Fala

After watching episode 3 I was confused about what was going on, so I looked up the manga and read it in one go. I was surprised at how explicit it was. Of course they had to tone it down for the drama, but they toned it down so much that I am sometimes not sure what is supposed to have happened. As a result the two main characters feel very different and the overall atmosphere of the drama has changed. It feels like a different story with the same main points as the manga. I have to admit, I like the drama better so far, but we will see about that in the future...

Episode 7 is EPIC!! It's satisfying, heart-warming, a bit sad; I just love it! This show keeps getting better and better!
That drag show was simply amazing! I loved the club version of Bhuppae Saniwaat. Every interaction with Matas extended family in general made me smile from ear to ear. There really is no moment of this show that I don't like. I am looking forward to next week!

On a side note, Paeng and Trai deserve each other. They are both calculating and manipulative. Both think that they are always in control of the situation and the people around them. I really want them to get a reality check when they actually fall in love with each other and are not in control anymore.

Episode 6 and 7 have both aired. You can watch them raw on Chanel 3's page if you have a plus membership. But Lakorngalaxy has not released the episodes on their page yet, if you are looking for a place to watch for free with subs. They say they release the episodes normally on the same day or next day, but maybe something has come up to delay the release.

Yes, I am speculating that Dad Grace got forced to marry a woman by their (not sure which pronoun to use) parents, but couldn't surpress their real identity anymore, so the couple got a divorce and Matas mom married again after moving to the US. So she has more children with her new husband.

That's an interesting point! Do you mind me asking what your native language is?
Concerning English, I have to confess that I do not understand most of what is written in Shakespeare plays. But then again I am not a native speaker. I did learn Thai, but of course only the modern version. So I as well have no idea what the old version should sound like. From historical dramas so far I have mostly gatherd that the sentence ending and the personal pronouns are different.
I know it's a bit of a pipe dream, but I would like for subtitles to have that kind of quality that reflect these differences in speach. No matter if it's dialects, jokes, cultural phenomena, in an ideal world all that would be reflected in the translation, since it was included in the script for a reason. I know that is not always possible, but I would like for the translator to at least try.

I will stop rambling now. As you said, we will have to wait and see.

PEAR SLAYED!! 😁

I am not sure what you mean by ”westernize”. Isn't the purpose of subtitles to convey most accurately what is being said? But how do you convey the difference between old and modern Thai language in English subtitles?

I realize that you were answering them. I found your point interesting, so I gave my two cents. I just put my post directly under yours since I was referring to what you said.

And you are probably right: formal and casual language would be the best compromise. I am really hoping for that since there was nothing like that in the trailer.

I think it doesn't have to be time accurate. Simply old-fashioned enough to make you think ”oh, that sounds strange, people don't talk like that anymore” but still be able to understand it. They could contrast it with modern slang to make clear that the people in the past don't understand what he is saying.

Ah, okay. I never watched the trailer. Apart from them travelling into the novel, there is not much fantasy though. If you wanna give this drama a try, you might still like it.

Oh, interesting! I could tell that he knew how to dance but maybe he should stick to that and leave the acting to other people.
The scene with the director popped into my head every time Yu Le was on screen... 😂

I am not gonna pretend that I understood much of what you wrote there, but it's interesting to know that even the few programming scenes make no sense from a professional standpoint.

I hope this helps. It sounds like a serious storyline, but it's actually a very silly drama. Since it mostly plays at a cabaret you can expect lots of over the top gay characters. I had a lot fun watching it, but some people might not like the portrayal.

At the cabaret where Nadia works as a drag queen, she witnesses something shady going on and consequently gets attacked to shut her up. She disappears and her twin sister Noona is worried sick. She wants to find out what happened to Nadia, so she goes to the only place she can think of: the cabaret. To be able to work there, Noona (who in contrast to Nadia actually was born a girl) disguises herself as a ladyboy and starts working as a drag queen.
At the same time, Prabsuek, a police officer following a drug case, finds clues that lead him to the same cabaret. To find evidence, he as well starts working there as a drag queen under the name Patty. Noona and Patty become friends, but don't tell each other their real identities. While investigating (and of course keeping up appearances and performing on stage the whole time) they start to develop feelings for each other. But both are conflicted since Noona thinks that Patty is gay and Prabsuek thinks that Noona is a ladyboy.

I agree. The whole time I was wondering if he had too much botox or he simply can't act.

It's pretty fast. There is a lot of stuff happening the whole time. I was never bored.

Connected to this is the logic of the world travel. They could have left it open. If they do not try to explain it, the viewer would assume its magic triggered by the strong opposing emotions of the main characters. Even the story having a mind of its own would be believable. But as soon as they tried to explain it with programming, all the logic flew out the window. Every new explanation made me even more confused.

Lastly there are a few open ends. How did Ji Shu and Shan Hang get back to reality? Why did it take a month for him to appear before Xiaoqi? Will he continue writing? What happened to the marriage proposal? What about the Ji Shu in the novel? Those are things I am wondering about. It's okay to have some open ends, but they showed the storylines of other (in part very minor) side characters. They could have done a more complete ending for the main characters as well.

Wow! This is a mixed bag of cats!
I loved the idea, loved the characters and especially loved the humor. Xiaoqi is freaking hilarious. She is cute, pretty, super optimistic and never gives up. And all of that without being annoying. I loved how she butted heads with Ji Shu. Their different world views were both understandable and somewhat correct. The more they spend time together, the more their view changed towards the other until they met in the middle. Also all the strange things she did in the novel were so funny! I burst out laughing several times.
The side characters were also nice. The more I got to know them, the more I liked them. None of them were annoying. Even the villain was well chosen. His motivations were understandable and he had something about him that irked me. Whenever he spoke in that soft-spoken way, it creeped me out.
Amazing acting on nearly all fronts! I was impressed by some of the emotions these actors could portray!

There are however a few things that bothered me. For one the actor who played Yu Le. Who casted this droopy face for such a major role? He basically had this one expression for the whole show. His face muscles did not even move and his whole body looked lanky and had no aura. He was simply not believable in the role of an idol and wannabe actor. His face was so ridiculous, I was laughing when there was a close up of him, no matter if the scene was supposed to be serious or sad.

Another thing were all the programming/hacking scenes. In the beginning I was impressed that they used actual code (although I am sure that the code made no sense). But that changed when they started to use strange graphics and loading bars. Are they really expecting the audience to not know how programming works? I felt insulted in my intelligence and thus could not take those scenes serious.

More under the spoiler tag because of points related to the ending:

I am confused. Have you read the synopsis? Traveling into a novel is pretty fantastical. What genre were you expecting?

Cute but forgettable. I liked this a lot in the beginning. It was entertaining and the female lead was no damsel in distress. She was actually quite practical thinking and had no noble aspiration that she was following. The male lead was a bit bitter but basically a nice guy. Their bantering was quite amusing.

The weak points are the villains and the side characters. The main villain was not very impressive and most of the time I didn't care what his plans were. I didn't really care about the fate of the side characters, either. They were too silly or too unimportant for me to care. I liked Bai Xiaosheng and Xiange's husband because both of them were a bit shrewd and cared more about themselves than some noble cause.

In total, this drama failed to make me feel much about any of the plot points. The villain was talking too much at the end, and I was bored. There seemed to never be any real struggle, at least none that made me feel anything. The charm I saw in the beginning disappeared at some point, and I didn't care much anymore about what would happen.
I do not regret watching this, but I am not sure if I will watch again...