She Doesn't Believe in Magic… Yet | Khom Khlang | EP 1 | Reaction (TIER Exclusive)

„Khom Khlang“ starts with a little flashforward as police officer Peem barges in on a ceremony by master Bulan, with whom she has something important to discuss. Bulan just stands up and gets close to Pheem. After the credits, it’s a day earlier, as is trying to keep awake while she and her brother Phu are waiting for their suspect Krating and Peem arguing that it wasn’t easy getting a lead of his hideout. Peem vows that never in a million years will she let him slip though her fingers. But Phu thinks that ever since what happened with Pat, she’s been working herself to the bone every day, and he argues that she needs to take a break. Peem acknowledges that but claims that she tried, yet hasn’t slept soundly since. She’s afraid that if she falls asleep, something bad will happen again. Phu wants her to know that Pat’s death wasn’t her fault, and he puts a little gift box for Pat out of the glove compartment arguing that next month would have been Pat’s birthday, and claiming that she came to him in his dream once, as if to collect the present he had promised to her. Peem asks him how she looked in his dream, and Phu claims she was just the same, and that she was wearing her favorite blue floral shirt she got from Peem. Phu claims that she loved that shirt, wearing it even after it tore and kept mending it. Peem wants to see her too, and Phu proposes to visit her together on her next birthday. Peem agrees, claiming she has a present for her as well. After this expository talk, Krating shows up, and Phu informs their backup as Peem just sneaks ahead after him. Phu struggles to keep up with her, but follows her. As they are watching Krating’s henchmen carrying a lady inside, they decide to intervene. They arrest a couple of henchmen, then Peem runs after Krating who just punches a police officer ignoring her orders to stop. She shoots him, and he goes down. As Phu joins her, she investigates the state that Krating is in, reporting that the guy was shot once into the torso on the radio as four officers are injured. But Krating is wearing a henna tattoo on his chest – and is not dead. He quicky kicks the gun out of Peem’s hand and puts her in a chokehold. He calls on Phu to shoot him as he unties Peem’s hard and throws her at Phu. Peem barges after Krating as Phu checks their colleagues. Peem looks for Krating, but he assaults her and a skirmish ensues with Peem dropping her gun again. Krating claims that she is annoying as he is tossed against a wall, but Peem wants him to not even think he will get away from her. Krating asks what he ever did to her to make her fixate on him like a dog with a bone, then claims it’s her little sister Pat, arguing when that wench was on his bed – but Peem tells him to shut up. Krating adds that her sister really took after her. Then, they both dive after the gun Peem dropped, and after another brawl, Peem lands beside the gun as Pat reaches them gun drawn, telling Krating to stop. But his gun is jammed, and Krating get close to him and starts to punch and kick him. Peem tells him to stop and picks up her gun – but Krating casts a spell that lets the bullet from her gun just drop at contact. Then, her gun jams as well, and Krating picks Phu’s gun and shoots him several times calmly. As Peem rushes to Phu, Krating escapes. Peem remembers Phu’s talk about Pat’s birthday as he is carried into the emergency room. Peem looks at her blood-stained hands and is devastated. Later, her parents arrive, her father in a police uniform, and they just hug each other as she breaks down crying claiming to her father that she’s sorry. We return to the scene between Bulan and Peem from the beginning, and Bulan asks Peem what it is that she wants, arguing anyone who comes there comes with a troubled soul, and she must wait her turn or leave. Peem agrees to wait in her car, then. At night, she approaches Bulan as she wants to leave, but Bulan claims the sanctum is now closed. Peem argues that she wasn’t waiting for her just to tell her that the sanctum is now closed. She then formally introduces herself as Lieutenant Phitcha Ruechakun nicknamed Peem, a detective from Bangkok. Bulan wants to know what she wants. Peem needs bullets that can stop invulnerable criminals with impenetrable skin, the kind who practice black magic like she does. Bulan claims she doesn’t practice black magic, and claims that there is nothing that she can do for her. But Peem accuses her of just not caring enough to help, and she is happy to double her daily fee in exchange for making those bullets. Bulan just tells her to leave before he finds herself in