How Do You Solve a Problem Like Wanida? Final Part

[dramasoliloquy]

 

              Cinderella's ugly stepsisters, aka Wanida's friends                  Evil Stepmom, Prince's ex aka Wanida's mother in law, Hubby's ex

So, let's recap, shall we? Wanida consists of pretty pictures and people.The characters are mostly cardboard cutouts from fairy tales, the music's a dream, the plot's a rehash and side stories are boring and uninteresting. And having watched all 16 episodes, (well, skimming the last three episodes, really filler material, by the way), I have to ask myself why. It got high ratings I believe and generally positive reviews. But why did I keep watching it?

 
(Don't let the picture on the left fool you. She's really asleep in both.)

Okay, I admit it. I liked it. It's a fairy tale with the ultra simplistic arch enemies and pure princesses. Everything is spelled out to you, but I still enjoyed it. Not to mention it featured a couple of big no-nos for me.

One was the big ol angst fest in the last episodes, with the main couple parting ways tearfully because . . . I really have no idea why. Because the main guy, Prajak, was a coward mainly, not to mention a Mama's boy. Ugh! Give me angst for real reasons, like the heroine's responsible for the hero's family's downfall as in Rahut Rissaya, or a couple not being able to be together because of social status, such as in Manee Yard Fah and I will eat it up.

The other thing that happened was the complete redemption of the evil mom, which was very unbelievable. I would normally never recommend this, but please, kill her off! For 15 episodes, she plotted, schemed and basically showed utter contempt for Wanida, and then, within the space of the last episode, she asks for forgiveness and hugs and kisses. Just let her die already, or get a better actress/writer who could actually have portrayed her as a little more nuanced so it actually makes sense. It doesn't even make sense in fairy tale tradition, because usually the bad guys die.

Well, I guess I enjoyed this despite its grave faults. Sometimes, it's comforting to know what to expect and this certainly didn't offer any surprises. And I like fairy tales and happy endings. The guilty pleasure of the year: Wanida.