Disappointing, Bitter honey

MY FAILED FIRST ATTEMPT
This was my second attempt at watching this show. The last attempt was 4 years ago and my young vain self could not get past the barrier that the tired and 60 years old looking actor in the spot of the male lead, created.


A TIRED OLD MAN & THE ML’s MISMATCHED VISUALS
Before I decided to give this a shot the second time around, I told myself that it was only natural for the male lead to look old and grandfatherly because that is what his age was supposed to be set around. I told myself this over and over again until the moment when it was revealed that all the older characters were supposed to be in their 40s. Enduring the ML became harder once that fact became known to me. I simply couldn’t rationalise why a 40 something-year-old hunk who apparently every girl saw favourably would look like a tired old man.

Nonetheless, I persevered and completed the lakorn. Which... now that I look back at it, is a big feat.


MY ISSUES WITH THE LAKORN
My biggest gripe besides the visuals of the main male lead were how the male and female lead were written. In fact, every other character had a form of relatability within them. Even though I could not identify with their actions, I could understand what had caused it and why they did it. The main leads, on the other hand, were not relatable.


THE MALE LEAD
With the male lead, the writers filled this drama with him doing awful things to the female lead. Such as overworking her, not letting her eat, constantly verbally slandering her and her mother, making her act as a slave in the house while embarrassing her in front of other people. Then to top it all — even coercing her to let him have sex with her by threatening her to call the cops on her mother. Even though he knew exactly how Juang’s son felt for the female lead, and that they were dating.

While it would be acceptable by lakorn standards that they make the male lead do all these things, the writers failed to add any points where we see the male lead’s struggle between revenge and the girl’s goodness. The writers also failed to show me how the male lead fell for the female lead, except for the fact that she was young and beautiful.

Did he ever see her goodness and try to treat her better or like her a little? No. Instead, we were shown him verbally abusing her, her firing back, and then him smiling afterward as if enjoying this little situation.

In fact, even though he stopped being mean to her in the last 3-to 2 episodes, till the ending few minutes the male lead continued to manipulate the female lead by playing games.

In fact, by the very end, the male lead thought that the only thing that would really make the female lead forgive him was him giving her and their child his entire property. He thought till the end that the way to win her over was giving her his money…


THE FEMALE LEAD
I don’t see a lot of people talking about her or bringing up what a bad person she was as well.

Well yes, she was tricked and sold to pay for her mother’s debt. She has really abused you Juang and the male lead. However, my point of contention with how the female lead was written is her stupidity, the lack of scenes where we see the female lead falling for the male lead, as well as how she treats Gai, her boyfriend of 7 years.

The writers really tried to sell to me that the reason why the female lead fell for the male lead is probably that they had sex. As if sex under coercion or sex, in general, can make someone forget a 7-year-old relationship and fall for the sex partner.

That reason might have been good enough for the screenwriters but not good enough for me. Actually, I would have liked to see scenes where the female lead also saw a bit of goodness in the male lead (which would also need to be added to the drama) — anything enough to make me understand why she would hold even a gram of affection for the male lead.

In addition to that, the female lead was absolutely not okay with her boyfriend of 7 years, Gai. She strung him along till the very last episode. Even after she had sex with the male lead, and actually visibly began to be affected by his actions with other women, she still allowed Gai to have his beautiful dream of them being together. In fact, she didn’t say anything to him until he himself figured out that she was pregnant.

I felt like it was not okay for the female to do that since Gai also has integrity and deserves loyalty.

In fact, I don’t know and couldn’t relate to what the female lead was thinking when she continued to play girlfriend to Gai while being pregnant with her “husband”‘s child. The least he deserved was for her to come clean.


IN CONCLUSION
The lakorn did a good job at showing us the most disgusting of ways to take revenge on a lover who left you for someone richer — and then by extension, her daughter (since she’s younger and pretty)

However, it failed to show me how the two leads could fall in love with each other despite this situation, and how they too deserve a little bit of understanding and redemption.

