Objectively speaking, it's not that good, and yet I strangely really enjoyed it.
The story itself is pretty stereotypical. A house full of ghosts, secrets and conflicts under the ancient era of Thailand. Some deaths that wait to be granted justice, karma that needs to be paid, identities that need to be cleared and fights that need to end with one winner and one loser...
And yet, the writing and setting succeed in making it somehow fascinating, bewitching as we unravel the secrets of the house of Marques Thammanurak, "Tham", and his family : his mother, KhunYing Khae who's constantly fighting with her daughter-in-law that she never approved, his wife Sroi, beautiful but obviously evil scary and, her children Santhit and Saengjan, a pair of cruel twins and Butsabong, a pretty, innocent orphan girl and servant that KhunYing Khae cherishes for some unknown reason and who gets caught in their fights. Within the house, there are two names that often come back : Ratree, Khun Tham's wife who died a long time ago, but most important, Malee, a mistress of Khun Tham who died drowning with her baby and whose ghost is haunting the place. Malee's name in particular seems to raise a lot of conflicts and contradicting stories
When Saengjan's fiancee, Kuea, comes back from his studies abroad, he quickly becomes fascinated, even obsessed, with the mysteries behind this house. His fascination may come from his love at first sight for beautiful Butsabong. He then decides to secretly investigate, along with Butsabong who somehow starts to feel that her background may be related to the secrets of the house, especially to Malee.
So the viewer unravels the mysteries of this family with these two. Although it is actually quite easy to guess what happened in the past, but just like Kuea and Butsabond, we find ourselves caught and bewitched by the mysterious atmosphere, and eager to find out the details of the past and how the conflicts between the two sides of the house will conclude.
One of the things that I liked the most is that most of the characters reveal us many sides. They would not be pure evil or pure good. Most of the villains would reveal themselves to have a part of goodness : for example, even Sroi will sometimes inspire us pity for some of the things she went through and make us feel that she may not have turned so bad, if it wasn't for Khun Ying's mistreatment and snobbism towards her or her obsessional love towards her husband (that you will eventually hate even more than her, trust me). Sroi is someone who can be very generous and loving and mainly desired being with the man she loved : but she is ruthless and cruel to those she considers her enemies, failing to see the line between right and wrong. However,it will be clear for the viewer that her karma, sufferings and the hell she eventually fall into are mostly the result of her own actions.
Another example would be the children of Sroi, Saengjan and Santit. Although they first appear evil, you eventually realize that they're mostly victims of their parents' karma and that they mainly lacked proper guidance. Trust me, you will eventually feel great pity for these two. I also want to give a great praise to the actress praising Saengjan who did a stunning job despite her very young age. She becomes more attaching when you see her falling in love with the male lead, not realizing his true identity, thinking he's a simple peasant, and revealing a new side of her, cute, loving, smiling, unlike the jealous, violent and aggressive girl we had seen until now.
Even the "good" characters will not be flawless : two good examples would be KhunYing Khae, Sroi's mother-in-law, and Malee, the vengeful ghost haunting the house. It is sometimes quite hard to decide whether we should be or not on KhunYing's side. Most of the time, we feel she's been quite cruel towards Sroi and unfairly judged her simply based on her background and personal prejudices. But on the other hand, when you see how quickly Soi's love for Khun Tham turned her evil, you can't help but wonder if Khun Ying was really wrong in her judgement towards Sroi ... Anyway, it is sometimes hard to tell if we should like or despise Khun Ying. There's also Malee herself : Malee is probably the character that you will pity the most in the story as she clearly had good reasons to become a vengeful ghost, after all the awful things and injustices she went through not long before her death. However, when her vengeance later involves some innocent characters, one in particular, you can't help but blame her, despite knowing her sufferings.
Also, I like the fact that in this industry of thai entertainment that tends to promote rape culture, this lakorn definitely points rape as a sin, something despicable, even it is done in the name of "love" and that rapists should expect a retribution.
Nevertheless, I admit that the story does have some flaws
I'd say the biggest flaw is the lead couple, the main characters, Kuea and Butsabong. First, Butsabong. Butsabong is clearly there only to fulfill the purpose of a nang ek : being beautiful, innocent, inspire pity to the viewer for all the bullying she goes through the villains' hands yet never saying a bad word against them and having the "lucky halo" of the female lead. No blaming on the actress though : Aheye is very young but I think she did very good with what she had, despite having a very passive role, the kind of role that is actually the hardest to play (to play a passive character and make it natural, not boring or annoying is very hard). She's very cute and graceful, and the rare scenes where she gets possessed by Malee's ghost were also great and prove she is totally able to play more than a one-dimensional, stereotypical female lead. Nevertheless, her character is still very boring and cliche. Her natural acting succeeds in not making her intolerable like it would be with some. However, I think it is a great flaw that the writers so obviously didn't bother giving a real personality to that female lead, except being endlessly kind, even to her bullies. Next to her, her rival, the nangrai, Saengjan, seems much more interesting or attaching
Her male lead, Kuea, isn't much better. Although his interest for her family helps the story move on, it can be hard to understand why he feels this need to investigate the personal affairs of a family that is barely anything to him. Like I said, we can suppose it originates from his love for the female lead, but at first, it seems more about him simply being noisy or curious about others' personal affairs. But I think we can let that one pass as it serves the story. However, just like the female lead, our male lead lacks real personality and character. Just like her, he's obviously only there to be the male lead, serve as a romantic interest of the female lead, investigate with her the mysteries of the story (and also being one of the ultimate victories of the female lead against the nang rai, Saengjan). Also, I was kinda surprised at first to see Tee Thanapon, the actor, so unnatural and boring. But then, like I said, this kind of passive part is actually the hardest to act, so come to think of it, it is actually not surprising that he had a hard time playing this. Finally, the two characters being quite bland and boring, their love story is the same : you feel no chemistry between these two and their love for each other seems forced, obviously being only to fulfill the purpose of being there, as you don't see where it comes from. Compared to that, it is quite easy to root for Saengjan ending up with Kuea rather than Butsabong. Her story with him seems much more intriguing and her love to him is much more touching, as like I said previously, it reveals a new side of Saengjan. Besides, you can't help but feel a bit of grudge towards as he's supposed to love only Butsabong yet it sometimes seems that he's been flirting with Saengjan, leading her on and giving her fake hopes
Another thing : the writing gave the impression that the reason why Malee was so angry at Khun Tham was not because he had raped her and made her his wife against her will, and being overly jealous and possessive of her in the name of "love" (a behaviour that reminded of a lot of traditional male leads from old lakorns, except it was clearly presented as wrong here and not making excuses like it does in lakorns), but because of the sado-masochistic games he put her through. I felt like the writers had inserted this trope because they somehow feared that in this industry full of rape culture, viewers would feel like having done what many male leads had done wasn't enough to justify Malee's anger and hatred against Khun Tham as a vengeful ghost. But I thought this was useless, kinda clumsy and indirectly doing a disservice to one of the morales of the story that rape is wrong, no matter the "love".
So, in conclusion : A good writing, interesting characters, and a beautiful setting. Some little flaws, of course, but that I think can easily be overlooked. Like I said, I think that the biggest flaw is the lack of personality and chemistry of the lead couple. This can also be a bit predictable (especially with all the big spoilers that I gave you, sorry about that ?). There are some other little flaws that I can’t mention because the website doesn’t allow me that many written characters ?)
However, if you can overlook these last two flaws, I think this can be quite enjoyable to watch. Maybe not the hit of the year but you can still have a good time to watch, especially if you like drama, conflicts and ghost stories.

