Thai Drama – ‘Ka Badin’

IT HAS FINALLY AIRED!!!!!! *cries*..Ahem moving on, Thai TV3’s historical drama “Ka Badin” has finally hit our small screens, and  as I explained in my previous post the title loosely translates to being a servant of the nation. This is the first drama that Matt and James have been paired in and also the first “boran” drama for both of them. Set in the period of Rama III or King Nangklao who was monarch of Siam from 21 July 1824 to 2 April 1851 the drama focuses on the journey that Haem (James Ma), a noble born who’s father controls the trading port, makes, after his family is stripped of all title and money. After his father is falsely accused and convicted of murdering an English tradesman Haem’s family are demoted to the lowest position that society has to offer. From a noble born Haem is now no more than someone who cuts grass for elephants to eat, the  drama follows his steady rise in society to reinstate his family name. Along the way he falls in love with Lamduan (Matt Peeranee), the younger sister of Bua whom he had been betrothed to before his family’s fall from grace.

Apart from James and Matt, we also have Saimai Maneerat who plays Lamduan’s older sister Bua, Boy Chokchai as Wichit, Kik Danai as Saming Sot  Noi, M Apinun as Luang Solaaht as well as veteran actors Noom Attaporn as Phraya Palad Samut Prakorn, Mam Jintara and Ton Jakrit who play Haem’s parents and Dilok Wattana and Tong Sawitree who star as Bua and Lamduan’s parents. I’ve been enjoying Boy’s character so far because he’s provided me with laughs and I didn’t realise that he would be seen more later on in the drama, but he is. Later on in the drama Wichit and Bua team up to separate Lamduan and Haem because they each want the other for themselves, after Bua fails at becoming a wife of one of the royal family members she turns her sights back to Haem whom she had dropped once she found out that he no longer had any status.

The drama has unfortunately also received much criticism from Thai netizens with the major complaint being that Matt and James do not fit their roles due to the fact that they are both only half Thai, other complaints include the locations that were chosen some of the places are older than the time period that it is set in and some of them are a lot more recent.

Ka Badin airs Fri – Sun on Thai TV 3 at 20:15

Thoughts

I like that Lamduan has a very pure outlook of love, the way she sees is it that status shouldn’t matter as long as you love each other and whilst that is true, in the period that the drama is set in status is important, out of all the characters I think she is my favourite not only because of how pure she is but she is also kindhearted to everyone, she’s outspoken and sticks with her guns. She stands by Haem and his family no matter what which is more than we can say for Bua who drops him like a hot potato when she realises he won’t be able to elevate her status. I’m looking forward to seeing their love story develop because whilst Lamduan I think has always been in love with him (I think she was just happy knowing that he was happy even if he had ended up marrying her sister) he’s always viewed her as a younger sister, so it’ll be fun to see the dynamic between them change.

Bua’s character is…..I did like her in the beginning and I do understand where she is coming from in terms of how if she married Haem after he was let our of jail she would have nothing, but she was only marrying him because he was untarnished, literally and figuratively but now that he has lost his place in society she no longer wants him and sets her sights on the next best thing, becoming one of the wives of a royal family member. When that fails and she sees that Haem is moving on from her and moving back up she wants him back, like what are you even smoking lady, you dropped him remember you can’t be jealous cause he’s found true love with your sister.

Noom Attaporns character seriously creeps me out though, he’s a high ranking inspector but…..he has a kink for little girls and ends up killing them each time he gets a little randy, like I really couldn’t stomach that scene when he’s raping one of the girls and you can hear her cries. I’m a tad bit disappointed that Boy’s character turns in to an ass later on as well, he’s been cute this past two episodes and I have to admit I thought Haem would get a bit jealous when he saw that Wichit was interested in Lamduan.

Overall I am enjoying the drama and the little lessons that it’s teaching us along the way because at the heart of it, it’s a drama about loving ones country and serving it and for Thai people that is the tie that we feel towards our country and more importantly our king. I think if you dug a little deeper in to the context you would find it full of messages, and maybe I’m reading too much in to it, but I think you would even find messages about the political turmoil that still runs in Thailand today.