Who’s Team Are You On? ‘Petch Tud Petch’ Premiers!

Even before the first episode aired, I posed a question on what team you’d like to be on, Team Weir or Team Mik in Petch Tud Petch, way before you even knew what side is the right side, or even if there is such a thing as the right side, because you know, your heart wants what it wants. Well I am here to report to you the first look of this action-packed lakorn, where every minute is chalk full of fighting scenes, you’ll wonder if both sides of the party would even survive before you could submit your vote.

The show opens with men who are in the midst of an assassin training for Ega Payayom, a terrorist organization on an exclusive, private island called Koh Ega (Crow Island). We’re first introduced to Chat (pronounced Chaat) who is played by Weir Sukkollowat who looks more like he is running away instead of fighting to the death to win this training battle. Yord (Mik Thongraya) hunts him down like a dog, determined to show everyone who’s the strongest of the bunch. But he also knows that Chat has plans to escape the island and the organization.

Towards the end of the session, when the assassin trainees are battling on the beach, turning the water into a blood bath, Madam Lui, Leader of the organization, commands everyone to stop. She commends the three remaining trainees (last men standing) for their job well done and wonders where Chat is, the one person she praises to be the best of them. We see Yord sniggering when he hears it, displeased that he’s not considered the best. Yord explains that Chat ran away and he asked for permission to prove his skill by hunting down Chat. He claims that Chat wasn’t born to be an assassin, he was born to be a corpse. Damn. Madam sends some of her men to see to an important task regarding the Prime Minister while Yord and the new minions are tasked to drag Chat back to their compound.

Chat manages to escape the bombs and gunfires, and infiltrates the airlift control room, only to discover that the next airplane won’t take off from the island for another hour. He decides to hijack a private plane himself and skillfully fights off Ega Payayom men. However Yord stands in his way, prompting Chat to question whether Yord realizes what this organization is doing to them- they are turning them into murderers. He tells Yord to come with him and get out of hell. Chat even tries to lure Yord and questions whether he was going to let the person he loves think that he’s dead. That gives Chat pause as he flashes back to his girlfriend’s face. But his own face immediately sours as he mutters that he wants to show her a different Yord. Then he heads butt Chat and vows to drag Chat back to the compound and show everyone who the true Ega Payayom is. Damn.

But Chat is the best and most skilled fighter for a reason. He manages to hijack a plane and throws a box of bombs to deter Yord. But as the plane takes flight, Yord fires a bazooka which sends the plane crashing down. Yord smiles and is convinced that he had killed Chat. However the organization is much more meticulous than that and sends out their drone, searching for Chat’s body. They’re not convinced he’s dead until there is a body.

The drone happens by Bai-Lu (Kwan Usamanee), a secret spy agent who is part of the KCAS government unit. She’s on a mission to find out about Ega Payayom’s hideout/compound. She’s been working for years trying to find it, when suddenly she sees an unconscious man who looks deeply hurt by the beach. He was shot and bloodied up, and she’s convinced that she needs to help him since he must know something about the organization. But she soon realizes that this is no ordinary man. As she’s taking a shower, the man creeps into the bathroom, determined to get the upper hand and find out who SHE is. But Bai-Lu is also skilled in combat so she fights him off, claiming that he’s ungrateful for the fact that she saved his life. They tussle and Chat is still the better fighter as he pins her on the bed. Bai-lu decides another tactic and says that she can’t trust him if he’s acting like the bad guy. So Chat lets her go and takes possession of her passport and keys until he’s assured that she’s not a threat to him.

Bai-lu lies that she’s just a tourist with an expired visa and trying to stay on her favorite island a little longer. She’s half Thai-Chinese (HK descent) and studied nursing in HK and now she’s teaching diving classes in order to earn a little money so that she can stay on the island. She further explains that she didn’t take him to the hospital because didn’t want to call upon undue attention to her situation. Chat just gives her his ‘whatever’ look and takes off with her dirt bike.

