Oh yes. Replacing Buang Barp for the Weds-Thurs primetime slot is Maya Tawan (Tawan’s Deception.) Brought to us by TV Scene, Maya Tawan is part one of the Three Musketeers Series, Sahm Taharn Suea Sao, starring Yaya Urassaya and Aum Atichart. Since it is part of a “trilogy” I’m assuming that the duration of the lakorn is shorter than usual, but making for a speedy journey. Beautiful cinematography, I hope all lakorns are going to film this way. So crisp and clear, as if we’re watching a movie. I hope the wait is justified.
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Episode 1 Recap
In the congested, sparkling city of BKK a girl carries a magazine with a handsome hunk on the cover. The hunk in question is currently featuring in an Audi commercial, where he’s kicking the bad guy’s ass, saving his damsel in distress, and finally driving off in the sports car. The marketing slogan, “aggressive performance that you can’t deny” splashes on the screen, referring to both man and car.
The girl walks through a department store and the said man is featured on Men’s health- it is the last one left on the stand.
A different girl with a cute bob and a student uniform seizes the magazine and throws money on the counter. She dashes breathlessly out. She spreads the magazine on her bed, showcasing every issue the famous actor/model is in- KhetTawan – the hottest commodity in the entertainment business to date.
Her walls are covered with his pictures, including a life size poster of him.
Her name is Mattana and she talks to his poster, congratulating him for earner her- a person who doesn’t fall for celebrities- as one of his obsessed fangirls (the word obsess and fangirl is and should be synonymous.)
She recalls the time when she wasn’t shipping him. She had no desire to watch his movie “Maya” (Deception). Her friend had to beg her. She claims that she will never be the person to sob in the movie theatre, but she fell madly and inextricably into his fandom after that occasion. She purchases another ticket to the movies, and she has already seen it twice.
Matt and friends congregate in her bedroom to watch the awards show together and see their hero win the best actor award. They burst into jubilee, screaming with excitement at his achievement.
We circle back to current time, she says, “tonight we’ll meet each other, P’Tawan!” she takes a sign with flashing lights and beams with anticipation.
It is a fan meeting. Tawan appears in his slick tux and sunglasses. He blows them a kiss and Matt looks like she’s hyperventilating.
But after the fan meeting, he and manager try to evade the media. They want to interview him regarding the scandal, that the manager discovered Tawan at a bar and faked his story.
Tawan erupts with anger, “How dare you ask her such a question! Do medias no longer respect real news?!”
“We do- that’s why we want to know the truth so we can help correct it,” the media retorts.
But Tawan’s eyes are already glazed over with anger, “You’re sure you’ll amend the news? It’s more like you’ll drag it on for another few days.”
The manager tries to steer him towards the car.
“If the news won’t sell, I won’t interview him!” the sleazy paparazzi say.
When the van drives off, a flurry of fans follow the white van. He rolls down the window and he smiles at them, taking a picture of his fans. Matt is in the front row, screaming her lungs off.
She later shares the movie opening pictures with her fellow fans on her fan club site.
That night Tawan dresses inconspicuously and folds into his sports car. A reporter follows him on a motorcycle. He sneaks snapshots of Tawan entering a hotel, and additional snapshots of a woman he came to see. It made the front covers of the paper the following day.
Tawan demands a correction on the paper but they refuse. He suddenly receives a call from Pin, something bad has happened. We don’t know who Pin is, but she happens to be the same woman he had visited the night prior. He rushes to the scene, but finds her on the floor, covered in blood. He takes the knife in his hands, and the cops coincidentally appear at the door and they tell him to drop the knife. They handcuff Tawan and the news that he is murder defendant spread all over the media. He refuses to be interviewed.
Matt watches the TV with disbelief; she loyally stands by his side and says that the media is smearing his name. The parents continue to watch the news, hoping that it is not true. But Matt rushes to her fan club and summons everyone to meet in front of his condo to cheer him on.
Siam Sarn, a newspaper company that doesn’t adhere to bad practices, assigns their top two reporters to investigate and interview the fans. Their boss wants the development of KhetTawan’s story to be on the front page of the daily news. The two reporters are Waree (Margie Rasri) and Mee (Matt Peeranee) who decides to attend the fan meeting outside of KhetTawan’s condo. There, Waree and Mee interview Matt, who speaks poignantly into the camera that the fans are here to encourage her P’Tawan, and they are so sure of his innocence.
