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What is this, is 'Randall and Hopkirk' thai version?:D
Anyways, Chakrit & Tik that is SOME combo, PLUS Rodmay. I was looking forwad like mad, LOL.Now, obviously I love Tik, I love Krit, and even the car the detective drives looks tiny bit less than cars common on thai tv, and tiny bit more 'Vauxhall Victor 2000', lol. I hardly believe they would have a car which looks like this, if not reminiscing that old series:) It stands out from other cars so much. Though it does have BMW logo:) Mardthong Sarawut is here too, him I remember from 'Seu Rak Chak Yai Olawon'... He was way hotter back there but still good.
Watching this, I concentrated on the bromance, everything else was a surplus (like that annoying "reporter", who was supposed to be Tik's love interest). I was just loving this. Chakrit is SO adorable as the haunting ghost, lol. The two "detective buddies" share perfect dynamics.
It's all about investigating one gang involved with cars, but I actually appreciated the simplicity. I love when one series does NOT try to be hundred things. Those tend to be the best.
Even the female reporter, who basically acts like a burden to the hot shot guys during the whole series, in the end does serve her purpose. Despite being kinda lame she's at least not bribable and helps by bringing the case to the independent media, who are the only ones that can be trusted with the information at the stage where there is no certainty how far in the police force and court justice the mafia has penetrated. The pitty was that side character they were trying to protect the whole time died, and didn't even come back as another funny ghost:)
But overall you don't have to worry about this getting too dark, it does have some twists but eventually the bad guys get punished, and there is a good ending for everyone in a very thai and buddhist way:)
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Also with this cast, the sweet lovestory had this perhaps unintended, sexist undertone of the 43-year old guy getting his wife back in a body 16 years younger. As long as she has the same "soul", right? LOL.
Aom Piyada is in a guest role. Now, SHE would look more believable paired with Tui than both Jeab or Vill, but we're out of luck there.
First, the older woman is shown behaving often childish, and also crazy jealous. There's a childhood flashback of her being portrayed by Xiang Pornsroung (I think), which explains her jealousy. She shouts and laughs and is seen goofying with her kid. Probably for the purpose so it won't look so different when she's swapped with younger actress. Also, clearly so that she will be able to connect to the boy even in a different body, being on the same wavelength, singing self-created songs they shared, etc... I just found this whole idea a bit of a pitty. Jeab Sopitnapa was still beautiful, plus got more personality, so I didn't see really the reason that for this lovestory, she had to be replaced by a doll-like Vill Wannarot.
The younger woman's husband is a snake. Her dad seems good, though. It's cruel to him that his child dies. Or, just wakes up as a stranger and heads off to sort things with her man. So... Is this his punishment for being selfish and taking a heart from a dying patient? (I thought he would at least need the husband's consent.) It's funny the scene had onscreen notice that this was done for entertainment purposes only, with no intention of harming careers of doctors or nurses. Yeah, anything to keep the younger and prettier actress onscreen. That's what we, the audience, want, right? So why should we complain.
Also, from what I could gather, the person's mind in this series is connected with the organ heart, not the brain. Because the woman whose heart failed, her soul died. The woman whose brain died but her heart was salvaged, was able to transfer her soul to another body. In most sci-fi I previously watched, it was the brain that was the mind/soul's carrier, lol. But hey, it's a romance, so it's the heart (the name of this series is: New Body, Old Heart). It's actually weird that instead of brain, thoughts and feelings should be associated with the muscle-y blood pump, but to associate romance with the heart is traditional. Not a failure of this series. Still, I couldn't help but smirk when I imagined someone who's scheduled to undergo heart transplantation watching this show and getting nervous whether they'll wake up as somebody else, lol.
So, the woman, for the rest of the series called Lan, is actually Pat. Her husband first says his goodbye to her old corpse. Then slowly discovers her again in new body. How, er... romantic. But first, she wakes up and tells Lan's father (a doctor) who she is. He asks her many questions to test her, she answers all of them. As she has all Pat's memories (stored in her brain... no! her heart, obviously, lol). Lan's father is kinda creepy at first, asking her to stay with him anyways, so he can be close to his daughter's body. I thought just the body wasn't what made his daughter. Her snake husband just wanted money from her... Then, okay. I was able to accept the main heroine to just go and leave the younger woman's family behind. I decided to keep watching, because as a drama this had many things going. The young and inexperienced looking woman actually now had spunk, undying love for her kid, and bitter feelings of revenge towards her cheating not-really-widower husband. She decides to get into his life no matter how and when he'll last expect it from her new sweet face, kick him hard. I think Vill Wannarot is not bad actress, she should be able to deliver someone freshface looking/mature thinking, so it should be an enjoyable watch.
And... it is. Vill does a good job. It's intriguing to watch how well her character can handle everyone around her, as she is not as green as she physically looks like. And it's fun how she behaves brusquely with her new boss, her senior by both rank and age, because he's actually her husband. With the looks of a new young wide-eyed secretary, she knows the work better than him and she knows HIM to the last embarassing detail:) Definitely fun to watch. She's a bit too obvious when with her kid, but I chose to forgive it. One person whom she told who she really is and who actually believes it is her eccentric gay best friend, which is cute. Things with the father of the woman whose body she's now using were also resolved well.
So, it's all going quite well. The only problem is main heroine's plan for revenge. She intends to make her husband fall in love with the new young pretty woman, then break his heart and leave him. But that's hardly a good plan. Because, what about the kid, then? How can she leave the husband if now in her new body, she's got no rights to the kid? She NEEDS to stay with the guy. Then, she kind of forgets these plans, she tells almost everyone around who she is and it is a bit anticlimax how the truth gets revealed to her husband at last. Then the two skip into being happy together again and instead of working out their marriage issues, we focus on dealing with side-character antagonists (they transform into full-blown criminals for the corny "action final").
Still, as you've probably noticed during my review, no matter the difficult "logic", or the problematic beginning/ending, this show is mostly enjoyable to watch. It works for the fleshout characters. I had fun.
The second couple was also cute, I didn't like the guy but Yingying Sarucha was the most beautiful woman in this lakorn, in which ALL the women were beautiful (or was it May Sirin? so many beauties:) It was also fun to watch the bad girl and the bad guy together - they joined forces in their plotting - they so deserved each other:)
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Friend Zone 2: Dangerous Area
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I was not even interested. But this is better than S01 and even makes IT retrospectively better.
First, I thought: Eh, second season of THIS?The first season was a thing that ran for 12 episodes and while it WAS funny at places, I was certainly glad it was over. At least there was good opening song I could listen to, lol. And we are back to it now:-) Opening credits are great and maybe more intriguing than the actual "drama":-) Listening to the full 3,5 min version twice: S02 title song is GOOD.
First epi, I was not even interested in further continuation of "stories" that I felt only a lukewarm interest in to begin with... But then, they show us a flashback on the school days of the characters. We get a glimpse of how they became friends. Not just that, we get to (finally) see where those people were coming from, in contrast to the first season, where they just appeared and started doing this or that without me starting to care about them first. It's WAY more engaging a watch (yeah, there's even a "SOTUS" kind of situation:) Sadly, we then return to present day. Perhaps they should better have made a prequel series?
Epi 2: The flashbacks do continue! So, in a way, they did:-) They continue with with the present line too, though. And sometimes I got confused, because nobody looks any younger in the flashbacks:)
Nevertheless, it's kind of different, and better than S01. It's interesting how it's more fun to watch the relationships from S01 in early stages.
