Sangmin Dinneaw (Thai Series)

At the start , this Thai series, based on the character names of our protagonists, seems promising especially since it's a love story between a Thai and a Korean boy. Somewhat new, one would say. But soon, just after a few episodes, you start to feel the amateurish attempt at this. From the dumb jokes to the absurd plots, each episode becomes more aggravating. And then there are random extended sex scenes, which just do not ft in anyway and clearly were added just for the sake of it. Thank god, it was 8 episodes and you could fast forward some of those, With about 50-55 minutes duration of each episode, it is still a significant time investment.

In the countryside in Thailand, Dinneaw lives with his mother and together they run a homestay just trying to make ends meet. Dinneaw dreams of becoming a tour guide and travelling the world. One day, a Korean guy Sangmin arrives at the homestay. Turns out he had lived with this family about 10 years ago when he was a kid. He was a lovely kid and Dinner's mother is extremely elated to see him after all these years since she missed him terribly. For some reason, Sangmin never stayed in touch and also remains vague on why he is in Thailand now. Sangmin and Dinneaw reunite happily, catching up on the past. The communication barrier isn't an issue for Sangmin, who knows a bit of Thai. Slowly the two boy start to warm up to one another and get close. Around this time, a resort owner offers a training program to Dinneaw and his friends at his resort. His secret motivation is to eventually take over the homestay in countryside but also he is his eyes on Dinneaw and wants to make him his own. But Sangmin shows up as a guest at this resort as well and openly flirts with Dinneaw. Neither of them clearly understand what is the relationship between them. Training also has 2 other friends of Dinneaw who have a parallel love story track and another gay couple who are always shown to be horny. Once the training is over and the boys are partying, Sangmin faints. Turns out he was in Thailand for medical reasons and he needs to get urgent surgery which can lead to memory loss, which as you can expect, happens eventually.  The two boys then realize how much they love each other. The family tries to cheer Sangmin with happy incidents to bring back his memory, but his evil mother comes back to take him to Korea. Eventually, all is well, when slowly Sangmin's memory comes back, his evil mother's intentions are revealed and through some connections the homestay starts to make money again, so that the lovely couple and Dinner's mother can be happy together.

Sangmin Dinneaw is a good attempt to handle a cross-cultural journey smoothly between two nationalities. Sangmin's limited knowledge of Thai language do make some of their interactions funny to watch. Also the setup of homestay and the location provides for a cozy and rustic charm. Dinner's mother's character is also an integral part. Dinn sometimes gets jealous of how much his mother likes Sangmin. From playful banter to heartwarming chats, the trio's chemistry shines naturally. This lovely setup changes drastically when the proceedings shift to the hotel in city and things just go downhill form there. A devious villain in the form of resort owner, an over size training girl who is caricaturist, loud and annoying rather than trying to be funny and comic and this random horny gay couple almost like sex addicts, Makers forget that raunchiness is not always funny. Sadly, a lot of episodes just rely on this tactic and I was shocked at how soon the show went downhill. More ridiculous events that are hard to digest follow once Sangmin is in the hospital. Less time is spent on the romance build up and more on the unnecessary drama. The secondary couple had sweet friends turned to lovers arc. Maybe it was nice since it was short and focused on love and not unnecessary drama and conflict. As actors the two leads do their job ok. Dinneaw is great but I cant say same about Sangmin. He has this "I don't know why I am doing this" look throughout the show, a confused, one expression look, which got me annoyed after a couple of episodes. A show that started well just went downhill and continued that trajectory with a finale which was just odd. The whole angle of Sangmin's evil parents was just not needed. This show is average at best or even lower. (5/10)