I think that this drama had very good acting chops, the OST was very on point, and the plot had a lot of potential, but that was lost in bad character writing and casting choices.


5.5/10

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A Decent Horror with Heartbreaking Undertones

How far would you go to seek revenge?

In another installment of his "Cursed Fabric Series", Dr. Pongsakorn delivers a tale of horrifying revenge that spins for lifetimes and is attached to a beautiful bridal brocade.

I watched this drama 4 months ago. A fault in my making is that I can not express myself properly right after completing a lakorn, which is why I usually step back for a few months and then come back to it when I feel right.

Looking back now, I think this tale is quite sad. The ghost, Seeked, spent a very sad life while she was alive. Her father and she were royalty but were dragged over to live underneath another King, and then were even branded, traitors. In the midst of all of this, Seeked met the SML who promised her love.

The sad part is that where Seeked wanted loyalty and love, the ML thought it was completely in his right to have as many wives as he wanted to and could afford to raise. And in a sense, in that time it really was completely in the man's right to have as many wives as he wished to because women were like cats or dogs and you could raise as many as long as you were happy.

I think I related to Seeked a bit. Even when her response was in negative retaliation — she was a fighter and decided to chose to fight until her last breath. This is why I could not say that she was completely evil and her actions were not justified.

The drama is not super scary. It teaches more about actions, consequences, and karma. The ending is decent enough and everyone got what they deserved, even Seeked.

I liked it quite a lot.
8/10

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A Good Suspense; Not A Good Horror

Based on the author Dr. Pongsakorn's installment of "The Cursed Fabric Series, the lakorn "Qi Pao" is a cursed Qi Pao that has beautiful peony details, signifying its previous owner.

When I first began watching this lakorn, I had just completed its prequel "Sarp Phusa" and had thus gone in expecting a horror revenge drama. This was not the case, and I was slightly disappointed.

Yes, the qi pao holds the spirit of the original owner, who bears facial resemblance to the FL, "Pink". However, much like her personality when she was alive — her spirit is soft and pink, simply crying and asking for help in order to solve her murder mystery and bring her justice the correct way. She does not possess people, scare, or threaten them.

Therefore, I think this is more of a murder mystery with a pitiful ghost who appears here and there sometimes.

If you go in with the mindset that this is a suspense drama with some bits of a ghost appearance, you will be very happy with the outcome as the suspense really was well written. I had not known who the killer was until a few moments before the reveal.

In addition to my above words, I think the ML was also non-toxic. He was kind, gentle, and supportive of the FL. This was much needed because the FL was fiery and sharp-mouthed.

There were layers of complexity within the supporting cast. For example, the ML's father's second wife and her affair, the ML's uncle and aunt's tumultuous marriage and how negatively it was impacting his aunt, and never forgetting the ML's deceased older brother's sexual orientation and sad love story because of his family's lack of acceptance.

Aside from this drama being a disappointing horror drama, I think the suspense and everything is quite enough to make up for it.

Give it a go.
8.5/10

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Finding Love Back to the Heart

Based on the novel "Tam Rak Keun Jai" by author Kingchat, the drama follows a daughter's journey to finding and reconnecting with her father, who she thought had passed away.

There are not many dramas that are able to capture my attention from the very first 5 minutes. But this one did. I was caught from the beginning as it was thrilling — seeing the FL hike up to the mountains as a little girl cutely sings about her father's words about a rainbow and then all of a sudden there being gunshots and the ML saving both his and the FLs life as they duck behind trees and the sounds of gunshots ring in the air. It was exciting, and I was invested!

Every character (except the villains) had an organic growth and maturation. You could see their actions and their slow reflection, and development. For example, the FL's mother's gradual reflection during the ending episodes of the drama seemed very organic. She did not do a 180 and completely transformed into a well-mannered woman who liked to stay at home and do virtuous things, but she did learn to make peace with her ex-husband, her father, and also learned to love the FL as her daughter.

