STORY (no spoilers)
As a fan of the original Suparburoot Juthathep (SJ) series, I just had to check out some of the next generation sequels to see how they squared up as a follow-up. I skipped 'Laorchan' after reading not-so-glowing reviews about it and went straight for 'Kwanruetai' as the parent story (Khun Chai Puttipat) was my favourite among the SJ series and it appeared that this story was going to be a follow-up on the next generation.

The main male lead is M.L. Chatklao Juthathep - son of Puttipat; while the main female lead is Kwanruetai - daughter of jilted former fiancee of Puttipat, Marathee Dhevaprom. The issues & conflicts from that parental generation did play a critical role in this new series which, I thought, was a good callback and follow-through.

For viewers who have not seen 'Khun Chai Puttipat', they would still be able to follow the issues & conflicts as the lakorn does re-hash them when older characters relate & explain the events to the younger ones, but may I just say that I highly recommend watching 'Khun Chai Puttipat' if you have the time first, as it is so much more interesting to see how the events played themselves out there and characters who might just be names narrated in here (e.g. General Tan Pinit) are fleshed out in their true villainy glory there. Also, I thought the actress who played Kwanruetai's mother (Marathee) was excellent in her portrayal as an older Marathee - all that vanity, self-importance, self-centeredness, volatile temper, harsh tongue & victim mentality, was perfectly depicted here it was as if she had never changed from her past self! She was the only one among the older generation here whom I could truly see shades of the original character from the older series - everyone else from the original SJ series felt like stangers to me (they even brought back an actress who played a key nurse character in 'Puttipat' and gave her a different name and character here which confused me greatly and I'm still wondering if that casting was deliberate or accidental...).

So, onto the actual story/ romance here itself. Well, I enjoyed the first couple of episodes a lot as it set the scene for who are the main characters and their setting. I liked the humour and the comedy-of-errors setup which this lakorn threw us into and it immediately captured my attention as this upright army doctor clashed with an active tomboy girl in interactions that sparkled. However, as the lakorn progressed, more side characters and side plots and side stories started to rear their heads (argh, this is so lakorn I am reminded why I stopped watching them lately) and the main romance and their relationship development took a massive back-seat. Our main couple, instead of spending time in each other's company more and getting to know each other more and allowing viewers to see how they fell in love and how the ML romanced the FL, what we got were (to me) very sparse & short interactions which never quite advanced their understanding of each other much. They were so busy doing other things and getting involved in other side plots, their relationship appeared to me to have stalled at a certain juncture and interactions started to take a repetitive bickering/ push-and-pull turn. By the end of it, I began to wonder how much they truly knew about each other as the show fast-forwarded and time-skipped its way through the final section. I feel a bit sad because there is a lot of potential here for this couple but I never quite felt that it was utilised as well as it could have been. It made me miss the original SJ series which had romance & relationship development in spades, even in the midst of all the side plots and side character arcs.

Another thing I missed from the original SJ series was the brotherhood bond and family ties that was such a key feature & cornerstone of the whole series. I guess it was because the original SJ series was focussed on the Juthathep brothers and so there was consistent & coherent continuity from one lakorn to the next, and because the brothers lived in the same household and faced the same main issue (i.e. had to marry a Dhevaprom woman), the SJ series was able to show the brothers discussing & bonding over a shared problem together, and how they stood by each other and were each other's pillars of support in every brother's romance. I loved that so much about the SJ series but here, I guess because it was about the Dhevaprom ladies and they were (for all intents and purposes) all scattered and isolated and alone/ silo-ed in their individual situations, there was never that sense of camaraderie or togetherness to build on. Even among the 2nd generation Juthathep boys, they were all first cousins and living mostly separate & individual lives, with just the occasional intersections when they gathered together in the Juthathep Palace for the odd family meeting. Except for their great-grandmother's overhanging guilt & health, they practically had nothing much else in common to talk about or discuss between themselves. There was some banter & teasing but nothing even close to the camaraderie & support from the original Juthathep 5. I missed that a lot.

Hangups from the original SJ series aside (you can tell I really loved that series, LOL), this one, while missing a lot of what made the original series so good, still had some interesting things to feature. The extended family feels might be missing but both the ML and the FL had solid siblings beside them - Ket and Kong - and I liked how both sets of brother-and-sister stood by each other and looked out for one another throughout the whole show. I also liked how this lakorn resolved the issues that arose during 'Puttipat''s time - some conversations that needed to be had were had, and relationships that needed to be reconciled & repaired were reconciled & repaired. It was a good closure to an old arc and good healing to old wounds.

ACTING/ CAST
I'm going to be honest, the acting in a lot of this cast was green & rather unpolished. They held up as well and as best as they could, which is commendable, but I also feel that the director could have been more helpful to draw out the characters more. In the original SJ series (sorry, I keep going back to that), the production team wanted to introduce new & upcoming actors/ actresses to viewers but they had the good sense to pair them with rather seasoned actors/ actresses and surround them with a solid cast of senior/ older veteran actors too. This helped a great deal to elevate the SJ newbies' acting and to cover up a lot of the SJ newbie's flaws. But here for the Dhevaporm series, almost all the cast in here are young & unpolished and it shows. The best performances this young cast of actors delivered were when they were playing opposite older actors and may I just say that the most riveting & interesting interactions for me in here were often when they had to face Marathee (FL's mom). That actress and her energy was really able to draw out similar energy and performance from the younger set and elevated their acting in their scenes with her, and really, they should give Oom Sakaojai Poonsawatd a bonus for her help. Other honorable mentions to me are Por Unnop Thongborisut (who played the cheeky & playful Dr Met so wonderfully naturally) and Kiak Wattikorn Permsubhirun (who played the FL's brother Kong with great warmth & gravitas).

MUSIC
Serviceable.

REWATCH VALUE
Rather low, I'm afraid. I think I would much rather spend my time rewatching the older SJ series, LMAO. But I'm glad I checked this one out.

Read More