Suparburoot Jorm Jon: Maturot Lohgan (2019)

I'm worried my review below won't encompass everything I love about this lakorn, so I'll just let you know right now that I'd definitely recommend you watch this and I'm currently re-watching it right now, even though I finished it not too long ago.

The story is really good. You start with the ML, Seua Pha, and how he became a bandit. There is a magic element to this lakorn that confused me at first, but luckily it's not the main focus and it's not some OP power. Pha was forced to become a bandit due to the hatred the bandit leader, Phan, had against his father and we see how Pha tries his best to do good despite his upbringing (eg. robbing the rich to give to poor, killing only the bad, protecting women). This is in contrast to his adopted brother, Pajong, who is a truly wicked bandit at heart (robs and kills whoever, r*pes women) but is also insecure because he knows that Pha is better than him. It's really interesting to watch both the external (bandits vs police) and internal conflicts (Pha vs Pajong, Pha vs Phan, Phan vs other bandit leaders) which keeps the lakorn engaging and entertaining. One thing that did bother me was in the finale when Phan was dying; I felt like Phan won even though he died, because he was able to see Pha's father hurt Pha and he was able to be buried with all his treasure. I felt that that could've been avoided and that whole scene in general was weak and not thought out well.

I love all the characters here. I didn't see a single character that I thought was useless or served no purpose. Pha is just a dreamboat on shoes; he's charismatic, confident, unbelievably strong and someone with a heart of gold. He's also incredibly clever and it boggles me how he was able to outsmart his enemies. Nampeung is also great in that she's headstrong, brave (although sometimes too brave for her own good) and takes matters into her own hands instead of waiting on others. She's also confident and clever, although Pha is just a bit more clever than her (which makes for some fun scenes where she thinks she's outsmarting him but he's one step ahead of her lol).

Some fav 2ndry characters were Mae'Lamjiak, Reung and surprisingly Grachao. I love how Mae'Lamjiak was someone with a tough exterior but actually cared a lot, and saw value in our FL despite her initial prejudice. Reung was just hilarious. Grachao was someone I ended up feeling sorry for, because despite her arrogance, she was heavily manipulated and used like a pawn by Pajong. I'm glad that Pajong died by her hands and she ended up redeeming herself in the end.

The best thing about this lakorn is hands down the romance. The chemistry between them was insane. And so many kisses LOL! I lost count after the 5th kiss (not that I'm complaining hehe). I love that our leads were awesome people on their own, but together they were even better. Pha purposefully does not comfort NP when she's upset, so she can be stronger and survive; likewise NP believes in Pha's goodness which propels him to be able to trust the police in taking down the bandit village. Both make each other a better person, and I love the devotion they both have for each other. I love how Pha is willing to do anything for NP and how NP unconditionally loves him even though he's a bandit. Their bickering is also super cute. I wish we'd been able to see their wedding but they got their HEA and I'm here for it.

The one weak thing here was the music; in a lot of instances, it was played inappropriately. Some scenes had music when it didn't need it. It was also weird how they would play a sad song but then suddenly play some comedic sounds to try and make the scene funny. It was jarring and made me confused on what I was supposed to be feeling. The music itself is not terrible, but it was definitely overplayed and I wish they had more songs.

If this hasn't convinced you to watch this I don't know what will. This was honestly an amazing watch for me and will stay in my heart for years to come.

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An unexpectedly funny drama between romance, action and supernatural.

STORY:
The story is about a young woman who wants to escape an arranged marriage. She gets caught by a thief and gangster who is forced to marry her. It is very cliché and the reasons why he is forced is even worse: it is because the leader of the gangsters and dad of our thief wants to take revenge on the fiancé of our main girl. He is the cop who chases their band of thieves and looks for their hideout. Pretty unrealistic but who cares in a drama also full of supernatural? The truth is the drama is very funny and entertaining most of the time.

