Beware mild spoilers!
Introduction
My Forever Sunshine or Trab Fah Mee Tawan (native title: ตราบฟ้ามีตะวัน) is a lakorn adapted from a Thai novel with the same title written by Noonphumipkti (อุณหภูมิปกติ). The literal English translated title is As Long as the Sky Has the Sun. Although the literal meaning is longer than the drama title, I used it for this article title since it has a special meaning I will describe later.
The drama is produced by Screen Shot Co. Ltd. and Sonix Boom 2013 Co. Ltd., directed by director/actress Chudapa Chantakett, and aired on Channel3 Thailand from Nov 19, 2020 – Dec 15, 2020, with 19 episodes and a duration of 1h 30 min. International viewers can watch it subbed on WeTV (regional restricted, may require VPN).
Genres: Friendship, Comedy, Romance, Drama.
Story
“The story about Paeng, a girl with a tragic life. After losing her father, she has to go live with Artit’s family. The only way for her to be able to stay is to be with him. But no one expected that her approaching Artit nearly costs him his life. He ends up hating her to the bones, and she is exiled far from his family for four years until the day they come across each other again. One might think that time will lessen hate, but not for Artit. Not only he still hates her, but he also hates her even more than before. But in order to keep her final promise to Artit’s father, she must endure it!” (Source: MyDramaList)
In my personal opinion, this is a true hate-to-love romance. Other dramas with the same tag are actually just prolonged misunderstanding that causes dislikes between the leads or personality differences in which the male lead cannot stand the female lead and vice versa. In My Forever Sunshine, the female lead did something bad that makes the male lead genuinely hates her.
Main Characters
Wanfahmai Warawit / Paeng (Kao Supassara Thanachart)
Wanfahmai (วันฟ้าใหม่), fah (ฟ้า) means blue sky (Source), or Paeng was a problematic teenager who craved for attention and love. Headstrong and rebellious, insecure and lonely. At 15 she met Artit, the son of her father’s best friend, Uncle Krong Prateep. When Uncle Prateep took her to live with his family, Paeng stirred up chaos in the family that caused Artit to almost lose his life, and she was kicked out of the house. At 22, she returned only to fulfill her final promise to Uncle Prateep to work at the farm for two years.
I really love the character growth of Paeng. Although she started badly as a miserable child and was hated by almost everyone in the drama, she grew up to be optimistic, responsible, and likable. She comes from a rich family, but she’s not arrogant and treats people under her social status (such as servants and farm workers) kindly. By nature, Paeng is loyal, smart, and brave. It’s also fun to see how she outwitted and resilient to every Artit’s attempt to drive her out of the house for the second time.
I have never seen Kao’s acting before, but I think she did a great job acting as Paeng with several years of age span from an immature teenager to a mature young woman.
Artit Suriyakkul (Mark Prin Suparat)
Artit/Arthit (อาทิตย์) means sun. (Source)
Artit is a 27-year-old hardworking and talented young man who runs his family business called Sunshine Farm. He loves and respects his parents, but he is decisive of important issues in control of his life. He met Paeng, the only daughter of his father’s best friend when he was at the college. He treated her as an adorable little sister, but never imagine that she turned to be a horrible little monster!
I saw Mark three other lakorn: Thara Himalai (2010), Duang Jai Akkanee (2010), both as support characters, and My Husband in Law (2020) as the male lead. In the latter drama, this one, and another popular lakorn Kleun Cheewit (2017), all characters Mark played are tagged as mean Male Leads (at some point). He is what I dubbed an adorable meanie. An actor who can take mean character roles without being hated by the audience, but even gets more popularity and a strong fan base.
Supporting Characters
Friends
Non, Ling, and Kot are Artit’s long-time friends who have known him since childhood.
Non (27): charming, playful, and optimistic. His family owns a resort.
Ling (26): beautiful, modern-thinking, and kind-hearted.
Kot (27): good-natured, loves teasing, an enemy of Nang.
Nang (22): pretty, competitive, and self-confident. Non’s little sister also went to the same high school as Paeng.
Families
The Suriyakkul family owns and runs the Sunshine Farm in the countryside.
Dad Prateep: calm, quiet, and caring.
Mom Tubtim: competent homemaker, traditional, deeply concerned in family matters.
The Warawit family is wealthy and owns businesses.
Dad Tharatep: hardworking, gentle-hearted, family-oriented.
Mom Pimnapa: attractive, fashionable, and a socialite.
Prateep and Tharatep are best friends.
House and Farm Helpers
In Thai dramas, it’s widespread that we have house helpers and/or farm/factory workers whose roles are very much integrated into the stories. Because of their loyalties to the families, they may go the extra mile to support their employer which either positively or negatively affects the plot.
Notable in this drama is Aueng (Min), Paeng’s confidante who is not like her maid but more like Paeng’s sister and best friend. Also, Sape (Jack), Artit’s right-hand man, is talkative and is often sent to follow and spy on Paeng.
Initially, the house and farm helpers at Suriyakkul family hated Paeng because of what she did to their employer. When she came back, they gradually started warming up to her through her efforts, kindness, and humility.
Cinematography
Thai dramas are famous for having beautiful mansions and houses as well as gorgeous nature as their filming locations. I admired how the production team was able to create beautiful visual elements along with the natural setting and pull all of them in this drama: Warawit family’s enormous mansion, Suriyakkul’s cozy family farm, brilliant Sunshine Farm, Paeng’s pretty cottage, Aunt Jaem’s (Warawit’s former housekeeper) refined village home, even relaxing beach setting for the OST music video. What is seen below and all images used for this article are just a handful of examples of how the team took extra measurements for the cinematography.
Sunshine Farm
Flora Park
One of the filming locations that was used as the flower garden of Sunshine Farm is Florapark Wangnamkeaw (ฟลอร่าพาร์ค วังน้ำเขียว), Nakon Ratchasima Province, in northeastern Thailand.
(Images source: Noonphumpkti’s Facebook Page)
Aunt Jaem’s Countryside Home
Bangsaen Beach
The pristine Bang Saen Beach, Chonburi Province in eastern Thailand was used for filming beach scenes in the drama, as well as the OST official music video.
OST
The theme song is upbeat hip-hop style “Help Me Get Back to Your Heart” (ช่วยกลับมากวนหัวใจ) sung by Non Thanon (นนท์ ธนนท์).
Also “Wrong Once” (ผิดแค่ครั้งเดียว) sung by Jib Piyathida (ผิดแค่ครั้งเดียว).
The male version of “Wrong Once” is sung by Nueng Narongvit (หนึ่ง ณรงค์วิทย์)
The cast (Mark, Kao, Punjan, Ling Ling, Freud, and Prawfar) performed in the official MV “Help Me Get Back to Your Heart”.
Conclusion
Lastly, before closing this article I also want to applaud the production teams that were able to finish filming after six months despite the rush due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and most of all they ended the story beautifully. Their effort is praiseworthy, especially since the drama almost had to suspend filming indefinitely! (Source)
It was an enjoyable ride watching this cute drama full of tears and laughter and put smiles on my face while writing this article remembering back to My Forever Sunshine.
I’m sure many have also enjoyed watching it, and if you have not, then sit back, relax, and give it a try!
Acknowledgments: Thank you to the editors who edited this article, and also to Brownie for directing me to the official image source.
Credits: I do not own any of the images used. Credits go to the respective owners. Sources are provided under the images and gif animation, otherwise are taken from the official drama site in Channel 3 Thailand or self-made using drama scenes.
The original article was published on February 12, 2021. Link HERE.
