I thought I wouldn't enjoy this but it's not so bad. The older version was darker and more grim with Anik and Oon's story.
The n'ek is a bitch in both versions. You understand where she is coming from though and she had to be this confident and fearless woman in order to combat the pain in her life. She's not entirely unreasonable and she has enough care for other people to make her likeable. I love how she dealt with Tom and how she knocked some sense into him. Ampu was kind of a tool in the older version, he didn't have a lot to offer and it felt like he brainlessly went along with the n'ek. Ampu has more of a backbone here in this and I like how he dealt with Oon, he always put clear boundaries and space with Oon. I love the part where he tells her off for bringing in her personal problems into the workplace. I didn't like how whenever Vee and Oon would get into a fight, he would never take Vee's side. Plus, it was dumb how near the end he would put so much pressure on Vee that she was in the wrong. Luckily they didn't drag this out with misunderstandings with Oon trying to seduce Ampu and Vee coming in the wrong moment. I think the pra'nang had issues in both versions, I don't think I prefer the pra'nang in either version. Both had their good and bad moments, maybe a mix of their relationship in the two versions might have been better. I think this one lacked the romance that the first one had but the first one also had a lot of stubborn misunderstandings as well. Boy and Jui had decent chemistry, I liked their scenes in Chiang Mai together. It's funny how the n'ek uses the p'ek to make the n'rai mad, especially when she force kisses him in front of the trailer. This would have been a good slap and kiss lakorn but it ended up being pretty watered down in your typical ch3 way. Thank the stars we got some force kisses and an attempted rawr between the pra'nang.
Anik is a crazy character but they made him seem so almost normal and pretty likeable that you actually can't hate him. I despise his actions though, physically hurting your wife and making her bleed and bruise is a no-no but despite that, I felt bad for him. He's a decent guy personally but his actions when he is in the moment is despicable. Punjan isn't creepy like Ton Jakrit in this role though, Ton Jakrit was straight up scary in the old version and Oon had it worse than she did here. I felt bad for him when he died, he didn't even know that he had a kid. I feel like he didn't love either Vee or Oon enough though. Like he loved Vee and they had great moments together but then he moved on from her super quick and with Oon it was more about making up for what he lost with Vee and wanting control after she took it away from him when she caused him and Vee to break up. In the very end, I think he kidnapped Oon because he didn't want to end up alone, not because of any loving feelings. There was nothing romantic about their slap and kiss relationship as you see in a typical slap and kiss lakorn since both of them develop no sense of warmth for each other.
Rita gets better as the lakorn goes on. At first she seems out of her element but she improves. She's pretty good here playing the bitch.
I hated Oon's mom and Vee's dad. They are both very selfish people who think about nothing but themselves. Vee's dad seems remorseless, he does whatever he wants and whenever he isn't happy, he seeks pleasure from women. Then at the end he tells Anik's brother that his side feels bad too and he'll make it up.. um Anik is dead, don't make this about your side and throw money at people. Oon's mom is a complete bitch despite herself being a mistress and messing up a marriage. Not only that, she bullies Vee even though she is completely in the wrong. She expects happiness with the man she stole from someone else, of course he's gonna cheat on you too.
Tom and Fei made me roll my eyes a little. When lakorns have a third couple and it's those teeny bopper kind of romances, I get a little annoyed. I mean they were fine and all in the beginning with your stereotypical bad boy ignores the feisty but deep down goody goody but they fall in lerveeee blah blah blah. However, once she got pregnant, it's like come on. When the pra'nang accidentally have a baby, it's okay, they are the leads, they had tons of time to develop but these kids barely spent any time together and bam, like I'm supposed to care that your stupidity got you knocked up.
I wish this ended on a darker note with Oon, all this hopefulness and happiness is such a mundane route. But I'm happy that this is one of Broadcast Thai's better lakorns, I feel like they've made some real crap over these past few years.