KhetTawan happens to be watching that particular interview and smiles. He’s currently staying at his manager’s condo to avoid the media and preparing for the court hearing. This experience gives Tawan a bad taste in his mouth and only serves to prove how much he disliked the media. Just after his first hearing, the media releases damage control, featuring a new face across different media platforms. The entertainment industry is certainly a burn and churn one.
But he doesn’t realize the extra mile a particular fangirl, Matt, has gone for him. She defends him against other fans who has turned on him, she sobs on his behalf, from the injustice of it all. She even gathered a bunch of loyal fans to greet him at the courthouse for his verdict. During his darkest hours, only the fans are there for him. KhetTawan waves at them and smiles.
And the moment of truth: everyone’s breath is hitched, awaiting the judge’s decision. KhetTawan is proven innocent! Immediately, the media releases a wave of articles, proving his innocence. But all is too late in KhetTawan’s minds eyes. He has scorned the media. During the press conference after the final hearing, a news reporter dared ask about his relationship with the deceased victim. The fans (Matt in particular) roared at his gall of a question. But the reporter retorts that it is his job to ask questions, and since KhetTawan is a public figure, they have the right to inquire about his personal life.
Perfect queue for KhetTawan to tell everyone that that is no longer the case.
Everyone inhales at his claims as they are blown away by his final comment, “from this moment on, I am removing myself from the entertainment industry.” Even his manager is shocked. The fans are speechless. Tawan walks away from the press conference.
His manager tries to stop him on his way to the garage. He tells her that he doesn’t like the industry and they both know full well that he is only in it out of necessity. She asks him whether he didn’t want more money but Tawan feels that he has acquired enough. She tries to stop him further by telling him that it is the golden opportunity for his comeback. But Tawan has no interest. Before he walks completely away, his manager tells him that their contract is not over. Tawan only smirks and welcomes her to sue him, haha. He feels that she has earned enough money from him.
As he drives out of the garage, Matt stops in front of him. She is furious. She has gone through extra lengths to stand by his side. The security guard pulls her to the side as Tawan’s car swerves past her. “You coward! We fought for you!” she cries, “I don’t love you anymore! Fine just go then!”
That as we know it, is the end of KhetTawan’s illustrious career as an actor/model, and the end (or so we know it) of Matt’s obsession with him.
Fast forward a few years later, Matt is a new graduate and has earned a spot in Siam Sarn. Waree and Mee take Matt under their wings and together, they are known as “Sahm Taharn Suea Sao,” the three musketeers.
But the world is so small. Matt needs a breakthrough article that will promote her to a political columnist- however the assignment that her boss hands to her is to investigate the whereabouts of KhetTawan. He has practically disappeared from the face of this earth and apparently his news still sells. Her boss sends her to Phuket to write an exclusive column about the mysterious Tawan.
The three musketeers are split up into different parts of the country, but before they venture out, they all decide to attend a fashion show together. The renowned designer, Jantira launches her new product line and according to Matt, she adores KhetTawan so she names her brand after him. However the mysterious Jantira is somewhat of a recluse and refuses any interviews that Matt had requested. The other two girls nod in understanding at Matt’s frustrations. After the fashion show, the three girls celebrate their last night together.
Upon returning home and reporting to her family that she will be spending an unknown about of time in Phuket researching the whereabouts of KhetTawan, the whole family immediately panic, for different reasons. Her parents obviously worry that she’s alone in Phuket while her sisters worry about KhetTawan himself. Her eldest sits her down for a chat in her bedroom that night. She doesn’t typically talk about her patients (patient privacy act I assume) but she worries about the safety of her sister.
“Four months ago there was a patient in my unit, Khun KhetTawan was her provider, he takes care of the hospital bills and visits her frequently. But when he leaves, my patient cries incessantly. Her emotional state is awful. So I plead for Khun KhetTawan to stop visiting her because we fear he’s responsible for her severe emotional condition.”
Matt questions whether the patient was male or female. It turns out she was a female. She used to be a model but she can’t recall the name. The patient was admitted due to drug addiction. Obviously we know what she’s implying..
The following day, Mattana ventures on her journey to Phuket. Upon checking in to the hotel, she bumps into a man dressed in stylish business attire. He keeps glancing at her, attracted. She turns to him with a friendly smile.
