by Cho Na, February 12, 2021
74

(Source:  feii1effect)

BEWARE: MILD SPOILERS
BETTER VIEWED IN DARK MODE


source: Goodreads.com

My Forever Sunshine or Trab Fah Mee Tawan (native title: ตราบฟ้ามีตะวัน) is a lakorn adapted from a Thai novel with the same title written by  Noonphumipkti (อุณหภูมิปกติ). The literal English translated title is As Long as the Sky Has the Sun. Although the literal meaning is longer than the drama title, I used it for this article title since it has a special meaning I will describe later.

The drama is produced by Screen Shot Co. Ltd. and Sonix Boom 2013 Co. Ltd., directed by director/actress Chudapa Chantakett, aired in Channel3 Thailand from Nov 19, 2020 - Dec 15, 2020, with 19 episodes and duration of 1h 30 min. International viewers can watch it subbed on WeTV (regional restricted, may require VPN).

Genres: Friendship,  Comedy,  Romance,  Drama.



"The story about Paeng, a girl with a tragic life. After losing her father, she has to go live with Artit's family. The only way for her to be able to stay is to be with him. But no one expected that her approaching Artit nearly costs him his life. He ends up hating her to the bones, and she is exiled far from his family for four years until the day they come across each other again. One might think that time will lessen hate, but not for Artit. Not only he still hates her, but he also hates her even more than before. But in order to keep her final promise to Artit's father, she must endure it!" (Source: MyDramaList, originally from VIU)

In my personal opinion, this is a true hate-to-love romance. Other dramas with the same tag are actually just prolonged misunderstanding that causes dislikes between the leads or personality differences in which the male lead cannot stand the female lead and vice versa. In My Forever Sunshine, the female lead did something bad that makes the male lead genuinely hates her.



MAIN ROLES



Wanfahmai Warawit / Paeng


Wanfahmai (วันฟ้าใหม่), fah (ฟ้า) means blue sky (Source), or Paeng was a problematic teenager who craved for attention and love. Headstrong and rebellious, insecure and lonely. At 15 she met Artit who is the son of her father's best friend, Uncle Krong Prateep. When Uncle Prateep took her to live with his family, Paeng stirred up chaos in the family that caused Artit almost losing his life, and she was kicked out of the house. At 22, she came back only to fulfill her final promise to Uncle working at the farm for two years.

I really love the character growth of Paeng. Although she started badly as a miserable child and hated by almost everyone in the drama, she grew up to be optimistic, responsible, and likable. She comes from a rich family, but she's not arrogant and treats people under her social status (such as the servants and farm workers) kindly. By nature, Paeng is loyal, smart, and brave. It's also fun to see how she outwitted and resilient to every Artit's attempt to drive her out of the house for the second time.

I have never seen Kao's acting before, but I think she did a great job acting as Paeng with several years of age span from an immature teenager to a mature young woman.


Artit Suriyakkul

(Mark Prin Suparat)

Artit/Arthit (อาทิตย์) means sun. (Source)

Artit is a 27-year-old hardworking and talented young man who runs his family business called Sunshine Farm. He loves and respects his parents, but he is decisive of important issues in control of his life. He met Paeng, the only daughter of his father's best friend when he was at the college. He treated her as an adorable little sister, but never imagine that she turned to be a horrible little monster!

I saw Mark only in other three lakorns than this one: Thara Himalai (2010), Duang Jai Akkanee (2010), both as support character, and My Husband in Law (2020) as the male lead. In the latter drama, this one, and another popular lakorn Kleun Cheewit (2017), all characters Mark played are tagged as mean male lead (at some point). He is what I dubbed as adorable meanie. An actor who can take mean character roles without being hated by the audience, but even gets more popularity and strong fan base.










SUPPORT ROLES: FRIENDS

Non
Ling
Kot
Nang

Non, Ling, and Kot are Artit's long time friends who know him since childhood.
Non (27): charming, playful, and optimistic. His family owns a resort.
Ling (26): beautiful, modern-thinking, and kind-hearted.
Kot (27): good-natured, loves teasing, an enemy of Nang.
Nang (22): pretty, competitive, and self-confident. Non's little sister who also went to the same highschool with Paeng.


