We're at story 4 out of 8. And?

Well, the hottest of the 8 girls got paired with someone who's not really a looker.

The plain guy is some kind of undercover cop, therefore this has a CRIME plot.

Which I am not really curious to see in the romance series circling around a dating agency, stylized in pink with many hearts.

James Kitkasem is the main villain here, which is... a misscast even worse than the pra'ek's. Now matter how commonly it occurs.

Wawaa is rare actress that does real kiss, but there were so many romance stories I watched where I would be so happy to see it and it didn't happen, then we have this 7-episode something where it comes out of the blue. And I feel nothing. There sure are many action scenes but how the two of them actually fell in love is unclear.

What IS clear is the serious theme of human trafficking (however silly portrayed in here) clashes in incongruous contrast with the carefree world of the dating agency filled with assembly of airheads. As for the romance, which this SHOULD be before anything else, Wawaa's character's line with her secret cop "boyfriend" pales in intensity she's got even with her sister (who btw. outshined her as the main female character). After all the "action plot" (which is blunt stupid, of course) the scriptwriters obviously did not spare much energy for romance. Which is the only genre thai tv actually CAN do in good quality.

So far 'The Cupids' is a letdown.

There's 50% still ahead of me, looks like I need to PRAY it will be better.

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I was obviously curious to see this one because of Chakrit. And he is in this lakorn with one of his real life wives! So I wanted to see how much chemistry he would have with HER (Woonsen Virithipa). Unluckilly, he's not paired here with her but with Matt Peeranee, more than decade younger kid than him, so at first I was dissapointed with that, but seeing more of Woonsen (not just in this lakorn) I must admit that producers were right, as Woonsen is not a nang'ek material.

I found the lakorn long as I lost my interest in the story soon. The only fun was watching the lead guy believing he's in love with his brother's wife (which she was not) who is pregnant (which she was not:) The rest was skippable: the usual load of side characters, two stupid evil nang'rai, etc... As for the second male, in the end I thought he might as well just married the girl his parents chosen for him.

So in the last 2-3 episodes, which are mainly about the aftermath when the truth is already revealed, I rooted for the main couple, couldn't care less for the second couple. Being called money-hungry fraud by the guy you fell in love with is devastating, so I felt for the nang'ek. He was always stern, she knew that, his character had a good introduction at the beginning of the lakorn (the way he treated his employees). On the other hand, her so called best-friend, who created the whole charade, didn't help much. But then it was really all weighing on if the pra'ek loved enough to get over himself. Good. But the classic "action kidnapping" was not the ending I had in mind, LOL. Lakorn characters should be forbidden to use guns. That is, if we want the whole thing to not sink below average waters, at least:-p Therefore, rating this, I should ignore that part. To give still generous 5.0 (perfect average).

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SOTUS for a little while... BL all the way.

Okay, 1st watch, I was like really disappointed in the show mainly because of its title. I expected way more drama (more on that below) because after watching the first episode, my excitement was like 10 on a scale of 10 but then, after seeing the second, third episode... it dropped like to level 2. Now 3 years later, after watching all those 2Moons, GenYs, 2gethers, BadRomances, CutiePies, DarkBlueKisses, FishUponTheSkies, IAmYourKings, IToldSunsetAboutYous, KinnPorsches, LoveByChances, TharnTypes and Why R Us... AAND many other, semi-amateurish "series", I re-watched this. I think today, we all can agree this was actually quite watchable, LOL.

First episode really explored the SOTUS theme. It was thrilling despite the cast being questionable (while Singto rightfully gets your attention, Krist Perawat is not a great actor and - along with all the "seniors" - is kinda too sweetfaced for the role LOL, especially when he needs to yell the loud voice you can tell that it's a strain for him:) and after a looong time of boredom, I was excited to watch something. There was even trance music playing at the end of 1st epi (THAT never repeated;) But then, like I said, it dropped quite dramatically. When using the word "dramatically"... There I sadly touched the main problem. The series itself is actually NOT very dramatic. Which is what this show, this "drama", really needed to be.

When you watch the behind-the-scenes episode, one thing you can understand is that the reason for the leading couple's great chemistry is the actors were good friends already. The other is that whole crew was enjoying the shooting with much laughter in between the takes, and the scriptwriter kinda forgot to actually think of some DRAMA!! We then have some unrelated bits like someone doing laps in the rain, or someone running into the ocean but that's not enough. Perhaps the producers got scared of the controversional hazing theme (there is a written warning in the opening of each episode, a warning that, after a few episodes, is not even needed) because then we soon turn strictly into a boy love and SOTUS is NOT the story anymore.

