So this lakorn is, I think, underrated.
Why I started it ? I had seen extracts from Tuptim and Thanwa’s hate-love relationship and their chemistry, charisma and talent impressed me. So I looked for this drama.
What I love ? Many things. First, this story is a bit like Cinderella. A poor orphan girl mistreated by her evil stepmother who ends up getting away from her misery due to love and perseverance. That’s the story of Wansika, female lead. Those Cinderella stories can be REAL annoying when they’re cliche but I like them when these are well made and original. What’s original here ? I’d say, the Cinderella herself, Wansika. Here, Tuptim gives us a great performance, full of grace, charisma and emotion, something pretty hard because her character is sometimes made to be motionless (she’s even nicknamed « the zombie » at some point by the male lead). Nevertheless, Tuptim succeeds in giving us feels during those scenes. Wansika is an illegitimate child who lives with the wife of her dead father and therefore endures insults and TERRIBLE physical abuse (I swear, sometimes you feel her physical pain) from her bitter and cruel stepmother, Mae Chulee, a woman of royal birth, and her cousin, Opsawat. However, she never shows emotion when it happens. Not because she doesn’t hurt : but because she’s used to pain, and she holds on to that piece of strength and dignity that her poor mother taught her before dying (« never show them your tears »). Wansika knows she’s pitiful but she chooses not to lament over it because that’s useless. Even if she pitied over her sad fate, her life won’t change so she rather tries to survive through her pain. She can seem weak but I wouldn’t say she is : she is much stronger than many female leads because even though she doesn’t magically kick her enemies, she realistically does her best with what she has.
And then comes the not-so-charming prince who will save her, Chanok, her stepmother’s nephew. Chanok never met his aunt before due to old conflicts between his mother and his aunt (initiated by his aunt) and because his aunt and his mother are very different, he was not raised in cruelty like the people of the palace of Mae Chulee. So when he meets Wansika, he’s stunned to see the life she’s living and how she’s resigned to it.
Our charming prince is far from being perfect : Chanok is fast to judge, impulsive, a bit of a brute and sometimes pretty slow to understand some things (like, it took him time to understand his feelings for Wansika even though it was obvious that he was attracted to her from the beginning). But he is good-hearted and once he loves someone, he is entirely devoted to that person. Many misunderstandings come between him and Wansika (for example, about his younger sister Chonanee) and this adds an angsty side to their relationship but that’s not entirely disagreeable (I think). Moreover, the angst between doesn’t go very far (Chanok can be slow for some things but he is quick to understand his mistakes and to repent). Besides, the misunderstanding are not entirely his fault (like, you want to scream at Wansika « DAMN IT, WHY DON’T YOU TELL HIM WHY YOU DON’T WANT HIS SISTER TO MARRY YOUR BROTHER). And Chanok helps Wansika to understand than she’s allowed to hope for a life of happiness, not just of survival (like, he really tells her that she can get angry) and also helps her to escape Mae Chulee’s tyranny . And when they’re finally together, they’re just so cute that you can’t help but ship them and their awesome chemistry.
Here, you have to thank the actors who did 50% of the job by making their characters great (I think Wansika could have been boring if they had chose an improper actress but Tuptim is awesome here).
And you’re so glad to see their happy ending.
But let’s go now the the secondary couple, Chonanee, sister of Chanok, and Harit, older brother of Wansika and legitimate child. However, you’ll feel much less attachment to them than to Wansika and Chanok. Later, after watching the lakorn, I took interest in the novel that was the origin. I was then very surprised to learn that originally, Chonanee and Harit are the main couple of the novel while Chanok and Wansika are only secondary characters. I have then come to realize that the producers had made great changes to the story for the lakorn and I can totally see why.

First of all, I have to say that this is rather the story of a secondary love triangle than a couple. Harit is not like his mother : he is sweet, generous and well mannered. He has a secret relationship with his cousin, Opsawat. This is secret because he knows his mother wouldn’t approve, probably because Opsawat is of lower birth. Opsawat is a distant relative who lives with them, probably because she has no one else. In apparence, she’s submitted to her aunt, Mae Chulee. But, she actually lies through her teeth : her aunt treats her no better than a servant and she’s very bitter about this but silently plans for the day when she’ll have her revenge and be the mistress of the house. However, when it comes to help her aunt mistreat Wansika, she’s more than glad to do her share, not only because she likes it but because it allows her to vent her frustration of being loathed by her aunt. So she she vents her anger on someone who is even lower than her in the house.
So she is cruel, bitter, ambitious and hypocrite and you just don’t understand how Harit ended up liking her.
So when Harit is asked by his mother to marry his cousin (eeew), sweet Chonanee who’s in love with him, there comes the disaster. What Harit and Chonanee don’t know is that Mae Chulee feel no attachment to Chonanee, she even despises her : but she wants her as her daughter-in-law to torture her as she wants and take revenge on her own sister (wow, Mae Chulee really has nothing to do of her days). But what did Chulee’s sister do do terrible, you ask : basically, she got married, that’s it. Okay, with someone of lower birth that Chulee didn’t approve of, but still, you’re like, « wait, so you’re plotting against the next generation just because of THIS ?! ». Yeah, a bit ridiculous. But let’s get back to our love triangle. Opsawat is of course enraged to see her rival marrying her lover so quickly while she has been waiting for him during years (understandably) so she takes part in the plot. The only one who knows about this is Wansika and that’s why she doesn’t want this marriage, as she appreciates Chonanee and doesn’t want to see her suffer (but that creates misunderstandings between her and Chanok).
So basically, Harit starts to live between his wife and previous mistress and can’t decide himself.
So it’s hard to feel any interest for this love triangle that only seems to serve the main couple’s intrigue. First, the actors who play the couple, Harit and Chonanee, are pretty mediocre. They have no charisma, no chemistry and although Chattapol (Harit) is not really bad at acting, he’s not really awesome either. Hana Lewis (Chonanee) is even more inferior. Those two clearly lack natural in their acting. Moreover, it’s hard to feel attachment to their characters : Harit is presented at first as the perfect man (boring) but is indecisive, easy to manipulate and a mama-boy (like, how can he not see Opsawat and Mae Chulee’s evilness). Chonanee is a boring goody-two-shoes and you don’t understand what she sees in Harit.

