U-Prince The Series: The Handsome Cowboy (2016)

The premise of the story wasn't the issue I had with the drama. A girl is still in love with her childhood first love, he turns out to a total playboy. They fall in love, he struggles with his own issues. That I understood and enjoyed about this drama. But the issue I had was with the execution. It romanticized dating violence, all the red flag in the book were portrayed. The mental, the physical, and the down right disturbing are all featured here. I felt like this show should have come with a warning sign that some viewership is advised.

That being said, the acting and casting choices, I thought were actually perfect. Each actor portrayed their role as they were given (Though I'm not happy what they were given), the did a marvelous job. I despised the bad girl, I feel in love with the main character, and despite my best judgement I was drawn in by the male lead. The chemistry is what really made me keep watching this drama if nothing else.

The music didn't take me out of the show nor did it really fully bring me in. It was good, and fit with the type of teen drama.

Due to the mental and physical violence this portrayed I would say the re-watch value is a 2. I would re-watch the ending, when he redeems himself (barely) and the part where she is falling in love with him again, but skip mostly all the episodes but two.

Overall this drama is a 5.5 on the scale.

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For starters, The only reason why I watched this series in one stretch is because of PUSH *drool*. I am new to Thai dramas, the one ones I have watch are the Ugly Duckling series, Full house, Kiss me and Roy Leh Sanae Rai. This lakorn is of 8 episodes, each episode of around 70 minutes. Just like any other drama/lakorn,this lakorn has the bad boy male lead, innocent but outgoing female lead, obvious evil second female lead and the sweetheart second male lead. It is a kind of light hearted drama.

Sibtit (Push) trying to woo Prikkang (esther) with his possessive bad boy ways which I found very cute, the lead was always horny trying to steal kisses from the female lead which I liked. This drama was quite unsettling for me because from what I have read comments and watched lakorns, suppressing women sexually is portrayed as if it is a normal element. After a few episodes of him wooing her and finally winning her heart (after forcing himself upon her), the lakorn goes downhill with more "what the hell is happening" situation which questions us whether he is supposed to be the romantic male lead or the one who is evil and trying to break apart the couple. Push's snd esther's sanity in this lakorn is questionable, although the drama ends on a happy note.

I was very disappointed with Push's role in this lakorn (which is very much likely the same role as roy leh sane rai) but because I like him and also because of his cute possessive nature as well, I completed the drama. This drama isn't for everyone because it can get WTFable later on, but for PUSHSTANS you can watch it easily.

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I'd like to preface this review by saying that I don't enjoy giving bad reviews like this. Asian dramas themselves are underdogs in the Hollywood-biased world where I'm from, and giving them a poor rating feels wrong. But this drama...I had to.

TL/DR? This might be better received among watchers that frequent lakorns with slap/kiss themes. For those of you that are unfamiliar with and/or disinterested in that concept, The Handsome Cowboy isn't for you. Trust me.

Story:
The broken story was my biggest issue with the drama. I realize that with an eight-episode romcom my expectations shouldn't be THAT high to begin with, but still...It didn't deliver.

To me, the success or failure of a story is determined by the writer convincing the audience that, despite a character's flaws, he or she is still worth rooting for. To me, Sibtit isn't. Not by a long shot. The drama writer created Sibtit as an extremely realistic bad boy. At first, I loved that. Realistic and flawed characters that aren't plucked right out of fantasyland? Heck yeah. Sibtit pushed buttons just as he should have, and I loved the first few episodes.

But as I got further into the drama, he continued to push them, even after a series of giant mistakes, where I expected him to head down the path of redemption. And it didn't stop. They egged his character on to the point where he became unforgivable, and there wasn't NEARLY enough time to redeem him. Does that kind of stuff work in full-length dramas? Sure! In eight-episode romcoms? NO. What am I supposed to take away from the story? That dating violence is okay because the OTP got their (undeserved, imo) happily ever after? I was supposed to be laughing and fangirl swooning, but it just made me sick.

On top of all of that (as if that wasn't enough), there's Prikkang. Her blinding faith in Sibtit - how she was so often a victim to his force or neglect and STILL forgave him - it was sickening to me. I understand the appeal of her character in a general sense. I get it. But this was too much when paired with Sibtit. She got the guy in the end, but at what cost? Was it worth it? Is relationship happiness more important than your value as a person? Was your sacrifice really that noble?

UGH. I just...can't anymore with this.

