Blkittykat

We know the story about the boy who cried wolf? This is the plot that did. The wolf in question here, much like the actual story, arrived only at the very ending.

Before everything else - I'd just like to clarify that I have neither read the source material nor am I the domain expert of Thai history of the purported time period. I have attempted to familiarise myself with it, but nowhere near enough.

I'm the Most Beautiful Count is a story about politics, social life, identity and love, all set at the crux of a period of change. The story begins with Prince, a popular artist, announcing that she is part of the LGBTQ+ community - to the joy of some and the chagrin of others. After a night out, she discovers that she is now in the body of Worradej, a nobleman from the kingdom of Thongburi, who was presumed to be dead. Now Worradej himself tells her in a dream/vision that Prince needs to identify and fulfill his desire - citing that both their desires are one and the same. With no other way to return to the present, Prince decides to discover what this is and fulfill it, and the very first clue she gets is that Worradej was involved in a secret tryst with someone he knew.

Prince discovers from Worradej's attendent Jade that it may have been one of two men - Kosol, the exiled prince of the kingdom or Banjong, a nobleman and scholar. With these clues in hand, "Worradej" soon discovers that the relationship between the three of them is much more complicated than thought previously - it now involves a conspiracy to dethrone the current king and Kosol's younger brother, Chaiyached, so that a new rule may be established along the lines of democracy.

I'm going to pause here for a second. Because just in this small portion of the plot, which spans around five episodes, we got a lot of information. We're introduced to all the main characters and we learn what drives them. Worradej, Kosol and Banjong were all part of a movement to establish a new form of governance, even before Prince arrived, and it is one of the biggest plotlines, that spans every episode.

Keep this in mind as we move along. Now, Chaiyached is the ruler once his brother was exiled, but he wants nothing more than to play around, relax and live his life, because he's a child.. an actual child. He does not seek the throne, he just wants to be himself and live with his brother because unlike everything that was said about him, he is kind, considerate, and again, just a kid. It is again heavily implied that the narrative of Chaiyached being the one who exiled his brother, of being a ruthless ruler, actually comes from Lord Somdet, a member of the court. Meanwhile, Prince discovers what actually led to Worradej's death was indeed related to a matter of the heart, as he had been in love with Banjong, but not as straightforward as Worradej being heartbroken over Banjong rejecting his feelings. The particular incident that led to Worradej's death had more to do with the movement they were all part of - and Worradej's father, who strongly opposed his son's involvement in it.

Prince believes that this is it, Worradej wants Banjong, and that is his heart's desire. But things are complicated once again because Prince is starting to develop feelings for Kosol, who was already in love with Worradej before Prince had arrived. Now obviously, being with Banjong is not Worradej's desire, evidenced by the fact that Prince doesn't return to the present, and the fact that she has now fallen in love with Kosol. Their desire is something else entirely. There's a huge portion of time spent on trying to confuse the audience about who Worradej will choose because with Prince's arrival, Banjong has developed feelings and Kosol has fallen even harder - and Prince believes that finding true love is what Worradej actually wanted, not Banjong.

Pause again. If you're wondering why I'm spending so much time on the romance and the love triangles, it's because they did. First however, it's easy to think that both Prince and Worradej's desire is equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community - because that is a huge plot point. It is one of the first things mentioned in episode one. It is very clearly a desire near and dear to Prince's heart, so it's easy to question why wasn't that her first instinct? The explanation is never really clear, but I believe it could be one of two reasons - mainly because Prince slowly but surely discovers that the reason Worradej joined the movement was to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and his own identity, as his own father has expressed his disdain and hatred towards Worradej, but also could be because Prince herself craves true love, believing that Worradej did the same. Again, it is not expressed clearly, more so in passing during many scenes, but never clearly during one.
Then, it is very clear that Kosol is the one Prince loves, making it so that Kosol is the one Worradej loves as well, in turn making the entire push and pull of "who is my true love" irrelevant to the plot.

Back to the plot. We'll pick back up with Worradej and Kosol entering into a relationship just as Banjong realises he loves Worradej, and Chaiyached deciding to stay with his brother and help him overthrow Lord Somdet, who has assumed de facto rule of the kingdom at this point. A lot of other things have happened between episode one and this point, events that directly contributed to the movement of the plot from hereon - including the clearance of all suspicions on Kosol, leading to a royal pardon. Now that Kosol is once again part of the royal fold, Chaiyached wants him back, but the situation is complicated by Lord Somdet and his ploy to take over the kingdom. So they decide to face him head on, gathering troops and marching to the capital to overthrow him. When this doesn't work, they decide on a more tactful method - they decide to trick him. Now again, much more has happened along the lines of political ploys, resulting in a culmination at the palace, leading to the events in the finale - which both delighted and disappointed me.

Because true to form, they addressed the two major plotlines in the story, almost wholly, but again true to form, I believe a little more would've gone a long way. In trying to actively establish all that hadn't been said in the last twelve episodes, the plot lost track of itself and eventually resembled something that was done to enhance the romance while also alluding to the plot.

Before I make my actual observation, based on the series and series alone, I do want to talk a bit about the adaptation from the novel itself. Once again, I haven't read the original content, nor am I the domain expert on the history of the period. A lot of my knowledge is based on the research of others, and I am not here to comment on the changes made or the details excluded in the adaptation. There's just one thing I would like to highlight relevant to the series itself as someone who's watched it, that the intensity and direct approach to the story would be tempered down in the adaptation.

Now it's not the actual plot points or storylines from the novel that I'm referencing here, it's simply the notion that any and every reference to political or social issues has been tempered down - which is true. The series is my only material source of the story, and even then, it's very obvious that they never actually made it a point to make any points.

Take the fight for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community for example: it is the crux of the whole story - it is Worradej's desire in the past, Prince's in the present, and a key part of the new governance that all the characters are fighting for, including being very personal to Kosol, who was exiled for being a part of the community, and Banjong, who is discovering his identity.
And I will never say that they did not address it, they did and it was incredible, but I only wish they'd done it completely.
Because every plot point in this series came to a stand still before it was ever concluded, only for a slightly rushed tie - up in the finale, and so did the thoughts and sentiments they were trying to express along with it.
Changing the setting to be a fictional kingdom meant they could once again refer to history at their discretion - history is written by the victor after all, but fiction somehow allows history to be redetermined?
So many details like this allowed them to make a point without really making it - making me appreciate the conversations they did create, but leaving me lost in limbo between trying to determine if it was enough and struggling with the prospect that they could have done nothing at all.

It's confusing.

The plot itself was incredibly confusing because of this intermittent point making, it takes some connecting of the dots to make complete sense of everything brought to the screen, and then some fill in the gaps to get it to be coherent.

They tried to fill in the gaps by including a ton of romance and relationships between all the characters, including friendships, kinships, and brotherly bonds. Which worked to an extent, but only because of the actors.
Nut played Prince and Worradej with incredible depth and flair, balancing what little we know about both Prince and Worradej themselves to create a great character.
Ping as the stoic and resilient Kosol, Pop as the shy yet sly Banjong, Lee as the kind and faithful Jade and Aton as the playful and smart Chaiyached were all equally well played by their actors.
They carried the series where the plot couldn't and I really appreciate that.

At the end of the day, I'm just incredibly disappointed that this was a chance to make something of note - and that's not a claim out of left field, and also not a claim that they didn't try - but the final outcome read more as a romance than much else, and makes you wonder what could have been.