Dao Reurng Episode 5

The preparation for the temple’s festivities is under way. But not only is the annual festival created to give us a good laugh and provide a good time for the people, but it allows the show to slowly peel away the many layers of Dao Reurng. It also sets up a nice friendship in the making with Khun Palat. I’m not convinced I like like Reurng yet, but it’s a step in the right direction, I can still sit on board this ship.

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Episode 5 Recap

At the committee meeting, Khun Palat proposes a group activity to benefit the temple, before the onset of the temple’s festivities. He wants to build a road leading to the temple, as well as a new shower stall. Khun Palat believes they can all earn merit, have fun, as well as work together. Gamnan Term wonders who will want to join in the fun (always the party pooper) to which Khun Palat replies ‘everyone in Don Pattana who loves their home, like you, Gamnan.’

Reurng decides to chime in, to set off a competition between the two villages, and two already competitive guys: Phoo Yai Pan and Luang Taa Kong. The two leaders are game, convinced that their village would win hands down.

Wan and his gang steps into the committee meeting and announces that he’s going to be a temple liaison man (someone who is appointed to look after the interest of the temple). Even his father blurts out ‘how mortifying’ Heh. Wan kneels down to Luang Phor and asks to prove himself. Reurng adds in disbelief that he can’t even handle the prayers, to which Wan offers to settle as a committee member instead. Luang Phor says that he’s too lazy to be a committee member, Reurng thinks he’s best suited to be the temple’s dog so he could howl at any intruders. Ha.

But Wan isn’t about to give up. He decides to settle matters with Reurng one on one. He offers to duke it out one last time to determine who’s the winner (since she calls him a loser.) In every school activities (no matter the grade), he has lost to her. Incensed, Wan challenges her to a boxing match. Khun Palat doesn’t agree that he should box Reurng, since she’s a girl and it wouldn’t be a fair fight. But Reurng agrees to the challenge if she could fight Muay Thai style. Wan relents that if he wins, he gets a kiss, but if he loses, the winner would ride on his shoulders (and announce it) around the market.

Khun Palat still doesn’t think it’s fair, but Reurng says it’s not about fairness, it’s about respect.

Her mom doesn’t agree either, but Reurng is confident and tells her to get the betting war ready, she won’t disappoint her. The whole town participates in the wager (probably of both the competition between villages and Reurng versus Ai Wan.)

In Bangkok, Namwarn storms in to see Rose and is livid that she accepted a job without her manager’s consent. Rose admonishes that Namwarn wasn’t around to do the managing so she had to make her own decisions. Namwarn says she’s violating her contract agreement, but Rose says that if Namwarn no longer want to take care of her, she can easily find someone else. Furious, Namwarn threatens to sue her ass.

The town of Don Pattana commences the construction of the temple’s road. The village of Rorm Rat Tai goes against the village of Rorm Rat Neua on who will finish the shower stalls faster. They are boasting on their worker’s competency, that their family ancestors stretch back to the old era (meaning really skillful.) Luang Phor is concerned that before the construction is complete, the two teams would kill each other first. Lol.

Distraught, Rose tries to phone Jin but to no avail, so she tries her friend Mark instead and requests he find her a lawyer.

Reurng inquires the men who work at the wood mill regarding their next work lineup and they say soon. This prompts her suspicion and she confides with Gamnan Term. They believe that the baddies (Sia Gampon and his men) will be using the temple party as a front for drug trafficking. Gamnan Term is determined to catch them.

Luang Taa Kong’s team finishes the construction first, and Phoo Yai Pan wonders if he had put a hex on it. Little Pian wonders the same thing and Reurng relents that one day she will reveal that Luang Taa is putting on an act and deceiving the people.

Rose waits for her lawyer at a café, but dislikes waiting. She gets his number from her friend and much to her chagrin, the “lawyer” is the delivery guy she has been running into. The lakorn god is cruel on her (but otherwise known as plotting.) She’s displeased to find that she would be working with him (he’s interning for a lawyer and will be gathering all of the details and pertinent information regarding her contract dispute with her manager.) He can tell that she’s not cooperating and so offers to leave and that she can request a different intern. But she stops him.