Additionally, I thought that the setting of the drama was beautiful, especially the location of the FL's father's home, which was situated just beside this beautiful river. It made me want to live in a place like that.

Aside from that, when it comes to the romance aspect of the drama: while I was unsure of the romance between the ML's younger sister and the FL's father, it did not bother me to the point of disliking the pairing. I also adored the ML in this drama. His gentleness towards the FL and his creative ways to keep her around — when she would ruin the work she was given — instead of firing her, I really appreciated it. He was very kind and indulgent with her... and this is where I find the only gripe I can with this drama.

I can't tell if it's the way the FL's character is written, or if it's because the ML is so gentle and cute with her but the FL's response or reciprocation of affection towards the ML seemed muted when compared to the ML. In fact, I think I'd just blame it to how the FL was written. They clearly liked each other but she kept pushing him away or edging away when he held her. Small stuff like that. It made me feel as if she was either not that interested ... or was being pushed to be "modest" — if you can call it that — in order to preserve the youthful innocence of her character.

Overall, this is definitely one of the best lakorns I have watched this year so far.
A well-written piece.
9/10

— on a more humorous note, an alternate title of this lakorn can be "Daddy Issues". Those who watch it will know.

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5 Girls with Sixth Sense

Based on the novel "The Sixth Sense Seu Rak Sampat Huajai" the drama is based on 5 girls who each have 5 different forms of "Sixth sense". They obtained this gift because a divine monk decided to distribute his good karma between 5 pregnant women who happened to be the mother of the 5 girls.

Focused mainly on the girls and their encounters with either ghosts that need their murders solved, or evil sorcerers who forcefully hold ghosts captive and make them do evil things in order to obtain money — the drama is wrapped around a cloth of comedy in order to keep the tone light and entertaining.

From the beginning, the drama was cut out to have a sequel, and I believe it did a good job at closing just enough doors while leaving others slightly open in order to create a path for the second season.

The first season mainly focused on 3 of the 5 girls, "Ros", "Net", and "Nin" who each had their own supernatural "cases" to solve as well as their own love-lines with their MLs "Trais", "Vardh", and "Tinh". This was a clever way to give the remaining two girls' their spotlight in the second season.

I enjoyed the lighthearted story-telling of the drama, despite there being sad moments. I also enjoyed the sisterhood between the five girls, and how Nert's brother was like an older brother to all of them. I also enjoyed Ros and Trais' relationship since it was full of playful banter and teasing.

One of the things that I did not like was that each male lead had to have an ex-girlfriend or a girl after him. Seeing one maybe would have been better, but seeing all three girls facing crazy second female leads was annyoing as hell. In addition to that, It felt like 20 something episodes were too much to just solve three cases. At one point it began to feel really stretched out like things could have been solved at a much quicker pace in my opinion.

Overall, it was an entertaining watch.
8/10

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The Devil Who Owns A Tea Farm & His Bride

Based on a novel written by the writer Ubpatam Kongkaew and published as early as the 1960s or 1970s, Majurat See Nampeung or Honey-coloured God of Death is a slap-kiss drama set in exquisite mountain farmlands with greeny and scenery to fill my beauty-loving heart to the brim.

The drama's tone is quite melodramatic, focusing on filial piety, patriotism, equality, and forgiveness above all. It is quite multi-layered, focusing not only on the main leads but also multiple characters as we see their growth or deterioration as the drama progresses.

I will admit that there is weak writing in terms of the main leads, and points within the plot that made no sense, or left me underwhelmed.

For example, when one of the second female leads ended up getting pregnant after being raped by another man, she shows up at the FL's house and proclaims that the baby is hers and the MLs. When the ML clearly states that he had never had sex with the second female lead in question (which I believe is because he was an A-class woman hater), the female lead continues to speak as if the ML could be the father. I found that quite stupid.

