Majurat See Nam Pueng (2013)

First off the bat - this is what it is, a lakorn. It has cultural specific behaviors and attitudes that don't cross between all cultures and nations. Just like the behaviors of nasty girls, promiscuous boys and drug dealers from American shows like Gossip Girl or The Vampire Diaries don't sit well with many other cultures, you have take this storyline with a grain of salt. Not everyone in Thailand is like this, I'm sure, but most people there would probably recognize the stock characters.

Cast - Well, let's take a look at the cast first: Ken (Wonpuapan Theeradeth) plays the lead - Paat. He's a tea farmer, not terribly well behaved or educated but proud of rebuilding his family fortune and farm. I'm sure it's a part that Ken could play in his sleep but he really made you feel his sadness and anger at what he viewed as betrayals from his deceased wife and society in general. Yes, he's got a few friends and his workers see him as fair but that's about it. Think, walking thundercloud. It's a convincing act!

Every grumpy/mean lead needs a heroine to change him. In this drama, it's Namtarn (Wongsarattanasin Pichukkana) playing Rojanasnai, the innocent heroine. Friendly, good to her family (who does not treat her well as she's the adopted daughter) and a good student. Plucky to a certain extent but your are mostly believing it because she seems like a genuinely nice person. I've read this ingenue part was her debut role and she acted it convincingly.

The other main parts are all acted convincingly so I guess these actors did their parts well. Only a few seemed over the top and that eventually toned down. If you watch lakorns, you'll be familiar with the stereotypical roles - foolish servant vs. the proud servant, the brave soldier (in this case, the police officer), the villainous drug dealer, the humble, hardworking farmers, the ferocious beauty, the spoiled sister, etc. One item of note - the older actors playing the dads, moms, etc. were especially good.

Plot: Their forced-cohabitation romance comes about because their families' promises to wed their children together. It's a classic asian dam trope but with more of a city/country clash to it. He thinks she's too soft and she'll give up on the marriage. There is a fair amount of revenge-based behavior but it doesn't get too bad. In the script, his friends and mother know what he's trying to do and tell him to cut it out - but it still isn't something you'd want to experience. The side characters and plots - the women who want Paat, the drug dealers who want Paat to stop interfering in their trade and the guys who like Rojanasnai - all are well done. Even the monstrously bad behavior of her obviously mentally-unbalanced sister (whose been spoiled because her parents don't want to set her off) has some believable aspects. There are also some nostalgic plot lines involving the Hmong people now living in Thailand. Outside of the "will they or won't they fall in love" plot line - the most obvious storyline is about how lovely living in the Thai countryside is. The countryside and the tea plantation is filmed beautifully and seems like ad for Thai tourism at times.

Music: Nothing terribly special but nice. It doesn't overpower the plot although the theme song does get used a lot at what were probably commercial breaks.

Rewatch Value: You know, if it popped up on my playlist, I'd rematch it. Ken and Namtarn made a nice, believable couple There were some nice kisses and some witty dialogue. The countryside looked very soothing. I'm not watching lakorns for realistic, gritty modern life so, yes, it has a pretty high re-watch value.

I hope I'm not making this sound horribly bland. It's not a ground-breakingly exciting drama but it isn't the worst thing out there. It might help you acquire a taste for Thai lakorns.

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A romantic old fashion lakorn in the mountains

I came to this lakorn on Soju's recommendation ( ｡◕‿◕｡ ) (but watched it in speed X1.25 because the production was really slow).

It's not so old, but it's a very old-fashioned lakorn, hyper melodic (the FL spends at least half of her scenes crying) and with characters who are not always coherent (FL who accepts marriage, but tries to escape until she arrives to the farm; FL2 and FL3 also have ridiculous behavior).

Plot: A "nice" (the typical innocent and naive FL) adopted girl agrees to replace her sister in an arranged marriage (to pay off debts) with a rich, rough, widowed farmer embittered by his first marriage.