Meanwhile our wannabe boxers are training for their match. Khun Palat spots Ai Wan training and looking determined to earn his kiss (lol) and our Khun Palat seems to be bothered by it. Heh, but Ai Wan’s hard work is only a show for Khun Palat’s sake. When the man leaves, Ai Wan falls to the ground in exhaustion.

Back at the café, Rose tells Preuk to make sure to do whatever it takes so her case doesn’t go to court, but if it does, he has to ensure she wins. He tells her that she is in the wrong, she violated the contract, so she needs to accept it. He will do his best to make Namwarn come to a settlement, and if Rose has to pay up, he will do his best to see that she pays the least amount. BUT he cannot turn something wrong into something right, which irks Rose because why would she waste money on a lawyer then? He prompts her to call his professor and replace him, to which, Rose shuts up.

Reurng pays her monthly dues to Sia Gampon’s minion. Little Pian openly gives her a letter from Gamnan Term, which raises suspicion from the minion. He listens closely to see if there’s anything that requires reporting to his big boss. Reurng tries to cover up by saying that it’s a letter from Khun Palat but her cousin keeps saying it’s the contrary. Until well, Khun Palat shows up to remind her that she needs to practice because he overheard that Ai Wan is practicing hard so he could have his kiss, and plaster the picture on his night stand. Lol. Reurng uses Khun Palat as a distraction and agrees to start the training by jogging. The minions look on at them warily.

They jog all the way towards the spot where Gamnan Term frequents, the minion’s car on their tail.

Reurng jogs around the older man and tells him not to make a move today because they are under suspicion. Gamnan Term nods his head. Khun Palat is none the wiser. Finally, this seems to appease the minion and he leaves.

By the time they reach her house (30 minutes jog back), Reurng is out of breath, winded, but Khun Palat looks like he could go for another round. He tells her to get up and stretch, she can’t sit down right after a run. She shoos him away and says that they need to take it one day at a time: today they run, tomorrow they box. Khun Palat reminds her that there aren’t many days left until the match up, and if she keeps this up, she will definitely get kissed in front of everyone. I wonder who’s more concerned?

So they train next, Khun Palat telling her to punch harder. Ai Wan’s minions spy on them from under the hut. Little Pian made Reurng aware that they are being watched, so Reurng gives them a good show. She starts by gurgling the water in her mouth and spatting it on the ground, right on top of their heads. Lol. Then she feigns exhaustion and weakness, saying that she might be coming down with something. The two minions smile in glee. Little Pian tells her to remove herself from the competition then, but Reurng says she had already given her word, she has to persevere. Khun Palat could only look on with confusion and concern.

The minions report their findings to Ai Wan, and tell him to stop practicing. He should prepare on how he would kiss her. Ai Wan is concerned for her well-being and offers to tell her to see a doctor. But the minion advises him to wait until after he kisses her, then he could take her to the doctor. Haha. They are such dorks.

Her mom races back home, overhearing that her daughter is sick. She’s concerned that they will be even more in debt should she lose this fight. She offers to forfeit the fight. But Reurng fills her mom in on her plan: she’s just widening the betting margin. The more people bet against her, the more money they would win. Her mom is still concerned that as a woman, her strength can’t compete with a man.

Wan tells his dad to up the wager for his fight, but his dad thinks what he has is enough for now, he doesn’t want to get in trouble with Momma Wieng. But she has already found out and demands they put in five times the wager because of her personal vendetta against Momma Bancheun, who has beaten her in every beauty pageant when they were younger.

The onset of the temple week’s festivities starts with offering the monks food. The following day would be the fighting match between Reurng and Wan.

Khun Palat is at first busy gluing Nai Umpur’s wive’s high heels back together, before they could offer the food. Reurng and her mom are responsible for preparing said food, but as Khun Palat excuses himself to wash his hands, Reurng accidentally walks into him with her tray of food. She places her hand on top of his as to steady the tray, but when she tries to let go, her hand happens to be glued to his! Ha.

She tries to stop him from making his offerings to the monk, as she doesn’t want people to see that their hands are touching. They are forced to do it together and everyone watches on with mixed emotions, Kamjorn is grinning, but they don’t know that it’s not on purpose! Haha, so cute.