So, clearly, the intrigue between those three was made secondary for a reason. You can easily skip their scenes.

However, they’re not completely useless to the intrigue : they help to this beautiful that is karma.

Here, the heroes get their happy endings and the villains get their rightful punishments. While Wansika gets out of hell and joins Chanok, Chonanee and the rest in their happiness, Opsawat and Mae Chulee slowly plunge into hell and don’t even realize it before it’s too late and this is only the result of their own actions (I could explain more specifically but that would be spoilers).
So the writers didn’t only change the place of the couples in the story : they added many storylines to give more punch and action to the intrigue and although these may seem ridiculous to some, I like it.

So, to be short, because I just wrote a novel, I’d say the lakorn is original, that their main actor are talented and have great chemistry, that the story is full of rebounds, surprises and that you LOVE to see everyone getting their karma.

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So it was not bad... but it wasn’t really good either. It seems like the producers tried to reproduce success series like Detective L (and by the way, incorporated the good old cliche 4-flower-boys)... but everything is wrongly exploited. The various investigations are pretty uninteresting and we quickly lose interest. Moreover, they last more episodes than they should and they are pretty cliche and predictable. The main actors lack charisma and expression (except for Yu Yi Jie). However, most of their scenes do not require much emotion so this may be due to the fact that their characters are pretty weak in substance. For example, I feel like Zhai Xing’s character could have been awesome but they practically only give him one line in one episode (hard to show your acting skill that way) and we don’t get to see new aspects of his character. Tong Qiu Bai’s past and investigation about his dad is extremely cliche and it feels like we’ve seen that a million times. The actor only shows a poker-face all the time, whether he’s supposed to be happy, angry, thinking or hurt. His character and his romance are all pretty boring. His love interest, Qingmu, is no better : they try to give her personality by making her an expert in forensic but again, this was already used in the past and is nothing original. She’s basically only here to be the hero’s love interest and has no real personality whatsoever.
I was only interested in Nangong Shuo (Yu Yi Jie) and Song Miao Miao (Zheng Cheng Cheng) whose personalities, characters, acting and charismas are the only interesting thing in the drama. I look forward to see more of them in the future. I kept going the drama because I’m always interested in new faces like these two : however, this is not enough to save the drama

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I just don’t get why I’ve read so many bad reviews…

So I started this because I’ve seen pictures of Mike and I found him so handsome I wondered what he was worth as an actor… I picked this drama amongst many others but I had read many bad reviews so I didn’t expect much…
AND I JUST LOVED IT !! So much that I made a cd of it to watch it on my TV and I often spent night re-watching it for relax
I loved this for many reasons.
This story is very Cinderella-like. Norah is terribly mistreated by the one she believes to be her father, her stepsister (whom she believes to be her half-sister) and her stepfather’s mistress (who can then be considered as her stepmother). However, that doesn’t mean Norah is weak. She has no problem in hitting back her stepsister. She can perfectly defend herself, whether facing evil girls, evil men or the male lead, whether using her words or her hands. Moreover, Bow is very graceful and beautiful in this part and you just love her as this Cinderella. Of course, despite her strength, she sometimes really suffers injustice, especially coming from the one she believes her father. Many people called her stupid but I actually understand her : after all, she believed he was her father for 18 years and only wanted his love, suffering to see such a different treatment between her and her stepsister, even though, she eventually understands she can't wait anything from him, much before learning he's not her father. I also really admired Norah’s relationship with her mother : all along the drama, Norah is pushed to great lengths to help her mom but does it without hesitation (even selling herself to Kanchit, not knowing he’s willing to lend her money without asking anything in return). All along, both mother and daughter support each other through their trials and they get their strength from each other
I also really liked the male lead, Kanchit, played by Mike Pattaradet. Kanchit only met shallow and materialistic women in his life, and only suffered hurt from them, which made him quite pessimistic. So when he meets Norah, he appears to her like a rogue, a player, someone who sees women as toys. But Kanchit almost immediately falls for Norah, not just for her beauty, but for her fierceness. He first encourages her into thinking he’s a man who buys women to test whether she would give in to his money. Seeing how she slaps his money into his face, he’s only more and more charmed. I just loved seeing him falling more and more for Norah, even laughing when she would slap him or his mistress. Mike is awesome playing a man in love : the simple look on his eyes is full of love and fascination when he looks at Norah and I think an actor who can act with his eyes is very precious. I didn’t mind his player ways : first, he was being honest about being a player and never lied to his mistresses about the fact that they shouldn’t expect anything from him, neither love nor marriage, only sex and money ; but more importantly, it was actually cute to see how differently he would treat his past mistresses and Norah, making it obvious that for him, Norah was not just a new conquest but the one he wanted to marry as a wife and spend his life with, and that what he didn’t just want to win over her bit but that getting her heart was truly his most sincere wish
so the main couple is one of the reasons why I love this drama. The actors are awesome, they had a great chemistry and their relationship was so beautiful : at some point, Norah could only change her views about Kanchit as he proved his love, his loyalty and his devotion to her when she was thought to be disfigured due to some event. While everyone pitied, mocked or run away from her, Kanchit silently stayed at her side, and did everything to help her, even when he thought she had lost her beauty. This was just so beautiful and it felt great to see Norah finally realizing Kanchit’s true value and sincere feelings. And this is only a peak of the iceberg : Kanchit had actually done even more for her, secretly hiring a lawyer for Norah’s mother when she was in jail, investigating Norah’s background to help her escape her step-family’s cruelty and even lending her money when her mom was kidnapped). The light slap-and-kiss aspect made it spicy, Kanchit’s love for her was so touching, their chemistry was great and seeing him teasing her only gave butterflies in my belly
There were also plenty of twists and new events through the drama. What I loved most is that no even was left hazardly. Whenever the villains would plot in any way against Norah and her mother, their actions would soon or later, in one way or another. EVERY ACTION. So in my opinion, the script was greatly written.
I also LOVED seeing karma hit the villains : you can see them slowly but surely falling into a hell they created by themselves with their misdeeds. Norah’s stepfather, his mistress and his daughter all deeply suffer the consequences of their actions : for example, when Prung (the aunt/adopted mother of Kaengkae, Norah’s stepsister) tries to have Norah raped, this results in Kaengkae being raped (GOD, it felt good). This is the beginning of their punishment and their living hell (this also felt good as Kaengkae’s father was himself a rapist : now, he must see his beloved daughter suffering of what he’s done himself to other women)
So seeing them receiving their karma feels GREAT and this is written beautifully (we’re even allowed to see Norah slapping Kaengkae without being slapped by her father, this one even understanding). Not only they receive their sufferings but they slowly plunge into hell, even making themselves suffer only more by fighting between themselves while getting the rage to see Norah and her mother’s life getting better despite them trying to hurt the both of them ; and we even got the most unexpected slaps that felt incredibly good.
Some of the characters that first opposed Norah even repented (too late or not, that would depend of the character) : Norah’s stepdad is the best example as he would slowly understand, from the moment his daughter was raped, that his past actions are coming to him, something that also applies to his mistress and daughter ; he also understands that he made his daughter an awful by spoiling her and teaching her cruelty and that what she’s enduring (seeing Kanchit, the man she loves, preferring Norah) is her fault ; and finally, he gets that Norah and her mom are getting good things because they did good.
So, the karma is written with some beautiful symmetry, that made sure that every action would come back to the character. This symmetric system was also used for opposing various characters : I even observed that with Kanchit’s rival, Songpope : when Kanchit first appears like a rogue, Songpope seems like a sweet and nice guy ; when Norah hates Kanchit, she kinda likes Songpope ; and when she gets disfigured, Songpope is revealed to be a shallow and selfish young man who gives up Norah, actually liking only her beauty while Kanchit is actually the one who truly loves Norah ; and when Songpope tries to go back to Norah because she actually didn’t lose her beauty, she starts despising him, while getting closer and closer to Kanchit ; and when Norah and Songpope are about to get engaged (for some stupid reason) because Songpope wants to get revenge on her and Kanchit by breaking them up and then dumping her to humiliate her, he actually is the one who gets dumped just before the engagement by Norah who runs to Kanchit. Karma again. Beautiful.
I also liked that EVERY character had a use to the story and that all of them were very different.

