F4 are super close to each other.

Ren was the best version of Rui. I was never a huge fan of Ren's characters and never got second lead syndrome from him or the drama other version. I would either think he was pretty bland or feel bad for him since he always remained alone at the end of the story. The Thai version is the only one where I looked forward to seeing Ren! Ren falls in the list of characters in the story who didn't get the screen time they deserved! Still, given that only 16 episodes, I liked Ren! He supported Gorya whenever he could. There isn't a lot of screentime for Ren after episode 7, so maybe the writers just didn't have time to add Ren pursuing Gorya more, which I honestly didn't mind since I'm not a huge fan of the love triangle in the story anyway, lol.

Amnesia arc- It definitely should NOT have been that fast pace BUT since it was super short, the writers didn't have to add the bitch character who tries to steal the Thyme from the Gorya due to memory lose( I strongly dislike that whole arc in every adaptation/manga haha)

The chemistry between the leads - I like it! Despite the lack of many potential romance scenes, the casting choice was well done.I don't know why many people have a problem with Bright's acting; he was able to portray Domyouji(Thyme)'s character pretty well by pulling of a variety of wild emotions from acting angry, sad, confused dork, and love he gives Gorya takes a lot of energy to pull of this character. Thyme is not my best version of Domyouji for me cause Matsumoto Jun will always be my all-time favorite to pull the lovable dork off; however, I really liked Thyme and was always rooting for him whenever shit was getting bad; so well done, Bright! Even though I'm not a huge fan of Gorya's character development, but Tu completely nailed her acting for whatever the script told her to do. She's definitely a monster rookie actress; I still can't believe we're the same age! She's got a great acting career ahead of her! Bright and Tu have great chemistry, and it's a shame they weren't promoted as much as a pair due to their company; I'm hoping they can be a couple again in another drama someday!

Cinematography- I don't think it's the most important thing in a drama since the story is most important. However, it does add a nice extra layer, such as the directing shots/ locations chosen and camera angles that made the drama look pretty to watch.

Rating last half for episodes 10-16: 6/10-7/10
Pretty much the downfall of the series. Too many story arcs were being squeezed into one episode, resulting in Thyme and Gorya's love story being poorly executed since it was so rushed. There was soo much lack of romance between Thyme and Gorya; it was completely frustrating. Hana yori dango is a ROMANCE story between a rich guy and poor girl being the main center of the plot, but F4 Thailand made me question if I'm watching a coming of age/drama/comedy instead and having the romance be a filler. Based on the original Hana Yori dango series, the main leads have a very strong, passionate, and emotional love toward each other because they spent so much time in a relationship. But Thyme and Gorya's love was more like puppy love; it was not strongly developed as it should be since there was already a lack of romance in the second part of the story. Gorya and Thyme BARELY spent time as a couple. So when they had their rain breakup, it was so underwhelming, I didn't feel emotionally super sad about it cause they didn't spend so much time developing a deep, strong love relationship. Suddenly there was a 1-year time skip yet, after which felt strange. And I always felt like Thyme loved Gorya WAY more than Gorya loving Thyme equally back. They should equally love each other; if only they had more time to be a couple at least it would have shown. The drama tried to make up more of Goya's affections for Thyme in the last episode, but it wasn't enough to convince me they both strongly equaling loved each other.

Here are the many issues I had in the story:
Lack of screen time for some supporting characters that I grew to appreciate and enjoy in the original storyline and relationships built, which could have been improved if they had done 20 episodes rather than 16 potentially.
Thyme's sister
Gorya's funny dynamic family
Thyme's maid- The original story she was such a huge support to get the main leads getting together in the maid arc!! Where the hell did she go? She even had her own bittersweet backstory with helping Thyme in the original plot.

Thyme and Gorya's brother: I thought the writers would bring them even closer like how the Japanese version did. That would have been nice to see.

Kaning and Gorya's friendship- I absolutely loved Makino and Yuki's friendship in the manga! Yuki(Kaning)was such a good best friend; she was very important in the story for Makino(Gorya) to bounce her feelings to whenever she was confused about what to do with her relationship with Tsukusa(Thyme). Yuki's character was well done in all the other drama adaptations. However, I'm very disappointed with how the Thai version did to Kaning. I think she had the potential to be better from episodes 1-4, but afterward, I barely felt her existence in her characters.

Kaning and Kavin's relationship was not very development and underwhelming: second lead's relationship in this adaptation feels like a complete joke! It's so sad cause I liked the relationship built in the manga and other drama versions, but here, the Thai version doesn't care about them and gives a poor wrap of their relationship in one episode. Sometimes I forget they were even dating until the last episode.