Mattana begins her “spying/stalking” of KhetTawan’s private residence. She whispers, “we’ll see each other shortly” under her breath. She likes to tell everyone that she’s over her fangirling days, but she peers through the telescope with excitement. She remembers her boss’ advice that when interviewing any story, she needs to review from every side: the good, bad and ugly. She also needs to provide equality to every story. She aspires to become a fair and good reporter, as oppose to the contrary? Heeh.
As Mattana spies from the beach front, she sees Risa at Khun KhetTawan’s home. There where slew of other females there as well so Mattana couldn’t help but assume the worse. Already she’s prejudice.
On her way back to her hotel room, with a shirt load of seashells, she bumps into the nice looking man again. He helps her gather her broken shells with his handkerchief and advises her to leave the seashells on the beach, it’s much more beautiful that way. Feeling guilty, she releases the collected seashells back into the ocean.
He is Chane Cross (Num Sornram) and he invites her to dinner. Moving quite fast aren’t we? The girl is way too trustworthy. Mattana shares the news with her two musketeers who screeched with envy over the phone.
During dinner the two learn little things about each other. Khun Chane is full Thai but adopted his father’s last name. He learns that Mattana is a reporter for the entertainment column and is currently investigating news about Khun KhetTawan. Khun Chane shares with her that he travels to Phuket frequently but has never seen Khun KhetTawan- the former celebrity keeps to himself. This stresses Mattana out so he tells her that he is happy to help her with her endeavor. She is embarrassed with his keen attention and doesn’t know how to conduct herself. He slides his hands towards hers and she thinks he’s about to touch her hands when he grabs her wine glass instead. Mattana looks shyly at him.
The next morning Mattana learns KhetTawan’s household is seeking a new worker. She assumes they are referring to a maid so she wanders over to his home. They request for her identification card so she asks her boss to fake one for her, unfortunately they found a girl who looks nothing like her. The interviewer calls her out and she panics. Then Khun KhetTawan appears from the corner and takes a look at her identification card.
They make eye contact. It has been too long, the feelings, emotions and devotion for this actor comes flooding back to her. She stares unmoving, admiring him.
But he’s fierce, mean. He inches closer to her and intimidates her, “who exactly are you? You’re a reporter impersonating, right?!”
She’s doom. She denies quickly but KhetTawan orders his employee to apprehend her. Mattana screams and makes a dash for it. The vicious dogs are after her- hah, but it was all a dream! Dammit!
She wakes from her nightmare and still has the fake identification card on her. Mattana dons her plain clothes and even has an accent lol. She pleads to be accepted for work because her family is poor. (I don’t know how anyone finds it convincing?) As she his causing a scene, a fancy car pulls into the driveway. Risa and KhetTawan are found inside and Risa orders to accept the application for now. However she snickers to KhetTawan that the girl is too pretty for hire.
Yet Risa ends up selecting Mattana as the new maid because the picture on the application reveals an ugly girl. Hah, wait til she finds out who the new maid really is. Risa wants to be the prettiest girl in the house, worthy of being Khun KhetTawan’s lover.
Akachai is Khun Pon’s (KhetTawan) assistant. He shows Mattana around the house and her daily responsibilities. Matt is amazed by the library in the house. He also shows her the forbidden areas, upstairs and in Khun Pon’s office. Matt could only peer at the forbidden areas with curiosity. She is annoyed by his strict rules. In her new room, she sees Nadech’s poster on the wall (haha, she sees him everywhere even while she’s filming a lakorn.)
In the yard, her final responsibility awaits: caring for two dogs Jot and Jem. Ah they are so cute!
Khun Ak tells her that she will report to Khun Pon before he heads out. Mattana freezes with shock/anticipation; she hasn’t seen his beautiful face for so long.
Once a fangirl, always a fangirl.
And that wraps up our first episode folks!
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After nine months since the last poll to recap this lakorn, it is finally here. It certainly took its sweet time! Is it everything that you hoped for?
I must say though, that the cinematography is beautiful. Aum Atichart is beautiful- and I like how they are telling the story of how Mattana started as a devoted fangirl and explaining their falling out. Despite it all, I’m still waiting for the hook. Perhaps when they interact more, I’ll start shipping them? First episodes (when done so slowly to ensure that the beginning is told) leaves little to speculate upon. The three girls’ friendship strikes a little forced to me, not a natural bond. I think the only girl that’s drawing me in is Matt Peeranee as Mee, she’s so poised and wonderful. Perhaps the girl’s chemistry will improve once they become more familiar with each other.
What are your first episode’s thoughts?
*Pic courtesy of NYFamilyPantip