Fah Krajang Dao Episode 2

In our second episode, we get a better understanding on what or who inspired Mee to pursue news writing, as we glean more details in her lurid past. Not only is she battling against her bratty nephew, but she has to fend off our Sarawat Heran, whom despite her greatest intentions to steer clear, is getting ever too close to her. Perhaps this is a task for her partner in crime, Waree, who puts one of her theories to test. But embarrassing herself in the process, would be another matter entirely. We are also met with Muat Dao who from the onset, doesn’t care for Mee, and it’s too convenient to think that it’s merely a secondary character’s behavior. And on a crime case by case basis, our reporter-officer duo, is going to end up spending a lot more time together than they’ve anticipated.

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Episode 2 Recap

Mee discovers that her new mail has been opened without permission. We know who the guilty party is, Tih, who is still in bed when he should be going to school. Mee questions her mother again, on why she is spoiling her grandson, but her mother defends the boy that he’s too exhausted to go to school. Mee riles him out of bed and threatens to wash his body for him if he doesn’t want to get up. Ha. Tih concedes and as they walk him to school, he gets angry with only 30 baht of lunch allowance that before he rushes into his classroom, he squeezes the carton of chocolate milk right into his auntie’s shirt. Pissed, Mee says that he ought to get used to living with her and that she’s going to find him some extracurricular activity after school too.

Just after Mee tells Waree over the phone that she is so mortified with the Sarawat and she hopes they won’t run into each other again, Mee receives a letter from her admirer. It looks to be a handmade card too, “I noticed you had rushed from the event so I took upon myself to send you some photos so that you may utilize in your article. Although the event was a cluster, it was a success. If you’re interested in following the story- as far as what we will be utilizing the finances towards- feel free to call me. This officer is happy to assist the civilians.” Mee wonders to herself that if she weren’t a reporter, would he be so happy to assist her? Heh.

Mee ends up requesting his assistance much sooner than she anticipated. Her boss calls her in to see what’s on her plate, and wants more of a variety to feature on her column. She shares that Than Pirun had mentioned she could pick out some interesting cases that they’re working on, which intrigues her boss, and he tells her to follow that trail and give him an article by next week.

Mee dials Sarawat’s number, “We have such like minds, I was just about to call you,” he says excitedly. He wanted to follow up with her and see if she received the photos he sent. Then he tells her that she is welcome to ask him anything, whether that favor is from a reporter or a civilian. He’s completely answering her thought earlier- that he’s happy to assist her no matter who she is. Mee decides to bug him today, she wants to feature one of the cases in Siam Sarn’s magazine and she’d also like to interview him. This causes Sarawat to fix his hair, check himself out on his phone and smile with anticipation. Lol.

As Mee arrives at his office, she spots the unsmiling woman she met at the fashion show. That is Muat Dao who barely makes eye contact with Mee and goes back to her paperwork. Sarawat is all smiles when he sees Mee though, and invites her to his desk. Mee learns an interesting tidbit surrounding nicknames that officers use towards their culprits or alleged offenders. They don’t refer to those people with their real names, but they would give them an interesting name. Sarawat asks Mee what nickname she would give him if he were a guilty party. Oh you are so professional, Officer. She says “ca-yan yim” which means ‘hardworking smile’ essentially. He even beams at that mention and compliments that she’s good at naming people.

Muat Dao excuses herself, and she’s real stiff around Mee (maybe she hates reporters?) Mee tries to be friendly and offers her a business card, but Muat Dao doesn’t exchange her card. She tells Mee that she can get a hold of her through Sarawat. Her brusque demeanor got Mee curious so she inquires Sarawat. As they move to a meeting room, Sarawat explains that Muat Dao is like that, she hardly smiles, but she’s real sincere. Mee is sure that something about her doesn’t please Muat Dao because even though they’ve just met, it seems that she gives her a dirty look five times now. Sarawat just laughs it off, he says that normal people may get the look three times, but since she’s a reporter, she’ll receive them more often. Ok, so you’re saying she’s a bitch? Got it. Moving on.

There is a recent case surrounding a perpetrator who is a police officer. Mee wonders why he’s sharing this tidbit with her, isn’t he concerned that their suspicions would make it to the perpetrator’s ears? Sarawat confidently replies that her company’s magazine publishes on a weekly basis, so by the time she writes the article and publishes it, he would have already caught the perpetrator. Cocky, I like. He also says that if the perpetrator hasn’t been caught yet, all’s he has to do is call her to stop the presses, and besides, it’ll give him another reason to talk to her. Ha.

