Prang Sanaeha (2022)

Actors Saved the Drama

First of all, I don't speak Thai but I have seen maybe 90% of all eps - with subs. This review has been edited since I managed to watch more scenes and eps with subs.

Pros:
1) Acting. I thought everyone did great in their roles. Kudos to the six main actors. Even the villains really made you despise them. My MVP would be Ko Vasin, followed by Pinkploy. If they had given her better materials, it would have gone to PP. Ko did good considering his scenes involved action (seriously he's always getting in fights), drama, romance, and humor. Which he nailed 'em all. The scene in the last ep where he teared up from missing his wife as he looked at her picture moved me because one of the criticisms of his character is he moved on really quickly after her death. Ko is also someone with a great sense of humor irl so he naturally nailed being goofy. As for romance, Ko-Pp had a really strong chemistry. It seemed like it just got better now compared to their first drama. Which is why it was a shame they didn't capitalise on this as much.

As for PP, she did really great differentiating her portrayal of 3 characters. She nailed the emotional scenes well, just that the writers did her dirty with how Praidao was written. As the drama went on, Praidao seemed to become more annoying than anything. I really loved how Siangwaan was written though. Pp is definitely one to watch in the future and she seems to have good chemistry with anyone she pairs up with and is a great versatile actress.

Special mention, Amp as Denis/Sia. You'd get annoyed at his villainy, woman-beating role for sure, which meant he did great at his portrayal.

I also think Maggi and Aof did great in their roles. But again, materials could've been better especially for Maggi. I like that Sri's character is a strong woman with a backbone and a great friend but it could've been explored more. As for Aof, he did great portraying the double agent trying to maintain an image as Sia's trusted man, but as much as possible trying to protect the sisters and the conflict at having to go to war with the woman he actually loved. Action roles really suit Aof too, and he did well for the lighthearted scenes.

Grace did great as Deun. Felt bad for her character but she was one beautiful woman and did great with the emotional scenes. Her scenes really involved a lot of emotions and she did the crying scenes so well. Unfortunately read that she didn't renew with Ch7 but I want to see more of her in perhaps a main role.

2) Location. Suk Sritrang Farm was so beautiful. Techit's house in Bangkok overlooking the River was also beautiful.

3) Outfit, Hair and Make up. On point all the time as much as I could remember. They did great with PP's hair and make up. The glow up from the last drama I watched her in was so amazing. I loved Dao's outfits from beginning to end.

4) Music. Just one OST. It was just ok to me in the beginning but definitely grew on me towards the end. We know Ko is also a musician so they capitalised on that greatly by having him sing the OST and even kept on having him play the song on the piano at the resort. Good example of how to incorporate a cast member's skill into the drama. The lyrics captured Techit's feelings.

Cons:
1) Editing. I gave it the benefit of a doubt that due to Covid breaks, the production was affected but not so much. The production would release all these pics from the drama which ended up not even making the final cut. The worst for me was a lot of these cut scenes just made it into the drama as a flashback in the last ep. It felt like an afterthought to me and highlighted the jarring issue of how they probably cut out scenes that they shouldve retained and retained some unnecessary scenes instead.

2) Pacing. Up to ep 8 was great. Went downhill after Dao woke up from her coma. Too much focus on Ketsara that it made little sense. Ketsara was portrayed as a vengeful spirit, but she remained so even after they exhumed her body and properly buried her. She was a victim but also became a villain when she started haunting Dao's body. They writers should've have just made her tell Techit who killed her so they could wrap up her storyline faster. It was too much of going back and forth with her plot.

Also, the lack of focus on romance. I mean, the drama was also a romantic drama and they could've focused a bit more in here. Glaring was the lack of development on Paul-Sritrang's romance other than they still had feelings for each other despite breaking up in college. I honestly did not buy that Paul and Sri had feelings for each other due to their lack of screentime together. Such a shame, i thought Maggi and Aof had good chemistry too.

The writers also failed to capitalise on Ko-PP's chemistry. They definitely filmed more but those scenes were cut out. They made Dao so annoying I just felt bad for Te and was rooting for him to just marry his bestie Sri instead. (Really enjoyed Ko-Maggi scenes a lot). The whole plot point post-Dao waking up was Dao couldn't remember Techit and Techit pining after her. They could've built up on this more so that when they reunited, it would be satisfying.
Their reunion was disappointing to me. Waited for so long for them to profess their love for each other, especially from Dao, and for Dao to confess she remembered Techit (never happened). Their farewell was done great, both saying goodbye and visibly upset at the prospect of each other marrying other people, fake-wishing each other's happiness, so the buildup was there. There should've been a scene where Paul told Techit to go after Dao since Paul was not in love with her, imo. Would make more sense since Techit at one point already gave up on her, he did say he wouldn't go after his friend's girl. So for him to suddenly sneak in her room and act all lovey dovey toward her felt jarring. Similarly with Dao, she was shown pining for him but kept him at bay because he was "engaged" to Sri. Suddenly she gave in to her feelings during the rain scene without as much as a proper conversation between them so I felt the disconnect there. We never saw anyone explain to her the engagement was a ruse, or that she confessed she remembered him and loved him. Or even any apologies from her for treating him like crap for so long. Their reunion is one of the major highlights of this drama and should've been done better, especially with all the sad and angsty build up over many eps.

So in conclusion, it's an average drama with so much potential to be better. The premise was great but the production did not edit it better especially in choosing which scenes to cut. Too much focus on the drama, too much focus on a certain plot line that other plot lines suffered for airing time. The saving grace was the performance of the actors so it would appeal to you especially if you're watching to root for your faves. It was also touted as Ko-Pp reunion drama so Ko-PP's fans would be delighted for sure, especially since Ch7 also pushed them to do a lot of appearances together to promote the drama. Rewatch value? It's ok i guess. It did great rating-wise. Consistently the no 1 drama of its slot during its run and ended with the highest rating of 5.5, which is the fifth most-watched drama of 2022 so far. For Ch7 and Didavideo, im sure they're happy with the success this drama received.

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Average Watch.

"The Lost Soul" I don't know how I should feel about it - The series starts with a good story. The first third of the episodes with those romantic & mysterious touches, is what sucks you in.

Then the story changes. This is the middle loop, and its repetitive nature, will exhaust watchers. Where, romance is just a word, and more likely to only appear in flashback form, from now until closing credits. That repetitive loop, with no progress is what hurts this series.

Because, the last third's slow and methodical meandering across plot points, though, trying to propel this drama out of that loop. Doesn't have enough strength to pull watchers back into the story, and ready for resolution.

Is it an average watch, that should have been better than that.

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