If there were such a thing as a star beside the moon, then I would imagine that it would look something like the picture above: mysterious, contemplative, brooding.
However, the tone of this lakorn, Dao Kiang Duen (which precisely means the star beside the moon) is the exact opposite: funny, entertaining, witty.
The charming Namtarn as Darika (Dao) just cracks me up – and coupled with the anxiety ridden, gassy hero Khun Jan? I just about peed in my pants. I love how this writer gives her heroes quite the embarrassing flaw. Remember Dao Kiaw Duen? Chai Jan is a horrible sleeper and he fears that people would judge his sleeping habit to the point that he forbids anyone to be in his room. Our Khun Jan has a sensitive stomach and when he’s stressed out (which is often) he gets bloated. Mom would force down some sort of antacid, but our heroine knows a more traditional and effective method. She examines his stomach with her hands and after realizing how bloated it feels, she makes him lie down and stretch his colon. The result? Gas relief out of both airways. Hilarious.
And this is after she discovers that he’s actually the Mom Luang Jantarakarn. No matter how angry or upset she is at him, Darika ends up helping him out anyway. I’m glad they didn’t turn a simple misunderstanding into a BIG misunderstanding. From the first episode, Darika thinks that Khun Jan is a mere Sale Employee at the mall, and he doesn’t correct her, so she becomes quite chummy with him and he gets to see her for who she is. Khun Jan is of the belief that people aren’t always the way they appear, and that just because a meal looks delicious, doesn’t mean that it is. So he’s one to put things to the test, so to speak. What he doesn’t realize though is that with Darika, what you see is what you get anyway. She would treat the Sale Employee just the same way as she would treat Khun Jan.
But through this test, Khun Jan is able to see how capable Darika is (she convinced him to be the Flying Prince for his mall’s 50th year anniversary celebration) and how considerate she is (she changes his perspective about the essence of perfection- that his impossible requirements are at the cost of the employees sanity.) Khun Jan may be the perfect guy in many people’s eyes, but he is also flawed and Darika addresses them pointedly. Unfortunately Darika learns who he really is at the moment of reveal: the mall’s anniversary celebration. His mom confronts her and lashes out at the fact that she endangered her son’s life by convincing him to do the zipline. Which she has every right to be angry, but it’s so contrary to the essence of her character (Mom’s not Darika’s.)
Then I got to realizing… (yes, it took 3 episodes for me to come to this conclusion) that Mom is NOT Prakai Dao from the first installment. Which means, Khun Jan is not the son of Janie-Aum’s pairing from the first story. Say what? How is this even a sequel then? Is there really another couple in the lakorn world who’s nick name is Dao and Chai Jan? This is probably the most confusing part of this lakorn – the fact that I went in with the thought that this is part deux! So, so wrong.
Mom is actually Daralai. Prakai Dao wouldn’t blink an eye if her son decides to flippin zipline in the mall. I mean, she rock climbs and literally hangs from the tip of the earth to take breathtaking photographs. When I realized that Mom’s reaction was contrary to what I believe she should act, I started investigating more. Then when they actually called her “Daralai” I knew I got it totally wrong. So the question remains, why the hell is this a sequel? Is it just because our girl is Dao (star) and our guy is Jan (moon)?
I apologize for the diatribe, but this has confused me for two episodes. Thanks for clearing that up by third episode, Show. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. The good part is that Prakai Dao’s character didn’t turn out to be like this as she grew older. The bad part, well, we don’t get to see our previous leads as they age. Boo.
I love the maximizing use of being neighbors, because it’s as close as we’re going to get to our leads living in the same quarters. When his cousin in law drugged him and tried to rape him, Khun Jan was able to seek his neighbor’s help (Darika). Speaking of his cousin in law, I think her character may be created just to irritate the heck out of me. She’s shameless – married to his cousin and still wants him. Apparently she “loved” him since high school and followed him to study abroad, but got pissed off because he keeps rejecting her. She tries to spite him by marrying his cousin, but no matter, he still doesn’t give her the time of day. Like his father, I too am curious as to how he’ll handle her moving forward.
We also have a new conflict introduced in this show: Infah (Toey Jarinporn). Her mom and Khun Jan’s mom are playing Cupid and deciding that their kids are the perfect match. She’s actually rebellious and adorable. Khun Jan, being the good man that he is, decides to see her in her own element and find out if there’s any potential attraction. He gets Darika to take him to an orphan facility lead by Infah to see for himself. His assistant Wivit comes along too and he meets the woman who told him that she’s a transgender from their previous encounter. (This show takes gay references to another level.) After seeing her again in this context, Wivit thinks that Infah is a girl who was raised by the orphanage and makes the children pickpocket visitors. Ha. It’s going to be interesting when he finds out that she’s actually Infah, the future Miss Khun Jan. Perhaps by then, he would have already fallen in love with her?