Next episodes, there's yet more screentime devoted to the university time line, and it's good that way. It puts the present line in better light. And not just that, even what we watched in S01. Way to retrospectively improve the previous series!:-) There is one relationship that is especially intriguing. Considering the relationship was not in S01, it's "the relationship that did not happen". Or, maybe it will get happy ending now in S02, which is both prequel and sequel?
Same can't be done for all the couples. So, the weakest one from season 1 got completely discarded, despite that the girl ended up pregnant with the guy so it looked like they were stuck together. No: she miscarried, and found a girl instead, lol. It's a bizarre casting of Apple Lapisara, almost unrecognizable with the hair. I don't care about this couple much. Still, it's better watch than S01.
The person I didn't care about AT ALL was the girl who is supposed to be an important frenemy of all the main characters (a character who was not in S01 at all). Closely followed by the girl who got the biggest photo on the crowded S02 poster, lol. When the two fight and one ends up in suicide attempt, I'd say it's time to quit the henhouse and call her parents/family to take over. But, this show is about "friendships"... So, no one but her "friends" comes to see her in the hospital? And with another character revealed as bipolar, after 10 episodes we got the fragile balance toppled over, with basically majority of the characters in a need of a shrink. Looked like the chance to make a good series the second time around, was shrinking, too...
I understand that Singto probably begged the producers that he doesn't want to be just the goodie good boy this time, but NOW his character makes no sense. Being cast against your usual type in some cases can result in the actors enjoying themselves more than the audience. First season, it was Best Nathasit only. Now, we have 2 cases.
Around episode 14 the show concentrates on the relationships (present timeline only) and I found myself invested in all of them (at least in compare with previous season), even the new girl-on-girl couple. I suddenly thought a it pitty there were only 2 episodes left. I was enjoying the show. I liked the layered characters. I appreciated how even their flaws were accepted in a positive way. And I agreed with one fellow review here about how the characters outlook formed in S01 shifted. Not everyone whose behavior was not likeable was actually that bad. Not everyone with likeable behavior was that good. Often characters were talking too much, which only brought unnecessary problems, just like we know from real life. Long string of loud complaining and nagging of some characters went pale in comparison when some characters just sat there for a while in silence, with a certain expression on their face. All this was conveyed well.
All that despite the casting of this show was always kinda questionable. Stud is supposed to be the most case-hardened of them all, yet you can see the boy portraying him is actually younger than all the other cast. Aye Sarunchana is quite young to portray her calm and mature character, too. Pluem Purim or Gap Thanavate were kinda giving me creepy vibe the whole time. But it didn't really have anything to do with their characters. The already mentioned Best Nathasit, I should expect him to put on the round glasses and start making funny faces every second. And he never did... This show, it was like almost everyone was cast AGAINST their type. But I tried to ignore it the best I could and enjoyed the drama well. Like, I actually liked that Tor proposed to Boom. Though again, Namtan Tipnaree was only 24, so her portraying a girl worrying about getting married in time looked premature, BUT her character and Tor's went through so much, their relationship kinda needed to be this cemented:-)
On the other hand, Earth's only relationship that was still firm was with Boom, his former university girlfriend:-) The scene where he took her to the altar was nice, else Earth's character totally dissolved, as the only one here.
This might not be the most memorable show, after all it was just about "simple" relationships, nevertheless the amount of storybuilding, meaning and conclusion they managed to present out of the material from the totally blah & random 1st season is impressive.
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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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The mission-marriage plays the 2nd, if not the 100th fiddle to all the big bang
First off, I watched 'Manee Yard Fah', where young Willie McIntosh looked really hot. What can I say, men don't look the same nowadays. Given that I still rated the older version 6.5, with the cast and chemistry included, story was probably not much. "No wonder" it got remade. Yeah, I only remember that I understood perfectly why the princes was all alright with staying with him as a humble civil servant wife;-)As for Yaya, the pretty girl with poor taste in men (she dates him in real life, apparently), I only started to respect her as an actress after 'Kleun Cheewit' (partly) and 'Leh Lub Salub Rarng' (fully). Now, was this done before 'Leh Lub Salub Rarng', or after? Let me check... AFTER. That's good, then. So I tried this despite my obvious aversion to both Nadech & princess themes...
Adorable people like Yoghurt Nattasha or Freud Chatphong are in badass roles, which is... cute. Well, if Nadech can, then anyone can:) Also Yaya's princess is badass. Though, this cannot surpass her 'Leh Lub Salub Rarng' role, where her being this badass had a credible reason. LOL. Sara Legge and Cindy Bishop are cast as fellow princesses. They're quite acceptable. Nhing Nirut as king even more so. Yaya somehow actually doesn't look aristocratic at all, something about her, perhaps the full lips. She does make a goodlooking princess though, of course.
Episode runtime is pretty long. Thankfully, there's lot of entertaining action & main girl-main guy interactions, though neither the girly faced main guy nor the manly faced female bodyguard were my eyecandy. Watching this, I started to remember the 'Manee Yard Fah' story... Though princess themed, I didn't dislike it. I moderately enjoyed it here too, except looking at Nadech. But Yaya, besides being attractive, IS perfect in whatever (badass, proud, vulnerable...) she wants to portray. She really owns her acting now.
In the older version, the island part was longer and then I mostly remember them staying in one house. Producers definitely spent more money on this version. Still, it doesn't make up for the main actor to look like... Well, Nadech Kugimiya. I just wanted the princess to ditch him somewhere and then go on another adventure with someone else. Indy Intad looks silly and about as credible as prince as my street's dustman, but this series, with his average looks he's the main male eye candy. This sets the level of this show despite the production values.
As for female eye candy, Yaya has some competition in Yoghurt Nattasha and very, very cute Reindeer Parisaya. I'm enjoying Yaya's acting the most, though. She is the main value of this show:) She's just adorable with the glasses (subtle, inexpensive, and bit geeky). I wouldn't expect that. She's making it way more intriguing than Anne Thongprasom (yeah, she's better than her! wow:) Plus, when we got to the stage when they become "married couple", I reckoned now I will be able to stay mainly with the "housewife" and skip Nadech's separate scenes comfortably:) Either way, his mission is to succesfully convince his surroundings that he suddenly married an ordinary girl. Prying, gossiping army wives dig and suspect a lot at first, but in the end of the day, the most convincing reason IS he just fell madly in love with her. And with Yaya, who wouldn't?:)
But! When we are already settled in the situation where princess plays the common wife, it does not continue as cute rom-com I remember from the older version. We still deal mostly with princess enemies investigating and palace politics. Which proves a mistake (rom-com is at least less stupid than fictional kingdom stuff), again ironically because this time they had bigger budget. We see many naive machinations and feeblemindness of practically all the royal characters. We see no army wives or other funny side-characters for whole episodes 4-5.
No, instead we suffer through more demented action and watch Matthew Dean. Ugh. As for the main two, their romance is nice. Despite his looks, Nadech's character acts very manly, and never ceases to be the white knight for "his" princess, with the right whiff of sadness that she isn't really his. It's the same only reversed for the second couple with Indy Intad (prince is stupid and needs to be protected by girls). Either way, things the main couple deals with are so big it's ridiculous when they discuss them in their humble fake-marriage house. The house looks so very similar to the one in older version, btw. The difference is that one operated on a small scale, where domestic romantic comedy/drama was played most of the screentime. Here, the characters might be standing in the kitchen but are still discussing serious issues that affect international relations.