Luck is the main couple here is this strong, because the story sure is weak. After this series, there was an explosion of more BL trying to be similar to this one, like '2 Moons' series, which subsequently did not bother to have ANY STORY AT ALL. After all, loving skinship is all the boy-love fans really want, right? Nope! I would loved to explore the SOTUS theme more here, there could be so much more drama around the two boys before they confessed one to another. But, you cannot dislike Kongpob for being early confesser:) I just love his character (though I like the other actor more) and I'm sure I am not alone. Though the main couple does not have strong story, at least they have cute story. The dynamics of them being superior/inferior, which is repeatedly clashed with the "inferior" boy being the one who does the "courtship" and often worries whether the "superior" boy is okay, is cute. As for the main theme, bottom line is despite all scary stories running in the "media" about juniors dying during hazing, it's shown in episode 8 that juniors could easily overthrown seniors, had they just laughed. In general. This particular case, all the 5 main hazing seniors LOOK gay. So it does help the BL aim of the drama surely. Not the SOTUS one...

By the way, there is even a sequel series, called SOTUS S (although there is NO HAZING in there, anymore) it explores the relationship, again. Not the SOTUS. Just so you know.

But the relationship is WORTH exploring. I'm not complaining about it, just the name of this series perhaps should be different. If this would be a full-blown SOTUS-related drama WITH the boy love incorporated to it, then it would become a legendary show. This way, it is just a BL. A good one, thanks to the main couple. But not a great one: I still hoped it to be a bit more tempestuous, might prefer the 1st kiss not to be this mellow... Like, in that bridge scene, where Arthit says things to Kongpob, also Kongpob could say a few things back. There might be a passionate hug instead of the kiss, which looks like Arthit wants to bite Kongpob because he got an order to lock lips with him at that point. Not to mention the timing when the kiss happened. They were both far from the SOTUS warzone already. In short, I'd prefer this BL with way more dramatical setting. But there I am repeating myself. In this series, Artit IS still a head hazer (and not sitting at desk-job like in the tedious sequel series) so I say one must enjoy it to the fullest, even if the story does not offer you much. As viewers do adore this couple and clearly can fantasize enough fanfiction on their own:) So in a way, doesn't really matter that the series did not fully deliver. 9 stars out of 10.

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I wish all thai lakorns remained in Thailand

Let's face it, it's the same with k-drama or j-drama, whenever they go to Europe or to America, I am suffering (like please, please, pleaaaase, don't try to speak english!:) Here, it's even worse. Kwan Usamanee is first attempting to sound as french (my ears hurt). THEN we have all the arabic setting. Neither Tui Thiraphat nor Nat Arnus Rapanich seem to understand that putting that thing on their head does NOT make them look like arabs. The whole romantic line did not work on me either, as I just don't find Kwan Usamanee as irresistibly beautiful as she would have to be for it to make the slightest sense. Even Stephan Santi got old and looks gross here:-( It dragged but I watched many other dramas in between so I managed to finish this somehow and now it's more or less blissfully forgotten.

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Strong story with weak cast

This was not an easy watch.

You cannot go with a story like this if it's not played well, and there were bits of it that were strong, even with this cast (Janie Tienphosuwan cannot measure up to Anne Thongprasom, though she DOES look slutty in that dress) but there were moments there when I kept thinking: when I'll see this with Ken Theeradeth, THEN it shall have the right impact on me! Because, the 2001 version is still on my watchlist. I'll definitely watch it, but coincidentally I watched this first. As some other review here states this story is not for the fainthearted, I can vouch that you don't need to worry that much: because it was Ken Phupoom Phongpanu, and not Ken Theeradeth, I managed to watch this rather unmoved. By the way, the existence of 2019 Raeng Ngao 2 is a mystery to me, it's completely unnecessary and unwatchable, I don't know who did get the bizarre idea to even make it. This 2012 version is not entirely bad, but this cast is not doing it for me. I'll need to see the 2001 version with Ken-Anne to really judge whether I appreciate this story or not...

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Isn't Athichart interesting? A chameleon pra'ek, able to change from physically appealing/repulsing. He was with Aff already in 'Namtan Mai', looking all georgeous. Then he was so hateful in 'Borisut Bumbut Kaen'. Sometimes I think all lakorns he's not clean-shaven should be recast as antagonist:D
Here, in this "island lakorn", sweating on-screen, he positively looks dirty and... smelly. It's like you can almost smell it from the screen, LOL

This lakorn was an average experience for me so I rate it such. Joy Rinlanee gets your attention way more than bland Aff, but did her character really get any punishment? I don't remember. Forgettable lakorn for me...