CHARACTERS / CAST:
- Pupa / Suer Pa (Pa) : I liked him as a gangster who is adopted by the leader of a gang of thieves who uses him to do dirty work and forces him to do anything but doesn't really care about him. He likes his other son better who is a moron but his real son. The main guy his a thief but he has principles and tries always to avoid harming innocents for some reasons. He was fun and caring for the girl and he also managed to develop complicity with her despite their unusual situation by using his charm, patience, humor... I thought the actor was excellent. Lots of presence and charm.
- Petch Nampeung: She is not the usual damzel in distres. A wild rebellious girl who dares to flee to escape a marriage with a police officer who likes her. She has a bright personality and she is a fighter. She is a bit dumb and reckless at times but she is also lovely. She is courageous too. I liked her because despite the problems she encounters, she keeps her bright attitude, her caring behavior for the people around her. Despite being lied by her so called thief husband, she gradually started to care for him and to fall for him. I liked the actress. She did a great job portraying this young but tenacious and sincere bright woman.
- Thep / Ploy Namkang: I did not like him at first because he was to often on the other side facing the main guy. Towards the end, they starts to understand each other and he becomes a bit better. The secondary romance he has with the FL's sister is nicely told. They meet and gradually start to like each other via events and dangers they meet.
- Suer Phan: The main bad guy. He was a really horrible person. Hitting and hurting and killing people for nothing and then talking about family and duty. I thought he was too vilain to the point of grotesque. When the supernatural part happens, he turn into some kind of crazy maleficent demon and dies. Too bad he escapes justice but ok, he had his kharma which punished him for the ones who believe in kharma. I don't
- The real son/ second evil: He was so stupidly mean. I hate his evil deeds killing innocents and raping people. He was a villain too dumb to survive.

MUSIC: I liked it even if I don't keep any song of the OST.

REWATCH: I would gladly rewatch some scenes. Specially the ones between the two leads who had a lot of chemistry together and they were so fun. Many scene where he is naked in front of her and the one when she dreams of looking for a gun and holding one when in reality she has her hand in the pants of our hero. I have never seen such a thing in a drama. lol. Lakorn are sure daring on this subject.

OVERALL:
A very fun and entertaining drama. Totally recomment this lakorn. I watched it as a newbie to thai dramaland I really liked it.

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rape is not romance.

The rape is a lie. That debated, considered, and re-debated rape tag; I lean toward the female lead victim's reaction. I call rape. With only that lie as a reference, watchers believed the male lead had raped the FL while she was unconscious. Even, as a pretend blow-up-doll for the male lead; Stockholm syndrome was a real part of this series, and the female lead's mindset. It is such a grey distinction, that playing with 'rape to romance' in drama as a lie. But then, 'Rape culture' is a lie. Rape is not romance, and doesn't belong in the romance genre. Avoid.

(source; read; My Custom List "Rated One")

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if it wasn’t for the leads, i wouldn’t have watched

So I know everyone loved this drama... but even though the leads’s chemistry was great, I didn’t like the fact that the female lead was treated more like an object than a human being by everyone...
Like the male lead who pretends to have raped her so that she would be too ashamed to go back to her home and his dad would feel satisfied... and yet, he didn’t understand why she was so angry at him (even if he didn’t really rape her, he should have told her from the beginning, I felt heartbroken for her when she thought he raped her ; I don’t even get how she could fall in love with him after that or how the male lead couldn’t see what he did wrong ; he obviously thought that there was no real problem since he didn’t really rape her)
Or the fact that everyone at the camp had no problem with the fact of kidnapping an innocent girl and organizing her forced marriage/rape and they would even make jokes about her wedding night.
Or his adoptive mother who would even contribute to this whole rape thing by preparing aphrodisiac for her and yet, the writers present her as a good woman and this anecdote as being funny.
Or the ex-wife of the male lead who would go slap her whenever she wanted.
Even the male lead would sometimes be really rude to her, apart from the « let’s let you think I raped you » : like when he splashed water on her because she was becoming mad thinking her ex-fiancé was dead, and they present it like he was just reasoning her ; or when he was mad because she had tried to exchange her marriage with another girl and he asked « how could you try to marry me to someone I didn’t like? » (seriously ? So you can marry her against her will but she can’t do the same to you ? ») or when he kissed her against her will at the beginning before their marriage because she insulted him and refused to marry him. To be honest, even Mike’s charm and performance couldn’t make me like his character, even though they try to present him as a hero

So basically, I felt annoyed because everyone was persecuting the female lead at some point, even being accomplices of forced marriage/rape, and yet, they have the nerve to blame her when she would try to escape or indirectly cause the male lead to be hurt. And when she gets persecuted by the chief of the camp or by the evil girl, no one defends her. And yet, the writers try to present these characters as good people.

