Mia Jum Pen (2021)

Everyone has an opinion

This has got to be one of the hardest review I have ever written, not because of the things everyone was pissed about. But because I actually really like this lakorn. Personally, I like an arrange marriage, deceiving, dramatic, and complicated plot. (and toxic but that just me) It has been a while that I have seen a good plot from Thai lakorn. The last time I even really enjoyed a lakorn is Roy Leh Saneh Rai starring Tik and Aom, and that was a long time ago. So just a heads up that this is my type of genre. I might even be the only on here that like this lakorn.

I love a good slap kiss lakorn and I know it's not for everyone but that's what make Thai lakorn so different and unique from other dramas.

With that said, I do feel like a review is very much needed especially with all the backlash this lakorn received. I wanted to keep this review simple but I have personally been invested in this lakorn from the start that I just want to fully write my review and how I feel about this lakorn.

Firstly, the synopsis on here is partially correct. In this remake, Tawan is not related to Yadfad and her family (it is correct for the original version). Tawan lived with her mother and she's an online maid. Aside from the difference of Tawan and Yadfah not being related, they still follow the plot of Tawan being Yadah to marry Tohmon. Tawan occasionally work for Yadfah family. Tawan mother got sick and she needed money to pay her mom medical bill which led her to offer herself to be in place of Yadfah. I love a plot where FL is poor, independent, strong and striving. Tawan and Tohmom often run into each other but Tohmon never saw how she look like because Tawan always find a way to cover her face.

The first few episode were very comedic and rom-com that I will have to agreed that it is a bit too much. Some of the characters acting, the jokes, and the scenes overall was flat and dry. However, when you pass those scenes it's actually a good plot. The lakorn definitely took a turn and went to melo drama. Once the drama come on, oh boy, you better be prepared. You will feel so much hate and anger toward Tohmon.

I am very into a mean, cold-hearted, and heartless ML in lakorn so this plot was up my alley. Mai is such an amazing and underrated actor. I am so glad they chose Mai for this role. Mai played this character so well, he does such an amazing job at being an a-hole that I can't even hate him for long, he is so eye-candy. He does such a phenomenal job at conveying his expression. Mai carries out his jokes well and even his funny scenes. Not every actor can pull it off and Mai did great. As for Pie, this is her first FL role, I feel like she did great. She was able to portrayed her emotions, feelings, and expression well.

As for chemistry goes, I can see the chemistry between them. It is not those explosive and sexy chemistry but it's the kind of chemistry that make you still want to keep watching because both their acting are so good. Although, I was hoping for more of character development from Tohmon, his feelings toward Tawan wasn't as strong. It's the kind of lakorn where you can tell both leads have feelings for each other but it is not always as clear.

As for the nangrai, they are annoying but I definitely seen much worse, the nangrai in here are tolerable. Although I kind of wish that Sophit wasn't a bad person, in the episode she's very flirty with ML and he knows it too, he acknowledged her flirtiness but always reminds her that she is just his close friend. I was hoping that Sophit would just be the flirty secretary/friend who help Tohmon come to terms with his feelings for Tawan, but nope, Sophit just had to be a bad person.

Next is the backlash this lakorn received. There is a scene (episode 8-9) in here that may be a trigger to some audience. There is a scene that portrayed Tawan to be raped and everyone in the family has view Tawan differently. Rape is a very sensitive topic and never shall it ever be laugh at, make fun of or even joke about it. There should never be any victim blaming. I truly believe that there's not enough talk about rape in the community and there is no easy way to talk about it.

I understand that in the lakorn, especially Tohmon character could of assessed the situation better and be more supportive toward Tawan. In the episode, Tohmon character was portrayed as very disgusting of his wife after the incident. Every one of his actions definitely meant to be that way, perhaps. In my opinion, his actions came off that way, but he is just as hurt, he felt powerless as you can see his character changed. Tohmon actions were deeply rooted by pain of not being able to protect the person he love. He too went through a "traumatizing" incident of seeing his wife being kidnapped and "rape", not being able to do anything because he knows it is his fault to begin with. By no means I am justifying Tohmon and everyone else characters. He was definitely wrong for his actions.

With that said, I feel like this production took a risk and came upon a very sensitive topic that made many people upset. There is no easy way to address rape or rape survivors/victim blaming. This is the reality and the world we live in. As much as we want to perfect this topic in movies or lakorn, it is not perfect. There are ugly side to this topic as well. When we no longer talk about a topic or see it, (not just thai lakorn) it is so easily to forget that it does exist and that sympathy for the survivor is not always present. Don't twist my word and says that I am saying this is okay. I am simply saying, we see this happens in real life, we see how society treat some survivors and how much injustice there is in the world we live. I would of like it if the director, producer and writer included resources for the individual affected can seek help from. Both Tawan and Sophit went through a traumatizing event (we can see how this affected Sophit, her character changed, her mood switch, and she was always paranoid. This is the reality when a survivor went through a traumatizing incident). If there's anything that I am upset about, it's that the doctor didn't offer this help to Tawan.

I am sure many of you won't watch this lakorn after reading people comments and review. But honestly, you can read all of it and if this genre or topic is not for you, you are only wasting your time. At the end of the day, I know this is a scripted lakorn. People were already complaining that this lakorn was too comedic and now it is too dramatic. Either way, no lakorn is perfect. If you want to judge the logic of every lakorn then how can you ever enjoy them.

I genuinely like this lakorn and don't get me wrong, I was frustrated with Tohmon character but there's ways the innocent and hurt in his eyes when he see Tawan that just swoon me back in. It's has been a while that I can really say I enjoyed a lakorn from Ch3, their lakorn from last year was a huge disappointment for me. This one is so full of many emotions. I know some viewer will disagreed with me because of the direction they went and it also appears that this remake is completely different from the original. It's up to you to decide whether you want to watch or not. Be open minded and judge this yourself. If you do decide to watch it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

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