So as usual, I wrote a completely messy too long review.
All to say, I don’t get why many people didn’t like this : talented actors, beautiful love story, an intrigue full of twists and turns, a beautiful karma.
The only real flaw is that the main couple didn’t get enough love scenes together. Also, at some point, you get sick of the misunderstandings between them (you just want to scream at them « OH GOD, GET MARRIED/TOGETHER FOR GOOD, FOR GOD’S SAKE ! ») and I think the writer should have made this a bit shorter.

Also now, I’m really depressed that Bow joined Channel 3 because it means she won’t pair up with Mike again ?

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So when I first watched it, I was 14, pretty easy to shock and I had no knowledge of Thai dramas. The concept of slap-and-kiss was totally unknown to me.
I both loved and hated it. I loved it because the slap and kiss was new and spicy to me, because the male lead was a great actor, because I loved to him scheming in the second part of the Lakorn and also being extremely in love with the female lead.
However, there were things that I hated : I was very shocked when he raped the female lead and although this is very common in Thai lakorns, rape is totally unacceptable where I come from so I had a big problem with it. Moreover, the female lead was too weak, took an incredible amount of slaps and I know a lot will disagree with me, but I think Aff is off to me. Nevertheless, this Lakorn hold a special place in my heart, probably because it was my first slap and kiss and my first thai dram.

And then, recently, out of curiosity, I watched the previous versions of this story (this is based on a Thai classic novel that is still extremely popular).

And now, this version totally lost its value to me.

In the original novel, there’s no rape between the leads, something that relieved me but also made me disappointed with the 2008 version because then, I don’t see why they added this unnecessary plot (and rape is unforgivable so they should stop presenting it as if it is). More importantly, in the original novel, Harit and Soraya come to really form a true bound and to fall in love much before he realizes her true identity so their love makes much more sense (he even releases her before knowing who she is because he wants her to go back to the one he thinks she loves : and she’s very sad to leave him but keeps writing to him so that they wouldn’t be completely parted)
However, here, this is just hate and torture and BIM ! he realizes she’s not Sansanee after raping and suddenly decides he’s in love with her even though we didn’t see much development in their relationship, and what’s more, this is even more senseless coming from Soraya after everything he put her through (and again, no development : I don’t see when or how she fell in love with him but BIM ! she says she loves him).
And finally, Soraya and Harit are smarter and more interesting in the novel : Soraya intentionally lets him think she’s Sansanee to protect her (something I can understand), being smarter and logical than this new Soraya who just keeps screaming she’s not Sansanee but burns a picture of the real one that might save her from Harit.

So, to put it simple (because I actually might go on for hours) : now that I have more experience in Thai dramas, I’d say that the 2008 version revamped the story in a way they shouldn’t have because the original material was much more interesting and consistent and now that I’m grown up, I don’t see why this had so much success. It’s nice to watch but it’s not epic

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Done and redone

Nothing original
A poor female lead who’s actually the daughter of a wealthy family but has lived in poverty with her mom because of that scheming of others… her rich grandma/grandpa who suddenly wants to meet his/her granddaughter she never acknowledged, a crazy aunt who kills everyone around to get the inheritance, her crazy daughter who gets in rivalry with the female lead…
Extremely boring and predictable all along. Every character, every event has been done and redone in lakorns before.
Moreover, this is way too long for what it is : there are a lot of useless events, and it uselessly goes around in circles.
The acting in general is pretty average, except for some of them, especially the female lead.
On her side, I was actually surprised : Phatchaya offers a natural and graceful performance for a female lead who is smart, strong and able to take her own decisions. In other words, she’s not a Mary Sue. However, had she been played by an untalented actress (like the one playing her best friend), her character could have been very boring.
I consider her the only real asset of the series, as she was a nice discovery.

