This review may contain spoilers
I have really conflicting feelings for Meuan Khon La Faak Fah. On one hand, I appreciated how it started, how the female lead is strong and cute, and how much chemistry our lead couple had. On the other hand, I thought the plot was weak, there wasn't enough emphasis on the main leads, and the ending seemed too hasty as well.Where should I start? I think on the whole the acting was good. I found Andrew Gregson really awkward with his hand gestures, but I can totally see how that ties in to his character. It's just an unfamiliar sight for a male lead to be so... childishly adorable (...) . He's absolutely fantastic in the more emotional scenes though. Matt Peranee was really cute. I wonder if all the "oppa" references were actually ad-libs on her part. In any case, the female lead was an easy character to root for (at least at the start). They also had exceptional chemistry with each other. The lunch scenes were so heart-tingling! It's a pity that their scenes got lesser and lesser, and the drama went into a makjang spiral at the end [1].
It may be because I'm not that familiar with Thai dramas, but this is one of the rare instances where I found the youngsters acting better than the veterans (youngsters and veterans are relative really, but you get the idea). Midway through the drama I got this vibe from both the father and the housekeeper that they are actually villains, but they are obviously not. The aunt was overacting so much that it actually became sort of funny.
The plot was a little meh. For a drama about romance, they spent too much time on the angst. It'll be better if the angst gave the leads some screen time, but the angst gave the supporting characters too much screen time. By the end of the drama, I just skip-watched all those portions. Episode one was so-so, episode two and three dragged me in, but at the end I survived only by crumbs of the sweet OTP moments. I think the best thing that happened to the drama was possibly the editing of the preview. I swear in every episode I think the next is going to be better and full of cute scenes, but yeah. Also, I'm a little piffed at how they wrapped up everything so hastily. They got together in the end alright (this is totally not a spoiler), but it was a little underwhelming and the flashback was way way way too long. It's almost like they decided to re-edit the OTP scenes into a whole new MV for the opening theme.
Also, the kiss scenes. Wait, I mean the lack of kiss scenes. I know how Thai dramas are like with my few experiences. There's virtually no intimate scenes at all, not the lip-on-lip kisses anyway. Even if there is, it's just them manipulating angles. Usually, I don't really mind it. On second watch of the MKLFF episodes though, I realise that there wasn't even a peck anywhere. I'm completely fine with watching them on the same screen doing nothing except eating and talking (the lunch scenes were really the highlights of the drama), but if you are going to have a kiss scene do it properly. For the forehead "kiss" in the last episode, Andrew Gregson was just kissing air lol. Like whaaaat? It's just the forehead! I'll admit that I wasn't watching properly the first time and got tricked though.
All in all, despite my complaints, I actually think this is a decent drama. Perhaps it's because I just came from a horrible one [2]. I feel the start and the interactions between the leads were really refreshing, and even though it went downhill, it didn't erode my fondness for the drama. It's probably also because of my impression that Thai dramas are in general overly theatrical. This drama actually scores lower on the makjang scale compared to the others I've watched (and tried to watch). I also have a personal preference for dramas with stronger female leads as well so there's that.
- Footnotes -
[1] I wonder how much of this is due to the fact that this is actually a remake and they had to somehow follow the plot. From what I understand though, it's nothing like the original version. I think they probably should've done away with the not-so-great plot points and kept the better ones, but I really have no idea what the original was like.
[2] For those who are curious, that terrible drama is the Thai adaptation of Princess Hours.
EDIT: Grammar and spelling.
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Sure it was indeed slow in places because it didn't have the usual 'girl runs, man chases her and slaps/kisses her into submission' sections and, despite everyone saying they were speaking their minds to save misunderstandings, no one was actually doing that with anyone right up until the end. Lies and deflection seemed to be the order of the day; which will drive some viewers mad as you scream "for God's sake just TELL <insert name> the TRUTH!!"
The 'villains' were annoying to the point where death was too good for them. Even their insults were lame compared to the lead female and her grandma (who I ADORED) As the elderly villains went in this I'd have just thrown them under the bus so hard I would've won a prize LONG before the end. Having said that there was so much plastic in their faces you could've just stood them next to an open flame, hell even a lit match would've worked, and watched them melt like the Wicked Witch of the West.
As to their seeming teflon coating when it came to get rumbled, I know families love each other, blah blah, but come ON! there's a limit to how far familial loyalty will go (especially these days) - if my mother in law tried to ruin my daughter's life, rest assured she would be supporting a new patio in my garden in a more literal way than she should. I do get that Lakorns have to be angsty - I get that adult kids have to be tortured by parents/grandparents/older or younger siblings/ or even just insert random person who wants revenge here for the story; but really when the parents are supposed to be 'protecting' their tortured offspring, then they should DO that not just pay lip service to it before pressing on with tweets of '#worried' to everyone. I also loathe the Second Lead in these (usually the female who is NOT a villain) who just wafts around a with a 'kicked puppy' look. In this drama that girl had that look NAILED - seriously, there are puppies out there as we speak taking lessons from her it was that good....sadly, though I just wanted to slap her silly, shake her so hard her teeth rattled and then tell her to GROW.A.SPINE. She is a grown woman, running a business; NOT a 2 year old who's just been told her favourite blankie has been put through a woodchipper.
The music is pretty good and the theme song is nice too. The re-watch value isn't awful because you know which bits to avoid, but it's not a must-see. Overall, this isn't as bad as some people say and I'd give it a solid 8.
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This review may contain spoilers
I briefly checked this lakorn out a few years ago when I was procrastinating doing school work. Years later, still procrastinating, I decided to watch this lakorn not expecting much, and hoping at least for a satisfactory love line. And wow did I not only get a satisfactory romance, but I was also amazed by our other main leads, 2ndary cast of characters and overall how this lakorn was able to keep me invested till the end.I'll be giving a review on our 6 main leads, followed by shoutouts to some of the supporting characters:
Chat: A very unique ML. At times, I thought of him as rapper Chat with how fast he would talk and have strange hand gestures to go with it. He does the whole "angry at my father for abandoning mom and I" very well by not humiliating his father, not being vicious to his step-mom and importantly does not use the FL as a punching bag for his anger (for once). I actually felt sad over his anguish and guilt over his mom's death, and we see how heavily it affects him throughout the series. All of his anger is rightfully directed at his father. I also really like that he's not stupid and pretty much disregards his grandma + aunt when they're exposed as instigators. What I adored about him the most tho, was his devotion and desire to be with Yo, even if it meant that their love would hurt others. I was firstly impressed with how easily he accepted her and quickly grew to love her, and was tastefully possessive (weird to say but really, I never felt grossed out/cringe when he was being possessive). He fought hard to be with her in the end and never gave up on their love even when she gave up. The only thing that bothered me was how crappily he treated King, which she didn't deserve.
Yo: A refreshing FL. Speaks her mind, has an actual backbone and does what's right even if it sacrifices her happiness. What first surprised me about her was how she went after Chat with no hesitation. She pretty much pestered him until he opened to her and he had no chance with how cute she was being. But her infatuation didn't mean that he could treat her anyway he wanted; there's a point in the lakorn where he lashes out at her and then tries to brush it under the rug. But she doesn't let him get away with it at all, and even says along the lines of "When you're angry you expect me to take it, but when you feel better you want me to suddenly forgive you? Don't expect me to go along with your mood" like woooooow I was so impressed when she said this (all FL need to take notes lol). She doesn't allow the ML to boss her around and sets boundaries she expects him to follow. I was overall very impressed with her character.
King: Best 2nd FL here. Not a bitch, not vengeful and is an exceptionally beautiful soul. She's very kind, but not dumb. She loved Chat and actively tried to get to know him, and I felt so bad every time he blew her off. Even when Yo turned out to be the one he loved, King didn't hate her and wished happiness for both of them. Even when her mom forced her and Chat to marry, she knew that he didn't love her, so they wouldn't have a good marriage, and she loved herself enough to not want that. Like for real, she is an angel and I was rooting for a happy ending for her.
Puchong: Best 2nd ML lol. Actively pursued Yo but never crossed boundaries and respected her space. Very sensible and a total gentleman, but never a doormat. He was more than a tool to ignite Chat's jealousy and I was rooting for him to get his happy ending with someone who loved him.
Pom/Kusuma: Wow she was great; she came later in the lakorn and I was worried if she would even make an impact when everything else was established, but oh boy was I wrong. She's a communication expert that's actually a communication expert. She pretty much saw the relationship between Yo and Chai right away, picked up on Krit's love for King. and gave actual helpful advice when our leads were having issues. I loved her budding friendship with Puchong and was pretty much supporting her and Puchong getting together.
Krit: Unfortunately a forgettable lead for me, although I still liked him a lot. He was very kind to Yo, sweet to King, and was overall a good person. I really liked his voice lol. But his presence got reduced near the end of the lakorn and compared to the other amazing leads, he didn't stick out much.
I was surprised at how much I liked all our main leads and appreciated how they were portrayed as real, 3D people and not just tools for plot. What made this lakorn even better was some of the secondary cast: Same and Jane, the two best friends anyone could ever want. The head servant at Chat's house, who would call out the grandma and care for Chat as her own son. The best ofc was Grandma Lamoot; just straight savage and a hoot to watch. Yo pretty much got her back bone from her. I was pretty sad that she died, although the way she died was kinda sus.