Though I did not find the older version a very memorable lakorn, I do remember I appreciated it for being able to create a successfull couple rom-com despite being princess themed. Else I would not rate it higher than 5.0 (which I rate any mildly enjoyable romance). This version - full of grand palace events, high officials gatherings, press conferencess and big actions scenes - actually works worse. No matter how adorable Yaya is as the "princess turned army wife", she and her mission-marriage plays the second, if not the hundredth fiddle to all the big bang.
So, the fake husband & wife leave their army provided marriage-house (in which they spent the majority of the old version, as I remember) soon as beginning of episode 6. They share an emotional scene, which is good. She finally shows him weakness and he clearly accepted his mission to protect the princess to the end, no matter the consequences to his life or career. She lost her adorable glasses, though. I would so wish we could go back to the end of episode 3 and continued the domestic fake-marriage rom-com (which barely started). Instead, we go on another road movie... Then stop at mountain village where they stay instead of the military base. Episode 7, she's even on her way back to her fictional country to claim her fictional throne. Not much room for their blooming romance was left...? Then, she's suddenly back in the military house with her glasses... Oh, she just wants to spend there her last day as civilian, before leaving for her kingdom. She starts to reminiscence her first day in there, which is funny because it's like it was almost also her last day, they left the place so fast. Like I mentioned, the military base marriage-house was where almost entire runtime of the original version of this series took place. The couple of Anne Thongprasom & Willie McIntosh sure had many memories there. Not this couple.
That moment pra'ek's mother appears, very suspecting of a new "wife" of her son. She seems to have high position in the military, but probably not much common knowledge to know the face of the princess at least from the internet. Therefore, she reacts just like in the old version, and just says to her that she'll monitor closely whether she really married her son for love:) This would have its place in the story had the princess still plan to remain in the fake marriage and was not just about to leave it. Nevertheless, we see the mother consulting the other army wives. This reminds the old version, only in this version things don't happen organically as the couple's "domestic life" got repeatedly interrupted, with them attending the big stuff or leaving so far it didn't look they are to ever come back. Also both "husband and wife" acted so suspicious that even though the mother did not know immediatelly she is not an ordinary citizen, she suspected it right away. Things were not to last for so long as in the old version... No, here it all soon escalates into yet another action plot.
Just like the two main characters here are unable to act as common husband and wife, the whole show cannot resist the "blockbuster" scenes. So as the result, we just cannot watch the fake-relationship drama in peace.
I watched the 13-episode "master edition", but that didn't change it... Even all the secondary couples had their time mostly cut short by all the action stuff, or leaving abroad. Yuan Nithichai, who was about the only one of the whole cast looking credible as bodyguard, clearly could make a georgeous couple with the other princess, portrayed by Sara Legge. Sadly, she had to spend most of her time with the lame Matthew Dean. Looked tragic when HE was supposed to be the main villain, looked COMICAL when it was supposed to be the fake-bearded Peter Corp Dyrendal. Overall, Kate's character went from interesting to ridiculous.
The only one who does not disappoint in this drama is Yaya, who indeed surpassed Anne Thongprasom, and truly does her character justice. Watching her, you really believe she is a princess and a person worthy of sacrifice, beautiful inside and out. Also, no matter the story, her character's interactions with Nadech's character were very enjoyable, even though I don't like Nadech. Then of course, she shines in the action part of the series, which maybe should be called the majority part... Someone obviously forgot who is supposed to be protected one and who the bodyguard, lol. Still I admit it's Yaya's action fighting scenes (episode 8) that steal anyone's thunder. She looks SO badass, lol. Who cares about it making sense. I remember watching her action scene in 'Leh Lub Salub Rarng' (also episode 8) over and over, and this was something similar.
And in the end, after watching so much of Nadech, I even started to like Indy Intad lol. It was him with Yoghurt Nattasha who made the couple I could enjoy watching, even if there was not much of it.
In conclusion, to compare this with the older version, where the princess theme almost vanished into domestic rom-com, this was very princess-y till the end. It was more majestic and also more tiring to watch. The characters were mostly portrayed exquisitely. But, it WAS ridiculous having psychopatic killer right there in the same house the whole time. I had to laugh in some scenes. It was all stupid from the country name/royals names to the minor details. And I did mention, Nadech Kugimiya is far from my dream guy lol. Because else, if this focused only on the problem of a royal marrying a commoner, I think that is actually a good theme. After all, real life royalty knows such marriages, and their stories are far from boring. Even without psychopatic killers, lol.
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Deze recentie kan spoilers bevatten
Again, here we go with the scriptwriters favourite, the body swap. Occuring inbetween a boy and girl. It's all very funny & cute, of course until the sweet innocent girl needs to pee for the first time. Then, she'll have to get acquainted with the boy's "thingy" no matter what.For a romance, this theme usually is of a low use because any romance progress a person can make during such body swap is with someone either the wrong sex, or wrong orientation, after they swap back, lol. The longer runtime it goes on, the more you'll start questioning whether it will still work, and kinda wish they'd just switch back soon. Even here, where we have just the fangirl trying to be a "well wisher" for somebody else, we face a dilemma. I guess it's never easy to write this kind of stories.
Also, from the audience point of view, we can barely appreciate how cute the girl is, if we have to watch First Kanaphan most of the screentime. Occasionally, there are short moments when they show us the girl instead of him, like they are trying to save the given scene after all (else how "romantic" can a boy look with his brother?:) but it's not enough.
On the other hand, what's too much is the final conclusion. We get to know why only one participant of the switch was awake after the body swap. I said this watching 'Notification' series and I'll say it again: Death is a too dark a theme for a fluffy fantasy-romance show. It makes no sense that everyone learns the truth so late (while all the time they have been conversing with Angel Of Death) and it makes no sense why so much relationship development was given to the secondary character and not the main one.
The fact that somebody died is kinda even worse if someone has been parading around posing as them, for quite some time after it happened. Didn't the screenwriter realize that all the shenanigans and manipulations with other people's feelings during that time could be forgiven ONLY if the person eventually got their body back? It's not just the love interests, but also the parents and other relatives. I'd say things were no longer funny. Then again, "Angel Of Death" is someone funny on this show. Incompetent to know who died for so long, all the Angel is able to offer is the surviving person can choose which of the two bodies to stay in? Wow. Btw, I added the spoiler alert in my review because of these paragraphs, but honestly I think there should rather be "Death Of Main Character" listed in Tags.
I know it was all because they tried to engage the audience emotionally, but in truth it was dumb. In the final episode, they harrass us for a little while that even the second couple won't make it (while the victim of the first disaster is already smiling in acceptance) then at least they have their happy reunion but of course, we don't get to see the final kiss of the boy & girl in question, as this was made for BL fans, lol. What this show managed to do was that thanks to the body swap, neither gay nor straight audience got their satisfaction. I could not enjoy the "romantic climax" where the guy finally wins the heart of his girl, but he has to kiss his brother (and then bury his dead body). But who cares (the girl's actress was probably underage and so she wasn't onscreen much) we then have a sweet voiceover to give us magazine-like moral advice, and we're back to fluff and jokes. I found the "wise message" of this series worthy of a smirk and the same goes for the humour... About the most funny about it was the loud "Eh?" the main girl/boy tended to utter when really surprised, lol.
In the end, one character died but else everyone is happy and the main heroine is back to the same stupid online writing as before, lol.
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Boku, Unmei no Hito desu
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Still, I did give this a shot.
