Khom Khlang – Episode 3-4 – Recap and Review

When we last left our Cop and her Mae Khru, Peem worried Bulan cast a love spell on her using food. 

So, she’s skipping Bulan’s breakfast AND coffee

Bulan is hurt, but makes Peem take food to work. Peem immediately gives it to Sarge, who passes it under his legs. 

Peem asks him if it’s truly possible to be cursed by black magic. He uses his wife bewitching him into moving there as proof. I think he’s sorta being serious. His wife is a disciple of Bulan, like many other people. 

Bulan returns the dancing figurine to the school and gets Peem’s necklace back from the teacher. 

Peem tries to find another place to stay, but only finds an annoying teenager who hits on her. The teenager, Priew, has an even sillier girlfriend with a motorcycle with illegal modifications. Peem has the motorcycle taken away, and then takes Priew home. 

Priew, it turns out, is Sarge’s daughter. 

Peem joins the family for dinner and gets to hear them loudly argue

After dinner, she asks Sarge if he worries about his daughter’s behavior.

Sarge is most worried about how Priew and her girlfriend keep fighting, breaking up, and getting back together. Peem guesses they’re each other’s safe space, or they wouldn’t do that.

She asks Sarge about why he moved there. He says he used to transfer everywhere and never settled, so he decided to build a home there. It was like a safe space, a home. The place where the people who love you, and you love, are waiting.

Peem gets drunk. Then, without anywhere else to stay, she returns to Bulan’s. Bulan isn’t happy with drunk Peem, and doesn’t want to share her bed. 

Also, she doesn’t bind people against their will

So I guess she knows Peem thinks she cast a spell on her. Peem apologizes, and Bulan gets poetic about wanting Peem to be hers, and hers alone. But not when she’s drunk.

Then Bulan goes to her prayer room and dusts off a book with instructions for making those bullets.

The next morning, Bulan is gone, but she left Peem breakfast. Finally, Peem eats it.

At work, Peem discovers her boss has been keeping information about Krating from her. He’s been spotted in Mae Sot, but her boss says the station there is handling it.

Peem is Not Happy. She enlists Sarge’s help, and they go to Mae Sot to ask random people on the street if they’ve seen Krating. They stop for lunch, and Peem spots Krating’s picture on the wall of customers. She’s on the right track.

Peem is grateful for Sarge’s help, but he’s worried about her and what she’s doing. Also, his wife arranged an appointment for her with Bulan.

At Bulan’s sanctum, Bulan asks if the alcohol cleared her mind, and Peem promises not to cause her trouble like last night. 

Bulan would never perform a ritual on Peem, because she knows how she feels about them. Also, she can make people fall for her just because she’s beautiful. True. With that, they start making out. And More.

Time to make those Magic Bullets

Bulan wants to make sure Peem understands how important it is to go into this with virtue and faith. Peem promises to uphold justice. She can’t let go of her vengeance, but she would never desecrate anyone’s faith, and has faith in the teachings of Buddhism. 

Bulan returns the necklace to Peem’s neck, telling her not to give it away so easily again. Peem thanks her and calls her Master Bulan for the first time. Staaaaaaaaaaaring.

Afterward, Bulan hands Peem a folded paper with a list of sacred materials she needed to make the bullets. 

Over the phone, Peem’s mother tells her Phu is still in a coma, and they’re waiting for him to wake up. She doesn’t want Peem on this case anymore. Peem promises she’s okay. 

And a voice from nowhere says, “Liar.” 

Next, Peem meets with Sarge’s contact within the Mae Sot police, Inspector Chon. He tells her what he knows about Krating and promises to reach out again if he can. She tells him she wants to capture Krating with her own hands.

Now, she needs to get all the materials for the bullets before nightfall, or she’ll have to wait a month for the next full moon. 

Peem goes on an amazing scavenger hunt

One by one, she meets five mysterious men who put her through various tests. All of them have the metals she’s looking for either on or IN their bodies. One of the men is actually dead. Several warn her about the danger of misusing the bullets and having the power turned back against her.

In the end, she has Blue Bornite, Pure Copper, Fabled Iron, Zinc of Yore, and Wild Mercury. But she’s out of time to collect the last two ingredients.

At home, Peem us upset about her failure.

But Bulan tells her she hasn’t asked everyone yet. She has the Untainted Silver. And Peem’s necklace has Lustrous Gold. But Bulan won’t let her use it, and has gold she can use instead.

The next day they go to Master In’s Sanctum. He’s Bulan’s father. It’s empty.

On the wall is a picture of Master In with the men who helped him make the bullets last time. They’re the same men Peem met while collecting the sacred materials. 

The sanctum also contains a forge. Bulan explains that in dangerous times they needed more than just spells and incantations. They also had to be masters of weapons.

Peem wonders what cops could do in a world of supernaturally advantaged criminals. Bulan urges Peem to have faith and believe.

While they wait for the full moon, Bulan takes Peem to a waterfall

Peem learns that Bulan didn’t always want to become a Master. Even though she was very sick as a child and only healed by praying for aid, she was still skeptical and stubborn.

Then, later, she took a sip of liquor and nearly died. She couldn’t afford to be stubborn. Following this path was in her blood, and if she tried to escape it, she’d die.

At one point, she wished for death, but her father told her to live. Her karmic soulmate had already been incarnated, and she needed to stay so they could meet.

Peem worries she’s not that person. If she isn’t, she wants Bulan to be happy with that person.

Bulan reassures her she’s the person, but they need to deal with the bullets first. Peem’s still worried this is all because of Master In’s prediction. Bulan reassures her the feelings are real and not to think too hard about what her father said.

Suddenly, Peem is worried about Bulan being alone if she dies. Bulan says that even if Peem dies, her love will not die with her. So Peem promises to take care of herself and live a long life.

Awww, Bulan is crying and tries to hide it. Peem promises to make it up to her for all this bullet-making work.

Then, under the full moon, Bulan makes the bullets

Meanwhile, Krating is at that restaurant! He gets a call that “they did it”, but says they’re all going to die anyway. He puts out a cigarette on a surveillance photo of Peem. 

Peem suddenly finds a cigarette in her files. She rushes around the station, and then sees Krating through a window. But when she goes after him, he’s… done something to the other cops.

They’re standing oddly, their eyes different colors. Krating is there, and he does something, and the cops start growling like tigers.

The Kuman Thong tells Bulan that Peem is in danger.

There’s definitely stuff going over my head here

It could be the show isn’t explaining it. It could be a translation issue. Definitely, I don’t know enough about Thai culture and Buddhism. 

I’m not sure how Peem knew where to go to get each of the materials, though I loved that section. The actors playing the men with the materials were great. They looked like character actors. I wonder if we’ll ever learn more about them.

And I love how we’re outside of Bangkok, going on this adventure. I like Sarge when he’s not talking inappropriately about his sex life. He’s a nice guide/older brother figure for Peem, connecting with her over being outsiders and trying to look out for her. 

But Bulan’s story of becoming a master confused me. I’m not sure why she wanted to die. Because she was sick? Why did alcohol nearly kill her? Is that why she hated Peem being drunk?

The speed with which Peem and Bulan have connected is also startling to me. Like Peem, I worry it’s driven by the supernatural, because they seem to barely know each other. 

I suspect/hope this karmic soulmates thing won’t be just rainbows and flowers. I’m ready to see whatever adventures/emotional trauma it puts them through.