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Had started pretty well but turned very disappointing. All characters, including the female lead, are dislikeable and nonsensical. They do and say one thing and the next day, they say and do something else that is totally the opposite. For example, the female lead who is presented as a virtuous woman compared to the dramas’s other women and yet somehow ends up sleeping with the married male leadof the story. Weirdly enough, the character who’s the most consistent is Phong, the worst jerk of the story and main cause of the problems as although he changed women like shirt, he is logic and consistent in his deceitful, manipulative, tyrannical nature (preach to the actor Put : it’s easy to play a manipulative playboy but to play it with enough charisma and sincerity to make the viewer feel like we WANT to believe in his lies isn’t easy ; we totally understand why so many women would fall under Phong’s charm and deceit, and that’s hard to pull off for an actor)
Also the drama tries to present itself as denouncing the sexual harassment and inequalities that women suffer, (for example by using the sexual harassment that the female lead pulls off) but they totally fail at it at every single female character is a whore/bitch/easy/stupid woman. There was also the matter of one of the nang rai sleeping with her foster father : obviously, she was forced to, had probably been sexually abused for a long time but the show let it slide, like it was something not out of life or extremely shocking for a foster father to sleep with his daughter, somehow seemed to imply that it proves how low and promiscuous the girl was, lost an opportunity to denounce another kind of sexual harassment.
There’s another rape happening in the story (won’t reveal ‘cause it’s a huge spoil) that was totally mishandled compared to the reality. It didn’t show how traumatic this is.
And whenever the matter of rape and sexual harassment is brought upon, women of the drama show no compassion to victims, and are even willing to use it at their advantage.
The female lead is the most annoying : always talking about how she has dignity, that she wouldn’t mess up with a married man, but she still ends up believing up the male lead’s lies, and sleeping with him even though he was still married, and even though IT WAS SO CLEAR that he was trouble (had a wife, had at least 2 mistresses and a child out of wedlock on the way ; not to mention his crazy family and the even crazier women of his harem). So not only she’s not much better than the other women of his harem, despite pretending otherwise, but she’s DAMN STUPID ! (I know, I said the male lead has enough charm to make anyone fall ; but there still HUGE FLAGS, that his charm could not hide). And she acts like she’s a strong woman who wants to work but at some point, seems to be okay with being Phong’s housewife. Also, you just don’t get what’s about her that makes the two brothers of the drama so crazy but that’s another thing. She gets manipulated by everyone, takes every possible bad decision, whether it is morally or rationally, and yet they try to present her as a strong and virtuous woman, different from the other female characters
The other male lead, Boonpharet, was also annoying : one minute, he loves his brother’s (almost) ex-wife, two minutes later, it’s the female lead. And yet, when she wasn’t the male lead’s mistress yet, the man wouldn´t believe her. He would blame her for being a mistress but wouldn´t stand that she insults his mom, who´s also a mistress, and i didn´t hear him say anything about his brother´s wife who apparently had also stolen him from his first wife. Pretty hypocrite. Moreover, he kept saying he didn’t want to involve in the inheritance fight and but would do otherwise and even provoke his brother. Also, he pretended he wasn’t like his brother who would treat women like toys yet would also involve the female lead in their fights. Finally, you just don’t get how and when he fell in love with the female lead since they didn’t have so much screen time and their scenes didn’t seem to imply that they were getting really closer (moreover, not long ago, he was still in love with his wife’s brother). So he was as nonsensical as the other characters, maybe even more. No blame on the actor though, he was great !
So this show is one of the most badly written I’ve ever seen and is a waste of good actors, of an original script that could have been good, was an opportunity to denounce and stand up on subjects such as inequality and sexual harassment but it was a whole waste and ended up being an insult to women.
I seriously think the screenwriter must have been a man because he so obviously mishandled matters of sexual harassment and women and had obviously a very skewed view about this
And to not get better : the ending and the way they solved everything is incredibly predictable. Whether it is the male lead Phong’s mom who understands her mistakes because of her child attempting suicide (done and re-done), the nang rai who suddenly do a 180degrees turn on themselves and suddenly changes with no logic, and the punishment that Phong, male lead and main villain, received (being shot and left paralyzed : OMG, DONE, REDOND, AND INFINITELY REDONE ! SO CLICHE !).
Moreover, most of the characters suddenly had a big, totally in illogical change of character which made no sense because it was wayyyyyyyy too sudden. It was like they absolutely wanted to give us a happy ending that we get in every dramas but didn’t realize that they absolutely didn’t have the materials for making a GOOD/LOGICAL happy ending (because actually, if they had followed a logical road of events through the whole drama, the ending might have been okay).
But then, the whole drama was nonsensical so it’s kinda logic that the ending would be as nonsensical and cliche as the rest

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Short but good !

I watched this TV movie because I'm a fan of the novel Les Miserables and I was curious about what a modern, Japanese adaptation would look like. But to be honest, I didn't expect much from it since the film only lasts two and a half hours, and in general, the only works that can convey the integrity of the plot of Les Miserables are series.
However, this telefilm succeeds not only in that but also in being faithful to the spirit of the novel while being innovative and knows how to adapt the story to the modern era and to the current times. We find there the denunciations of social injustices, the daily struggles and also the complexity of the human soul.
The actors are also all very fair and touching. I repeat myself, but we find the complexity of the various plots of the novel. The end is nevertheless more positive, which does not hurt, but does not however fall into utopia as some adaptations have done (see the 1998 film).
The film is also interesting even for those who do not know or are not fans of the novel.