We find all the clichés of the lakorns: slap/kiss, hate/love, stubborn love rivals (and sometimes evil), drug trafficking, rape, pregnancy, etc. All this within the framework of a tea plantation and with a hyper moralizing message => Be good to others, forgive all their bad deeds.... and then you can be happy :) :)

Fortunately, this drama also has some good points:
- a bit of humor,
- a very tough but handsome and talented ML,
- very beautiful landscapes
- the discovery of local cultures
- intense OTPs,
- Many endearing secondary characters.

I love :) ;) the happy endings of the lakorns where the great evils have a sudden realization and repent in the last episode! Let the bad guys be punished, okay. But the last-minute repentance is hard to swallow :)
Final comment: fan of lakorns, I always have trouble with music (omnipresent) and fashion (women's outfits supposedly sexy, would be considered in Europe as very vulgar)!

The undeniable talent of the leads actors and very cute OTPs allow you to have a great time if you are a little indulgent.
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Je suis venue à ce lakorn sur recommandation de Soju ( ｡◕‿◕｡ ) (mais regardé en speed 1,25 car réalisation lente).

Il n'est pas si vieux mais c'est un lakorn très old-fashion, hyper mélo (la FL passe au moins la moitié de ses scènes à pleurer) et avec des personnages pas toujours cohérents (FL qui accepte le mariage, mais tente jusqu'à la ferme de s'échapper - FL2 et FL3 au comportement ridicule).

Plot : Une "gentille" fille adoptée accepte de remplacer sa sœur dans un mariage arrangé (pour payer les dettes) avec un fermier riche, rude et veuf aigri par son 1e mariage.

On y retrouve tous les clichés des lakorns : slap/kiss, hate/love, rivaux amoureux entêtés (et parfois evils), trafic de drogue, viol, grossesse, etc. Tout cela dans le cadre d'une plantation de thé et avec un message hyper moralisateur => Soyez bon avec les autres, pardonnez toutes leurs mauvaises actions.... et vous pourrez être heureux :) :)

Heureusement, ce drama a aussi quelques bons points :
- un peu d'humour,
- un ML très dur mais beau et talentueux,
- de très beau paysages
- la mise en valeur des cultures locales
- des OTP intenses,
- De nombreux personnages secondaires attachants.

J'adore :) ;) les happy end des lakorns où les evils ++ ont une soudaine prise de conscience et se repentent dans le dernier épisode ! Que les méchants soient punis, OK. Mais l'ultime repentir, ça a du mal à passer :)
Dernière remarque : fan de lakorns, j'ai toujours du mal avec la musique (omniprésente) et la mode (les tenues des femmes supposées sexy, seraient considérées en Europe comme très vulgaires) !

Le talent indéniable des acteurs et de très cute OTP permettent de passer un excellent moment si on est un peu indulgent.

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The Devil Who Owns A Tea Farm & His Bride

Based on a novel written by the writer Ubpatam Kongkaew and published as early as the 1960s or 1970s, Majurat See Nampeung or Honey-coloured God of Death is a slap-kiss drama set in exquisite mountain farmlands with greeny and scenery to fill my beauty-loving heart to the brim.

The drama's tone is quite melodramatic, focusing on filial piety, patriotism, equality, and forgiveness above all. It is quite multi-layered, focusing not only on the main leads but also multiple characters as we see their growth or deterioration as the drama progresses.

I will admit that there is weak writing in terms of the main leads, and points within the plot that made no sense, or left me underwhelmed.

For example, when one of the second female leads ended up getting pregnant after being raped by another man, she shows up at the FL's house and proclaims that the baby is hers and the MLs. When the ML clearly states that he had never had sex with the second female lead in question (which I believe is because he was an A-class woman hater), the female lead continues to speak as if the ML could be the father. I found that quite stupid.