Mee thinks to herself that she’d like this playboy to meet with her friend. I’m guessing Waree, she’ll show him a thing or two, lol. Mee remembers a time where Waree had told Matt that when you meet a playboy, make sure you get all of your research materials first, then you can teach him a lesson. Heh. Sarawat wonders what she’s smiling about, he just doesn’t know that her last thought was of Waree saying they should mince those playboys into pieces. Mee merely replies that his smile is contagious. He offers to give her a ride again and doesn’t take no for an answer.

He drops her off on a road leading to her house, unfortunately a car cannot drive through the alley. Sarawat mentions that he’d like to treat her to a meal, but he knows the answer is a resounding no. Mee confirms and says that she doesn’t want her source to treat her with anything. Sarawat just turns this around and says that she should treat him to a meal then. Heh. Mee concedes and makes her way to the Chinese temple, where she confesses to the gods, “I don’t understand myself. I don’t know whether he’s the source (topic) or whether he’s just an open, easy going person for me to allow him to get this close. But no man has gotten this close to me before. I don’t know what it’s going to be like in the future, please protect me.”

Once home Mee asks Tih how his first day of school went, but the boy ignores her and goes back to reading his cartoon. The boy remembers his introduction to the class and he thinks he’s so smart. He’s quite devious though, he shares a sob story to the class, that this mom is sick and doesn’t have long to live, and his father is a soldier, but lost his leg due to a bomb. That is why he came to Bangkok to live with his auntie and fears that his new classmates wouldn’t accept him. The whole class pities him and gives him a round of applause. He’s just a lying liar face.

He arrogantly tells his auntie that even if he misses two or three days of school, he can still catch up. Pfft. Mee notices that he’s been opening her mails again and rips him a new one. She punishes him by taking away 5 baht from his lunch allowance for a month, if he doesn’t repent, she’ll take away 10 baht, which will leave him a mere 20 baht for lunch. This floors him, and he speaks rudely to her. She reduces another baht for every rude word he says, lol, he shouts that she’s stuck-up and races to his room. This battle is not going to be easy.

Mee decides to focus on her work instead and listens to the voice recording of Sarawat from earlier. That in itself is another source of problem for her. She remembers asking him that he doesn’t seem like a cop. In addition, the people working in his office don’t appear like cops either. Sarawat replies that this is beneficial to them in the event they have to go undercover, most of the time they disguise themselves as the ones receiving the drugs. He’ll take it as a compliment. He says that if his case isn’t too risky he’ll invite her to check out the cases. Totally earning brownie points.

Erhm, and then Muat Dao appears and wraps her arms around Sarawat’s neck, asking if he’s done yet. This display of affection shocks Mee (oh and it shocks yours truly too) which explains her coldness towards Mee. Sarawat is unphased, he pats her hand and tells her that he’s not quite done yet. Muat Dao glares at Mee and threatens her not to mess with her boyfriend.

Ok whew, apparently Mee is only dreaming. Perhaps the show is forecasting that Muat Dao secretly fancies Sarawat?

That evening, in a much nicer home, probably in a ritzy part of town, Heran sees his family putting their heads together. His family is very warm, which explains how kind and easygoing he is. They were speaking to the eldest son, who is in India evaluating the market prospects there. He has a younger sister, who is just as sweet. His mother reminds him to pray to the gods before he go to bed to protect him, and his father pesters that he’s so good at catching the bad guys, when is he going to catch a daughter in law for them? Heh.

Heran teases back that girls may be catching him instead. Oh parents, they’re always whining about how they want to carry their grandkids before it’s too late. His sister brings up the fact that a woman as pretty as Muat Dao, still hasn’t caught her brother. Heran says that they are best being friends; he doesn’t understand why everyone is pushing them together. But his mother is adorable, she says that you can’t force such things, let it happen naturally. Not a crazy lakorn mother? Yes please!

Little did they know that he already has someone in mind. Heeh. His sister caught a secret smile he’s holding in and he confesses that “they” just met and that he’s into her, but she doesn’t like him very much. Oh, so you do know that? What a loving family he has!

