'I've been working seven days a week for the past two years," said Kriangkrai Vachiratamporn, director of Thai teen series Hormones 3 The Final Season. Kriangkrai, 30, was originally part of the screenwriting team for the first season, which was aired in 2013 to phenomenal success. Songyos Sugmakanan, the Season 1 director, passed over the helm to him for Season 2. And in this third and final instalment of the series, Kriangkrai is back to give one of Thailand's most controversial teen dramas a finale it deserves.
"We're getting good feedback, though. So, I guess I don't really mind sleeping at the office," he laughed. However, a new season means new characters and problems. On the first episode of the final season, aired a few weeks ago, the student body participated in a student council election. Campaigning on empty promises just to gain votes? Sounds like our national dilemma is being boiled down in this teen drama. "We want the children to dare and question the things around them -- a freedom to their thoughts and actions," said Kriangkrai.
"But some people also wonder if we're encouraging the children's freedom when they don't even know how to manoeuvre it just yet."
"In growing up, sometimes, you need to get hurt in order to learn something. We're more careful now, as adults, because we've been hurt by so many people -- family, friends and outsiders that come into our lives," he said.
"Good or bad, there are always repercussions for the characters' actions. In a way, we're teaching our young viewers -- through our characters -- of what their actions could lead to."
Working on this series also gives Kriangkrai a chance to look back at his own high school life. While not as dark, he said he also felt lost, much like what some of his characters now experience. Mistakes were practically unavoidable as a youth. "As adults, there are times we think, 'Why can't those kids figure it out?'. But, really, when we were their age, we didn't know what to do either. "Shouldn't we look at youth the same way that we used to be, with the understanding that we also didn't know everything at their age? This way, we can be more connected with them."