Another example I would like to present is the lack of clear presentation of the progression of the FLs love towards the ML. I found myself silently rationalizing her emotions because there was a disconnect between this aspect of the drama and me. On the other hand, I saw the ML's progression very clearly as the script team did a good job in that aspect.

In addition to that, this drama has the craziest second female lead (FL's sister) I have ever had the displeasure of seeing in my lakorn viewing journey. It might be unreasonable but I don't think I will ever be able to like any of the characters this actress plays anymore.

I think that if someone is able to endure the disrespect that the ML puts the FL through for the first 8 to 9 episodes, they will enjoy the point forward as once the ML sees that the FL is genuine about him and his farm — not leaving him when he faces adversities and is jailed — he completely unknots his heart and acts like a sweet little boy who is experiencing his first love, as he goes about decorating the house in candles and preparing 3 dishes for her.

In summary, I will list down the good points and cautionary points of this drama below:

[CAUTION]
+ Most shameless and crazy SFL (FL's sister)
+ Unclear presentation of how FL falls in love with FL
+ I think the "mistreatment" phase could have been cut shorter, at least EP7?
+ Extreme levels of mistreatment and disrespect from ML to FL in EP1-9
+ TW: Implied rape (Side character)

[GOOD POINTS]
+ The OST is so beautiful!
+ The scenery of the mountains, and the tea, strawberry, and flower farms are so beautiful!
+ A good mother-in-law for the FL.
+ Most evil characters reflect and we see organic growth by the end.
+ Happy ending for main leads
+ Overall, if you don't mind the drama, it was entertaining.

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Goodness vs Bitterness

This drama attempts to illustrate the virtues of goodness and kindness over bitterness and vengeance.
Show gets off to a cracking start, the female lead is gutsy with oodles of perseverance while the male lead is an angry, bitter jerk. I enjoyed the first eleven episodes, the war of wills between the two leads is at times entertaining and heart wrenching; It's an arduous climb for the show to reach the plateau of realisation, when both characters acknowledge their growing attachment to each other. It's at this point that the show goes downhill for me; the female lead became so submissive and self sacrificing to an illogical extent, she happily became the punching bag of any character that chose to bully her, this was intensely annoying to watch and contributed to my decreased interest in the show. I do so wish she had retained her spunk from earlier in the show.

The supporting cast is well represented, I enjoyed Potawee especially. The female antagonists are particularly horrible, especially Pok who actually should have been checked into a mental asylum very early on.
The standout performance in this drama is of course by Ken, he is intensely engaging and convincing in his role of the tortured and angry Pat. In my opinion he doesn't deserve this kind of bad script because he's such an awesome actor who shines in all his roles. Indeed the female lead actress was out of her depth playing opposite him, the imbalance is plain to see.

I wouldn't rewatch this but I will say the first ten episodes are entertaining, if you ignore the female lead's buckets of tears lol!

Music is ok but not varied, there are mainly two songs that are on repeat.

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TYPICAL

This drama was typical lakron. parents Marry off an adopted girl to a rich guy. Because the guy paid the money he feels as if he had bought the girl. The girl also asked money desperately for his parents and agrees to marriage but she is was the most stupid character. She was always playing house pretending to be a princess with a flower crown and scarf in her hair. She seemed childish. She wants money but why would anyone pay if he doesn't get anything in return. Even the housemaids do work but that girl was doing nothing.
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I absolutely don’t mean that being a housewife one must do house chores but in this drama, she seemed like she got paid for doing nothing. All the characters were annoying ML, SML, SFL but FL was the most annoying character all the time.
The story goes well when some hate chemistry develops. The two SFLs who keep on grabbing the ML were the typical character of the lakron world who lay eyes on men with money even if they are married or their sister's husband.

It took me a while to finish because I couldn’t stand the annoyance of the characters. They are horrible. If the actors had acted deeply according to their characters it would have made a good watch. only the ML, Ken has done a good job justifying his character. he acted out well in anger, sadness everything

The scenery of the tea farm was good although

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