And yes, I sure enjoyed the main-guy/God interactions way more than the main-guy/main-girl interactions. Ironically, since the God's intervention, main girl grows to dislike main guy so much that he's got less chances to date her than if he just kept randomly meeting her at the elevator. As his attempts grew more and more desperate and actually drew his girl from him further and futher, I just wondered why the God did not appear to HER to explain the situation. After all, the woman with her biological clock ticking she wished for a child, did she not? But, I did enjoy the two guys scenes the most so, what the hell.
The side characters are interesting, though also annoying. Romance is nice, though I did not like the main girl (also the actress has weird cheek dimples in both cheeks when she smiles, it changes her face), bromance has a poignant twist in epi 9/10, but in the final it is absent entirely. I would not rewatch this.
By the way, the ending credits would make good opening credits.
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Tan x Tai (or How To Serve You All That Straight Already Discarded On "New" BL Plate)
I call this show 'Tan x Tai' rather than TharnType and I call the two boys Tan and Tai, because that's what all the people really pronounce and because they are asian and I find the english spelled names idiotic.After this first episode, I was not sure whether I should finish watching this: reading some other reviews, I was even afraid to. But it proved needless, there wasn't anything really shocking in this, even though it touched significantly grave themes. It firmly remained shallow and childish in using them. My detailed experience follows...
Episode 1: The base for this story seemed silly as I didn't believe the homophobic boy would not find a single person who also did not like their roommate in the whole building. If he tried a bit longer, he would definitely find someone to switch with. And that's not mentioning his friend who knew about the whole situation or some other friend. But no: instead, he starts some kind of silly war against his gay roommate, and his friends won't prove very helping...
I didn't have a problem with the main character not liking gay people. Not everyone does. But he started to act too childish. There's a scene right in episode 1 where the homophobic boy gets drunk and falls asleep on the gay guy's bed. The gay guy, instead of simply going to sleep in homophobic boy's bed for that night (which was clean, as the homophobic boy did soil the gay boy's bed on a purpose), or dropping the unconscious homophobic boy into his bed with a help of his friend (who is there, too) openly says he'll "teach him a lesson". The homophobic's best friend not only hears this, he leaves saying things like the gay guy should go easy on his friend, not cause any noticeable hickeys, as the homophobic's boy has class next morning, etc. After such conversation, and because the gay guy stated he "won't do drunk people", I expected he was just kidding and he'll just prank the homophobic boy and let him believe something did happen. Instead, we can see the gay guy really starts touching and kissing the homophobic boy, who is in drunk stupor. If this is a love story, shouldn't he be a better person than that? Granted the real kiss is nice. But I'd appreciated it more if I could see such kiss in 'Love By Chance 2', with which this is supposed to be a related show. I can't tell, because I watched only Phit&Ae and Tin&Can couples, I skipped and ignored all the other characters. Sadly, I can't find real kiss real exciting, when it is this creepy...
Second episode offers completely different narrative. Though Tan caused some serious hickeys to Tai, he is mostly shown teasing him in the morning about them waking up in the same bed, but just teasing. Tai looks annoyed but not really worried (that something more has happened). Plus, solution to the roommate situation offers itself, but Tai decides to stay in the room with Tan, saying he's got some unfinished bussiness with him. The rest of the episode are mostly scenes with Tai crying and Tan comforting him, tending to him when he's sick, etc... I suddenly remembered that right in the beginning, before Tai learned about his roommate being gay, they seemed to be getting along pretty well. Now. We were shown that Tan was definitely sexually attracted to Tai, else he would not pick kissing him as "revenge" in episode 1. Then we were shown he was definitely affected by Tai crying, being upset or hugging him while scared in episode 2. There is a scene with Tan washing his face and staring in a mirror, classic scene of a character facing themselves in a mirror which portrays them facing their feelings. He definitely started caring. So we now have attraction + care. Usually, that equals love...
If so, we're actually presented with love-angst situation with Tan falling in love with someone who hates him. It's a desperate position to be in, so in last pride salvage attempt Tan lies that it was his friend No who stayed by Tai's sickbed. Tai believes it because he wants to believe it, though it doesn't make much sense, because it's not No who's LIVING with Tai (and therefore is able to make short visits, but definitely not stay overnight). Anyways No says the truth as soon as Tai gets well. Tai then heads off to face his "hateful" rommate...
Episode 3: Wow, there is definite proof that this is not just one-sided story. Tai starts unwillingly showing signs of being attracted to Tan!
Again, one of his friends offers he'll switch rooms with him. Again, he refuses? I kinda agreed it would be a good solution. In this particular respect, Tai was a jerk. He has suffered in his childhood, so now any guy who'd fall in love with him shall suffer. Going away from Tan's life would be a way to end suffering. Doesn't he hate being close to a gay? Unless...?:)
Tan starts getting happy. He's looking forward to returning to his room each day and rejects other offers how to spend his evening. He starts flirting with Tai softly, not really doing much but leaving it on Tai to get excited on his own. He's actually just teasing him, which befits Tai's harsh way of speaking to him and plain telling him that he hates him. But when Tan teases him, it DOES work on Tai. Hmmmm...!:)
Then exactly 1 scene later all that turns wrong. There is a bathroom scene where Tan goes too far with Tai. Any second I expected him to stop and just say he's only kidding. That would be what Tai deserved and probably even helped possible growth of their (troubled, but still a) romance in the future. What Tai didn't deserve was being forced AGAIN. That was precisely what Tan should avoid. It's true that Tai was pushing Tan away only some moments, there were some moments when he was responding to Tan. THE MORE Tan needed to apply the moment where he would STOP. Let Tai make the next move or go away, because if he wanted to get away then that's what Tan had to let him do. Else he would not be better than his childhood villain guy. Luckilly, things did not go all the way in episode 3, it was good Tai had to face that he WAS responding to Tan on physical level and then the rest of the story could be him slowly sorting out his emotions. But it was bad it wasn't Tan who withdrew himself first. He really should have been just teasing Tai, that would have worked better. If you never cease to chase someone, you never find out whether they'd be chasing you back. I mean WHEN are they ever supposed to stop panic and realize they actually miss you chasing them?;)
I was afraid if this show's writers don't realize this, this show is going downhill. And with the thai shows being notorious for their tendencies to portray rather forceful and toxic relationships, I really was afraid...
Luckilly, next scene Tai doesn't seem to be very traumatized by the bathroom incident. He also still didn't move out the room and away from Tan, which would NOW be understandable. He is not in a good mood, though. And what follows is a bizarre scene where Tai bumps into an openly gay boy and his mother. They both talk lot of uncomfortable sex talk, even though he is complete stranger. They want to photograph Tai and put a cute post with his info on their page. He is not responsive to that. Instead of letting it go, they keep at it and push him to make a "couple photo" and the boy hugs Tai and touches his chest. That moment Tai gets angry and plain says he despises gays and that they can't just grope whoever they want. In revenge, they publish Tai's photo along with a post describing him as a guy who is hateful towards whole LGBTQ community... I must say I kinda pitied Tai. Just as LGBTQ people have their rights, so do straight people have rights for their privacy. Tai didn't ask to be photographed and posted on some web page in one way or the other. Even the fact he doesn't like gays is his right for his private opinion. Instead, he now faces public backlash...
