If you've ever dreamed of your rapist bringing you toast, do I have a drama for you!
Instead of watching various kdramas I am currently following or continuing with Joi Rak (which I continue to adore - it makes me think of a kdrama melodrama circa 2001), do you know what I spent my morning and afternoon doing?
If you guessed "watching Sawan Biang", you'll be right.
Just as with Defendant of Love, I can't claim I didn't know what I was getting into - flisties pretty much told me it's another "hero rapes heroine for revenge, they live happily ever after" dramas. I have no idea why I checked out SB - clearly the trainwreck syndrome is deeply ingrained. Or maybe I just don't understand how they can make dramas with that sort of storyline over and over and need to see for myself. Who knows.
For my own self-preservation, I skipped the first half and started with ep 8 (this drama is 12 eps, 90 minutes each), because that way I was pretty sure I'd avoid all the raping.
Hmmmmm. I will NEVER understand the Thai love of that particular trope but whatever the hell they mix into their lakorns it was sure addictive because I couldn't stop even if I kept chanting at the screen for heroine to brain hero with a frying pan. At least in this version, unlike in DoL, she made him jump through enough hoops to qualify for circus membership before she decided he's reformed and took him back and she kept it up for months, unlike the harebrained heroine of DoL whose thought processes basically went like "you tortured and raped me but it was a giant misunderstanding and you say you are sorry so squee!"
I must admit I mightily enjoyed watching him jumping through hoops, suffering, and otherwise reaping reward for years of bad bad karma he must have accumulated. My favorite bit was where he got a bunch of thugs to beat him into unconsciousness. I rewatched that bit twice, cheering the thugs the whole way. Heroine also told him what she thought of him, treated him like dirt (when he'd cook her meals every day and she'd throw them out in front of him = in your face), and ran away repeatedly making him search for her. My favorite bit when she told him the baby she was pregnant with was not his but another boyfriend's. Ha! Finally, she only took him back after months of his working his butt off to please her and then signing over ever bit of property he owns to her, so he was basically penniless, as a condition for seeing his kid and no guarantee of her even tolerating him around her. Ha! In your face! Now, I confess I wished she'd then call the cops and throw his penniless ass in jail where he can experience the joy of being a rape victim firsthand but we can't have everything in a lakorn.
Hero was a bit dim, I must say. So, the reason he wanted revenge was because his father married a new wife and she was a giant bitch who made his life unpleasant. So he got his revenge by kidnapping and raping...the wife's sister? How does that even make sense? At least the hero of DoL tried to get revenge on the person who was responsible for his little bro's death, not some family member (even if he blew it by getting the wrong person. Lakorn heroes are not very smart, are they?)
I have never seen the actress in anything before but she's truly gorgeous and has a very warm vibe. The actor is the same as in Joi Rak (I much prefer his non-rapist character in the latter) and is gorgeous as well, even if I wanted to scratch his character's eyes out. He played sweet and angsty very well, except I could not get over the whole RAPIST CREEP part (and what I saw from flashbacks was enough to convince me never to check the first half of SB if I did not want to put my fist through the screen). They have great chemistry and under other circs I'd probably ship the hell out of the pairing. But not being a 1970s romance reader, I am out.
In conclusion, I'd love for a hot guy to clean my floors, cook me yummy meals from scratch, cut my toenails, and decorate my view by standing by my window in a torrential downpour all night, but seeing as he'd have to kidnap me and rape me first, I will stick to cooking my own food and cleaning my own floors.
ETA: I watched it on youtube and the comments were the best part! Half the people were "he lurves her so much and is so hot, why is she holding out?" and the other half were "are you insane? He raped her, if it was up to me, he'd rot in jail forever!" and they really were going at it in a mini-flame-war. And then there were some people who blamed heroine's sister for the rape because if she didn't keep provoking hero, he'd never get pissed off enough to rape her sister which is...whaaaaaaaat?
If you guessed "watching Sawan Biang", you'll be right.
Just as with Defendant of Love, I can't claim I didn't know what I was getting into - flisties pretty much told me it's another "hero rapes heroine for revenge, they live happily ever after" dramas. I have no idea why I checked out SB - clearly the trainwreck syndrome is deeply ingrained. Or maybe I just don't understand how they can make dramas with that sort of storyline over and over and need to see for myself. Who knows.
For my own self-preservation, I skipped the first half and started with ep 8 (this drama is 12 eps, 90 minutes each), because that way I was pretty sure I'd avoid all the raping.
Hmmmmm. I will NEVER understand the Thai love of that particular trope but whatever the hell they mix into their lakorns it was sure addictive because I couldn't stop even if I kept chanting at the screen for heroine to brain hero with a frying pan. At least in this version, unlike in DoL, she made him jump through enough hoops to qualify for circus membership before she decided he's reformed and took him back and she kept it up for months, unlike the harebrained heroine of DoL whose thought processes basically went like "you tortured and raped me but it was a giant misunderstanding and you say you are sorry so squee!"
I must admit I mightily enjoyed watching him jumping through hoops, suffering, and otherwise reaping reward for years of bad bad karma he must have accumulated. My favorite bit was where he got a bunch of thugs to beat him into unconsciousness. I rewatched that bit twice, cheering the thugs the whole way. Heroine also told him what she thought of him, treated him like dirt (when he'd cook her meals every day and she'd throw them out in front of him = in your face), and ran away repeatedly making him search for her. My favorite bit when she told him the baby she was pregnant with was not his but another boyfriend's. Ha! Finally, she only took him back after months of his working his butt off to please her and then signing over ever bit of property he owns to her, so he was basically penniless, as a condition for seeing his kid and no guarantee of her even tolerating him around her. Ha! In your face! Now, I confess I wished she'd then call the cops and throw his penniless ass in jail where he can experience the joy of being a rape victim firsthand but we can't have everything in a lakorn.
Hero was a bit dim, I must say. So, the reason he wanted revenge was because his father married a new wife and she was a giant bitch who made his life unpleasant. So he got his revenge by kidnapping and raping...the wife's sister? How does that even make sense? At least the hero of DoL tried to get revenge on the person who was responsible for his little bro's death, not some family member (even if he blew it by getting the wrong person. Lakorn heroes are not very smart, are they?)
I have never seen the actress in anything before but she's truly gorgeous and has a very warm vibe. The actor is the same as in Joi Rak (I much prefer his non-rapist character in the latter) and is gorgeous as well, even if I wanted to scratch his character's eyes out. He played sweet and angsty very well, except I could not get over the whole RAPIST CREEP part (and what I saw from flashbacks was enough to convince me never to check the first half of SB if I did not want to put my fist through the screen). They have great chemistry and under other circs I'd probably ship the hell out of the pairing. But not being a 1970s romance reader, I am out.
In conclusion, I'd love for a hot guy to clean my floors, cook me yummy meals from scratch, cut my toenails, and decorate my view by standing by my window in a torrential downpour all night, but seeing as he'd have to kidnap me and rape me first, I will stick to cooking my own food and cleaning my own floors.
ETA: I watched it on youtube and the comments were the best part! Half the people were "he lurves her so much and is so hot, why is she holding out?" and the other half were "are you insane? He raped her, if it was up to me, he'd rot in jail forever!" and they really were going at it in a mini-flame-war. And then there were some people who blamed heroine's sister for the rape because if she didn't keep provoking hero, he'd never get pissed off enough to rape her sister which is...whaaaaaaaat?