Hua Jai Sila (2019)

you have made the right choice to see this bcoz it is one of the best thai drama ever

first of all let me start with the story. it has amazing flow throughout and i could literally feel that i am in the drama with them.
the most important thing about this drama is that they did not stop at the end where the couple got married like in other series they continued a bit further which i think most of us would love because we wait to see the couple together in the whole series and when they are together the series ends so this is not the case with this one.
talking about the cast, OMGGG they were beautiful and had the best chemistry ever. obviously not to mention (bcoz everyone knows) tor was handsome as hell and his aura and coolness was on another level. even FL was good in acting out her emotions very well.
the OST was really good and the music started right on point where it was needed and it made the scenes even better.
so talking about the overall drama it is best just go for it.
i have rewatched it like 10 times already and i don't get bored at all.
so if you are going to watch this, you have made the right choice

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The Revenge plot is the best thing about this series

I wanted something to watch and was going through recommendations that MDL was suggesting to me and came upon this series. I was a little put off as it is 27 episodes and I am not a fan of series with so much episodes. However! I started it and was wrapped up in the story of Tor/ Sila and the revenge that he wants to get against those who tortured him when hw was younger. And...I was entertained.

When Sila was in his revenge mode, this series was at its best. Yes, I agree that there are some things that he did that I totally do not agree with ( sleeping with Min's sister , Khawn, to get his revenge on her). But other than that, Sila was excellent in his revenge plot.

However, from episode 22, that's when I started to loose interest. And that's because the love story starts to take centre stage and where Min and Mam tells Sila to not continue with his revenge. And this series shows me that in revenge stories, I only want to focus on revenge and not on the love story.

Because of how the love storyline takes centre stage, everything wraps up in a happy ending where everyone forgives everyone (well, at least, those who are alive) and leaves me a tad bit dissapointed.

The actor who plays Sila really carried this series and was the reason why I continued on. I was naturally annoyed with the FL from the beginning to the end because she just took everything that her stepmom and sis did to her. In the end, I give this an overall rating of 7.5/10.

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This has been on my list every since I saw the preview of it when it first came out. I had honestly completely forgotten it until a few days ago when I was cleaning out some old saves instagram posts, and decided finally find where this was and watch it.

And I had a BLAST watching this! I did honestly expect something worse yet better at the same time though. The instagram review had saved with a clip from the drama (I knew how it ended so I am happy to start this "mob" drama) said so many wonderful things about it and how it was their favorite Thai drama of all time, so of course I wanted to watch it. Plus, the cast all looked GORGOUS!

I loved how it played out like one of my Grandma's "stories" I used to watch with her growing up with the usual Thai drama twist that I have a love/hate relationship with. I loved how the characters were driven by revenge and how they were willing to do insane things, such as in a soap opera, in order to hurt one another. Literally, in any other drama I have watched, the bad guy usually kills about one or two people per series tops. This one...I feel that both mains that are getting revenge killed about an average of about two to three people per episode. It blew my mind. Plus, it seemed that all the main characters were immune to bullet shots vs the henchmen who would die from a single bullet wound or getting kicked to the ground.

This drams also somehow had a large and small budget at the same time - the locations and houses were beautiful, yet the special effects were so painfully bad that it was comical.

The revenge part of the story, I very much enjoyed. I loved how if you wronged Sida (she also looked like Emily Gilmore from Gilmore Girls & Regina from Once Upon a Time so I kept calling her Emily) in anyway, she would hire someone to kidnap you so she could personally kill you...and how her son and sister were so loyal to her that they would have gone to their grave convinced that Sida had never killed anyone. I loved how Ae was easily blinded by pretty women and if you wounded his character, he would gamble anything anyway to prove you wrong...but never winning. It was very obvious and it cracked me up that everyone knew this was his weakness expect for him. I would have to say though that my two favorite characters/please don't die #1 & #2 were Mam & Plug. Mam was literally the tombraider and was immune to bullets, while Plug was just there trying this best. Lastly, loved Sila/Tor and how he was this badass who came back from the dead and just knew how to take everyone down by their weakness individually.