Episode 4: Tai opens to Tan and tells him about his bad experience. That of course makes them closer than with anyone and also Tan now knows he must never be violent with Tai. Tai still says to Tan that he hates all gays, that he hates him. Tan says it's okay. I agreed he responded very well. Yes, it's okay. Then Tan resolves the internet backlash situation for Tai. It's more and more clear he's in love with Tai. He says to Tai straight (lol) that he's into him. Then Tai has to listen to No's hilarious summary of the whole affair. I was really glad for the general mood to turn more into rom-com. I still thought now was the time for the boys to - peacefully - exchange rooms. Still, they keep living together, and for the 1st time (besides the very early beginning) I liked their dynamics. Tan openly flirts with Tai but in a gentle, friendly way. They already both know each other's dark spot, but are more or less okay with it... But, of course! Exactly 1 scene later that has to crumble, yet again. Tai makes a really weird suggestion...
First, Tan's reaction is hilarious. But same like episode 1, I didn't wish him to really go through with it. He should feel rather insulted by Tai's proposition. So I hoped he would do some kind of prank on Tai only, but reading other reviews, that probably won't happen so I was getting afraid, again. Which way is this show going to turn? It can't be a rom-com AND twisted sex-thing in the same time. Hopefully some poor writer won't attempt it...? Yeah, we know that thai tv was never short of poor writers. So, we do get the bed scene with these two. I would say Tan should still have problem to progress this fast with someone whom he knows is a rape victim. No matter if he wants to just sleep with him or eventually date him. Tai's motivation makes even less sense. But yes, the very next scene we listen to their conversation with light music like from romantic comedy. Tai's funny friends come as the comic relief again... So yes, the writer DID attempt this. I can now understand reviews bashing this as a great disservice to actual rape victims. Or criticizing it as a romance, because that shouldn't use such dark themes in it. In reality, this is just poorly written. Which isn't uncommon thing with thai tv. Straight lakorns are exactly the same. You watch big romantic action adventure of main pra'ek & nang'ek, and just casually you see some side-villains doing human trafficking. They always deal with stupid naivety with such grave a theme. Not to mention the classic lakorns, where pra'ek rapes nang'ek always. THAT is the oldschool thai tv comes from.
So, is the silly-comedy background music playing along with all this actually wrong? The whole thing IS a silly thing.
Episode 5: Suddenly a standard romance series (?).
After the two "roommates" had (weird, if you ask me) sex a few times, they decide that taking the "sex" out of the word "sexfriends", they are simply friends. Therefore, suddenly they are taken aback by a simple kiss. Makes NO sense for two people who already slept together, then again, what does in this series. As this is one whole episode completely free of ANYTHING twisted, but still you get to watch real kissing, it's actually enjoyable.
Episode 6: To prevent just being hung on Tan only, Tai starts dating a girl. He keeps texting her non-stop and then meets up with her one evening. It looks pretty conventional, bordering on boring... I found this interesting. It's well known guys are capable to withstand plenty of boring conversation & keep showering average person with compliments just because they are attracted to girls. But with Tai, we already know that's not his only option, lol. So I thought Tan would just sit back and let Tai "enjoy" this experience. After listening to a good dose of silly girl talk, Tai would crawl back to Tan, won't he? But instead, Tan makes a jealous scene like an old wifey...
Unsurprisingly, that's not a very smart move to make himself desirable to Tai. Tai gets annoyed and Tan behaves completely like a woman in that scene. I don't know whether this had male or female writer, but I did not find it believable. Tan's aggressive swagger is suddenly gone completely, too. Like he is different character. The next scene he changes his behavior a bit but it only seems like Tan's pretending something or the scriptwriter's manipulating things. Either way, I felt the writer does not really understand boy & boy relationships, and only presents us with their imagination of those.
We watch Tai's other date with the girl. It looks natural, Tai looks convincing that he likes the girl. Maybe more convincing than with Tan, lol. Then he returns to his room and starts telling Tan how he kept thinking of him the whole time he was with her but it's strange, because that's not what we watched. Either way, after this confession, the two boys are now "together". If it's like that, then there actually wasn't much to their story. (And we weren't successful in making even such banal story believable.) We're not at the end, though. We're at the half...
Episode 7: The couple - meaning Tan & Tai couple (I'm not really watching any other characters in here, actually) - moves in together. I mean they were living together already but they decided to change it from the dorm to their own place. So that they'd have more privacy. Or, in the words of their common friend No: So that their classmatess won't be able to hear their loud sex:) I wondered which direction the show is heading NOW. This couple had seriously rocky start, then weirdly fast progress. And it keeps being weird... Tai is still bothered in situations like when a random guy tries to pick him up at a bar. He loudly cusses at length how he finds that creepy, until his old friend confesses to him that he is gay, too. That he is actually afraid to tell him for years. And that hearing him swear against all gays hurts him. And that he's afraid he won't now be able to stay friends with him. Tai listens to all this and doesn't correct his friend, doesn't tell him he doesn't hate him and will still be his friend. Then Tai heads off home, where he jumps straight into bed with Tan. I must say that I like these two have good kiss scenes and I like that Tan just loves Tai no matter what. Still, it's all a bit ridiculous. Either way, Tan's main goal now seems to make Tai go out public as his boyfriend...
Epi 8: I am kinda bored and almost a half of the series is still ahead. Thank goodness for the distraction provided by the crazy friend No.
Epi 9: Tai gets properly jealous. Tan is happy and uses this to push Tai go public as his boyfriend. After all, if you want to be possesive, you show to everyone that your chosen one has an owner... Tai is a bit nasty in return, nevertheless I would still count it in a couple-bickering. Also apparently, Tan is in a band... They perform in a small bar, just a couple of boys, and the song which we hear has a piano, while we can clearly see none of the boys is playing a piano/keyboard. It's funny, but other than that I keep skipping the side characters. Unless they have Tai/Tan in their scene, too.
Epi 10: Jealous games. But somehow I thought the third person being depressed to the point they've been attempting suicide a bigger problem...?
Episode 11: Teary break-up. So annoying... One of Tan's friends is behind the break-up, wanting to be more than his friend. He used yet another boy named Tar for the whole thing: while this side-character was the one only one suffering with actual problems and would deserve the most concern (he's the one mentioned in epi 10) I didn't follow his line as I was not interested in side-characters of this show.
Epi 12: It's revealed that Tan's longtime friend is a total psycho obsessed with Tan. It's so far fetched it's actually not different from the classical lakorn psycho nan'rai lol. Nevertheless, it serves as "action climax" after which our main couple reunites. Looks like we made it on the end of their journey... I mean, I know there are two specials, one is 'Lhong's Story' (I was bored once enough), then there's 'Our Final Love' which is supposed to be about them being 4 years together already but it looks like they are still at the same school and nothing much changed... I dropped watching after several minutes. I'm not into this couple that much so I would care to watch their "7 years of love". As I didn't get even their first couple of months lol. I'm going to suffice with this one series.
Overall, this felt like rushed and unconvincing lovestory (I still don't really get when they fell in love, especially Tai) which used potentially grave themes in shallow and childish way. The result is average at best. Had they omitted both Tai/Tar traumatic experiences, had they made Tai just homophobic for no reason (such people exist), had they use any kind of mediocre cause for the last episode break-up/reunion apart from yet another psycho attack, the result might ironically be better. "Simple" relationship problems are more romantic than situations where you could rather imagine police involved. Which is actually a long time problem I criticized for years about classic STRAIGHT lakorns. So, again I ask: Who was is actually that made a BL series like this? This very ironically uses all the "iconic" straight themes. More precisely the most obsolete ones they try to get rid of by 2019 this was filmed.
On this note, I'll leave you ponder.....