Luang Taa Kong does his blessings for the people as well, the full moon blessings allow for a year’s worth of love. The crowd gets closer and is revered by Luang Taa. There’s potions, lucky statues that if purchased, will make you rich etc. Reurng watches on with a shake of her head, the townspeople are naive and gullible. Ai Wan shows up with his gang and asks Luang Taa for one of those lucky pendants he could wear for the fight tomorrow; he wants her to simultaneously fall in love with him as they’re fighting. Then he says he’s gonna go and brush his teeth for the kiss tomorrow. Heh.

Reung and Little Pian plot their next mischief. She knows Luang Taa uses a diluted gasoline to play a trick on the public, so when he showers with it, he doesn’t get burned. So she tells Little Pian to switch out the diluted ones with 100% gasoline. Little Pian exclaims that Luang Taa would turn into a fried duck. Reurng grins. Khun Palat steps in and tells her what she’s doing is wrong.

Meanwhile Momma Bancheun is taking people’s wager; they even have a secret language. ‘Olieng’ which is a drink is a bet towards Ai Wan, and ‘nom yen’ is a bet towards Ai Reurng. Luckily they have a secret language because Sergeant Men arrives and wonders what she’s up to. He even takes a gander at the tally in her book, but doesn’t think anything off the oliengs and nomyens. Before he leaves he tells her that he loves her, lol.

Reung tells Khun Palat not to stop her because she has evidence that Luang Taa is pulling wool over the people’s eyes and she wants to reveal him. But Khun Palat tells her that even if Luang Taa quit his profession, the people who are easily deceived, they won’t stop being easily deceived.

Furthermore, while Luang Taa is blessing the people with water, he always tells them to think of the goodness and do good. One must evaluate a person’s actions with their intentions. He may not go about the same way as the monks, but he means well. This gives Reurng food for thought. She recalls earlier what Luang Taa has told the crowd, in his own, twisted way, he’s making an effect on the people. Reurng and Khun Palat have a moment of understanding.

Little Pian reminds her that they are five minutes away from Luang Taa’s demonstration. She rushes over to stop the mess she is about to cause.

She pulls Luang Taa for a private chat. Reurng tells Luang Taa not to shower with the gasoline this year. She confesses that she switched out the gasoline. This concerns Luang Taa but he refuses to stop, less he ruins his reputation. Reurng feels remorse because Luang Taa said that if he turns into a zombie or duck, he may have deserved it for being bad in this life, even if he didn’t mean any harm on anybody.

Luang Taa proceeds with his act. Reurng finds a way to save him. They start pouring different natural ingredients into the gasoline/oil tub to lessen the effects. Luang Taa appears, smeared with substance. He starts to wash his body with the heated gasoline. The crowd applauds, he does not get scorched!

Day one of the night festival is under way! Little Pian begs his cousin to take him on the Ferris wheel. She finally relents, but Khun Palat snatches the tickets from Little Pian and explains he needs a word with Dao Reurng. Leaving Little Pian peeved that he didn’t get to ride the Ferris wheel.

He tells her he has to resort to this so she won’t run away from him. She exclaims that she didn’t do anything wrong, thus wouldn’t have to run away. Khun Palat says that he’s happy she is able to understand Luang Taa’s intentions. But that’s not all he has to say, he thinks it’s a good idea to forfeit the fight tomorrow. Someone is overly concerned she might lose and end up getting kissed by Wan, heh. He says he’s worried about her because she’s a woman and she can’t compete with a man’s strength. Reurng tells him that she will prove him wrong tomorrow.

Rose finally gets a call from her ‘boyfriend.’ She tells him she already has a lawyer now and things are under way. She is getting tired of being under Namwarn’s management too, who receives a large percentage for the little work that she does. Rose is under a lot of heat with the media regarding the situation with Namwarn. They are even swarming her condo. She hides behind a wall so she doesn’t get noticed and ends her call with Jin.

Sergeant Men comes to see Khun Palat at night and reports that insider information tells him that Reurng is plotting a drug exchange during the temple event tomorrow. Sergeant has arranged for his police force to catch her red handed tomorrow. He asks Khun Palat to keep an eye on Reurng since he’s the event commissioner.

This doesn’t sit well with Khun Palat and he goes out to see Reurng that night, they meet on a small bridge.

“I can’t sleep,” he tells her.

“And coming here to see me is gonna help?” she questions.

