Nai Amphoe Chet settles in his new district, learning the big and small players. We get an introduction to Chet’s personality, and what he is made of. At the same time, Saleen looks for a job at the Amphoe’s office but finds herself going a different direction. As she sees firsthand that Nai Amphoe Chet fears no one, not even the influential Phor Yai Loi, we are all like Saleen, feeling a little bit safer with Nai Amphoe Chet steering this ship. So, hop on everyone, the ship is sailing. 

EPISODE 2 RECAP

At Nai Amphoe’s house, Taeng-on (Long Chat’s niece) is seen preparing the bed for Nai Amphoe’s move in. She’s flamboyant and flirty as she puts on an act (for herself? There’s no audience) and pretends like Nai Amphoe is ravaging her. When Chet does stroll into the room, his eyebrows raise way up. He questions who she is and how she got to be in his house. Taeng-on begs for forgiveness but two seconds later, she spreads herself on the bed and tries to entice him, lamenting that she would do all the chores at the house since he’s looking for a housekeeper. Chet disregards her invitation and takes off for a bath.. and Taeng-on offers to scrub his back for him. Lol. Chet orders her to finish the tidying up and leave, but Taeng-on adds that she could stay on with him, which got her kicked out of the house.

 

Saleenda settles in a motel and is relieved she doesn’t have to put on her manly act. Her mom calls to check on her and questions if the hotel is up to snuff. Just as Saleenda says it’s fine, she hears of an altercation from right outside her door. Mom could hear the commotion through the phone and warns Saleen to stay in her room. Mom repeats the sentiment that Saleen should come home and leave the investigation to the attorneys. Saleen doesn’t back down from the danger, as she has a pocket knife at the ready. Lol. She’s determined to find Pong at all cost.

The following morning Saleenda (in Yang’s getup) makes her way to Nai Amphoe’s office. Chet requests that Long Chat find him a new housekeeper, preferably a boy. This makes Long Chat worry that his niece might have done something inappropriate (ha). Chet reassures the older man that he it would be more convenient having a boy around because he could ask the boy to run night errands if need be. Long Chat offers Taeng-on to move into the house with Nai Amphoe, to which Chet declines and is adamant in having a boy instead.

Long Chat wonders if Nai Amphoe is gay because his niece is beautiful, but he turned her away. Just as he wonders who could fill in the shoes, Saleen (as Yang) approaches Long Chat inquiring if there is work available and that she finished high school. Long Chat replies that the office is full and besides, an acceptable education level is a Bachelor’s degree. Saleen reiterates that it doesn’t have to be a desk job, she could do anything really, which gets Long Chat’s wheels turning.

He tells Nai Amphoe that there is a boy interested in taking on the housekeeping job, and Chet wants to accept the boy right away since it came as a recommendation from Long Chat, but Long Chat is quick to tell the man that Chet needs to interview the boy first because they just met. Thus, Nai Amphoe proceeds with the interview, and when he takes a good look at the boy, he’s suddenly struck with the familiarity of his face. He flashes to the picture of the old Nai Amphoe’s family, and questions if they have met before. Saleen declares that they’ve never met before. Chet gets up and peers at her closely, lamenting that he feels like he has seen her face before. Lol. Saleen assures him that it’s the first time she has seen HIS face. Chet relents that maybe he has mistaken her for someone else, though he doesn’t stop staring. He says he’s trying to determine whether she is a boy or a girl, ha. Saleen declares that she’s a man, and questions if Chet happens to think that she’s a girl. Chet taps her head and says he’s actually wondering if she’s transgender. Saleen guarantees that she’s 100% male, and after a long pause, Chet tells her to prove it by taking off her clothes. LOL.

Saleen freaks out and crosses her arms over her chest. Chet tells her to get out if she can’t prove it because he requires a man. After much consideration, Saleen takes off her jeans and turns around to show Nai Amphoe her bear boxer (muttering under her breath that he’s a pervert). Nai Amphoe Chet seems to be satisfied that she is willing to prove it, so he tells her she can stop. Saleen couldn’t get her pants on fast enough, haha. Chet offers her the position and they negotiate the starting wage. At first Saleen says she’ll take whatever he wants to give her, and he starts off at two thousand baht, which she balked at, so he asks if that is too low. When she replies that it is indeed too low, Chet says that he likes people who are honest with him. They settle with five thousand, but when Saleen learns that she won’t be working at the Amphoe’s office, but at the Amphoe’s house instead, Saleen declines the job. LOL all that for nothing?

Long Chat thinks she’s too picky for her education level and that working at the Amphoe’s house is a piece of cake compared to working at the administrative office. Saleen reiterates that she wants a job at the Amphoe’s office. At the same time, Loi happens to pay a visit to the Amphoe’s office. The minute Saleen hears his name (people referring to him as Phor Yai Loi) and lays her eyes on him, she flashes back to when dad tells her that Loi had been the one to accuse him of the wrongdoings. Saleen clenches onto a fruit knife and glares at the older man, who is expecting her to pay him some respect.

Win orders the boy to give Loi respect, but Saleen doesn’t even bat an eye, she questions why she should put her hands together when he’s not even her dad. Loi finds her rude but Saleen doesn’t back down, if anything, her eyes got even more fierce. Win steps in to pounce on Saleen, but Nai Amphoe Chet’s voice roars for him to stop. He demands to know what happened. Loi relents that it’s just a misunderstanding, but Chet challenges the man, and says that it looks like the boy is going to get hurt. Win says that he was going to teach the boy a lesson of respect, because everyone in Panomphai pays homage to Phor Yai Loi. Chet agrees with Saleen and levels his eyes at Low, “does that mean I must pay you the same respect?”