So overall, the female lead is treated like an object ALL ALONG, with no one, and certainly not the male lead, having any consideration for her feelings, or respect for her, even physically. And yet, the show found plenty of excuses to pretend the situation was okay.
The fact that she fell for him when thinking he had raped her (he didn’t even say he was sorry, whether it was for supposedly raping her, or having lied about it and let her cry in despair for that ; when he first let her think they slept together, he even got surprised and annoyed by her being upset), kept her detained, yelled at her, splashed water on her, got annoyed whenever she would be upset about the situation, is clearly à Stockholm syndrom and yet, the show presents it as being okay : I mean, how many times in the show did she wake up next to him, half-naked, thinking « oh crap, he fucked me while I was asleep again ». AND WE’RE SUPPPOSED TO BE OKAY WITH THAT ?!
(seriously, why do Asian people think a woman can love a man who would rape her ?)

I know everyone loved this but I couldn’t force myself.
The whole « bandit » thing was actually original and the fact that the male lead kidnapped her to marry her wasn’t detestable either but I feel like the writers could have exploited this differently and still keep the chemistry between the leads.

I feel this is really a pity because the leads have a super good chemistry and their love scenes are really cute but the whole context really annoyed me as the writers presented it like it was okay and this stopped me from really enjoying the lakorn, even feeling irritated most of the time. I kept watching it only for the leads, who are two of my favorite actors and who had an awesome chemistry. I’m glad to know they’ll soon have another drama where Mookda’s character will actually dominate the situation (at least, if they follow the original drama). And I hope to see them again someday in other dramas, sweeter ones. And I also hope to see Mookda facing Anisa Nugraha (Krachao) again someday and giving her plenty of slaps because I REALLY hated how she would keep slapping her whenever she wanted and I want my revenge ! (I know the actress isn’t to blame for that but now, whenever I see her, I can’t her but hate her)

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Badass Male Lead and Strong Female Lead

If you want to watch a lakorn with some romance, comedy, action, fantasy, and crime, this is the one! This lakorn is high on my lakorn re-watch list and probably one of my top 20 all-time favorite lakorn. I mean it's not something we haven't really seen before in lakorn world, but it's something that is done right. We got good vs. evil, nang rai, fighting for the top, forced marriage, every girl likes the main lead, twins separated at birth, rich twin vs poor twin, etc. That's all for vague spoilers. If you don't want specific plot spoilers, skip the ending section, "Overall" where it has my likes and dislikes.

STORY
Petch is engaged to the lieutenant, but she doesn't want her life to be tied down yet. She sneaks out to meet the lieutenant to ask him to break the engagement. On her journey, Petch gets entangled with Suer Pa, the infamous bandit. Suer Pa's is to competing with his brother to become the next village leader. Their mission was to rob the lieutenant's house and retrieve his most prized possession. As he believed that Petch's title as the lieutenant's fiancee had more value than physical goods, he kidnapped her. This starts their journey of a forced marriage filled with fun, laughter, action, some mystery, and romance. Watch the lakorn to see how Petch, the duchess, deals with a new environment. On the flip side, we get a look into the life of Suer Pa, an adopted bandit, who has more to him than meets the eye.

ACTING/CHARACTERS/CAST
Round of applause for the two main casts. Mike and Mook are definitely on my radar after this lakorn. I have never seen their other works before, and I think they did exceptional in here. Usually, when it's my first time watching an actor or actress, I get kind of skeptical of what I may be getting into. However, this wasn't one of those lakorns!

If you like a female lead that's not a damsel in distress all the time or really weak, Petch is one of them. While she wasn't a tough female lead, she still stood her ground and fought for what she believed in. This was the reason why she got stuck in her predicament in the first place. She tried to be scheming, but she could never outsmart Suer Pa. It was funny how she claims she can shoot a gun and all these other things, but we didn't get to see her in action.

