Craving for an action drama? Perhaps with a love triangle? Dao Kon La Duang may be of interest to you. Taking over Monday-Tuesday timeslot on Channel 3, and produced by Arlong Production, we have Grate Warintorn starring as Thanat (or Nat), a police captain who undergoes a hostage rescue mission gone bad. While risking his life to save the last two hostages, the entire cabin explodes, and he is presumed dead. Leaving behind a very distraught love interest, Dr. Chalanthorn played by Boom Suphaphorn, who has now lost two people whom she cared deeply about (the first was her little sister from a car explosion.)

Which is why, after mourning for three years, Chalanthorn (or Lan) decides to live in the present and give herself a second chance with a traffic police by the name of Wasan (or San) played by Pop Thagorn. He is Thanat’s best friend and ever since his friend’s presumed passing, Wasan had waited patiently and stayed by Chalanthorn’s side. You can imagine how happy he is to be exclusives with Chalanthorn. But not even before he could utter the word girlfriend, his dead friend appears literally out of nowhere after three years.

Thanat gets reintroduced to society as the new leader of a special force called Irawan (whose mission is to eradicate contrabands), there is a badass female agent named Supika, played by Mew Lakkana. She recently saved Richman Sunai (Phet Thakrit) from an ambush, but her team failed in safeguarding the culprit who was silenced. Thus, the boss puts Thanat on the helm, convinced they need an experienced and skilled leader. Supika doesn’t trust Thanat’s abilities, thinking he got the job due to nepotism (dad’s the general).

Wasan questions Thanat on why it took him three years to return, but Thanat replies that it’s a long story, and one that he would like to share with Chalanthorn by himself. Wasan doesn’t tell his friend that Chalanthorn has become his girlfriend. Instead, when Thanat finally decides now is the time to meet his girlfriend (after apparently seeing everyone else and securing his new job), he overhears Wasan asking Chalanthorn to choose between two items: a lost, old item that she loved or the replacement item she has come to love. What item would she choose to keep? Wasan, I get what you’re trying to say, but you and Thanat are not collectible items, as much as we want to collect you. The question was not lost on Thanat though, and he listens for Chalanthorn’s answer. Chalanthorn replies that no matter how much she loved that old item, she can’t go back in time, and so she would choose to stay in the present. Wasan is ecstatic but Thanat is hurt.

Instead of going after her, Thanat veers the other way. Wasan stops him, wanting to make things clear. But Thanat has heard everything and he doesn’t want to hear about it, at least not now. We see in the flashback that Thanat and Wasan are best friends who trained together. One day Chalanthorn had been assigned to teach them about the psychology behind villains and we see that the two are smitten by this smart and pretty teacher. Thanat has every right to feel angry or even disappointed, but at the end of the day, they thought he was dead, and Chalanthorn isn’t Lan Zhan who would wait forever for his love, girl’s gotta move on. It was the only way for her to heal from the pain of losing both her sister and her love.

I really wish Thanat would show himself to Chalanthorn, she deserved that at least. I bet he came to Bangkok, went to the grocery store, bought a new phone, go the bank, see his dad, danced with a special agent, shot at some people, and saw his bestie BEFORE he thought it was time to approach his girlfriend. Sure, he showed up like a ghost a few times, made Chalanthorn question her sanity for a minute, but would just disappear again. Now that he’s heard the answer regarding the lost ITEM, he gets all butthurt! Let’s be the bigger man and at least tell her that you’re alive and she can make a decision.

I feel that the show does a good job in making me feel empathetic towards Wasan, I’m even rooting for him (second lead syndrome anyone?), but we got to see how his character is feeling (or maybe Pop just does such a great being relatable), so now I hope to see the story behind our male lead. And ultimately, what’s his deal. My eyes are on Phet as well, wow he looked great in a white suit, but he’s kind of a baddie (ok he might be the big bad after all) but it wouldn’t be the first time I’d fall for the bad boy. And Mew is so cute! She has her eyes on Wasan, even though she doesn’t know who he is yet, she saw a video clip of him doing muay thai fighting and he beat out her champ. Now she’s dying to recruit him for her muay thai team – but she’s gonna be happy either way when he eventually joins her Irawan team. I’m looking forward to Pop-Mew! The first episode is action packed from its first second to its last. I hope this show will satisfy the cravings for a police action drama with romance and competition thrown in the mix.