With that, there were somethings as well that I didn't like so much. Beginning with Sila/Tor and his romance with Min. I honestly...felt very conflicted about it. Both characters were on complete ends of the revenge scale - Tor/Sila wanted to get absolute revenge for the death of his mother and the attempted murder of him, while Min "accepted" the abuse of her step mother and half sister in hopes that they would see that she wasn't a "stray dog." They grew up together and fell in love as kids, but were separated by the supposed death of Tor, until ep one when Min recognizes him. Tor does everything in his power to make Min leave him alone (as she kept getting in his business trying to prove that he was Tor, and siding with the people he was trying to get revenge on to prove her point), which include making her try to hate him, by being very aggressive and forcing himself onto her. It made me feel very uncomfortable, as Min kept coming back trying to prove she was right and realizing that her was trying to hurt her family, and trying to protect the people who abused her. It made me feel uncomfortable, and tried to validate that he was doing it to protect her, but it went on for so long that I started to think Tor/Sila as a person was honestly... terrifying. I saw it as him abusing her... even though he was he did it so she wouldn't get hurt in his revenge plot, but instead Min started getting abused by the two sides she was fighting to stop and protect.

Besides Tor/Sila and his aggressive love life...I liked him as a character. He was a perfect example of a tragic hero, who needed to lose everything in order to realize he was wrong. Don't get me wrong, every time he challenged Ae or Sida (like when he went full on Kakeguri on Ae) I rooted for him! He had all the necessary pieces to get his revenge and win, except for the fact that he had people he loved who were easy targets.

Min, on the other hand, was a broken record. From the beginning she needed to prove that Sila was Tor so she but into his business whenever she has the chance. That was her first goal. When she finally got the truth, her second and main main goal was to try and convince Sila that forgiveness is better than revenge. Which is great... but she kept saying it to him and trying to convince him in the same way over and over and over again...where I am like...dude... try to do it in another way. Clearly, the way you are doing it is not getting through to him.

It literally took Sila loosing everything for him to realize what his aunt had been telling him for years and then randomly in the final two or three episodes...he was this 180 reborn guy who needed to spread the new word of forgiveness. Which honestly made me dislike this drama and the way things ended with Sida & Sila. It was necessary and I am happy for everyone at the end, but it just didn't make sense to me and maybe it is just because of the dialogue.

Even though I didn't like Tor/Sila and Min's relationship as well as the ending, I had a great time watching this. At some point, I called in work sick so I could spend a whole day watching this drama.

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Mixed-feelings and draining emotions but very impressive drama❤︎

It took me a long time to finish this lakorn, but the feeling of satisfaction was worth it when I finished watching it!!! I think this drama is really "something" extraordinary.

This lakorn tells about the revenge of a stepson, Tor, against his evil stepmother and stepbrother and even attempted murder when Tor was still child.

Tor was thought to be dead but in fact he was still alive and even became a rich man who then took the opportunity to seek revenge when he grew up.

While making plans for revenge, he met his old female friend when he was little, Mintra. She was the person who always helped Tor when he was being abused by his mother and stepbrother, even though Mintra herself was also a stepdaughter in her family.

Tor always threw his old identity away but Mintra believed that Tor was her little friend so she always pestered Tor to force him to admit it.

Apart from targeting his stepmother and stepbrother, he also targeted Min's step sister, who always unite with his stepbrother to bullying him.

Tor fell in love with Min since childhood and when he saw her again, the feeling of love returned but he couldn't because he had to carry out his mission. He would rather take revenge than live with the person he loves.

There are many plots that I think are very painful and I don't agree, such as Tor dating and even sleeping with Min's stepsister, then Tor always using force on Min even though he really loves her, but this means there are many lessons that can be learned from this lakorn. There is no benefit in taking revenge, in fact you will lose many people you love.

I rewatched this drama several times but only the sweet part because it was very tiring too much conflict. I admit this drama is very good and I even recommend it to people. This lakorn also made me interested in watching other Thai dramas.─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

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I watched 2007 version first. I rated it 5.0 perfect average, and told myself the "story" was definitely not a material worthy of dragging to THIRTY ONE episodes. And that Bie Sukrit was kinda lame in such role (but then, which role he wasn't? lol). But I thought: with Tor Thanapob, newer soundtrack, and generally more sass this might be way juicier. So, before seeing a single minute of it, I was sure that 2019 version MUST be better;)

Now, I seriously consider the opening credits and the title song interesting... Sadly, probably more than the lakorn itself:-p Tor Thanapob is considerably better actor than Bie Sukrit. Nevertheless, the Sila role is a bit ridiculous all the same, as he still looks kinda like a brat (even in a tuxedo) who is younger than his mark: the sophisticated hi-so girl he is supposed to seduce.

