SanaRehmat

honestly, I wasn't even planning to watch My Husband in Law. After To the Moon and Back, which was recommended to me, I was having a really hard time starting a new drama. Nothing was clicking. I dropped a couple of dramas, tried a few from my PTW, and still couldn't find anything that grabbed me. So, with a little help from ChatGPT, I somehow landed here. It wasn't even on my PTW list. I read through the tags, gave it a try, and surprisingly, it hooked me from the very first scene. That chaotic wedding between Thien and Muey immediately made me curious about what kind of ride I had signed up for.

The first three or four episodes were probably the strongest hook for me. Thien doesn't want to marry Muey because he has spent years thinking of her as his little sister, largely because of his mother's influence. But because of family pressure, he ends up marrying her, while also trying to escape his ex and her gangster husband. Meanwhile, Muey has loved Thien since she was a teenager and doesn't really ask for much. More than anything, she just wants to spend some happy moments with the man she has loved for years. She tolerates A LOT from him, even though he can be excessively rude to her. Surprisingly, I didn't mind it as much as I expected because there was something entertaining about watching this completely one-sided situation slowly change. Thien keeps insisting that Muey is like a sister to him, while his own behaviour constantly contradicts that idea. He gets jealous of Kob several times, even before admitting to himself that he has feelings for Muey. His brain simply refuses to connect the dots.

Then came the hacking arc, and this was where things became much more complicated for me. Suddenly, Muey becomes a genius hacker and breaks into Thien's company, despite the drama giving us almost no indication beforehand that she had these kinds of skills. It honestly felt like, "We need another conflict, so let's make Muey a hacker." I didn't hate the storyline itself as much as I disliked how abruptly it appeared. There was no proper foundation for it, so it felt completely disconnected from the character we had been watching. This was also the point where Muey started feeling a little creepy and stalker-ish to me. The whole situation made me uncomfortable, and then somehow the story moved forward without giving that arc the proper closure I expected. Instead, everyone starts blaming Thien for treating Muey badly and for not loving her simply because she loves him. I could understand why Muey was hurt, but I couldn't completely get behind the way the drama handled the situation.

Then we move into the Dawei arc, and I had another problem because the previous conflict didn't feel properly resolved before the next major storyline started. Muey goes back to pursuing Thien, repeatedly telling him that she will make him fall in love with her and doing everything possible to win him over. Eventually, she succeeds, but once she finally has what she wanted, she becomes insecure. Instead of communicating properly, both of them start making decisions for each other. Muey basically pushes Thien away, and later becomes angry that he disappeared from her life, even though she was the one who asked for a divorce. Thien, meanwhile, decides what is best for her without actually talking to her. This was probably my biggest frustration with their relationship. They both kept making decisions based on assumptions instead of simply talking to each other.

I have seen reviews where people complain that Muey changes her mind too much, especially when Thien finally wants to be with her and she doesn't immediately accept him. But I actually understand her hesitation. The problem is that Thien never properly tells her how he feels. He is arrogant, emotionally repressed and terrible at communicating his feelings. He wants Muey to understand him and follow his lead, but he doesn't actually give her the reassurance she needs. His teasing and indirect behaviour might have worked during the early marriage phase, but by the Myanmar phase, Muey is already completely convinced that he doesn't love her and never will. At that point, teasing isn't enough. She needs reassurance, and Thien doesn't give it to her. Then, after discovering everything Muey has done for him, he unilaterally decides that he needs to leave her without properly discussing it with her. So honestly, I completely understood why she struggled to accept him later.

The noble-idiocy and pregnancy phase was actually enjoyable for me in one particular way. FINALLY, Thien had to work for it. After spending so much time watching Muey chase him, it was satisfying to see the roles reverse. We finally get to see him chase after her, beg her, openly show affection and actually try to prove that he loves her. That was a huge change from the man we saw earlier. I could have done without the kidney drama, though. I understand what the writers were trying to accomplish by showing that Thien would risk everything for Muey and that his feelings had completely changed, but I think they could have found a better and more meaningful way to show that. Still, it worked emotionally to some degree.

Unfortunately, there is one storyline I simply cannot overlook. Honestly, I was able to tolerate a lot of uncomfortable and borderline unethical things because I understood that this was a melodramatic lakorn and adjusted my expectations accordingly. But once the drama shows Thien getting Muey drunk so that he can have sex with her and she cannot later use it as a reason to divorce him, I was done. That was not something I could excuse simply because the story eventually gave them a happy ending. I couldn't really like the drama in the same way after that, and I couldn't take their romance seriously anymore. For me, there are certain lines a story can cross where the later romantic payoff doesn't erase what happened before.