At a fresh food market the next morning, Sarawat Heran is undercover. They watch a drug exchange go down, but something goes wrong and the perpetrators open fire. Muat Dao chases the culprits and captures one while Sarawat goes after the rest. He fights a drug dealer until the man falls to the ground but before he could capture the man, bullets grazed the ground. Muat Dao and Sarawat roll away from the gunshot as they exchange fire. A car pulls to the corner and a man in denim blows him a big kiss, he’s “Gae Dum,” their perpetrator. Looks like this one’s not going to be an easy target, Sarawat.

Mee’s mom feels badly for troubling Mee with Suntih, but Mee tells her not to mention it again, right now she’s just focused on turning Suntih into a good kid. Mee admits that when her mom sends her letters over the years, Mee doesn’t read them sometimes. Her mother understands because she only writes to her during bad times, but doesn’t write when anything good happens. The last time Mee had visited the family was during her grandfather’s funeral. We get a flashback to that time.

It was not a happy moment for Mee, she didn’t want to see them again, and they haven’t changed much over the years. The stepdad checks her out, tells her that she’s even prettier than before, but still as black hearted. He chastises that his two daughters have already gone to work (you know that kind of work) to make money for him. He scolds her for being ungrateful. Her brother could only glare at her from his seat on the couch, apparently recently impregnated a girl. That was the last impression she has of her brother. It’s really quite depressing, the two girls came home for a visit and complain that they are exhausted accepting clients. But the father just tells them to persevere for him.

Mee offers for Da (her sister who’s obviously working for a prostitution parlor) to come live with her in Bangkok, but Da says she can’t, she only took a couple of days off work. She doesn’t want people to scold her for being ungrateful like her sister, but Mee tells her that no one can scold her if she studies hard and gets a good job, she can send money to support the family. But you can’t get through to an ignorant mind..

As she rides back home with her auntie, she wants to report her stepdad to the cops, but her auntie reminds her that her mom and sister will be arrested too, since one is an accomplice and the other, willing to sell jher body. Will they have to arrest the entire village, since they are all involved too? Sad. Mee is at wits end on how to help. Her aunt advises her on starting at the root of the problem, she needs to change the people’s way of thinking, that daughters are not meant to be sold for their family’s convenience; she could also instruct young girls to understand their value and find alternative measures to make a living. Amen. This has inspired Mee from that day on to be a teacher to the kids. But auntie says that being a teacher could only affect the children, what about the parents? If she wants to change society, she should pick a profession that will affect both children and parents. And so that is why she became a reporter.

Mom finds this interesting and is glad for some time to chat with her daughter. When Tih returns from his soccer endeavor with his new friends, Mee invites him to see a movie. The boy hides his smile and says that he thought she was going to keep him at home forever.

They are at the mall where Tih desires a red toy car. He takes off when he sees his auntie, because he knows she’ll never buy him one. But Mee is a softie at heart, so she purchases one for him without his knowledge. Tih walks into his room that evening and notices the car sitting on his bed. He rushes downstairs to thank grannie, but come to find that it was auntie’s doing. Now he has to thank her.

“Did you buy this for me?” he asks brusquely.

“Does it please you?”

“You already know that. But I don’t want to be indebted to you. Just deduct it from my allowance.” Heh.

“Fine. Just stop using rude words and we’ll call it even.”

Oh these two.

The detectives have to re-convene and fine tune their strategies regarding their perpetrator. It looks like “gae dum” will be running away towards the border, so they have to catch him no matter what. It’s going down tonight! Sarawat says that Muat Dao shouldn’t participate in this evening’s task because he thinks it’s too dangerous- oh don’t be that guy, Sarawat! Even the female detective chimes in that she agrees with the Sarawat, Muat Dao is determined to go because she’s as skillful as the other male cops. Sarawat takes a seat and wagers with her, that if she beats him in an arm wrestle, he would let her go. They’re going to straighten this, the old fashion way. Sarawat smiles arrogantly at her. But later we find out from Muat Dao that he was pretending to lose. Unfortunately when she thinks she’s actually going.. he pulls a sneaky card and leaves with his team before she is none the wiser. How misogynistic.

The next day Mee receives a call from Sarawat and she mumbles to herself before picking up the phone that he hasn’t called for several days. He wants to interest her in the ‘gae dum’ case, which immediately perks her interest. “You’ve caught him?” she questions. Sarawat tells her that it took several days to finally catch him and if she wants the story, she should hurry on over and get it. Heh.