The leading man cracked me up a lot more than I thought I would. I thought this was going to be a serious drama, but their little banters got me going. I was smiling like an idiot a lot. He is quite the gentleman, and my heart couldn't take it half of the time. From the beginning till the end, he was trying to do good for all and help her.

I've come to love some of the village's side characters a lot more than the second lead couple. In some ways, the second lead couple kind of bored me. Like it felt forced for them to become a couple for the sake of it because she liked him, and he is now fiancee-less. That or I didn't feel any chemistry between them.

MUSIC
Personally, the music in the lakorn did not stand out for me.

RE-WATCH VALUE
I don't tend to re-watch a lot of lakorns because lakorns are so lengthy already. I think it has re-watch elements such as good story development, the chemistry between leads, character development, and memorable moments.

OVERALL (contains spoilers)
No rape scene between the leads! At least from what I recalled, it was rape free. One important aspect to why I enjoyed this lakorn was how everything these characters faced, pushed them to question their duties, roles, and dreams/wants, and not just follow the rules. There was more to their actions than just what's written in the script and them acting according to the script with these lifeless characters. I think the whole magic thing was well intertwined into the lakorn without feeling out of place. Also, it didn't feel cringey to watch.

The lakorn didn't drag too much for me, and there weren't that many unnecessary fillers. I'd say the failure to take down evil did take a while to lead towards the climax. Even understanding why some aspects of the past took place didn't get explained till later. How the police force didn't succeed even with help was kind of ridiculous to me. However, I overlooked it because I wasn't pulling my hair over unnecessary scenes. It was a lakorn where I didn't drag the skip button because I couldn't sit through it.

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I don't believe in love-at-first-sight, but the lead pair here had Chemistry-at-first-sight.

Plot: Typical Forced marriage Thai Lakorn but with no rape scenes for a change. The ML was actually quite a gentleman.
You should watch it if in the mood for: A typical rom-com where the leads have great natural chemistry together and are drop dead good looking. Bonus is that their body language is in tune with one another and the actress is uninhibited in her portrayal of love scenes.
Why I liked it:
* MALE LEAD: He is a fine looking specimen and he is shirtless for a sizeable part of the drama. He is jacked up, which is a refreshing change from all these perennially lean Korean / Chinese male leads, who can never convince me that they can actually pick up the FL. His muscles and tall height is accentuated by the fact that the FL is actually quite dainty. When he hugs her, its like a bear hugging a maiden :) Also his big hands caught my eyes too. He was frequently caressing the FL in some form or other (caressing her hair, her arms, her shoulders). If you notice carefully, they are in some form of physical contact in a lot of their interactions. All this enhanced the chemistry for me.
* FEMALE LEAD: I might have called out the ML as the first point, but the star of the romance here is the FL, Mookda. She is drop-dead good looking. I read a comment on YouTube saying she looks like a Disney Princess, and I agree. Plus, man the girl can act! She has beautiful doe eyes which look even more striking when they are full of tears, she makes her lips quiver at will, and her voice cracks while delivering a sad line. She was so uninhibited with her body language with the ML. She kissed like she was into the kissing. She leaned into him, hugged, touched him. Frankly there was a scene in the last episode, where the ML was leaning in to kiss her cheek and she just turned her lips to him :D He still ended up kissing her cheek, it seemed like a little mistake in the scene which they let pass, but just shows that when she signed up to do a RomCom, she meant to portray that she loved the guy. (or maybe she really liked Mike, who knows!)
This girl is actually one of the best romance FL I have seen across Korean / Chinese / Japanese / Taiwanese / Thai rom com landscape. It's the FLs who always spoil a romance drama for me by being dead fish in the skinship scenes. FL, if you love him, why would you shrink if he touches you? Go Mookda! I will watch more of your dramas.
* CHEMISTRY: From the very first scene when they met in the Drama, there were sparks on screen. I don't believe in love at first sight, but I definitely believe in Chemistry at first sight. The ML and FL had really physical chemistry. They were just so naturally into touching each other, being in each other's physical space. Sighhhhh!

Tips:
*Its only 16 episodes long and you can fast forward all the second /third lead love stories, without missing much.
* The fight scenes are extremely well done. Kudos to the Action / Stunt director.