Another example I would like to present is the lack of clear presentation of the progression of the FLs love towards the ML. I found myself silently rationalizing her emotions because there was a disconnect between this aspect of the drama and me. On the other hand, I saw the ML's progression very clearly as the script team did a good job in that aspect.

In addition to that, this drama has the craziest second female lead (FL's sister) I have ever had the displeasure of seeing in my lakorn viewing journey. It might be unreasonable but I don't think I will ever be able to like any of the characters this actress plays anymore.

I think that if someone is able to endure the disrespect that the ML puts the FL through for the first 8 to 9 episodes, they will enjoy the point forward as once the ML sees that the FL is genuine about him and his farm — not leaving him when he faces adversities and is jailed — he completely unknots his heart and acts like a sweet little boy who is experiencing his first love, as he goes about decorating the house in candles and preparing 3 dishes for her.

In summary, I will list down the good points and cautionary points of this drama below:

[CAUTION]
+ Most shameless and crazy SFL (FL's sister)
+ Unclear presentation of how FL falls in love with FL
+ I think the "mistreatment" phase could have been cut shorter, at least EP7?
+ Extreme levels of mistreatment and disrespect from ML to FL in EP1-9
+ TW: Implied rape (Side character)

[GOOD POINTS]
+ The OST is so beautiful!
+ The scenery of the mountains, and the tea, strawberry, and flower farms are so beautiful!
+ A good mother-in-law for the FL.
+ Most evil characters reflect and we see organic growth by the end.
+ Happy ending for main leads
+ Overall, if you don't mind the drama, it was entertaining.

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The Ghost of Nang Hong

INTRODUCTION

Wang Nang Hong is adapted from a novel of the same title by the author Teman. When I began watching the drama, all the information I had with me was from the 2 comments left on the MDL page, the short (and now I realise inaccurate) synopsis, as well as the opinion that the OST of the drama is very beautiful. Beyond that, I had nothing that could prepare me for what I was going to invest almost 20 hours of my life in.

Actually, it took me a while to form a solid rating for this drama. It gradually rose as my mind began to properly comprehend what I was feeling for the drama and what that meant for the quality of Wang Nang Hong. In fact, the ratings gradually rose from a 7 to a 9 in a span of 2 days because of this entire process. I think it was around episode 5 where I decided, okay, this is something new and I like this.

If you go into this wanting one of those typical "crying female ghosts who wants revenge and so decides to pull the now engaged ML into their lure by making the MLthink they are mysterious women and fall for them", or if you expect this to be a solid horror that will scare you and make you sweat on the back of your neck — fair warning, this is none of those.


I LIKED

1. Very solid plot with many layers and points to think about.
2. No forced romantic scenes between ghost + ML (second life)
3. The soundtrack is absolutely beautiful.
4. The FL was not made to be a "pretty ghost" but was actually given a scary face as well.
5. The slow reveal of the past lives, reasons, and incidences were very well done.
6. The drama never felt boring, it always kept me guessing.
10. The way karma worked and who was born with what relations in the second life. It was hilarious.
11. The ending I suppose.


I DID NOT LIKE

1.
There is this one character in the modern world that I felt like did not need to be that close to the ML.

2.
I did not understand how miraculously the two ghost assistants of the FL let go of their vengeance in the final 10 minutes. I understand why the FL did it, but I don't understand why they did it. Maybe killing folks and being ghosts for 100 years had them tired eh?

3.
Say what you may to defend the first life of ML, but he is still in my opinion a grade-A scum man for excluding the fact that he already had a wife who he obviously felt some sort of affection for as well when courting the FL and marrying her.



CONCLUSION
Give it a go. Despite points that are less than likable for me, I can not say I did not enjoy it. One is never going to like everything about a drama anyway. I believe that this drama's pros outweigh any complaints one might have about it.


