'3 Golden Men/ Saam Num Nuea Thong' Review

Name: 3 Golden Men/ Saam Num Nuea Thong

Year: 2011

Genre: Romance, Drama

Studio: Ch. 3

Episode Number and Length: 15 at 1hour and 15 minutes each

Director: Krit Sukramongkon

My Rating: 8 Hearts

Starring:  Prin Suparat (Mark), Kimberly Anne Woltemas, Pakorn Chatborirak(Boy), Marie Broenner, Phupoom Phongpany (Ken), Jarinporn Joonkiat (Toey)

Show Premise: Three guys who are best friends and are in varying stages of romantic relationships. Thee (Ken) is always playing around and flirting even though he has a girl that lives with him. Wat (Boy) has been dating the same girl for years and is now being asked to marry. While Krit (Mark), is in love with an employee from his company.

Why I Chose This Show: MARK, MARK, MARK, MARK PRIN…need I go on?

*Note: This drama does NOT contain a rape.

 Spoilers Coming UP!!

Characters and Actors: 

Prin Suparat (Mark) as Kritchai Like I stated earlier, I chose this show purely for the chance of seeing him again. I thought he was really cute and funny in Thara Himalaya, and wanted to see him play a different character. That being said, I had no real clue how this charater would behave. 

Kritchai is the CEO of M Group, a company that designs and sells motorcycles. He and his best friends Thee and Wat, are planning to move in together.  I would never have guessed that Kritchai would be such a sweet guy. For most of the drama he didn't make a big deal out of anything. When Arunsi interviews for a position at his company, it's love at first site. Even though he likes Arunsi, he never tells her about it because he knows she is dating someone and doesn't want to be the person to break them up. He seemed to just have faith that one day he would get his chance to make her happy. Because he was such a shy guy, the smiles were rare, but oh soo cute! ^.^

Kimberly Anne Woltemas as Arunsi She was good in Thara Himalaya, so I wasn't worried about her acting in this drama. She seems like a pretty steady actress, but she doesn't wow you with the skills.

Arunsi lost her parents a few years ago and now only had her older brother as family. She's been dating her boyfriend Pran for about 4 years and even though the relationship isn't perfect, she's staying with him because it's comfortable and he was there for her when her parents died. I could fully understand her attachment to Pran but when he began acting a bit crazy, it would have been over for me.

She gets a job working for Krit at the motorcycle company, and even though others around her can tell that Krit likes her, she doesn't think it's true, and doesn't really care because she's dating someone else. No matter how many people try to tell her, she doesn't believe and tries to keep from noticing.

Pakorn Chatborirak (Boy) as Watchara From 'Roi Marn' and 'Thara Himalaya', I know that he's pretty good, but I think he's gotten a bit better after his performance in this show because Watchara was a complicated character.

Watchara is a policeman and enjoys going out to catch the bad guys. His girlfriend of about 5 years is Naem, and when she gets it into her head that it's time to get married she decides that Wat is the man of her future. She tells him to get ready because she's planning the wedding, all he has to do is show up. They come from completely different social classes, since he's a working man and she's an heiress that lives in a mansion, but since they've been together so long, Wat figures 'why not?'. But Naem isn't just preparing to plan a wedding, she wants to change everything about him, and the more she pushes, the farther away Wat runs away. I think Boy did a good job of showing Wat's confusion and sadness.

Marie Bronner as Fai: This is her debut role for CH.3 and she's really pretty but as far as her acting I wasn't super impressed, but I definitely think she has room for improvement and potential.

Fai is the best friend of Arunsi and wants her best friend to leave Pran alone, since he's always making her pay for things and doesn't treat her like a queen. She and Watchara meet on a highway as she's arguing with another driver that has hit her car and Wat just happens to hit her in the butt with his car. As Fai is searching for him to get revenge or compensation, she finds out that they are already running in the same circle. There isn't much back story about Fai, you only know that she's rich from running a night club, and lives in the same building that Krit, Wat and Thee want to move into.

In the beginning Fai is kind of annoying and rude, but as she gets to know Wat and his friends she mellows and knows that they aren't her enemies.

Phupoom Phongpany (Ken) as Thee: Another debut actor. He's handsome, but he could use a little more experience. I heard that he's supposed to be starring opposite Janie soon, if that's true he needs to bring his A-Game.

Thee is a playboy that is always on the lookout for another girl. Even though he has a girlfriend and they live in the same condo together, he still dates around. I couldn't believe his girlfriend would just let him do that.
When he is mistaken by Phao, as a burglar, she beats him and they start a game trying to best each other. Thee was a strange character to me. He was so willing to play the field when he was dating his girlfriend, Korn, but was able to turn around and be a one-woman man, when it came to Phao. Only in the movies people, only in the movies...

Jarinporn Joonkiat (Toey) as Lamphao: I've heard of this actress before,but since I'm pretty new to Lakorns, I've never had the opportunity to watch a show of hers.

Lamphao is Kritchai's cousin and works as a veterinarian. When she mistakes Thee as a robber trying to break into her house and beats him with a broom, the fued between the two of them starts.

 He insults her and refuses to apologize so in order to get back at him, she decides to treat him like her boyfriend. She tricks him into doing things only a boyfriend would do, hoping that he'll get so annoyed that he'll give in and apologize. She didn't want to get in between Thee and Korn, but he just wouldn't apologize, and she was too stubborn to back down.
Toey is so cute and this character was so funny, I couldn't help  loving them both. I want more Toey now too.

Pitta Na Pattalung as Naem She was one of the best actors in the show. She really had the character down. When I was watching her, sometimes I would forget that this is all just for entertainment, and would actually be wide-eyed with shock and anger.