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Amazing - What a movie lol

So let’s begin....... The main leads were on fireeeeeeee, the chemistry was everything and more , hands down one of the best Thai dramas I have ever watched . Michael acting is superb he can hold an audience , he took on the role of P’Pha and embodied it . His action scenes was top notch , the guy can fight oh wow and he was smart too and you can tell that he loved his wife even though he pretended no too lol . He is charismatic, funny, kind and a complete romantic to his wife. I give his acting 100/10, he and Mook had chemistry from the get go , his smile light up the screen she held her own with him their scenes together was mesmerizing not only is she ridiculously beautiful but the girl can act she as Nampeung character was fearless, loving , kind she knew what she wanted and she went for it she was a fighter and I loved that about her.
The other cast members roles were awesome as well I really love Phikhun and A’Kong lol they were great together . Grachao and Pajong they had some scenes that had me speechless, overall the cast was amazinggggg. The story was nice , everything fit together . I wish they could have a part 3 and 4 lol but I must admit they should act in more lakorn together cause they just have that undeniable chemistry , that viewers look for in a romance /drama.
I am definitely going to watch over the show lol Great job director, producers and cast .

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ML and FL chemistry is on fire! *gosh*

I started watching the sequel first and now I'm halfway through the prequel. I definitely enjoyed the sequel more than the prequel because I'm a sucker for bad boys and secret mission.
The lakorn was addicting right from the first episode.

What I really enjoyed the most about the characters is that the ML did not console the FL unnecessarily and from that you can clearly see that her character has grown stronger, less childish and mature.
The romance between Nampeung and Seua Pha was fiery! You can tell that Seua Pha fell for her first, "love at first sight" kind of thing. With Nampeung you see her fall in love with Seua Pha. You can clearly tell Seua Pha loves Nampeung and its really cute to see a "Seua" become a "meaow" because of his wife.
Lots of action scenes, guns, and our Seua Pha is shirtless often which was great eye candy.
I really love the ending of the lakorn and I feel like it was wrapped up well, and it didnt drag on.

Seua Phan and Pajong, they are honestly one of the most evilest characters I have watched in a while. Pajong more so than Seua Phan. I wish they both were punished a lot more because truly their greed, selfishness and evilness deserved to be punished much more.

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Most adorable and charming ML & FL in lakorn land! This couple is screen gold!

I watched the show solely for the adorable interaction and SIZZLING chemistry between the ML & FL. I am not a huge fan of mafia/police/rural based dramas so I may not have continued if not for the ML & FL. But the main leads lit up the screen every time they are together, whoooaaaaaa they are ON FIRE!!!!!!! They totally carried the show from start to end! The skinship was temperature-raising with real kisses, the dialogue between the ML & FL well-written, the actors felt so natural together and acted their roles soooo well that I even began to suspect if they had a real life relationship during the filming lol - a pleasure to have a lakorn where the screenplay and main leads did justice to one another!! The stars aligned for this one! <3 <3

(A quick aside - the last time I had wondered about a screen couple was Hyun Bin's reaction in a particular love scene in CLOY. This was before I know of the rumours of their relationship. Later, I discovered many other viewers spotted what I had spotted:)

Btw I have never watched either main lead actors before this drama, so I was unbiased and now I am a fan. I came to this series recently from Jark Sadtroo Soo Hua Jai. Both Suparburoot Jorm Jon: Maturot Lohgan and Jark Sadtroo Soo Hua Jai have wonderful MLs that would do anything for their FLs; both male leads are extremely intelligent, drop-dead gorgeous, capable and would lay down their lives for the FLs. Both MLs came from the wrong side of the law yet are not morally dubious (at least in my books). Frankly it is a relief to have respite from stupid MLs in lakornland.

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The male lead (Pha) is kidnapped when he is a child and forced to live as a bandit. When he tries to be different and educate himself, he is punished and one of the people closest to him is violently killed. From that point on, he doesn’t really go against his evil stepfather (Seua Phan, the head bandit) anymore. In fact, his kidnapping of the female lead (Nampeung) is basically him carrying out orders. Pha is a pretty good fighter and even has superpowers…but unfortunately, he cannot, and does not go against the established power hierarchy in his ‘bandit village’; he doesn’t go against or speak against his evil stepfather until the very end of the series. Seua Phan is the most powerful character here because he dabbles in dark magic…it’s what he uses to keep the village hidden from the police, to teleport and to even to win a fight. I’m not sure why, for all his powers, he couldn’t have the bullet wound in his leg cured, but I let that slide.

