Note: This was actually a comment I edited

The Good:

Refreshing couple with en ML and an FL that are just made for each other with sizzling chemistry and lovely costumes on top. He's an introvert, she's a sassy, spicy, pampered girl who falls for his charm and goes for what she wants to his utter despair. He tries to resist, but nobody can resist Anong and her fancy charm especially with such a wardrobe, Audrey Hepburn style.

Anong is just plain fun, and seeing Wichai try to resist it is pure fun ^^

Yaya does a terrific job playing this FL who is ahead of her time and just a bit too avant-garde for her peers. Seing her irritate the hell out of her future monster in law is one of the few highlight of this drama.

Now... On to the Bad.

The BAD:

Do you like misunderstandings?
Do you like people not communicating, assuming things and running with their ideas?
Do you like family tropes where an evil mother with a screeching voice ruins everything around her but still gets forgiven by the end because of.... Thai drama?
Do you like mental abuse?

Well, I'm glad to hear it because you get that in SPADES in this one. FRUSTRATION is the main feeling I felt watching this apart from Episode 12 to 15/16 which focused on our lovely couple.

For me, the main issue stems from the fact that in an effort to make people like Wichai more and create more drama, they had to make his mother utterly detestable. Wichai needs to be painted as somebody responsible so he gets a younger (or older) sister who is a widow, a little brother who is a man-child causing trouble everywhere and a mother that is so shitty I don't want to talk about. And the issue is, without resorting to these tropes, this drama would have been perfect. Some side characters are here to add some opposition or support to their love but in a mild way that isn't as ANNOYING as Wichai's family (apart from his niece and his sister).

They could have portrayed Wichai as a rightful introverted judge paying his family's debt, falling in love with a scandalous extraverted socialite he believed he had no chance with and who wouldn't fit his image and his mother hating her for generational reasons with both women learning from each other at some point. It could have been this simple and this drama would have been a delight from start to finish. Of course it wouldn't have been worth 19 episodes but at most 10 but since this is a lakhorn, I guess they needed to ruin it with useless FRUSTRATING drama.

As per many lakhorn I've tried to watch, there's lots of useless meandering and not getting to the point which made this series feel overly long. Again, this would have been easily resolved by removing all the extra useless plot points mostly there because of how awful the mother has been characterized. Which is just SAD because even without depicting the mother this way, there was plenty of reasons for a "normal" mother of that time to be opposed to Anong in the first place.

1. Status: Wichai comes from a modest family compared to Anong. The mother could have feared Wichai being mistreated by Anong's family especially since she has 4 brothers.
2. Anong working: Anong has her own shop, her own money and her own business. She had employees and so on... I don't have to remind you how rare it was in that time to have women have that much financial independence and more importantly to continue working after marriage.
3. Anong is a socialite. She's always on magazines and poses in "scandalous" outfits. All men are pursuing her, and she's known to be a flirt. Not the type of woman you want to see associated with your son.

By the same token, there were plenty of "normal" reasons", Anong's brothers could have opposed this relation:

1. Status: They're clearly not from the same world.
2. Money: Wichai is not there for their sister, he's here for the money. He wants to use Anong as a stepping stone to gain influence and power in his career as a judge.
3. Wichai is a widow.
4. Wichai is the eldest son. He is responsible for his siblings and his mother. Which means that Anong who has always been spoiled by her brothers is going to be his last priority.

There was lots of ways they could have created "natural drama" in the setting of this story. In fact, they could have used the setting to their advantage in that respect. This is an adaptation from a book I've yet to read so I guess they tried to stick to it but this is one instance where the adaptation should have done its work and adapt it to modern audience. Expecting viewers today to accept that parents can behave the way this mother did and still receive forgiveness is ridiculous. You've noticed I've not spoken about Chantorn or Chut or other side characters. Not that there's nothing to say but I consider them part of the "useless meandering" ... Actually Chantorn and Chut are relevant to the story of the main couple but once they got together, their relevance just dissapear. Another unexplored plot device that deserved more .

Final rating 5

I'll leave below the final rant/comment I wrote after finishing the last episode.


I just can't get past the mother. She deserves no forgiveness. Everyone acts like they forgot the years of mental abuse and the fact that she left Choi to live in poverty never visiting her and her niece until her husband died + forcing Wichai to marry a woman he didn't love and then mentally torturing said woman (who basically was only a tool to pay their debt) until she committed suicide.
And I'm not even talking about all the general slurs she used on a daily basis talking about Chantorn, Anong and Wichai's former wife. That is another form of abuse.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!

Final ratings: 5

I know Asian forgiveness is a staple of these family dramas but I just can't forgive nor forget. I love the main couple but Anong forgiving this witch goes beyond my understanding. That's 3 points removed for how IRRITATING, ANNOYING and FRUSTRATING the mother was with her getting an undeserved redemption for crying a little by the end. That might work for some but not for me.
And another 2 point removed for all the misunderstandings. I just hate that trope.

I didn't drop this because of how lovable the main couple was... and all their gorgeous outfits, especially Yaya who was stunningly beautiful from start to finish.... but unfortunately I'm left with feeling mostly frustrated instead of happy by the end of this journey in spite of all the syrup we got in the last episode.

Best traditional lakhorn I've seen this year ( and I dropped MANY)... Still not one I would qualify as a good drama unfortunately.
Given how the ratings is currently at 8, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is deeply dissatisfied with how this drama played out.