9/10

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The Shadow of Good Deeds

I N T R O D U C T I O N
It is believed that when you are human but have no faithfulness towards Buddhism, are a sinner, and like to engage in bad deeds after you die you become a beast in hell — consuming suffering and pity there for a long time. However, if your sin is too great, after your time in hell expires the remainder of your bad deeds result in the emergence of another form of life — to suffer and grieve in the human world until your karma ends. This form is called... Preta
- Ngao Boon, 2020

B AC K G R O U N D
I began watching this drama because of two things: (1) the plot grasped my interest, and (2) Primprapa. I saw that the comment section was sparse and only 28 people had rated this drama, but that did not deter me from taking a risk! Long story short, I'm glad I decided to invest my time in this. Not only was "Ngao Boon" educational but it was also very entertaining. Yes, it did have some very obvious inconsistencies (Eg: Juk's character changing from the actor's pre-teen self to child self all throughout the drama, or wounds suddenly disappearing and reappearing in the same scenes), but I decided to let that not affect me and just continued onwards with 50 fewer brain cells. ^^

T H E B A D
+ Post-production editing.
It was very inconsistent and it was obvious that the drama was in production over a very long period of time because of the child actor who played Juk.

+ T H E CGI
There was this one shot with the pretas screeching and towering over the temple which was repeated over and over again throughout the drama.

+ Lack of attention to detail.
Injuries were appearing and disappearing. Children were growing and regressing. An amputated hand clearly showed fingers underneath the bandage.

+ Evil people are the evilest people. You have to be tolerant, please.
+ Costume of pretas — extremely obvious that they were wearing a black bodysuit, kind of took away from the reality of it.
+ FL and ML lacked chemistry in my humble opinion.
+ The FL was very very very nice. To a sinner like me, it was very irritating. In my defense though, even the ML and FL's bestie were irritated.

T H E G O O D
+ Every evil person dies one after the other and becomes a preta.
+ You get to learn about Buddism. About Karma. And about Pretas.
+ The ghost child Juk and the main leads were very good.

+ The soundtrack is very nice. Trust me!
1. https://videopress.com/v/kts34Jlk
2. https://videopress.com/v/I9IQ6K7u

+ I loved the good characters. All of them were very lovable IMO.
+ The screening sound of the preta was probably so good because even one day after completing this drama, I'm still hearing them randomly in my head.
+ Happy ending

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Infidelity, Attempted rape, Domestic violence, Drugs, Violence

8.5/10

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Mekala’s Paradise

I N T R O D U C T I O N
I would like to think that I’m a solid Bella fan. I enjoy watching her dramas and intend to watch almost all of them if not all.

This was how I began watching Wimarn Mekala late last year. Because it was Bella and Andrew, I went in having large expectations. But maybe because my expectations were too large, I felt underwhelmed and put it on hold. For a long time.

I picked the drama up earlier this week because I had a lot of ironing to do and thought I could probably watch it in the background while ironing the day away. It was a pretty good plan because I ended up completing it in a day.

P L O T

Wimarn Mekela is a story about a girl called Mekala who is an orphan and was brought up by her father’s sister to be self-centered and bratty. As Mekala grew up, she became a celebrity and had to pay for aunt and cousin sister’s loans and big spendings while they stayed and leeched off of her.

One day things turn for the worst when Melaka found herself in a scandal after hitting her costar and her cheating boyfriend. She lost her current drama, was “sent on a holiday”, was dumped by her boyfriend, and her aunt and cousin’s loans took away her car.

That day she met Paya, the ML, who brought bad news about Mekala’s uncle dying and also an offer to buy her uncle’s forest which the deceased man had left to Mekala. However, Mekala and Paya don’t start on the right foot and Mekala tells Paya that she would never sell the forest to him.

She soon finds a new buyer and makes a journey to the area to make the deal. On the way, however, she has an accident and loses her memory. Paya takes this opportunity to switch her identity for another girl who had also traveled to the area for work … Teacher Prim.