SUPPORT ROLES: FAMILIES

Krong Prateep /
Artit's dad
Tubtim / 
Artit's mom
(Mam)
Tharatep /
 Paeng's dad
(Oat)
Pimnapa /
Paeng's mom
(Pin)
The Suriyakkul family owns and runs the Sunshine Farm in the countryside.
Dad Prateep: calm, quiet, and caring.
Mom Tubtim: competent homemaker, traditional, deeply concerned in family matters.

The Warawit family is wealthy and owns businesses.
Dad Tharatep: hardworking, gentle-hearted, family-oriented.
Mom Pimnapa: attractive, fashionable, and a socialite.
Prateep and Tharatep are best friends.


SUPPORT ROLES: HOUSE AND FARM HELPERS


In Thai dramas, it's widespread that we have house helpers and/or farm/factory workers whose roles are very much integrated into the stories. Because of their loyalties to the families, they may go the extra miles to support their employer that either positively or negatively affects the plot.

Notable in this drama is Aueng (Min), Paeng's confidante who is not like her maid but more like Paeng's sister and best friend. Also Sape (Jack), Artit's right-hand man, talkative, and is often sent to follow and spy on Paeng.

Initially, the house and farm helpers at Suriyakkul family hated Paeng because of what she did to their employer. When she came back, they gradually start warming up to her through her efforts, kindness and humility.
Loyal house helpers of Suriyakkul family
Loyal house helpers of Warawit family



Thai dramas are famous for having beautiful mansions and houses as well as gorgeous nature as their filming locations. I admired how the production team was able to create beautiful visual elements along with the natural setting and pull all of them in this drama: Warawit's family enormous mansion, Suriyakkul's cozy family farm, brilliant Sunshine Farm, Paeng's pretty cottage, Aunt Jaem's (Warawit's former housekeeper) refined village home, even relaxing beach setting for the OST music video. What seen below and all images used for this article are just a handful of examples of how the team took extra measurement for the cinematography.

SUNSHINE FARM















FLORAPARK

One of the filming locations that was used as the flower garden of Sunshine Farm is Florapark Wangnamkeaw (ฟลอร่าพาร์ค วังน้ำเขียว), Nakon Ratchasima Province, in northeastern Thailand.


(Images source: Noonphumpkti's Facebook Page)










AUNT JAEM'S HOME IN COUNTRYSIDE













BANG SAEN BEACH

The pristine Bang Saen Beach, Chonburi Province in eastern Thailand was used for filming beach scene in the drama, as well as the OST official music video.



(Image source: PRSociety)




The theme song is upbeat hip-hop style "Help Me Get Back to Your Heart" (ช่วยกลับมากวนหัวใจ) sung by Non Thanon (นนท์ ธนนท์) - right on the picture.
Official MV in Youtube

Also "Wrong Once" (ผิดแค่ครั้งเดียว) sung by Jib Piyathida (ผิดแค่ครั้งเดียว) - left on the picture. 
Official MV in Youtube

The male version of "Wrong Once" is sung by Nueng Narongvit (หนึ่ง ณรงค์วิทย์) 
Official MV in Youtube


The cast (Mark, Kao, Punjan, Ling Ling, Freud, and Prawfar)
performed in the official MV "Help Me Get Back to Your Heart".

(Image source: PRSociety)




Lastly, before closing this article I also want to applaud the production teams that were able to finish filming after six months despite the rush due to COVID-19 pandemic, and the most of all was they ended the story beautifully. Their effort is praiseworthy, especially since the drama almost had to suspend filming indefinitely! (Source)

It was an enjoyable ride watching this cute drama full of tears and laughter and put smiles on my face while writing this article remembering back My Forever Sunshine.

I'm sure many have also enjoyed watching it, and if you have not, then sit back, relax, and give it a try!


THANKS FOR READING!

Acknowledgements: Thank you to the editors who edited this article, also to Brownie for directing me to the official image source.

Credits: I do not own any of the images used. Credits go to the respective owners. Sources are provided under the images and gif animation, otherwise are taken from the official drama site in Channel3 Thailand or self-made using drama scenes.

EASTER EGG ???

It's like a must to have a rain scene at some point in a drama... or it doesn't have to?

What is Sape up to, anyways? Just watch the drama!!!

Edited by: Yuanwei (1st editor)

lakorn my forever sunshine trab fah mee tawan mark prin suparat ตราบฟ้ามีตะวัน kao supassara thanachart channel 3 thailand