The Underclass Thai Drama Plot Summary
The Underclass (ห้องนี้ ไม่มีห่วย) follows the school life of Papaeng after she gets caught cheating in an exam and gets thrown out of Class A to Class F.
The Underclass Thai Drama Trailer
ps: No English Subtitles
I am not a fan of binge watching dramas on Netflix – the only exception being Thai lakorns for the sole purpose of learning Thai speaking. I chose to watch the Underclass because it revolves around school life – hence the vocabulary you can pick up from watching this show will be more relevant in daily life. This is similar to the other Thai lakorns I have recommended to watch for those keen to self learn the Thai language (namely the Ugly Duckling รักนะเป็ดโง่ and UPrince series).
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The Underclass Thai Drama Review
❗ BE WARNED – THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD ❗
Unlike the Game of Outlaws which had an exciting trailer and a star-cladded cast, I didn’t have any expectations watching the Underclass and so there was no disappointment in that sense. The theme of the drama is good – that one should not blindly chase grades and there is more to school life than academic excellence. However, the whole plot on the class divide among students based on grades was just ridiculous. Can you imagine eating cai beng / rice dishes because you got a C5 in Maths, while another student gets to eat a buffet lunch thanks to their A1 Math grade? 😂 Despite all paying the same school fees? Or being expelled out of school for wanting to study more? (spoiler below) I think Singaporean parents will go nuts if this happens to any school in Singapore.
The Underclass Thai Drama List of Characters
- Papaeng: Protagonist who gets kicked out of Class A to Class F
- Meen: Leader of Class F
- Tee: Meen’s half brother and PE teacher
- Deputy Director Wichai: the source of all evil in the school
- Dtaem: Niece of Deputy Director Wichai, Leader of Class A
- Kook: Student at Class F
- Meew: Student at Class F
- Michan: Student at Class F
- Namkaeng: Student at Class A
- Meringue: Student at Class A
The Underclass Thai Drama Spoiler
Rain, Meen’s best friend and Tee’s girlfriend, was caught borrowing an Advanced Biology textbook from the Class A student library, which she had no access to as a Class F student. After being told by Deputy Director Wichai she will never achieve her dream to study Biology, Rain loses hope and commits suicide. (Seriously just leave the school then?? Why take your own life 🤦🤦🤦). Due to the grossly unfair treatment, Class F forms “gang Black Sheep” to rebel against the ridiculous rulings. At the same time, rampant cheating is going on amongst Class A students who are generally smart and hardworking, but are desperate to maintain their elitist status in the school. You can see it as cheating in your exam to secure buffet lunches and a 5 star dormitory room.
Among this backdrop, protagonist Papaeng from class A got caught cheating in an exam (well, the entire class A cheats but she gets singled out for annoying Dtaem for some reason). Papaeng gets thrown to class F in disgrace. She was initially bitter but then learns that there is more to school life than blindly chasing grades. Along the way, Papaeng gets romantically involved with Tee, works together with Gang Black Sheep to bring down Deputy Director Wichai and Dtaem, and reconciles with her sister who left the pressure cooker environment at home to chase her own dreams.
In the end, of course Gang Black Sheep succeeds in reforming the school (even changing the uniforms from red to blue on graduation day). Dtaem reforms and becomes a nicer human being. Deputy Director Wichai remains salty but that might be taken care of in season 2 (if it happens).
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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 tutor and helps her Thai friends actively promote Thai culture.
