While this new adaptation of the global manga hit is yet to take off, there is a promise that a new legacy will rise on the heels of its predecessors’ success.
GMMTV
Actors: Bright Vachirawit, Tu Tontawan Tantivejakul, Win Metawin Opas-iamjakorn, Dew Jirawat Sutivanichsak, Nani Hirunkit Changkham
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Premise: The life of a simple girl takes a sharp turn as she gets involved with an infamous group of boys in school. Soon, sparks fly and emotions run high as she dives deep into the world of the upper-class elites. (iWantTFC)
Running Time: 65 minutes
Director: Patha Thongpan
Timeslot: Sundays, 8:30 PM (A2Z, Kapamilya Channel)
Why You Should See It:
Ever since the first time Boys Over Flowers was adapted to the small screen in 2001, it has always been the ‘bullying’ part that does not sit well with conservatives and critics. They say the way it glamorizes bullying and violence against women just doesn’t get good justification—although there [really] isn’t.
The Korean adaptation in 2009, surely had a lighter take about it, but it didn’t change the fact that the chaotic narrative where a group of four ultra-wealthy young men and a simple and poverty-stricken girl are the main players, glorifies bullying. Of course, to fans and casual viewers, it’s easy to get past this part once the romance takes center stage in the story.
F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers follows Gorya (Tu), a simple girl who gets the chance to enter one of Thailand’s most prestigious schools, Kocher High School. The presence of someone like her inside the campus’s premises can be readily taken as an anomaly, by the school’s upper-class majority, but she’s not there by accident; Gorya is a varsity scholar. Because of her special status, she needs to study harder than the rest if she aspires to graduate from school. Her meager parents who can barely afford to buy her a new pair of shoes, intend to see her earning her diploma, no matter how difficult it will be. She insists she should be transferred to a public school instead.
It’s the first day of school in Kocher. Gorya is cautious with her every move. She sits at one corner, alone, when a girl named Hana approaches her and wonders why she’s by herself. They quickly get along, and Gorya immediately warns her new friend of the systemic bullying that has been rampant inside the school. Gorya informs Hana of a certain ‘game’ being played at Kocher, with F4, the school’s ruling upper-class elites, at the helm. The game starts with someone receiving a red card in their locker. Once the entire campus finds out who the unlucky receiver was, that student becomes a convenient target for every bully of the school. The cat-and-mouse chase ends up at an abandoned stadium, where certain rules are raised: no CCTV cameras, no taking of photos, everything that happens inside must come out as an accident.
Gorya and Hana watch in horror during an incident. A student receives the red card and ends up getting beaten, with the infamous F4 leading the charge. We meet Thyme (Bright), the leader, and his friends, Kavin (Win), Ren (Dew), and MJ (Nani), who are all children of the country’s wealthiest businessmen. Their families’ huge donations to the school’s coffer have somewhat made them untouchable; they do everything they like, bully anyone they don’t like. Even the school officials don’t dare to interfere. That changes one day when Gorya finally stands up and makes the first defiant move against the F4. After getting involved with the group’s red card game, she conveniently finds a reason to fight back. Although we know, she will have to pay a hefty price first, before she makes two of the F4 members—Thyme and Ren—fall for her charm.
With just 16 episodes to squeeze a story traditionally told in more than 50 episodes by previous adaptations, the writing is expected to be sharper than usual to accommodate all major turns in the story that fans anticipate seeing. Thai sensibilities should give this take a different flavor, although a huge detour from the source material is likely to be considered a betrayal. The actors are yet to make a lingering impression, although, by the conclusion of the first episode, it’s somewhat clear that Ren, the Thai equivalent of Hua Ze Lei, and played by the newcomer, Dew, is headed in an interesting direction.
Watch F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers on A2Z on free TV, Kapamilya Channel on cable TV, Kapamilya Online Live, and iWantTFC online. Catch-up Tagalog-dubbed and English-dubbed episodes are available for free on iWantTFC. Watch the official iWantTFC trailer below:
