Thai Lakorn Review: Nakark Kaew

I don’t watch a lot of Ch 7 lakorns. But I saw Nakark Kaew on MUSE’s website and decided to watch a few episodes. Honestly, I wasn’t really into it at first because I didn’t like both characters that Nat Aniporn played. As Lookaew, she’s a spoiled brat who’s rude to everyone and she’s also a slut who’s cheating on her fiancee. As Dada, who’s supposed to be our nang’ek, I felt like she was just cheesy and dramatic. Like Nat’s acting of Dada was over the top because she was trying to portray that both characters were complete opposites. It wasn’t until she became the Fake Lookaew and having amnesia that I started to like Dada. Nat Aniporn looks a lot like Zendaya to me. I also still do not find Film Thanapat (who play our pra’ek Ratt) attractive. I prefer the second leads, Dindan and Dr. Kwan.

The only reason I decided to continue this lakorn instead of dropping it was because of the reviews on MyDramaList. People seem to really like it so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Lookaew, Ratt, and Kwan all grew up together. Lookaew is the daughter of the owner of La Belle, a plastic surgery company. Ratt is the son of the owner of an insurance company. Kwan is the daughter of the top surgeon at La Belle. However she is also a dermatologist and has her own beauty clinic. Lookaew and Ratt have been in a relationship since they were young. They’re engaged and plan to get marry. However, Ratt catches Lookaew cheating on him so he breaks up with her and call off their engagement. He races off and as Lookaew chases after him, she gets into a car accident and hits Dada. Both Lookaew and Dada are taken to the hospital. Both are severely injured with Lookaew being in a coma and Dada, though conscious, has amnesia.

Khun Dee, Lookaew’s mother has serious debt. She owes Khun Pingpan 1 billion baht. She has to pay the interest of 20 million baht a month or else forfeit her company La Belle. Her answer to all her money problems is to have Lookaew marry Ratt quickly. Upon marriage, she would get 500 million baht dowry from Ratt’s family. So with Lookaew in a coma and Dada have amnesia and do not know who she is, Khun Dee transfer Dada to La Belle to perform plastic surgery to make her look like Lookaew.

Dada is introduced as Lookaew. Right from the beginning, there is a noticeable difference between the real Lookaew and the fake Lookaew. This is explained by Khun Dee and Dr. Goson (Kwan’s father/Khun Dee’s lover/La Belle’s top surgeon) as Lookaew suffering from amnesia.

Ratt hates Lookaew due to the cheating but agrees to stay with her until she regains her memories since it would be cruel if he abandons her. Every chance he gets, he takes his anger out on her for her cheating. She apologizes for the wrong she’s done and pleads for him to stop since she doesn’t have any memories of her wrongdoing. To hasten Khun Dee’s marriage plan for the couple, she encouraged fake Lookaew to move in with Ratt. I guess this was normal that Lookaew would live with Ratt at Ratt’s house for periods of time. Khun Dee said by having Lookaew in familar surroundings, she should be able to regain her memories faster.

After Ratt and fake Lookaew/Dada slept together (on a trip), Ratt is sure that Lookaew is not the Lookaew he knew. He eventually confirms that Lookaew is indeed Dada by getting her fingerprints verified. He only shares this information with his father because by this point, he’s in love with Dada and refuses to let her go. He only wants to marry Dada in Dada’s name and not in Lookaew’s name. Also, he tells his father that if Dada regains her memory, she would want her mother to be there at her wedding. Ratt wants to find the real Lookaew and for Dada to regain her memories so that he can marry Dada.

The whole time, Dindan, Dada’s boyfriend and her mother are searching for Dada. They find out that she was in a car accident and Lookaew was the person to hit her. Dada was transferred to La Belle and from there, she disappeared. Whenever they meet Lookaew, her personality reminds them a lot of Dada. But she looks nothing like Dada.

With the help of Dr. John, Lookaew wakes up from her coma. She’s pissed off to know that there is a fake Lookaew and that Ratt is affectionate with the fake Lookaew. While Ratt is looking for Dr. John because he knows Dr. John knows where Lookaew is, Lookaew sees Dada and approaches her. Later, Dada goes back to see Lookaew who attacks her and switches place with her. Dada is then heavily sedated by Khun Dee and Dr. Goson while Lookaew goes back to Ratt’s place. Right off the bat, the servants and Ratt knows that this isn’t their Lookaew/Dada.

Ratt, his father, Dindan, and Kwan puts a plan in action to rescue Dada. Ratt’s father announces that the wedding between Ratt and Lookaew will take place the next day. As the wedding is underway, Dindan and the cops storm the place where Dada is kept (heavily guarded by security with guns). The wedding is interrupted by Khun Pingpan who accuses Khun Dee of using his son to steal the loan documents from him. Khun Dee gets a call from the nurse/maid about what’s going down at the house but before she can answer, Khun Pingpan takes her cell phone and throw it on the ground smashing the phone, demanding that she answers him. After Khun Pingpan leaves, Lookaew ask to resume the wedding. But just as they’re about the resume, both Ratt and his father each get a phone call regarding the success of the plan. The cops come and arrest Khun Dee and Dr. Goson.

Dada is taken the hospital and treated with electric shocks to her brain. She regains her memories. When Ratt appears at the hospital, he’s afraid that she’ll forget him because of the look she gave him. But she starts to cry and tell him that she thought she’d never see him again.

The story really starts with Namthip. She and Dr. Goson were college sweethearts but because she was from the lower class, his family refused for them to marry. He ended up marrying someone else and having Kwan. Afterward, his wife died. Namthip goes to work for La Belle as Khun Dee’s assistant because she knew Dr. Goson also worked there. The two rekindle their romance and had plans to marry. But Namthip was mean-spirited to other people and started to become jealous of Khun Dee. After Khun Dee’s husband died, she became president and because Dr. Goson is the vice president, the two needed to work closely together. Due to Namthip’s jealousy, the two would meet up for work on Dr. Goson’s family land by the zoo. Namthip followed them and accidentally killed Khun Dee. They fed her body to the alligator and Namthip undergoes surgery to look like Khun Dee. So for 20 years, she became Khun Dee. At the time, Lookaew was sent to boarding school in Boston so she had no idea.

One of the storylines I was most interested in was the second leads, Dindan and Dr. Kwan. We got a lot of friendly banter between the two but there wasn’t many romance between them until after Dada regains her memory and told Dindan that she loves Ratt. Dindan realizes that he only loved Dada as a sister. He starts to take care of Dr. Kwan since her father is in prison. At the end, Dindan ask Dr. Goson for her hand in marriage. I thought the romance was fast and nonexistence so I was surprised by Dindan asking her father for her hand in marriage.

The love between the two main leads was really good, if I’m honest. Dada have always only had eyes for Ratt. Even when she was Dada, I didn’t think she felt anything but brotherly love for Dindan. In fact, she had fangirl over Ratt. LOL. Ratt, when he starts to realized that fake Lookaew was not Lookaew, he falls in love with Dada. He doesn’t excuse his jealousy and possessiveness of Dada.