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OMG, I expected this so much... And I hated it so much !

Yeah, I know, there's a lot of praises about this drama
But sorry I can't force myself and I need to vent on
Like a lot of people, I waited for this drama for a long time and with a lot of expectations due to the amazing trailer, and the amazing casting.
But oh crap : shitty writing
The story actually started off as really nice. I liked the premices : a pretty young maid who finds an innocent young boy raised by wolves and bounds with him but they get separated by tragedy before reuniting... And that's where it went downhill. Even Li Qin and Xiao Zhan couldn't save this drama (God, I hated their dubbing so much ! it was just too obvious and made them sound like teenagers ! it felt so frustrating when i remembered after hear their real, deep voices in the trailer that sounded so much better than these weird sounds)
First of all, writers : if you want to write a good story, AVOID AT ALL COSTS TO WRITE A SECOND MALE LEAD WHO'S BY ALL MEANS BETTER THAN THE MALE LEAD ! That's my first clue : if so many viewers have a big second male lead syndrome then that's a big flaw and failure to the story as it generates insatisfaction and frustration to the viewer rooting for the second male lead (and therefore hating the male lead). Here, we have the usual male lead who finds nothing better than to hurt the female lead nonstop, insulting her, humiliating her nonstop, sometimes even pretending to be about to molest her, basically does everything he can to let her think he hates her. And for what reason ? Oh yeah : the usual "I hurt you to protect you". OH GOD, I HATE THIS TROPE SO MUCH !!! On the other hand, Ji Chong, second male lead played by Xiao Zhan who starts at the very beginning like a rogue but develops such a cute and sincere devotion for the female lead... I'm sorry, and you still expect us to root for the male lead ? Moreover, I know a lot of people will disagree with me and I apologize in advance for the fans I'm gonna offend but I think that whether in terms of acting or charm, Darren Wang is clearly not at Xiao Zhan's level (actually, I thought Darren Wang was pretty mediocre : please don't kill me)
What was even more annoying is that the lead couple kept going around in circles nonstop : there were so many misunderstanding coming between them AGAIN AND AGAIN. For like two episodes they would be the cutest couple and then suddenly for some stupid reason or misunderstanding, they would have to (pretend to) hate each other for like the next 10 episodes and then they would suddenly reconcile... before falling out again and so on and on. URGH !
Basically the reasons why I fast forwarded the story like crazy and felt the need to rewatch "Youth Begins" to wash my eyes after that
Also, I think the costumes and sets weren't great, especially the costumes... But that's no big deal, I can easily let pass that one. And so many other characters were so annoying (like that bratty princess), barely even showing a correct acting (but then again, that awful dubbing made it even harder to bear... I mean, to judge). And finally the female lead was supposed to be smart and brave... but she was actually quite stupid and weak, she often needed to be saved.
So in other words : WHAT A HUGE DECEPTION !
Now, let's go, come at me, you fans that I must have terribly offended, I'm ready to accept my punishment !

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Compared to Maid’s Revenge or not, it’s still good

Unlike many people, I’d say this is as good as Maid’s Revenge but in a very different way : while MR would focus on the hot steaming romance and DaiDai’s incredible charisma, BR is more about a detailed scrip and a long-planned revenge.
Strangely enough, it’s like both dramas compensate in the other’s flaws : BR’s romance had a great potential but was a bit lacking, due to the real male lead not being present enough, even though his relation with the female lead was very beautiful and had great potential but the series would make up with a female lead who starts off as weak but grows very strong and smart after going through several tragedies, and an detailed, well written intrigue that focuses on a well-planned satisfying revenge ; on the other hand, MR’s assets would be a charismatic, passionate, devoted male lead that basically carried the whole drama thanks to a gem of an actor and a hot, steaming, intriguing romance but however would be flawed with a kinda stupid female lead (no blame on the actress), an intrigue that could be extremely frustrating for the viewer but also sometimes pretty weak in essence, especially on the revenge part and an unclear and unsatisfying ending

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Could have been better...