We learn a little more about Yord who gets a shower scene too, although he’s extra angsty as he recalls the past. Apparently he was dating a rich girl named Rassamee but her dad doesn’t approve because he’s poor, but it doesn’t stop there because dad seems to be the gangster type who has a slew of men who would be more than happy to kill him. Those men attack him. Even just thinking about the past got Yord angry all over again as he slams his fist into the wall.

This is how Madam finds him and she mutters that he’s weak sauce. She claims that he’s no different than Chat, clinging onto his own past and only wanted to use the organization’s power and opportunity to seek his own personal vendetta. Yord promises that he’ll do anything she asks, and Madam wonders if he would kill himself if she asked him to. He doesn’t answer so Madam clenches his throat in a death grip and spits that she owns him now. She gives him another chance to hunt Chat.

As Chat is on his way out, he stops by the island’s convenience shop to get gas and doesn’t sense that the seller quickly reports his finding. Suddenly Ega Payayom men swarm the area, but Chat skillfully fights them all off. Until he’s one on one with Yord now. Yord has a gun and gripes that he’d blow Chat’s brains out by now if Madam hadn’t ordered him back alive. However, Yord is determined to bring Chat back in the worse possible condition. They fist fight again and Chat looks like he just might lose when a truck swerve in and saves him. It’s Bai-lu, saving his ass for the second time.

Back at her house, Chat isn’t at all thankful that she helped him, he tells her to stay away and mind her own business. And they also fight each other to prove who’s better, but Bai-lu manages to use pepper spray on him. She keeps questioning who he is but Chat claims that he’s already a dead person and it won’t benefit her in the least to know who he is. When he asked her back why she’s such a good fighter when she’s a diving teacher or a nurse, Bai-lu gives him the same answer. Lol. These two.

What makes this encounter even funnier is when Chat ties her up so he can leave, but he spots a police by her car. He quickly comes back and tells her what she wants to hear in order to keep her quiet: Yes you’re the best, most skilled lady fighter I’ve ever met! I’m sorry I won’t do it again! Hahaha. Bai-lu keeps quiet and when she sees her partner by the truck, she smiles in secret – then she lies to Chat that the cops must be after HER because she “borrowed” the car. The two knock out the cop and takes off together.

Yord is not too far after them as he found the house. When he goes inside, Bai-lu’s partner hides quietly. Yord spots the diving badge and tells his fellow trainees (though none of them get along) that he will go after Chat while the two should investigate the diver’s background since she must have saved Chat. Due to the situation, Bai-lu’s partner comes clean to their secret unit and now her boss and her father learns that Bai-lu has strayed from her tasks again. It doesn’t sound like it’s the first time based on her dad and Big Boss’ reaction. Big boss orders them to find Bai-lu so she could get her punishment.

Meanwhile Madam Lui as Chairman of Krao Corporation collaborated with the Prime Minister in supporting a cause together. He thanks her profusely and Madam Lui, ever the businesswoman, says that her company is always mindful when it comes to supporting a good cause.

Chat and Bai-lu make it to the big city and Chat wants to split up now, but Bai-lu continues to tail him, knowing that he’s the key to Ega Payayom, or at least he could give her more information. But suddenly she loses sight of him and we see that the Ega trainees spot her. Chat hears a familiar tune on a violin and sees a young lady playing on the street. He smiles and hides behind a car as he listens, then he flashes back to a scene in the hospital where he assures the same girl that he’ll be here when she wakes up from her surgery. Is that his sister? Back at present time, he spots an Ega trainee.

The Ega woman grabs Bai-lu from behind and uses a drug to snuff her away. Bai-lu tries to fight her and was successful for a minute, but was induced to unconsciousness. As they carry her back to the van, Chat appears and tells them to put the lady down. He tries to tell them that the organization is not their family and that they’re being brainwashed, but the two trainees don’t listen. They get into a fist fight but they’re no match for Chat.