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Could have been better...

So I expected this a lot because I've long been a fan of Yada Narilya, since I saw her in Naree Rissaya. Moreover, I'm also a fan of Pon Nawasch, so I was very excited to see these two paired up.
I have to give it to these two : they had a great skinship and chemistry. Too bad it was wasted in a story that was miswritten (lol, I'm not sure this word actually exists).
Honestly, this had a good potential : Yada's character, SoiInthanin, starts off as a temperamental but relatable character who suffers from the injustice of her condition, being an illegitimate daughter who has to live like a servant for her father's family and must endure countless humiliations and mistreatment, despite being the master's daughter, while her half-sister Soifah lives like a princess and is surrounded by love. She often expresses a desire for freedom and hopes to someday escape the palace that is a cage for her, and the lakorn gives us the impression that she will have to fly away and take her independence. Unfortunately, I feel like they totally mishandled her "journey" to freedom and eventually made it more about her "tortuous" love story with the male lead, Paat, her sister's fiancee (and later husband) and her rivalry with her half-sister Soifah.
Moreover, for some reason, her character starts off as strong-tempered and rebellious but after in the second half of the lakorn, she somehow eventually turns weak and kinda pathetic. She had always been a fighter who didn't want to be bullied for free but she suddenly would let her half-sister and others beat her up. She also takes bad decisions, such as agreeing to become the fiancee of Pop, second male lead, and her dad's step-nephew, in hope to totally forget about Paat.
Also, I think her story with the male lead could have been handled better. Again, the two characters were super cute with each other and had a great chemistry. A lot of viewers blamed SoiInthanin for "stealing" her sister's man but I didn't see it that way : first of all, the engagement between Soifah and Paat had been decided by others, not by them. Second, Soifah had always been a real bully towards SoiInthanin, never treating her like a sister so I don't see why she should have treated her as such. And most importantly, it was clear that she hadn't been the one coming on to Paat and had even tried to stay away from him at first, while Paat was the one who hadn't let her go. Anyway, what I mean is that I don't mind how their story began. What bothers is how it eventually turns later. When Nin and Paat's love story gets busted by the families, Nin, being once again dismissed and mistreated by the family to the advantage of her half-sister, leaves the palace and Paat, despaired, eventually marries Fah to pay back his parents' debt to to Fah and Nin's father. However, when Nin and Paat reunite later, their relationship rekindles, leading them to eventually have sex once, even though Paat is now married and Nin is now engaged First of all, I think Paat kinda turned into a weakling, marrying Fah and getting into a marriage that was clearly doomed to turn into a disaster. Second, letting these two have an extramarital affair, even brief, was clearly a bad idea for reasons that I won't even bother to explain. Also, I didn't care for Fah, who was a real spoiled b***, but I felt so sorry for Pop, towards whom I had a big second male lead syndrome
One of the thing that made me dislike it, is that it gave the viewers a reason to sympathize with Fah, even though she was supposed to be the female villain (she was a bully who enjoyed seeing her sister being mistreated and she cornered Paat into marrying her by threatening to kill herself). Fah's ending also left me unsatisfied : like I said, she was clearly a villain but I think they mishandled her karmic retribution. I think they should have given her a retribution that made her, and everyone, realize what a spoiled bully she had been in the past. But instead, they gave her a kind of ending that only made people pity her, sympathize with her and made many viewers side with her rather than with Nin, despite her past bad nature. Like I once said in a past review, a lakorn that makes so many viewers root for a second lead but dislike the lead character has clearly failed in the writing.
The same problem has been observed for many characters : the karmic retribution they received was unsatisfying and frustrating. I feel like there were a lot of wrong that weren't addressed in the story or properly punished, especially the biased treatment of SoiInthanin and Soifah’s father between his daughters, his neglect towards Nin and his behavior with his women. I was kinda annoyed that no one ever blamed him, when the guy was clearly a bad father and husband. There was also Nin's mother : the woman was a coward weakling, whose weakness often caused her daughter to be bullied but again, not a word of that. There's also Jao Orn, Fah's mom and Nin's stepmom, and Sabai, her servant who's very happy to help her bully Nin : again, these two characters eventually receive their karma but this is not as satisfying as it should and their unfair treatment towards Nin was never addressed.

So anyway, I think they missed a chance to make this a great story about the female lead's journey to independence and created a lot of frustrating tropes/situations that were never addressed.
However, I have to admit that all of the actors show great talent through the show, giving justice to their characters.
Also, like I said, Yada and Pon have great skinship and chemistry. We can appreciate the fact that they gave us REAL kiss scenes, and not just little pecks on the lips. Yada and Pon are great and I hope they'll eventually reunite in a better written lakorn.
So you can watch this for the great performances of the casting and the great pairing that is Yada and Pon but the writing will make you pretty frustrated.
We can hope that this story will someday be remade and better re-written

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Boring and not very well written

