My favorite episode thus far! By way of quick summary for episode 5, Plerng took off his godawful jump suit and wore a black suit without a tie, which accentuated his light skin and flawless face. He looked exceptionally handsome. This episode also marked the end of Numfon and Nat’s engagement and more cute scenes between our two main characters.
It seems every time Nari and Boot schemes a plan, it backfires on them. Episode 5 picks up where episode 4 dropped off: Nari gets up and caused the bowl of hot soup to spill on her. As a person with little intelligence, she didn’t realized it may actually hurt..throughout this whole event, Numfon witnessed it with apprehension. She feels that Phong didn’t mean to cause anyone bodily harm. She saw Plerng talked to his mom and was confused because things just don’t add up about him. She overheard him telling his mom that if they stay with them, things like this will continue to happen and they need to stay strong. Yet she continues to think badly of him because Nat reminded her that what good person would sell their father’s heart?
Plerng figured out a way to win over grandmother, he explained to his mom just what he needed to do; essentially gain market share within the European and American diamond market and that should get him enough profit to beat what his father has done. We continue to see Plerng’s capability and like he said “the more I learn about the business, the more I like it.” Then a phone call interrupts them and he learns that Lin is in Bangkok!
The little fireball lied to Plerng that she was here to further her studies when she actually ran away from home. Plerng catches her drift and told her he will send her back to the bus station so she can return home. Lin is determined to find grandma and ask if she could stay with Plerng. She finds out Plerng’s living condition and is angry for him. At least someone is showing him some heart. Yet she meets with Boot and Nari and a cat fight breaks out. It’s not a lakorn without some hair pulling, slapping, and screaming involved. Plerng keeps reassuring his aunt that he will leave the house as soon as his time is up. In the end, grandmother gave permission that she can stay. Lin is determined to stay for three months as well.
Numfon finds out that her sister Sita will be working closely with Plerng and she is livid. She believes what Nat told her and will do anything to stop Plerng from trying to take advantage of her sister.
Since Plerng will no longer be working at the factory, Uncle Root showed him to his office, which is the office that belonged to his father. When Nat finds out, he storms into the room and said that it was too much. Plerng didn’t want to cause any more drama and said he can have another room but Uncle Root was adamant about Plerng claiming what belongs to him.
Sita continues to be even more impressed with Plerng. During their conversation about the upcoming annual jewelry show/exhibition, Plerng offered innovative and different ides on what they should do and what they can call the show- Viva L’Amor. They planned on going to the hotel location for the show the following morning.
Pairod is the business man who is paying Nat for the diamonds and he sets his caps on Nari who in turn only became interested because he is rich. Pairod told Nat that this time around, he wants the entire jewelry to be fake, not just a mixture. Nat agrees after Pairod told him to name his price.
When Plerng got home, he discussed his plans for the show with grandma. He was confident and sure of himself, but grandma will reserve judgement. She told him that it is a very important show, he cannot fail. Competitors are also competing in the same market. Plerng assures her that he can do it. His mom said that he is just like his father. Grandma has a motive for allowing Lin to stay there, she wanted to know if she knew anything about the event leading to Pipat’s death and the heart transplant. However Lin wasn’t able to tell her much.
The next day, Plerng shows up with Sita to go to the show location to look at the rooms. My is the man handsome in a suit. (Mario fans you may need to fan yourself then you’ll start to ponder what his best feature is and realizing that it is hard to criticize.) Numfon already knows that her sister is planning on meeting up with Plerng so she tagged behind her. Her outfit is cute, minus the orange jacket with the shooter pads. I thought we did away with those already? Numfon is determined to intervene at every opportunity, so she assigned her sister to ride in Non’s car and Plerng would come with her. When they got to the hotel, she advised that it would save time if they split up to look at the different ballrooms. Again, she stuck by Plerng’s side which made him wonder. He said, “I’m just wondering, normally you try to get away from me, but now you want to be with me.” and Numfon replies, “Don’t pretend to be confused, I know what you are up to.” “What am I up to?” he asked. And Numfon proceeds with, let’s just say that I know you are trying to get close to my sister by using work as an excuse. Plerng just shakes his head, heck, what else is there to do? The woman is relentless.
In the meantime Sita keeps talking about Plerng to Non and that the concept was his idea. She mentioned that maybe she should be learning from him. Non is disappointed to hear that and gave himself a pep talk in the bathroom. He will continue to pursue Sita and that maybe she didn’t really think anything else about Plerng.
When Plerng found the ballroom that he liked, he wanted to show Sita and Non, but Numfon pretends that her stomach hurts and she needs to eat. She even went as far as saying that she has a stomach illness. However Nat calls her and she told him that she would wait to eat with him. Plerng realizes what she’s doing and told her that. She replied with, well you seem smart, then we can be straight up with each other. She forces him to stay and eat with her so she can tell her sister that he has eaten. As she pushes him towards the restaurant table, she runs into a server and the entire food platter crashes to the floor. The contents of the food were on Numfon and Plerng. Numfon yells at the server and that she should watch where she’s going. Plerng said it was her fault which makes her even more annoyed. Numfon may need a slice of the humble pie. The hotel manager said they will take care of cleaning the clothes for them and opened a hotel room for them to stay in.
