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Lovely

SHINee World

Lovely

SHINee World
Marn Bang Jai thai drama review
Completed
Marn Bang Jai
9 people found this review helpful
by Lovely
Jul 22, 2020
15 of 15 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 6.5
Story 3.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 2.0
This review may contain spoilers

Daddy Issues done wrong

I pretty much binged this. It was overall interesting, but it wasn't actually good.
I started this already thinking that the premise was rather problematic. Therefore, understandably, my biggest concern was their age gap, and I was curious to see how they would try to convince the audience that yes, they are perfect for each other despite their age. However, they didn't convince. Not at all. In fact, it just proved me right. All my concerns about big age gap relationships where one of them is just barely legal were proven.

This guy (36) could've been her father, and I would've cared less if she (18) wasn't considered a minor in Thailand (adulthood at 20), and if she hadn't so often commented on his gestures that reminded her of her late father. Also, if he hadn't continuously referred to her as a kid/child and a good/bad girl. How was I supposed to not see how she only fell for him because she was young, innocent, naive and vulnerable, and that she literally projected her untargeted/floating love for her late father onto him???

Why he fell for her is a mystery in itself. She literally did nothing but be nice to his daughter and bring him coffee sometimes. How and why did his feelings of guilt for accidentally killing her father suddenly turn into love? Nobody knows.

Since there was no room for their relationship to really grow and blossom without making it problematic (because there is really almost no skinship - thank god), this is very slow. Like slow slow. The actual plot description only starts in about ep 5/6 and their one problem is left unresolved until it's finally addressed at the very end.

The lack of plot is a result of just bad character drafting. Both of them have nothing going on in their life.
She could finish school or rather start studying, or continue her internship at the kindergarten, but she doesn't. However, she stays at home and just plays babysitter-mom for his daughter.
He has no real work schedule, does he work from home or not? No ambition at work or in his private life.
They both don't have any goals, nothing that they aim to achieve.

This is what I find worrisome: In a storyline like this, where she's still underage and supposed to fall for a mature guy, they didn't even try to make her a strong character with her own thoughts, dreams and judgement. You'll think she's a strong character in the beginning, because she comes across as really feisty, but then they just left that part of her personality evaporate. So instead, they made her so vulnerable, so easy to manipulate, a mere pushover with big words: just very tamed and shy. I didn't dislike her, she had so little going on, there was nothing to like or dislike about her. She doesn't have a personality, but Moodka does a great job with her expressions, so it almost seems like she does have one sometimes.

Weir is handsome I guess, but with the glasses and old fashion compared to her very stylish and modern outfits ... it made him look so much more like a dad, that they just looked very off with each other as a couple. But most importantly, he acted like a dad. So much, that he sometimes talked to her like he did to his own daughter. It felt like incest to me sometimes, even though there technically was none.
The only moments I remember where he supposedly fell in love with her were when she didn't act up, when she showed "maturity" by being obedient - that's when he called her a good girl. She's only 18, but she shouldn't act like it, I guess.

I did like the side couple, they were cute, even if the 2nd male lead was very dumb, especially considering that they kept praising his amazing instincts that were supposed to make him a great police officer. I like their story until the second to last ep, when she had to be pregnant. It didn't even progress the story in any way.

The evil characters were good at being evil. There was off-screen rape, multiple rape attempts, attempted murder, attempted(?) sex trafficking, and it was all just left open. No real consequences. I guess it's not worth mentioning since all of it was just attempted.
Quote: "The guilt you'll have to live with for the rest of your life should be enough punishment."
and yes, you're allowed near the clueless victim. (????)

Conclusion: The storyline only worked because the FML was innocent and underage, that's why it's not good.
If they had aged her up, there would not have been any reason at all for them to get married. And since they both have no personality, there could've never been any chance for them to feel any kind of attraction towards each other. That's very sad considering I was supposed to root for them.
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