WHEN AMBITION SHINES

Netflix's gripping miniseries Mad Unicorn tells the story of a Thai startup's rags-to-riches journey

- STORY: TATAT BUNNAG

By now, it's hard to find anyone who hasn’t heard about the runaway success of GDH’s latest Netflix miniseries Mad Unicorn.

But if you happen to be one of the few who hasn't started watching it, here's a word of warning: make sure you clear your schedule before hitting play. Because once you begin, I guarantee you'll be pulled into its orbit — binging episode after episode until day and night blur into one.

The story is loosely inspired by the rise of Flash Express, one of Thailand’s most successful logistics startups, which expanded rapidly in the years leading up to — and during — the Covid19 pandemic. I say loosely inspired because this isn’t a documentary by any means. Like many great biopics, Mad Unicorn blends fact with fiction, heightening the drama with a heavy dose of betrayal, ambition and rivalry. This is not a clean-cut business success story — it's a sharp, unsentimental narrative about the real costs of building something from nothing.

As the series boldly declares in its opening statement: “Poverty is the mother of creativity.” That phrase becomes the show’s emotional and thematic anchor. Mad Unicorn follows a rags-to-riches journey with the kind of ferocious energy you'd find in The Social Network (2010), The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013) or David O. Russell's Joy (2015). This is a seven-episode sprint — fast-paced, densely written, packed with rapid-fire dialogue and backroom deals. It's a world where speed equals survival and where idealism quickly gives way to dog-eat-dog desperation.