I've watched both versions of this show, and while the 2015 is not bad, the 1998 version is leagues better; in the 1998 version the actors' emotions really come through and suck you in - to the point I actually went to look up what other shows they had played in.
Honestly, this wasn't as bad as I was expecting based on the comments. I think the main problem was how the show…
Things I liked: 1. After the first few episodes the ML believes the FL - you don't get the classical lakorn male who thinks the FL is the worst liar ever 2. The two leads never split up 3. The FL isn't a Mary Sue and actually flights back 4. They actually have normal interactions with the kid - it's not like he's mentioned once and then never seen again 5. The ML's sister eventually starts helping/supporting the leads
Things I didn't like: 1. The father-in-law's character was rather poorly written - I couldn't quite put my finger on what it is, but somehow his character just irritated the hell out of me 2. Madame Nuan was a little too evil for the rest of the show - it's like she's a character from a different show that was transported into this one, but honestly once I accepted it, it didn't really bother me
Honestly, this wasn't as bad as I was expecting based on the comments. I think the main problem was how the show was set up - in the first episode we are introduced to Madame Nuan and her daughter-in-law Da.
We see Madame treat Da pretty awfully, but really it's no different to a lot of lakorns, except that usually, it's the FL that is abused. Da is locked in a storage closet by her MIL and somehow in the space of a few hours, she becomes lightheaded, bumps into a shelf, and something heavy falls on her. She then dies - I guess of a traumatic brain injury (idk?). So we have this setup that is very melodramatic and serious. Then in later episodes, there are a lot of light-hearted / somewhat comedic moments that just don't fit with how the show started off.
The other thing that people didn't like is that the ML marries the FL before his wife has been dead for a month - but I actually think there are mitigating factors for this: 1) The ML works on Oil Rigs, and these are people that are gone for months at a time, so really it may have been months since he last saw his wife (other than phone calls) 2) His wife's dying wish was for her sister to raise her son - so basically marrying the sister was fulfilling that
Overall, I actually mostly enjoyed this lakorn, which I really wasn't expecting. The things I liked are below marked as a spoiler
1. After the first few episodes the ML believes the FL - you don't get the classical lakorn male who thinks the FL is the worst liar ever
2. The two leads never split up
3. The FL isn't a Mary Sue and actually flights back
4. They actually have normal interactions with the kid - it's not like he's mentioned once and then never seen again
5. The ML's sister eventually starts helping/supporting the leads
Things I didn't like:
1. The father-in-law's character was rather poorly written - I couldn't quite put my finger on what it is, but somehow his character just irritated the hell out of me
2. Madame Nuan was a little too evil for the rest of the show - it's like she's a character from a different show that was transported into this one, but honestly once I accepted it, it didn't really bother me
We see Madame treat Da pretty awfully, but really it's no different to a lot of lakorns, except that usually, it's the FL that is abused. Da is locked in a storage closet by her MIL and somehow in the space of a few hours, she becomes lightheaded, bumps into a shelf, and something heavy falls on her. She then dies - I guess of a traumatic brain injury (idk?). So we have this setup that is very melodramatic and serious. Then in later episodes, there are a lot of light-hearted / somewhat comedic moments that just don't fit with how the show started off.
The other thing that people didn't like is that the ML marries the FL before his wife has been dead for a month - but I actually think there are mitigating factors for this:
1) The ML works on Oil Rigs, and these are people that are gone for months at a time, so really it may have been months since he last saw his wife (other than phone calls)
2) His wife's dying wish was for her sister to raise her son - so basically marrying the sister was fulfilling that
Overall, I actually mostly enjoyed this lakorn, which I really wasn't expecting. The things I liked are below marked as a spoiler