When ‘ Meteor Garden’ first introduced a mainstream audience to the world of Kamio Yoko’s shoujo Cinderella story back in 2001, very few individuals would’ve been able to have predicted the ongoing legacy and impact of Yoko’s work. Indeed nearly two decades and multiple adaptations later, a new generation has been introduced to the world of ‘ Hana Yori Dango’ through the Thai adaptation of the mangaka’s work ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’. The sixteen-episode series has gained popular attention by fans and critics alike. However despite its praise, it is important to acknowledge that the series hasn’t escaped the realm of scrutiny and criticism either.

Similar to its predecessor adaptations , ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ introduces viewers to its main female leader and heroine "Gorya" Thitara Jundee ( Tontawan Tantivejaku). An ordinary girl coming from a humble background, Gorya has entered Kocher High School, a prestigious school for the heirs of Thailand’s wealthiest families, through a varsity scholarship.

Gorya’s parents are over the moon with her attendance at the illustrious institution. Despite not being able to afford new shoes for their daughter, they are determined to ensure Gorya will finish high school with a praiseworthy diploma from Kocher. Yet despite rubbing shoulders with some of Thailand’s wealthiest heirs, Gorya has become weary of drawing attention to herself, especially with regards to her family status.

Aside from befriending classmate Hana (Wanwimol Jaenasavamethee), Gorya is determined to keep her head down until graduation. Indeed instead of partying or enjoying a hedonistic lifestyle like some of her classmates , Gorya spends her time predominantly divided between her studies, home and her part-time job at florist shop ‘Maytee O Garden’ ( a word pun homage to ‘ Meteor Garden’) where she works alongside best friend Kaning ( Yongwaree Anilbol).

However, Gorya’s hopes for a quiet life at school are soon dashed when she ends up on the wrong side of notorious F4 leader "Thyme" Akira Paramaanantra ( Vachirawit Chivaaree). With fellow F4 members “ Ren” Renrawin Aira ( Jirawat Sutivanichsak), "Kavin" Taemiyaklin Kittiyangkul ( Metawin Opas-iamkajorn) and "M.J." Methas Jarustiwa ( Hirunkit Changkham), Thyme’s tyrannical reign of bullying and authority over the school are suddenly challenged by Gorya’s defiance to become a scapegoat.

Despite Thyme’s bombardment of bullying tactics to make her back down, Gorya finds the determination to carry on through her growing unrequited feelings for F4 member Ren. Suave, mysterious and yearning over his childhood friend Mira ( Yongwaree Anilbol), Gorya finds her heart torn between her crush and her convoluted feelings for Thyme.

Of course it is important to to acknowledge that while ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ is an adaptation from mangaka Kamio Yoko’s bestselling work, ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ is respectfully ( like nearly all of the adaptations) a standalone production in its own right. Therefore, this has allowed certain opportunities and limitations by screenwriters Waneepan Ounphoklang, Jarinee Thanomyat and Suwanun Pohgudsai in order to encapsulate their respectfully young target audience.

One of the most efficient ways of keeping the audience intrigued came through the evident prevalence of technology in the series. From smart phones to social media, ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ placed heavy emphasis upon the sphere of modern youth culture. ( Especially through issues such as online harassment and cyber bullying in the early first part of the narrative.)

Nevertheless despite the grandeur shown through the everyday lifestyle of Thyme and the F4 , it is hard to ignore that issues such as abuse and bullying being glossed over by the series have been the subject of mixed-reception also. ( Especially with regards to the divisive relationship shown onscreen between Thyme and Gorya, arguably more lighthearted in comparison to other adaptations though not without its more controversial moments either.)

Tontawan Tantivejaku took on the role as main female lead and heroine "Gorya" Thitara Jundee. Actively involved in the world of modelling, it may surprise some that ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ marked the model’s acting debut . Nevertheless despite Tontawan Tantivejaku offering a fresh face to the role of the “tough and defiant” female lead, it became apparent that Tontawan’s inexperience at times often led to several awkward line deliverances over the duration of the series.

Of course this isn’t to entirely blame Tontawan Tantivejaku for her acting. Considering that it was respectfully the model’s first acting role, Tontawan carried herself surprisingly well throughout most of the drama , adding a surprisingly sweet and dynamic edge to her onscreen persona.

As an onscreen character, Gorya is admittedly a mixed-bag of writing strengths and flaws for the female heroine. Where other adaptations have struggled to encapsulate the female lead’s wider interactions with her family as well as their economic struggles, ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ added a surprisingly sentimental touch by focusing upon simple and daily interactions with Gorya’s family during most of the series.