Naem is spoiled, bossy and rich. One day her sister teases her that she's the only one of her friends that isn't married with children, and that starts her on a rage over marrying Wat. It's obvious that she picked Wat because she thought she could mold him into the man that she wanted. Unfortunately for her, she forgot to love him along the way. The more she doesn't get her way, the crazier and deadlier she starts to act.

Virithipa Pakdeeprasong (Woonsen) as Kornkanok 

Korn knew that Thee didn't want to get married and wanted to play around, and was fine with that because she had the title 'Girlfriend', but when she sees that Lamphao may have a real chance of making Thee love her, she knows that their relationship is probably going to end.

But this cool girl has a few options, so she doesn't get depressed about it.

 Suriyon Aroonwarranakul (Daew)as Pran: I've never seen this guy either, but he did a good job of being a butt-hole. It felt my screen was oozing grease whenever he appeared, he was that smarmy. Hopefully he'll be able to play a nice guy in a different show.

He's Arunsi's long time boyfriend, who was happy with their relationship (she paid for everything and he promised to propose when he made it big) until she started her new job at M Group and he met Kritchai. He could tell that Krit liked his girl, and wanted her to quit. However he turned himself into a liar when he got caught up in a dangerous game with another woman over money issues.

Relationships:
I really like dramas that have multiple couples, and this one was no exception. I think that the pairings were done well and I think that each one had a bit of a lesson included.

Within the three couples, the characters had things in common. 

Wat and Fai act based on emotions without really thinking things through, which caused a lot of unfortunate incidents. Wat was so upset with Naem that he just kept avoiding and running away from her and never stopped to think about how to confront and talk with her to solve the problem.
Fai was so angry with Wat over him hitting her butt, that she played a trick on him without thinking about how hard she might be making life for him.
Then they both let their feelings run away from them, before putting an end to Wat's previous relationship.
They matured by facing the mistakes they made. Wat went to see Naem to apologize. Fai took the time to really think about the situation between her and Wat, taking time to go see Naem and self reflect. 

Thee and Phao played too much and took everything as a game. Thee thought that he could date around and flirt with all the girls of Thailand, and then move on to the next, without hurting feelings or taking responsibility.
 Phao thought that her game to annoy Thee was just that, a game, but didn't consider how her playing would effect Korn and the relationship Korn and Thee had together. 

 They both finally stopped playing and faced each other and their feelings honestly, while causing more laughs with their hi-jinks.

 


Krit and Arunsi thought too much, making it really hard to move forward. Krit knew that he was a better man than Pran, that he could make Arunsi happy, but instead of stepping up, he kept thinking and debating whether he should make a move or not.
Arunsi, could tell that something was off with Pran, and then found evidence that there was something going on, but thought that she shouldn't just leave him because he had been good to her in the past.

They both had to take steps to create a change, Arunsi finally broke up with the manipulative Pran and Krit finally confessed his feelings and began courting Arunsi.

Picture Source: AsianFuse

Other Things: Naem and Pran were also very similar. They deluded themselves, didn’t truly love their partners, and tried to control their partners and when Wat and Arunsi, respectively, broke away from them, they blamed everyone else for the separation when they had ruined the relationships with their own hands. Pran thought that he would use P'Aew and be able to impress Arunsi, but you can’t cheat and say it was all for the person you cheated on. Naem was so caught up in getting married that she didn’t take the time to consider Wat’s feelings and ended up pushing him away with her controlling demands. If Pran had just continued the way they had always been, Arunsi wouldn’t have broken up with him, no matter how good Krit was. If Naem had shown a little more affection Wat probably wouldn’t have run off.

Things that I really liked about this drama: Absolutely loved the ending, I’m a sucker for cuteness. Loved the interaction between the boys, their bro-mance felt real and easy. P'Belly- I can't find information about the actress in this role, but she kept the show going, for me, sometimes. Belly  was seriously one of my favorite supporting cast members in any Asian drama. Even though in a really great show, there would have been some character development for her, I really enjoyed the fact that she was only there for comedic relief. She supported Krit from the start and never did anything to mislead any one. Which, as most know, is really rare in a Asian drama. Lastly, the dogs. You’ll see if you watch.

Who Would I Recommend This To: I would recommend this to someone who isn't scared to think a little when it comes to love. Someone who would like a cute story with some real depth.

Re-Watchability: I do in fact plan to re-watch this show. I will probably skip a lot of the parts with Naem, because she was really mean, and some of the early parts with Fai and Wat, because I didn't find them interesting in the beginning.

Boring/Fast Forward Parts/Annoying Bits:
1. There was a weirdly ominous tune that would play in between some scenes, but it could be before a funny scene. It didn't really make sense, I would have preferred no music at all, instead of the misleading music.
2. Arunsi took so long to break up with Pran.
3. Naem’s was so rude to Wat, her mother, HIS mother and everyone else. She really got off too easy in this lakorn, definitely needed a smack for all the shouting she did.
4.The fact that, even when Wat broke up with Naem, everyone kept asking what he was going to do about her.

Final Thoughts: This lakorn was, at its heart, about love, taking responsibility for your actions, and gaining maturity. I think they did a good job with the quotes that accompanied the situations throughout the show. When I thought about them in reference to my life, they were powerful and wise, and made me think of some of my relationships in a different light.

Overall I really liked how this show tried to get a bit deeper into relationships and how they flourish or wither away. I wasn't super impressed with the acting but, for me, the story and made up for any short comings in the skills of the actors.

Soundtrack:
 Rak Hai Roo sung by Mark, Boy and Ken

Glua Kao Jai Sung by Pijika

Places to Watch: Youtube Viki with French or Spanish Subs