Blkittykat

Love in the Moonlight is quite your basic plot at it's core - it's got all the clichés you would expect of a lakorn, down to the tiniest details, for example, the leads getting stranded somewhere (huh.. yeah). But what makes it work is surprisingly enough, the formula itself. That, and the chemistry between the leads.

I have not watched enough lakorns to claim subject matter expertise, but the ones I've seen all have ten scenes that always happen - may not be the same ten, but ten nonetheless that move the story forward, with things happening very conveniently just so the story can move forward. The leads come up with a plan and the script just happens to say that they will get caught halfway through the scheme?! Why not, because that means half their plan is complete, all the important setup is done - it's just the execution that needs fine tuning. Lucky us (unlucky them), we get to witness this plan circle around for five more episodes because they just keep getting caught time and again.

Love in the Moonlight follows Saenkaew, the prince of the kingdom Nanta, who needs to marry a Thai woman so that his family may survive the political changes his country is going through, changes that are resulting in the persecution of royals. His father has arranged for him to marry Pin - anong, a childhood friend of his but he has no interest in this marriage. He does not love her, but he's also bound by his duties, so he decides to go along with the plans while formulating his own, to ensure that his family can safely move to Thailand.

Before his wedding, his father sends to Thailand to start the process of asset transfers and to get to know Pin better - but the very first person he falls for (pun intended) is Sasin, her elder brother. Sasin is immediately suspicious of Saenkaew, he's worried about his intentions, especially after he catches Saenkaew sneaking around in his attempts to transfer the assets without a marriage of convenience, which means that he's certainly going to break off his marriage to Pin. But Sasin decides to put aside all his suspicions for the sake of his sister, who's actually in love with him, has been for a long time. But each time Saenkaew is caught in a "compromising" situation by Sasin, he gets more and more upset, which forces Saenkaew to reveal all his plans to him.

After a bit of convincing, Sasin decided he's going to help Saenkaew, as it is by far the best scenario for all parties, and this causes them to grow closer and closer, until it hits a point where they acknowledge something that's been apparent from the beginning - they've developed feelings for each other.

This is of course, just one plotline that's going on, there are several others that run intersecting with this one, involving Saenkaew's family, Pin's family, Sasin's friends, the political situation in Nanta, and a few others. It's a complex layering of story lines and characters that is both predictable and unpredictable - you can tell exactly how each character will behave in a situation, the situation will mostly go only one way - but the possibility that it could another way is very imminent (and nerve wracking might I add).

It's that kind of back and forth, between hope and anxiety for the leads that keeps you on the edge, and pushes you to press the "next episode" button. The absolute predictability of it all serves as a complete paradox to how well the series actually moves despite knowing every next move.

But the best part about this series is it's leads and their romance. While almost every second character is unsurprisingly one-dimensional, Saenkaew and Sasin are complex, deep and well written.
Sasin may seem like a typical protective, playful and flirty male lead, and to an extent he is - but his relationship with Saenkaew makes him a more cautious and calculated, more depth than perceived.
Saenkaew though.. my, my, my.. he is easily the best character in this by a mile. He is smart, strong, empathetic, and annoyingly adorable. I wondered with each episode just how he functioned, because he is a human angel and deserves the absolute best.
He is incredibly well written - so complex, yet with such a simple notion - he just wants to be a good person. He recognises that in his pursuit to be this individual, he will have to take risks and chance hurting people he really cares about, but because he's also smart and calculative, he's anticipated that these negative feelings are an unavoidable by product every way. He wants to be a good son, a good friend, and a good partner to someone he can truly love as a partner and he's even willing to sacrifice his happiness to an extent - until he isn't. Saenkaew is the best character, hands down.

And the romance? The flame that lit many fires was truly top notch. Sasin and Saenkaew's chemistry was just incredible, incredible enough to make my side eye about the absolute passion of their relationship disappear. Plausibility is not what I came for anyways - I'll take their heartfelt smiles and chemistry any day. The trajectory of their love story was not a simple one, opposition from characters you wouldn't expect it from is the least worrying thing - so many characters brought out actual pitchforks to try to stop them from loving each other. But Sasin and Saenkaew are the brightest spot, their love burns as bright as they do.

The rest of the characters can.. I have some choice words not suitable for a review but they can do all that. Some of them are human trash, most of them are bad people to an extent, some are surprisingly complex. Yes, perhaps most of them were presented as absolutes of good or evil, for the most part really one dimensional, but there was surprising depth. It did come a bit too late (and yes, I could not excuse the previous horrids), but I'm glad it came nonetheless.

I won't be covering the ending - I'll just say it was an emotional rollercoaster.
I will say the acting was brilliant. You can feel all the emotions from Inside Out in one scene, and the actors all deliver.

I'm not sure I've convinced anyone to give it a try - I've basically said a lot of it is not plausible, the writing is predictable, the characters are atrocious and the only saving grace are the leads. I'll just be straightforward then. You should try this. Yes, it's incredibly dramatic and a lot of things happen more out of convenience than confident writing, but lean into the vibes and drama of it all, and it is worth it.