Numfon says once again that she gets bad luck when she’s around him. Plerng said that she would be much cuter (the term narak can be used for behavior or beauty) if she stopped blaming others. Angry, Numfon raises her hand as if to hit him. Plerng asked her if she wanted to slap him. They are across the room from each other and Plerng says come then and chases her to the bathroom. Both in a blue bathrobe, Plerng was relegated on the bed and Numfon in the bathroom. Compromising situation? You think right! Thailand is still a conservative country and being seen in a room alone with a man can ruin you. I thought it was a cute scene when Plerng comes out of the bathroom and Numfon told him to stand 3 meters away. He said, “You think you’re interesting? Stinky, go and take a shower.”
And the turning point of the story so far. Nat calls and Plerng picks up her phone, suspicious, Nat decided to look for them in the hotel room. And that’s when Nat sees her in a bathrobe and Plerng sitting on the bed. He immediately accuses her and refuses to listen to her explanation. For the first time since Numfon has known him, she was disappointed and angry and suddenly, she just wants to be away from him. His jealousy reared it’s ugly head. She said that if he thinks that she is that bad, then they should end their engagement. Nat couldn’t believe what he heard and said that she would do that to him because of Plerng? His behavior is unacceptable to Numfon and I applaud her! She knows what’s important to her and stick to her own values. You go girl. But when he left, the camera zooms in on her face, and as her tears fall, I feel bad for her. After all, he was her fiancé and she trusted him. And when Numfon is back home and talking to her sister, she realizes that she never loved Nat. We see a reasonable, mature side of Numfon. She knew that without trust, you can’t have a happy marriage, much less a relationship.
A hole is dug a little bit deeper for Plerng, because Nat vows to get Numfon back even if he has to kill Plerng. Oh boy.
Back at Plerng’s house, he refuses to tell his mom and Lin about what happened. And I think his mom hit the nail in the head when it comes to his character, “if he doesn’t want to talk, even if you force him to death wouldn’t talk.” But the next day he feels remorsed about what happened, and told Sita that he will feel guilty for the rest of his life if Numfon ended the engagement. Sita assures him that if things don’t work out for Numfon, it’s because of other reasons.
So engagement ring is returned and pending nuptials severed. When Numfon makes up her mind about something, she follows through with it. That is a wonderful trait indeed. Plerng went to see Numfon at her house and the conversation went like this:
Plerng: Sita told me that you will end the engagement.
Numfon: Yes. So what?
Plerng: I just want to apologize that I made you and Nat..
Numfon: Just let it be. Is this the reason why you came?
She turns to leave.
Plerng: Wait..
Numfon: What now?
Plerng: You told me that every time you see me, you get bad luck. I want to apologize. I’m really sorry.
It was a beautiful scene and you have to give it to both of them, great acting.. Especially Mario who manages to look sorry and adorable at the same time. I love when Taew is sweet, you can tell this is the type of role she should play. But I do like that her character is sassy.
But Nat storms in: this is what you said that you don’t have anything with each other?
And I gasp, partly because he showed up and the other part because it’s the end of the episode and we have to wait until next Friday to find out what’s going to happen. If the preview is any indication, it is going to be good!
Tagged: Mario Maurer
Thanks so much for your recaps! I’m enjoying both the recaps themselves (well done!) and the fact that through them, I can understand what’s going on in the show…
I’m a newly-minted Mario Maurer fan due to ACLTCL (which, as you’re aware of already, was shown on Philippine TV; though I wasn’t able to catch its airings, I saw the DVD.. and when I saw him, I went.. WOW.)… and so I wanna watch as much of his work as I could.. I caught his first series (lakorn) Autumn Destiny, but I’m sad to say Mario (almost) couldn’t save it from total drecktitude. AD was uniformly bad– the material, the direction, the acting, the editing, etc. Mario’s own performance– which I thought was the most acceptable among the piss-poor pool– was affected by the horrid material, though you could sense that given a strong and astute director and a good script, he has the potential to be REALLY good.
Anyway, so I eagerly anticipated this.. and I’m HAPPY to say that I’m really enjoying this lakorn.. a vast improvement from his previous work. Yep, Plerng Toranong still suffers from a bit cliched story, too many serendipitous set ups, and ridiculously overwrought villains (WHY do they have to resort to “villainous” muggings (facial expressions) during their “scheming” dialogues and close-ups? And they look and act more like vapid village wenches and airhead tossers than sophisticated upper crust types). However, I find its tight pacing (with the plot moving along breezily with nary a drag) invigorating; it’s plot focus- with lack of unnecessarily convoluted subplots- refreshing; and yes, the PALPABLE CHEMISTRY between its leads, soo exciting!..