So I expected this a lot because I've long been a fan of Yada Narilya, since I saw her in Naree Rissaya. Moreover, I'm also a fan of Pon Nawasch, so I was very excited to see these two paired up.
I have to give it to these two : they had a great skinship and chemistry. Too bad it was wasted in a story that was miswritten (lol, I'm not sure this word actually exists).
Honestly, this had a good potential : Yada's character, SoiInthanin, starts off as a temperamental but relatable character who suffers from the injustice of her condition, being an illegitimate daughter who has to live like a servant for her father's family and must endure countless humiliations and mistreatment, despite being the master's daughter, while her half-sister Soifah lives like a princess and is surrounded by love. She often expresses a desire for freedom and hopes to someday escape the palace that is a cage for her, and the lakorn gives us the impression that she will have to fly away and take her independence. Unfortunately, I feel like they totally mishandled her "journey" to freedom and eventually made it more about her "tortuous" love story with the male lead, Paat, her sister's fiancee (and later husband) and her rivalry with her half-sister Soifah.
Moreover, for some reason, her character starts off as strong-tempered and rebellious but after in the second half of the lakorn, she somehow eventually turns weak and kinda pathetic. She had always been a fighter who didn't want to be bullied for free but she suddenly would let her half-sister and others beat her up. She also takes bad decisions, such as agreeing to become the fiancee of Pop, second male lead, and her dad's step-nephew, in hope to totally forget about Paat.
Also, I think her story with the male lead could have been handled better. Again, the two characters were super cute with each other and had a great chemistry. A lot of viewers blamed SoiInthanin for "stealing" her sister's man but I didn't see it that way : first of all, the engagement between Soifah and Paat had been decided by others, not by them. Second, Soifah had always been a real bully towards SoiInthanin, never treating her like a sister so I don't see why she should have treated her as such. And most importantly, it was clear that she hadn't been the one coming on to Paat and had even tried to stay away from him at first, while Paat was the one who hadn't let her go. Anyway, what I mean is that I don't mind how their story began. What bothers is how it eventually turns later. When Nin and Paat's love story gets busted by the families, Nin, being once again dismissed and mistreated by the family to the advantage of her half-sister, leaves the palace and Paat, despaired, eventually marries Fah to pay back his parents' debt to to Fah and Nin's father. However, when Nin and Paat reunite later, their relationship rekindles, leading them to eventually have sex once, even though Paat is now married and Nin is now engaged First of all, I think Paat kinda turned into a weakling, marrying Fah and getting into a marriage that was clearly doomed to turn into a disaster. Second, letting these two have an extramarital affair, even brief, was clearly a bad idea for reasons that I won't even bother to explain. Also, I didn't care for Fah, who was a real spoiled b***, but I felt so sorry for Pop, towards whom I had a big second male lead syndrome
One of the thing that made me dislike it, is that it gave the viewers a reason to sympathize with Fah, even though she was supposed to be the female villain (she was a bully who enjoyed seeing her sister being mistreated and she cornered Paat into marrying her by threatening to kill herself). Fah's ending also left me unsatisfied : like I said, she was clearly a villain but I think they mishandled her karmic retribution. I think they should have given her a retribution that made her, and everyone, realize what a spoiled bully she had been in the past. But instead, they gave her a kind of ending that only made people pity her, sympathize with her and made many viewers side with her rather than with Nin, despite her past bad nature. Like I once said in a past review, a lakorn that makes so many viewers root for a second lead but dislike the lead character has clearly failed in the writing.
The same problem has been observed for many characters : the karmic retribution they received was unsatisfying and frustrating. I feel like there were a lot of wrong that weren't addressed in the story or properly punished, especially the biased treatment of SoiInthanin and Soifah’s father between his daughters, his neglect towards Nin and his behavior with his women. I was kinda annoyed that no one ever blamed him, when the guy was clearly a bad father and husband. There was also Nin's mother : the woman was a coward weakling, whose weakness often caused her daughter to be bullied but again, not a word of that. There's also Jao Orn, Fah's mom and Nin's stepmom, and Sabai, her servant who's very happy to help her bully Nin : again, these two characters eventually receive their karma but this is not as satisfying as it should and their unfair treatment towards Nin was never addressed.

So anyway, I think they missed a chance to make this a great story about the female lead's journey to independence and created a lot of frustrating tropes/situations that were never addressed.
However, I have to admit that all of the actors show great talent through the show, giving justice to their characters.
Also, like I said, Yada and Pon have great skinship and chemistry. We can appreciate the fact that they gave us REAL kiss scenes, and not just little pecks on the lips. Yada and Pon are great and I hope they'll eventually reunite in a better written lakorn.
So you can watch this for the great performances of the casting and the great pairing that is Yada and Pon but the writing will make you pretty frustrated.
We can hope that this story will someday be remade and better re-written

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Started nice… but went downhill by becoming VERY frustrating ; a potential wrongfully exploited

