This one is better acted and has a better flow of events than the 2020 remake for sure. Much more masterfully told, like a story unfolding through the eyes of an elder.
Although, to be fair, the remake is VERY close to this source material. Scenes and lines are almost exact in both versions. So, there are no surprises there other than the lovely "current day" scenes in this version which bring a very nice layer of drawing you into the story that the remake does not have. That's the biggest difference between the shows. That you get to see the FL as an elder throughout the show "reminiscing" and telling her & her mother/grandmother's story to her granddaughter. That's the major difference (the dual timelines)... and the ending, of course.
The acting is a little better and not quite as exaggerated as the remake as well.
The ending here is more beautifully done, but not as "happy" (I guess you could say?) than the remake's ending.
If I had to choose one over the other, I'd choose this one even though the ending is not quite what I'd hoped for after watching the 2020 version first. Still, I'm rating this one a bit higher than the 2020 version.
My issue with this show is the actually story itself which I outlined in my review of the new version. I'll quote a bit of it below.
---FROM MY REVIEW OF THE LITTLE NYONYA (2020 Version) ---
"I felt the "pay off" of the final episode did not match the heartache of 44 straight episodes of torture.
There has to be some kind of balance in a drama like this one and there wasn't any in The Little Nyonya.
At least not enough for me to appreciate everything I had to just sit through.
I guess I expected a story here where the FL had a ton of trials and torture but she not only persevered through it, but triumphed over it, carving out her own destiny in the end. And while you can see that "kind of" was tacked on at the end, in my opinion it was too little too late and not done satisfactorily. Not at all.
All that being said... I didn't hate this show. I rather liked it. Kind of. The acting was great. Chemistry between some of t he characters was well done. I enjoyed the cooking and cultural bits, though I even wish it more heavily influenced the drama, but still it was okay.
But if you're here for romance... while the romance was OK in some instances... the majority of the "love plots" were more painful and destructive than anything else in my eyes. The bad (bad characters, bad romance, bad karma) well outweighed the good.
I just wanted a wee bit more sunshine poking through all the storm clouds that The Little Nyonya was as a drama. I wanted to see some triumph at the end of the torture and in the end, I didn't feel like I got that. At least not enough to make me (personally) happy."