So it seems they tried to make a mix of melodrama, social struggles and folklore musical... And honestly, this doesn't mix very well.
It's like trying to mix a big mix of sugar and salt : this just doesn't work and the genres are too different. The music and songs may be very beautiful but you don't see why they felt the need to add these. Maybe this is to strengthen the idea that they're doing a social life/slice of life story and therefore they implement an element that is typical to the thai culture, but like I said, trying to make it both musical and slice of life doesn't mix well.
Another thing : waaaaaaaaaaaay too many characters. If most of these characters were treated as supporting or minor characters, then maybe this wouldn't be so bad : but that's precisely the problem. Almost all of the characters are treated as protagonists, with a particular backstory. As a result, this just makes waaaaaaaaaay too many stories to follow, with everyone having a specific connection to each other and I honestly couldn't remember everything (and it seems the screenwriter has a thing for the "long-lost-relative" trope --'). Moreover, the characters' plot lines were pretty stereotypical, cliche, uninteresting and predictable. Again, such stereotypical and melodramatic tropes do not match well in a lakorn that pretends to be a social slice of life lakorn.
Also : the female lead. Damn it, she's so boring and useless. The lakorn obviously tries to present her as strong and persistent, but come on, she just seemed impulsive and stupid. When she and her family fall victim to the evil company and their gangsters, when she should try to be careful and think before acting, she just runs straight like a buffalo against the people of this big corporation who are powerful, ruthless and resourceful. Male lead always had to help her and this was also a pretty boring trope.
Their love story : it just didn't make sense. You don't really see why he would fall for such a useless idiot. As for her, you don't see when and how she eventually fell for him when she first hated him. Their love story feels forced and unnatural.
And finally : too long. I just don't see why there was a need to make it more than 35 episode for something that could have been easily reduced to 16 episodes.

So, you can watch it for some of the actors and the nice music but that's all.
Othewise, it's pretty worthless

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So it’s over
And personally I don’t think it was as bad as everyone considered but that’s just a personal opinion. Maybe it’s also because I do my best to not take logic too seriously when it comes to Dramaland (actually, I even tend to throw it out by the window when I do : one of the first rules I’ve learnt to enjoy Dramaland !)
It’s definitely not epic : it’s a cute, lighthearted fluffy romance, just the kind of thing we need when we don’t want anything too serious (and god knows I need that sometimes with my anxiety problems) and that does the job
Unlike many people, I do think that all of the cast did a really good job. The main couple had cute scenes, good skinship and a strange chemistry which somehow still works out. I wouldn’t call them my favorite ship (I’m just too obsessed by Xie Wei and Jiang Xuening right now) but I think they’re definitely cute to follow
I do have a big crush on the niece’s character who starts off as an annoying spoiled imbecile to then grow mature and decisive
Again : it’s definitely not epic, and it’s not the c-drama of the year. For example, it’s sometimes too repetitive, goes around in circles with no real reason. I do think it should have been shortened by at least 10 episodes (especially with the arc where the main couple was having a fight : this took way much time and place, and came way too late)
I so think it’s more of a 6,5 but I’ll go to 7 because I do have a guilty pleasure for this
But in my opinion, it does fulfill the main purpose of a drama, which is make us have a nice time when watching it and that is enough for me

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OMG, I expected this so much... And I hated it so much !

Yeah, I know, there's a lot of praises about this drama
But sorry I can't force myself and I need to vent on
Like a lot of people, I waited for this drama for a long time and with a lot of expectations due to the amazing trailer, and the amazing casting.
But oh crap : shitty writing
The story actually started off as really nice. I liked the premices : a pretty young maid who finds an innocent young boy raised by wolves and bounds with him but they get separated by tragedy before reuniting... And that's where it went downhill. Even Li Qin and Xiao Zhan couldn't save this drama (God, I hated their dubbing so much ! it was just too obvious and made them sound like teenagers ! it felt so frustrating when i remembered after hear their real, deep voices in the trailer that sounded so much better than these weird sounds)
First of all, writers : if you want to write a good story, AVOID AT ALL COSTS TO WRITE A SECOND MALE LEAD WHO'S BY ALL MEANS BETTER THAN THE MALE LEAD ! That's my first clue : if so many viewers have a big second male lead syndrome then that's a big flaw and failure to the story as it generates insatisfaction and frustration to the viewer rooting for the second male lead (and therefore hating the male lead). Here, we have the usual male lead who finds nothing better than to hurt the female lead nonstop, insulting her, humiliating her nonstop, sometimes even pretending to be about to molest her, basically does everything he can to let her think he hates her. And for what reason ? Oh yeah : the usual "I hurt you to protect you". OH GOD, I HATE THIS TROPE SO MUCH !!! On the other hand, Ji Chong, second male lead played by Xiao Zhan who starts at the very beginning like a rogue but develops such a cute and sincere devotion for the female lead... I'm sorry, and you still expect us to root for the male lead ? Moreover, I know a lot of people will disagree with me and I apologize in advance for the fans I'm gonna offend but I think that whether in terms of acting or charm, Darren Wang is clearly not at Xiao Zhan's level (actually, I thought Darren Wang was pretty mediocre : please don't kill me)
What was even more annoying is that the lead couple kept going around in circles nonstop : there were so many misunderstanding coming between them AGAIN AND AGAIN. For like two episodes they would be the cutest couple and then suddenly for some stupid reason or misunderstanding, they would have to (pretend to) hate each other for like the next 10 episodes and then they would suddenly reconcile... before falling out again and so on and on. URGH !
Basically the reasons why I fast forwarded the story like crazy and felt the need to rewatch "Youth Begins" to wash my eyes after that
Also, I think the costumes and sets weren't great, especially the costumes... But that's no big deal, I can easily let pass that one. And so many other characters were so annoying (like that bratty princess), barely even showing a correct acting (but then again, that awful dubbing made it even harder to bear... I mean, to judge). And finally the female lead was supposed to be smart and brave... but she was actually quite stupid and weak, she often needed to be saved.
So in other words : WHAT A HUGE DECEPTION !
Now, let's go, come at me, you fans that I must have terribly offended, I'm ready to accept my punishment !

