Jao Sao Salatan (2014)

This is a pretty solid lakorn with bits of romance, comedy, and annoying characters to piss you off!

Story (8/10) - Heroine basically takes over her twin sisters' life in order to track her down after finding out she went missing. There she is met with her sisters' fiancee and his family who are extremely hostile to her after she left him at the alter and was found to be having supposed relations with other men. She endures their physical and emotional abuse with her strength and her natural ability to make others smile. With secrets and misunderstandings here and there, arguments occur almost every episode.

Acting/Cast (7/10) - Kwan (heroine) is good in her role. She can easily smile and pull off that "I can give away my pride and be shameless to get what I want." She doesn't hold back in her comedic side for this role. Whereas Aom (male lead) is ok but not really moments where he stood out that made me think Wow! He's amazing.

Music (5/10) - I actually don't remember much about the music but I didn't hate it so I guess I'll put in the middle.

Rewatch Value (7.5/10) - I'd rewatch this because I actually like the chemistry between these two. They also have another drama together Hua Jai Teuan.

Overall (7.5/10) - Typical solid lakorn. I hate the family members as usual but the chemistry between the leads made it cute and funny to continue till the end.

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TL;DR - A romcom that I actually enjoyed and was well casted. However, there are a lot of filler episodes that are skippable but can get annoying. If you don't mind that the leads only really get together in the end, I'd say to give it a watch.

I pretty much started watching this after seeing Ohm in Ubathteehet and the plot line in this one interested me the most, so I gave it a watch. This is totally a romcom and they’re usually not my cup of tea as the execution is generally lacking, but I actually thought it was done well here. I laughed, I cringed, and I swooned. I will start off with what I enjoyed first.

Off the top, my favourite part about this lakorn was the cast, from the main leads, to secondary, to even the villains. It was surprising to see character development for everyone (except the villains) and my fav was Nin’s development from a spoiled brat to someone with a bigger heart (loved how she accepted her half bro). I honestly did not expect to see any development and the fact that even some of the secondary had some was great. There were also some lovable secondary cast members like Ping (MVP) and the servants that really made the lakorn funny and the filler episodes less annoying. Pracha has to be one of my fav villains with how much of a shitstirrer he was and was the kind of character you love to hate (also a very good looking guy haha). Bravo to the cast director and whoever wrote these characters, because I had a fun time watching them and they all did well in their roles. 

We can’t really talk about good characters without mentioning the FL, Khem, who pretty much was the star of the show. She was one of the only reasons why I continued to watch up to ep 8 with how unapologetically herself she was, how she stood up for herself, cutting through everyone’s bs, and how she was the type where actions spoke louder than words. I admired her very much. She never lost her spunk near the end. The only complaint I have was how heavy her makeup was at times and how she had fake nails where I felt it wasn’t appropriate. 

The 2nd ML Yo also has a special place in my heart, as he was another reason why I was able to get through the first 8 eps. I thought he was a typical dumb 2nd ML who was blindly in love with the FL, but over time the things he would do for her really melted my heart and made me think he deserved better. He always had her back. I though there would be a 2ndary love line  with the 2nd FL but this surprisingly didn’t manifest (hinted near the end) and I actually liked this route much better. 

Now getting into aspects of the drama I was on the fence about; first, the story. The beginning 7 eps were not good as there was repetitive scheming and plotting, and the ML was getting to be quite unlikable. However mid ep 8 the ML finally got some common sense and became more gentlemanly; the plot also picked up with Khem’s identity exposed. However, the story would follow a pattern where one ep would have an explosion of events happening but then subsequent eps would have filler and side drama that didn’t contribute to the main story. Some were watchable, some weren’t. Of course, this content was easily skippable but it would get too much with how much I was skipping and I eventually lost interest (it took me 5 months to come back and finish this). I wished they’d focus on the main plot line more. However, I do admit that they did a good job in having a coherent and somewhat believable story that carried throughout the show. I also actually laughed at some of the dramatic plot lines and funny scenes, which I can’t say for other romcoms I’ve watched. 

Now you can’t have a romcom without the rom and I was on the fence about this too. I didn’t like how initially both leads were falling for eo when it made absolutely no sense for them to do so. Then Khem’s identity was exposed and their relationship progression was so much better; full of chemistry and cute bickering. Both were stubborn to a fault which both entertained but also frustrated me. They had a Tom and Jerry type of relationship and didn’t really get together until the last episode, both of which is not my fav. Their kiss scenes were hot garbage lol. However I did swoon when they were being romantic, and enjoyed their petty arguments, so overall I give the romance a pass. 

All in all, this was a romcom that I actually enjoyed. I liked the music in this, and thought it was super cute that the main leads sang the opening theme song. Not something I would rewatch due to the filler. I think that if you can get through the beginning eps and are okay with skipping over filler, I’d recommend you give it a watch. 

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