We start, as these kinds of shows do, with a history lesson.
Chansaeng was once a part of Nanta, but was colonized by France. It maintained its monarchy, while Nanta did not. This is important.
It’s 1963, and Chansaeng is about to become part of Nanta again.
This is bad for Chansaeng’s royal family. Not at first, but a military uniform-wearing man named Kalong takes over Nanta. He claims to want to return the wealth to the people, but this seems to be an excuse for him to murder the royal family and take their money.
Now our royal family needs to escape, with their money, before Chansean joins Nanta in six months.
An Uncle Inthorn has a new wife from Thailand, Duangkamol. He thinks everyone should give his wife the money and move to Thailand. But no one trusts Uncle Inthorn, who has a gambling problem.
Prince Evil Dad decides to force his son, Saenkaew, to marry a Thai woman and copy Prince Inthorn’s plan.
Saenkaew doesn’t want to be forced into marriage, but Evil Dad grabs him by his shirt. Princess Grandma interrupts the abuse, and Dad uses her age and health to guilt Saenkaew.
It’s hard being wealthy (or once wealthy)
Saenkaew’s bride-to-be is a young woman named Pin who also doesn’t get a say in her future. And her oblivious father doesn’t care when her stepmother puts her down for being the daughter of a servant.
They have a title but no money. This marriage will fix that.
Pin is initially against marrying anyone, until she learns it’s to Saenkaew. They met when they were younger, and she has a huge crush on him.
Time to meet our other lead, a violin player named Sasin
He works for the lady who ran the “tea shop” in To Sir, With Love and caused Ramphueng to curse everyone in Khemjira. He’s popular with the women, but uninterested. And he’s Pin’s poor cousin.
Like a good cousin, he warns Pin that marriage without love won’t last. But she IS in love. Sasin still worries about this Saenkaew guy, but Pin feels she has no choice anyway.
Saenkaew also plays an instrument. I think it’s an ocarina? Then he has to promise Grandma that he’ll do anything to protect her. She’s fine with this. Ugh, family.
Prince Evil Dad is warned that he shouldn’t force Saenkaew to marry, because he could lose his son like he lost his wife. Dad says he’s already lost his son, and we flashback to him beating Saenkaew because of the unspecified scandal he could cause. Mom gets in the way, is knocked down, and faints.
To be fair to Evil Dad, it appears she had a medical issue. He didn’t literally kill her. Why am I being fair to him?
Time for a meet-cute
Our royal family arrives at the train station, and a rushing crowd knocks Saenkaew into Sasin’s arms! Cue the OST. Sasin recognizes Saenkaew despite never meeting him because he was described as looking like a rabbit.
At Pin’s, Saenkaew is stressed because he’s secretly smuggled their riches into Thailand. He’s also feeling guilty about Pin and goes for an evening walk.
He hears a noise from a nearby house and rushes in to find Sasin on the floor. Sasin wakes and mistakes him for a thief. They scuffle, a sheet is thrown over Saenkaew’s head, and there’s a fall-kiss-ish thing. It reminds me of the To Sir, With Love kiss-through-the-sheer-bandanna moment, in a good way.
The slightly drunk Sasin realizes his mistake and apologizes. He accuses Saenkaew of being too serious and invites him to drink together. Despite this seduction, Saenkaew turns him down.
The next day, Sasin turns them into a thruple
Pin shows Saenkaew Sasin’s place, which is where she grew up. Sasin joins them and flirts with Saenkaew about their previous night, calling him a rabbit again. Pin is confused.
Sasin then gives them a ride to a temple, and along the way, Sasin and Saenkaew flirt-fight over Sasin’s messy car and driving. At the temple, Saenkaew needs extra time to pray. He wants enlightenment on how to save his family without dragging Pin into it.
Outside, Sasin is ready to interrogate him. Saenkaew refuses to explain his feelings for Pin. Sasin picks a BL-minded flower from Saenkaew’s hair and says love is simple when two people feel the same way. Nothing else matters.
Saenkaew wishes he could live his life as he pleases, but won’t explain why he can’t.
Kalong makes it clear to Prince Evil Dad that he’s going to stop them from taking their money. He also wants to know where Saenkaew is, because he knows they’re up to something.
Sasin gets home in the evening and notices Saenkaew playing a sad song on his ocarina.
