dramasoliloquy | Drama Review: Ka Kaung Kon (2011) and Teaser #6: Guess Who?

The first Thai lakorn I've watched this year. In fact, the only new Thai lakorn I've watched this year and my second Thai lakorn review. Ah! Look at the sparkly good looks. Pretty.

Also, cheating here, but teaser 6: Guess Who? There's a familiar face in here.

Drama Title: Ka Kaung Kon
English Title: A Person's Worth / Priceless Love
Genre(s): Romance, Drama, Marriage
Original language: Thai Year: 2011
Episodes: 20 Pacing: Too long, should have been shorter
Director: ??? Screenwriter: ???

(Pong as Luck, Noon as Gluay)

Cast of Characters: Pong Nawat (Luck), Noon Woranuch (Gluay), Nam Rapeepat (PeeMarn), Fang Pitchaya (Nahtah)

Major Themes:How do we determine a person's worth?

In Brief: Gluay marries Luck to pay for her brother's debts. Luck wants Gluay to marry him because his half brother PeeMarn loves Gluay. Luck thinks she's not good enough for PeeMarn because he's seen her with other men in incriminating circumstances.

In the second half of this lakorn, the thrust of the story changes to focus on Margie, Luck's daughter who comes to stay with them.

Reminds Me Of: There are any number of dramas and movies concerning the misconceptions people form about other people, starting with the many versions of Pride and Prejudice.

In terms of the character of Luck, he reminded me at times of Jerry Yan in Down With Love, with his intense focus on one person and also because both this lakorn and Down With Love have kid(s) in them.

Favorite Scenes: Any scene where the two are together and making eyes at each other makes this list.

I was also very much struck by the way Pong acted in one scene. He's saying goodbye to a person he loves and he lies on a couch the whole time, eyes closed. Very memorable and unique way to act the scene. Not to mention he so pulls it off. Awesomeness!

Pet Cliches (Pros): Marriage of Convenience, Rich Guy, Poor Girl, Cute Kid, Playboy Hero

Pet Peeves (Cons): Lame Second Male Lead, Trouble-making Relatives, Love at First Sight?, The Big Misunderstanding(s), Someone Lets the Stupids In,The Evil Other Woman, Inconsistent Characterization

Skim Through: Episodes 13-20 were all pretty skim through worthy.

(Luck looking at Gluay, non-evil stepmom Khun Kare)

Smiles: I love Pong! Okay, I also loved the main couple when they were having cute and tender moments together.

Another thing I loved? Khun Kare, Luck's stepmom and PeeMarn's mom. She played a pretty rational mom, and was ready to put the smackdown on both Luck and PeeMarn when they needed it. She really sounded her son off in one scene and was just overall a reasonable human being, go figure.

For a lakorn, as well as many Korean dramas, evil moms are soo in, and especially evil step moms. So Khun Kare's character was very refreshing.

Lastly, I also liked Nahtah. Although why she would love the block of wood named PeeMarn, i don't know, but she was a nice and sweet character.

(Nahtah and PeeMarn)

Frowns: Let me count the ways. First off, the whole lakorn is full of cliches, which isn't necessarily bad since almost every story contains cliches. The question is how you make cliches seem fresh and interesting. Good dramas do that by a combination of adding new elements to the cliche, twisting it, or just relying on great acting, a well-written script and good chemistry between the main couple.

Well, the first half of this lakorn managed to slightly overcome its cliche-ridden plot by Pong's acting and by having a cute couple who have good chemistry and lots of touching moments together.

However, that comes to a halt in the second half of the lakorn, not Pong's acting, but the couple fight and have lots of stupid misunderstandings. They spend most of their time arguing. Not good.

Another huge problem I had was the lack of character consistency, where I'm supposed to think a character is nice and kind, but what I actually see doesn't fit that description. See below for more.

(Margie with kind stepmom Gluay, playing with Dad)

Jaw Drops: Major, huge spoilers here. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Episode 15 really sounded the death knell of this lakorn for me and any liking I had for Gluay's character. She's in the hospital, having this monologue about how lucky Margie is to have family and friends who care about her, unlike her own baby.

Hello! News flash! Margie's in the hospital because she's dying of leukemia! Not to mention she was brought up by a mother who didn't care about her and an absentee father. Oh, and Gluay, I thought you were supposed to be the caring stand in mom to Margie?

Parent's Rating: Probably PG-13. Some kisses, some violence, especially at the beginning and end of this lakorn.

Where to watch this?: Online here

If you like this, try: Khing Kor Rar Khar Kor Rang, it has many of the same elements, an unwanted marriage, prejudiced views of the heroine, but it's more consistent in characterization and plot.

Final rating: Poor