It’s Wednesday you guys! We finally get to watch how Mee disguises herself as a student to cover one of the most debilitating crime endeavors in town! Human trafficking.. Most importantly, how will Sarawat Heran react to this latest lie from her, right after they’ve come to an understanding? So, without further ado..
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Episode 7 Recap
Meekana is dressed in a student uniform and sharing with her helpers (Bua and Dtor) that the Jinda lady could not come off nicer and more understanding, but she’s sending the girls to hell. Mee is surprised how another woman could damage another female so. From the looks of things, Dtor surmises that this isn’t her first run in with this type of a woman. Meekana replies that this would be her second encounter, the first one is more than ten years ago- and we get a flashback to a scene (just in case we forget) where her step dad tries to sell her off to one of the recruits. It’s one of the most traumatizing experiences for Mee. She merely explains that her step dad still stigmatizes her as being undutiful for not selling her body. Dtor is shocked, he thought she was covering this scoop because she wanted to be famous.
She also notes that she’s doing this for her own personal vendetta. She’s furious at certain groups that look at their daughters as items to be sold, but she’s most furious at being born a woman where she could be taken advantage of. Hm. Dtor mentions that perhaps she’s so furious and revenge driven that she’s unhappy while on the job. Mee nods her head in agreement. Dtor says that she’s not only investing in her coverage, she’s also investing too much in her emotions, therefore, as the more she gets involved in these kinds of stories, the worse her psychological conditions. (Which is really astute, as we’ve noticed earlier she has confessed to Sarawat Heran that she can’t seem to remove herself from these issues. Girl needs therapy! ) She understands that she hasn’t quite learned how to let go. So Mee feels that perhaps this last case will be her therapy, perhaps it will help her let things go.
Mee checks in with Sarawat’s mom to see how her nephew is doing. He seems to be acclimating well with the warm household, getting loved and spoiled by Sarawat’s family.
And to make things interesting, our Inspector is calling from the home phone, and he overhears Suntih’s voice in the background. He phones Mee next but she turns her phone off when she sees the number (probably knowing that he’s calling.) Our poor guy is probably worrying himself like crazy.
Her first day on the “job” commences! Mee shows up at the restaurant again and Jinda wonders if she lives around here and if she has any family. Mee says she’s rooming with a few friends since she can’t afford to stay on her own. Jinda interests her in a position at her friend’s restaurant that pays well, she would be helping with the serving, cleaning and preparations. The catch is that the restaurant is not in Bangkok and she would need to quit school for a term (3 months). Jinda relents that she can save up enough money then go back to school. Mee asks whether she’s for real, and not deceiving her to be sold. Jinda assures her that the cops would have arrested her eons ago if she was dealing with human trafficking.
Jinda tells her to show up tomorrow and she will get her started right away. Bua and Dtor try to talk her out of it last minute, but Mee is focused. As Bua help her pack that night, she tries to bring Dtor to Mee’s attention, he’s a good man, cares about society.. which is a really random time to matchmake! Get your head out of the cloud, lady.
Mee gets a call from Sarawat (he finally gets through!) He had already called Siam Sarn and they told him she had taken some time off. He wants to know where she’s at, she lies that she’s ‘taking time off.’ But he calls her out, that he could hear Suntih’s voice at his house, and she’s not the type to desert her nephew while school’s still in session. He smells fish. He knows it’s not a normal case she’s covering, especially when she’s hiding it from her company too. Mee tries to excuse herself and Sarawat says if she hangs up, he’ll really be mad. I like mad Sarawat. Please be mad. Someone’s got to!
Sarawat calls his partner in crime next, heh, and the girl has barely healed from her near death experience but she’s already working a small case in Kohn Kaen. He decides against asking her to follow his Mee, so he tells her to heal quickly instead.
He recalls his conversation with Mee earlier, and it doesn’t sit well with him- she tells him the truth, that she will be disguising as a student to gather evidence to convict Jinda and people who are using restaurants as fronts for human trafficking/prostitution. Sarawat says that if he’s close by, he’d shake the idea out of her head, this is not funny. She assures him that they’ve planned this to the utmost detail. If shit hits the fan, the local authority would come and save her. Obviously being an undercover cop himself, he knows how dangerous these cases are, no matter how great the plan is. But he’s not getting through to her, and gosh, Boy Pakorn is such a good actor in this role, his character’s frustration is coming through the TV. Realizing that there is only one choice left, Sarawat tells her that he’s returning to Thailand immediately.
Heh.
She tells him it’s too late, she’s leaving tomorrow morning. He pleads for her to stop, stall time- anything- but her answer? Don’t worry, Sarawat, I’ll be ok. She further says that this is her work and she’s gone too deep, she cannot pull out now. But if it’s any consolation (to Sarawat), this will be the last risky thing she’ll do. It doesn’t appease him any, because she may not even survive this event to even think about the next case. This seems to shut her up.
