Fah Mee Tawan (2020)

Well executed revenge drama - highly recommend to watch!

I'm not usually a fan of Ch7 lakorns as I find previous ones to come across very 'nam nao', which basically translates to trashy or a drama with no real substance filled with bad acting. So when I saw the trailer for Fah Mee Tawan, it peaked my interest as i'm a sucker for a revenge lakorn! I started watching this with no expectations or preconceptions, and i've not watched a lakorn with neither of the two leads before. The director is the same one from Nang Rai, which was imo a complete mess. I dropped that as it was too OTT and frustrating to the point where the storyline became nonsense. Boy, he turned it right around on Fah Mee Tawan as this was a surprising hit in my books. It's one of the better lakorns that I've seen in a long time, i'm super impressed by it and i've watched A LOT over the years. It was well executed from start to finish, let me explain why.

The main focal point of the lakorn is based on Paul's thirst for revenge and the constant battle he goes through to see it through to the end against his emotions of gaining acceptance and love from his estranged father. I would say that the romance storyline is secondary here, but there are still plenty of 'will they or won't they?!' scenes between the leads to keep you on the edge of your seat. The director has cleverly built up the romance over each episode to keep you invested in the developing relationship of Paul and Nai. Every episode served a purpose and the storyline was not rushed nor was it dragged out for too long neither. Surprisingly, I did not find myself skipping any scenes which I often have a habit of doing. I found the production of the lakorn to be of a high calibre, and had a very 'cool kdrama' vibe to it. There were a few typical lakorn traits where you will end up feeling frustrated at certain characters but nothing was too overly dramatic which I can appreciate.

The cast and acting was 10/10. Donut and Prapye did not come to play about! These two are some great examples of fresh new talent for ch7. But, Donut emerged as the real star of Fah Mee Tawan, as he was spot on in capturing Paul's complex character. He had many emotional scenes and you could vividly feel his pain, his long kept anger and the angst that he was trying to portray. He is a natural on the screen, and I hope ch7 continue to give him more grown up roles as he has excelled in this. The chemistry him and Prapye had was SO good and believable, the tension was steadily building between them from Ep1. Even though the romance is a slow burner, but it was very satisfying when you reached its conclusion and could scream YASSS! And there are some real hot kisses ;) I'm sure they are now a koojin and hope they will be paired together in another lakorn soon. I was unsure of Nai's character at first, as she came across as a weak and submissive FL but this was all part of her character development because in the end, she is the most reasonable character with a genuine heart. P'Jeab as the nang rai/evil adoptive mum was fantastic, her facial expressions were on point! I've never seen her in this type of role before, as in real life, she's very sensible and soft. The support cast were also funny and cute to watch as they added light humour to the storyline.

It's also a major plus for me that Paul's character was not an power trip abuser, and did not ever use sexual force or rape to gain the upper hand over Nai. It's important for Thailand to stop glamorising rape culture in their lakorns. It is not okay and should not be used for entertainment purposes. I enjoy a lil slap/kiss but within reason. Fah Mee Tawan had the perfect balance of the love/hate relationship between the leads. Although, I wish there had been a bit more romance/playful scenes between them, there were a few opportunities to take advantage of this which was shut down swiftly. Lastly, the OST has one of my faaaaav songs, 'Foon' by Big Ass. This bring back memories from my teens!

You will not be disappointed as this lakorn exceeded my expectations, thank me laters and go watch FAH MEE TAWAN now!

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