Boss & Me (2021)

Butchered adaptation of Boss + Me. My rating would be lower if not because of Push / Aom.

*** SPOILERS ***
For those interested, these are the episodes for:
8- the corporate field trip
12- corporte party, almost kiss
15- main leads start and kiss
35- main leads reconcile and sleep together

After watching and reading the original Chinese Boss & Me...
forget it if you are expecting anything remotely as splendid as the original Chinese show and book.

Unlike other Thai adaptations-- this one is about 80% negativity!!
Frankly, this is a re-write of "Boss & Me". It's more like any other Thai lakorn full of hatred and poisonous antagonists.
There are girls who want the MLs in both the C- and T-shows, but in the C-version, viewers will find believable jealousy, lies, harping, and mean girls. In contrast, the T-version barrages viewers with in an incessant string of problems by antagonists (girlssss and boys obsessing for the ML, FL, and the cousin). This lakorn is full of non-sense! Why bother calling it B+M which was full of sweetness?

Thanks that viewers did not have to endure amnesia nor a truck hitting one of the leads…!! Instead, this T-version added: blackmailing, kidnapingSS, stabbing-pregnancy-killing, pushing down the stairs, comma, drowning, arson, 2 types of cancer, lies galore, verbal-mental-physical types of harassments/abuses/assaults, obsession, psychos (and attempted rapes? I skipped those scenes)… did I forget anything else?!?!??!! (By the way, I tried to add these tags to the description page but all were declined by MDL.)

This Thai show incorporates "elements" of the original Chinese storyline, but it has way too many bad things going on. This T-drama could be named anything else… calling it “Boss & Me” is kind of misleading.

If one wants to give this Thai version the benefit of the doubt and call this an “adaptation inspired” by the original show… one will end up annoyed, if not upset. One thing is to twist the plot here and there, making it better (for example, "You are my heartbeat" for "Fox's Summer")... another thing is to change and add so much that the new adaptation is practically writing another drama.

Unlike other excellent Thai adaptations (eg, You are my heartbeat for Fox's Summer, Kiss Me for Itazura Na Kiss, and Full House Thai for the Korean original version), this T-version of B+M was a royal disappointment. It was sad because I was looking forward to enjoying another T-adaptation.
(For the record-- No, I am not a fan of Aom and/or Mike Angelo. I feel that both happen to portray the best of 10 adaptations of Itazura Na Kiss… and the Thai version of Full House is sweeter than the original Korean version.) (I am not a fan of the main leads, but the Chinese FL did an excellent job portraying her character in the C-drama. In contrast, I liked Push, the ML in the Thai adaptation better than the Chinese ML in the original C-show.)

I enjoyed watching so much the original Chinese show that I read the book afterwards. I felt that the TV drama was significantly better than the English translated version of the actual novel. In the C-show, one can enjoy watching the FL’s journey as she develops her character/career/intellect, matures as a person, and learns to love/live with the person she falls for. Viewers also see a FL learning to adapt socio-EQ to her new status without losing her independence and sweetness. I did not feel much character advancement/development in the Thai FL version. Yes, the main couple goes through problems, but the Chinese drama simply radiates positivity.

The one good thing better in this Thai adaptation is that "the in-love Thai ML" is much sweeter than the Chinese ML in the original show. Also, watch this Thai version if you're interested in Push (ML) and/or Aom (FL).

THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the English TV subtitles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Not adapted but very, very loosely based on original story

I usually don’t leave reviews, but I couldn’t stop myself after being so disappointed in this version of one of my favorite stories.

The writers created an abomination of the original story by adding in every single trope in the universe. I should know since I read the book and watched the Chinese version 24 times. I was extremely disappointed in the way it was written but I did love Push and Aom together along with her friends and both families. The acting was great and was all that saved the rating I gave it.

This is only the third lakorn I’ve seen but if it had been the first, I would never watch another. I’m assuming it was written for a Thai audience, but do they realize that this makes the Thai people look like a bunch of bullies? You don’t see these extremes in Korean, Chinese or Japanese dramas.

Lika is the worst of all. Yes, there was a similar character in the original but at least she had enough class not to do anything illegal! You could argue that Gina was almost as bad, but at least she wasn’t betraying lifelong friends in the process. Miel is a role from the original whose role was expanded exponentially and made into a true psychopath, which was totally unnecessary. Miel copying Namhking also reminded me of a character in the Kdrama, Cheese In The Trap.

I could only get myself to watch through episode 35, then skipped 36-39 because I couldn’t handle anymore drama with the cancer. By going directly to episode 40, I was able to catch up and see the HEA.

I definitely won’t be watching this one again.

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