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The things I liked about this lakorn are exactly what other reviews here mention: less is more. Small, regular human problems touch my heart more than saving the world. So, when I began to watch the main heroine to set on path to just spend some time with her father (even without necessarily telling him she's his daughter) it was ENOUGH for me.

Unfortunatelly, Nadech annoyed the hell out of me! I would so prefer just a father-daughter story this time. The romance line was a surplus for me as I find the lead actor off-putting, but apart from my dislike of him I can't say anything bad, luckilly the romance line was not that prominent.

As I hate Tanya Tanyares, I skipped her scenes entirely. Who I appreciate is Au Tanakorn, perfect for the role of the father. The only problem is his concurrent pairing here with the pretty wooden doll Diana Flipo, visibly even younger than Mew Nittha playing his daughter. Though I'm not bigot to condemn an age-gap couples in general, it IS a disturbing element in here and if the producers wanted Au Tanakorn to do an age-gap romance (Au Tanakorn is still attractive and good enough actor, so why not), then perhaps they should save it for other than this particular lakorn.

All in al, as this was not a re-watch material, my rate is - as so often again - the perfect average.

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Another promising one that did not deliver

This one was actually a promising one.
I'm watching all the lakorns - as I'm a sucker for romance:) This had the great leading pair: the comedy-proficient Anne plus our Chakrit (pra'ek you love/hate:) Also good setting, she was a policewoman frisking him in the bathroom and not worried to get shot at.
I was prepared to enjoy this a lot no matter how silly it's gonna get, and at times it almost delivered, yet at the most crucial times it got only awkward. Bed/kiss/skinship scenes were a disaster. I accept Chakrit's acting skills can be questionable, but both him and Anne were veteran romance leads in their thirties. To have fake/stiff kiss scenes looking this awkward is either their shame or the director's. Apart from that, there were couple moments in the story that had great potential and all were left unfulfilled. Om Akkaphan Namart is there also as an unrequited whippersnapper (wow!:) and even that's laid off and he heads off to have a corny 'annoying-one-another-to-death' pursuit of some other girl.

Unfortunatelly, not a re-watch quality lakorn.

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This wasn't boring!

One of my early lakorns (as of 2023, I did watch more than 400 of them... many of them I dropped:) and looking back, I must say it was quite remarkable: because it was NOT boring!:)
I don't remember much detail of the story, or any of music, or the main guy - I had to look up it was Putt Putichai (not my type) but I remember this: I did laugh watching.
Vill Wannarot is in full bloom here (I didn't like her younger) but to be called 'Beauty' even if you are a beauty... Ugh. And that's only the start of it:D
The whole thing is madcap to the point you happily go with it (normally I hate ANY supernatural element in my lakorn) and just enjoy it. It's a bit over the top hearing the silly voiceovers of someone being a bird or watching the main guy lovingly snuggling in bed with an winged animal, but still I watched this to the end... Didn't particularly feel the need to watch again but I think I could survive it. Now after so many other lakorns watched, I still remember this did NOT bore me so kudos to that!:)

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Horrible yet Guilty Pleasure:)

This lakorn, english titled 'Bride For Money', was the 2nd lakorn I've ever watched:)

Though it can never measure up to the 1st one (which remains the number one not only due to watching order) I enjoyed this - guiltily, as it's absolute trash - mainly for the main guy (I liked him back then) and many real-kiss scenes (I then wished for even more of them, but then I watched dozens of more lakorns and learned how raaare those were).

What I was astonished with - as this was my very early meeting with thai (popular) culture - was the number of violent fights (even among seemingly distinguished adults), the need to sit directly on the floor when you are subordinate, and the soundtrack. Which wasn't original soundtrack even, but some low quality excerpts from Bourne, I think (I don't know how the thai deal with copyrights) + 1 thai song. Over and over. I can't consider this "music" so I give lowest score. But let's not focus on that:D

Despite all its flaws and total trashiness the ROMANCE LINE was done well and had a good progress, climax and ending and the interactions between main couple were enjoyable from start to finish. There was enough chemistry and humour between the two I MUST rate this high: because it is what is most important in a lakorn. And I have learned later (after watching more than 400 of them), that sadly, even just this is not achieved by most of the other lakorns......

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Don't skip Season 3... Ask for 4-10!:)

Well, the beginning premise is NOT promising. The super-goodlooking cast is gone. Funny decision to make previous seasons weirdos & losers the new leads might dissuade some from even watching.