T H E B A D
- Too many episodes. Could be shorter.
- Writing needed improvement
- Bella and Andrew lacked chemistry
- Andrew’s character was lackluster for more than half of the show
- Amnesia arc was very stretched out
- Amnesia arc was also boring
- The ending was rushed
- Mekala’s retired in the end
- Some villains didn’t get retribution (Aunt + Cousin)

T H E G O O D
- Great scenery of the forest and farms
- Drama spreads awareness about deforestation
- Post-Amnesia arc is much more interesting
- Andrew’s character greatly improves in the last few episodes. He smiles and is a little mischievous, it made Andrew look handsome.
- The two major villains got what they deserve
- OST was good
- Happy ending


O V E R A L L
I enjoyed the last 1/3 of the drama much better than everything else. I enjoyed seeing the ML and FL bicker and smile and act cute. It was much more refreshing than all the awkward bland chemistry in the earlier 2 thirds. One thing I don’t understand, though, is why Mekala literally told her manager she wasn’t retiring or leaving her, but then one minute later she announces to the world that she’s retiring. I don’t know, to me, it felt very rushed and incomplete. I think this drama could have been made much better and with more love.

7/10

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The Origami Swan and the Psycho

The second 7 episode installment of the "My Hero" series — "Spell of the Swan Mark" is based on the novel by the author Satarat. Below is the list of good and bad points regarding this drama that I made a note of:

⌜The Good Points⌟

- Suspense is decent.
You really don't have it figured out until it comes out.

-It's short and binge-able.
It was somewhat easy for me to complete this. I'll admit I skipped some of the scenes, but overall I was able to complete this and that says a lot lmao.

- It's much better than the previous installment I watched.
That one was the one with Boy, and I thought it was really just full of patriotic advertisements and so on.

- FL's personality is cute.
I really enjoyed her innate personality. Her ability to make jokes and not be ashamed, it's cute.


⌜The Bad Points⌟

- Romance is morally questionable
The ML has a GF who he loves. The ML experiences a very low in his life when his family is killed at the opening of his dance school. The FL comes and is an unmoving support system for him. His GF on the other hand is always crying and grabbing attention to herself. He's attracted to the FL because of how unwaveringly supportive and caring she is to him. He feels guilty about his feelings and decides to be with his GF because in his eyes his GF didn't do anything wrong to deserve this. Even until the last minute, he sees that his GF only has him and is with her. The FL knows he's taken, the FL also knows the GF is psycho and desperately in need of him but she still entertains her feelings and gives him provision to dance around her.

- ML's GF is a psycho psycho
I really hate these sorts of people in real life. Totally crazy and manipulative.
Normally I would not understand why people like making the GF crazy just to justify the love between the ML and the FL, when in fact it's infidelity. But somehow it's suddenly acceptable because it's between the ML and the FL. But this time... I put it all up to the girl being mentally ill, and the sort that is just super evil now.

- The dance moves were super embarrassing.
Although Great seems like a good dancer (as much as his height and body structure can allow), the choreography was totally below average and it showed.

Overall, I probably won't watch this again. But I hardly ever rewatch anything.
It was alright though, as entertaining as it could get.
7/10

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Stardust: A Fairytale

La Ong Dao (Stardust) is based on a novel of the same name. It was written in the early 1960s by a famous author Phanom Thian. Phanom Thian is also the author of the novel by which Massaya was adapted from, and most of his novels have been adapted over and over again into dramas.

I have watched both Massaya and La Ong Dao and I have noticed that both have a very mellow feel to it. It feels like you've transported into the 1960s summer and romantic music is playing in the background. I've also noticed that both dramas have romance between adopted siblings, which I suppose in the 1960s was even more acceptable than now.

I'll go into my assessment of this drama now. I personally enjoyed it.
Yes, it was frustrating in the beginning 6-7 episodes because of the male lead. However, La Ong Dao is a very easing going, breezy drama. Not a lot happens, and it's not as romantically charged as other Thai lakorns — but I think this is the charm of this drama.

Below I am going to list down things that might not be considered great, as well as things that are nice.