I am happy also that, performance-wise, Mario is doing so much better! He is so handsome with, as you say, flawless skin, yet he ain’t unbelievable as a simple fish-monger, and he handled many of his dramatic (and romantic) scenes with sensitivity. Given great material and still more honing in the future, he’d potentially be legendary not merely as a star (I think Thailand’s MOST FAMOUS, internationally), but as a bona fide serious thespian. Taew does well, too.. and I like that her character is a rather unconventionally abrasive one.
To get back to your recaps: I love that they are very detailed, and I LOVE that you’ve included a dialogue segment of a scene between Plerng and Numfon in this particular one– well, I love it so much that I REQUEST you get more detailed (perhaps as to include dialogues!) with the future Plerng-Numfon scenes! LOL
Oh, some questions: How is this drama being received in Thailand? Is it (and Mario) receiving good notices? What about the ratings? I’m hoping and praying that this is a major success!.. I’m also hoping and praying that Philippine TV (preferably the network ABS-CBN) would get this as its first ever lakorn import. I dunno if Mario has that critical mass awareness yet in the Philippines, but he is certainly exploding and if there is to be a Thai drama to be shown in our country, Plerng Toranong (which has a VERY Filipino vibe) would not be a bad start, at all!
Regards! =)
Wow.. you speak good english too! How I wish they would air P.T. in ABS-CBN (local Phil. TV). I also agree with you about the chemistry between Plerng and Numphon! I just can’t seem to get enough of them, even though the scenes sometimes look cliched, they manage to breathe new life into it, like it’s the first time you ever seen the scene. Mario is just to hot to be cast aside for me. He really is destined to be really popular. He’s like a modern version of the perfect man sculpted by Greek and Roman artists. Just one look at him and you just have to have another look. And he can act well too. I think his best acting was in Love of Siam, but here in P.T. he’s good too. Like what you said, despite his flawless silky skin, sometimes you forget that he really is just acting as a fisherman’s son. He is believable! And like what Fia said, I love how he keeps teasing Numphon, like it’s so natural to him. His facial expressions are just so naughty, funny and handsome all at the same time. Like brushpics, I am also a “newly-minted” (cool expression) Mario fan. Just discovered him in ACLTCL like everyone else in the Philippines, but until now I can’t get enough of his fix. For me, he’s the longest running celebrity crush ever, and I don’t normally crush on celebs. Thais are very lucky to have him. Again LoveFia thanks for doing this, my blog and our fans are always following!
I believe ratings haven’t been revealed yet for P.T. but a great website for lakorn and Thai entertainment gossip is Lyn’s Lakorn Blog at http://www.iheartlakorns.com, not sure if you’ve been there yet. I always take celebrity news with a grain of salt. For me sometimes it’s better not to know about their personal life and just appreciate their acting skills. The Thai paparazzi can sometimes fabricate or get real crazy… However Lyn is wonderful in keeping the fans apprised of the ongoings in the thai entertainment industry.
Thanks for reading the recap, I watch Plerng Toranong on live TV and sometimes it’s difficult to jot down what they say as they say it because I can’t pause.. however I will do my best for future Plerng and Numfon scenes. There are times where it’s easier to just paraphrase what they say. I can’t wait for next week’s episode! Take care and thank you for stopping by.
Oh, yeah.. I’ve been to that site just a week ago (the same as with your blog and the first time I roamed Thai sites of any sort!),… but I haven’t gone back there, I find that blog kind of antagonistic (in a passive-aggressive way) or dismissive towards Mario.. Hahah, actually, he’s the only celebrity I’m interested reading about there and, like you, I’m not really interested in a celeb’s personal life beyond the barest of info. But I am interested in how he is doing professionally..
Anyway, thanks for the link! And thank you again for the recaps/reviews (a BIG service for us non-Thais).. I forgot that you actually watch the show on TV and transcribing the dialogue is all but impossible! LOL.. But you paraphrase well and I appreciate your efforts.
I, too, can’t wait for next week’s episodes and your recaps!
Magandang gabi sa ‘yo (Goodnight to you) =)
thanks…but i like sita more than namforn..=)..mario should choose sita…heheh
Sita is sweeter and more kind, but I’m still hopeful that Numfon will turn around.. She does have a lot of spit and fire to her character, and we know that she can stand up for herself should the need arises. But let’s just hope it’s not going to be aimed at Plerng all the time 🙂
thank you! i depend on you so much to understand PT. have to agree with brushpicks that you’re so detailed, i love reading your recaps. the dialogue you included was a gem and as a big fan of Taew and becoming-fan of Mario, i love their chemistry onscreen.
so so glad that Numfon ended the engagement. Nat’s evilness is so overbearing and repetitive. ><
although i'd probably get frustrated with Plerng's silence when others insult him, it's refreshing to have such an intelligent yet humble and stoic and gentlemanly pra'ek who knows what's worth his time what is a waste of energy to argue with, such as Numfon's accusations. there are so many scenes of the lead couple, i love it. not to mention the two are so aesthetically compatible. ^^
They are so adorable as a couple, I can’t wait for the island scene. I’m also curious to find out how the jewelry show will turn out, Viva L’Amor it is!