This review may contain spoilers
TL;DR - I didn't like this and had a hard time watching it. The story is clunky, the main leads are unlikeable and the romance is problematic. Things do get better in the last 2-3 episodes, but IMO it's not worth going through all the episodes prior to it. A lot of people seemed to like this, so I'd say to give it a watch and see how you like it.
So...to say that this lakorn wasn't what I expected is kind of an understatement. I enjoyed watching My Forever Sunshine which had Mark in it, plus I heard good things about this (and I haven't had Mew on my screen for awhile), so I thought I would enjoy this as well. It's safe to say that I think MFS is much better than this in all aspects, and I'll just start with what I liked first.
I liked the secondary cast, and particularly enjoyed the LGBT sub-plotlines. I thought it was well done. I also liked the beautiful scenery of Dawei; I didn't know Myanmar had so many beautiful places and temples, and the culture was very interesting to see. Another like is the character development for Yada and how they took care of the villain by doing unto him what he did to others.
Now to get on with my dislikes; I'm going to organize these because I'm pretty much gonna be ranty, and it's unfortunately the things I care most about in a drama which is story, characters and romance.
1. The story was kind of a mess for me. The individual plotlines (there were 3) kind of made sense on their own but when looking at the lakorn as a whole, I thought it didn't flow well and was not cohesive. I especially didn't like the first one, (hacker plot) where it not only went on for way too long, but it was random and really only served to make the female lead look bad. Story lines should be there to engage in the lakorn and develop the main characters. This wasn't the case for the first plot, the second plot (Dawei) was just kinda better and the last plot (pregnancy) was the best. It's unfortunate that the best one was only about the last 3 eps whereas the rest took up the majority; I felt a lot of it could've been cut down. It was also predictable, as there were episodes where I had it in the background while doing something else (while occasionally looking at the screen), because I didn't need to watch it fully to know what was going on. Part of why I couldn't enjoy the story was also due to our leads, which is my next point.
2. a) Moei: At first, I felt sorry for Moei and I related to her deeply in regards to her unrequited love for Tien. The scene in ep 3 with her and Tian in the rain was the peak of her unrequited love and I actually teared up. However when it got to the hacker plot, I was dumbfounded to see Moei not only be super clingy to Tien, but also low-key manipulative. I couldn't understand how even after Tien would reject her or put her down (often in a cruel manner) that she would cry, then stick to Tien as if nothing happened. It was unnerving. She kept clinging to Tien in hopes that he would fall in love with her and it was really cringey for me to watch. Later down the line, I found her character to be inconsistent eg. in one moment she was wishing for Tien to love her, but then when he did, she backed off and thought he deserved better. She had many moments like this where the change was so abrupt, and I think it's more of the director's fault than Moei. There is no build-up to Moei's changes, and I wish we could've seen her thought process so it didn't feel so random. I don't see why production couldn't add some more scenes showing Moei writing in her journal about her changing feelings/thoughts instead of me having to fill in the blanks. I'm sad to say that I found her unlikable for the most part, and I wish she was better written.
b) Tien: Obviously he was unlikable for me from the start, and I immensely disliked how he treated Moei. However, this actually changed during the hacker plot where I actually began to feel sorry for him; he was forced to marry a girl he doesn't like and said girl is clinging to him in an unwarranted manner. Him being mean was doing Moei a service, as he wasn't leading her on and I found myself rooting for him to get away. However, he began to be unlikable again by continuously putting down and taking advantage of Moei, and treating her like an object. I especially found it gross when he fell for Moei and tried to stop her from leaving; instead of confessing to her, he got her drunk and slept with her as a means to keep her. This behavior is pretty consistent up until the last couple of eps, and I was just not with it.
3. Now with both leads being problematic, the romance was of course not something I really supported. It was unbalanced from the start. There was this toxic cycle of Tien treating Moei badly, but then Moei would just accept it in hopes that it would show her love, which only enabled Tien to continue disrespecting her. It was also icky to me that with Moei's pursuit of Tien, it showed that if you like someone, you just gotta stick to them like glue and eventually they will love you back. That's absolutely not true and this is the kind of mindset the 2nd leads usually have, which I generally despise. Overall, I thought they were better off not together.
I have to say, this would've been a lost cause if not for the last 2-3 eps. I liked how Moei made Tien prove his love for her (not a fan of how she did it but whatever) so that the relationship between the two was equal. This was also where I was actually emotionally invested into their pairing and I was touched with what they did for each other, especially with how Tien freaking donated his kidney for Moei. I also liked how the ramifications of Moei's pregnancy added to the plot, and how it made them rely on and take care of each other. It really came full circle to how they were then vs now, and I just wish this happened a lot sooner.