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A beautiful story about the trials of life and forgiveness

I honestly thought this would be tragic and melodramatic and too heavy for my taste, especially since I myself had once an autistic sibling, like the female lead.
But I actually loved it. They succeeded in offering a sober and simple writing, without making it heavily tragic. They just represent honestly what life can be for some people : harder. But not necessarily impossible to overcome. We can even get some joy and happiness if we work hard enough and if we show enough courage.
One of my favorite points of the story is that no one is purely bad or selfish here, like it is in so many melodramatic dramas. The story succeeds in showing how easy it is to make some bad decisions with the best intention in the world, only to realize later WHY this was a mistake. The parents of the female lead, both mother and father, are the best example : Winston Chao offers such a beautiful performance as the repenting father who accidentally abandoned his wife and his kids, even though this wasn't his initial intention. This man is fascinating character : despite the premises, we quickly find ourselves unable to hate this man, as we understand that his intention was never to be selfish, to run from his responsibilities or to hurt anyone. But life struck him like everyone and it's not always easy to take the best decisions or to realize we're taking the bad ones. Moreover, through the whole series, we follow with emotion his progress to redemption and his reconciliation with his children. I like the fact that the forgiveness and reconciliation is not sudden : it is slow paced, which is actually more realistic. After all, you can't forget and forgive being abandoned in just one night. The father's efforts to reconnect with his autistic son who grew afraid to see anything connected to his father due to the trauma are striking to follow. It is unfortunately sad that in reality we rarely see this kind of parents who are really eager to work hard to make up to the children they wronged and seeing one in a drama with a storyline properly executed feels like a sweet relief.
Now for those who don't want just slice of life, yes, there is a bit of romance : although the romance isn't the main point of the story, it is still interesting to follow, despite the fact that there's the usual cliche "childhood friends". We love the bound between Pu Tao and Mo Li and the two actors have great chemistry.
Also the story never stops moving. It is not boring or stagnating, there's always a progress.
And all of the characters have a personal storyline, and show a great performance (except maybe one, but I won't give name : it is someone that I've never considered as a good performer anyway but I'd say that here, this person did okay compared to usually). Like I said, there's no white or black character : everyone has its flaws, its qualities, its reasons, its mistakes, its successes, its background, its storyline... There's no villain, just life.
In short, a beautiful story about the trials of life, family, forgiveness and about the difficulties of having an autistic child in your life, as well as about the happiness that they can bring you, despite their condition. As someone who, I said it, had an autistic sibling, this is a very important point for me.

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Not bad, even VERY good, but could have been better, especially when you compare to the original

So I watched the original after hearing about the reunion between Michael and Mookda (I loved their pairing in Mathurot Loghan, even though I didn’t really like the drama). And because I absolutely LOVED it, I had high expectations for this one, since it even included one of my favorite ships.
And overall, I was actually a bit disappointed… I wouldn’t say it was bad, it was even nice but this wasn’t epic, and it could have been much better.
The writing, setting was not very subtle, even sometimes vulgar. For example, Dao’s tricks and fights with Rosita and his family were mostly based physical or childish pranks, not using real wits (for example, the fight at the hospital : in 2011 when Dao knew Songkran was coming and pretended they had attacked her one-sided by stuffing flowers into her mouth in a smart move... but here, her « move » was a bit involontary as they were already holding her when Songkran came in without warning. Also, this made it much less funny.
The pacing was sometimes too fast : I mean, in the third episode, Songkran already fell in love for good with Dao because she saved his son... which is not very good to me, because I prefer when he gradually fell in love with her for her personnality
Also, Dao's seducing is less... subtle than in the 2011 version which is too bad because with Mookda's sex appeal, they could do much better.
The writers also made plenty of changes compared to the original that were unneeded, even annoying or cliche :
- Kran’s brother in law who became a vulgar, sexual molester who married his wife for money. This was useless to the plot, and that kind of character is very cliche (moreover, the actor always plays this kind of character). Compared to the original where the brother in law was a funny imbecile who made the viewer laugh very much, and even turned attaching when he comforted his nephew, this change was not needed.
-Jan’s character who became the annoying, jealous sister. She spent most of the drama crying over Songkran not loving her, even though she barely knew him, and even though it was obvious he was never sincere with her ; and during the last bit, she turned into a jealous b***. Again, compared to the original when she had gone through a great character development/growing, this is disappointing. It's quite a pity because I had loved her growth in the original, and seeing her bonding again with her father and grow more mature. Here, she's very selfish, self-centered, materialistic and shallow
-the ex-wife returning and causing troubles. SERIOUSLY, IS THERE ANY BIGGEST CLICHE ?!
-the nang rais. Again, they all had a good character development in the original and this is gone here. Rose’s final repentance which made her attaching to the viewer is gone and the actress isn’t great either, I remember that the previous actress succeeded in being funny and natural despite a difficult part (the usual mean girl), so the Rose who was actually a comical character and eventually attaching disappears here to become quite ridiculous (moreover, the costumes they gave her made her look like a 5-years-old kid and it was hard to think she was a model and Songkran’s ex-girlfriend) ; mad, delusional, crazy Marin who became a villain due to traumatic experiences turned into a jealous, seducing, mistress (the actress did a great job, though, no blaming on her) and nice Ingjan turned into a pathetic, self-pitying jealous brat and a useless, annoying nang Rai (I don’t even see why they felt the need to make her a villain only for a part of the last episode, since it didn’t even impact the plot). I also didn't like the fact that once again, rape is used as a trope to punish the nang rai, even before she did anything wrong, and the real trauma implied by rape was rape or the fact that this was what mlay have been her turning point was overlooked
- the villains received a different kind of karma here, that was again very cliche, even though it was satisfying (the adulterous couple of villains who end up with the main killed by his wife and the mistress disfigured by thrown acid by his wife ? Cliche. The cheated wife who was a bitch and ends up in prison after that ? Cliche. And the male lead’s evil family who loses their wealth and company in the hands of a traitor and repents after that ? Again, cliche).
- Most important point : the supporting characters receive much less screen time (some might as well be absent) and as I said and will repeat, are much less attaching, for many reasons. Modaeng and Ou’s chemistry is no longer here, and Gigi and Aoey barely exist and are uninteresting. We don’t feel any real development, especially in their relationships. Again, one of of the strongest points of the original was the supporting characters but they totally failed about this here
I know, I compare it a lot to the original. But even when you don’t compare it to the original, this isn’t that great. As I said, a lot of cliches and writing pretty vulgar, stereotypical.
However, don’t make me say what I didn’t say : this isn’t unwatchable, I personnally like it a lot and I think a lot will. This eventually makes you laugh. You are still touched by Songkran’s devoted love and efforts towards Dao (which is no less than in the original and even reserves a few surprises). Mookda and Michael’s chemistry is still there, which saves the whole drama. Most of the actors did a great job : I was surprised to see Mike’s talent for comic scenes and he’s still as good as always to play the man in love ; Mookda is so great when she plays a fierce and seducing woman, and even better to play the woman in love ; a great BRAVO also to the actress playing crazy Marin : she was so good at being a scary bitch ? !
Finally, seeing Songkran’s family receive their lesson and repenting was quite satisfying : I really liked how the drama focused on the importance of family love, showing that it overcomes love of money (the scenes with Dao’s family were very touching, despite annoying Ingjan ; Songkran’s family also turned touching in the end). Also, Dao’s bound with Orca, Songkran’s son, was especially moving, even more developed than in the original.
Also, the last episode is very satisfying for the fans of this ship but also for the fans of Mathurot Loghan : I couldn’t help but notice a few ironical winks to ML, as three actors reunited to here played a completely opposite yet symetrical situation to their characters in ML
-explanation/SPOILERS : Phutarit, who used to play the villainous foster father of Michael (Songkran here) in ML who absolutely wanted Michael to get Mookda (Dao here) pregnant to shame her ; in here, he acts as Dao’s doting father, a completely different character (so when you remember how his character would treat her in ML, it feels funny to see him act as her father who’s crazy about her) ; but here, when she eventually turns pregnant of Songkran, he is first despaired, being an overprotective father who doesn’t like his new son in law and this is quite funny when you know that pregnancy between the two actors’ characters was what his character wanted in ML ?; I can’t help but think of it as a wink to Mathurot Loghan where the three actors used to play
By the way, also a great bravo to the actor who played Dao’s father. They played together in ML and he was so hateful to her and for the viewers ; here, it feels like a little revenge because he plays her doting father ; moreover, they had an incredible chemistry when acting as the father and daughter who were very close. The actor is great for every aspect of the character : the angry father towards irresponsible and selfish Jan, the doting father towards Dao who was so like him and caring towards him, the mad owner who got robbed, the funny, grumpy, playful old man you could only like, the father who would be despaired for his daughters when they would feel hurt
In short, this is far from being as good as the original but it’s still good, nice to watch for the two leads and touching scenes of the family.

