Dalah: Death and the Flower Review: Obvious But Entertaining

Dalah: Death and the Flower Review | Leisurebyte

Director: Dream Thanika Jenjesda, Alisa Pien

Date Created: 2025-02-27 13:30

Editor's Rating:
3

In this crime-thriller Netflix series, floral designer Dalah is hired to arrange the flowers for the highly anticipated and publicised wedding of Prime Minister candidate Ohm and his bride-to-be Risa. The wedding was supposed to be joining two of the country’s most prominent dynasties. However, when Ohm is found murdered, everyone becomes a suspect and Dalah takes it upon herself to investigate this mysterious death and find the truth.

The series has 6 episodes, each with a runtime of around 50 minutes.

Dalah: Death and the Flower Review

Netflix Thai series Dalah: Death and the Flower starts off on a rather uncomfortable note. As Ohm and Risa get ready to get married, there’s an odd tension in the air that makes everyone thoroughly uncomfortable. Everyone seems to be on edge for some reason, but you can’t really put your finger on what. There’s the passive aggressiveness that everyone throws at everyone but there seems to be a hint of something more. Of course, there’s something up with Dalah.

However, the series is more of a mystery drama than it’s a thriller. It takes forever to get to the point and overexplains who hates whom for minutes on end. Moreover, nothing really happens after the initial murder, which we were obviously aware of from the get-go. The series drags on with Dalah’s deadpan behaviour at a man murdered in her floral studio and expects us to believe that this random woman just takes up crime solving after discovering a dead boy in her home. It’s really an impossible thing to witness, more so because they drag it on for minutes on end as people have the most mundane discussions.

I understand that Urassaya Sperbund is supposed to be a mysterious and emotionless person with a lot of things hidden, but boy does this deadpan behaviour work against the series majorly! The problem is that she doesn’t discover anything new for two or three episodes at a time and the smallest and most obvious things are given such big fanfare that I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. For thrillers to work, there has to be some revelation happening that keeps viewers guessing. But other than the uninteresting and, frankly, stale family drama, the series doesn’t have anything of note.

In that respect as well, I didn’t find the family drama to be anything interesting or anything we haven’t seen before. I’ve watched more disturbing and salacious dramas in other Asian shows and this one is more of the same, if not a bit more PG. For example, in a rather unwittingly hilarious scene, Kris is shown to be reading a website talking about “how to take care of babies” because the audience must know that he’s about to be a father. The series does these things where it overexplains things that should be left to the audience’s interpretation, taking away the mystery and the thrill of discovery.

The story picks up a bit in the fourth episode and several disturbing things come to light. The incessant background score creates a mysterious aura around these revelations and thankfully makes us think about who is lying and who isn’t. Most of the men in the series are thoroughly annoying and condescending, but Dalah: Death and the Flower makes up for its snooze-worthy storytelling in the first few episodes in the last two. I think the revelation and the way Urassaya Sperbund brings the truth to light is really good and turns the series around.

The discussion surrounding feminism is a rather important part of the series. The last two episodes drive the story home, although the vibes are there from the first. Urassaya Sperbund is fantastic in the last few episodes, and although I found her, or rather, her character, to be a bit bland at first I think it pays off in episodes 5 and 6. That doesn’t mean the boredom of the first few episodes gets magically erased, but I guess I found myself to be more forgiving somehow because of how beautiful the series looks, the score and the overall performances.

Coming to that, as mentioned earlier, Urassaya Sperbund is really good in the series, as is everyone else. I think it takes a bit of time to get used to her character but it makes sense in the end. I want to give kudos to Na Naphat Vikairungroj for bringing forth the perfect hateable character whom you’d simply want to punch at every turn. He’s really good in his role. The revelations in the end are pretty good, but I wouldn’t say the twists are too shocking or anything. Some of it most people will be able to figure out quite early on but it’s definitely a decent entertainer.

Final Thoughts

Dalah: Death and the Flower is a decent watch that is a bit obvious at some points. Although there are moments you’d be genuinely surprised, the episodes should’ve been shorter and tighter for a more thrilling watch.

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