Summaries (Spoilers, Obviously) and Comments

Note: I group summaries by story line, not in presentation order. If you want to know how the scenes actually played out in their official sequence, why not follow this link to the episode and watch for yourself?

Episode 20 Summary:

Noh returns home after skating with Yuri to find that p’An and p’Im are waiting for him along with Phun. Noh is surprised to find Phun there, but the maids rush the two inside. Phun serves Noh the dinner that Noh’s mom has prepared. Noh makes fun of Phun for inserting himself into Noh’s household. Phun asks Noh why he was out so late, to which Noh responds that he took Yuri skating (even though it was actually Yuri who took him skating and there were other people invited). He mentions that they had planned to go to a movie but Yuri changed the plans. Phun asks Noh if he wants to see a movie. When Noh asks which movie, Phun reminds Noh of the movie that Noh once told him he wanted to see. (Note: since it was way back in season 1, episode 2 or 3 that this promise to go to a movie was made, it is very clear that no one actually remembers the movie and Noh barely remembers the promise, which this viewer found quite funny). Phun and Noh pinky swear promise to see the still unnamed movie together.

Since Noh is surprisingly full, the boys head up to Noh’s room. Phun brings up the fact that the music club is planning on giving a concert at the Convent and, efficient bureaucrat that he is, reminds Noh that he needs to fill out absentee approval forms with the student council. He also asks if he can tag along since the student council will need a representative at the event to ensure that the absence is legitimate. Noh thinks to himself that Phun wants to go to the Convent to see Aim and complains that Fi never makes him do such things. He agrees reluctantly on the condition that Phun help carry equipment. Noh asks Phun why he came over and Phun makes up some excuse about company and Pang driving him from the house. After he is chastised by Noh for being a baby, Phun admits that he wants to cuddle with Noh since they haven’t done so in a while. Noh is reluctant to join Phun at first but agrees when he sees how hurt Phun is. They agree to kiss and after a sudden power outage (electricity in Bangkok might be unreliable), we see them pulling their lips away from each other and assume that they took advantage of the blackout to have some of what Noh calls “sweet nectar” in the novel. After the kiss, Phun leaves Noh to take a shower and reminds him to “wait for him”. Noh is about to type a message to Phun in KakoaTalk letting Phun know that he is relieved to know that Phun is aware that he is still waiting, but he decides against sending the message.

At the Convent, Noh and the band have gathered at the gates and note that there is a huge banner welcoming them. A gaggle of convent girls have gathered to honk at the boys, because even though they are supposedly across the street from Friday College and they ride in the same subway cars and walk the same streets each day, the convent girls have never seen the male of the human species up close before. Per and Knott leave to check out the girls. Win wants to know where Ohm is, but no one knows. Jeed introduces herself to Noh as the music club president and offers to take care of him for the day.

Yuri finds Noh and chides him for not calling her. She is selling pudding and offers him some. After Yuri leaves, Jeed finds Noh and offers him food and drink. Noh says he isn’t thirsty and tells Jeed to serve the other members of his crew instead. Jeed isn’t budging when Phun inserts himself between them and feeds Noh a hot dumpling, which he almost spits out. Despite the fact that the dumpling is burning his mouth, Noh ignores the fact that Jeed has a beverage in her hand for him. Unable to get Noh to drink, Jeed leaves.

The band seems to be set up properly and is waiting to go on after the convent dance team finishes their award winning routine. Ngoi appears to be infatuated with Liew and Per is enchanted by Lok. Ohm finally arrives with Film. Mick asks where Ohm has been, which makes Film upset since no one seems concerned that he is late. Ohm claims to have been stuck in traffic (although the convent is just across the street?!!!) and then scoffs at Film for being jealous that Mick is concerned about him. Film parries back with a question about whether Mick and Ohm are gay for each other, which Ohm flatly denies. Film asks Ohm why he doesn’t have a girlfriend, which reminds Per that Mark made fun of him for potentially secretly liking Win. Ohm responds that he just wants to be by himself. Noh brings up the fact that nong Nan is staring at Ohm and Mick asks about her, but doesn’t get an answer. Ohm asks Noh about Yuri, and Noh responds that she’s selling pudding, which makes Knott ask some crude questions about the quality of Yuri’s puddings (which, even as euphuisms for breasts go, is quite lame).

Dance routine complete, the girls exit the stage. Jeed comes over to tell Noh that she’ll be watching him, completely ignoring Khom. After Jeed leaves, Khom follows her and confronts her about flirting with Noh. She rightfully says that it isn’t his business. Khom asks where they stand, and she reminds them (honestly) that they aren’t together any longer. Back beside the stage, Yuri finds Noh and tells him she’ll be cheering loudly for him.

The concert finally begins, with the boys lining up in one of the strangest stagings for a rock band I have ever seen. The stage at the convent must be very narrow, as they boys line up like they have been arrested. It probably would be a good idea to group the horns together and maybe have the bass stand back with the rest of the rhythm section. The random line-up approach seems to work, but I think Ngoi needs to be closer to the drums as he doesn’t appear to know when to play his triangle. The Convent girls don’t seem to notice as they are cheering on the band wildly.

The first song they sing is the theme song to Love Sick, which I understand is popular with the kids these days. The second song is a special song put into the set by Ohm about wanting to hug someone. Ohm denies that he wants to hug anyone in particular and says he wants to hug everyone, but spends most of the song looking at Mick until Noh kicks the two together. Ohm gives Mick his bass, and even though Mick doesn’t really know how to play, they seem to enjoy performing the song together. The final song is about commitment and promises. Knott, tired of Noh and Phun making eyes at each other, kicks Phun on stage and the two sing the song as a duet.