Acting/Cast:
Despite all of his character's faults and the drama's poor execution, I can't rob Push the respect of playing a realistic character well. He brought out every single emotion he should have in such a role. I hated him, and I still struggle with seeing him outside of Sibtit. I thought Esther had a good chemistry with him, too, and she convinced me of her character's gullible and sweet demeanor, no matter what I thought of the story. The rest of the cast fell into recycled archetypes - the GBF, the heinous second female lead, the nice second male lead, etc. Nothing memorable, but nothing particularly bad, either.

Music:
The OST and score to this were unmemorable. I believe it suited the length and style of the drama fine enough, but I don't recall any of it now, and I doubt that I would recognize it if I heard it in passing.

Rewatch Value:
I won't ever rewatch this unless I'm in a hateful mood and need something to yell at (anybody else have those moods?). There's no good takeaway value in the story, and, frankly, the characters make me want to vomit.

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After reading lot of reviews I started watching this show. Only bcoz of push and Esther in this drama. All romantic scenes are awesome. And they do have a good chemistry with each other. I don't know why lot of Thai dramas have this same ending where the second female lead gets extremely violent and shoots someone. Here to the same scenes. First let me tell the good points and then the bad points of the drama.

1. Push and Esther acting
2. Their romantic scenes
3. Wimartin places and the cowboy type scenes.
4. Supporting characters acting and they all seems to be happy in doing it.
5. Hed ped boys ( they are adorable)

Bad points.
I don't want to count it. Bcoz lot of bad points for this drama

Push is good in acting. But he seems confused why his character in this drama is doing this or that.
Male lead character always trying to harm the female lead sexual abuse scenes.
I know he is a playboy in this drama but why u made him look like monster, bcoz he never understand her love and does those things which any girl would hate.
Even after seeing him with his ex spending the whole night our little innocent female lead forgives him and still loves him. I think this will be very difficult for girls in real.
Esther looks better as strong girl rather than crying for him.
Esther's father is definitely stupid to send her with the guy who hurt her.

Overall I think negative points is more than positive points in this drama. May be Thai culture is different and they don't think this show is bad. But for a Indian girl this is definitely not so good drama.

If u r push fan then look this show only for the good romantic scenes.
Rewatch value is definitely a no from me.

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Another example of Thai romance at its worst.

One obvious spoiler, but how can I talk about a series without giving anything away?

The acting was good but the story was horrible. The story starts out with a sweet girl falling in love with her first love who happens to be a playboy. Over the course of the show he has to be a different person if he wants to be with her, because she seems to be a person who shockingly wants faithfulness (sarcasm, in case you don’t know it).

He cheats and lies and is controlling and bordering on abusive (both emotionally and physically). He encompasses pretty much every bad relationship trope available. He is basically the perfect example of a man that no woman should want.

You would think he might become a better man, but he didn’t. He lost the woman he wanted and he wasn’t used to being denied anything,. So he “changed” to get her back but that does not mean that he will stay changed. He lies and cheats because he wants to. People like that don’t just change. When she gets older or their relationship becomes boring over time and he has kids and diapers and work to think about, he will go right back to what he was — a cheating, abusive scumbag. I’m not saying no one can change, but he had no moment where he really looked at who he was and thought, “I’m a disgusting person and need to change” and then had to work toward that goal. He just watched her moving on and felt bad that he wasn’t in her life, so he forced his way back into her life and she let him.

There was plenty of him realizing that he hurt her by cheating and that his previous relationships weren’t as fulfilling. But they barely even scratched the surface of dealing with his controlling and abusive anger.

It’s so offensive to always see the male lead behave that way and not only does the stupid girl forgive him and take him back, but everyone says it was so awesome how “possessive and manly” he was. If controlling and abusive is being portrayed as possessive and manly now, I don’t want to meet a manly man. Give me the sweet second male lead any day of the week. He was 100 times better.

This entire ridiculous plot is so typical of Thai TV series. I don’t know if it’s because Thai culture is full of egotistical, abusive men (they are certainly found around the globe), but I find their treatment of woman in general to be degrading and contemptuous.

(I didn’t really pay attention to the music, other than to think some of the music was good and none of it detracted from the show. Normally, I wouldn’t rate soundtracks if I don’t pay attention, but this website forces you to rate each aspect.)

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I'll be honest and admit I haven't really watched the full drama. All episodes: yes, all scenes: no. I started skipping quite a bit after things escalated in a bad way. So there are probably some nuances I missed.  The thing is, I've seen slap/kiss lakorn before and some I drop and some I don't (I've seen the Sawan Biang, one I would label as pretty hard core). I agree with what a commenter said:  inappropriate for teens but up to the adults to watch or not watch based on their preference.