affliction. Peem claims that when people said her father was such a benevolent man, it was all a lie. And everything being fabricated there is just a scam to exploit people’s faith, she argues. But Bulan claims that she must question whether Peem is here in search of justice or merely to have her aid her in killing. Peem vows to never kill someone outside the law, she’s there to uphold justice. Bulan claims that Peem plays with faith, but she has none herself, so what in all realms could possibly come to her rescue? Peem asks what she has to do to get her to help her, claiming she still has faith in goodness and argues that anything auspicious should aid those who think and do good. Bulan argues that should she be determined to find answers to this matter, she should stay the night at her sanctum. Peem asks for what, and argues if she’s not going to help, there’s no reason for her to stay, and she leaves, with Bulan arguing that if she doesn’t come before her that night, she shouldn’t expect a peaceful slumber. Peem is alone in her hotel room still carrying Phu’s present for Pat. She remembers talking to her father, who claimed Phu’s surgery went well, and he will probably be transferred into a recovery room the next day. Then, he claimed that what she witnessed was called sorcery. Peem googles about an “invulnerability yantra” and the talk with her father continued as he reported that back then, he didn’t believe that such things were real, until he witnessed them with his own eyes. He reported that he was assigned to capture a criminal in a robbery-murder case who knew sorcery it turned out, and was invulnerable to any bullets or blades. His boss had to summon a master from the North to capture him, who made them bullets that could hit the target when used justly. She asked her father about this master he was talking about, but he had passed away many years ago. But he had a daughter to whom he passed down his sacred arts – Bulan. Peem take off her amulet and goes to sleep, remembering Bulan’s warning. Bulan meanwhile talks to a ghost of a child who calls her mother, whom she claims will be born again in a better realm when the time comes. The ghost claims not to go anywhere and will stay there with her, then it talks about the person she invited to stay the night, wanting to know who she is. Bulan claims that she is someone her father said she would eventually cross paths with, whom she invited to sleep in her sanctum because she will soon face danger. Peem is having a hard time during sleep, as ghosts seem to tie her to the bed. She manages to turn on the light, and the ghosts disappear. She realizes that she holds the amulet she put on the nightstand in her hand. After that, she returns to Bulan who awaits her. She asks her if she will help her with the bullets, if she agrees to stay the night there, but Bulan wants to see first if she makes it through the night as she leads the way to the sanctum. Peem goes into a rather small room arguing that she’d better not find out that Bulan opened the sanctum just to scam money out of people, or she will make sure she gets nice and settled elsewhere. She lies down on a mattress, but gets spooked by some noise and asks who is there twice before going to investigate it gun in hand. But she doesn’t find anything but the lights on in Bulan’s office – who talks to the ghost again who claims grandfather didn’t allow her in, not even to teach her a lesson, and claims it could not touch her. It hears a mysterious voice, and Bulan claims that it’s something that closely follows her. She goes out and tells the many ghosts who have gathered on the lawn to return where they came from, vowing to make sure they are never born again if they don’t comply. She makes an incantation to bless a knife and deals with one ghost, then lets the other ghost be consumed by fire she evokes. The next day, Peem looks for Bulan who suddenly appears behind her asking what she’s doing at her home. Peem turn around and get awfully close to Bulan, but after a moment steps back apologizing for it. Bulan just goes away, leaving Peem with her questions – and her request for bullets – alone, as she gives alms. Peem maintains that they need to talk about the bullets thereafter, but Bulan offers her to join her in giving alms as a monk arrives. Peem doesn’t join in giving alms, but kneels down and prays with Bulan as the monk gives his blessing. Bulan then tells her to make a water offering for her karmic enemy, and to dedicate part of her merits to those who are still trapped in the karmic bond, claiming that will ease her suffering. Peem touches Bulan’s hand as the monk is chanting another blessing. Bulan