This week’s episodes continue the upward spiral of breaking ratings records and fanning the lakorn fever. I think what makes it even more exciting, then, let’s say a good lakorn that people watch a few years ago, is the influence of social media i.e. Twitter and Facebook. Now fans swarm Twitter with its appropriate hashtags and gone are the old ways of watching lakorns. You can fangirl with other fangirls, people even tweet pictures of their viewing parties, complete with looking the part! So it’s no surprise that the ratings skyrocketed and the lakorn is the number one trending on Twitter. But let’s not kid anyone here, the Show itself has a great story at its core, phenomenal directing, and amazing actors to bring the story to life. Namely, the romantic throughline of Phor Daed (Pope Thanawat) and Katesurang (Bella Ranee), their chemistry is so on point, creating some serious squealing every time they are together. I kid you not, I think I live for one of Phor Daed’s smiles now, so don’t break his heart, Katesurang! (We’ll get more into that later).

First, this week closed a chapter in a real historical figure’s life, Kosa Lek, who was framed for receiving bribery and was whipped so horridly that he never recovered from it. His farewell was done so beautifully, well this Show does everything so beautifully, but everyone knew Kosa Lek’s weakness is Constantine, a young man whom he took under his wing and taught him everything about trade in Ayutthaya era. He was his muse, so to speak, which is rare considering he’s a foreigner. But he became an insider, and poisoned the King’s mind regarding Kosa Lek. Though even at his final breath, Kosa Lek laments that it’s not Constantine’s fault, it’s his own fault for trusting the rogue so much. Which has now become the King’s weakness, who places his trust in Constantine also. The farewell to Kosa Lek was a tear jerker because even the people who would be considered bad, shed a tear over his death. It goes to show that people can’t be labeled just good or bad, but it’s what they do that defines them. This offers really full dimensional characters.

His death changed people around him and moved the story forward – the three musketeers (Phor Daed, Khun Reung, and Ok Ya Than) began Operation Take down Constantine. Katesurang gets a whiff of them being up to something and tries to tell her Khun Phi that if it has anything to do with politics, he should keep her in the loop and trust her. She finds out that he must have been responsible for burning down the English facility since she smelled smoke on him, though he denies it at first. I love how she accidentally told him that she’s glad he made it back safely since she had been worried. This caught his attention as he zones in on her face, “You were worried about me?” Katesurang wants to take back what she said, “Says who, I was worried on behalf of aunt/uncle.” Phor Daed doesn’t drop it though and gets real close to say that she must have been worried since she was up all night waiting for him. Katesurang feigns a big yawn and relents that she’s sleepy now. She finally urges him to consider her an insider and to stop sneaking around and tell her everything. Lol. Phor Daed lets her return to her room with one of his killer smiles.

We finally get to visit the elephant in the room: their pending nuptial. As we’ve seen in previous episodes, Phor Daed’s feelings for Katesurang has grown leaps and bounds. But suddenly the green eyed monster paid a visit (in more ways than one) when Phor Daed gets jealous of Katesurang’s giddiness in spending time with Khun Reung. He doesn’t even know how cranky he gets when he sees them together, but his poor servant, Ai Joi, gets the rough end of the stick. It’s pretty hilarious to watch, Show never drops the funny, which is something I appreciate. He does apologize for his behavior to his servant, but it told everyone around him how much he cared about Katesurang. He finally makes up his mind and tells his mother to start prepping for the wedding, much to her surprise and chagrin. I love how he tells his mom that he doesn’t worry about himself, he only worries about Katesurang. We also finally know why Mae Prik still doesn’t trust Katesurang, she thinks the lady is only pretending to change and be nice so that she can marry Phor Daed. Mae Juang argues that the marriage is inevitable so Katesurang wouldn’t need to do that because there’s no way in hell Khun Loong would ever go back on his words with his best friend. Katesurang overhears all of this and frowns in dismay – but Mae Prik has a good point when she said that people don’t change even if the world comes to an end.

Namely, Karakate, who pays a visit to Katesurang. Previously it sounds like Karakate is remorse for her bad actions, for hurting people. But her visit in today’s episode did not show any progress for her. Katesurang is surprised that Karakate hasn’t been reincarnated yet and asked if there’s anything else she could do to help. Karakate questions whether Katesurang will marry Khun Phi, after replying that there are plans for their marriage soon, Katesurang realizes that Karakate doesn’t want her to, not in her body. She lies that she doesn’t love Phor Daed, but Karakate knows better, she can sense the truth. But Karakate leaves before Katesurang could plead her case to believe her since Phor Daed has appeared again, having heard the tail end of the conversation.

Phor Daed looks at her in his pointed way, “Who are you talking to?”

“What have you heard?” she asks, her eyes darting back and forth, looking for Karakate.

“You said you must do something in someone’s body.” I’m getting goosebumps here.

“Whose body,” she returns the question.

