OKAY TIME TO RANT.
It breaks my heart to be so disappointed in an Act Art lakorn and my two faves like Mark and Taew but....the time has come. I think if I didn't watch the original Aum and Brook version I wouldn't have had so much of a problem with the unravelling of this lakorn but since I did it is hard not to make comparisons as that version was so good.
Brook and Aum had sizzling chemistry and while Mark and Taew had chemistry, Brook and Aum had more and the fact that they had such good sweet scenes together only made their pairing better. I don't think I would have minded the Laongkam thing so much if it was only an episode but it took up so much time and the fact that Sukkawong took so long to fix things made me frustrated. Like I get it, you like it when Maen Muang is jealous, now lets move on. And what is with the leads only sleeping together once, Aum and Brook pretty much did it every night, Aum's Maen Muang enjoyed playing wife. The pra'nang in this version are very distant, there are hardly any good sweet scenes or if there are it is too short. I mean come on the last version we had them playing at the waterfall for the longest time. The one con to Brook's Sukkawong is that he sulked too much and was so cruel to Maen Muang during the last stage of her pregnancy up to her death. I do like how sweet Mark's Sukkawong is when it came to her pregnancy and the adorableness of him waiting for her to give birth. Another disappointment is Mark's lack of baby scenes. I really liked how in the last version when Sukkawong was mourning Maen Muang's loss was spending time with his baby and letting it play with Maen Muang and his photo. After the birth Sukkawong really puts the baby in the back burner and doesn't even say goodbye to him when he leaves to Chiang Mai. Nothing irks me more than Sukkawong not saying anything to Maen Muang when he is going to Chiang Mai. I get it, you're sad and hurt but at least in the old version Sukkawong in his sulky and depressed mood still manages to give Maen Muang a hug and promises to talk things over when he gets back.
Now as for SuSu, Mingla and Mongmong. The acting from all three sides is fantastic but I still preferred how the situation was handled in the old version. P'Off changed so much when it came to Mingla's scenes and while it was good, it was more gripping to have seen Fongjan risk her body to help Mingla and more entertaining to see how Noon managed to get her alone time with the king. P'Off really rushed things with the last couple of episodes that it seemed almost void of actual feeling. I liked how I was at the edge of my seat to see Sukkawong go and save her and go through so many obstacles like water in order to get her out. The old Fongjan had to go through so much in order to even see Mingla so it is disheartening to not see very much of Mingla being saved. I didn't mind this Pattamasuda as much, she's still evil but a different type of evil. Fon played her well. M is always good at these types of roles so he's perfect as the king.
And now it is time to rant about the end. For the most part I enjoyed this lakorn if I tried not to compare it to the old version so much but the ending became really problematic for me. Things were very rushed and it frustrates me to think that if they just took out Laongkam's stupid subplot we would have a lot for development for the ending. The old version pretty much tied everything up perfectly without much to question. P'Off basically skipped out on anything that would have gave the viewer the things that would that tied nicely in a bow. I would have liked to see the British come in and question Mingla and Mingla pulls off taking Maen Muang's identity. I would have also like to see a reunion scene of Nor Muang and his father and then him being arrested. Then it would have been nice to have at least a 10 minute scene with the son rather than just 2 minutes of choppiness that showed he and his father talking and then jump to seeing two graves which really aggravated me. I get that Mark is a 27 year old man who has no kids yet had to play the father of someone his own age but gosh this scene is terribly done. At least with Brook they tried to make him old and you get some sort of paternal vibe with him and Vee. However with Mark and his son it was the most flavourless scene ever, no father son vibes at all. Doesn't help that he only had one scene with him as a baby and then as a full adult. Would have preferred to see Sukkawong hanging out with his toddler son rather than Mingla or at least have Sukkawong show up and carry his toddler son at least in the Mingla scene.
What I am pleased with is Taew in the last episode. I just loved her scenes with her baby, writing the letter, with Nor Muang. I'm not one who tears up watching lakorns (except for Koo Gum and Ma Mia) but I was tearing up watching her fall from her horse and then seeing her think about her baby. By the time she is telling Sukkawong she loves him I was done for it, tears were coming. I love Mark, he's my boo but I thought he could have done better in this scene. In fact I know Mark could have done better. If you compare him as Sukkawong crying to Sathit crying, he's more believable as Sathit. Mark shows a lot more pain when he is crying over the death of Tiew from Kluen Cheewit, even his crying scene in the car in the last episode of Kluen Cheewit is probably more emotional than his scene with Taew.
The 2000 version is a much superior version. I've never gave it much thought but P'Off is very hit and miss with his endings. From his lakorns I enjoyed Hua Jai Song Park, Suer and Nakee's ending. Roy Mai pretty much suffers from the bad ending syndrome like this lakorn, same with Krating and Hong.
Because I don't remember ever seeing it .. 