However for a female lead who could be surprisingly resilient and laidback in comparison to some of her predecessors, Gorya could often feel as though she had hit a writing rut by the halfway point of the drama. This was mainly due to the fact that despite her initial growth by warming up to the F4 and attempting to navigate her own ambivalent feelings for Ren and Thyme, the second-half of ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ attempted to enforce Gorya into the leading role of the “ fickle heroine”; showing open affection, before seemingly changing her opinions out of an inconvenient dilemma and then dragging out major misunderstandings between herself and Thyme.

Although this cannot be entirely faulted as a bad writing decision per say by helping to intensify the tension of the series, ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ could sometimes inhibit further opportunities to see Gorya fully explore her mixed feelings in depth, or at least being given opportunities to grow or be explored beyond her specified role. ( This often resulted within Gorya’s later role in the series feeling somewhat stunted and enforced; rarely allowing her actions such as bending to the will of Thyme’s mother, feeling well-matched against her disposition and character.) Nevertheless despite a rocky first performance for the young model, there is certainly potential to see Tontawan Tantivejaku taking on future projects.

Then of course costarring alongside Tontawan Tantivejaku was Vachirawit Chivaaree ( alternatively known as ‘ Bright’) playing main male lead of the series, “Thyme” Akira Paramaanantra. For those familiar with Bright’s acting career, specifically for his role in the ‘2gether; The Series’, then most will probably agree that the actor certainly seemed an unusual choice. Nevertheless, Bright could be surprisingly tactful at times within his performance as Thyme; adding a nuanced touch of uncertainty and mixed-emotions through intonations and even micro-expressions onscreen.

However despite a superfluous amount of effort put into the role by the actor, it is hard to ignore that Bright’s approach to his onscreen character could feel somewhat overacted . This is not entirely the actor’s fault per say. Thyme’s written dialogue could often overblown at times and in addition to an onset of niche setups, Bright’s performance as Thyme was often somewhat inconsistent as a result.

This of course brings us onto one of the biggest elephants of the room within ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’, main male lead Thyme. There are certainly some positive attributes to comment about Thyme. In comparison to some of his previous incarnations who were defined purely by their haughty exterior and sardonicism, Thyme could often be said to be a “ kinder” version of his predecessors. Indeed, Thyme was often defined by his petulance and fractiousness around the female lead ( such as his demands and desires) , but he certainly often wore his heart upon his sleeve also.

However although it could be said that Thyme offered a more open and empathic version of the main lead in comparison to other incarnations, there is still a divisive issue for critics and fans alike surrounding the relationship between Thyme and Gorya throughout the duration of the series.

Writers Waneepan Ounphoklang, Jarinee Thanomyat and Suwanun Pohgudsai arguably did present the notion that Thyme was hopelessly infatuated by Gorya. However it is hard to excuse that despite his seeming bursting affections for the female lead, his treatment towards Gorya’s could sometimes be unnerving.

To explain this further it is important to point out that Thyme isn’t the first incarnation to come under rapid fire for his treatment of the female lead. Surprisingly this is not to say that these actions and problems should not have existed in the series. (In fact it could be argued that they could’ve allowed an open platform to address these issues, especially with consideration to the target audience.)

On the other hand it is hard to ignore that Thyme’s frenetic actions were often a sticky subject in the series. Respectfully while Thyme was held accountable for some of his actions, it will still provoke debate and discussion surrounding the initial aftermath of his actions also. ( In particular having resorted to often “ blowing up” around Gorya; resorting to yelling, throwing things or becoming openly aggressive with his body language during arguments rarely being addressed with more script .)

Then of course there’s another big issue to discuss with regards to ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’; Thyme’s “complicated” relationship with his mother and major antagonist of the series, Roselyn Paramaanantra ( Cindy Bishop). In comparison to certain adaptations which rarely ventured into the realm of Thyme’s bond with his mother being on a knife’s edge, the narrative often did present some early indications towards Thyme’s relationship with his mother being a difficult subject.

However instead of offering potential room for growth, Thyme’s estranged relationship with Roselyn was often widely disregarded until it was necessary for specific plot points. This was mainly due to the fact that
Thyme’s mother was often shoehorned ( like many adaptations) into the specific role of the antagonist; expediting the plot and dilemmas as well as giving the necessary introduction for Gorya and viewers to his older sister Tia ( Maria Poonlertlarp) but rarely being explored further. ( This was particularly shown in the latter-half of the series, leading to a dissatisfying conclusion for many.)