⌜Good Points⌟
1. Easy going plot
2. No face slapping (or well just one but it's really satisfying)
3. No crazy angst
4. Everyone gets what they deserve
5. No 2D evil person. You can understand how she became this way.
6. Amazing OST.
7. It's like a fairytale for fairytale lovers
8. The evil girl had good friends (not flame blowers)
9. ML doesn't let his GF say crap about FL. He's protective.
10. ML doesn't hide FL's heritage when he found out.

⌜Bad Points⌟
1. Slow paced. Some people might find it boring
2. Little to no skinship
3. The ML keeps trying to keep the FL close by calling her "sister" until ending EPs.
4. Story was predictable
5. Tanchai Sadayu still doesn't get love lmao~ oh well, he has me
6. ML is a drunkard bum. He is an alcoholic and has no job. Really embarrassing.
7. Sometimes it's hard to guess how much time has passed in the drama.
8. They don't get together until the final episode

You might not like this drama if you like fast-paced plot and romance. It doesn't have either of those. It's slow paced, like our normal daily life. It takes time and boils slowly. Most of you might not like that.

I think for the first 7 episodes I could not stand the ML. I wanted to slap him left right and center. And throw salt on the ML's GF so that the evil could just disappear. But by EP10 I began to relax and just watch the drama for what it was. If you're like me... you might enjoy this drama :)

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A Very Unique Sort of Frustration

When I first read this drama's plot, I was immediately intrigued and thought it was a great title to invest my time in. I went into this expecting a little bit of push and pull, but overall a fun, easy-going drama. However, I think I found myself more frustrated with the female lead than anything else.

I think by the time I reached EP10, I was continuously asking myself how I was going to complete the rest of the 5 episodes. Nonetheless, I did complete this drama instead of dropping it. And I will admit, it had its good points as well.

Below is a comprehensive list of things I liked or did not like about this drama. I hope it is able to help you.

⌜The Good Points⌟

・Original soundtrack — was very nice. Especially the opening theme. It played a huge part in my enjoyment of this drama.
・The FL's uncles and aunties — were amazing. I think they were the pride of the drama. I really enjoyed their humour.
・Absense of angst* — while there are parts that in some other drama may induce anxiety and sadness. In this one, it doesn't.
・True love wins — no not for the main leads. I am talking about the FL's second uncle who is able to woe her maternal aunt.
・ Thai Desserts —At the end of each EP, a new Thai was introduced and talked about. I enjoyed what each dessert signified.


⌜The Bad Points⌟

・Cultural appropriation in EP10 — two different cultures/race

・The Female lead — Is extremely annoying.
Just because you like to dress like a man does not mean you be so loud and disrespectful. In fact, let me rant for a minute, please. The woman was extremely loud and yelling and shouting all the time for absolutely no necessary reason. She also had not even a single ounce of respect for her uncles and aunts and talked to them rudely even when they spoke to her nicely and inquired about what made her upset. Being a tomboy does not give you a green pass for being a rude little rat.

・The main lead romance — may amuse others but I am not for this tsundere 24/7 romance, thank you.
・The Plot — I thought the plot was a little holey, especially in terms of the main tension which the whole Mafia thing.


Overall —
Personally I believed that it was a mediocre drama simply because of the characters and the so-so plot. However, it did not have too much angst and the FL, despite her flaws, was kinda badass. Therefore, give it a go if you want!

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Entertaining and yet Painful

Within this review, I will give a comprehensive list of everything that I enjoyed and did not enjoy so that it might help future viewers decide if they wish to invest their time in this drama.

— Things I enjoyed:

1. The general idea behind the plot was very interesting.
In fact, I think when MUSE put this drama in a poll with some others and asked which one we would like to be subbed, I immediately chose this after reading the plot.

2. The actors & their craft
Yes, I was extremely upset half of the time and wanted almost all of the female characters to die. However, isn't it the craft of the actor that is so polished that I am pulled to hate them so much? hahaha

3. The opening scene & every scene with FL in the bunker
Jesus, it was chilling. Watching someone die and their final moments be so sad and desperate. I cried.