“Yes it can help… can you stop being involved with drugs?” he asks.

She darts her eyes away.

“You’re a smart girl, you know full well its harm, it’s the bearer of horrible consequences.”

“And so?”

“Let’s just say I’m begging you to quit messing with drugs. I can only warn you.. you’re a smart girl, you can recant. Ask yourself whether you still have that left in you.” Aw, he’s warning her despite knowing that she’s on the other end of the law.

And the morn of the boxing match commences. Even Sia Gampon made his appearance. Nai Umpur and the Director will serve as the judge; they thank Khun Palat for putting the whole temple event together. Sergeant Men serves as the referee.

The fighters come out with their gears, and we have two people with different fighting methods. Lol. Ai Wan has a head protector, because he’s going about the wussy way, while Reurng opts to fight muay thai so no head protector. Phoo Yai is the coach for his son while Luang Taa is the coach for Reurng.

Round 1: Ai Wan attacks by aiming to kiss at her, Reurng evades. She’s finally cornered and he goes in for the big smooch, but only to end up kissing the referee instead!

By the end of round one, Reurng feigns a fall and gets a sip of drink (fake blood.) She gets up and the blood is trickling from her mouth. The crowd sucks in her breath, Ai Wan screams her name.

They take a break.

As the crowd is distracted, Sia Gampon excuses himself to make a phone call.

Luang Taa has seen the cheating endeavor and says he didn’t want anything to do with it. But Reurng politely reminds him that she helped him yesterday, it’s his turn to help her out.

In a wooded area, Sia Gampon tells his minion to come out in twenty minutes. Little Pian happens to be taking a piss in the corner of when he overhears Sia Gampon’s phone call.

Confident after witnessing Ai Reurng losing, Phoo Yai throws in more money.

Meanwhile Little Pian comes back and whispers into Reurng’s ears regarding the latest development on Sia Gampon, and she decides she can’t waste any more time, she’s changing her plan: she must knock Ai Wan out by the second round.

Ai Wan is counting his eggs before they hatch and telling his daddy and mommy to prepare the things one would need to ask for Reurng’s hand in marriage. There’s no way she would refuse him in front of the crowd. Will he ever learn? Daddy tells him not to kill her.

Round 2: Reurng lands a hard kick to his stomach, then two more kicks against his ribs. The crowd gasps as they see her punching his head and throwing a knee to his stomach. She lands an elbow to the head and finishes him off with a back kick. Ai Wan is out cold. Reurng wins!

As the elders reconvene inside the temple, Reurng immediately dashes off, causing the rest of the police force to follow suit. Khun Palat jumps into the back of the police truck. We have a chase on our hand, but they can’t keep up with Reurng. She spots Gamnan Term following the baddie’s truck as planned, and she cuts into the wood to catch the baddie from the other side. She even has to wait for the police to catch up to her.

She leads them right into the villain’s truck- the cops finally realized as Gamnan Term tells Sergeant to pay attention to the supplies in the truck (pumpkins) even though Sergeant has a mind to follow Reurng. Much to his surprise, there are wads of drugs stuffed in the pumpkin, looks like they just had a major drug bust essentially fall into the palms of their hands. Khun Palat trails his eyes after the motorcycle that has disappeared for a while now.

At the fighting ring, Momma Bancheun is happily counting her money. Reurng finally reappears and Ai Wan tells her it’s time to ride his back (ride his neck is essentially what he said, but we know he meant piggy back riding.) But Reung has another bright idea to sidestep this, she offers her mom instead. Ha. Ai Wan thinks she’s cheating, but Reurng didn’t specify who would be riding his back. Reung says that if he doesn’t honor his words, then he’s like a dog not a man. He starts to make a deal to ride his back around the temple, and Reurng adds money to the deal until at the end, he has to carry Momma Bancheun and owe her seven thousand baht. Ha. Ai Wan carries Momma Bancheun, with total exaggeration that she’s too heavy. His parents don’t know where to keep their faces.

The annual temple’s celebration ends with a success, raising money for the temple. Luang Taa adds in the money gained from his demonstration and from the construction bet of the shower stall. Reurng donates the money she earned extra from Ai Wan not adhering to his end of the bargain (7 thousand.) Not to be outdone, Sia Gampon adds in his large amount and the crowd cheers, impressed.