Was nice… but the writing has some BIG flaws that make it not so great
The drama started off as a light romcom in a campus setup
But on the last 4 episodes, it suddenly turned very tragic and melodramatic.
I don’t have a problem with melodramatic. What I have a problem with is the sudden change of tone : if they wanted something melodramatic, they should have done it during the whole drama. Not first start as a nice romantic comedy and then with just one episode, turn it to tragedy with melodrama, deaths and angst. Us viewers were not prepared at all and that felt disagreeable
Another big flaw : this drama causes A LOT of frustration to the viewer, mostly due to the injustices that the female lead suffers. To summarize : the female lead is rich, beautiful, cheerful and beloved. But by her side, there’s a jealous character ready to ruin her happiness. Ruining, the female lead, who grew up with everything one could wish for, including a sparkling, attractive personality, grew up with Shen Zhen by her side. Shen Zhen is beautiful, smart and seemingly polite : but she’s the maid’s daughter, everything she owns has been paid by Ruining’s parents, the house where she lives is theirs and she has always been overshadowed by Ruining’s bright personality and popularity. So, obviously she strongly dislikes Ruining. Many viewers can understand that. What makes her eventually annoying is how far her jealousy and her inferiority complex go : at first, it starts off as her being so insecure in front of Ruining that she’s certain Ruining always does everything to bully her. No master how Ruining apologizes, explains or tries to make it up when she accidentally wrongs Shen Zhen, Shen Zhen won’t listen or believe and will only conclude Ruining deliberately bullied her. When Ruining tries to be nice or befriend her, Shen Zhen rudely rejects by always bringing up their « master-servant relationship » as if she’s somehow blaming Ruining. What makes her even more annoying is that she’s actually not so pitiful, she even has plenty of good things : her mom’s employers gave her mom not only a work but gave them a place to live, food and clothes but even paid for her studies, and all of that without asking anything in return : in short, if it weren’t for them, she’d know what is real poverty and would probably have to do part-time jobs. They also treat kindly, love her like a relative and have plenty of attentions for her. Their daughter tries to be friend with her, plenty of people actually admire her and want to befriend. So we don’t know why she’s so certain her life is a deep tragedy : she obviously thinks as some Cinderella, a female lead from some idol drama and thinks Ruining is the villain who steals everything from her. Eventually, her and Ruining’s rivalry takes a whole new turn when they fall for the same boy : although he first befriends Shen Zhen, he loves Ruining, which finally drives her to madness and darkness after having lost again to Ruining. Her actions not only lead her to harm to Ruining : this leads her to harm and threaten Ruining’s family, despite everything she owes to them. And her jealousy and bitterness turned her so dark that she doesn’t see how wrong this is or that this is totally uncalled for, unlike what she claims. Eventually, she also takes a part in destroying not only Ruining but her whole family, again without remorse, despite the fact that this family had done so much for her.
Shen Zhen is an amazing character, with an amazing actress : she exerts some fascination for me, a mix of hatred and love, because she’s not only a very realistic villain, but also someone who doesn’t look like a villain. She first appears as a pitiful Cinderella who just misunderstands the female lead. However, what makes me REALLY hate her is that the show often seems to present as someone who’s not so bad, who shouldn’t have been a villain, but who has a pitiful past and was led astray by heartbreak and jealousy : what comforted me in that particularly is the ending.
THAT F*** ENDING !!! The most freaking frustrating point of the story, especially on Shen Zhen’s side, and the thing that made me dislike this drama the most : basically, Shen Zhen and another character did terrible things, even committing crimes, which destroyed Ruining, but they get away. Let’s just say that after her most terrible sin was revealed, Shen Zhen was about to commit another : but in an unrealistic twist, that doesn’t correspond at all to the character, she retracts because she just heard the male lead say « I love you » to the female lead when saving her. And with just that, she just quietly leaves, with no punishment for her actions, even having a beautiful monologue, like she’s actually a tragic character not the worst kind of person.. Her accomplice is also no as punished as one should for one’s actions. She just spent 24 episodes trying to ruin the female lead, going as far as complicity of murder and attempt of murder… but suddenly stops when she’s about to lose everything ?! With the character’s personality, that’s not believable at all, and it is even less believable that what would bring her back to her senses is hearing the man she loves profess his love to her rival, when we know how jealous it made her in the past. And we don’t know what the lead couple become, if they even end up together, although it seems to imply they don’t.
What annoyed me most about this ending is that it’s not at all the novel’s but it also doesn’t make sense : yep, I’ve read the novel. A novel which gives an extremely different ending, an ending very satisfying, for every character. But it seemed like the screenwriter here was Shen Zhen’s diehard fan and would rather let her ruin lives and get away than punish her and give her an ending that makes sense
The ending isn’t the only frustrating point of the story ; like i said, there’s a lot. For example, i was kinda annoyed that Ruining’s mother never got to know or realize what kind of person Shen Zhen was. Basically, it became obvious Shen Zhen was very hostile towards her daughter and was bullying her : unfairly accusing her of an offense, slapping her in public, causing her suspension, being about to slap her in her own house, calling her « a heinous person » in front of them… even with all of that, Ruining’s mom kept believing that the Shen Zhen she watched grow up was a polite and kind kid and only had a few misunderstandings with Ruining (URGH). That was a bit annoying. This eventually turned VERY annoying in that scene when she found Ruining and Shen Zhen fighting (basically, after Shen Zhen had used a common past between Ruining’s and the male lead’s parents to blackmail and had even insulted her mom) : but Ruining is the one she slapped, and Shen Zhen is the one she hugged and trusted when Shen Zhen, without a bit of shame, played the grateful and polite girl in front of the woman she had just called a « whore ». Shen Zhen had obviously caused harm to her daughter in the past and her, when she found them fighting, it didn’t occur to her that maybe Ruining had been pushed and bullied too much but chose to believe Ruining was the unreasonable one. What felt most annoying is that Ruining’s mom never got to know about Shen Zhen’s actions, real nature, and personal feelings : until the end, she was left in the dark and us viewers would have liked her to know and realize how stupid she had been, that she owed her daughter an apology and that she had been feeding a snake all along.
it was also annoying that the male lead, of anyone else, never got to know all of the things that she did : after all, she had even used his family to threaten Ruining, even though she claimed to love him, had somehow also caused the ruin of his family but he never knew about it. I just wondered how he would have reacted if he knew how she blackmailed Ruining with both of their families.
The male lead was also a big frustration and deception at the end : he obviously still loved the female lead, but for some reasons, he chose to blame her, or to pretend to blame her, for what happened between both of their families. Many viewers kept rooting for him but I didn’t : i thought this made him immature, and dishonest about his own feelings. It was okay if he couldn’t love her but to pretend to hate and blame her… i just found him pathetic and unfair
Also, i wished we would have known what happened to his dad who was a big responsible for their misfortunes.
It would also have been nice if they had somehow used Shen Zhen’s mom for her karma : Shen Zhen’s mom, unlike her daughter, was extremely grateful to her employers, had a lot of respect for them and the female lead, and tried to teach these to Shen Zhen, but obtained the opposite. At some point of the story, she doesn’t hesitate to point out to Shen Zhen that she shouldn’t go after Ruining. I just think that with her gratefulness to the female lead’s family, it could have been a great turn to the story if she had learnt how her daughter had actually destroyed without remorse their benefactors.
But these last points are actually minor. Like I said, the biggest flaw of the drama is the ending that changed compared to the novel : they not only completely changed it but rushed it (there are a lot of other elements in the novel, including another suitor for the male lead), and made it the worst kind of open ending where the leads aren’t happily together and the villains get away, despite having done the worst kind of things. Moreover, the ending being « open », it doesn’t conclude anything, leaving the viewer frustrated, whether it is because the villains are spared or because we don’t even know if the leads end up together.
Honestly, when I think of that drama, I now have a ball of angst rolling in my throat because it is so sad, unfair and frustrating and it could have been so much better

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Nothing new or original

Honestly ? This script has been done over and over again and offers nothing new or original
The powerful ghost of a jealous woman who decides to go after the reincarnations of the man she loved and her rival in love, blaming them for her tragic ending, even though she’s actually the one who caused it because of her misdeeds in her past life ; and the leads who fell in love and had a bad ending in the past life and reunite in this lifetime.
i can quote many Thai dramas like that. The ghost of the woman who somehow keeps talking like she’s the one who’s been wronged hurt even though it was actually the result of her actions is a particularly annoying trope.
Moreover, the cgi, special effects and ghost stuff have nothing impressive. I don’t know, if you have to make a ghost story, could you at least be subtle and original in all the magic stuff ? Even if it’s fantasy !
Also, the characters show no depth or real essence. They meet, hate, fall in love, get jealous, greedy but they don’t show any personality. I just hate when Thai ghost stories get so focused on the ghost aspect that they forget to give essence to their characters.
And, compared to what is happening, it’s way too long. It goes uselessly around in circles, with no real twist or event.
I’d say, the only real asset of this series is Benz’ acting, the actress who plays the vengeful ghost.
And the ending : wow, they really didn’t break their hand on writing this. I mean, seriously ? Just like that, she suddenly understands that she did wrong ? Out of nowhere?
You can watch to see her offer a stellar performance but there’s really nothing more to this lakorn

