Thep Sam Ruedu (2017)

A Beautiful Remake

Overview:
I absolutely loved the first version of this drama that was released in the 2000s. I've always been a big fan of Thai Boran's, especially the ones with magic and folk stories involved like Sung Tong and Kaew Na Mah. I was kind of late to this remake, but I eventually did watch it. I haven't found any English sub for this drama so I went ahead and just watched it without any English subs. My Thai vocab is very limited so I could only catch the dialogues here and there. However, if you're a fan of Thai Borans and seen the remakes, you know that the storyline is basically the same. There aren't any major changes in the storyline, which I actually appreciated. Out of the majority of the Thai Boran remakes, this one is probably my favorite so far.

Storyline:
I'll post down below in the comments for a more detailed storyline and minor spoilers.

Opinion About the Storyline:
I wasn't too disappointed with the storyline. It was exactly the same as the parent version. However, if you don't like long, draggy, repetitive storylines, you might not like this drama. The storyline is pretty repetitive and the main conflict lasts about 75% of the time. The 25% was the beginning where everything was setting up to the major plot conflict, a little romance here and there, and maybe 0.01% of it was the ending of the conflict. Just when you thought the conflict was solved, just be aware it's not really solved. There were parts where I skipped because it was just VERY long scenes of flashbacks, crying scenes, longing for your loved one scenes, and fighting scenes. If you minus all of those above, instead of a 69 episode drama, you'll probably get around a 45 episode drama. But hey, no complaints with flashbacks with sweet Rahoo in it. For the editing of the drama...yep, Thai Boran CG's are still cringy and terrible as it was 15 years ago. You just have to overcome the unrealistic look of it and you'll get used to it. Out of the three siblings, I loved, loved, LOVED, Rahoo and Suwanaparn's storyline the most. It carried out a little way too much, but it was an upgrade from Piroon's (cheating/affair) love line. Jinda, Ong Isla, and Sam See's love triangle hurt way too much. They never gave us a moment to appreciate Sam See's love for Jinda because he was born and designated to be the "bad guy". I think the overdid Jinda and Ong Isla's sacrificing love for each other and Sam See's jealous love for Jinda, but it wasn't as bad as I remember. Piroon's love story was just not it. I didn't like it in the older version, I still don't like it in this version. He has a kid, a wife, but still went for Absornsuwan. It just wasn't it, like I felt bad for his wife the majority of the time until her jealousy got in the way. Overall, not bad. Still as good as I remember it to be, just a bit longer than I remembered. If anyone is willing to sub for this drama, I would love you forever and more!

Acting/Cast:
Out of all of the acting, I would say Suwanaparn was the best actor/actress out of all of them. She had the most acting experience out of all of the cast and she expressed her character very well. The rest of the cast is pretty new to me. Most of them are the new actors/actresses for almost all of the Thai Boran remakes. The acting isn't too bad, it was enjoyable, but the chemistry isn't quite there yet. Maybe because it's a historical drama when intimacy was a taboo thing back then. I'm actually pretty excited because the couples in here have done other dramas together, so I'm definitely going to check them out. Compared to the previous cast, I would say the casting for this version was on point. I wouldn't change the cast at all, it was perfect.

Music:
You know how it is in Thai borans. There is one main theme song that is pretty upbeat and describes the storyline and it gets overplayed ALL THE TIME. On the other hand, there's one main sad song that gets played during flashbacks, sad scenes, deaths, etc. And there you go, the two songs in the drama.

Rewatch Value:
I would definitely rewatch the sweet and funny moments in this drama, but you'll have to dig for them. However, I would definitely, 100%, will rewatch this whole entire drama if English sub was added to this drama.

Overall:
Overall, not bad, not bad. I think I actually like it better than the parent version. I'm definitely going to have to check out the rest of the new Thai Boran remakes like Kaew Na Mah, Sung Tong, Den Narm Lom Fai, etc (I know, I know, they're like a couple of years old but I just haven't gotten to them yet). Well, definitely do check this out if you have seen the parent version and enjoyed it. Otherwise, I would like to warn new Thai drama watchers, these Thai folk stories seems a bit absurd and different from your typical, sweet, modern-day Thai dramas. However, they are very enjoyable since it's something very refreshing and traditional.

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