Yord spies on his granny since he happens to be in town. He’s uncomfortable to see her living a rough life as she’s rolling a cart trying to sell stuff. The local thugs come by and steal her money, they even hurt her, but Yord follows them as they leave the alley and bashes their heads in. He tells them that they will stay away from this granny or be doomed. Yord even makes sure that granny gets her money back, but as he turns away from the house, he hears his girlfriend/exgirlfriend’s voice. Shocked, Yord finds out that it doesn’t matter that he has disappeared because Rassamee is getting married soon. He follows her back to her house where he sees the fiancé. Yord clenches his jaw.

Bai-lu finally comes to but she’s still groggy from the drug. She spots Chat by the truck, being a grease monkey. He tells her to eat and they can talk, although it took Bai-lu having to stumble on her butt and getting carried in Chat’s arms before she listens. Lol. I love her stubbornness. Chat finally tells her that she should not meddle with his affairs because those people who were trying to take her were after him. And they’re no ordinary people, in fact, they belong to Ega Payayom. That doesn’t seem to surprise her of course, so she presses as to “where” he was running away from. Chat doesn’t answer though and tries to get under the truck to fix a few things. But suddenly Bai-lu recalls seeing her partner under the same truck and realizes that he must have put a tracking device on it. She distracts Chat so that he can’t get under the truck, while the police force swarm the site and prepare to infiltrate the building. Eeps!

This show does not waste a minute without action. Every time I put words down, they fight again, I mean, that makes it tough to recap because how many ways can I describe people fighting or blowing each other into smithereens? It’s the type of show that it’s best to watch, especially if you’re an action fan. Having said that, I get that they’re introducing the characters and the story, but for a show that is almost two hours long, I think they could have provided a little more backstory about Chat and how he ended up in the organization in the first place, aside from all of the action scenes. Chat seems like a righteous, prudent guy, why was he being trained as an assassin? Did he die and was promised a better life? Or did something bad happened and he just disappeared – then the organization faked his death- and giving him a place of solace to be reborn? I like our guy right off the bat, but I really want to know more about him.

I felt that the first episode did give us glimpses into Yord’s ambitious nature, who doesn’t mind throwing people on the ground if it makes him look good, but we also get to see that he’s ambitious because he hated his poor and lowly life. He wants to be a bigger man the next time he faces his girlfriend, but I want to know if he’s doing that to say “in your face” or to get her back? What is all of this assassination training and willingness to be Madam’s dog mean to him? So he could use her power to get his revenge? I’m not sure if I even like Yord as a character, but it’s good that he has a backstory. Kinda sad to see Mik playing such a character, but he’s doing a good job. I will say that Weir is looking even more appealing these days with his lean and mean body. Geez Louise this man is fine, and he gets a really cool character to play too? Goes to show it’s ALWAYS about the characters that make you fall for them, not always the actor themselves (though great acting always elevates it).

For me, the best part about this show so far, or at least this episode really is Bai-lu, our badness heroine. Kwan is so pretty and spunky as Bai-lu that I’m getting a kick out of all of her encounter with Weir.  They are so funny and I look forward to their verbal and physical banter because Bai-lu is as tough as they come. I’ve decided I’ll stick around to watch Weir and Kwan, along with my fast forward button (so no dedicated recaps), because I really don’t need to see that many fighting scenes. I mean, I don’t mind some fighting scenes, but this show just doesn’t stop. I hope that Show will start focusing on the story, the characters and their relationships more and consider great action scene as a cherry on top. There doesn’t seem to be any love lost between Chat and Yord, they just never saw eye to eye, and one seems to resent that the other is better and more skilled.

And because of this, at the end of the day, maybe you don’t really need to choose Team Weir or Team Mik. We got ourselves a kickass Team Kwan. May she stay as sassy and as smart as ever.