Leh Ratree is a remake of an old lakorn. It is based on an incredibly old fashioned, unrealistic premise which a lot of viewers may find problematic, and rightfully so. A high society family wants an heir to carry on the family name and so they hire a "baby carrier" (the heroine/FL of the story) to take on the job. Since the FL is in financial straits (aren't they all?) she takes the job and predictably, ends up with the ML who is part of this family. In the real world, a family looking for a baby carrier would probably hire someone who already had a baby, not someone inexperienced like the FL, where you couldn’t be sure if she could have a baby or not!

The thing is, if you can get past the stupidity of this premise (it reminds me of those harlequins with titles like "the billionaires baby momma"), you'll find it's actually an enjoyable lakorn with likable characters. I've watched a fair number of lakorns and I can tell that this is one of the better ones.

While it focuses on the side characters, they do not take over the plot with their pointless story lines. This is one of the things I don't like in Thai dramas. Often, newbie actors/actresses with a lot of money or connections get cast as side characters and the result is that they are given too much exposure at the expense of the main storyline and the main leads. Thankfully, this did not happen here. I happened to like the secondary couple (Poo and Pakinee) a lot and how they got together was well developed. The good thing is that their story was written in such a way that it supported* the main characters relationship, rather than take the focus away from it. With what little time they had, the way Poo and Khun Pak got together was believable and they weren’t just thrown together.

The chemistry between the ML and FL. Khun Sake and Kate are adorable and the actors playing them had excellent chemistry. It isn't the heavy kind that you find in melodramas...but light and playful like you find in rom-coms. While I normally prefer a slightly intense dynamic between the leads (since I prefer dramas to rom-coms, in general), I think it also depends on the characters and the type of story you find them in. Leh Ratree had a lot of drama going on but Sake and Kate were both depicted as innocent and idealistic people...so it made a lot of sense for them to have a childlike playfulness in their scenes. The writers did a great job in showing their growth as a couple, from being initially hesitant of one another to being in love and always wanting to be together. This is what really makes it a great lakorn for me as I really hate it when the characters act bi-polar and literally go from hating to liking one another in the space of an episode.

I honestly don't think the acting is that great. The ML's expressions are really weird in some scenes. When he gets angry or troubled, he puts his eyebrows together and the effect is unintentionally funny. The FL’s crying scenes also look fake at times. I wouldn’t classify her as a "strong" character. Kate is not as intense or compelling as Kluen Cheewit's Jeerawat, nor is she funny and charming like Bpoop Phaeh Saniwaat's Mae Karakade. Despite that, she is likeable and sweet, and thankfully doesn't do anything stupid like a lot of candy girl types. There were times I wished her character would show more complexity but I don't think there's anything wrong with simple characterization when done right, either.

I think the only thing I disliked about the ML was when he flirted with the FL before* he separated from his first wife. I liked Sake a lot, but this was kind of a downer for me. I wish they put the flirting scene (this is the one where he first meets Kate) after* his divorce because it makes a big difference, IMHO. He was portrayed as an upright character and extremely loyal, so it was pretty out-of-character for him to flirt with Kate when he was still in love with his first wife.

Speaking of the first wife, Itsaya. I don't like the way the family treated her. I don't think a woman's value lies in her ability to 'provide an heir.' If Sake really loved her, he would have gotten past her inability to bear children and they would have adopted. To be fair, I don't think she was completely innocent. She did deceive him and lie for many years...I just wish the story would have emphasized that it was because of her being dishonest that he was divorcing her, not her ability to become a mother. This is the 21st century, for crying out loud. I'm not saying he should be forced to stay with her, only that she should not have been kicked out the way she had. In a way, the Suttagarn family kind of deserved the trouble she brought them later. I actually felt it made sense for her to fight back.

One thing I did like, is that the lakorn never presents her as an outright villain the way plenty of other lakorns would have. It shows her as a person with a conscience and someone who is redeemable and just made a lot of bad choices. Yeah, she's selfish and constantly dishonest -not just to Sake but to others as well. But she's not an evil person. It's good to see shades of gray in these characters. I'm not even sure if she can be classified as a nang rai. Come to think of it, I don’t think Itsaya is Leh Ratree’s main villain- it’s Khun Ad, who comes in the middle episodes. It’s in him that we see the usual over the top behavior associated with drama villains. I won’t deny that I find the exaggerated behavior entertaining at times.

I think Leh Ratree worked for me more as a family drama than as a romance. While I liked Sake/Kate and even Poo/Pak, I think the way the family dealt with their problems and the way the characters supported one another is what made the lakorn so enjoyable to watch. It's great that the mother-in-law Khun Ying accepted Kate (in a lot of asian dramas, mother-in-law is always evil) and supported her. It's great that you could really believe Sake loved Kate (and he didn't go from hating her to loving her just like that) and that she just wasn't a substitute for Itsaya or just there to have his baby. It's great that Kate felt the same way and that you could see they were meant for each other. It's great that, at the end of the lakorn, even a trouble maker like Itsaya felt at peace with herself and accepted Kate/Sake getting together. Leh Ratree only has 12 episodes but it wrapped up all these plot lines in ways that made sense and were satisfying to this viewer.