The Player (2021) Thai Drama – Rak Pen Len Tai

The Player 2021 Thai Drama Review

The Player (2021) starts off with the climax of Miriam having an altercation with multiple members of a high society group at a party – namely Matt, Pitch, Giwi, Eve and Tim. Following Miriam’s disappearance after the party, inspector Tin investigates the different high society members and uncovers not just their dark secrets, but also the truth behind a seemingly unrelated murder case.

Despite having a promising start, the poor decisions of almost all the characters made it hard to continue watching the drama when I reached the 12th/13th episode. If not for the sake of learning Thai listening, I would have never made it through 🙄

You will see a lot of familiar faces in this Thai lakorn 😋 Ramida Jiranorraphat (Jane) and Chimon also acted in Thai dramas The Gifted and The Gifted Graduation. Foei is a host for the Thai variety show Toe Laew, which is co-hosted by Thai actor Bright Vachirawit. Tay Tawan acted in Thai lakorn Remember You and Mek Jirakit acted in the Ugly Duckling Series – Don’t.

The Player 2021 Thai Drama Trailer

Pps: Rak Pen Len Tai / รัก เป็น เล่น ตาย is better translated as “Love is a Game of Death” rather than just “The Player”. The word-for-word Thai to English translation of this lakorn is
– Rak รัก = Love (see how to say “I love You” in Thai)
– Pben เป็น = Is
– Len เล่น = Play
– Tai ตาย = Death

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❗ BE WARNED – THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD ❗

The Player 2021 Thai Drama Character Analysis

Eve: Acted by Ramida Jiranorraphat (Jane)

Eve is my favourite character 🤩 as she’s the only good person in this lakorn that makes sensible decisions throughout. What Eve said is 100% true 💯 – Mim brought everything on herself from her bad mistakes in life. Mim chose to be a prostitute to Promprong (Pitch’s father). Mim cheated on Eve’s business 😡 and deserves to have a bad reputation in the fashion industry. In fact, a criminal charge should be made against Mim. Eve is again 100% right 💯 – It is not wrong to expose one’s crimes and show wicked people that one is not meant to be stepped on. The only thing I dislike about Eve is her willingness to befriend Mim all over again 🤐 I’m all for letting bygones be bygones but there’s a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation.

Character Rating: 9/10

Jane Ramida and Chimon (starring as Dan) have also acted together in The Gifted and The Gifted Graduation.

Tim: Acted by Way-ar Sangngern (Joss)

Tim should have just shared everything he knew about Giwi, Mikey and Pin with the cops instead of letting himself be the prime suspect of the case 🥴 Granted, Tin is not a cop to be trusted given how prejudiced and blinded he is. But if Tim could report Tin’s actions to the police chief and get Tin suspended, shouldn’t Tim also share whatever he knows with the police force to move the case forward? 🤔 Also, Tim played with Mim but Mim was the one who started dreaming to be a socialite and allowing herself to be played with. I have no idea why Tim knelt down in front of Mim to apologise 😠 (shouldn’t it be the other way around???) and why everyone blamed Tim for ruining Mim’s life?? 😠😠 Mim ruined her life herself.

That said, I liked how Tim’s character changed over the episodes. Towards the end, I found myself rooting for Tim to win Eve’s heart, something I would deem impossible at the start of the drama.

Character Rating: 8/10

Tin: Acted by Tawan Vihokratana (Tay)

Tin is probably the stupidest cop on planet earth 🤧 Or to be kinder to him, Tin was a cop blinded by his one-sided love for Mim. This is a clear reason why detectives should never take on cases they are related to personally. For starters, given that there is a golf club at the crime scene, immediate suspects should be Pitch’s family as they play golf regularly and own a golf course. Who else would have a golf club ready on hand as a murder weapon? Also, Tin’s blind trust on everything Mim says is just infuriating 🤬 It is clear that Eve isn’t close to Tim (until towards the end) and Mim was just throwing shade at Tim and Eve. How can Tin as a trained cop not even suspect Mim for lying? 🤯 Throughout the series, I was just waiting for Fight (Tin’s assistant) to call Tin’s stupidity out, which sadly didn’t happen.