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OMG, this was sooooooo bad, i couldn’t even laugh about it or just simply brush it off like I do sometimes with my guilty pleasures…
The whole story had been done and redone, but no sense in the writing : it seems the writers could absolutely not fit logic in this, such as the fact that so many people would be tricked by the switching of two little girls that no one would know for 20 years except the birth mom, but no one would listen to her, the fact that amnesia has conveniently hit real heiress just when her aunt decides to switch little girls for basically no reason…
Not to mention the fact that it’s waaaaaaaaay too long for what this is, that this goes around in circles, and is full of plenty of frustrating situations, such as the fact that many characters would unfairly and stupidly blame the female lead for things that had absolutely nothing to do with her
Wow, I’m a huge fan of Li Qin but even she couldn’t save this whole mess

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Well, I my review is probably useless since there is a lot on this classic Chinese drama.
But hey, I'll go anyway.
So, let's be clear: I loved it. The mix of humor, romance and realism make it a spicy cocktail that I love. But I would say that the biggest asset of this drama is clearly our two leads, whether it's the fictional relationship between them, the crazy chemistry between the two actors or even simply the two actors separately. The mix of complicity, teasing and devotion between Jiang Jun and Yuan Shuai is just a real delight and we love to see these two confront each other, bicker, reconcile, have fun, kiss... Obviously, Luo Yun Xi and Bai Lu are on an equal footing in their acting performance and the chemistry between them perfectly reflects the relationship between two teasing childhood friends.
However, there are a few flaws in this relationship that I will come to later.
I will now come to the plot: what I like is that it is simple but realistic, referring to the workingplace without doing too much but is not boring, being full of rhythm. The supporting characters are (almost) all interesting.
BUT : there are still some flaws in this drama that prevent me from giving it the 10/10 that I REALLY wanted to give it.
At the very beginning, I mentioned the bubbly relationship between the main characters. But while as I said, this relationship is the drama's biggest asset, it's not without flaws. Thing is, Yuan Shuai's devotion to Jiang Jun is often at the border of a controlling overprotectiveness, especially in the first 10 episodes when he does everything to keep her out of his company because he thinks 'she doesn't have the strength necessary and wants to protect her, and so basically he bullies her to prevent her from working at his place. Not to mention the fact that the guy somehow manages to makes her move out and even finds ways to make her move in right next to his place. In short, even though his devotion was adorable, his overprotective side and his habit of trying to control her life and to bully her supposedly to protect her were quite infuriating (it all depends on your tolerance). While we thought we had gotten rid of this after the first 10 episodes, it comes back running around episode 21-22 (something like) but the writing tries to make it pass with the female lead punish him (okay, I admit, this part was really fun) but it comes way too late and fails to catch up with the mistake made for some reason I'll explain.
Also, the tropes of "I use crazy methods to make her be my neighbor" and "I bully her because I love her" have been used and abused, and have long been out of trend in an increasingly feminist society, so people should think twice before using these ! Also, although I love Jiang Jun (because I just can't hate a character played by Bai Lu), I think that although the drama tries to present her as a strong and smart woman, she's often in "damsel in distress" situations where she needs the male lead or second male lead to come save her. Even when it was for her father's case, they still had to take care of it. I think it would have been beyyer for the writers to make her a bit stronger and more resourceful, and give her situations where she saves herself instead of relying on others. Another trope which is no longer in trend and would have been dispensable. This is also what makes that when Jiang Jun "punishes" Yuan Shuai for having kept her in the darkto protect her, although it is fun, it is not enough to make up for the mistake : with Jiang Jun constantly needing others protecting her and never proving her own strength by herself, this "consolation" that they try to offer us for his bad methods of protection does not manage to make up for this.
Then the supporting characters. I mentioned they were almost all interesting and they were. I would say what is best about them is the fact that they are all constantly evolving. BUT there are still two characters in particular who are exceptions to this : the second couple in the story, Xu Li, Jiang Jun's best friend (played by Xiao Yan) and Xiao Chuan, the hero's cousin (played by Wang Yi Lun). Clearly, the intention of the writers was for us to be as attached to them and their story as we were to the leads. But this is a total failure, and believe me, I'm not the only viewer to feel that way. There are plenty of reasons but I would say the most important is that their story is uninteresting, childish, boring, even annoying. When we all see your the nonsense that Xu Li is ready to do to conquer Xiao Chuan (like working at the convenience store when he goes), when she barely met him... well, it's embarassing (clearly, even if I love this drama, feminism takes a blow here). Also, she and Xiao Chuan (well, especially her) are pretty childish, which makes them kind of annoying. To continue, the two actors don't have any chemistry, don't especially show any acting talent here, and their characters aren't particularly likable or attachng, since they're so immature and kindavstupid. The problem is that these two have a lot of screentime, a screentime that the viewer will basically skip out of boredom. So if these two had much less screentime the drama, it would have been better.
Finally, one last point that REALLY left me disappointed. I say it again, a point that I like in the drama is the constant evolution of the supporting characters. But there's one in particular that gives me the feeling of a piece of food stuck in my throat, because it's so frustrating and poorly exploited. As in any good romance drama, our male lead has a rival, Du Lei. His rival who wants to defeat him professionally, who has a complicated and difficult past which explains why he became manipulative and cold, and who gets close to the heroine to use her against Yuan Shuai but ends up getting sincerely attached to her and even falls in love with her. During the first 30 episodes, his evolution was fascinating to follow but also touching: to see his difficult childhood which allowed us to better understand him, to have pity on him without approving him, to see him slowly change and reevaluate himself after spending time with Jiang Jun, finally realizing his toxic xays, his past faults, seeing him work as a duo with Yuan Shuai to help Jiang Jun and do justice. There was even a cute little bromance profiling between him and Yuan Shuai. ANYWAY : the guy was the one who had evolved the most since the beginning of the drama and I loved it, to see how this character had freed himself from the toxicity in his life and seemed to move towards peace and happiness.
And there, tragedy : the last 6 episodes. This last arc of six episodes which, frankly, brings nothing to the plot, is even rather useless and above all, ESPECIALLY, makes a COLOSSAL throwback to the character. We had taken 100 steps forward since the beginning of the drama, he suddenly takes a 1000 steps backwards. This guy who had managed to get rid of his manipulative and cold personality thanks to Jiang Jun suddenly becomes a crazy and obsessive psycho precisely because of his love for Jiang Jun. Damn, what a waste...it left me incredibly frustrated for the character who made me feel incredibly sorry because the harsh, cold environment he grew up in, with no love and warmth.