However I couldn't really stomach the set up of this story because if felt waaay to real. A girl and guy dates, they have issues but like each other and can be pretty sweet. Then the guy becomes increasingly physical and violent. Not an uncommon story from life I would say. Compared to other slap/kiss dramas which have pretty unrealistic plots (makhjang, revenge, kidnapping etc.). Also, I don't know, was it a slap/kiss? While definitely going into that territory at the same time it felt way too "mild" in general for that... It felt more like a normal drama to me. Slap/kiss is generally way more present in the whole plotline and feels different from the ones where the guy is just an a-hole.  So not a slap/kiss just a normal drama with assault, then happy ending.  To me that feels pretty odd. Slap/kiss does get extra leeway as it is a pretty specific genre and you know what you are getting yourself into.

This wasn't genre: I really felt that this was just a romantization of abusive relationships, and especially TEEN abusive relationship which I really feel sends a terrible message. I don't know what the writers were thinking when making this, and especially in comparison to the other chapters of this series.

Its a shame since the actors were great and had amaazing chemistry.... but some dramas just crosses that bottom line even the for a person like me who has a pretty high tolerance. Even some dramas I don't personally watch because I can't handle them I think its fine if other likes them: taste and what is too much differ. This one though... Young characters in a realistic setting (comparatively) in modern days where the guy is abusive and its in the end forgiven. Nope, I don't think that is a good idea.

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So the story begins with this playboy cowboy and this spoiled bratty girl connecting on a ranch. The bratty girl seems a bit fearful because the cowboy is known to be a major player but he promises her that he would be loyal to her and that he is so love with her and a bunch of bullshit. This drama is honestly the worst I've seen ever. It's not top on my worst list but it is very close. There were so many moments that I wanted to stop watching but I pushed myself to finish it because I am a fan of Push and was looking forward to this drama for a whole year. His character is one of the worst type of men you could ever meet. I was screaming and pulling my hair through majority of this series. What the hell were the writers thinking with the way they wrote him and some of these moments were just plain horrible. Any girl should stay far away from a man like him. I don't want to spoil the drama but I will warn you that this isn't as cute as the poster makes you think. Hell it's a bit triggering too. I never want to watch this ever again even if someone paid me to.

The best part of this drama is the behind the scenes. I recommend you watch that instead because Ester and Push are hilarious.

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I think I am almost scared to even write anything about this drama due to all the negative comments and the back and forth arguments between people who liked the drama vs the people who were disgusted. And before I even go into this review, I want to put a disclaimer - I am not romanticizing domestic violence. I do not think it is okay. I wish we lived in a world where men and women were treated as complete equals and wouldn't lay a hand on one another in a negative manner, but unfortunately, it happens.

When I first started watching this, I kept watching it because the drama came off very nostalgic - it reminded me of old dramas I used to watch as a child (now realizing that they were mostly Australian shows) such as the Saddle Club and H2O. It had that very sitcom reality tv feel. I also kept watching it because Push Puttichai Kasetsin who played Sibtis was very attractive and looked like a combination of JHOPE (BTS), Ji Chang-wook, but mostly a young Aaron Yan. He nailed Aaron Yan's arrogant demeanor when he acts.

I liked the whole childhood first loves, but then separated for 10 years, to reunite and fall in love again. But as we went more into the drama, I got the same vibes I got fromThe Saddle Club, but I also got a kind of intensity like when I first started watching Korean Dramas, and watched Boys Over Flowers for the first time. If you want to watch a drama about a "bad boy" who has to hit ABSOLUTE rock bottom for him to realize he is a piece of shit, and needs to completely change, this is the drama for you. And the lead actor did an amazing job becoming this piece of shit character that reminds me why I personally have trust issues. I loved his sweet and smooth taking side, who was playful and acted as that big brother figure. But I HATED his playboy side who was possessive, sexist, two-faced and always seeking attention. Every time he attempted to make a pinky promise with Prikkang, it broke my heart. He seemed so genuine that I am not surprised that she gave him a few chances. He genuinely wanted to be that man for her, but I also believe that he loved the playboy life more. I think that we would have a different view on him if we learned how and why he became this way. Shoot, even in the movie/ book series AFTER, we get a backstory of Hardin. But I also believe that regardless if we got that backstory or not, it doesn't excuse him for being an abusive drunk.

