Likit Fah Chata Din ep 1-15
The drama opens with a baby boy being left at a shrine's door. He is picked up by the curious residents of the shrine while a woman watches from afar and leaves hastily before she can be discovered. Through a series of quick flashbacks, we learn that the woman is Darakan, the sheltered daughter of a rich couple who got herself pregnant after a one night stand with a kind stranger on her graduation trip. She later learns that the man was actually due to marry soon and decided to keep her pregnancy a secret. With help from her loyal maid Aunt Bua, she hid out her pregnancy in the small town of Lampoon and gave up her child to save her family's reputation. Darakan later marries a respected businessman Bancha and has another son Din but all the while she pines for the son that she left behind, resulting in Din feeling neglected because his mother would rather spend time doing merit at an obscure shrine than be involved in his life.
Fast forward 20 odd years later, Din has grown up to be a willful and sullen young man while Darakan's other son Jang is a responsible adult well loved by both his family at the shrine and the community at large. Things come to a head when Bancha finds out about Darakan's past and the existence of her illegitimate child and being in the small lakorn world, he realises that Peter Zhou, his new business partner from Singapore with whom he was about to sign a contract with is the child's biological father! In hurt and anger, Bancha formulates a plan to revenge his wife and Peter by pretending to acknowledge Jang and get him to take over his business when in actual fact he wants Jang and his biological father to hurt each other in the conflict between the two companies. Not knowing what his father's plans are, Din is infuriated by this lowly stranger who suddenly enters his life and is adored by all in his house, and this of course leads to conflict between the brothers.
Let's get the annoying people out of the way first shall we. For once there aren't any real villains who exist for the sake of stirring up conflict. The feud between Madam Pin and Bancha started because Bancha wanted to attack Peter who was in a partnership with them but they obviously didn't know what Bancha's true intentions were and thought he was out to provoke them which was why they responded in kind. Bancha's crafty brother Buree looks quite suspicious and I think he might be the one who was behind the attack on Bancha which left him paralyzed but for now he's being reasonably upset with Bancha for giving the business to this random kid from nowhere. The character that I can't stand the most is actually the gentle Darakan. She's not mean or nasty but beneath the soft and refine exterior, she is a self-centered woman at the core. Everything revolves around her emotions. Boohoo, I had to give up my son. Boohoo, I can't acknowledge him. Boohoo, why doesn't he come running into my arms when I want to take him back? Boohoo, why can't I tell the whole world that Jang is my son? Darakan herself acknowledged that she gave up Jang to protect her family's reputation as well her own. I know Darakan would have to endure a lot of difficulties if she had chosen to keep Jang with her especially when her family is well known in the community but isn't sacrifice part of parenthood? And if you chose not to sacrifice for this child, what right do you have to demand his love years later when it's convenient to have him in your house? I really want to smack her whenever she starts crying and bemoaning her relationship with Jang when at the same time she doesn't care about Bancha and Din who have been by her side all these years. It's always about her emotions and she never considers how others might be affected by her actions. To me, she has failed as a mother to both the child she physically abandoned and the one she neglected emotionally. Perhaps then it's not such a wonder Din grew up to become as self absorbed as he did. I do cut him some slack considering he's a kid but it still gets tiresome to hear him constantly asking why people around him think he's an idiot and childish. Hmmm, because you are Khun Din? Din reminds of Kawee as they are both poor rich kids craving attention of their parents but while Kawee swept through my heart like a blazing fire, I just wanna tell Din to shut up and get over himself. Part of it is due to Din getting a better deal than Kawee because unlike Kawee who got dumped at boarding school after his mom's death, Din's dad was actually present and caring through his growing years. The other crucial element is of course the difference in acting ability of Ken and Mike. Ken brought out all of Kawee's bitterness, hurt and anger which cut to the viewers' hearts while Mike's way of presenting Din's tortured soul is to try really hard to squeeze out angst from between his furrowed brows.
The bright spot in this lakorn turned out to be Son who plays the sensible Jang. This is only my 2nd ch5 lakorn so I'm not familiar with their artistes but Son has definitely made a good impression. Jang is an easy character to like but Son's natural acting and laid back charms help make Jang more than just a flat goody two shoes. Son makes an adorable couple with Mo (she plays Duang, daughter of Bancha's employee) and Jang and Duang are such down to earth kids with a good head firmly on their shoulders that I wish they could've continued on their simple but sweet courtship instead of getting embroiled the mess cooked up by Bancha.
Jang, Teresa, Duang, Din
For now, the couple status is: Din likes Duang, Duang and Jang like each other but Jang misunderstands that Duang is Din's gf and she fooled him into liking her, and finally Teresa (Charebelle) has fallen for Jang who is actually her half-brother. Happy times ahead yo.