And so, it's for these reasons that even if I love the drama, I can't give it a 10/10 but I have to take away two good points.
This drama is nevertheless a classic: I recommend it to those who love romance and comedy without angst or anything complicated, and more particularly Bai Lu and Luo Yun Xi who shine here.
But for feminists who want a strong and smart female lead who doesn't need anyone's help and a male lead who leaves some space to the female lead, who hates some of the stereotypes mentioned above... uh, go your way, no kidding.
However, we can tolerate these flaws for the rhythm of the plot, the relationship and the awesome chemistry between our two main characters.

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Before watching this, I hadwatched the 2019 version and I just LOVED IT ! I thought it was a mix of realism and simplicity and of melancholic, mysterious beauty ! Luo Zhi was an amazing female lead, realistic but intriguing ! And I loved all of the other characters and their building and also their acting (especially the male lead !)
Then I watched the movie, which was actually very good but in a similar yet different style.
And finally, I watched 2021 version, without expecting much because I felt that after liking the first so much, I wouldn’t be able to like it the same way than the other (moreover, I really dislike the two main actors, especially the male lead : I don’t see what’s so good about him)
And I felt even more disappointed when I watched it. How should I say… it’s good but not that much because it’s like they deliberately exaggerate everything. Luo Zhi’s silent love for Huainan becomes some sort of weird obsession here, like a teenager’s crush on a celebrity (on the first episodes, it was pretty ackward to see how all of those scenarios she would imagine between her and the male lead). Her quiet, insightful, mature personality becomes somewhat a mix passive and weird here and I feel like the actress is partly to blame.
Sheng Huainan kind and smart yet flawed becomes boring with self-righteous narcissistic complex whose greatest trouble in life is to be so perfect that he can’t get himself to the level of the common people that he pities and wants to help so much and it’s just so annoying how his self-righteous personality ends up hurting others just because he can’t get himself in their shoes. And we’re supposed to feel sorry because « oh poor he, he’s so perfect that they all idolize him instead of seeing him as a human being ». Moreover, he’s incredibly stupid and influençable compared to the original who would actually quickly realize his mistakes. Once again, I feel like the actor is to blame : I say this whole feeling very sorry for all his fans but I don’t see any charisma or talent in Hu Yi Tian and he’s definitely one of the reasons why his character becomes so annoying here, being clearly inferior here to Zhao Shun Ran in 2019 who is less famous than him.
Also, all of the other characters are exaggerated and lose the realism they had in the 2019 version, becoming stereotypes, especially the girls who become some crazy psychopaths (nice representation of my gender here, I don’t feel insulted at all ?). I feel like the only female character here who was attaching here was Jiang Bai Li who was such a crybaby in 2019 but is someone much stronger and joyful here.
And the multiple subplots they add just makes the plot heavier. Also, there’s way too many episodes for what could easily be reduced and then go to the essential instead of going around in circles.
So to make it short : too long, too many useless subplots, most of the characters are annoying, stereotypical and nonsensical, a writing that tend to overdo it and the lead actors just make me want to slap their bad acting in their faces.
So I don’t get why they made this second version after the 2019 which was just PERFECT and perfectly conveyed the feelings of the novel, while this one totally fails. If you separate it from the novel and the 2019 version, it’s just another romantic idol drama like any other, with nothing extraordinary. It’s cute but no more and if you compare it to the 2019 version, or even to the movie version, it s clearly lacking and seems to have missed the point of the story.

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Nice but Could have been better

There are good things, that make it nice to watch
-interesting plot
-plenty of new happenings, a good rythm, the story is always moving forwards and we never get bored
-characters who are interesting because they are neither entirely black or white and they all evolve (except one, but I’ll come to that later), especially the « villains » : their growth is very interesting to follow. They’re all very different and somehow relatable
- good casting
-i have a crush for the setting in the show business world : it’s super interesting to see how they work, what kind of new roles they would get