hands her the water to pour it at a tree stem thinking of Pat, then she wants to leave, but tells Bulan that her sister’s full name was Pichapat Ruechakun, who passed away the year before. If the person she talked about is her, she wants her to tell her how she’s doing. She’d also like to know if she’s doing fine right now, because ever since what happened that day, she has never seen, felt or even dreamt of her. We get a flashback to the last time she talked to Pat, giving her a ride home in the car, but she forgot her phone, and while fetching it from inside, Pat couldn’t cope with being raped and recorded to be blackmailed, essentially becoming a slave, and decided to end her life by shooting herself in the head right in front of Peem. Peem reports that from that moment on, she hasn’t been able to sleep soundly because she is scared that if she falls asleep, she will lose a loved one again. Bulan claims that Pat is not filled with joy, but neither is she as troubled as when she was still alive. Peem wants to know how she knows that, and reports that her brother and her were chasing down the culprit so he could be punished, but her brother was injured and is now in critical condition. Bulan claims that she knows what Peem wants, but argues that it’s best to give up. If she meddles with vileness, she will only put herself in danger, just as she was haunted by those ghosts and won’t find any peace, she claims. Peem claims not to understand what she is saying, but Bulan argues that she knows too well what she means. If she won’t think of her own life, then she should think of Pat, she argues, consider how she could ever find happiness. But Peem argues the more she hears, the more she has to see it through. She asks her if she has an idea how many innocent people out there apart from her sister and brother have been harmed by those guys, and claims that regardless of what she thinks, those innocent people deserve justice. She has to go home with the bullets no matter what it takes. She asks her father to be transferred to Phop Phra (in the north of Thailand) right now, and thanks him for it, while Bulan is still observing her. As she leaves, a faint smile rushes over her face, and she remembers her father telling her about a person with a mark in an auspicious position on their face – a mark which Peem carries – and reports that they will be stubborn by nature and never one to yield to anyone’s objections, but that will be her karmic soulmate. He asked her to stay there and not to leave them, for one day, they will come to her. And that is where the first episode ends, excepts for a code which shows Peem getting transferred to Phop Phra to investigate a case of human trafficking and – in her words – eradicate the ones responsible, no matter where they might be hiding, and with Bulan arriving at the station for some unknown reason. ____ This was rather slow, but better than “Hideaway” as it gave Peem and Bulan a purpose early on. I am a sceptic by nature, so I search for a rational explanation for everything, but “Khom Khlang” at least seems to follow an internal logic which postulates that sorcery exists, and I can deal with it as long as that internals logic is followed. This remains to be seen, as remains to be seen how much of a GL this will be, but I hope it’s more of a GL than “Hideaway” (which in the end was more of a dreary meditation on karma than anything else). The first episode was slow, but fine, and scared me less that “Hideaway”. 😊

The only way I'm able to watch this one is thru reactors. Seen it once with another reactor and was scared and didn't get it. Glad you are reacting so I got another perspective. It was better 2nd time around. Really like it even tho it scares the beejesus out of me. Already watched 2nd ep. Confused again. Will wait for you

I‘ve read the novel and fell instantly in love with it. When I heard that Starhunter would do the adaption I was hyped and couldn‘t wait. I can say the first episode blew up. It was even more than I expected. They did a really good job, the acting is pretty good in my opinion. The scene with Peem at the hospital brought tears to my eyes the first time, you could really feel her emotions. The storyline is very different from what we‘ve had till now in GL‘s. This one is more dark, more mature but also brings us a bit closer to the thai culture and their beliefes. So that is something I‘m really enjoying. It‘s very different from other GL genres, so this fresh air is actually refreshing. For the rest I won‘t say much because I don‘t want to spoiler. I‘m happy you found it and hope you enjoy it as much as we do🥰

Ahhhh I'm so happy someone is reacting to this show