At that, Saleen peers up at Nai Amphoe Chet like he’s her hero.

They settle in Nai Amphoe’s office and Loi apologizes on behalf of his hot-headed employee. Chet advises Loi to have a firm word with his employee and to cease his bullying because there are laws he must answer to. Loi gets into the heart of the matter and says he came by to make his introductions. Chet doesn’t believe that is necessary since he’s sure they would run into each other around town. Loi wants him to know that it’s only polite to understand what place is high, what place is low, who is big and who is small. Chet leans forward and questions if Loi is referring to Nai Amphoe being big or Phor Yai being big. I love that Chet calls Phor Hai Loi just “Khun Loi” showing the man that he isn’t afraid, and that he’s definitely not “big” here. Loi chuckles and says that if they are here, Nai Amphoe Chet is big, but anywhere outside of here, anywhere in Isan, Phor Yai Loi is big.

Loi offers a small present (bottle of liquor), but Chet firmly declines, he says he does not drink. When offered gold buddha necklace, Chet relents that it is against the rules for him to accept gifts. They have a staring contest until Chet ends their meeting to go do his job. Loi is confident that Chet would not disregard him in the future.

Chayan reassures Loi that even though he got moved from his old role, he will manage to get those ID cards for Loi. Brazenly, Chayan asks for the bottle of liquor as he’ll make use of it. He cross paths with Nai Amphoe and spites that it is not against the rules to embrace a gift.

Saleen watches Loi leave the premises and vows that she will put him in jail. She then approaches Chet as he is getting on his bike. She tells him that she has a change of heart and would like to work at his house. Chet retorts that he is no longer going to accept her, because when he had given her the opportunity, she had rejected it. Saleen wants to kick herself as she watches him take off in his motorcycle.

Meanwhile Pong is found at a local eatery. A reporter asks to speak to him regarding his witness stand against Nai Amphoe Kreuk, but Pong declines and throws a punch at the reporter when he doesn’t stop. He makes a run for it, the reporter tries to make chase but the first bike he found belonged to Taeng-on, who would not let him borrow it. She thinks he is going to steal it instead. Chet steps in and recognizes the reporter immediately, it is his friend Sukom. “Kom” questions with distaste on whether Taeng-on is Chet’s wife but Chet corrects him. Kom and Taeng-on bicker again on the details of why they are bickering, lol. Kom leans in and says that the person he’s tailing is very important, which earns him a slap to the face. Chet stops the fight and apologizes for his friend.

The two men reconvene at a restaurant stop, Kom is surprised to find Chet working at the countryside. Chet reminds his friend that he likes the challenging things in life, the harder the better. Kom also explains that he got assigned to work as a reporter in the region as well. He gives his friend a word of advice, be careful here, it’s worse than a cowboy movie. Lol. Case in point, in walks Loi’s daughter, Yodying, with two bodyguards flanking both sides (loaded with guns). She doesn’t like that Chet and Kom are staring at her and questions exactly that. When they don’t answer, one of the bodyguards’ demand answers, he doesn’t care that he’s talking to Nai Amphoe and pulls out a gun.

She asks if he knows who she is, and Chet doesn’t flinch as he says he knows exactly who she is and who those men work for, but there are laws that even the most influential must answer to. She agrees with Chet, that no one is bigger than the law and backs down. In her car, she slaps the man for embarrassing her. Kom says that Chet never changed, he doesn’t back down ever. Chet relents that there’s no reason to, he’s not in the wrong. Kom offers another word of advice, don’t mess with this gang or he’ll end up just like the old Nai Amphoe. Chet inquires about the older man since all he knows is what the man was charged with.

Kom gives him the downlow, people in town thinks that Nai Amphoe Kreuk was accused with drug dealing and letting foreigners in the country because Phor Yai Loi wants him out of his position. Though Kom isn’t aware of the details of their disagreement, some speculated that Phor Yai Loi hired someone to make those allegations. He tells Chet about Pong, the person he was tailing earlier. Chet says it sounds like Nai Amphoe Kreuk is a good person, Kom surmises that that is the case because during his time here, people have only good things to say about Nai Amphoe Kreuk. Chet asks the question everyone wants to know, if Nai Amphoe is truly good, why hasn’t any of the cops defend him? Kom says that no one would dare go against Phor Yai Loi, he owns the cops too. Kom advises Chet again that he ought to turn a blind eye, but we all know it is simply not in Chet’s nature to do that.

Night falls and we see Saleen waiting outside of Nai Amphoe’s house, as Yang of course. She thinks back to how he defended her against Phor Yai Loi and is pleased that he doesn’t backdown. Saleen is still determined to work at Chet’s house and refuses to leave. When Chet finally arrives, she apologies for declining his offer earlier. Chet stands strong even when she gets on her knees. But as he starts to walk away, he suddenly stops. Aw.. can’t stand to ignore a poor little puppy, now can you Nai Amphoe Chet?

COMMENTS

We are settling in nicely with Nai Amphoe Chet in Panomphai. I really like how Show takes its time in introducing us to Chet’s character, and the type of people he’ll be up against. We get reminded that the opponent is powerful and fights dirty. Chet may be inexperienced, but he certainly makes up for it in gumption, knowledge and backbone. He is also starting to learn more about Nai Amphoe Kreuk, the man before him, and his sense of justice is starting to peak.

Who’s excited that Saleen is going to be living with Nai Amphoe?! Oh the shenanigans we’re going to get into. With a show that likes to give us a lot of details.. I am here for ALL of the detailed hijinks.