…But there are some less good things that make the drama not so good
-plenty of cliches, that include these annoying tropes we don’t want to see anymore : everyone bullied the female lead, she gets framed and saved, the male lead starts off as a jerk (he was reallyyyyyyyyyy annoying) but later comes as a nice guy and all, all of the girls of the drama who are after the female lead for some reason
-the female lead herself : the actress is not even so good, but that’s not the main problem, it’s the character. She’s incredibly naive, never really evolves, never has any character growth. Every time she gets bullied or framed, someone has to save her ass again and again. And yet, she always falls again in the trap and gets bullied again and again. She’s neither smart nor strong, or mature and she doesn’t change through the whole drama. You don’t get why everyone is so obsessed with her
-The repetitive plot : to see her get accused wrongly, to see her fight for no reason with the male lead, again and again… at some point, that was really annoying to see the same trope used over and over
-there are some plot situations that feels very frustrating. The biggest how everyone cornered her in the end to guilt her into giving her kidney (or something like that) to the kid :I hated how everyone was trying to force her, with different means, for different reasons. I get it, the parents and the public wanted her to save the kid. But whether she wanted to do so, to risk her own health to save the kid that her mom had after abandoning her, it was her business, no one had the right to tell her what she should or should not do. What I hated even more is how they were basically coercing her into doing this : no one thought of asking her nicely (except Zuo Zuo, who had started as a spoiled brat ; can’t believe she showed more sense than the others), no one considered she had the right to say no and no one thought of considering her feelings or comforting her (I mean, come on, she never received her mom’s care and suddenly, she had to help her mom’s other kid who had received it ; that’s harsh !) ; they just either confronted her on live tv, so that her whole career would be jeopardized if she said no, or told her « you must help him ». I can’t help but think this was way too arbitrary and unfair on her. The female lead often annoyed me and made me feel she deserved being bullied for being so stupid but this time was too much. I also disliked how those who had done this for other reasons than the kid’s health were not good responsible for this : basically, her biggest rival spread the word of what’s happening and her suitor because she can no longer stand that the male lead like. But this was something that often happened : whenever some people would do her wrong, they wouldn’t really (or at all) be punished, and that felt very frustrating.
This is only an example : there are plenty of situations that feel very frustrating because they don’t make sense, are unreasonable or unfair and make you just wanna throw your laptop through the air when watching (there’s also the fact that you don’t get why her mom had to be mean to her when seeing her again and pretend she didn’t acknowledge her, if not only she knew the female lead was her daughter and if it wasn’t because she feared her daughter would jeopardize her new family/status : just WHYYYYYYYYYYY !). We couldn’t help but feel like the screenwriters wanted to insert these tropes and not care if that made sense.

So, in short terms, it was nice to kill time… but it could have been much better, hadn’t they used such annoying cliches, tropes and hadn’t made the female lead such an annoying doormat

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Started nice… but went downhill by becoming VERY frustrating ; a potential wrongfully exploited

Was nice… but the writing has some BIG flaws that make it not so great
The drama started off as a light romcom in a campus setup
But on the last 4 episodes, it suddenly turned very tragic and melodramatic.
I don’t have a problem with melodramatic. What I have a problem with is the sudden change of tone : if they wanted something melodramatic, they should have done it during the whole drama. Not first start as a nice romantic comedy and then with just one episode, turn it to tragedy with melodrama, deaths and angst. Us viewers were not prepared at all and that felt disagreeable
Another big flaw : this drama causes A LOT of frustration to the viewer, mostly due to the injustices that the female lead suffers. To summarize : the female lead is rich, beautiful, cheerful and beloved. But by her side, there’s a jealous character ready to ruin her happiness. Ruining, the female lead, who grew up with everything one could wish for, including a sparkling, attractive personality, grew up with Shen Zhen by her side. Shen Zhen is beautiful, smart and seemingly polite : but she’s the maid’s daughter, everything she owns has been paid by Ruining’s parents, the house where she lives is theirs and she has always been overshadowed by Ruining’s bright personality and popularity. So, obviously she strongly dislikes Ruining. Many viewers can understand that. What makes her eventually annoying is how far her jealousy and her inferiority complex go : at first, it starts off as her being so insecure in front of Ruining that she’s certain Ruining always does everything to bully her. No master how Ruining apologizes, explains or tries to make it up when she accidentally wrongs Shen Zhen, Shen Zhen won’t listen or believe and will only conclude Ruining deliberately bullied her. When Ruining tries to be nice or befriend her, Shen Zhen rudely rejects by always bringing up their « master-servant relationship » as if she’s somehow blaming Ruining. What makes her even more annoying is that she’s actually not so pitiful, she even has plenty of good things : her mom’s employers gave her mom not only a work but gave them a place to live, food and clothes but even paid for her studies, and all of that without asking anything in return : in short, if it weren’t for them, she’d know what is real poverty and would probably have to do part-time jobs. They also treat kindly, love her like a relative and have plenty of attentions for her. Their daughter tries to be friend with her, plenty of people actually admire her and want to befriend. So we don’t know why she’s so certain her life is a deep tragedy : she obviously thinks as some Cinderella, a female lead from some idol drama and thinks Ruining is the villain who steals everything from her. Eventually, her and Ruining’s rivalry takes a whole new turn when they fall for the same boy : although he first befriends Shen Zhen, he loves Ruining, which finally drives her to madness and darkness after having lost again to Ruining. Her actions not only lead her to harm to Ruining : this leads her to harm and threaten Ruining’s family, despite everything she owes to them. And her jealousy and bitterness turned her so dark that she doesn’t see how wrong this is or that this is totally uncalled for, unlike what she claims. Eventually, she also takes a part in destroying not only Ruining but her whole family, again without remorse, despite the fact that this family had done so much for her.
Shen Zhen is an amazing character, with an amazing actress : she exerts some fascination for me, a mix of hatred and love, because she’s not only a very realistic villain, but also someone who doesn’t look like a villain. She first appears as a pitiful Cinderella who just misunderstands the female lead. However, what makes me REALLY hate her is that the show often seems to present as someone who’s not so bad, who shouldn’t have been a villain, but who has a pitiful past and was led astray by heartbreak and jealousy : what comforted me in that particularly is the ending.
THAT F*** ENDING !!! The most freaking frustrating point of the story, especially on Shen Zhen’s side, and the thing that made me dislike this drama the most : basically, Shen Zhen and another character did terrible things, even committing crimes, which destroyed Ruining, but they get away. Let’s just say that after her most terrible sin was revealed, Shen Zhen was about to commit another : but in an unrealistic twist, that doesn’t correspond at all to the character, she retracts because she just heard the male lead say « I love you » to the female lead when saving her. And with just that, she just quietly leaves, with no punishment for her actions, even having a beautiful monologue, like she’s actually a tragic character not the worst kind of person.. Her accomplice is also no as punished as one should for one’s actions. She just spent 24 episodes trying to ruin the female lead, going as far as complicity of murder and attempt of murder… but suddenly stops when she’s about to lose everything ?! With the character’s personality, that’s not believable at all, and it is even less believable that what would bring her back to her senses is hearing the man she loves profess his love to her rival, when we know how jealous it made her in the past. And we don’t know what the lead couple become, if they even end up together, although it seems to imply they don’t.
What annoyed me most about this ending is that it’s not at all the novel’s but it also doesn’t make sense : yep, I’ve read the novel. A novel which gives an extremely different ending, an ending very satisfying, for every character. But it seemed like the screenwriter here was Shen Zhen’s diehard fan and would rather let her ruin lives and get away than punish her and give her an ending that makes sense
The ending isn’t the only frustrating point of the story ; like i said, there’s a lot. For example, i was kinda annoyed that Ruining’s mother never got to know or realize what kind of person Shen Zhen was. Basically, it became obvious Shen Zhen was very hostile towards her daughter and was bullying her : unfairly accusing her of an offense, slapping her in public, causing her suspension, being about to slap her in her own house, calling her « a heinous person » in front of them… even with all of that, Ruining’s mom kept believing that the Shen Zhen she watched grow up was a polite and kind kid and only had a few misunderstandings with Ruining (URGH). That was a bit annoying. This eventually turned VERY annoying in that scene when she found Ruining and Shen Zhen fighting (basically, after Shen Zhen had used a common past between Ruining’s and the male lead’s parents to blackmail and had even insulted her mom) : but Ruining is the one she slapped, and Shen Zhen is the one she hugged and trusted when Shen Zhen, without a bit of shame, played the grateful and polite girl in front of the woman she had just called a « whore ». Shen Zhen had obviously caused harm to her daughter in the past and her, when she found them fighting, it didn’t occur to her that maybe Ruining had been pushed and bullied too much but chose to believe Ruining was the unreasonable one. What felt most annoying is that Ruining’s mom never got to know about Shen Zhen’s actions, real nature, and personal feelings : until the end, she was left in the dark and us viewers would have liked her to know and realize how stupid she had been, that she owed her daughter an apology and that she had been feeding a snake all along.
it was also annoying that the male lead, of anyone else, never got to know all of the things that she did : after all, she had even used his family to threaten Ruining, even though she claimed to love him, had somehow also caused the ruin of his family but he never knew about it. I just wondered how he would have reacted if he knew how she blackmailed Ruining with both of their families.
The male lead was also a big frustration and deception at the end : he obviously still loved the female lead, but for some reasons, he chose to blame her, or to pretend to blame her, for what happened between both of their families. Many viewers kept rooting for him but I didn’t : i thought this made him immature, and dishonest about his own feelings. It was okay if he couldn’t love her but to pretend to hate and blame her… i just found him pathetic and unfair
Also, i wished we would have known what happened to his dad who was a big responsible for their misfortunes.
It would also have been nice if they had somehow used Shen Zhen’s mom for her karma : Shen Zhen’s mom, unlike her daughter, was extremely grateful to her employers, had a lot of respect for them and the female lead, and tried to teach these to Shen Zhen, but obtained the opposite. At some point of the story, she doesn’t hesitate to point out to Shen Zhen that she shouldn’t go after Ruining. I just think that with her gratefulness to the female lead’s family, it could have been a great turn to the story if she had learnt how her daughter had actually destroyed without remorse their benefactors.
But these last points are actually minor. Like I said, the biggest flaw of the drama is the ending that changed compared to the novel : they not only completely changed it but rushed it (there are a lot of other elements in the novel, including another suitor for the male lead), and made it the worst kind of open ending where the leads aren’t happily together and the villains get away, despite having done the worst kind of things. Moreover, the ending being « open », it doesn’t conclude anything, leaving the viewer frustrated, whether it is because the villains are spared or because we don’t even know if the leads end up together.
Honestly, when I think of that drama, I now have a ball of angst rolling in my throat because it is so sad, unfair and frustrating and it could have been so much better