Talay's (kidnapper) story was too long and unnecessary, I honestly couldn't care less about how close and special his backstory was with his friend which Thyme beated up. Instead, the drama should have focused and included more screentime to see how Thyme is not fighting back and getting beat up for Gorya since she could get hurt by the kidnappers. This was supposed to be a sad romantic scene between the leads, but oh well….

Thyme should have given Gorya the necklace AFTER ending with relationship with Lita, it was felt odd and concerning for him to completely forget that he is still in a relationship wit Lita when he did that.

Gorya's downfall: I like Gorya but sometimes I didn't because she was violent with Thyme. It was okay, I guess, back when she didn't like him and still felt Thyme was a bully; however, even after she came to love Thyme, she was still abusive by punching him on the balls, like wtf. How is this comedy? I might have let this pass if I was still in middle school; however, I'm in my early 20's now, and this is just wrong to see. It makes Gorya unlikable and hard to root for her to be in a relationship with Thyme:( Also, not trusting Thyme by blindly believing the Talay about the red card completely messed up all the buildup she had with her relationship with Thyme after episode 7. I know Makino(Gorya) is way too ridiculously naive in the manga at times and believes and forgives a lot of characters that she should not have done; however, I don't think Gorya should have been portrayed this extremely naive. Also, what are Gorya's goals in life?! We don't even know what she wants to do? At least in Hana Yori dango ,meteor garden and boys over flower, we know that Makino wants to be a lawyer, Shancai wants to be a chef and Jandi became a doctor. But Gorya doesn't even have any ambitions besides yelling all the time lol. Another reason why 16 episodes is not enough.

Thyme's mom redemption- so rushed at the last episode by squeezing it with the amnesia arc drama in just 20-25 minutes lol. The Thai version made the mom probably the cruelest and most evil out of all the adaptations, including the manga! The mom lied about having an illness to Gorya and not giving Thyme his medication to regain his memories until the very last 20 MINUTES of the drama. Last-minute, she finally lets Thyme and Gorya be together after all that so fast?! it just feels too rushed for her redemption. It could have been done in 2 episodes and slowly have her change and think things differently about Thyme and Gorya's relationship instead since she was so cruel from the beginning anyway. Suppose the drama was going to do their way. In that case, they should have cut the whole amnesia arc drama and just focused on ONLY the mom's redemption arc in the final episode, similar to how t Meteor garden 2001 handled it.

It's like the series lost its sense of direction of what made it so good in the first half of the series; maybe the writers were rushed when they had to make it 16 episodes cause the drama had so much potential to be better than what it became, it could have been 20 episodes max to improve on a lot of issues like deepening Thyme and Gorya's relationship, but unfortunately, a lot of things felt flat, rushed and underwhelming when the characters overcame to their challenges :( Maybe I would have enjoyed the drama more if I binged it like I was normally planning to, but waiting every week for a new episode made me very critical and reflected on each episode during that time.
I did like the final 10 minutes of the drama; glad they included the odd memorable F4 dance that happens in almost every drama adaptation! I was just bummed out Thyme and Gorya didn't get engaged; I was anticipating so much for a proposal, similar to how Hana Yori Dango did lol.
Anyway, I'm glad the drama is finally over with Thyme and Gorya having their happy ending.

Leia Mais

Most Perfect F4 Cast

OMG so sad it's over but it was so good. There was a lull in the middle but that's honestly par for the course with the source material and other versions.

The fact that the series had this fresh, unique feeling was everything I wanted. I was prepared to bitch and moan about everything I thought I was going to hate. This show literally made me smile watching it. I cannot express enough how well done this version is and how they have been able to give us what we need and take out many things we don't without sacrificing the story or the elements that make it the phenomenon that it is. Class struggles, self-doubt, self-worth, friendship, love, family, happiness and how it's defined...I could go on...

I fell in love with each F4 member! That's never happened in any other version!! I really like Gorya's family in this version. Her family is usually some of the worse characters for me. They do a better job of Thymes atonement in this version than in any other version, so I really like that as well.

I also want to take this time to thank the director and the writers, O Patha Thongpan,
Mai Aticha Tanthanawigrai, Manow Waneepan Ounphok, PingPong Suwanun Pohgudsai and Jarinee Thanomyat. What they have been able to do with source material that is 30 years old and the multiple versions that we as fans have loved and hated, they have made a show so fresh, fun, current and just so good!!