“Are you mad at me?” he asks.
“No.”
“How about this?” he offers, “If you can’t stop, can you at least stall enough time for me to return?”
“I can’t- it might cause suspicion. I’ll reiterate, don’t worry Sarawat. Stay there and work comfortably (what?!) We can eat kao man kai like before when you get back.”
Then she hangs up, leaving Sarawat with sincere anxiety. She always undermines his concern for her.
But at least she will have a bunch of nifty self-protection toys to take with her. She’s not going into this with blind faith. As they congregate over the new toys, curious minds want to know (mostly Bua) if the Sarawat she’s speaking to over the phone, is Bua’s sweetheart Sarawat? Heeh. Bua then learns that Sarawat Heran and Mee are not working on the same cases but are still talking. That only means one thing. Dtor clarifies with a question, “so do you have a boyfriend?” In which our Mee says, “yes.” HEEH, she finally admits! Yay Sarawat! Yay us!
Speaking of the devil, Sarawat phones Bua! The guy is incorrigible! Well you know, you have to make sure your girlfriend’s going to be alive when you get back..
So Mee commences the undercover project, another girl named “Ae” has been deceived to go to the same restaurant as well. But just as Mee board the van, there are several faces smiling at her. It makes her sick to think that they’ve lured so many innocent girls. Jinda gets her money exchanged for the two girls and the group is on their way. In a separate car, Bua and Dtor follow.
They break for a meal and one of the girls, namely Ae, thinks she’s on a vacation. She wants to take pictures because the scenery is beautiful. The men humor her as Mee takes pictures of the four girls.
They drive through the night until they arrive the next day at a large old fashioned home, belonging to a scout. The auntie confiscates their cellphones explaining that she doesn’t like people to talk on their phones while on the job. The girls are then taken to a shared room where some of the members are asleep, they just went to bed a few minutes ago. Mee wonders why they are sleeping in the morning and not at night. She tells them to not ask too many questions, they are paid very well and will need to work very hard.
As Mee sits in her shared bed, she flashes back to an argument she had with Sarawat. Who knows what they’re actually fighting about at that time, but from Mee’s memory it is a point of contention because she never listens to him. And her current condition proves it too.
Mee is chasing after Sarawat.
He spins around, “you’re obstinate! You never listen to me! Who do you think you are (he says how great do you think you are?) You’re just a slip of a woman, can you physically compete with a man should he accost you?”
She starts to tear up.
“You would die!” he answers for himself. He’s pissed.
“Sarawat I’m sorry!”
But he takes off in anger.
So she does care how he feels, whether he would be angry at her.
Back to present time, someone is waking her up for lunch. While everyone is downstairs, Mee turns on the signal to her pen, it’s a form of a camera.
After lunch they go to the market. Mee spots her comrades, Bua and Dtor at a booth near hers and they exchange a brief knowing look. Meanwhile back at the house, the auntie and seasoned employees search the belongings of the newbies to ensure they don’t have anything suspicious. She confiscates a camera found in Ae’s bag.
Bua and Dtor aren’t too far away, they surmise that Mee might feel relieved when she knows they are close. They feel relieved too that she’s still safe. But Dtor adds that it’ll get more dangerous and the girls will experience hell on earth soon- because the men are going to take them to another place.
The pimp tells them to pack up again and prepare for the night journey to the restaurant; they travel at night because it’s less hot. They will not be returning to this house. Earlier Ae cries because her camera had gone missing, it was something she had borrowed from a friend. The auntie says that it can’t be helped, and she’s not going to search the entire house for it either.
Mee tries to ascertain where they are driving to, spying at the roads through the night, but to no avail.
Sarawat has returned to Thailand but cannot get a hold of Mee. He’s in an abysmal mood. He finally gets a hold of Bua and asks for direction to the location, he will leave tonight.
Turns out, it’s going to be far. The men have arranged for a boat as well, to take the girls to the restaurant. The men’s true colors come out, as they get into the boat, he makes them lean down and against each other, as if to avoid eyes and suspicions. The girls are then covered with a blanket. Mee and Ae sit at the dock, waiting for the next boat, Ae confesses that she’s scared. These people are suddenly so mean.
Once they arrive at the restaurant, reality sinks in (for the rest of the girls anyway, since Mee already knew what she signed up for.)
Ae sees someone she knows P’Pook and the girl asks her what she’s doing here, doesn’t she know that she’s being deceived to sell her body? Ae cries and tries to run, that she’s here to work not to sell herself. The men apprehend her, that she needs to pay off her debt first before she could be released. Aw, it’s so sad to see Ae begging to be let go, she doesn’t owe anyone anything. The man slaps her a few times to shut her up as he threatens the rest of the four girls that if they make a big fuss, they will be thrown in the water (and die.)