I get that a traumatic experience can affect one for life, but it’s normal to hope that that the main heroes and heroines of these stories can somehow overcome and conquer them. At some point much later, Pha indicates that he wants to work with the police, but he doesn’t really do much to bring it about. Despite the fact that Nampeung is forced to be there against her will, she still falls in love with him, but she doesn’t have much choice- he is after all, one of the few good men left in that place and doesn’t touch her or force her to do anything even though he pretends (has to pretend) to. It is disturbing that, if a woman in that village is unmarried/unclaimed, she is sold off to rival gangs and treated like an object.

The hero and heroine do get along and like each other for the most part, but there were times they had these frustrating conflicts because once Nampeung realized that Pha was the same as her (meaning, forced into the same situation as her) she would try to convince him that they could escape, but he simply wouldn't hear of it.

He took care of the people under him but his delusion of being a caring Robin Hood protecting his people forever and ever, was a false one. The people under him may have been safe, but the ones under his evil stepbrother and stepfather certainly weren’t. It took a lot of convincing from his dumbest, most annoying underling that he couldn't live like that forever that finally made him relent, reunite the heroine with her parents and try to work with the police and surrender.

There were things that I liked in this drama. The main couple were brought together in an objectionable way, but they got along and had a good relationship for the most part. The actors playing them (Mike and Mookda) had a good and natural chemistry. Mike does well in these physical, macho roles whereas Mookda is very charismatic, spirited and reminded me a lot of a Disney princess. There was a lot of good sismance, too. I like Nampeung’s friendship’s with Namking and Phikun.

This is one of the few dramas were I grew to like the female antagonist. The only thing I didn’t like about Grachao was how she tried to attack Nampeung…but other than that, I really felt sorry for her. She suffered a lot and had no one to protect her. It’s actually a little unbelievable that she didn’t die after all that happened, but I’m glad the story developed her further and gave her a happy ending.

The special effects and fight choreography weren’t much (think early 1990s standards) but they were entertaining and fast paced. I like how they incorporated powers and a bit of Thai folklore here and there. The forest ‘monsters/zombies’ were well rendered and they reminded me of the mythical creatures in a lot of SouthEast Asian tales.

The second male lead (Lieutenant Praothep) started out as very useless but turned out to be a strong character.

The story had a lot of potential. If I were to rewrite it, I would make it so that both Pha and Nampung were undercover and worked together instead of Pha trying to do everything by himself and being very uncommunicative and untrusting of everyone.

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Avoid if you dont like indecent jokes

●When I searched bandit themed on MDL for Thai, Suparburoot Jorm Jon was the only drama. Interestingly the synopsis intrigued me and here I am writing the review after completing it.

●An over-the-top story that a bandit kidnaps women and then what happens is Stockholm syndrome IMO. But the story was well built with fantasy elements of supernatural, black magic, and ghosts along with lost family, hate to love, bandits and police fights were so well written it felt like I am in a storybook of some magical forest.
I enjoyed the epic banter of the leads, they both hated each other but came to understand how caring the other person is. I felt pity for the leads because they both were clutched in the hands of Seua Phan, who besides harvesting evil powers had only evil thoughts. He was a completely hollow person who can just go t to hell because forgiveness is not meant for some people. Also, the bad bandits who stole but also raped women are the worst, that was the most hateful thing and what could be expected from them.

●I like the main concept of drama that good wins over evil but for good to see clearly have to believe that evil powers exist. Yoga and meditation were correct, they can open great powers if humans have the will to gain them. The Seua Pha and the police officer showed that good deeds will bring you enlightenment.
The lead's funny and dark story is worth watching.

●If you like crime, thriller with supernatural mystery with a love story, give this drama a try, it deserves a chance.

●It also have lots of women abuse and some indecent jokes so If you don’t like that please avoid this drama.

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