Also, shoutout to the wardrobe department... Loved the lewks!! Especially on Kavin, Mj and Ren. I was not fond of Thyme Zoo shirt but otherwise...I am a girl whose loves a sweater and the sweater game in this series is REAL!!!

Really loved all the shout outs to the other versions of this series in subtle and not so subtle ways. That's how it's done people!!!

Leia Mais

A refreshing version of Boys Over Flowers

I started watching k-dramas/c-dramas because of Boys Over Flowers (the Korean version). So, this story has a very special place in my heart. When I heard about the Thai version, I was excited, yet I was fearful of how the story would be portrayed, since it's quite a problematic love story in theory.

Nevertheless, I decided to try and watch it. This version became my favorite. I loved the way they followed the basic storyline but also made it their own. This version turned the series into a coming-of-age story, with complex characters and an interesting and coherent narrative. The friendship between the F4 members was really well portrayed. I could see how they supported each other and how much they cared about their friendship. This series also has a lot of character development, which, in my opinion, wasn’t really there in the Korean version (specially regarding the romance/male lead’s attitude). Thyme was a really likeable character. He truly started to behave differently, treating people better and took responsibility for his actions.

The romance was much healthier and believable. How they fell in love and how Thyme actually acknowledged the fact Gorya wasn’t dating him in the beginning and that he wanted her to like him, but he wasn’t going to force her into a relationship was really refreshing. I could understand why he loved her and why she loved him.

Highly recommend watching this version, whether you have watched the previous ones or if you are new here.

Leia Mais

One of my top favorites of F4 versions

At least for me, it shot to the top pretty quick.
I'm not going into details of the plot we already know about for approximately 20 years or so. I'll just write my opinions and thoughts on it.
Disclaimer: I'm a stubborn bias for the original drama version, Meteor Garden 2001, because it was my childhood and I was a huge fan of F4 aka JVKV. Henceforth, I would always compare any version to the original with bias views. Nothing would ever replace that top spot for me.
I would say Thailand version officially tied for second along with Japanese version.
Why? Thailand version took a slight turn with the modern twist - cyberbullying and all the social media obsession gossip, cancelling, etc. Ofc, the physical bullying is worse and wrong as well. Definitely showcases how toxic people can get no matter what age we're in.
Other than that, I feel this F4 was openly loving towards one another - MJ literally says "we love you, that's why we support no matter what." It feels liike you don't see that often in dramas for men, at least, to be affectionate towards their friends. Male or female, or whatever gender, friends are kind of like relationships where you show case your love for one another platonically. I really appreciate this show for showcasing that. The connection between the boys were definitely strong! In terms of F4 ranks, they're my second favorite honestly.
As for the acting, they're not the best actors or actresses, it's passable. Then again they're new just like most F4 shows it seems. The side characters like the mom, sister, and fiance were actually good actresses - seemed realistic to me. I notice Gorya screams a lot, and if I were to compare it with Shancai(MG 2001), she wasn't screaming that much, she was stern with her voice, and strong. Gorya's screaming got a bit too much towards the end, I didn't realize how much she was screaming when she's mad, but I suppose that's normal at least to those who give in to their emotions. Unable to control it through the way they talk. Regardless, would I recommend this show? Yes, definitely because its quite heartwarming. I even cried through some of the episodes, it was quite relatable with my emotions and what I've been through. I really enjoyed the drama and would recommend to anyone. Albeit, do not expect a lot of romance, its like a teen show.

Leia Mais

One of the best casting!

F4 thailand: boys over flowers has the best casting amongst all the adaptation of the series. Every character is given equal importance. Thyme (Bright) & Gorya (tu) has the best chemistry. Background music is og. The sequence of events were shown logical compared to other adpatations which were bit confusing. The character of Ren is justified here. MJ defines us what friendship is actually all about. Though wanted more of Kavin And Kanning they played their part beautifully. Thyme and Gorya is a perfect couple and cute fights b/w them makes it A must watch. Already watched it thrice ♥️ I hope we get
to see them together again ??

Leia Mais

Downhill we roll, as the quality drops with each episode.

Here’s the thing - I was extremely vocal on feeds and while talking to my friends about how this will be my favorite adaptation of the story and how much they improved with making it more realistic and less over the top toxic. And then, slowly, with every episode my enthusiasm started to drop. A show I started with genuine love, I finished as a hate watch. I cried watching the last episode, cried from laughing so bad.

