My Romance Scammer 1×01 Review: Episode 1

I support gay rights and gay wrongs, which is one of the reasons I’m so excited about My Romance Scammer.

Obviously, I celebrated the legalization of gay marriage in Thailand – which became law early last year – for several very important reasons, like the recognition of queer love, the hard work of equal rights activists, and embracing equality in a world that seems to be shifting further away from it. But another, shallower part of me was really excited about what this would do for BL. Many shows already ended with proposals or vow ceremonies, even before the union would have been recognized as legal. But now, not only can these fictional couples get married for real, but they can also get fake married. Enter My Romance Scammer.

My Romance Scammer is the story of cousins Pai (Mark Jiruntanin) and North (Poon Mitpakdee), who are the heirs of a billionaire tycoon. They could not be more different. Pai is calm, reserved, and responsible, managing one of Bangkok’s many extravagant malls. North is immature and flighty, desperate to avoid anything remotely resembling responsibility. While North is the romantic, Pai is the one being pressured to marry.

Enter their suitors. Tim (Junior Panachai) is an architect who charms Pai right from the start; the two have an adorable meetcute that ends with them falling into one of the mall’s many water features. Yu (Ohm Thitiwat) attempts to rescue North when he slips while crossing a rope bridge. (It’s arguable how noble this act is, given the rope bridge is only about a foot above the stream, and the stream didn’t look that deep.) He gives North a trinket to remember their time together, and upon returning to civilization, North tracks him down.

What Pai and North don’t know is that both Tim and Yu are scammers, after the cousins’ considerable inheritance.

I have been eagerly awaiting this series, and the first episode did not disappoint. Admittedly, this show went on my backburner after the initial announcement at GMMTV’s 2025 lineup presentation. But after seeing Junior and Mark in Perfect 10 Liners, I moved it up my list. This is also the first show for newly-formed pair Ohm and Poon, so I was excited to see how they would stack up. (I liked Poon and his previous partner, Marc, but they were hastily formed due to a recasting and I don’t think they ever really gelled that well. And the only thing I’ve seen Ohm in – other than his guest role on P10L – is Until We Meet Again, which is a very different role.)

MarkJi mentioned at one point during the press tour – or it may have even been during the special preview – that this show is going to deal with the aftermath of the cousins realizing they’ve been scammed. BLs tend to follow a pretty standard formula: some episodes of build-up (the number varies), a confession, becoming a couple, some sort of misunderstanding in the last episode or so, possibly a breakup, then a reconciliation in the final episode. I am very excited to watch a show that deals with something hugely messy – like a marriage con – and is more about how the couple recovers from that betrayal.

It’s also interesting that Tim and Yu are very different kinds of scammers. Tim is a pro at this, although we don’t yet know enough about him to ascertain whether this is a full-time job or just something he does to supplement his income. He has a very professional-looking website for his architecture firm, which may or may not be a façade to mask his identity. Whatever the reason, he has clearly done his homework, as his crime wall would suggest. (It’s very rare to see a crime wall from the criminal’s perspective.)

Yu, on the other hand, seems to be going into this with a whisper and a prayer. Whereas Tim carefully manipulated his way into Pai’s life, Yu literally just stumbles across North while out on a hike. He has no idea North is rich until North offers him ฿250 million (about $8 million) as a “dowry” when he tracks him down and proposes. And Yu doesn’t know who North even is until they’re signing the marriage certificate. So it’s not like he intentionally set out to con North.

The way the show handles these reveals is spectacular. Even knowing that Tim had set out to con Pai, I was also charmed by his behavior. The way he crafted everything was brilliant. He was endearing, he was humble. He continually showed up where Pai could see him so that he was always on his mind. But the pièce de résistance is how Tim must have sprayed cologne on his business card, so that Pai would notice and recognize the scent when Tim walked past him, therefore catching his attention. Sheer brilliance.

Through a series of time skips, we see the evolution of Tim and Pai’s relationship, which looks to be proceeding at a natural pace. They go on a couple of dates. They’re living together. Then Tim is meeting the family. After a year, Tim is cunningly introducing Pai to the idea of marriage and kids. And it’s only then that we learn that all of this is fake, that Tim is working hard to make Pai fall in love with him while constantly having to remind himself to not do the same.

I normally hate time skips, but they’re necessary here. If we’re going to get to the wedding itself – if we’re going to see Pai learn he’s been betrayed – then we have to skip the initial relationship. It isn’t real, after all, so it doesn’t matter. Except, we can see at the end of episode 1 that Tim is already failing at his most important rule: don’t fall for the mark.

It’s such a shame that, at least up until the tub scene at the end, this relationship is fake, because they’re so cute. Their meetcute is epic; I lowkey hate that it’s manufactured. Pai accidentally liking a shirtless pic of Tim and then freaking out about it is adorable. I love the way Pai calls Tim “teerak”. I love the trope where both of them end up proposing. It’s literally the perfect relationship… because Tim is doing it on purpose. (He should write BL.)

Yu and North have a whirlwind “courtship”, if you can even call it that. They do seem to have a genuine connection. They get lost in the woods and have to huddle together for warmth, which is perfection on a number of levels. And then it is North who tracks Yu down and proposes. Yu even tries to talk him out of it, until North pulls out that check. I think it’s pretty obvious that Yu accepts North’s proposal because of the money. That is, after all, a lot of money. I think a lot of us would be hard-pressed to turn down that much money, especially if the giver was as adorable as Poon. And I appreciate that Yu does at least try to do the right thing.

Until we get back to Yu’s apartment, after he’s learned who North is, and you find out that he intentionally went hiking with the goal of meeting someone wealthy. (I did not realize that hiking was a “rich person” thing.) I do think that he truly liked North, especially given that he didn’t stop to think about who he was marrying until he saw North sign his full name on the marriage certificate. But he went there with the intent to scam, and I wonder if there was something about North that indicated he was rich.

I can’t wait to see how this plays out. We know from the trailer that both scams are uncovered, but we don’t know how everything comes to light. Yu’s and Tim’s methods obviously clash and they may end up causing issues for each other.

But I’m also excited to see how Yu and Tim deal with the fallout and how they convince their respective husbands that their feelings are real, after lying through so much of their relationships.

I am seated and ready for the next episode. Be gay, do crime, everyone.

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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