Character Rating: 1/10; 100/10 for stupidity

Tay Tawan also acted in Remember You, Thai remake of Korean drama Hello Monster, as the younger brother Meena / lawyer Paytai.

Miriam/Mim: Acted by Phatchara Thabthong (Kapook)

Mim is by far the most irritating character in this lakorn 🤬🤬 In fact, I would go as far as to call her the main antagonist of this series. Giwi, however evil she is, does not plot against her mother but Mim plotted against Tin (when she tried to frame Tim and caused Tin to lose his job) 🤬 and Eve (to ruin Eve’s family and her business) 🤬 Mim is just a horrible character in my opinion – desperate to be a socialite, always playing the victim card, perpetually lying. All the bad things that happened to Mim are a result of her own doing. I would have by far preferred to see Mim end up in jail vs being part of the good-guys-gang for exposing Giwi and Pitch 😒

Side note: I have no idea why Tin would even like her. Hence Tin’s rating of 100/10 for stupidity.

Character Rating: 0/10; 100/10 for infuriating behaviour

Dan: Acted by Wachirawit Ruangwiwat (Chimon)

Dan is another infuriating character because of his blind trust for Giwi 🤬 The only reason why Dan gets a 5/10 from me is because Dan passed the crucial evidences on Giwi’s crimes to the right people in the end ✅ Also, Dan owed his freedom to Giwi who bailed him out of his drug trafficking charges so Dan naturally felt indebted towards Giwi 🥹 Yet however sad it was that —SPOILER ALERT!!!— Dan died in the end, I couldn’t help but think that Dan brought it upon himself. Dan shouldn’t have gone to confront Giwi stupidly, and then be swayed by her 😓 If Giwi killed Pim to protect herself, what made Dan confident he wouldn’t end up the same way, unless he was intentionally wanting to die? Then what about his mother whom Dan loves so much? Nothing makes sense 🤬 I’m too tired to make sense out of Dan’s actions and will just conclude Dan is stupid 😂😂

Character Rating: 5/10; 90/10 for stupidity

Chimon has also acted as an Pen Neung, autistic student in Homeschool, which is a complete different character from Dan in The Player and Wave in The Gifted Series.

Giwi: Acted by Tipnaree Weerawatnodom (Namtan)

Giwi is the main antagonist of this lakorn and kudos to Namtan for pulling off such a detestable character. I don’t have much to say about Giwi – she’s a selfish, manipulative, cold-blooded creature with an obsession to exert power over males. The way Giwi makes men kneel down naked in front of her, while throwing money at them gave me goosebumps 🤮 So like all lakorns with a happy ending, it is necessary for Giwi to get her comeuppance 😎

Character Rating: 1/10; 100/10 for evilness

Matt: Acted by Jirakit Thawornwong (Mek)

Matt is portrayed as someone desperate and willing to do anything for Pitch. Matt does have brains and he uses them albeit for ignoble purposes 🫠 Matt was sharp enough to realise Tom (Eve’s stepfather) was dissatisfied with Eve’s father and could successfully manipulate circumstances to force Eve out of Pitch’s life 😣 Matt also knows how to play his cards when approaching Mim to get her to stop blackmailing Promprong (it only failed because Mim was a conceited and overconfident prick).

Character Rating: 6.5/10 

Pitch: Acted by Patara Eksangkul (Foei)

Pitch……I am confused why anyone would like Pitch 🤯🤯 He’s indecisive and a coward – nothing about Pitch is manly nor attractive 😂 Pitch did win brownie points from me to confess to Eve he’s bisexual (when proposing to her) but all the brownie points were wiped off when he kept prostituting himself to Giwi. Dignity hello??? 🤬

Character Rating: 3/10

About the author – see the About page for more information

Joanne Tan is an aspiring polyglot and has so far mastered English, Chinese and Thai languages. She first started learning Thai in 2015 before staying in Bangkok for 5 months, and then continued studying Thai up to Advanced Levels at the National University of Singapore. In 2017, Joanne was awarded ‘Advanced Thai Proficiency’ by the Sirindhorn Thai Language Institute of Chulalongkorn University. Today, Joanne freelances as a Thai teacher in Singapore and helps her Thai friends actively promote Thai culture.