4. The OST
Really good, very chilling.


— Things I disliked:

2. The plot
I needed more substance. It all seemed very vanilla to me.
It seemed like they had a great plot idea but didn't want to do a lot to it so they just did bare-minimum and before you knew it the drama was over. I needed more detailed and active planning and investigation about what happened in her first life. More spice.

3. The character setting
Yeah, I wanted spice and the drama had it but honestly, it had it in the wrong place. The characters were so hateful! Despite the side women being hateful enough, the two characters that I absolutely could not stand and cussed out every time they showed up was the FL's best friends.

I don't know what the screenwriters were thinking but almost everyone was pinning the FL to be this evil dangerous person who regardless of whether they were good or bad, was just at fault and needed to just forget about her past life.

Everyone kept yelling at her to stop finding out about her past life as if this girl did not have nightmares every night watching the final moments of her life and just see herself being tortured and bullied in her past life. How could she not have the right to want to find out who killed her?

And holy if the FL so much as behaved like a normal human and felt emotions (which made her powers show up because hello she can not control them) — she was evil and needed to stop feeling emotions.

So annoying. I saw normal human beings do more damage and hurtful things in this drama than the FL who had supernatural abilities and was somehow so dangerous and deadly according to these other people.


Good luck with watching it cause if you're like me, you'll be really irritated most of the time because of the above 2 things. Nonetheless, I did binge this drama within a day or two so it is really entertaining at least.

7.5/10

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A Flawed but Good Watch

I have just completed the show 1 minute ago, and overall it was a pleasant watch for the most part. Although it did have its flaws. I will try to make this review in bullet form in order- for it to be easy to read and hopefully help future potential viewers.

Things I did not enjoy:

-The drama episodes were further cut into smaller parts until there were around 28 or so episodes. I don't really care about the quality of the videos for older dramas but the way in which the episodes were cut — it was obvious that some scenes were lost. This can clearly be seen when the next part begins playing and they are talking about something you have no idea about.

- The female lead was childlike. There was also an episode where her outfits were also childlike. Moreover, she always began crying over just about anything.

- Finally, the biggest issue I have with this drama is how the father and the ML treated the ghost mother (Kanlaya). Even though they knew she spent 20 years still roaming around being with them in spirit form because she couldn't let go — they did not try to get her point of view at all. In fact, the father who was harping about being faithful to his deceased wife suddenly fell in love with her best friend. The ML even bluntly kept acting as she should just move on and reincarnate. They both kept understanding and worrying about the feelings of living women, but forgot to care to find out or talk to their dead mother and wife. I don't know, it just did not sit right with me. It was real disrespectful lmao...

Things I enjoyed:

- The casting was good. Everyone fit their role perfectly.

- The OST was nice to the ears. Even though there was only one song sung by the leading cast, I did not get bored hearing it.

- There was not exactly much of an obstacle in the romantic relationship between the FL and the ML. I appreciated that.

Be warned:
- You won't get any kiss or skinship scenes. The most you will get is small air pecks on the cheeks in the last episode or so.

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Great

A drama with 13 episodes worth of short horror stories told by grandma Kala and grandpa Kalee. It was a fun ride. I can't tell you that will be scary, but each story was interesting and aimed towards teaching some sort of message.

The best episode in my opinion was EP1 where a lady bought a blessed doll in order to promote her boutique business. She treated him like a child but he on the other hand started lusting over her and ... well you need to watch the rest.
EP10 was extremely unsettling because the makeup of the rockstar ghost was real scary. That's the episode I don't think I will ever forget...

The worst was EP12, nothing made sense...

Overall, I would recommend this to everyone who is remotely curious about the horror genre and yet doesn't want to be stuck watching one story unravel itself in 13 episodes. It's short, interesting on the most part, and worth the time.

8/10

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