Drama Digest
Fai Gam Prae follows the story of two orphans who are servants to take care of the children of two affluent families. They accidentally meet other and lie about their respective situations. Soon after, the truth comes out, allowing them to develop a unique friendship. They try to elevate their lives by helping each other to date and marry the other’s, own masters. But life doesn’t always follow your grand plan for success.
The Feel-Good Part
The character arc of Ja and Tom as they learn there are more important things in life than money is something that makes the overall story a bit worthwhile. The drama also chooses its place to add some funny parts amidst all the chaos. The actors also did a decent job playing Ja and Tom.
The Disappointing Part
I thought this was supposed to be a feel-good comedy, but the drama has a story that only makes half sense. Plus, Tong abusing Ja after marriage not only physically but sexually and mentally is infuriating. The characters also do some pretty questionable things, which do nothing but create more mess in the overall storyline.
In-Depth Analysis
Jarawee or “Ja” and Tomnai or “Tom” are two servants raised by two wealthy families to look after their children. They lie to each other about their situation, which leads to them sharing some hopeful moments, but when both their realities come out, they hatch a plan to help each other marry the other person’s master and finally become rich. They eventually achieve their goal and marry Thongchan or “Tong” and Thippayang or “Ae.” But everything becomes a big mess when they; realize marrying the rich person does not directly make their problems go away; instead, it increases them. The drama’s characters are so typical they stand for the textbook definition of their particular role. The rich boy is a typical womanizer, who doesn’t care about anyone or anything except himself and his money. The rich girl is the classic dumb, gullible and spoiled brat who can’t even as much as pack a bag or boil water by herself. After the marriage, Tong, the rich guy, assaults Ja and imprisons her in his home, and even refuses that he’s married to her in public. Tom also realizes he can’t live his life with Ae, who quickly gets swayed by her friend’s advice and starts creating new problems. All this eventually results in both Ja and Tom leaving their partners and moving on with their life without trying to take a shortcut to money.
Star Power
The actors playing Ja and Tom honestly do a good job, mainly because their characters had the most depth and required visible character development. The actress who plays the second maid for Ae also gives a satisfying performance even in the limited time we see her.
Overall Opinion
The drama starts with an intriguing story but fails to keep the viewer’s interest with the storyline, not believing in any logic or consistency. The drama tries to teach you a lot of things but loses itself in a mess. Even when they married for money, they had no power over it. If you’re choosing to spend your whole life with a person, be sure they are at least tolerable. The one thing I still appreciate about this drama is that everything doesn’t magically get well in the last episode; the characters, at least Ja and Tom, learn from their mistakes and move on.