But much to his chagrin, police sirens ring outside of temple. Sergeant and Khun Palat reports to the Director that they have busted a drug operation, about 20 million baht worth of drugs were discovered. Sia Gampon frowns, but he chimes in that as civilians, they need to help the police in cleaning out the corrupted and bad people in society.

Later he takes it out on his minion who lost him a lot of money. He reports to his boss that an insider for the police is Gamnan Term. Incensed, Sia Gampon orders his minion to kill both the driver of the pumpkin truck and Gamnan.

Khun Palat seeks out Reurng while she’s feeding the ducks and surmises that she isn’t actually a drug dealer then.

“Are you asking, complaining or talking to the ducks?” she questions. Heh.

“All of the above. Tell me, do you have anything to do with them?”

“It’s whatever you think,” and walks out of the duck pen.

“Hey- Dao Reurng-“ he calls after her.

“If I say no, would you believe me?” she asks. “And if I say yes, you would believe that, wouldn’t you?”

“But what you did earlier seems like you were leading the drug dealing. Who’s side are you on anyway?”

“My family’s side, some of the work I do can be right and sometimes it can be wrong. But everything that I do is for my family,” she explains, “Let’s just say that I’m on the correct side and intend to do what is good.”

“I ask because I have concern for you,” he says. “Do you understand what you’re doing is dangerous? If you have a problem you can consult with me. I am always willing to help you. Let’s be friends.”

After a pause she says, “I’ll agree to be friends with you,” she offers a brief smile, “since you have shown me that you are worthy of a friendship.” Aw.

At Phoo Yai’s house, the whole household is struggling. Ai Wan is hurting, Phoo Yai and the wives are crying over the amount of money they’ve lost. Ai Wan is determined to get even, but his father tells him to stop competing with Ai Reurng. Heh. But his mommies are on board this revenge ship, and wonders how he’s going to go about it. Ai Wan says in the most ambiguous way, in a man’s way. Mm hm.

The Director awards Dao Reurng with some cash for helping out with police work, Reurng says she can put the money to pay off Sia Gampon’s debt. The Director warns her not to make any defamation remark since they don’t know for sure who’s behind the drug dealing. But Reurng is certain. The boss says it’s a good thing she got away and that they don’t see her face, because she’s real ballsy to drive right in front of them. He told her to watch them from afar, not to make risky moves. Resigned, he excuses her to leave since the longer she stays in his office, people would be suspicious. Reurng advertises to the Director that her services are available should he’d like to utilize her again.

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Thoughts:

Remember how I said that the village works in their own, quirky way? Perhaps they are dysfunctional, but on the core, they are all good people who may do the wrong thing, but have their hearts in the right place.

Dao Reurng grew up in her town but she fails to see that particular goodness or essence in her own people. With Khun Palat’s guidance and reminder, the man whom she sees is deceiving the people, isn’t all bad. Perhaps the method by which Luang Taa makes money is bad, but he has good intentions and has a huge effect on guiding the town to do the right thing and be good. At the end of the day, not only should we look at the actions of the people around us, but their intentions as well. Another good example is Sia Gampon. From the outside, he may do all of the good, right things, but deep down, he has evil intentions. Dao Reurng has learned to differentiate between the two- and even for herself too. She may produce alcohol and gamble, but she’s doing it for her family and she’s not selfish. And what I have come to like about her is that when she knows she messed up, she will do everything that she can to make it right. I can respect that.

As for our Khun Palat. I like his faith in her. No matter how much he knows she’s involved in sketchy things, or misinterpreting that she’s drug dealing, he thinks she has the potential to be good and do the right thing. This deputy is real invested in this town too, but most definitely, despite telling everyone that the townspeople’s welfare are his concerns, he’s particularly interested in her welfare: whether she will lose the fight and get kissed in public, or whether she’s involved in illegal activities. When you don’t care about someone, you don’t lose sleep over it. And he’s certainly losing sleep, worrying about her. Cute.

There’s certainly not a lot of romantic relationship development or interactions for that matter– perhaps Khun Palat is slowly “liking” her- but mutually, this relationship is blooming into a friendship. Now that he has proven himself to be a worthy friend, perhaps down the road, he can prove to be a worthy life partner too?