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Now, I seriously consider the opening credits and the title song interesting... Sadly, probably more than the lakorn itself:-p Tor Thanapob is considerably better actor than Bie Sukrit. Nevertheless, the Sila role is a bit ridiculous all the same, as he still looks kinda like a brat (even in a tuxedo) who is younger than his mark: the sophisticated hi-so girl he is supposed to seduce.
There is also the young and pretty nang'ek, but it's Noon Siraphan who steals the screen presence for herself and has a special spark with Tor Thanapob. Sadly, she's to play his aunt... But I do remember Tor from his older girl & younger guy romance on Club Friday, so I can't help seeing it here;)
I know I sound like I'm contradicting myself, but it's just how it is: Tor looks lame when trying to impress 2 years older girl, but works well with 12 years older woman. Such is the truth:) As for his "chemistry" with the lead girl, first kiss is right in episode 5, and it's not a good kiss. But no worries, nothing can be worse than 'Hua Jai Sila 2007'. At least, here we can listen to a good song, lol. Episode 6 repeats the kiss at exactly the same "quality", only wet version:) The water adds more dramatic effect to the kiss that uses grand gesture and camera angle to hide there's nothing much to it.
The story is draggy, because usually this kind of story is that the little girl who was nasty to the little boy when they were young is his target when he grows up and wants to get even, but then he falls for her. Instead, we have two girls. So it has this kinda double, surplus feel (same as the old version). With the nang'ek who was just his friend and who has nice mild personality, they hardly share much exciting dynamics... Still, they keep having these kiss scenes that look uncomfortable and unconvincing. The girl is pretty, but also pretty uninteresting. One could wish he would go for the "mean sister" instead, for it to be more exciting: but when at episode 12-13 we get to see that, it sadly doesn't make a better watch. Clearly that actress didn't want to do onscreen kiss much either yet her character was supposed to be the one to take initiative and to be aggressive in bed, which makes the "passionate scenes" look even more awkward.
What IS enjoyable is watching the side-characters, especially those who come from the dubious world of prostitution. They are ironically the most respectable characters far and wide. Already mentioned Noon Siraphan portrays hell of a woman, who brought pra'ek up, but the mention deserves also Pai Sitang and others.
Tor & Noon scenes are the best. Tor & Fern scenes, or Tor & Raviyanun scenes absolutely cannot compare. So, more than the romance line with the two sisters, I enjoyed their love line (love ties are stronger than blood ties:) of adopted relatives.
As I watched this already, I remember that even though the main guy got in bed with both the sisters, I somehow didn't find it that important. Same in this version. Generally, again I just found the whole "drama" about nothing much (what is there to drag it for 27 episodes?), even though Tor Thanapob definitely is this show's asset and gives his best into his role, he cannot save the whole thing, not with the partners he's got. Chemistry with the good girl is clumsy, chemistry with passionate badgirl cold as Siberia. Only interacting with his "aunt" he seemed real... I am repeating myself on that count. But, if some good producer watched this, they would definitely cast him and Noon Siraphan in romantic drama that would not need 7 extra faces on the poster;-)
I wished this version would at least wrap things up faster (or less slow). 16 episodes tops would be enough for this lakorn. Despite all the drama it gets tedious. Though it should not be so difficult for it not to be this way. Like, just as soon as Ben Raviyanun's character got practically zero screentime at one episode, it was notably better watch. Which confirmed best that one girl would be enough for this story. Less is more, enough is enough and it gets ridiculous when there are too many crazy people. But of course, next episode she's back with full force.
So, similarly to the older version, about the most enjoyable portion of the story is watching the lead guy having his vengeance, slowly taking over what the bad guys of his past treasured most: their material possessions, their pride and status. He deals with the evil mother and son in very entertaining way. Then, according to the old version, only when the girl who is his true love gets into the crossfire does he stop. Which is romantically satisfying. And now with better actor, it should also be more enjoyable... This version does not go for the main romance line the same angle, though.
Noon Siraphan, to be mentioned yet again, also has her own badass scenes, which are so over the top I would have scorned them anywhere else, but I just loved her. So if you ask whether the 2019 version deserves to be rated higher, the answer is her name only. Ann Siriam was not a bad badass either, though inevitably slightly ridiculous with her being middle aged.
Apart from this, to judge overall acting, no other cast member's could actually touch Noon Siraphan's. The character she was able to portray was just precious to me and I completely forgot about the main story. I bet I wasn't alone among the audience;-) While I can't even recall what exactly happened with the character in the older version.
Soundtrack is full of themes from other lakorns (probably some kind of shared tv music library). Sometimes it emphasises the scene too much (girl is entering a room acompanied by epic music like majestic ship is entering a port). I couldn't help but cringe over some of intimate Tor/Fern scenes. I admit the young actress is hot. But I found both their restrained bedscene (she ends up giving him humble gesture of respect like in a temple) and their emotional bedscene ridiculous. Perhaps it was the music, which sounded like some epic marine scenes. Or that rappy song that played after. I had to smirk. Since Noon Siraphan's departure, last several episodes dragged and felt surplus. I came back to my original average rating. This wasn't better than the 2007 version in the slightest. Maybe despite the praised Tor Thanapob, it was worse. Again, I cared for a secondary character, like Pai Sitang's, hundred times more. Even having their sweet moments, Tor & Fern looked somehow awkward together.
Last episodes, viewers were obviously supposed to be worried about the last characters who remained on the main villain's hit list. A villain wanted by police, who no longer longer cared about trying to hide the intention to kill everybody. If I won't mention I found it a bit far-fetched, I can say my general feeling was the story filled itself already and I honestly no longer cared about anyone's fate. Including the main couple's (I really never cared for this couple from the beginning). The more crazy "crime action" this series featured (it couldn't be more stupid even if there were ghosts or aliens), the more the characters were in danger to die, the more I realized I would actually not mind those annoying characters to really die. And that the characters who were annoying by then... were practically all those who were left. And so, while almost everyone on the screen was involved in gun/fight, I found the number of remaining episodes (and my precious time) more important than the number of bodies. Send my compliments to the scriptwriter.
I seriously cannot rate this higher if the last 8 episodes I watched with practically 0 interest and wished the series ended already.
But! Rating for Noon Siraphan: 10. LOL.
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I wouldn't mind it even if ALL lakorns were musicals...
Now, nang'ek here is 18. She has a chinese looking name. In her very first scene, she's both singing and dancing. She's a cute little girlie. Accompanied by a huge buffalo, LOL. But seriously, she looks even younger than 18, way younger than on the poster or MDL pic. Some scenes she could pass for 12.Pra'ek is 24. He is SUPER cute (he looks like way, way more cute New Chaiyapol Pupart:) Given the givens, there is no kiss scene. He can only grab her and stare at her. Well, she IS almost a kid, LOL. But with him it's a pitty, he is so dreamy. So, due to huge number of episodes, the more it sucks there is nothing to wait that long FOR.
The plot is a BIT dated. The daughter wishes to take revenge on a music label that previously hurt her mom & dad. Irony being, she already lives in the youtube age, where no record company is needed. She can both make herself famous & fight her case without getting signed with them to "fight from the inside", still that's what she's going to do, for the story purpose of this lakorn. After all, she needs her encounters with the pra'ek, who of course is son of the music agency's owner.
Then our tiny girlie nang'ek and her "band" have their first concert. The concert is featured in the series. Xiang Ponsroung is extremely cute and fun to watch on stage. And not only her. The costumes alone can make anyone watching (especially from europe) go ROFL. Any male singer is a treat... Their shiny "tuxedos" are blinding my eyes for several hours after, LOL.