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This was actually really nice.
First : one of these rare lakorn where the male lead is just a GEM ! Not only he is nice, he’s also very funny, charming and head over heels towards the female lead. His charming, humorous and carefree personality are one of the best assets of the drama and I cannot help but think that no one could have played this better than Andrew ! His relationship with the female lead is so pure and loving and this feels like a breath of air amongst all of these angsty lakorns : I was especially surprised as the author who wrote the original novel is specialized in toxic, unhealthy relationships being romanticized in the worst kind of slap and kiss and as a result, I usually hate her stories (I can enjoy some slap and kiss but only at a certain degree ; and the author really seems to think that there’s something okay about a man physically abusing you). So I was surprised to see her pulling off a healthy and pure romance between two leads and even a male lead who behaves like a gentleman and not a monster in human shape. Come to think, it’s a bit of a shame that she didn’t write more stories like these since she’s obviously doing a better job than at writing slap and kiss)
Also, the story never stops moving on : we have a good pacing and the story doesn’t uselessly drag.
Another very good asset : the supporting characters. I liked the fact that all of the supporting characters had their own stories, their own struggles, their evolutions and had as much (or almost) screen time as the leads. I think that lakorns that succeed giving a good writing to their supporting characters are pretty rare so it makes me appreciate this one even more.
But just like I said, what I love the most is the « innocence » of the story : we laugh and we smile with the leads and other characters, who show great acting skills, and this feels like such a relief.
Of course, there are some flaws. I’d say, the biggest is that it’s hard to define what is the triggering factor of the story itself or the main focus : the leads met and they fall in love. Hmm, a big light ? I mean, when we watch the series, it is good but I would hardly know how to make one want to watch that or distinguish it. I think that they tried to focus on the fact that Fluke, the FL, lived in a « cage », unlike Kett, the ML, but it was clumsily conveyed. It didn’t feel like the FL was imprisoned or overpressured by her parents, but simply that they were overprotective with her and a bit narrow-minded, but to call it « being caged » feels exaggerated.
Also, although FL is cute, sometimes, she really felt TOO naive and innocent like a child, like someone who gets caught in the flow but doesn’t take control on her own. So if you hate naive, stupid, weak FL and wants a strong, badass girl… sorry but you better back off.
Also… I know i said their romance was one of the best assets of the drama and I still think it is, especially in the world of lakorns, full of angsty, frustrating, toxic relationships : but it sometimes felt clumsy. We don’t really know what makes it that Kett is so crazy about Fluke and we don’t really feel either that she fell for him but more like once again, she got caught in a flow and followed it without questions. When watching the leads, I sometimes felt that rather than looking at two grownups, I was looking at two kids playing lovey-dovey.
But these last point can be easily overcome, I think.
So I think it’s quite a pity that this lakorn wasn’t subbed as it probably was, in my opinion, one of the best lakorns at the end of the 90s.

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A beautiful story about the trials of life and forgiveness

I honestly thought this would be tragic and melodramatic and too heavy for my taste, especially since I myself had once an autistic sibling, like the female lead.
But I actually loved it. They succeeded in offering a sober and simple writing, without making it heavily tragic. They just represent honestly what life can be for some people : harder. But not necessarily impossible to overcome. We can even get some joy and happiness if we work hard enough and if we show enough courage.
One of my favorite points of the story is that no one is purely bad or selfish here, like it is in so many melodramatic dramas. The story succeeds in showing how easy it is to make some bad decisions with the best intention in the world, only to realize later WHY this was a mistake. The parents of the female lead, both mother and father, are the best example : Winston Chao offers such a beautiful performance as the repenting father who accidentally abandoned his wife and his kids, even though this wasn't his initial intention. This man is fascinating character : despite the premises, we quickly find ourselves unable to hate this man, as we understand that his intention was never to be selfish, to run from his responsibilities or to hurt anyone. But life struck him like everyone and it's not always easy to take the best decisions or to realize we're taking the bad ones. Moreover, through the whole series, we follow with emotion his progress to redemption and his reconciliation with his children. I like the fact that the forgiveness and reconciliation is not sudden : it is slow paced, which is actually more realistic. After all, you can't forget and forgive being abandoned in just one night. The father's efforts to reconnect with his autistic son who grew afraid to see anything connected to his father due to the trauma are striking to follow. It is unfortunately sad that in reality we rarely see this kind of parents who are really eager to work hard to make up to the children they wronged and seeing one in a drama with a storyline properly executed feels like a sweet relief.
Now for those who don't want just slice of life, yes, there is a bit of romance : although the romance isn't the main point of the story, it is still interesting to follow, despite the fact that there's the usual cliche "childhood friends". We love the bound between Pu Tao and Mo Li and the two actors have great chemistry.
Also the story never stops moving. It is not boring or stagnating, there's always a progress.
And all of the characters have a personal storyline, and show a great performance (except maybe one, but I won't give name : it is someone that I've never considered as a good performer anyway but I'd say that here, this person did okay compared to usually). Like I said, there's no white or black character : everyone has its flaws, its qualities, its reasons, its mistakes, its successes, its background, its storyline... There's no villain, just life.
In short, a beautiful story about the trials of life, family, forgiveness and about the difficulties of having an autistic child in your life, as well as about the happiness that they can bring you, despite their condition. As someone who, I said it, had an autistic sibling, this is a very important point for me.

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