I also believe that this drama wasn't romanticizing domestic violence, even though everyone was acting like it was a normal everyday thing. It made me think about different cultures and what some people might think is acceptable while others don't. I am not saying that I believe Thailand thinks domestic violence is acceptable, but it reminded me of my anthropology, religion, and gender role studies when I learned about different societies around the world where women had zero power (and some societies where women had complete power, while men had zero). This drama also "tackled" a very complicated subject that is uncomfortable to some people, while not to others. I did like how there was some representation of domestic violence as we normally don't see that in this cutesy romance shows. I liked that it was included to tell this story of this couple who's relationship wasn't this typical cutesy sunshine and rainbows first love. It was a story about two people who were each other's first loves, who went through REALLY LOW lows with one another, finding out who they were and who they want to be.

I am an "emotional" drama watcher and reviewer - I typically give good scores to shows and movies that make me feel any kind of way, either it being absolute happiness or complete dread. That tells me, as a watcher, that the writer, director, producer, etc are doing their job and doing it well. This drama made me feel complete disappointment in the male lead. It made me think about different cultures and their viewpoints on gender (can we take a second to talk about how Prikkang was always at fault not only because of her age but also because of her gender. She lacked a bit of responsibility, but she was the least worst person in this drama). This drama also opened up a conversation that I see in the comment section for this drama.

As a drama itself, I truly enjoyed this non-original, yet nostalgic script and feel. It told me as a viewer that love isn't easy and not everyone's relationship is a typical cookie-cutter Korean drama plot. Would I have taken Sibtis back? I don't know. But I do think that Prikkang was strong for an average college student girl. I believe if this drama was trying to "romanticize" or "normalize" abuse, Prikkang would have given him infinite changes because "she loves him." But I believe she wasn't "stupid" for giving him a second chance. Then when he broke her heart and trust for the second time, she put her foot down and tried to remove herself. She rejected all his advances and promises, even to the very end, and attempted to move on. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the ending itself - I knew that she had to read the letters at some point which would make her "give in" to her feelings even after he stomped all over them twice. I didn't get how his letters justified the person he became. I understand that he wanted to become the man she deserves before approaching and meeting her again, and he felt like he was not that person yet when he finally did (understatement of the year), but that doesn't explain how he became this womanizer, especially when they got together. It's like he knew better and wanted to be better but didn't, just a little more, at the same time.

I feel like there could have been a better ending, but I also feel like there could have been a worse one too. All I know is that regardless of what happened, this drama made us all feel a certain kind of way that might be uncomfortable, but it got us talking. So please don't chew me out

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If you do watch this drama and have triggers I personally recommend not watching this at all.
At the start I was excited knowing some of my favourite actors were in this.
I found it almost impossible to finish watching this drama.
The acting was outstanding. But the storyline was horrid.
This drama has several triggers in it.
It almost looked like the writers were trying to romanticise r_pe.
The fact their was a happy ending even though he had tried to r_ape her more than once was just unimaginable.
Definitely will NOT watch this drama or recommend it to my friends.

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I finally realized after watching this drama that reviews are mostly colored by one's experiences and outlook. In this case, had I taken into consideration the reviews here, I would have missed out on a good hours of lighthearted entertainment. Yes, lighthearted. I wish I could shout this out. There is no rape, not even an attempt  to rape. Saying that there was rape would be (In real life) slander in legal terms. No justification, but the guy was crazy with jealousy, then drunk and tried the only way an idiot can, to make his lady love his own. But. A big BUT. He had enough restraint and love for her that he stopped after a brief struggle. He wasn't going to rape her. Yes he is an ass with the morals of an alley cat, but he loves and protects his own. He is hardworking, disciplined and responsible.  The flaw is not in him but in the characterization. His character, his story and the consequences of his actions are just a way of teaching morality and life lessons to young men. The premise of this story (verbalised in the 7th episode) is in itself flawed.  The premise is that men have no control over their sexual desires. That men are playboys, till the time they meet their true love, at which point men need to Learn and change.  Bull...
I have been surrounded by men all my life. Father, brother, friends, uncles, husband, colleagues, son, nephews... No most men are not mindless sexual beasts.  But despite this, give credit where it is due. The creators of this drama are not upholding physical violence or abuse. Rather they are sermonizing  young men, telling them that they need to practice sexual monogamy when the time comes. The drama, if it needs to be bashed should be bashed for such a flawed and unfair premise, not for promoting violence.

I loved our hero. He was posessive, jealous and not afraid to show it. His morals just didn't gel with his character. How could it when his sexual morals were just a means for sermonozing.

The heroine. Perfectly drawn out and not a doormat our PK. Cute and lovely.

Every character played out really well. This was one drama where there was little or no craziness.

If you want fluffy romance of the mills and boons variety. Try it. It is worth a watch.

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