I felt like almost every mother figure in this drama was terrible on varying spectrums, although the last one I'll mention was a very good villain. To start, Puchong's mom straight up is not a real person; the way she hated her son was borderline comical. Chat's grandma was selfish and very emotionally manipulative, although she does somewhat redeem herself in the end. But def the biggest villain was King and Krit's mom (King and Krit are not related btw and were adopted by this woman). She was the master puppeteer in manipulating not only Krit and King to do her bidding, but also the Grandma, Chat and Yo. She's quite cold and calculative and is not above using threats to get what she wants. Although she was terrible, I actually found her to be admirable because the way she carried out her plan was almost full-proof, and although I didn't agree with how she using everyone as a pawn, I could respect why she did so.
Now one to some points on why I didn't rate this higher:
-The romance. You might be surprised I'm saying this, but hear me out. I really liked their relationship; it was mature and respectful. But there were a lot of times that I felt there could be more feeling/passion. I often felt they were held back in expressing their feelings (whether it's the fault of the network or actors, idk), and although I did believe in their love, there was a lot of potential for me to be even more invested that was just wasted.
-Acting: sometimes the acting of our leads would throw me off, especially Andrew's. While he did deliver in the emotional scenes, it's the smaller scenes where he doesn't emote well. There were times when I would expect him to show some sort of emotion or react to a shocking event (not that I want it to be over the top, but subtle changes in expressions, or change in vibe) but he would have this blank face. I wasn't sure if it's bc it's his character or him, tho I still liked his character.
-Aunt See: A pretty pathetic villain and stuck around for too long. Although I really liked how our leads and Yo's mom would beat her down time and time again, it got pretty repetitive after a while and not much was done to her until the last 2 episodes. Even then her ending was pathetic and didn't make sense.
Overall I still really liked his lakorn a lot. Having the ML, FL, 2nd FL and 2nd ML be sensible and very likeable people is quite rare. Although this doesn't have much of a story, the cast of characters make up for it by tenfold. Music was good and I really liked one of the songs. I would totally recommend you watch if you have the time and I will certainly re-watch this on my own time.
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I enjoyed this journey of romantic angst,the first 7 episodes are the best in my case since it highly show-cased the journey of Yo and Chat falling in love and dealing with their passion for each other.Andy and Matt are both terrific performers,and together they also had great chemistry! It was also fun seeing Vicky and Not co-star since i have also watched them in "Jai Rao" as supporting characters. Mint Nutwara has gotten better in acting and it was quite seeing her in some scenes with Andy since they co-starred as love-interests in "Kehas See Dang". I absolutely loved Yo`s loyal friends Same and Jane-they were hilarious! Andy is so good at acting that he makes every character he ever played his own. When he smiles or cries it always impact my heart. This is a great lakhorn that got quite dramatic at times,but it was romantic and exciting nonethless.
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Andy looks old for her
Okay, we have the "bickering couple" kind of lakorn... While the girl had at least some sense, the guy acted so immature I thought he COULD have more sense in his age. I would probably be able to enjoy the previous version with young Willie McIntosh more... Such role doesn't fit someone almost middle aged. Also Noom Santisuk would look more convincing as a buddy to go for a beer with, than Andy's dad. Which he would have to become at the age of 15. Of course, Noom looks compatible with Mam Jintara, with whom he previously portrayed a married couple several times. (She is also the nang'ek of the original lakorn, btw:)So much can be said about the cast. But what I must also say, is that the characters here are enjoyable. The character's dynamics are enjoyable. This lakorn's first half (yeah, the isn't as LOT of the bickering as described in the synopsis... it mellows down kinda soon in this version) isn't a bad watch, thanks to that. The character's dynamics is something I rarely like in thai lakorns, usually it's just lots of silly-screaming-and-fighting, or the "revenge guy" is just mean to the main girl no matter what. What I liked was that Andy's character, though extremely bitter, always stayed gentlemanly and would never allow a female to be harmed or in discomfort under his watch, even if he violently disliked her. Therefore his character had something that makes the audience genuinely wish him to overcome his bitterness and be happy again, and not just for the sake of the cute couple poster of the lakorn.
Also, rarely in thai lakorns can we watch cute details of relationships. Like, what started here since episode 2... The lunch scenes. Simple thing like that, but I appreaciated this time-filler so much more than than the usual lakorn endless "dramatic" bickering. Pitty this did not last longer thoughout whole lakorn.
As for support roles, there is Wan Thanakrit's character, whose story is perhaps too cruel. I couldn't help but pitty him in episode 2, in compare to him, Andy's main guy's life was cheerful. Nevertheless, it doesn't stop him from flirting the main girl since episode 3. Next episodes, the tone of his story changes to more optimistic. Then, as he gets less and less chances with the main girl, he starts to interact with Min Natwara most of the screentime... I didn't find their pairing very appealing.