There is also the young and pretty nang'ek, but it's Noon Siraphan who steals the screen presence for herself and has a special spark with Tor Thanapob. Sadly, she's to play his aunt... But I do remember Tor from his older girl & younger guy romance on Club Friday, so I can't help seeing it here;)

I know I sound like I'm contradicting myself, but it's just how it is: Tor looks lame when trying to impress 2 years older girl, but works well with 12 years older woman. Such is the truth:) As for his "chemistry" with the lead girl, first kiss is right in episode 5, and it's not a good kiss. But no worries, nothing can be worse than 'Hua Jai Sila 2007'. At least, here we can listen to a good song, lol. Episode 6 repeats the kiss at exactly the same "quality", only wet version:) The water adds more dramatic effect to the kiss that uses grand gesture and camera angle to hide there's nothing much to it.

The story is draggy, because usually this kind of story is that the little girl who was nasty to the little boy when they were young is his target when he grows up and wants to get even, but then he falls for her. Instead, we have two girls. So it has this kinda double, surplus feel (same as the old version). With the nang'ek who was just his friend and who has nice mild personality, they hardly share much exciting dynamics... Still, they keep having these kiss scenes that look uncomfortable and unconvincing. The girl is pretty, but also pretty uninteresting. One could wish he would go for the "mean sister" instead, for it to be more exciting: but when at episode 12-13 we get to see that, it sadly doesn't make a better watch. Clearly that actress didn't want to do onscreen kiss much either yet her character was supposed to be the one to take initiative and to be aggressive in bed, which makes the "passionate scenes" look even more awkward.

What IS enjoyable is watching the side-characters, especially those who come from the dubious world of prostitution. They are ironically the most respectable characters far and wide. Already mentioned Noon Siraphan portrays hell of a woman, who brought pra'ek up, but the mention deserves also Pai Sitang and others.

Tor & Noon scenes are the best. Tor & Fern scenes, or Tor & Raviyanun scenes absolutely cannot compare. So, more than the romance line with the two sisters, I enjoyed their love line (love ties are stronger than blood ties:) of adopted relatives.

As I watched this already, I remember that even though the main guy got in bed with both the sisters, I somehow didn't find it that important. Same in this version. Generally, again I just found the whole "drama" about nothing much (what is there to drag it for 27 episodes?), even though Tor Thanapob definitely is this show's asset and gives his best into his role, he cannot save the whole thing, not with the partners he's got. Chemistry with the good girl is clumsy, chemistry with passionate badgirl cold as Siberia. Only interacting with his "aunt" he seemed real... I am repeating myself on that count. But, if some good producer watched this, they would definitely cast him and Noon Siraphan in romantic drama that would not need 7 extra faces on the poster;-)

I wished this version would at least wrap things up faster (or less slow). 16 episodes tops would be enough for this lakorn. Despite all the drama it gets tedious. Though it should not be so difficult for it not to be this way. Like, just as soon as Ben Raviyanun's character got practically zero screentime at one episode, it was notably better watch. Which confirmed best that one girl would be enough for this story. Less is more, enough is enough and it gets ridiculous when there are too many crazy people. But of course, next episode she's back with full force.

So, similarly to the older version, about the most enjoyable portion of the story is watching the lead guy having his vengeance, slowly taking over what the bad guys of his past treasured most: their material possessions, their pride and status. He deals with the evil mother and son in very entertaining way. Then, according to the old version, only when the girl who is his true love gets into the crossfire does he stop. Which is romantically satisfying. And now with better actor, it should also be more enjoyable... This version does not go for the main romance line the same angle, though.

Noon Siraphan, to be mentioned yet again, also has her own badass scenes, which are so over the top I would have scorned them anywhere else, but I just loved her. So if you ask whether the 2019 version deserves to be rated higher, the answer is her name only. Ann Siriam was not a bad badass either, though inevitably slightly ridiculous with her being middle aged.
Apart from this, to judge overall acting, no other cast member's could actually touch Noon Siraphan's. The character she was able to portray was just precious to me and I completely forgot about the main story. I bet I wasn't alone among the audience;-) While I can't even recall what exactly happened with the character in the older version.

Soundtrack is full of themes from other lakorns (probably some kind of shared tv music library). Sometimes it emphasises the scene too much (girl is entering a room acompanied by epic music like majestic ship is entering a port). I couldn't help but cringe over some of intimate Tor/Fern scenes. I admit the young actress is hot. But I found both their restrained bedscene (she ends up giving him humble gesture of respect like in a temple) and their emotional bedscene ridiculous. Perhaps it was the music, which sounded like some epic marine scenes. Or that rappy song that played after. I had to smirk. Since Noon Siraphan's departure, last several episodes dragged and felt surplus. I came back to my original average rating. This wasn't better than the 2007 version in the slightest. Maybe despite the praised Tor Thanapob, it was worse. Again, I cared for a secondary character, like Pai Sitang's, hundred times more. Even having their sweet moments, Tor & Fern looked somehow awkward together.