Rich guy with family issues falls for a poor girl with financial issues - we all know the stories like that, most of us watched at least one adaptation of F4. Was this a fresh and groundbreaking take on this cliche plot? No. It started really well with a more realistic approach to the characters - Gorya was less in your face superhero bully fighter and Thyme, while still rude and cruel, had some type of limits to how far he is willing to go. I truly enjoyed how it was more grounded in reality - they managed to make me like the female lead more, and hate the male lead less. Then it lost that spark as it played into all the toxic over the top semi-makjang ideas.

Honestly speaking, the biggest issue was Thyme. To people saying he got amazing character development, where? There was one episode left for the drama to end and he still needed his friends to tell him what is good and moral and what is not. Dude literally threw a chair in Gorya’s direction when he was angry. How was I supposed to root for him, when I saw close to zero improvement in his behavior - every time things got tough or he got angry, he went back to his old abusive and impulsive ways.

Saying it’s realistic that he did not change so easily would make sense if the drama was realistic as a whole - it was not. They clearly did not care about realism, so why try to excuse the character with that logic?

Gorya was fine during all scenes, except the ones with Thyme. They both used violence against each other and sometimes it was played as a fun little comedy bit. On the other hand, she strived for better and grew as a person when she was with Ren.

And here we face the biggest issue - they made Ren too good to be true. Yes, he made one mistake and acted rather toxic towards Gorya with the misguided actions based on his good intentions, but he learned from that and never did that again. He was so fine. That’s that.

Then we have that completely useless and not developed romance between Kavin and Kaning. I am not going to lie, the side couple was my favorite part of the Korean version - the story was interesting, the conflicts were well built, the resolution was satisfying. Here, we’ve got none of that. They made zero effort to convince me why Kavin was hesitant to start things with her. They were just in the background, occasionally being cute.

I don’t even want to talk about M.J. getting his plot thanks for KFC commercials at the end.

I did enjoy the friendship of F4 a lot. Their scenes, excluding the bullying ones, were fun to watch. They always had each other’s back and tried to solve issues as a team - well, the 3 of them tried to solve Thyme’s issues while he acted like a moody toddler either turning them down or running away.

Putting characters aside, the show did attempt and made some good remarks about the social differences, the responsibilities and struggles people might have depending on their social status. I appreciated how it was not all black and white - rich people have all the privileges and no real issues, and poor people are the only ones struggling.

Acting wise I don’t really have complaints. I’m not the biggest fan of Bright’s acting, but he was truly born to play this role. Thyme was rather dumb of a character, and the faces this guy was making just elevated it, making me crack a smile quite a few times. Tu did an amazing job as Gorya - I bought everything she was selling on screen. I would say, the only performance that was questionable was Win as Kavin - his delivery was a bit on one note and the lines just did not sound natural at times.

Production wise though, probably one of the best quality we have seen from Thailand for some time. The show was simply beautiful. It was impossible to watch even one episode without taking countless screenshots. They played with angles, depth and light and I appreciated that alot.

Music was fine? I honestly cannot remember one song from it. They were not that memorable, but if they were bad, I would for sure remember them not fitting the scenes.

Overall, what a journey it was. By the end I was rooting for Thyme’s mother to keep them apart. What a badass she was. Might be evil, but with a class. The most terrifying mother of all the adaptations.

I don’t regret watching, I enjoyed it a lot during the first half, and had fun making fun of it during the second half. It’s like, slightly better than Boys Over Flowers? In some aspects… but not all.

Leia Mais

Well Worth Watching !!!!

This drama is so dam good that i literally binged watched twice after the last episode aired this past weekend.

I loved everything about the cast the music the story line the plots the twists the tears and the exceptional funny moments between Gorya and Thyme.

I am not going to compare to the others, but for me personally, this adaption was the absolute best , the cast was so amazing and they all got along very well, and were well matched for there roles. They wonderfully modified the story. I really liked how they portrayed Thyme's character in terms of other versions. Gorya 's character was top notch. She nailed it. Ren 's character is also my favorite since he was the bridge between Gorya and Thyme. for me they way portrayed Thyme's mother was like on another level, wow she was extremely nasty and so cunning espically towards the last few episodes. she was right there till the end, she was like a villainess to me. I also loved how the story shows the strong friendship between Gorya and other F4 members. In 16 episodes ,they really covered the whole story. But it would be great if they had the wedding part, but it definitely ended on a nice note and did it justice.

