Under my totally subjective views, I’ve evaluated some of the lakorns that are currently on air and categorized them as good, average or ugly (a total miss in other words) and you can decide whether you’ll partake or bow out of it, this time around.

Average:

Channel 7 kookwans and real life former exes, Pancake and Weir, reunited their onscreen chemistry in Nangfah Gup Mafia, an action/romance drama depicting an Interpol secret agent who disguises as a mafia’s minion in order to extrapolate evidences and end its reign. But the only thing standing in his way is a meddlesome flight attendant, who apparently has devoted her life to make his a living hell. Hilarity and odd action scenes aside, Nangfah Gup Mafia also has some family drama (greed) and the theme of what a dutiful daughter/son would do for his or her loved ones.
Likes: If I were to have a choice of watching a n’ek chase after anybody, I’m ok with her meddling and chasing after the pr’ek. So much nicer than her chasing after the wrong guy, right? Such is the case in this lakorn, Maekala (Pancake) under the duty of repaying the debt to her foster mother who happens to be Ram’s (Weir) mother, is willing to do anything in order to turn him into an obedient good son. So she figures marrying the guy will solve the problem. (Ahem to single ladies, marriage is not always the solution to your problems (whether they’re insecurities, confusion, lack of goals). Ram on the other hand, agrees to marry her to get rid of the problem. (the same goes for men.. don’t marry because you think it will stop a meddling woman!)
Dislikes: The mafia’s daughter is annoying. She reminds me of a cross dresser (oops sorry), and she falls in love with Ram and is determined to destroy his marriage. Shortage of men perhaps in this world? But her character’s condition or personality has its reasons, so at least I can’t say she’s just there to annoy me. I also didn’t like some of the clichés in the lakorns.
At any rate, I thought this lakorn was enjoyable, the pace moved relatively quickly and everyone seems to have their reasons for behaving a certain way. I would give Nangfah Gup Mafia an average score so far, because although I thought overall it’s good, it’s still not compelling enough for me to watch it live or keep up (I’m up to ep 9.)

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Good:

On the subject of action dramas, Mook Liam Petch, on the other hand is a total hit in my book. Even I am surprised. For one, I’ve never seen Susie’s or Rome’s lakorns before and didn’t expect to even watch this, to be honest. But I was bored and I needed my lakorn fix for the day and as far as I’m concerned, I’m glad I tuned in. As it goes (2 episodes so far) it is a total hit!
Rome is the President of Star Diamond and is a total workaholic. He does not have room for girlfriends or relationships, his words. But his mother, the matriarch of the family and feared among the household- excluding Petch, who thinks he’s defying her but always gives in anyway, so I guess he puts up a fight? –mom is determined to match make him up with Noo Mook- her ideal daughter in law. It appears Noo Mook dresses frilly, behave and talks like a teenager to spite her future betrothed. Underlining that however, Noo Mook is actually a tough, badass law enforcer who pretends to be otherwise in order to investigate the case of the stolen jewelry, Adorella.
Likes: Watching Susie being an airhead- she’s hilarious, even if it’s over the top. I loved how she pursues him constantly, telling him she loves him and such. Then she miraculously turns around and becomes the real Mookda convincingly. I never thought I would say this, but Rome’s great. How did I just discover this? He’s funny, reasonable and easy on the eye. At the moment, he doesn’t want anything to do with the bubblegum Noo Mook but wait til he sees Officer Mookda! I can’t wait to see the tables turning: how will Mookda react to being pursued by the hot, take no prisoner Petch? Because when he said ‘what is mine, will belong to me’, I believe him, even if he meant Adorella and not Mookda, for the time being.
I also enjoy Mook’s brother and Vicky’s couple. Cute, bickering scenes so far.
Dislikes: Too many evil/action minions but I guess they make the action scenes better. Fortunately I fast-forwarded through their scenes and watched only the good stuff =)
Although I like some eye candy, the pool scenes with the four guys and speedos made me uncomfortable, lol. Or when Jason Young was oiling up Rome and massaging him, haha, maybe you’ll enjoy it after all? I’m not a prude by any means, but gee whiz, it just screams “awkward.”
Tune into Mook Liam Petch on Weds-Thurs to see how the action unfolds (I’m up to Ep3).

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Good:

Another lakorn that I didn’t expect to enjoy so much is Tomyum Lumsing. It aired this past Tuesday with episode 1 and I found myself smiling a lot and I’m not even a fan of Chompoo. She plays a lookthung singer who has been marketed by her PR as an American look kreung (mix blood) who adores the lookthung genre of music. And it will be her first time returning to Thailand (after being in LA since she was 5 yrs old) to launch her music career. Sounds interesting right? What’s even more interesting though, is that Chom’s character is actually not from America. She was born and bred in Thailand but her manager wanted her to sell this story. She went along with it (I assume so she can sing) but before her introduction to the industry, all hell broke lose. Will she be able to keep her real identity underwraps? What would you do to become a singer?
I liked how Chom and Por met under such funny terms, not your average, bite each other’s heads off first encounter. I like how Por crushes after her, how she pretends to talk the way foreigners do and that the storyline is compelling so far. Unfortunately there are some lose strings and annoying characters as well. I hope some of the characters are not merely there to annoy us, as the story unfolds. Watch Tomyum Lumsing every M-T to enjoy this musical, comedic lakorn.

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A Miss:

Lastly, and to me, certainly the least, is 3 Num Nuea Thong. I expected this to be great, with the grown up, relationship and city theme, but much to my dismay, I am disappointed. I wanted to like it so much, but it’s just not happening, sorry. I don’t want straight up commentaries, show me intelligent, stimulating scenes!

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But at least, I found Mook Liam Petch to be totally enjoyable, followed by a fun Tomyum Lumsing and an average Nangfah Gup Mafia. I’m still waiting and being really hopeful that a future lakorn will knock my socks off.

Well that’s all I’ve seen for now. What about you? Have you seen these lakorns? Let’s discuss!