Last episodes, viewers were obviously supposed to be worried about the last characters who remained on the main villain's hit list. A villain wanted by police, who no longer longer cared about trying to hide the intention to kill everybody. If I won't mention I found it a bit far-fetched, I can say my general feeling was the story filled itself already and I honestly no longer cared about anyone's fate. Including the main couple's (I really never cared for this couple from the beginning). The more crazy "crime action" this series featured (it couldn't be more stupid even if there were ghosts or aliens), the more the characters were in danger to die, the more I realized I would actually not mind those annoying characters to really die. And that the characters who were annoying by then... were practically all those who were left. And so, while almost everyone on the screen was involved in gun/fight, I found the number of remaining episodes (and my precious time) more important than the number of bodies. Send my compliments to the scriptwriter.

I seriously cannot rate this higher if the last 8 episodes I watched with practically 0 interest and wished the series ended already.

But! Rating for Noon Siraphan: 10. LOL.

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An undying addiction

Overall, this drama gave me everything that I expected and more, I watched, rewatched and rewatched and every single time the emotions are always at their peaks, the anger, tears and joy even-though I know what happens. Every now and then I catch myself rewatching scenes or when I have the time the whole drama again and I will definitely never get bored (as I said in the title it’s an undying addiction)

1) The plot: It is a remake and I haven’t watched the original version so this is solely based on this one and no comparaison will be made.
Everything was on point, from the childhood flashbacks to the side stories (aunt and step-mother rivalry), I was hooked from beginning to end. The strong character development from Min sister was just wholesome, that I just forgave her for all the bad things she done. The relationship between Min and Tor was heart wrenching and heartwarming at the same time. The side characters really added something to the plot and how everything flew well together, whether they were good or bad.
To those that love slap and kiss this is a must watch.

2) The acting: Fern as her first role was amazing and the chemistry between her and Tor was great. The step-mother acting was amazing she made me hate her with my whole being I couldn’t stop rooting for her failure/death, the sister breakdown was really well-acted that I had to feel bad for her, even-though she was clearly in the wrong some tears escaped my eyes.

3) The music: it really added to the intensity each of the scene, whereas it was joyful or stressful. I don’t really know much about the OST’s so I’ll just skip that part. (I know the review for the music is a bit rubbish 😅)

PS: this is my first ever review so it may not be too good and the term used may be a bit repetitive.

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This is my 2nd lakorn. I dropped it after the 20th episode because it became draggy. I just grew tired waiting for the explosive revenge on the main antagonist.

What I best liked in this drama are:

1) Great chemistry between Thanapob and Fern.
2) Intense acting from the antagonists most esp. the veteran actress who played Sida Litinatgoson.

What I dislike in this drama are:
1) Too much violence and extremely violent characters. The major male characters are dickbags. While the women antagonists are painted very viciously.
2) Lack-luster acting from Fern. This is bad considering she has great chemistry with Thanapob.
3) Cliched storyplot.

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OK I don't want to talk about story cause their is no different/unique story line in Thai dramaland most of the time you will see 4-5 remake of one drama main plot go around revenge slap kiss always

So you think why we need to watch them?
Here I'm giving the reason to see fire sizzling performance of main lead

And yes it has that element which all youngsters wants romance jealousy painful heart kisses that make your heartbeat rate high

The main element of this drama is sexy handsome male lead who can took anyone heart he is killing with his acting as well as with his altitude

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So if I learned nothing else from this lakorn, is that revenge is just not worth it! The revenge in this drama is so over the top, it outdoes any Korean revenge drama I’ve ever seen. While the tit for tat between the male protagonist and the female antagonist gets just ridiculous, it was so compelling that I couldn’t stop watching! This is one of the few modern Lakorns that I finished the whole series. Pros: The acting is some of the better I’ve seen in a Thai series, the music was appropriate (for once!), compelling characters, attractive people, revenge and redemption, love and hate. Some good male characters for once: the female leads dad was a sweetheart, as well as Bak the bodyguard, and the best male friend of the female lead. Cons: Literally the worst (and most) evil women characters I’ve seen in awhile. Ugh. I only liked Min and Mam. The rest were either stupid or evil bitches. Some unrealistic plot holes and hi-jinx towards the end also aggravated me.

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