F4 friendship- it was a good amount of screen time to show how close and strong their friendship is and they had their bromance moments. Kavin and MJ were a funny pair! You can see how close the F4 are super close to each other. these two were good and well matched and they had funny moments, I would like to see kavin end up with Kanning and MJ with his iris story at the end of every episode was also a nice touch. Ren was the best version from the others in my option He supported Gorya whenever he could., and was always there for her and encouraged her to never give up, the chemistry between the leads - I loved it! the casting choice was well done. Bright's acting; he was able to portray his character pretty well by pulling of a variety of wild emotions from acting angry, sad, confused dork, and love he gives Gorya takes a lot of energy to pull of this character.

The Music OMG was the best in this drama, I loved every single song that was done, and each song was well matched to what was going on, this is absolutely on playlist!!

Overall: THIS DRAMA IS WELL WORTH THE WATCH and the Leads and the Music!! Urgh Just go watch this!!!

Leia Mais

The best version

Trust me. To me who have seen all the versions of Boys over flowers, the thai verdion is the best one. I really really loved it. With no matter how the plot moved forward, the base or the essence of their character doesn't change but they only get deeper and deeper. And damn, the way the actors protrayed it is a cherry on top, especially P'cindy. She just nailed it. She is my first favorite cast in this version and then comes others.

The fact that gorya doesn't change from start to end, how the layers and depth of each characters and why they are like this are so detailed.

The best part is the innocence of thyme which is hidden so deep inside himas he never got to enjoy that in his lifetime but longed for it and when he get to enjoy it he is just a gaint baby.

I loved the fact that they didn't dragged the memory loss track much. He crying for hurting gorya after getting back or I must say reliving their moments once again in his memory and the way thyme's mother, Roselyn realizes her way of loving thyme is dragging him away from whst his true happiness is and shouting open the gate to let her son get the happiness he want. And that showed that she loved thyme in her own way.

Over all, this is the best.

Leia Mais

A worthy remake

I am one of those who have watched (and obsessed over) Meteor Garden Taiwan 20 years ago. It might have something to do with it being a phenomenon in our country because everyone and their mamas knew who Dao Ming Si and San Chai was. I was so young back then I didn't know all the red flags the series have. I also watched Hana Yori Dango but it was aired right after the F4 fever so it wasn't that memorable for me. The last version I watched was Boys Over Flowers Korea and I hated that show. So my last memory of this remake is so long ago I can't recall clearly if some scenes were better or not from the other versions.

I am familiar with Bright and Win . The other actors are all fairly new so I won't be that critical of their acting. This is about F4 but we all know this series is focused and hard carried by the two main leads. Bright and Tu have chemistry. Before I started watching the series, I saw some promotional videos of them endorsing couple stuff and I saw that potential in them. I think they missed a lot of opportunity to show that chemistry. Bright has definitely mastered that infatuated and in love gaze. As for Tu, she looked uncomfortable in those long staring. I was convinced of Thyme's feelings but I wasn't really convinced of Gorya. Bright also improved on his acting. He nailed the comedic parts just right although he still needs improvement on some melodramatic scenes. Tu did her best as a newbie and she actually embodied the strong-willed Gorya really well. The other F4 members have delivered what they have to. It wasn't much work but they did their parts okay.

This franchise has been remade gazillion times so there is really nothing much we didn't see from the other versions. The times have changed though and there are a lot of parts that are already frowned upon.  I liked this modernized version and I think the show really delivered. I know they cannot go all out and fancy like the other versions (e.g. travelling to abroad) because of the pandemic. It's a pity how the show could've had a grander production but it did its best with all the restrictions. Thyme and Gorya needed more moments together. The only thing I liked in the K-version was Yi Jung and Ga Eul's story so I had high hopes for Kavin and Kaning. However, they felt so forced to me because the writers decided to wrap up their love story all in one episode. I'm not familiar with Prim but out of all the female characters that the show introduced, her portrayal of Kaning feels the weakest.

Another thing I loved in this show are the women. F4 is the star but I think the female casts were scene stealers. Cindy is impeccable in her role as Thyme's mom. She screams power not in the crazy mom obsessed way. She just reeks of sophistication and intimidation. I think the casting team did amazing because Cindy, Bright and Maria all looks ridiculously gorgeous as one family. Maria did a softer interpretation of the big sis role and it was refreshing. Fah caught my eye and I think I found a new girl crush. She appeared only for a very few scenes but she made her impression. Milk also has a really strong screen presence and her chemistry with Bright is also palpable. I wish we could she them reunite in another drama too.

Overall, I think it's a great remake. Definitely worth watching if you are a fan of the franchise.

Leia Mais