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You can watch if you’re not picky and if you have time to kill… but don’t expect much

Mostly, Bitches backstabbing everywhere willing to use everything, including sex
There are too many characters which can very easily make the viewers confused and doesn’t grant much screentime and development to characters who are already not very attaching or consistent… the actors are not awesome but o f can not blame with such characters
Overuse and repetition of the same plots again and again (how many do these girls take out their phones to film some other girl doing a secret thing or to threaten some other girl ? I would need at least two more other hands to count ; or how many times did Kong think he finally discovered Wine’s secret only to discover there was more ? How many did they break up only in tears to get back together ; how many time was there a new affair/love relationship ? How many new scandalous news ? And the worst : how many times did the winner of the contest change due to some scandal being revealed in the latest episodes ? That was the most ridiculous of all)
The dirty tricks that the female characters make them very unattaching, even annoying, even though it seems the screenwriters try to make them look cool. And for the girls who are supposed to be the « nice ones », they’re pretty boring and their acting is quite flat (and as I said, their characters don’t have enough consistency)

Overall, it seems that the creators tried to imitate some American series with all the dirty tricks, love and sex intrigues, dirty secrets but failed miserably at it because they made it overall boring

I watched it for two of my favorite actors and because I occasionally like watching bitches fighting but that isn’t enough to make me think this is good
Also, I must say : this show does not give a good picture of us women

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This is actually nice

So I had read some bad reviews so I had low expectations… but this was actually cute and nice
Yes, sure, this is nothing extraordinary or epic. But this still makes one pass a good time : we have four good stories about love within the family.
It’s not something overly dramatic though : you still get good laughters, especially in the second story, with the father getting his head stuck in a bar, who desperately refuses to take off his mask and take the risk of being photographed (jeez, this had me dead ???, especially the way people who gather around him to try to get his head out).
Nevertheless, the stories are both touching and happy. It will help give you a breath of fresh air, exactly what you need when you don’t want anything serious for a moment.
The actors are great, even the youngest children : some may be disappointed that Dylan Wang is there for only a quarter of the story but honestly ? This is to be expected, the movie doesn’t lie about the fact that this is divided in four parts.

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Done and redone

Nothing original
A poor female lead who’s actually the daughter of a wealthy family but has lived in poverty with her mom because of that scheming of others… her rich grandma/grandpa who suddenly wants to meet his/her granddaughter she never acknowledged, a crazy aunt who kills everyone around to get the inheritance, her crazy daughter who gets in rivalry with the female lead…
Extremely boring and predictable all along. Every character, every event has been done and redone in lakorns before.
Moreover, this is way too long for what it is : there are a lot of useless events, and it uselessly goes around in circles.
The acting in general is pretty average, except for some of them, especially the female lead.
On her side, I was actually surprised : Phatchaya offers a natural and graceful performance for a female lead who is smart, strong and able to take her own decisions. In other words, she’s not a Mary Sue. However, had she been played by an untalented actress (like the one playing her best friend), her character could have been very boring.
I consider her the only real asset of the series, as she was a nice discovery.

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