“Karn La Krang Neung Nai Hua Jai” or “Once upon a time in my heart” is my newest addition to thai lakorns. I got interested in it by reading the recaps at Lovefia, which made me addicted into it even before watching the lakorn. When the subtitles were released for all the episodes, big thanks to the neko meow meow for subbing this, I got into it as soon as possible.
What is this about:
Directed by Tietawan. Star Mick Tongraya, Pimmy Pimprapa Tangprabhaporn, Boom Piyaphun. Fahsai (Pimmy Tangprabhaporn) is heartbroken when her boyfriend leaves her for another woman, so she decides to accompany her friend to Japan. There she meets Daniel (Mick Tongraya), a Hong Kong mafia leader who confuses her with his dead girlfriend. And so, their story begins.
My review:
It could have been the perfect lakorn but fell short in the end. The broadcast channel cut it short by two episodes and it’s one of those rare cases where it would benefit more with those extra episodes. Things fell rushed in the end and we didn’t get all the answers we wanted. But, I think, it was best that I knew that, thanks to Lovefia’s recaps, so I adjusted my expectations to like it for what it was and not for what it could have been.
Fahsai (Pimmy Tangprabhaporn) is your typical heroine, cute, sweet, loyal daughter and forgives easily. What I like about her and what makes her stand out is that, even though she can’t fight back using her fists, when the need arises she will use her mind and put the other person into his/her place with clever words. Also, just because she is weak physically, doesn’t mean she is a weak person. She has perseverance, patience, forgiveness and is willing to do anything to help her parents and her close friends. We can see why Daniel likes and admires her.
Daniel (Mick Tongraya) is your dream guy, at least until the two last episodes where the director decided to change his personality and make him a noble idiot. He was calm, collected, a gentleman but used his hands when he had to, he follows his heart but in the meantime he uses his head to do the right thing. Even though he is a mafia leader, he wants to break free from the illegal activities of the past and live a normal life. If you don’t count the last two episodes, Daniel was a lead man that every lakorn writer should take an example.
Chen Ming (Boom Piyaphun) is the third wheel and walks the line between first and second lead. He was best friends with Daniel, but some tragic events made them enemies. Unlike Daniel, Chen Ming is emotional, he is carried away by his emotions, can’t think clearly and, most of the times, takes the wrong decision. It is apparent early on that he didn’t want to be a gang leader, instead he wanted to be an artist, so he puts his trust to people he thinks are better than him. He starts as the least likable of the three but his progress to become a more matured version of himself is satisfying.
What I loved and enjoyed the most about this particular lakorn are the strong friendships. On one hand, we have Fahsai with her two friends, Puifai and Nuch, who are best friend material. In many cases they were expressing my thoughts about the situation. Especially Puifai who gets her own love story with Daniel’s bodyguard, Chen Biao, is the exact opposite of Fahsai. When Fahsai tries to use reason or doesn’t respond to other’s mean words, Puifai will use her fists. She is loud and outspoken and wants to live her life to the fullest.
On the other hand, Daniel has two different bromances, one with his former best friend-now enemy,Chen Ming, and one with his bodyguard/right hand, Chen Biao. On the first bromance, it is sad to see their friendship being ruined and Daniel getting accused for things he didn’t do, while he still tries to protect Chen Ming. But it is also satisfying to see their relationship getting slowly back to what it used to be, when the truth gets unveiled. On the second romance, Chen Biao is always there to protect Daniel and help him, feeling gratitude for Daniel saving his life when his family was murdered. He is a no-nonsense and sharp guy that doesn’t waste his time in unnecessary things. And his romance with Puifai is so charming in its own way because she teaches him to enjoy life again.
Even though this is an action lakorn, do not expect Daredevil level of awesomeness. It takes an episode or two to get used to them trying to look cool and mucho, but I have definitely seen worse. For lakorn standards, the action scenes are quite decent, with one or two short scenes being very good.
Regarding the rest of the production, the songs used are nice, easy on the ear, although none of them stood out for me. The direction was very good, with the first two episodes being the best shot, especially the scenes in Japan. I suppose in the beginning of the filming they had more time to prepare.
The only drawback is the direction of the story in the last two episodes. Suddenly, Daniel became an noble idiot and took not very clever decisions, resulting to Fahsai crying and me shaking my head with frustration. If only it had one more episode and didn’t rush things, this would have been my favorite lakorn.
Why you should watch:
- Nice characters, each with his/her own faults and charms.
- Two different love stories, both interesting and with great chemistry between the leads.
- Strong friendships that are just as important as the romance.
Why not to watch:
- If you don’t like romance.
- The action scenes are decent by lakorn standards. By different standars, not so much.
- The songs are repeated more often than not.
- The bad guys are bland at best.
Final verdict:
7/10. I am being harsh, only because it started so well and didn’t hold the level of addictiveness until the end. But knowing what to expect you can enjoy it much more. So I certainly recommend it to those who like romance with action.
“Yamato nadeshiko” or “The perfect woman” is an old Japanese drama. Frankly I don’t know where I read about this, or why I had it in my hard drive, but I was feeling a bit nostalgic and wanted to watch something older - October blues -, so I thought to watch this. It was unexpectedly good. 