But, if you do watch, you'll find the Third season is not bad: it's not bad AT ALL. Might even be best of the three.

The opening credits do not fail to re-vamp the music theme yet again along with the most dramatic-looking scenes (as usual, way more dramatic LOOKING than they then actually are) and each episode ends exactly at the most poignant moment or highest peak: yet again you can say 'Hormones' are best at the beginning and the end.

But given the characters are not the closest ones to you while you start watching, you must admit the amount of creative work done was way higher this time, in compare how strongly you feel for them by the end of the episode.

Each episode ends precisely when it should end: if lacking a tiny bit, or being tiny bit longer, it would not work as much.

In the end (when they show you the empty school) you are sorry there are no seasons 4-10:) You wouldn't even mind if this show would return each season with completely new cast & characters: because this style actually never gets you tired.

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A lukewarm "charm"...

She is a resolute hairdresser with versatile looks who can look both attractive or not, depending (ironically enough) on the haircut, and make-up... He is an average guy with average looks (he looks especially horrendous with the perm she makes him wear early on) who has his first kiss with her, which she iniciates, after which he falls DESPERATELY in love with her and cannot forget her even after 10 years or so. When they reunite, they clear the old misunderstandings and she lets the guy know that she really liked him back, too. Which makes him totally happy and they start dating (or dating again), with him acting like a desperate dog most of the time (he is a cop now, so he's only cool in the moments when he's arresting bad guys, etc.) and with her alternating between being annoyed/moved by it.

During their "second charm", whenever the hairdresser crosses paths with an attractive guy, it puts a strain on her relationship, because her cop boyfriend gets easily jealous and insecure. She breaks it off with him at one point. When there is nothing, the focus shifts on the secondary characters, but I never cared and skipped all of them.

Basically, nothing major really happens in this drama for more than ten long episodes (as far as I watched), only loads of super sweet romantic song/s keep playing. The drama uses summarizing montages of the previous scenes since early in the story, they come after each minor conclusion, and sometimes before conclusion is reached. It's like someone wanted us to watch MVs of the drama DURING the drama. Often I opened an episode and after watching like six or seven minutes of it, I lost my (mild) interest. I progressed only very slowly.

After the break-up in episode 10, episode 11 consists of us watching mainly the guy alone, and he is not very charismatic. Scenes of him traveling, sleeping, eating, learning to cook (gee, is this going to be a cooking show on the top of everything else I "like"?) create such a lukewarm atmosphere I did not even care that somewhere in the middle of it he got another girlfriend. Episode ends up on a cliffhanger with the hairdresser's return. But I had enough.

I'm not staying for the third charm.

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Seriously, what went wrong with this?

Seriously, what went wrong with this? If I DROP a show AT 18/20, because I can't no longer withstand it, if I wish to fastforward during a TWELVE MINUTE episode, then there's something seriously wrong. This must be officially the worst thing ever done by 'Playlist Global'...

At first, I was still riding on the season 1 wave, without noticing that something was wrong. After a few episodes, I found myself browsing through Comments, instead of watching: Stumbled upon one, noting that DoHa was no longer the lead, but support... And realized it was true. It was KimHa who became the new lead, hence the sudden... Boredom?

I don't know how else to describe it, the emptiness. At first, I didn't understand why did DoHa drop the hot guy. He's the almost only male on the cast not looking feminine, and the only one having sexy voice. With her reason being that she "needs more time for herself"? What a cr*p. Exactly what DoHa was NOT about. At least 1st season DoHa... With this couple (more or less) gone, I started to focus on what we actually COULD watch, here. And it was... not much, to say the truth.

There were whole episodes that consisted of pretty much nothing of note. Being short was never a weakness before. This season? Despite adding new characters, somehow it all makes a material that's ENTIRELY skippable. Huh? Seriously, what went wrong with this? Aren't GiHyun & BoRam just as adorable as before? Why am I not enjoying them, at least? I kinda am, but I watch their scenes thinking: I do like these two, just this particular scene, I wouldn't specifically miss it. But I think it EVERY scene. And, in contrast to DoHa, it makes no difference whether KimHa jumps into Min's arms, or rejects Min.

Instead of stretching for 20 episodes, which proved to be unbearable to finish (after watching 12-15 of them, each new episode I literally prayed for ANY kind of ending, just as long as the episode I was currently watching would become FINAL one) this whole season could wrapped itself into one little, disposable ball. Just throw it out and start again from s01 end. Or let it end on it.

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