4
9
1
1
1
A Time‑Travel Romance That Completely Swept Me Away
As someone who doesn't like period BLs, I LOVED Love Upon a Time from start to finish. It has the perfect balance of comedy, angst, romance, and mystery that hit all my sweet spots. It also had the perfect amount of modernity/modern behaviors to keep me entertained. I genuinely had such a good time watching it.
CHARACTERS:
Nakun, our MC, was my fav part of the show. His Gen‑Z-coded humor and chaotic energy was hilarious in the Ayutthaya era. What I loved the most about him was his character growth. You can see the shift in personality/behavior. It felt really satisfying.
Phop is the definition of a green flag ML. He’s so down bad and gentle, but his character does not solely exist for romance. He has his own identity, values, and emotional depth.
Jom is the reserved doctor who tends to feel a lot of things, but struggles to express it. His internal conflict adds weight that contrasts the main couple in the story.
Kaew is the sweetheart who wears his heart on his sleeve. He is soft and sweet, but he is no pushover. He will fight back and doesn’t let himself be used.
PLOT/WRITING
For me, one of LUAT’s biggest strengths is how well-rounded every character is. This isn’t one of those dramas where only the main couple gets depth. Every character has different motivations and flaws. You can understand why they behave the way they do, and that makes the story feel realistic even when the genre is fantasy.
The blend of different genres was handled pretty well. The emotional moments broke my heart, the comedy made me cackle, and the mystery made me intrigued. However, the only critique I would give here is that sometimes the unnecessary scenes (to the plot) got a bit too long and happened a bit often, which messed with the pacing of the story.
CHEMISTRY
NetJJ’s chemistry was fantastic. There was something so compelling about them that I couldn’t take my eyes off every single interaction of theirs. I can confidently say I’ve become a fan (fan as in I will be looking forward to all their future dramas and works) of them as a pairing. LatteKim also delivered so much chemistry, despite not having too much screentime.
ACTING/PERFORMANCE
Net’s acting, especially eye acting, was fabulous. The way he portrayed the yearning of his character was simply so beautiful to see. His acting was consistently good throughout the drama, but his emotional performances are my favorite.
JJ had a lot of standout moments as well. Comedy is clearly one of his biggest strengths. His portrayal of Nakhun’s chaotic nature was quite charming and funny. His anger-driven scenes and his performance as Klao were also excellent. I was genuinely able to believe that Klao and Nakhun were two different personalities. The only area he struggled at was scenes that required grief-driven sadness. Some scenes were decent, but the scenes that required crying felt inconsistent, and there were scenes where he seemed either emotionally drained or unsure of how to portray that level of grief. I do wish the director would have guided him more carefully, especially considering this is JJ’s first main lead/big role. Either way, I think he has a lot of potential to improve and grow as he gains more experience.
Latte and Kim delivered solid performances as well. Their performances complemented the main couple well. I would definitely say that the MVP of acting in this drama would be Net or the actor performing as Cherd. Cherd’s performance was just..🤌. Amazing, nothing short of amazing.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, this was a very enjoyable drama. It knows exactly what it wants to be and embraces that. It has well-rounded characters, great chemistry, beautiful OSTs, and good performances. LUAT definitely one of the more enjoyable shows I’ve watched this year. I would definitely recommend giving it a try. However, this drama does have a lot of Thai-style humor and is very slow-burn. If you don’t enjoy either of those things, then this one might not be for you.
CHARACTERS:
Nakun, our MC, was my fav part of the show. His Gen‑Z-coded humor and chaotic energy was hilarious in the Ayutthaya era. What I loved the most about him was his character growth. You can see the shift in personality/behavior. It felt really satisfying.
Phop is the definition of a green flag ML. He’s so down bad and gentle, but his character does not solely exist for romance. He has his own identity, values, and emotional depth.
Jom is the reserved doctor who tends to feel a lot of things, but struggles to express it. His internal conflict adds weight that contrasts the main couple in the story.
Kaew is the sweetheart who wears his heart on his sleeve. He is soft and sweet, but he is no pushover. He will fight back and doesn’t let himself be used.
PLOT/WRITING
For me, one of LUAT’s biggest strengths is how well-rounded every character is. This isn’t one of those dramas where only the main couple gets depth. Every character has different motivations and flaws. You can understand why they behave the way they do, and that makes the story feel realistic even when the genre is fantasy.
The blend of different genres was handled pretty well. The emotional moments broke my heart, the comedy made me cackle, and the mystery made me intrigued. However, the only critique I would give here is that sometimes the unnecessary scenes (to the plot) got a bit too long and happened a bit often, which messed with the pacing of the story.
CHEMISTRY
NetJJ’s chemistry was fantastic. There was something so compelling about them that I couldn’t take my eyes off every single interaction of theirs. I can confidently say I’ve become a fan (fan as in I will be looking forward to all their future dramas and works) of them as a pairing. LatteKim also delivered so much chemistry, despite not having too much screentime.
ACTING/PERFORMANCE
Net’s acting, especially eye acting, was fabulous. The way he portrayed the yearning of his character was simply so beautiful to see. His acting was consistently good throughout the drama, but his emotional performances are my favorite.
JJ had a lot of standout moments as well. Comedy is clearly one of his biggest strengths. His portrayal of Nakhun’s chaotic nature was quite charming and funny. His anger-driven scenes and his performance as Klao were also excellent. I was genuinely able to believe that Klao and Nakhun were two different personalities. The only area he struggled at was scenes that required grief-driven sadness. Some scenes were decent, but the scenes that required crying felt inconsistent, and there were scenes where he seemed either emotionally drained or unsure of how to portray that level of grief. I do wish the director would have guided him more carefully, especially considering this is JJ’s first main lead/big role. Either way, I think he has a lot of potential to improve and grow as he gains more experience.
Latte and Kim delivered solid performances as well. Their performances complemented the main couple well. I would definitely say that the MVP of acting in this drama would be Net or the actor performing as Cherd. Cherd’s performance was just..🤌. Amazing, nothing short of amazing.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, this was a very enjoyable drama. It knows exactly what it wants to be and embraces that. It has well-rounded characters, great chemistry, beautiful OSTs, and good performances. LUAT definitely one of the more enjoyable shows I’ve watched this year. I would definitely recommend giving it a try. However, this drama does have a lot of Thai-style humor and is very slow-burn. If you don’t enjoy either of those things, then this one might not be for you.
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