Meanwhile the "past secret" plot gets revealed in 1/3 of the series runtime and a new twist is added to it which is even sillier. I gotta say I lost my faint interest in the story quite soon. But... songs the characters (main characters, side-characters, antagonist characters) sang, were actually nice to listen to. So, sometimes when the singing was over and the drama part continued on, I wished to continue my listening mood on some mp3 or flac, instead of listening to GUN SHOTS, for god sake (seriously... please spare me of any gunfight in my lakorns). Isn't that a bit much? This really isn't something I would stretch over 35 episodes. Make a short & sweet musical and leave it! Watching already 17th episode of this, I wanted to sleep...
Luckilly, episode 19 there is another concert. It then gets like that on and off... The (side)characters whom I honestly felt like I did not care to watch for 1 more minute, then got onstage and suddenly turned fun (the dancing made me smile always:) But 35 episodes of this IS a lot. I was like sooo not interested in the plot. Though I enjoyed watching Namfon Sueangsuda, it gets repetitive, even with the concerts (the songs also repeated, there wasn't that many of them for that many episodes). I wished they'd at last lay off with the ridiculous "crime" element. That massively contributed to sink the whole series below even an average rating. After THIRTY TWO episodes of waiting, there is a romantic scene. In which he looks like he's going to kiss her... and touches her nose with his finger.
Overall, this blended stage concerts/press conferences with constant assassination attempts. In the end, it was ridiculous. It had more than pleasing cast & great songs, but as a "drama", it was not really watchable...
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You can skip first 6 episodes of season 2 and you're at the same spot where the season 1 left off
Epi 1: Can't believe I ever said about Can that he's plain... He is SO cute:)) On the other hand, Ae somehow doesn't look hot anymore, Phit disappeared (no loss there), and of course the resident beau Tin still reigns undefeated. That's right: I decided to call the characters by their names in second season:) I think they all proved in previous season already and the audience watching are people who know the characters already, hardly someone who haven't seen the first season.Now. I know we were left with some unresolved things between Can & Tin in s1, which I expect them to slowly work on these new 13 episodes... Instead, there is a scene that comes in first 5 minutes of runtime and they are already in each other's arms? I didn't get why was Can crying so hard in the first place. Seriously, who keeps writing script like this? There are some side-characters I kept skipping in s1, so I don't really know who they are, except that they call themselves 'Techno' (PLEASE... I'd take any thai name), I know Pond only (but Cha-am is no longer by his side... or she got re-cast by someone chubbier:) There is also this weird thing that Tin & Can introduce themselves to each other again: some kind of restart (but only for the 2 of them). Someone obviously doesn't get that when I'm looking forward continuation of something, I am looking for it actually CONTINUE, else I would just order more episodes of '2Wish'. But I guess this will sort itself with time, never mind if their story has double start, we'll see how it will go. It's still better than Ae, who clearly is not to have ANY more story. He won't enter new romance with some new dude, he'll just whine after the one who disappeared for the whole season. But I found this comment by PoetryInMotion about Can:
"Can is iconic. Literally the only things on his mind are food and his boyfriend's d*ck. Like, I aspire to that level of carefree living. Teach me your ways. At the same time, he's genuinely a good person, a good friend, a great supportive boyfriend, and I love his relationship with his sister. Also, I can't help but respect a character who is so smol yet so ready to fight. I absolutely love the dude."
And so! Can is still Can, I think I STILL have enough to look foward to. So I'll keep watching;)
Epi 2: Can & Tin's early interactions are silly. It was like that in season 1, too. Obviously we need to wait till they know each other a little (again). Again, we watch their "first" kiss, too. And while I agree that needed to be remade, sadly this is no better than the first attempt. I do remember there was a good kiss in first season later, though. Hopefully, second season shall also come up with better later kisses. So far this remake of a second season repeats what was not so good in first season, let's hope it would repeat what was good, too.
Epi 3-4: It's annoying to watch Can & Tin establishing laboriously that they actually DO want to spend time together. Again. When all the while I'm waiting for them to get where they were already, and their story to continue. I liked it when they both already developed some feelings and then those were forcing them to face the relationship, too. This stage, it's morelike Tin is still forcing Can to do this and that, lol. He took a liking in the simple & innocent Can despite the rocky start and goes after him rather aggressively. Yeah, we already watched that in season 1.
Some scenes are practically identical to their "first story". Tin shares something sad about his childhood. Then says he was just making it up when Can expresses compassion, etc. It's the same only different details. Well, never mind. While these scenes are not better than the season 1 ones, there are not worse. I just hope that with practically the same number of episodes, season 2 won't end at the same stage as season 1 did, and we get at least tiny step further.
As for the other characters I skipped the whole previous season, I believe it's best I'll stick with it and continue to skip them this season, too. Plus, I'll start skipping Ae.
Aand... :Looks like I don't have to worry this season won't get any step further. Because the second kiss Tin & Can, which was episode 12 in season 1, is in episode 4. So this won't be an identical re-telling, rather some faster refresh:) Either way, I think that kiss was maybe tiny bit better in previous season. I have strong feeling the cast is straight as they looked like in pain doing this;)
Tin continues in anxious pursuit of Can: now even more ridiculous in concentrated form. It's like these two HAVE TO start dating for the sake of it. Probably because fans wanted it:) To be fair, the season 1 relationship forming seemed artificial and sudden, too. Like I mentioned, I'm looking forward to their more developed stages. Hopefully we'll soon reach the place where we last left off.
Epi 5: It's getting better. Still something already watched, but more enjoyable stage. This couple (by now I practically watch them only, I skip all the other stuff) does wonders. They both fit each other perfectly both as cast and characters. I understand why people ship them together. I do, too:) Some scenes are awkward, but let's see how we'll go. There might be something better waiting for us more than in season 1:)
Epi 6: Same like first season, it's never even considered that Can might NOT be gay. With Tin coming on him rather strong, he sometimes says things like what if I don't want to be kissed this early? Etc. But what if Can liked girls? Tin like never stops to ask himself such question. He's quite big in compare to Can so it might look at first glance he's molesting poor Can:) Good that Can is the type to shout he'll punch someone in the face every now and then.
The awkward motif with Tin buying stuff for Can and Can letting himself to be kissed "in return" is repeated, too. So I was looking forward when this "courtship" stage is over... Then it was there: end of epi 6/beginning epi 7, Tin & Can have approx. same conversation like they had the last (14th) episode of season 1. Only now Can says he "doesn't want to be like Ae"... (meaning the unwatchable "new Ae" from second season). Maybe I still think that conversation was more interesting the first time. Never mind. Anyways it can now be clearly said to watch the rest of this story, you can skip first 6 episodes of season 2 and you're at the same spot where the season 1 left off.
Basically, after watching 40 minutes of episode 7, I got what I was looking forward since season 1 ended:) The two are almost too adorable together... And I noticed that right from the beginning:) Though I might like to watch a bit of the prolonged angst before they are ultimately together, there's no time for it now because we watched their re-telling from the start, instead. I can now say watching Tin & Can beginning was sufficient in season 1, they didn't need to repeat it. If anything I found it more enjoyable in the 1st season, as there was also the Ae & Phit couple still together (they DID have good kiss scenes & bed scenes) while here there's nothing else than Tin & Can to watch.