“That’s what you need to tell me,” he says. “You can tell me,” he urges. “What do you want me to call you?” OMG.

Katesurang begins to tear up and looks at him, “One day you will know everything, I promise to tell you everything.”

“Why can’t I know now?” he asks, taking a step closer, looking at her so deeply it hurts to watch.

“Because I’m not ready to tell anyone.”

“You don’t trust me the way that I believe you?” He asks, leaning closer and closer.. as if to kiss her.. but a candle fell to the ground. Damn, Karakate, what a buzzkill.

This scene was painful in its own way. He’s right in that he believes her in everything she says, he cares deeply about her, yet she hasn’t reciprocated the honesty. It makes me wonder why she feels that she owes Karakate? For one, her spirit got tangled up with her and she get to essentially live again in Karakate’s body, but I feel like she’s missing the one piece that will help her make a decision. Can someone tell Katesurang that she’s actually DEAD in the present time? I know she wants to do good deeds and made a promise to Karakate (which is unlikely she could keep) that she would not marry Phor Daed, all in an effort to send Karakate to rest in peace and reincarnate. Let’s think about that for a moment. The chick is floating about needing to reincarnate! Why is this Katesurang’s hill to die on? Unless her incentive is to send off Karakate and then reincarnate herself, or to go back into her body, but the issue is that we haven’t been given a light at the end of the tunnel. We can only guess as to why Katesurang is doing what she’s doing, because at the end of the day, Show hasn’t thrown us a bone and let us know some sort of incentive/goal for Katesurang.

Because our lady has entered Ayuthaya, planted her very presence in everyone’s heart, and rattled their life, let’s not pretend that she’s going to leave anyone unscathed, much less herself. I’m in a corner here waiting for the moment to understand why any of this means anything. I’m in a corner here, watching Phor Daed picking up the pieces of that broken jewelry, patching it up with his adorable smiles and I’m dying.

Phor Daed approaches sad Katesurang by the dock. He picks up where they left off and asks her how he should address her. She doesn’t answer, but only expresses her reluctance to answer. He guesses maybe she’s thinking about Khun Reung, (green eye monster has reared its ugly head) and Katesurang relents that it is hard to answer.. but in a last ditch effort says that she MISSES Khun Reung. Phor Daed’s face changes immediately as he flourishes away in anger. Katesurang admits that she wonders if Khun Reung is her dear friend Reung, and after 10 episodes, she decides to ask Khun Reung if he recognizes her. Like wtf? You’re asking him this, now? This prompts more alone time with Khun Reung, which of course gets Phor Daed even more jealous.

Though good ole Khun Reung admits he has never met Karakate before and that he’s going to see Mae Ying Janwat to help her mend her broken heart. The woman not only lost a father, but also a potential mate in Phor Daed. Khun Reung likes to be the silent hero who goes to see her and just be there for her.

I wish that Katesurang would heed Khun Loong’s advice. When she picked his brains about how trade worked in Ayuthaya and what they actually sell, she starts to get homesick when discussing how there are not a lot of woods back where she’s from. Khun Loong tells her that thinking about the past won’t fix anything, the important thing to do is to look at what’s in front of her. Listen to him! He knows what he’s talking about!

Because she really doesn’t know what’s going to happen after Karakate reincarnates. But there is one truth among those many unknowns. She has that adorable man in front of her, ready to accept her for who she is, and ready to spend the rest of his life with her – even if the rest of her life could be short. That’s some seriously romantic notion. Even if, let’s say she doesn’t want to hurt him and she promised not to hurt Karakate, then she ought to tell him the truth. He deserves to know the truth.

That night, during one of their moon gazing nights, Phor Daed comes up behind her, close enough to kiss her ears. She tries to walk away, but he pulls her close. Usually he would get a shy smile, but this time (because Katesurang is determined to keep her promise) she asks him to let her go. His face falls as she walks away because he thinks she has feelings for his friend. The next morning the elders gather together to discuss the upcoming wedding. Phor Daed studies her closely, not missing any nuances in her expression. He notices that she’s sad and asks her later on whether there’s anything that’s keeping her heart from trusting him. Katesurang was in the middle of talking to Karakate, who is now hiding in the corner (but Phor Daed can’t see her anyway). So Katesurang keeps evading and telling him to leave her room, but Phor Daed wants her to hear him out. He says that he won’t let her run away from him and that he will never let her go. Wow, let me pick up my jaw from the floor. Phor Daed is also determined to keep his promise.

Karakate hears the exchange and immediately disappears in anger, leaving Katesurang distraught and wondering what she could do to make Karakate believe her. Like why? Whatever sins and bad karma that Karakate has done in her life, needs to be repaid by her and her alone. Katesurang is a nicer woman than I am.

The sad exchanges are killing me and I just want Phor Daed to smile that smile of his again, because don’t his smiles just give us life? Ok I’ll just speak for myself. This show is so good, it’s bad for me.