Karat Rak aired this weekend – I caught the first episode during Nanowrimo no less (will this add to my 50K word goal?) but I had to take a detour with Anne Thongprasom and James Jirayu who plays the leads in this show. Yes, my forever nang ek (female lead) pairing up with her junior! I had to tune in and grab my popcorn. Typical Sunday night fashion of experiencing a new show for the first time, forget the notepads and dual monitors.

I wondered if this pairing would work! Will James character call her P’Karat? Why is this idea so exciting? And after watching the first episode, I like where this story is going. It is FUNNY, adorable and holds a good balance of zany and innocent. While my enjoyment could be because I am a fan of the leads (who are we kidding, drama watching is a very subjective thing) but I will say that the characters and how they were written is quite enjoyable on its own. Nonfans can enjoy this romcom too!

We have Karat (Anne Thongprasom), who is an executive reduced by her less than successful husband Chakrit, to a woman he no longer finds sexually attractive. Yep, that is exactly what we get the first ten minutes of the opening. Chakrit asks to take a break, as if they are dating and not married with a kid, catching Karat off guard as she’s driving them home. Like he can’t even wait until they are at home, he probably is asking to go to the ICU. 

Rightfully furious, Karat pulls over at a gas station. (Ack such a huge blow when your partner doesn’t find you desirable.) Karat proceeds to show him HOW desirable she is, at a gas station no less, which makes this show HILARIOUS. We have a witness to this scene, college student Ai (James Ji) who recognizes the woman who appears to be enticing a man at the car. He sees her removing her underthings, with only a trench coat remaining. Chakrit is caught between desire and fear, like he regretted what he said. And in that moment, Karat shows us that she had only been making a point to Chakrit. While he wanted to feel sexually attracted to his wife, Karat just wanted his love. A memorable line she said, “women need love the most especially when she doesn’t deserve it.” This reminds me of a quote about children: “Children need love the most, when they deserve it the least.“ I realized I wanted to see Karat being happy, as her husband leaves her, while a younger man watches her in anguish tears.

That younger man Ai, as we come to find, has met Karat coincidentally on several occasions before that human moment at the gas station. Ai has developed a bit of a crush on her through their easy going meet cutes and natural banters. You can tell how Karat is constantly surprised by Ai’s maturity and innocence, he is a bit of an old soul who gives her a different perspective on things. And I love the way he talks? So understanding so adorable, I want to put Ai in my pocket. James is so natural at charming people with his cuteness, it makes you want to protect him. The way Karat looks at him with a loopy smile, is how we all look at him. I think this is great casting. 

I also really like the pairing of Karat with Venice (Pear), her younger rival at work. I am shipping these two?

Sam plays her boss and they are super funny together too. As we close out episode one, Karat is short of a secretary as she hands her less than stellar secretary to her less than stellar husband. We find out the ex-secretary had been sabotaging Karat and probably setting out to seduce the husband. But really the whole gem of the show is to watch Wonder Woman find love again, I am here for their conversations and Ai’s minor squealing moments as he relives his encounters with P’Karat over and over again.