Thoughts on Pom Arthun

Pom Arthun is a ghost drama that came out in the year 2020.

I managed to get to episode 7 but I think I may be near calling it quits.

The show starts with the death of a famous model whose face could be seen everywhere, Kesinee, also known as "Ked." She's the "best friend" and adopted sister of the protagonist, Mintra.

Anyone who touches the hair of Ked's dead corpse starts to see her, and eventually Ked becomes more powerful, powerful enough to possess Mintra, her youngers sister, Nid, and haunt her enemies.

Ked's enemy, Jane the hairstylist, ends up sneaking into her temple(where her body was) and cutting her hair to make a wig using it. The wig was passed around, and after killing Jane and those with ties to her death, the wig eventually reaches the hands of the protagonist, Mintra.

The show has 16 episodes but it takes only 7 to tell where the story is heading as all the villains come out of the woodworks and are killed off one by one. It starts to beg the question what the rest of the show is about and what is the purpose of the protagonist herself.

Why didn't I wait and just finish watching? Well... I felt severely annoyed.

Most protagonists of any romance drama are usually super obnoxious and over assuming in some way or another, it is common for writers do this to serve as the character's flaw but ...this isn't a tolerable amount. It's like trying to eat a steak that's super salty, overdone and I can usually manage to get by watching dozens of episodes in heavy and stressful melodramas. But one thing I can't stand is unreasonable protagonists.

Mintra, the protagonist of this story is written as what Kawin, Ked's former side-dish, *coughs* I mean her boyfriend puts nicely, as an "Over Assuming Amy."

The moment Ked dies Mintra naturally assumes that Kawin is responsible and is especially nasty to this poor man, climbing the wall of his house to interrogate him, loudly denouncing him as a player in public and private, writing off his good deeds as a man with a guilty conscience, all the while knowing nothing about their actual relationship because at the end of the day Ked was a loving friend and sister but a mysterious and private person. As it's revealed she was an orphan who struggled with her feelings.

Mintra could only assume that Ked committed suicide because Kawin broke her heart, writing off the inner strength of her dear friend and this just shows how very little she actually knew Ked. But it's not exactly her fault, Ked was very private with her life. So to someone like Mintra who was kept in the dark, it makes sense... but it doesn't excuse her behavior.

Everyone thinks Kawin is a cassanova always flirting with women in his spare time but Kawin has better things to do. He did his homework and learned that Ked was drugged and assaulted before she died, shedding light on Ked's shady drug dealing co-workers (Jane) which yes, was involved with her death. But even after Kawin shares this information does Mintra apologize to him?

No. She denies his claim and continues to slander him, yet somehow finds the audacity to get jealous when she sees him with another woman.

Even when she finds out that Ked was the one who cheated on him, NOT HIM, as she thought. Even after finding out Ked stole some of his money from the company they were building together, Mintra doesn't apologize.

When Kawin finds out Mintra joined the modeling industry not knowing she wanted to find out what happened to Ked, he tells her not to "sell herself" and Mintra explodes on him saying she understands why Ked wasn't in love with someone pathetic as him.

Yes, it's a terrible thing to say to a woman and an old-fashioned way to see modeling, but the sad thing is, Kawin isn't wrong and perhaps he was even speaking from experience.

In this story, Kesinee's company is backed by a powerful old man, he "personally sponsors" women he's interested in. And I mean encouraging them, being nice but is a creep who wants you nekkid underneath the sheets type creep, he also has friends lining up to be the sugar daddies of the models. Some of the talented models were willing to sleep around and mingle with these sponsors and sadly Kesinee was no exception.

Kawin kept his promise to Ked trying to take care of her family as she requested and what does he get? Judgment. Slander. Condescension. He is not even a player, he just gets misunderstood for breathing and being polite.

You would think after all this he would hate her guts? No. Perhaps because he feels guilty about Ked's death, he ends up developing feelings for Mintra. This poor damaged soul remained with Ked even after finding out she was unfaithful and a thief. How? Love isn't like math, just sorcery. Don't put too much thought into it.

If there's anything else I hate second to unreasonable protagonists, it's authors dumbing down high-value men by assigning them a trauma that makes him a subject to tolerating a stupid woman's shenanigans.

With Ked getting all her revenge by herself the roles of the characters, Mintra especially diminishes. It makes you question her necessity, and especially impatient and intolerable to her disgusting attitude and behaviors.

In episode 7, it's revealed that in addition to having a dubious relationship with the chairman, it's revealed Ked was deeply in love with Pakorn, the company photographer, she stole money from Kawin, FOR him.

Which is odd because in the beginning Ked was willing to ruin Nid's life and attempt murder after seeing a rival model talk to Kawin at her funeral. But in episode seven when she's with Pakorn, she doesn't even look Kawin's way. Even though Ked was possessing Mintra's body to do it and he wouldn't recognize her either way it was still rather sad and my enthusiasm to see the show through diminished.

I thought I was watching a show about a good person. It's hard to root for someone or watch something when you hate their guts as well as nearly everyone in the show.

Mintra for certain is ungrateful, an over assuming narcissist others see as an innocent and good person. She already makes the show hard to watch. She gets slightly bearable as she learns more about Kawin... but not by much. There is one moment where she faces off with Ked's former rival Praethong and calls her "ill-mannered and rude," and that was really rolled my eyes. "You guys are the exact same! Of course you recognize each other."

Then there's Kawin, a terribly nice guy who doesn't deserve any of the flack she throws at him. Toxic masculinity at its finest, as he's such a gentleman always composes himself when talking and although he gets mad he doesn't feed in to Mintra's bs. Still, he has a petty personality, when Mintra is petty to him he dishes it back which I love, what I'm not a fan of is the way he's written. Kawin, you don't owe anything to that slut Ked or her judgemental family. Stop it. Don't fall in love and go get some therapy.

And finally Kesinee. I thought I was watching a show about a girl who was like the sun and a storm. True, she is selfish to stay behind at first glance due to her love for Kawin, but as we learn more about her we learn that she is just a messy person with tangled attachments. Seeing her exact revenge on those who played a part in her death, was entertaining. But her lurking around her family and giving them nightmares, tumors, haunting the co-workers she loved creeping them out, killing burglars and thieves that tried to rape and rob your sisters, hmmm okay, but now you are possessing Mintra with your wig to flirt with Pakorn ruining her reputation and possibly making an enemy with your female boss who you know is possessive and secretly in love with Pakorn?

You'd put your beloved sister's life in jeopardy just to live vicariously through her? Just like how you nearly ruined Nid's at your funeral?

And ah, yes, Mintra who has no modeling ability and rather than applying herself uses the wig to cheat knowing that she models better with the wig on but also loses her memory of what happened because SHE'S BEING POSSESSED. She just becomes less respectable and dumb as the episodes go on.

Well, no further point in watching is there?

I won't say it's not an interesting drama, I found it interesting but the personalities become a roadblock making it hard to move on. I may still push on and continue watching but I felt right now if I didn't say anything it'd be bad for my heart.

The real victim of this show is Kawin. Maybe it changes and he becomes a villain later. I'd understand him if he did.