Mae Krua Kon Mai (2021)

Perfect comic timing and fantastic cast guaranteed to give you hearty laughs!

For me, Thai rom-com dramas have developed their own brand of slapstick antics that mesh well with the plot and character development. Mae Krua Kon Mai is a great example of this. The show provided a good amount of witty and lowbrow humor and physical comedy. It also used timing, rhythm, and music effects to keep things engaging and entertaining from start to finish. I was interested from the get-go, so much so that I watched it without subtitles, and then with subtitles the second time.

This is one rom-com that raised the irony level of life for me. I was not expecting Param, the ML, to fall in love with Dao, the FL, when she was in disguise as a less attractive person of a lower status. I know, it's superficial of me, but I have watched way too many dramas to expect otherwise. So it was a pleasant surprise when this show deviated from the usual clichés. Yes, Param knew about Faidam's true identity, and there were already sparks whenever he met Dao. However, almost all his flashbacks and sweet memories were about her as Faidam. The verbal sparring and the constant one-upping between our leading couple were so fun to watch. One could see Param's curiosity evolving into attraction and ultimately love, as mischievous Faidam constantly challenged him, frustrating him while piquing his interest more and more.

Every time these two were together, the screen lit up, whether they were squabbling, bantering, teasing, staring into each other's eyes, or glaring at each other. August Paisarnkulwong as Param and Namfah Phatrathinchaicherin as Dao/Faidam were amazing together, and they did an excellent job portraying their characters. Namfah can do comedy, and she was really good at playing the dual personalities. August was more subtle, but he emoted so well. He cried so prettily, and whenever he flirted, I had to grab at my chest to calm my heart. I didn't mind the slow burn romance, but I did wish that there were more kissing because they looked comfortable and natural together when they did.

For sure, there were moments where I wanted to yell at one or both of them for being prideful, and I was definitely annoyed at Param for being so ambiguous with Rika. True, he repeatedly reminded her that she was only his fake girlfriend and he could never love her, but man, letting her kiss you and be all touchy-feely was no way to draw the line! Dao can also be irritating as heck with her refusal to talk things through and clarify matters. Still, despite such moments of wanting to tear my hair out, I cannot help but immensely enjoy the show. The best part for me was that Rika, as the nang rai, did enough to bother but never really got away with things. I love the twist towards the end of the show where it was building up to another opportunity for Rika to stir up trouble, but it did not happen the way I had expected it to go down. Ahhh, it is just so satisfying seeing the villain fall flat!

It's funny, but this is the third drama that I've watched that had Ice Srisevok as the nang rai. It would be a shame if she was typecast.

The acting was great across the board, and there was just so much chemistry between the cast! Between the OTP, the secondary couple (Oab and Pon - absolutely adorable together!), between Faidam and Param's mother, between Faidam and Watsy (adore that guy!!!), Dao's family with each other, and between Buap, Taew, and Faidam. Everyone worked in tandem so well, and I just want to see the behind-the-scenes clips of everyone having fun making this drama. I find it very interesting that multiple actors played characters with hidden agendas or dual personalities. Dao as Faidam, Param with his fake girlfriend, Rika, who pretended to love Param but was actually a gold-digger, Param's mother who was miserly but had a generous heart with the people she loved, and even Max, Dao’s long-term boyfriend but I’ll leave it at that since it is a major spoiler.

There were many negative comments about Dao darkening her skin when she becomes Faidam, and coming from a society that judges by skin tone, I can understand the discontent. However, the show never implied that Faidam was ugly due to her darker skin tone. To me, it was more to ensure that she is even more disguised, although I don't know how she managed to get away with it for so long. To the show's credit, it did not treat us, the audience, as being stupid. At least Dao realized that she would be recognized by the people close to her, just like how Korn did almost instantly, so she did her best to avoid them. I also like that Param was quick on the uptake and found out fairly early on about Dao's disguise.

Music-wise, I liked the two songs that were featured but nothing memorable. Rewatch value is high; I've already watched it twice, but I am tempted to watch it again because I am curious to see when exactly did our OTP transition from hate to love.

Overall, do give this drama a try! The sweetness, the silliness, the laughter, the gorgeous leads, the terrific cast, the lovely ending - there's enough to keep you entertained!

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Edit: Good enough to enjoy this comedic drama. Don't judge a book by it's cover. ~

This is the first time that I wrote a review here in MDL so if this didn't go well, please forgive me. I give this drama a try because I'm in the mood of light-hearted dramas where the male lead fall in love with the so-called 'uglier' identity (idk the exact term for that, sorry) of the female lead like True Beauty and Accidentally In Love.

Plot: 8/10 - I enjoyed the show. I like that the development in relationship of the main couple is slowly processed, not really fast-paced. I had a roller-coaster ride in almost every episodes. However, there's some unnecessary scenes which just made the drama a bit longer, though I managed to watch everything as I'm not a fan of skipping scenes. There are some kind of flaws regarding with the plot, and there are some times that I'm against to what the writer wanted the characters to do. Still love the ending and satisfied with it though, but the kiss is...

( I saw a lot of people who's bothered about the tag "blackface" before (which is removed now) that made others think negatively of this drama. Some are against that tag because they said it sounds like having western-centric mind and white-supremacy something, while some people are not because they said that female lead just did that to disguise herself and blackface is not a bad thing. As for me, no one is wrong. It's just how they see, understand, or how they gave meaning to that word, so let's try to understand and respect each other's point of view. )

Acting/Cast: 9/10 - This is the first time that Namfah became the main lead of a drama, but so far I liked her acting here! She performed her two characters well. August's acting was fine too. I love how she react every time he'll flirt with her lmao, and I love their chemistry too. I just don't like how the main lead tease the female lead so much before, to the point that I'm the one who feel like crying for her and not her herself (which is reasonable). And there's some part where some of the casts are a bit overacted or lacks a bit emotion in a particular scene. I also love all of the supporting characters, this drama is more fun and entertaining with them. Also the antagonist Khun Rika did a great job as well for making us hate her 'til the end but love her behind the scenes.

Music: 8/10 - Nothing to say much, Yak Ja Roo by Ice Thamonwan and Kho Chuea Chai Dtua Eng by August Vachiravit were nice.

Rewatch Value: 7/10 - As I've watched every episode of this drama like 4-5 times already while it's airing and after it finished airing, so I don't know if I'm going to watch it again. But I guess it will still be as enjoyable as before if you re-watch it.

Overall, it's fun watching this drama. I enjoyed the whole month of watching this and it somehow helped me to relieve stress. I got more friends while watching this drama and interacting with them, and they all enjoyed this too! Give it a try and see if it has the charm that's up to your cup of tea too.

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