Pin’s parents want to throw a welcome party for Saenkaew. He watches Pin’s step-mom put her down, and her father wants to go into business with him.
Then, Grandma and our guys learn to make Luk Chup from Pin. Sasin has fun teasing Saenkaew, making his Luk Chup look like a rabbit. Prince Evil Dad ruins the fun by calling Saenkaew to warn him about Kalong.
Uncle Inthorn has a meeting with Kalong
He’s learned that Saenkaew does not want to marry Pin, and both of them want to know why. This is shades of Tian’s Secret. Inthorn will spy on his family for Kalong in return for some of the money. Neither trusts the other, and neither should.
Saenkaew thinks Thailand’s field marshal might be able to protect them from Kalong, but can’t get a meeting. But he sees a beautiful woman who can. From Pin, he learns this woman is a sexy actress and the Field Marshall’s favorite mistress.
But what songs will Sasin’s band play at the party?
The band member who clearly has a crush on Pin wants to play sad songs. The rest of the band says no.
Pin and Saenkaew arrive, and Pin makes food for everyone ‘cause patriarchy. Saenkaew helps her when the onions make her cry. He volunteers to assist with cooking, and compliments her skills.
Pin admits she’s a cook’s daughter, and embarrasses her family by not acting like a real lady. Saenkaew understands how being yourself can trouble your family, but that’s their problem.
Poor Saenkaew, that’s not how he’s living.
Sasin spies on them and sees them being happy together.
But he still wants to know Saenkaew’s true feelings
So he and his bandmates try to get Saenkaew drunk, but instead they get drunk, vomit everywhere, and pass out.
Saenkaew escapes the fun to gaze at the moon. Sasin finds him and says he knows Pin is happy around Saenkaew, but Saenkaew looks grumpy and like he’s hiding secrets. Saenkaew feels everyone has their sides that they don’t want others to see.
Sasin thinks everyone should have someone they can share everything with, who will stay by their side, and they’ll find them one day. Agreed.
They stare at the moon together, and Sasin falls asleep on Saenkaew’s shoulder. Saenkaew smiles as Sasin snores. In the moonlight. All lovingly.
Pin finds Sasin cleaning vomit the next day
Sasin tells her that Saenkaew passed his first step, but only his first step. Pin feels sure that if he knows him better, he’ll like Saenkaew as much as she does.
Sasin remembers staring at Saenkaew’s face and lips. I think he likes him plenty.
It’s time for the party, and Pin’s Oblivious Dad has spent too much money. Pin and Saenkaew look stunning. Sasin and I both think Saenkaew looks like a dapper rabbit.
As Sasin’s band plays, he and Saenkaew meet eyes.
The field marshal’s mistress arrives and just wants to drink in peace, so she escapes the nasty gossiping people by going inside. Saenkaew finds her, and she’s upset by his request for help. She mocks the rich people who lower themselves to talk with her.
That’s not true. He admires her and wants to be brave like her, but can’t. This gets her attention.
He charms her into talking to the field marshal for him, but when she gets up to leave, she stumbles into his arms.
Sasin sees and drags him outside to accuse him of disrespecting Pin and having an affair. Sasin, chill.
Despite what happened between them in the train station, Sasin can’t imagine how Saenkaew came to hold her by accident. Saenkaew tries to walk away, but Sasin pulls him back, causing Saenkaew to stumble into his arms.
That’s how, Sasin. And neither of them pulls away quickly.
Unfortunately, Uncle Inthorn got an invitation to the party, and he’s there too.
Yes, that’s a good start
We’re in my soap opera happy place, with rich people, poor cousins, parties, dead mothers, and a very obvious secret. I didn’t even mind that our two leads don’t meet much at first, because got all the high stakes and drama set up.
But once they do meet, they make up for it with eye flirting.
Also, I think they pretty much fall in love under the moonlight right here, in these episodes, don’t they?
Poor Pin. It feels like she should be asking Saenkaew questions rather than being blindly happy with her trophy fiancé. On the other hand, I understand she feels she has no choice, so maybe it’s better to stay ignorant.
I like that she’s given reasons to continue crushing him beyond some childhood meetings we thankfully don’t have to see. He’s handsome, and he’s nice to her. She should want more than that, but I get it.
Really, her lack of interest in him makes Sasin’s interest in him that much more obvious.
Also, this is the coolest stair sculpture thing I have ever seen.
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