‘Gae dum’ denies his involvement, he pleads ignorance. Apparently this isn’t his first time dealing with drugs and Than Pirun says that he will be punished even more harshly because he’s a cop and being involved with illegal activities. Sarawat peers over to Mee, who has a solemn expression. He meanders over and whispers that he hopes she doesn’t think all cops are bad like this. Mee is more rational than that, but Sarawat says he can read her expression. Lol, Mee replies that she didn’t know he could read people too. Sarawat laments that it is a skill he must acquire, yunno, being able to read her facial and body expressions. So just her then? “Are you being serious?” Mee wants to know. Sarawat is willing to be interviewed for this story, but asks not to feature his picture. What’s up with our boys of 3 Musketeers Series affinity with cameras? Sarawat says that he goes undercover a lot, he can’t have his picture splashed anywhere.

Mee runs into Muat Dao again and she congratulates her on the case. Muat Dao tells her to congratulate Sarawat instead since he’s solely responsible for it. After all, these days, a mere girl can’t bring down a case. Sarawat says he has already apologized and he doesn’t really think that she’s incapable of catching the bad guy, he’s just concerned for the safety of his team. I’m with Muat Dao on this one Sarawat. Wash that old fashion brain of yours! Muat Dao stomps off and Sarawat follows, leaving the remaining cop to tell Mee that they are boyfriend-girlfriend, they tend to pout at each other like this. Hmmph.

So it sort of irks Mee that Sarawat is always flirting with her. During lunch, Than Pirun tells Sarawat to take Mee to lunch, Mee declines it feeling awkward, but yunno, our hero does not take no for an answer.

He takes her to a nearby restaurant and asks her what she wants to eat.

“Anything is fine,” she replies.

“And what does this ‘anything is fine’ look like?” he asks, lol.

She orders her tofu dish and he retorts that he’ll remember that whenever she says ‘anything is fine’ dish, that means her tofu dish. Then he asks her does she want ‘anything is fine’ water or ‘anything is fine’ something else? Oh, he cracks me up.

Once they prepare to eat, Sarawat asks, “so you mentioned you’d like to be involve in a less risky scoop?”

“Yes I’m still interested,” she replies.

“Right now we are following the ‘supaburoot’ case (gentlemen case.) We are short on people but I’m not sure if the team is willing to allow many reporters to join the rank.”

“It’s ok, I can go alone. We don’t need the cameraman,” she says.

“Ok sounds good, if you’re going alone, you can guarantee you a spot.”

She wais him, excited for the opportunity.

“In that case,” Sarawat says and procures a cellphone, “you would need a good weapon. For your safety, I’d like you to use this cellphone while communicating with the team.”

She’s reluctant to accept it, but he encourages her that it would be easier to use than her own cellphone.

“Take care of it like it’s yours,” he adds. Heh.

She just looks at him.

“I meant that once we’re done with the case, it’s yours.”

“Really?”

“It’s my old phone, don’t worry.” Sure, give her your hand me downs.

But she tells him she’ll give it back to him when their case is over.

“Fine. You do that and I won’t let you go,” hehehe.

She finally concedes. It’s a battle of the wills, you know?

Back at home, Tih won’t let grannie go back to the countryside. He doesn’t want to live alone with Monster Auntie, who peers from the kitchen and laments that she doesn’t want to be left alone with him either, but grannie is choosing to leave on her own accord. He refuses to stay, saying that auntie hates him. Mee tells her mom she’s leaving too soon, Tih hasn’t assimilated yet. Mom says she will talk to Tih herself and make him understand.

The following morning Waree returns to Bangkok bearing gifts and Mee catches up with her.

Sarawat pays her a visit, with the excuse that he brought pictures of ‘gae dum’ for her. Anything for this special reporter.. and he also wants to bug her for a meal as she has promised. He tells her she can’t refuse him since he’s at Siam Sarn now, heh.

Waree wants to have lunch with Mee but Mee makes the excuse that she has to take a client to lunch.  “Who is more important than me?” Waree questions, lol. Mee finally admits that it is Sarawat Heran she has to dine with, which intrigues Waree and she asks whether they are secretly dating. Waree tells her to be careful because cops are notorious for being playboys, ha. Mee retorts that all men are playboys, no matter the profession, so one has to be naturally wary.

