Mon Garn Bandan Ruk (2019)

I'll be upfront and admit that there were only 2 reasons why I watched this drama; first being that it was the only drama that I interested in watching on the index page on my streaming site and secondly, I just discovered Bow from the drama with Nadech and loved her looks and performance. Sadly though, I was disappointed with the story.


STORY

The weak storytelling and wasted opportunities to explore and exploit the time travel gimmick was the most disappointing thing about the drama beside the very poor pacing all too common in lakorns.

Nang'ek travels to the future and finds herself married to a total stranger, she fends off his amorous advances because she rightfully see's him as a stranger all the while trying to see if she can go back to the past. She can't understand why she married him as her spec is the Oppa type and not a mixed, she meets her type by chance and misunderstanding ensue between the couple which is further exacerbated by the 2 women that seem to be interested in her husband. Aoey (Mik) treats her very well and affectionately and she slowly starts to fall for him.

P'ek is bewildered by the sudden weird behaviour of his wife who no longer wants to have any physical or intimate contact with him. He showers her with affection for the first 11 episodes but feel upset that she might be cheating on him with a man at her workplace.

All this played out with the backdrop of conflict in nang'ek workplace and crime at p'ek school.

The pacing was horrible as the the chase by the p'ek happened over 11 episodes with the nang'ek being cold ;for the most part, to his actions even though she cleary had fallen for him but didn't admit it to herself. Until p'ek left at episode 12 and my first reaction was "som nom na" was when she finally admitted that she loved him.

Then she finally got to travel back to the past, however that only happened in the middle of the second to last episode. We then got to see her chase him in a very rushed paced ending. I felt that she should have travelled back around episode 11 and then we would have had a funny and light story about her chasing him for a few episodes to counter balance all the episodes of him chasing her. Wasted opportunity by the writers to flip the story the other way, but what we got was episode after episode of filler followed by a rush ending.

ACTING/CAST

I'm not a big fan of Mik but he did a decent job playing Aoey. He seemed more expressive and comfortable than some of his other roles and I was impressed in the scene when he confronted her about the biscuits and left. However Bow definitely overshadowed him with her performance not just because this was a nang'ek centric lakorn, she was just the stronger actor. The chemistry between them was great and was the only thing that kept me watching.

MUSIC

Nothing special and memorable but it wasn't total trash, just generic.

REWATCH

No I would not watch it again, poor pacing, rushed ending but I admit the chemistry was great and I loved past Bow with short hair.

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Looks more like untreated brain damage than time travel

We have quite compelling premise, more than likeable main couple cast, yet it's kind of... off, since the very 1st episode. The main girl acts out, spills the first minute that she traveled to the future, yet the person whom she tells this to - her mother - acts like she can't be bothered, she leaves her to deal with all the things AND with her husband all alone, so it's like she haven't told her. Main girl also acts crazy around her husband without sitting quietly for a second to think that (no matter her usual type), she had to have fallen for him else he would not be her husband in the future. Every woman in her place would at least take a good look at the guy, lol. Then she goes to work with NO problem, she is lucky she is working at the same place but still, after several years how the hell does she know what to do? Even the most repetitive work WOULD have some changes. How does she know her daily assignment? The list goes on and on... Basically, her main character keeps to brusquely dismiss things she should think hard about, then she easily does things she should have problem with. Someone did not write this right from the beginning.

Mik's male character is kinda far fetched, too. I get we are to know that he is a nice guy and a loving husband but they are no longer on their honeymoon. Even the nicest guy in the world would not put up with the main girl's behavior, not for this long (I haven't watched this long but I read the other review:) Why should he? He's not paid to be with her, is he? She keeps hurting him, he should react naturally. Again, it's like this got incompetent writer. First, it's said the main girl traveled 3 years into the future. Then all the characters in there say that she is now married for 3 years. If she did not even know him 3 years ago, then they could not already be married for the whole 3 years, right? They needed to meet, and at least briefly date, first. How many years in the future is she, then? Did anyone think before writing this?

So, I could not understand the story, and I could not understand the characters. The girl in her situation could either try telling the guy that the last day she remembers before waking up with him there, was years ago (no matter how crazy it would sound), or try to get along with him. Telling him nothing & treating him like cr*p was the worst option. And also kind of least credible... Like, she was at ease enough with him to almost/insult him? If he was a complete stranger, then I get she didn't want to get intimate, but to behave like this made no sense, either. His reactions, too. It was more like watching people with some kind of brain damage, than characters in comedy/romance.

It's also all very prolonged. Seriously, in her place, had he keep acting that way, I would tell him the truth. She acts like she doesn't have to care. Like she does have some option to get quickly back to the past, so it doesn't matter however she'll act. But she doesn't. We don't see her solving some sci-fi way to travel back. So, she cannot treat her husband like that indefinitely. At one point he takes her at doctor's. Had she told him that for her, before waking up she had short hair and she did not know him because for her, it was year XXXX (I don't know which), then he would probably taken her to a specialist. Nobody believes in time travel, they would probably suppose she had some kind of amnesia... In other words, brain damage, lol. He would also know that he cannot treat her the same. This way, it's going in circles. If this is going to be the only plot, then I'm not sure how many episodes I can withstand...

Dropped by episode 3, which the main heroine spent almost entirely doing crazy stuff to avoid sleeping with her husband (perhaps it would be better if she had... other than prolonging this idiocy even longer, as described in the other review).

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