Andy's character starts being super protective over the main girl since epi 3. And the main girl admits to her friends she likes him since the first meeting! Wow, speedy. But, I do prefer speedy over draggy:) Truth is it was a bit hard to imagine what would a bubbly girl see in Andy, no matter how hard they tried to comb his hair into super-youthful hairstyle. And their fake "kiss" looked ugly.
What feels fresh is that when Andy's pra'ek starts the typical macho behavior where he invades her personal space and gets physically close to her for (seemingly) no reason, she doesn't react by being freaked or confused by it like the typical nang'ek. No, she's openly excited and happy about it:) I do wonder if it was like that in the older version, too!
Andy Gregson (still) cannot really act so when there was a scene he was whining in a bed having a nightmare I had to laugh. His character is also very angry when he finds out people are trying to set him up with a girl. But I agreed, he needed help in that department.
Also, his main girl dislikement doesn't last more than 4 episodes. In episode 5 he acts openly concerned for her, bordering on possessive. When at first she was mostly hanging around the guy portrayed by Wan Thanakrit, without care he openly makes sour faces like he would like to murder him lol. By the way, Not Vorarit was the most attractive guy in this lakorn (AND he didn't have to act out:) if we have to go with older pra'ek here, he's much better watch.
Nevertheless, Andy's character lives in a family tragedy, where his own household members caused him to lose practically both his parents (one is dead physically, one dead from his heart). Still, Andy looks ridiculous, when in his age, he keeps crying for missing his mommy. Matt Peeranee portrays the girl beautiful enough on the inside and out that she is willing and able to help him. Which makes a beautiful human drama kind of lovestory, only problem is when the guy for whom she puts so much effort comes across as awkward "uncle" who didn't get to grow up and act his age.
As if this wasn't enough story, the runtime is stretched by DEMENTED "crime line", with illegal loans, children being abducted at daytime and human trafficked at night, and we don't wait long for the first gunshooting. I PRAY for many years for lakorn producers to spare me any of those elements in lakorns unless it's a specialized crime themed series. Instead, there almost doesn't exist a single thai series where they would not use it at least a little, basically it's presented as a part of the life style. If human trafficking is really such a common occurence in Thailand, then making such stupid tv shows about it is probably helping the real mafia even more.
I enjoyed more to watch not the second, but the third couple, here. Vicky Sunisa Jett & Not Vorarit were stunning together and did not have to run and scream all around to achieve that. Though their characters turned just into plot devices for the first couple for most of the screentime, they had an ending that I appreciated and approved of. The nang'ek's "aunt" was more secured for her future even when she left with nothing, just by the man she had by her side. On the other hand, it was probably for the best that Andy's volatile pra'ek came from that palace with servants, lol.
When Andy's main guy stopped "hating" the main girl completely and there still was almost a half series ahead, I was getting bored. I wasn't interested in any of the THREE conspiring aunties/grannies. So at episode 9, I started skipping their scenes... There were still too many episodes left in compare how much I "cared" about the main couple, or "wished" the girl to end up with Andy's character. He looked so ridiculous in his sad/angry scenes. I had to laugh in the wrong places. If you still want to cast Andy next time, cast him as someone's uncle with delayed maturity disorder.
I liked when near the final Andy's pra'ek shouted at his closest family members how he hated what they did for years. And how he still refused to be separated from his nang'ek, even in situation which else would suffice as definite parting plot in other lakorn. That was something that I'd wished for many pra'ek's to do in other lakorns which had similar vicious family member characters (I wondered if the 1995 version pra'ek did the same... but then I read about it and that version was probably quite different ride, no stupid evil aunties:) But what undermined it a bit was Andy's "acting", which looked so immature it was kind of comical unintentionally. He was like grown-up sized toddler having a fit lol. The only thing we still "needed" was the most hysterical side-character drawing a gun... Of course, we got blessed in the final. Pitty the old version is not available even raw.
I liked when pra'ek spoked to his wounded father in the final so openly. What I didn't like was Andy's delivery, that reminded me of amateur theatricals on the streets. I liked how the way family members treated each other thoughout pra'ek's whole life still mattered and was directly adressed, pondered upon and had still consequences other than just usual "final drama" with lots of yelling and sharp skip right to the happy ending.
Overall I found this lakorn remarkable with characters and scenes that were very rare for lakorns, though very fitting for lakorns: and thus welcomed and intriguing. Unfortunatelly, this was blended with remarkably bad acting, corny surplus elements and annoying time fillers. To rate such lakorn is kind of difficult. I had to stick with average digits as all the values were so differing.
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