Then of course there’s Jirawat Sutivanichsak ( know alternatively by his nickname ‘ Dew’) as second male lead Ren. Similar to his costar and fellow model Tontawan Tantivejaku, ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ marked Dew’s first acting debut. Dew’s performance was decent enough by channelling into the mystique charm of his character. However whilst the rookie actor certainly made a decent acting debut, his performance in ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ could admittedly feel a little lacklustre with certain line deliverances.

Admittedly Ren served as a good example of writing an intriguing love rival for the main lead and a potential love interest for the main heroine. While he did not arguably quite possess the same joie de vivre as some of his counterparts, it was hard to ignore the fact that Ren possessed an element of enticing mystique and suave charm as an onscreen character . Nevertheless similar to some of the writing issues of the series, Ren’s character arc and development could feel somewhat flat lined by shoehorned plot events. ( In particular his character-arc and ambivalent feelings for his sister-figure Mira suffering from an anticlimactic conclusion.)

Tontawan Tantivejaku’s chemistry with costars Bright and Dew is admittedly variable from scene to scene. Nevertheless there is a certain charm especially from Tantivejaku’s onscreen and potential chemistry with Bright ( despite some arguably more divisive issues surrounding their onscreen characters), that helped to bring scenes to life and keep viewers enticed.

In addition to our main leads it is important to acknowledge the subplot revolving around supporting characters, M.J. and Kavin . Kavin’s potential wavering onscreen relationship with Kaning was placed on the sidelines of the narrative as a filler-in subplot to the main narrative ( though somewhat rushed by later plot events) , while M.J.’s “side story” was forced into a brief sponsorship sketch with KFC at the end of episodes. ( Often resulting in a conspicuous placement of a KFC food or drink product onscreen.)

However this is naturally where a major rut did hit the writing team for ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’. Instead of having the opportunities to cram in myriads of chapter titles and arcs into a space of twenty, forty or fifty episodes, the series was limited with a short and compact time space of sixteen episodes. Naturally this enforced the writers to be cutthroat at times with certain plot lines and attempting to accommodate itself to fit its restricted format.

As a consequence of this time frame, ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ often seemed to fall into the honey trap of heavily relying upon several trope-induced storyline events of its predecessors in order to pad out the narrative. While the drama did make some executive decisions with plot revelations and decisions, it could often enforce certain plot events to feeling somewhat rushed. ( This was shown in particular with the delivered ending. Although helping to deliver a satisfying conclusion for viewers with regards to the delivered verdict of the main leads’ potential onscreen relationship, the heavy reliance upon endings from previous adaptations as well as failing to wrap up some counterplots were apparent.)

The production and filming for ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ has admittedly been through a bumpy ride under the leadership of directors Patha Thongpan and Aticha Tanthanawigrai through COVID-19. As a consequence of these issues, it was noticeable that ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ could sometimes be somewhat choppy with its editing approaches and style. Admittedly this was not entirely the fault of the production team per say. Yet rather than attempting to work around production problems and missing scenes, it could often lead to these sporadic editing cuts feeling starkly presented against some of the drama’s slicker production edits and glossy gradients. ( This was apparent in particular with episodes around the halfway point where at the ending of an important scene, the episode suddenly cut off into a less than smooth transition with little context or relevancy hinted at for viewers.)

The OST of ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ is predominantly composed of an array of gushing love ballads and pop songs, upbeat and lovelorn tempos gradually blending into one another as BGM during various scenes of the series. Nevertheless despite some respectfully less memorable songs throughout the duration of the series, there were still some surprising gems such as emotional solo track “ One Last Cry” by Violette Wautier and “ Who am I” by BRIGHT, WIN, DEW and NANI arguably remained particularly ear-catching throughout the drama.

‘The series offered an ambitious and intriguing direction to mangaka Kamio Yoko’s series with updated subject areas and topics attempting to resonate with a new generation. A young cast with many notable leads being played by acting rookies served as a good launching pad ( similar to many other previous adaptations) towards potential new projects and careers. Nevertheless whilst the series could often feel flawed by its inconsistent acting, storyline direction and production problems , ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ has offered a fresh and revamped adaptation for a new generation. Although perhaps ‘ F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers’ may not appeal to everyone, it is certainly a satisfactory binge-watch.