Meanwhile Darika thinks Khun Jan is being philanthropic, but she learns that he’s just testing the other girl out (at least he’s consistent.) What she doesn’t know is that Khun Jan determines that Infah is more like a sibling to him. Which makes me wonder, how is he going to get out of this match making? How will he deter his cousin in law? And how will he come to realize the one whom he’s truly attracted to? Perhaps it’s going to require a “fake” relationship ala the first installment?
What I do love is the fact that they are always together, she continues to misunderstand that he’s gay, which makes for some good laughs, but above all, I’m dying for some romantic aspect to this drama. We’ve established the comedy, but I am so ready for the romance. Bring it, Show.
Tagged: Dao Kiang Duen, Ken Pupoom, Namtarn
thank you sooo much for sharing your thoughts here. it really helps me when i watch the show. thank you again
It’s my pleasure! Wish I could indulge in full recaps, but weekend lakorns are tough on my schedule, and I’m still exhausted from Rising Sun recaps. 🙂 If anything this show is best viewed with subtitles so you can enjoy all the nuances. Thanks for your comment!
I love that Dao does Muay and she’s one kick-ass. And as 4 u fia, no need to say it out loud how much I adore you, rt?
Aw, thanks lovely!
Thanks, Fia! This lakorn has me rolling during every episode too. Darika is my type of nang ek! she’s adorable and fierce. The story keeps me hanging and the leads are all charming!
Here is the links of Rak Boon 2 Playlists
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56naE8t6fJw&list=PL_FLK5olEMisjODfIf2sg5mFWAqoza3xr&index=2
Rak Boon ep.4 part one, here what I got so far on today episode. I will continues to work on this later!!!!
We are starting off at the hospital, inside Rainy father hospital room where Hiran was going to taking the oxygen mask off Rainy father face, but he was interrupted and stopped by Jay. Jay has asked if he is the relatives of the patient. Instead of answering her, Hiran got scares and run off. Jay was going to going after him (going to chased after him) but Rainy stopped her and told her not to go because he is a very dangerous person. That is when Rainy confesses that Hiran kill her by making it looks like an accident. Hiran is the one whom took her father to be register and treated in this hospital. The day of the incident, Rainy was on the phone with one of her friends, the one whom let her borrowed the car and condo ( a places to lives after she got back from foreign country). After the phone car, Hiran shows up, Rainy got very afraid of Hiran. They has a fight where Hiran becomes very aggressive with her. He pushing her inside the car, he beating her up, closing the door of the car, and started to rape her. After he finishes with her, he put the car on gear of the break and make it like an accident that the car was drove off the building. Jay was surprises that Rainy accident was not an accident that Hiran has killing her. Jay encouraging her to finding the evident that Hiran has killed her and bringing him to justinces where he could no longer hurting her. Later, we have Ploy was walking home when she was kidnapping by the biker guy ( the one that Chaai was betting her with), they pushing her into the van. At the abandon warehouse Ploy was chaining into the wall, with the biker psychotic girlfriend wants to kill her, cutting her into pieces with the switzhandknife. It seems that the crazy girlfriend has kills the men of her boyfriend to get to Ploy. The biker guy comes to try to stopped her. She was about to go into the deep in when the biker and her got into the fight over the knife. He was able to knock out the knife out of her hand. The biker and his girlfriend got into the fight where they are pushing each other, in the moments of weakness accident, the biker pushes his girlfriend and she was swaying into the sharped object of the wall, she was kill instantly.
Now Ploy was witnesses the whole thing, she scream frightened. While the coin started to floated around and choosing the next owner of the coin (it seems that Ploy will be inheritance the coin by an accident). The biker guy becomes so scares of the whole scene that he has run off. Later, Jay and her detective friend was discussing a way to finding an evident to arrested Hiran. The detective guy has asked Jay if Khun Ton has feeling better to getting off the hospital that is when Jay realizes that she has forgotten that she was supposed to pick Khun Ton up at the hospital that he has been letting out of the hospital today. At the hospital, Ton comes out of restroom off his hospital room only to find Chakorn packing a bag for him. He told Chakorn that he can packing his own bag, but Chakorn insisted that it is O.K. he will do it for him since it is not alot of clothes. Pimorn has asked Ton when Jay was going to comes picking him up. Ton told her that Jay has already left for work, that she is busy working, that he got used to it by now. Pimorn was got alittle annoy that Jay has forgotten Ton at the hospital (will that is making an easy to Pimorn to get into Ton good graces doesn’t). Pimorn has offered to dropped Ton off at home when Gaasin appear to tell her to hurry to the emergency room because the second owner of the coin was there. Pimorn left the room in the hurry, which surprisingly confuses both Chakorn and Ton immediately. After Orn left the room, Ton got a phone called from Jay. Ton has complain that Jay is forgotten about him now against. He feel left out that he feel hurt and feels that he is not important to her.
OMG, I wondered the same thing about mom and dad. It didn’t make sense at all why mom acted shady towards someone so much like herself – Dao. Who the heck are they now? I hope they explain later.
Haha. I saw that prakaidao n khun chai jan had triplets all girls in the final episode.
oh I thought this was a true sequel too! glad you cleared that up before I started watching (im still going to watch) but that is weird!