Waree wants to experiment whether he can be trustworthy or not. She puts on makeup and sits across from him. She pulls her shirt down to reveal some shoulders and gives him a come hither look (I’m rolling on the floor laughing.) He just smiles awkwardly at her, focusing on his phone. She doesn’t garner any interest for a while and decides to walk back to Mee. She tries to convince her friend that he’s interested simply by the way he looks at her. Haha. Eating crow sucks.

Waree decides to give it another shot, she thinks this time, she’ll be successful. She saunters back over to him and sits right next to him. She starts to overtly flirt with him, asking him who he’s waiting for, and why he’s waiting so long. He tells her he’s waiting for a friend and asks her who she’s waiting for.

She touches his knees to get a reaction, “I’m waiting for the ‘right’ person.”

“Have you met that person yet?” he questions in response.

“I’m not sure,” she touches him again, “until I’ve tested it out first.” She tries to steer him towards another room, and he just goes with it until he apprehends her with her hand behind her back, haha.

He claims that she’s coming on to him (her line of work) and says that it’s illegal. Mee immediately rushes out to save her friend, who glares at the cop. Mee explains that Waree is simply testing out a playboy theory.

Sarawat adds that he knew all along that Waree isn’t up to something bad, he could tell by the way she dresses (haha.) It’s not convincing that she’s coming on to him. Angry, Waree takes off down the hall.

Sarawat says that he can be the one to prove to Mee that he’s not a playboy like they think.

“And why would you need to prove to me?” Mee asks, “should you be proving it to Muat Dao?” Ha.

“Are we really going there? Let’s not talk about it,” he replies and steers her towards lunch instead.

Waree spies at them from the corner and is determined to reveal his true colors.

During lunch Mee tells him to order any drinks he want (even alcoholic drinks) but Sarawat doesn’t drink on the job. He tells her he’ll take her to a pub when they go to Chiang Mai, which surprises her (the province, not the pub.) Sarawat says that they will be trailing after the ‘suparburoot’ in Chiang Mai next week for a few days.

“Why is this case called ‘gentlemen’?” Mee inquires.

“At first we were going to call it ‘heavenly’ because the villain is very handsome. But Muat Dao doesn’t want to refer to the bad guy as someone heavenly or cool so we changed it.”

“I agree with Muat Dao,” Mee says.

He invites her to a meeting to discuss the case further with the team, but Mee fears it might take too much time, she hasn’t told anyone where she’s at. Sarawat explains that the meeting will only be about an hour and he’ll bring her back to work.

During the meeting, they plan out how they will follow or catch the ‘supaburoot.’ Sarawat offers Mee to come with him on the case because he thinks it’s less suspicious when they show up as a pair (couple.) Muat Dao is a little irked by it and questions whether Mee would be a willing participant. Mee chimes in that she won’t ruin their case and she’s experienced enough. And that is decided. The team reviews the slideshows next.

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Thoughts:

Oh ho.. that is the Thai way of saying, well well well.

Like our Khun Sama, Sarawat Heran is falling hard for our nang’ek, pretty much instantaneously. He’s over eager to do anything to spend more time with her and I’m finding that our Mee is going to have a hard time refusing this persistent officer down the road. She’s stubborn, but he’s more stubborn. I am going to be in trouble of smiling too much.

The preview for next episode indicates that grannie is leaving for home, with Tih crying in the corner, feeling abandoned, which is very similar to how Mee feels growing up, so the scene tugs at her heart. Next, Sarawat makes it clear with Mee that he and Muat Dao aren’t dating. He’s single, and what about her? Single or not? Should she receive a paper that says, date me, mark yes or no? Lol.

Despite how much I like Heran, he comes from a great family, has a great personality, but he can be a tad overbearing and old fashion when it comes to females. And aside from ‘love at first sight’ (which Khun Sama doesn’t get hit with this, he knew Waree since she was a kid and falls for her as a grown woman) we don’t get why he’s fallen for Mee. Is it because she’s independent, she’s tough, but appears so feminine that he feels protective towards her, or because of her affinity to care for the weak and young? Perhaps all of the above, but I just don’t like to use my imagination. Can ya convince me, show? Perhaps show me? Anyway, I do like Heran pursuing Mee at all cost though, we’ll see how he makes her fall in love with him.

Perhaps the funniest part about this episode is witnessing Waree coming on to Sarawat, 555!