Epi 8: Okay just when I thought we're finally behind the awkward part, Can starts speaking about sex LOL. There is a bed scene and I was afraid whether it's going to be bad (skinship was not THIS couple's strong suit). Instead, we don't get to see ANYTHING. Well, better than bad, but...!:) Then there's another kiss that is also bad... It's like the only flaw of this couple, lol.
Epi 9: Can's facial expressions couldn't be cuter even if he was an anime character. Nevertheless, this couple's cuteness works only with clothes on, lol (even only a quick flashback of the "bed scene" looks painful). Mean Phiravich actually cannot act at all (his s1 bathroom scene or his s2 family scenes are the worst) but he's so attractive it was never a noticeable problem, lol.
10: The relationship is cute, nevertheless the "bed scenes" or "like a bedscene"s are painful to watch. Maybe the camera should mercifully turn away (it soon does, anyways... in reality there isn't much to watch). Anyways the new plot device seems to be Tin's brother. There are 2 directions this can go: what can the "evil" brother do? He'll try to harm Can, or steal Can for himself? No, so far he settles for talking ill about Tin, or sending Can some nasty videos. Can punches him only as last resort (I would rather enjoyed if he'd really done it 1st thing on their 1st meeting:) and only very mildly (even a woman was able to stop him:) Either way Tin had to know bringing Can to his home would bring his brother's attention to him. He knew he'll start targetting him. So it could be said the "evil" brother only did the obliging. Now, is he really going to do something evil with Can, or just reveal that Tin now has someone who loves him?
Episode 11 should bring an answer to this question. Now, we're shown the "evil" brother did everything on a purpose, and is now calmly watching Can telling to Tin's father how much injustice was done to Tin by him. Is this some form of an atonement for the "evil" brother? Also the father of both the brothers sure does see things from more than one perspective. And does need to do some anonement of his own... An emotional, turning point scene is happening in Tin's household, though apparently quicker than Can is able to understand it, LOL. Nevertheless, with his purity, he served as a catalyst and Tin gratefully hugs him.
Epi 12: In the end, besides Tin & Can, we now have also Tin's brother & his boyf as the second couple to root for, lol. There's one more Tin & Can brief kiss/bed scene, not really enjoyable but hell, I'm already used to that with these two. Tin's brother is here to provide us better in this department:)
13: We have the ending for both the series... Tin&Can tried for a bedscene that would be at least bit less off-putting. Okay... let's lay off these two boys, finally. They tried the best they could. There's also a scene with Ae filming embarassing video showing him still in quite a state. I wasn't really moved by this scene because I say people either move on, OR even separation is not a problem that could not be solved eventually. But to make us watch something pitiful for 13 episodes just because the actor was unavailable is way more "tragic" lol.
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Since episode 2, pra'ek and nang'ek (who just met each other) establish live-in relationship with him being constantly shirtless and her handling his medicine cabinet and his accounting, lol. By episode 4, pra'ek is in love:)) Still, he doesn't know her real name, yet.
The kid is tiny bit more on the annoying side, but still managable. The pra'ek-nang'ek dynamics is cute & hot on the right level, from the start. Thisa compliments Weir where he's lacking and vice versa (I always say Weir is so ugly he's practically cute... But he can be expressive with his eyes and portray feeling clearer than most doll-like pretty people:) so their chemistry definitely works.
The whole "action plot" with bad guys trying to kill nang'ek and other "criminal stuff" is of course quite stupid and is best ignored. Let's just say nang'ek is stuck on the island with pra'ek for whatever reason, lol. I tried my best not to laugh during the "thrilling" sequences and just enjoy the romance. Weir is of course in a very manly role. He never portrays sissy boys:) By episode 7, his feelings are no longer unreciprocated. But there is only so much time they can keep prolonging her stay on his island for.
Back on the mainland, Weir starts wearing a suit, Thisa wears more sophisticated outfits and more makeup. More side-people are getting in between and both sides are more jealous. But no matter what, Weir's pra'ek never stops being the protective knight. After all, nang'ek IS surrounded by crazy & dangerous people, now even more ridiculous in more civilized surroundings. Nevertheless, Weir & Thisa scenes remain enjoyable. Pairing these two was a good pick from the lakorn producers, though a rare one. I realized how much I got used to it that onscreen couples are usually not this compatible.
By 3/4 of the series, I found it too much crime/action filled. Characters appeared in extreme situations every now and then. Feelings then should get revealed. And addressed. Instead, we quickly move to next action sequence, and the next. What I must also mention is though, that when the main couple DID have a little space for themselves, their scenes were very enjoyable. Even the female did what I wanted in many lakorns to see, and didn't:) And their onscreen kiss wasn't so horrendous as the second couple's (Hana Lewis should rather skip that scene if she wasn't ready for it).
The ending was very sweet & oldschool romantic, if a bit more prolonged than necessary. And there's a beach scene... where pra'ek bites his nang'ek, LOL. Never seen such thing, just how comfortable must have Weir be with Thisa, to shoot such thing lol.
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This show also suffers from low number of episodes. Especially, when we have to deduct the time devoted to product placement. Toni playing double role with such a partner as Ploy, oh this could have been entertaining for a LONG time. This is rushed.
We have the beginning, then we have the ending. Basically, overall runtime is like a movie but for it to be a movie, it would need extra bit of something, which this has not (it has the product placement). So, it's not a perfect rating. But it could be said it was short and sweet:)
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Btw, the women seem to be the almost the only ones new here, else it's all the same team like in 'Lep Krut', the same director, the same guy in the same main policeman role (Es Kantapong obviously just kept wearing the same costumes), I think even the guys in small thug roles looked familiar. Same like in 'Lep Krut', the story is some ridiculous half sci-fi sh*t that does not matter at all as long as someone is constantly bashing someone's brains out.
I thought: I might have persisted watching 'Lep Krut' 18 times waiting when shall Cee Siwat kiss Yui Chiranan, but it doesn't mean I will find the same level of patience here:) But, I do like the lead couple here, too. The girl is likeable at first, because she is NOT that badass of a fighter. That is, before she returns as this "semi mechanic human", wearing tight black suit, or at least heavy makeup all the time (the b-grade 1990's aesthetics does look a bit embarrassing). Nevertheless I was impatient for the main guy & girl meeting each other again, for which I had to wait through 6 episodes. Which were veery long. Took more than 1/3 series runtime.
That included of course many action scenes, which were over the top (Oliver Bever can't help himself), but I only cared about when the guy finally recognizes his supposedly dead girlfriend. There are production videos shown in the end of each episode and it's so funny watching the whole team putting so much effort to create scenes that get mostly skipped through as unwatchable. I almost dropped this before it really started. But it's like two faces of the same coin: what's the show's weakness is also its strength. Because of that oldschool naivety, the romance line is the more endearing. Same like in 'Lep Krut'.
Therefore, at the end of episode 7, finally I cared about a fight scene I was watching... What a couple scene, LOLz. I think I mentioned already in my review for 'Lep Krut', that I haven't watched such stuff since 'La Femme Nikita', which was 1997. No one makes stuff like that TODAY, lolz. None except Oliver Bever:D Episode 13 there is another hot scene, or rather a wet scene, lol. Apart from maing guy & main girl, some people are freaky, some killings are brutal and no matter all the heavy weaponry or sci-fi gadgets, still we watch long fistfights most of the screentime.
In the end, I rate a bit higher than 'Lep Krut', because I had a better fun watching this. And judging from the behind the scenes videos, so did the makers of this:)
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