Rating - 8.25 rounding up to 8.5

“Bhuppae Sunniwat” aka “Love Destiny” is only my second non-BL Thai drama after “The Crown Princess”, so I am very new to this genre and my thoughts are reflected in a way that I am still not used to some of the acting or comedy styles. This is also my first Thai historical drama and I learned so much about Thai traditions and history. Characters from “Love Destiny” are based on true historical figures, but I am not sure how accurate the portrayals are.

What I Like:

1. Thai traditions and history - I really enjoy learning about the different Thai traditions, foods, rituals and history. I never knew Thai ladies folded and shaped the petals of unopened lotus flowers when doing floral arrangements. I’ve seen plenty of lotus in ponds in C-dramas, but never knew they could be presented in another beautiful way. There are many similarities between Chinese and Thai traditions, especially with respect to how they treat the elderly or senior members, high-ranking officials and their slaves/maids/servants. In a patriarchal society, wives did not have the same rights and treatment as men. I love the traditional costumes that all the women wear, from accessories to scarves to beauty products. Watching this drama also led me to Googling about the French influence in Thailand. If you are interested in Thai culture and traditions, this is a great drama to watch.

2. Acting - Female lead, Bella played three very different characters in this drama. I can really see the difference in her portrayal of the vicious and mean Karakade, the sweet and nerdy modern Kadesurang, and the new and improved Karakade. What a beautiful and talented actress! Bella is paired with the equally talented and handsome Pope. He really can act with his eyes and his shy smile and stolen glances melt my heart. I love watching him slowly fall in love with Karakade. The other two couples are equally talented and good-looking. “Love Destiny” has a pretty large supporting cast - family members, servants, royal family and government officials, and everyone did a good job and there isn’t anyone too cringey for my liking, acting wise.

3. Overall Plot - I enjoy the overall plot of this drama and why it’s called “Love Destiny”. Without going into spoilers, the drama does give an adequate explanation of how one woman came to live in another woman’s body, and how everything is destined that way. I would have loved to learn about the reason sooner, and have the drama focus a little more on that part of the story.

4. Por Date (ML) - I have something to pick on the main romance, but I do like Por Date. He has a strong sense of family, traditions and loyalty, but also not so inflexible that he would oppose all the new things that FL introduced to him. Despite being a self-proclaimed jealous and possessive fiance, he never once acts out of character, openly expresses his annoyance, or gets overly physical and possessive when he’s jealous. He might pout and walk away, but he’s gentleman-like. He also has a way of subtly flirting with FL. Though his love lines could be interpreted as cheesy and corny by some, I am eating that all up, because coupled with his loving gazes and smiles, I am also very much in love with him myself ? I also LOVE the thoughtful present he gets for FL from France. Not something he bought, but something he spends a lot of time and effort on, because he knows FL well and knows that she would treasure such a gift.

5. ML’s Father - A kind and caring father who openly accepts this weird future daughter-in-law into his family. He’s so accepting of FL’s vicious and non-traditional behaviors. Despite FL making all these mistakes and breaking traditions, he is always patient and understanding. In a patriarchal society, he could have easily punished or kicked her out of his home. He also has a way to control his wife and her servant from acting up. Just a quick look or a word of two to put them in their own place.

What I have Mixed Feelings or Don’t Like:

1. Modern Karakade (FL) - It is fun to see Karakade acting all modern and crazy, and speaking a different language. The blunders she made are a fun comic relief. However from a character development standpoint, it seems quite uncharacteristic for her to not want to speak or act properly, even after living in historical times for a couple of years. I know it’s more fun to teach your servants to speak your modern language, but if you decide to stay there, shouldn’t you make more of an effort to fit in? She got in trouble repeatedly, never seeming to learn from her mistakes and causing great harm/punishment to her servants. She seems to regret her impulsive and thoughtless decision each time, but still makes the same mistake over and over again. For a smart, independent modern woman, she also makes some dumb decisions. I love and find her annoying at the same time.

2. Por Date + Karakade Romance - If you like enemies-to-lovers and slow burn romance, this is it for you. I enjoy seeing them slowly fall in love, especially when Karakade unintentionally melts Por Date’s ice. It took a really long time for them to officially become a couple and when they do, there’s finally some PDA. But it was such a long and teasing drought to get to that point. There are so many instances where ML sneaks up behind FL’s back, approaches her, flirts with her, FL turns around and leaves and is held back, and ML ALMOST plants a gentle kiss on her cheek and then nothing happens. This is such a tease and is so repetitive that it slows down the general pacing of the show. There also way too many accidental trips and falls into someone’s arms.

3. Production Value - As mentioned, I love all the costumes worn by the characters. I also like the set designs, the different houses/rooms and the open floor plan. Inside the palace seems somewhat small, but I don’t watch enough Thai dramas to know if that’s always the case. I just realized compared to Chinese palaces, this one seems quite homey. I also like to see all the foods and desserts and even the boats and rivers. I am a big fan of natural lighting and we see this in “Love Destiny”. I like seeing how the servants put out land lighting lanterns/fire to indicate the change of day. But some scenes are too dark and I wish there were more lanterns. CGI/green screens aren’t great. The palace looks really fake when the characters are on a boat passing it. The music sounds nice but it’s so overplayed. The romantic song is played during EVERY single romantic scene, and there are many. No matter how much I like the song, I became very annoyed. The editing and scene transitions are also a little off. Maybe if I watch the extended version, the issue won’t be as prominent?

4. Pacing - Each episode is 1 hr 50 minutes long, and they are and feel really long. The drama spent a lot of time on home life, but there aren’t enough exciting events happening to keep me entertained and not looking at my clock to see when this very long episode will be over. For the most part, the drama focuses on romance and family life. But then a few episodes are dedicated to just politics, mainly in the second half of the drama. I would have liked to see politics introduced in a more balanced way throughout the drama.

5. Nang Prik (Old maid) - She was fun for a while and provided some comic relief. But her actions and constant meddling into her master and mistress’ business becomes too annoying. A servant should never have such audacity to criticize your masters/mistresses no matter how long you have served in that household. Her irritating behavior lasts way too long.

Other Random Observations:
1. It’s hard to keep track of all the long names and title changes.
2. The men in this drama don’t seem to need to work, esp. In the first half of the drama.
3. I like the duo Nam Yam and Nang Pin. They are fun without being annoying.
4. Love ML’s expressions when FL showed him the French greeting. A different expression on each cheek!
5. It’s somewhat hard to tell the passage of time. This drama spans many years but no date was ever shown on the screen.


Completed: 10/31/2022