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The Last Duel - "[A] masterpiece of cultural reconciliation"
The Last Duel serves as a loose sequel following up the massive success of One31's last historical drama 'The Empress of Ayodhaya', where One31 attempts to use the same fill-in-the-blank approach and a "what if" premise to shed light on various different historical records of the Burmese–Siamese War (1584–1593).
STORY:
The Last Duel follows almost every bit and pieces of major events you can find on the wikipedia pages of all these real life historical figures. What makes this series such an outstanding one is the ability to develop the fictional scenarios to rationalize and logicalize every actions of the characters (whether "good" or "bad") recorded in history, stemming from the premise that Mingyi Swa doesn't actually want to fight Nares but is torn between his duty as the Crown Prince and a sworn blood brother to Prince Nares of Phitsanulok. I will not spoil much but one of my favorite aspects of this show so far is its rationalization for actions of characters from the Hongsawadi side (Bayinnaung, Nanda Bayin, Natshin Medaw, Minye Kyawswa...).
The narrative framing within The Last Duel is meticulous. On the one hand, the main journey of Prince Nares is of him working towards freedom for himself and for his kingdom because he's been sent as a royal hostage to Hongsawadi since he was a child. Nares understands the fundamentality of losing freedom and what it means to be a citizen of a vassal state. Parallel to his story is Crown Prince Mingyi Swa, whose journey goes from being a carefree child to becoming a prisoner of his own circumstances, which are his duties as Crown Prince, unable to make any moves or decisions of his own freewill. Their two parallel plotlines are complementary and intricately address major themes of the story: independence, freedom, home.
ACTING/CAST
100000000000/10 ACTING. Not a single weak actors in this cast even for super rookie actors. Everyone understood their assignment, did their homework and has delivered only iconic acting performances. Of course Tre Porapat and Nine Naphat are two spectacular outanding actors as the two main male leads. Their performances are immaculate and you fully feel for the pains these two guys go through of having to destroy the friendship/brotherhood they had, in order to fulfill their respective duties to their nations.
MUSIC
Excellent scoring. It's incredibly cinematic. Both the sound mixing and scoring are incredible and I especially love how the scoring and editing works so well together.
REWATCH VALUE
This is one of those series where I think I'll rewatch every once in a while because some of the dialogues are just top notched. Especially the incorporation of anti-war messages through the characters of Phra Nares, Mingyi Swa and Bayinnaung. There's a scene between Mingyi Swa and Bayinnaung where they talk about how in the future trade and diplomacy will be more important than military powers and I think this message can still seen and felt in the state of today's politics.
PRODUCTION
One31 really spent more on this drama. I'm very grateful that they hired Banana Sound Studio, White Light Post and Foolhouse Editing for this particular series. These three post production service companies together are like a dream combination for any Thai series. The final result is truly high quality.
OVERALL
If you're looking for an intriguing Thai historical drama with compelling narratives and excellent acting from a strong veteran ensemble cast, I believe The Last Duel should definitely be on your watchlist.
STORY:
The Last Duel follows almost every bit and pieces of major events you can find on the wikipedia pages of all these real life historical figures. What makes this series such an outstanding one is the ability to develop the fictional scenarios to rationalize and logicalize every actions of the characters (whether "good" or "bad") recorded in history, stemming from the premise that Mingyi Swa doesn't actually want to fight Nares but is torn between his duty as the Crown Prince and a sworn blood brother to Prince Nares of Phitsanulok. I will not spoil much but one of my favorite aspects of this show so far is its rationalization for actions of characters from the Hongsawadi side (Bayinnaung, Nanda Bayin, Natshin Medaw, Minye Kyawswa...).
The narrative framing within The Last Duel is meticulous. On the one hand, the main journey of Prince Nares is of him working towards freedom for himself and for his kingdom because he's been sent as a royal hostage to Hongsawadi since he was a child. Nares understands the fundamentality of losing freedom and what it means to be a citizen of a vassal state. Parallel to his story is Crown Prince Mingyi Swa, whose journey goes from being a carefree child to becoming a prisoner of his own circumstances, which are his duties as Crown Prince, unable to make any moves or decisions of his own freewill. Their two parallel plotlines are complementary and intricately address major themes of the story: independence, freedom, home.
ACTING/CAST
100000000000/10 ACTING. Not a single weak actors in this cast even for super rookie actors. Everyone understood their assignment, did their homework and has delivered only iconic acting performances. Of course Tre Porapat and Nine Naphat are two spectacular outanding actors as the two main male leads. Their performances are immaculate and you fully feel for the pains these two guys go through of having to destroy the friendship/brotherhood they had, in order to fulfill their respective duties to their nations.
MUSIC
Excellent scoring. It's incredibly cinematic. Both the sound mixing and scoring are incredible and I especially love how the scoring and editing works so well together.
REWATCH VALUE
This is one of those series where I think I'll rewatch every once in a while because some of the dialogues are just top notched. Especially the incorporation of anti-war messages through the characters of Phra Nares, Mingyi Swa and Bayinnaung. There's a scene between Mingyi Swa and Bayinnaung where they talk about how in the future trade and diplomacy will be more important than military powers and I think this message can still seen and felt in the state of today's politics.
PRODUCTION
One31 really spent more on this drama. I'm very grateful that they hired Banana Sound Studio, White Light Post and Foolhouse Editing for this particular series. These three post production service companies together are like a dream combination for any Thai series. The final result is truly high quality.
OVERALL
If you're looking for an intriguing Thai historical drama with compelling narratives and excellent acting from a strong veteran ensemble cast, I believe The Last Duel should definitely be on your watchlist.
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