Nohra (2016)

I just don’t get why I’ve read so many bad reviews…

So I started this because I’ve seen pictures of Mike and I found him so handsome I wondered what he was worth as an actor… I picked this drama amongst many others but I had read many bad reviews so I didn’t expect much…
AND I JUST LOVED IT !! So much that I made a cd of it to watch it on my TV and I often spent night re-watching it for relax
I loved this for many reasons.
This story is very Cinderella-like. Norah is terribly mistreated by the one she believes to be her father, her stepsister (whom she believes to be her half-sister) and her stepfather’s mistress (who can then be considered as her stepmother). However, that doesn’t mean Norah is weak. She has no problem in hitting back her stepsister. She can perfectly defend herself, whether facing evil girls, evil men or the male lead, whether using her words or her hands. Moreover, Bow is very graceful and beautiful in this part and you just love her as this Cinderella. Of course, despite her strength, she sometimes really suffers injustice, especially coming from the one she believes her father. Many people called her stupid but I actually understand her : after all, she believed he was her father for 18 years and only wanted his love, suffering to see such a different treatment between her and her stepsister, even though, she eventually understands she can't wait anything from him, much before learning he's not her father. I also really admired Norah’s relationship with her mother : all along the drama, Norah is pushed to great lengths to help her mom but does it without hesitation (even selling herself to Kanchit, not knowing he’s willing to lend her money without asking anything in return). All along, both mother and daughter support each other through their trials and they get their strength from each other
I also really liked the male lead, Kanchit, played by Mike Pattaradet. Kanchit only met shallow and materialistic women in his life, and only suffered hurt from them, which made him quite pessimistic. So when he meets Norah, he appears to her like a rogue, a player, someone who sees women as toys. But Kanchit almost immediately falls for Norah, not just for her beauty, but for her fierceness. He first encourages her into thinking he’s a man who buys women to test whether she would give in to his money. Seeing how she slaps his money into his face, he’s only more and more charmed. I just loved seeing him falling more and more for Norah, even laughing when she would slap him or his mistress. Mike is awesome playing a man in love : the simple look on his eyes is full of love and fascination when he looks at Norah and I think an actor who can act with his eyes is very precious. I didn’t mind his player ways : first, he was being honest about being a player and never lied to his mistresses about the fact that they shouldn’t expect anything from him, neither love nor marriage, only sex and money ; but more importantly, it was actually cute to see how differently he would treat his past mistresses and Norah, making it obvious that for him, Norah was not just a new conquest but the one he wanted to marry as a wife and spend his life with, and that what he didn’t just want to win over her bit but that getting her heart was truly his most sincere wish
so the main couple is one of the reasons why I love this drama. The actors are awesome, they had a great chemistry and their relationship was so beautiful : at some point, Norah could only change her views about Kanchit as he proved his love, his loyalty and his devotion to her when she was thought to be disfigured due to some event. While everyone pitied, mocked or run away from her, Kanchit silently stayed at her side, and did everything to help her, even when he thought she had lost her beauty. This was just so beautiful and it felt great to see Norah finally realizing Kanchit’s true value and sincere feelings. And this is only a peak of the iceberg : Kanchit had actually done even more for her, secretly hiring a lawyer for Norah’s mother when she was in jail, investigating Norah’s background to help her escape her step-family’s cruelty and even lending her money when her mom was kidnapped). The light slap-and-kiss aspect made it spicy, Kanchit’s love for her was so touching, their chemistry was great and seeing him teasing her only gave butterflies in my belly
There were also plenty of twists and new events through the drama. What I loved most is that no even was left hazardly. Whenever the villains would plot in any way against Norah and her mother, their actions would soon or later, in one way or another. EVERY ACTION. So in my opinion, the script was greatly written.
I also LOVED seeing karma hit the villains : you can see them slowly but surely falling into a hell they created by themselves with their misdeeds. Norah’s stepfather, his mistress and his daughter all deeply suffer the consequences of their actions : for example, when Prung (the aunt/adopted mother of Kaengkae, Norah’s stepsister) tries to have Norah raped, this results in Kaengkae being raped (GOD, it felt good). This is the beginning of their punishment and their living hell (this also felt good as Kaengkae’s father was himself a rapist : now, he must see his beloved daughter suffering of what he’s done himself to other women)
So seeing them receiving their karma feels GREAT and this is written beautifully (we’re even allowed to see Norah slapping Kaengkae without being slapped by her father, this one even understanding). Not only they receive their sufferings but they slowly plunge into hell, even making themselves suffer only more by fighting between themselves while getting the rage to see Norah and her mother’s life getting better despite them trying to hurt the both of them ; and we even got the most unexpected slaps that felt incredibly good.
Some of the characters that first opposed Norah even repented (too late or not, that would depend of the character) : Norah’s stepdad is the best example as he would slowly understand, from the moment his daughter was raped, that his past actions are coming to him, something that also applies to his mistress and daughter ; he also understands that he made his daughter an awful by spoiling her and teaching her cruelty and that what she’s enduring (seeing Kanchit, the man she loves, preferring Norah) is her fault ; and finally, he gets that Norah and her mom are getting good things because they did good.
So, the karma is written with some beautiful symmetry, that made sure that every action would come back to the character. This symmetric system was also used for opposing various characters : I even observed that with Kanchit’s rival, Songpope : when Kanchit first appears like a rogue, Songpope seems like a sweet and nice guy ; when Norah hates Kanchit, she kinda likes Songpope ; and when she gets disfigured, Songpope is revealed to be a shallow and selfish young man who gives up Norah, actually liking only her beauty while Kanchit is actually the one who truly loves Norah ; and when Songpope tries to go back to Norah because she actually didn’t lose her beauty, she starts despising him, while getting closer and closer to Kanchit ; and when Norah and Songpope are about to get engaged (for some stupid reason) because Songpope wants to get revenge on her and Kanchit by breaking them up and then dumping her to humiliate her, he actually is the one who gets dumped just before the engagement by Norah who runs to Kanchit. Karma again. Beautiful.
I also liked that EVERY character had a use to the story and that all of them were very different.

So as usual, I wrote a completely messy too long review.
All to say, I don’t get why many people didn’t like this : talented actors, beautiful love story, an intrigue full of twists and turns, a beautiful karma.
The only real flaw is that the main couple didn’t get enough love scenes together. Also, at some point, you get sick of the misunderstandings between them (you just want to scream at them « OH GOD, GET MARRIED/TOGETHER FOR GOOD, FOR GOD’S SAKE ! ») and I think the writer should have made this a bit shorter.

Also now, I’m really depressed that Bow joined Channel 3 because it means she won’t pair up with Mike again 😭

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