I thought the music was alright and appropriately played. I would not re-watch this. A lot of people seemed to enjoy this, and if you are one of them then that's all that really matters. These are just my opinions. I would say to give this a watch and see how you like it.
So...to say that this lakorn wasn't what I expected is kind of an understatement. I enjoyed watching My Forever Sunshine which had Mark in it, plus I heard good things about this (and I haven't had Mew on my screen for awhile), so I thought I would enjoy this as well. It's safe to say that I think MFS is much better than this in all aspects, and I'll just start with what I liked first.
I liked the secondary cast, and particularly enjoyed the LGBT sub-plotlines. I thought it was well done. I also liked the beautiful scenery of Dawei; I didn't know Myanmar had so many beautiful places and temples, and the culture was very interesting to see. Another like is the character development for Yada and how they took care of the villain by doing unto him what he did to others.
Now to get on with my dislikes; I'm going to organize these because I'm pretty much gonna be ranty, and it's unfortunately the things I care most about in a drama which is story, characters and romance.
1. The story was kind of a mess for me. The individual plotlines (there were 3) kind of made sense on their own but when looking at the lakorn as a whole, I thought it didn't flow well and was not cohesive. I especially didn't like the first one, (hacker plot) where it not only went on for way too long, but it was random and really only served to make the female lead look bad. Story lines should be there to engage in the lakorn and develop the main characters. This wasn't the case for the first plot, the second plot (Dawei) was just kinda better and the last plot (pregnancy) was the best. It's unfortunate that the best one was only about the last 3 eps whereas the rest took up the majority; I felt a lot of it could've been cut down. It was also predictable, as there were episodes where I had it in the background while doing something else (while occasionally looking at the screen), because I didn't need to watch it fully to know what was going on. Part of why I couldn't enjoy the story was also due to our leads, which is my next point.
2. a) Moei: At first, I felt sorry for Moei and I related to her deeply in regards to her unrequited love for Tien. The scene in ep 3 with her and Tian in the rain was the peak of her unrequited love and I actually teared up. However when it got to the hacker plot, I was dumbfounded to see Moei not only be super clingy to Tien, but also low-key manipulative. I couldn't understand how even after Tien would reject her or put her down (often in a cruel manner) that she would cry, then stick to Tien as if nothing happened. It was unnerving. She kept clinging to Tien in hopes that he would fall in love with her and it was really cringey for me to watch. Later down the line, I found her character to be inconsistent eg. in one moment she was wishing for Tien to love her, but then when he did, she backed off and thought he deserved better. She had many moments like this where the change was so abrupt, and I think it's more of the director's fault than Moei. There is no build-up to Moei's changes, and I wish we could've seen her thought process so it didn't feel so random. I don't see why production couldn't add some more scenes showing Moei writing in her journal about her changing feelings/thoughts instead of me having to fill in the blanks. I'm sad to say that I found her unlikable for the most part, and I wish she was better written.
b) Tien: Obviously he was unlikable for me from the start, and I immensely disliked how he treated Moei. However, this actually changed during the hacker plot where I actually began to feel sorry for him; he was forced to marry a girl he doesn't like and said girl is clinging to him in an unwarranted manner. Him being mean was doing Moei a service, as he wasn't leading her on and I found myself rooting for him to get away. However, he began to be unlikable again by continuously putting down and taking advantage of Moei, and treating her like an object. I especially found it gross when he fell for Moei and tried to stop her from leaving; instead of confessing to her, he got her drunk and slept with her as a means to keep her. This behavior is pretty consistent up until the last couple of eps, and I was just not with it.
3. Now with both leads being problematic, the romance was of course not something I really supported. It was unbalanced from the start. There was this toxic cycle of Tien treating Moei badly, but then Moei would just accept it in hopes that it would show her love, which only enabled Tien to continue disrespecting her. It was also icky to me that with Moei's pursuit of Tien, it showed that if you like someone, you just gotta stick to them like glue and eventually they will love you back. That's absolutely not true and this is the kind of mindset the 2nd leads usually have, which I generally despise. Overall, I thought they were better off not together.
I have to say, this would've been a lost cause if not for the last 2-3 eps. I liked how Moei made Tien prove his love for her (not a fan of how she did it but whatever) so that the relationship between the two was equal. This was also where I was actually emotionally invested into their pairing and I was touched with what they did for each other, especially with how Tien freaking donated his kidney for Moei. I also liked how the ramifications of Moei's pregnancy added to the plot, and how it made them rely on and take care of each other. It really came full circle to how they were then vs now, and I just wish this happened a lot sooner.
I thought the music was alright and appropriately played. I would not re-watch this. A lot of people seemed to enjoy this, and if you are one of them then that's all that really matters. These are just my opinions. I would say to give this a watch and see how you like it.
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