That said, the actors themselves gave some really good performances. The acting is actually pretty good all around for a lakorn, and Mark and Mew especially are a big reason I didn't drop the drama. They weren't given particularly likable characters to play, yet their charisma shines through and makes the drama much more tolerable. Mark is so handsome and adorable in a non-cold way, even when Thien is acting like an ass. Mew is incredibly lovable even though Muey's character can be over-the-top and extremely self-sacrificing in the name of love. I also think they have good chemistry and some great acting moments together. I just wish they had been given more genuinely cute and fluffy scenes as a couple, and I definitely wanted better kisses.

I could understand the basic concept of their relationship because Thien had been conditioned to see Muey as a younger sister figure, while Muey had loved him for years. But the transition from that dynamic into a believable romantic relationship wasn't always convincing to me. The biggest problem wasn't really Muey's feelings. It was their inability to communicate those feelings properly.

One thing I really appreciated was that almost every character had a strong role in the story. Thien's mother was probably my favourite. She was hilarious and constantly made me laugh. Even when the main storyline became frustrating, her scenes often brought some much-needed entertainment. The supporting characters also weren't simply standing around waiting for the leads to finish their story. They had their own motivations, conflicts and relationships.

The supporting romances, however, felt like wasted potential to me. Why introduce these storylines if you're not going to properly develop them? There was enough runtime to give some of these characters more meaningful romantic journeys instead of throwing in random developments. I really didn't understand why we needed to spend so much time on Ms. Accountant's new occupation or why we needed the reveal involving the real Chet. I would much rather have seen more of the actual romantic journeys of the supporting couples, or not had those storylines at all. Yada and Pondech especially seemed much more interesting to me. I wanted to know more about their backgrounds, how their relationship started and what brought them together, instead of repeatedly watching difficult and violent scenes.

The abusive relationship between Pondech and his wife was particularly disturbing. He treated her horribly, almost like a rag doll, and he was genuinely vile. His hatred toward Thien adds another layer because Thien had previously slept with his wife without knowing she was married, and Pondech becomes determined to destroy him. He even comes close to ending Thien's life. The storyline was intense, but I still think the drama could have used its runtime much better.

One thing this drama definitely taught me is what to expect from a lakorn. This is only my third Thai lakorn, so I'm still figuring out the genre. I quickly learned that you can have a contract marriage, childhood unrequited love, gangster ex-husbands, company drama, international construction projects, hacking, pregnancy, kidney drama, murder attempts and several completely random plot developments all in the same story. And somehow, you're just expected to go along with it. Normally, I would probably be much more annoyed by that, but My Husband in Law was entertaining enough that I kept watching anyway.

I also really liked the cinematography. The Myanmar locations were beautiful, and the construction arc gave the drama a refreshing visual change from the usual office and domestic settings. The drama generally looked good, and the different locations helped keep the long runtime from feeling visually repetitive.

One thing I really loved about the drama was the poetry. There were quite a few poetic lines and expressions that caught my attention, and I honestly wished the translations had preserved more of that poetic feeling instead of giving us such direct, literal translations. I would have loved to understand those lines in a more poetic way, because I think a lot of the emotion and beauty gets lost when poetry is translated too literally.

This was definitely not a perfect drama for me. I had A LOT of problems with the writing, especially the lack of communication, abrupt plot developments, questionable decisions, the hacking storyline, the wasted potential in some of the supporting romances, and most importantly, the non-consensual sex scene. And yet, I still binge-watched it. I watched the first 11 episodes almost in one sitting. For a C-drama watcher, even 1.5-hour episodes are long, and sometimes even a one-hour K-drama can feel long to me. Yet somehow, My Husband in Law kept me entertained enough to continue.

The early marriage and Myanmar construction phases were easily my favourite parts. They had the perfect combination of romance, comedy, family dynamics and ridiculous situations. The Myanmar arc in particular had so many laugh-out-loud moments, and watching Muey use every cringe-worthy method possible to flirt with Thien was genuinely fun. Thien's reactions were priceless, especially because he was clearly affected by her even while refusing to admit it.

The later parts became much more draggy, and once the leads finally got together, the story lost some of the fun that originally kept me hooked. So despite all my complaints, I can't say I regret watching it. It was chaotic, frustrating, entertaining, sometimes uncomfortable and occasionally completely ridiculous. Maybe that's exactly what I needed after struggling to find my next drama after To the Moon and Back.

As my third lakorn, it definitely gave me a better idea of what I can expect from the genre. I'm still not sure My Husband in Law completely worked for me as a romance, especially because of some choices I simply couldn't overlook, but it certainly kept me watching. It was a messy, over-the-top and sometimes problematic ride that I somehow had far too much fun binge-watching.