Thida, the more seasoned prostitute comes out and slowly Mee recognizes her name. She doesn’t seem too pleased that they don’t know what they’ve signed up for, but can’t help them because she can barely help herself. The big boss arrives to evaluate his new collection, he asks Mee for her name and Mee looks towards Thida and tells them her full name. The two girls exchange furtive glances.
The five girls are ushered into a one bedroom where they are stationed until the next day. Mee tells Ae to stop crying, she says they will escape. But Ae keeps crying. Nampeung has already known about this from the get go, since her parents have accepted the money, and she thought the other girls knew. Ae angrily yells at her for not telling them.
Bua and Dtor brings Sarawat Heran to the location where the girls were abducted, but Dtor doesn’t know which house they were taken to.
Thida calls on Mee first to meet the big boss. But Thida actually takes her to a quiet place to talk, she recognizes her own half-sister. She wonders if she’s coming here to get her? But Mee admits that she’s here for a scoop.
Then a few blocks away, we see cops swarming the perimeter.
Even Thida is chastising Mee, she says the men here are ruthless and there’s no way out. If they find out she’s deceiving them, they’d toss her into the water. Thida asks after their parents, and Mee tells her things are the same. It’s an unfortunate, sad state of affairs. Mee adds that their mom worries about Thida, they think she has already passed away, which surprises Thida, she sends money to the family every month. Turns out, they’ve never received it. This pisses her off as she realizes that the big boss has been holding onto her money and making her work for free.
A cell phone rings nearby, alerting Mee and Thida to remain quiet.
A GPS device that Dtor has embedded with Mee sends them to a house. The cops are in all corners of the exterior, ready to aid Sarawat, who is still royally pissed that Mee would risk her own life for a scoop. He shakes his head in frustration, plotting how they would rescue her and the rest of the girls.
The sisters catch up. Mee tells her sister to come with her, she shouldn’t stay here any longer. Thida wants to return but feels that they will starve. So sad. Even if there is a way out, she won’t take it. She wants Mee to take her money and give them to her parents, and tell them that she’s not dead yet. Mee begs her to go back, there is other work for her, but Thida shakes her head, too afraid, too ignorant to do anything else. And she believes that there is no hope to escape.
Mee doesn’t give up and says they can get away, Thida shouldn’t stay here until she dies. But Thida relents that she is already dead inside, she is hopeless, and if Mee wants to run, then she could do so on her own. She doesn’t feel there is a difference in where she dies- but Mee tells her sister that there is a huge difference in dying here without any loved ones then to die at home, with your family.
As Thida prepares to take Mee back to the room, Mee asks for a favor, that Thida get a picture of the girl’s conditions in this house with her pen. Her sister is reluctant, she doesn’t want to borrow trouble, but Mee assures her that this will help the greater good. That she will write an article and feature these pictures. She begs for her to do a good deed.
The big boss stirs up from bed..
Then as we end this episode, Thida asks Mee how one would turn the pen on. So she’s gonna help!
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Brief thoughts:
One more last hurrah before the ending. Can you believe Fah Krajang Dao will end with 8 episodes? So many series ending so concurrently, I don’t even know what to say.
But as much as we want certain series to go on and on, I’m ok with this one ending tomorrow. How much more human trafficking cases can we endure anyway?
(That is the face of a very pissed off man.)
The best part about this episode for me is Sarawat’s reaction to learning that Mee is going behind his back (as well as her company’s back) to investigate and disguise as a person who gets sold to prostitution. It’s entertaining to watch him feel so helpless, being in America. Despite how angry he is, he still manages to make his way back home and trails after her, hopefully rescuing her in time.
Tomorrow we get to see the climax of this story and watch the three couples get married and have their happily ever after. Woo!
Besides the cute pairing, another aspect of this lakorn that i like most is because of the message it’s trying to bring to the viewers. This lakorn depicts some serious social problems which are not only happening in Thailand, but many other countries around the world. It’s very sickening to watch, just imagine how much worst is it in reality :(. This a one good effort to try to instill awareness in the society especially to young girls. They need to brave up and understand that they have rights for bright and successful future. Ok back to the p’ek wehuuu…am i the only one who thinks that Boy is aging handsomely? haha. He’s looking better and better in each lakorns, both look wise and acting wise. Looking forward for tonight episode. Will get to see my Khun Sama and his Waree :D. Thanks for the recap, Fia! =)
sure Matt is one of the best actress of her generation (with Gale). she nailed this role even she displayed the character mimics naturally. besides she is a pretty actress with beautiful curvy figure. I guess after Aff I have got my new biased actress(she is challenging) in the latest generation actresses.
She makes a good couple with Boy