After the concert is over the boys head back to the green room to relax a little. Nong Nan has hired a boy to offer her flowers in front of Ohm in the hopes that he’ll be jealous. He walks right past her. Per is attacked by a mob of girls and barely escapes with his clothes. Relaxing in the room, Noh is chastising Knott for almost ruining the final number by forcing Phun onstage, which hurts Phun’s feelings a little. Nong Nan rushes into the room and attaches herself to Poom, mistaking him for Ohm. She then captures Ohm who tries to push her away with drum sticks. He rudely says that he’s found someone cuter and more jealous than her and then insults her by listing off dog breeds he finds better than she. Undeterred, she complains that no one ever turns her down. Ohm says that he is gay and that finally gets rid of her.

Jeed enters the room and with keychain gifts for everyone that the girls have made. She tries to get Noh to select her key chain, but Phun just selects a random one on Noh’s behalf. Per enters the room and lets everyone know that it will be impossible to safely leave since the girls seem to be hunting male booty. Jeed offers to take them through the crowd. She holds Noh’s hand and since the girls know to be scared shitless of Jeed, they separate so the boys can pass almost unmolested. Yuri is jealous of the attention Jeed is paying to Noh and comes to take him through the crowd herself. After a little argument as to who has jurisdiction over Noh – the music club or his girlfriend – Phun steps in to take Noh away himself.

Rambles

The format of the Rambles will change this week as I’m just not feeling up to the task of trying to produce an essay around the theme of the show, which is the little feelings of jealousy that can arise when lovers don’t communicate their feelings to each other clearly or disclose what they’ve been up to. I mean, come on, Noh, you weren’t really on a date with Yuri and other people were invited to that skating event, so why not tell Phun that and why make it sound like you were the one organizing the date? And Phun – it’s really time for you to come clean about why you’re asking Noh to wait, since he is thinking that you might get back together with Aim.

As for you, Ohm…well, I’ll give Ohm a pass since there was obviously a minor breakthrough on the long slog to admit that he likes Mick as more than a brother. Although he could keep Mick confused forever, if Mick couldn’t see by the end of the episode that Ohm doesn’t like nong Nan and would like to hug Mick instead, I don’t know how much more help to give to boost his confidence. The only thing left for Ohm to do at this point is, well, earnestly tell Mick that he’d like to date him. That should only take 15 more episodes.

The second theme of the episode had to do with waiting, with Noh patiently waiting for Phun to end the relationship purgatory and Mick waiting for Ohm to show up. I guess it is also clear that Khom has decided to put his happiness on hold to get a final answer from Jeed, but that situation has me a little beside myself. So rather than slowing down to talk about patience as a virtue, I’ll just speed ahead with random thoughts.

I enjoyed the kitchen talk with Phun and Noh about promising to see a movie. Neither of them seemed to remember exactly what movie they were talking about wanting to see with each other 27 or 28 episodes back. It’s that awkward moment when you can’t remember exactly what you promised to do that I can relate to. I find myself in that situation from time to time, these days usually because I’ve been too busy writing Love Sick Rambles to pay attention to conversations about weekend plans. At the time Noh made the original invitation to see the mysterious movie, he was still very uncomfortable around Phun and immediately wished he hadn’t given Phun an opportunity to have a date. Now, he’s waiting for that opportunity. Waiting for the waiting to be over. Too bad he didn’t send that message. It would .be o.k. to tell Phun that you’re getting a little worn out by the waiting, Noh, as he’s probably taking that as another sign that you’re not really into him. But in general the whole sequence reminded me that they are already practically a couple. They just need to come out and say so to each other.

I thought Ohm’s put down of Nan was probably a little harsh, but I have no idea what else he could do. Avoiding her didn’t work. Ignoring her didn’t send the message. Sometimes, I guess, people are just asking for humiliation. Just because he isn’t publicly dating anyone doesn’t mean he’s fair game. I guess this is setting the table for Yuri’s eventual fall. I like both girls more than the others at the convent, but neither landing is going to be soft even though I’m sure both girls already know that it is over and have for quite some time.

I can’t really feel sorry for Khom at the moment. Actually, I feel sorry that his character hasn’t been given anything else to do but wait for Jeed to feed him crumbs. Yeah, right, Jeed secretly pines for him around the corner…but so what? Khom comes off as a creep in this episode with his out of the blue “What about us?” question when there hasn’t been anything remotely happening between the two since she broke up with him last season. They dated two weeks and have been separated ten times longer than that now. She’s obviously perusing Noh, fully aware that at least publicly, he has a girlfriend. I can’t see why he thinks she’s still desirable after that kind of classless behavior. I’m sure the fact that she completely ignores him until he confronts her is a turn-on for him somehow. I know her “love” for Noh is a ploy, but there’s no reason for him to think he’s going to get a second shot.  I dread the moment the writers will inevitably get them back together. Our one truly working class character at the boys school is turning into a sop. Where’s the vitality he showed when he was going to fill that money jar and punch Neung out? It’s becoming tough to care about a character who just exists to care about an unworthy love interest.

I’d feel differently about Khom if I thought he had a plan to woo Jeed back. But I think he’s stuck on himself being the nice guy, and that just doesn’t cut it. At least nong Nan tried some foolish jealousy trick and in the end charged into Ohm’s arms. If he’s going to be rejected, he should at least try something, anything, to let us know he’s still alive and not completely worn down from Neung’s bullying and his night job. I think I could get some support brewing for him again if he showed signs of having a plan, even a foolish one.

Speaking of foolish plans, what is Jeed thinking? That the symbolic love magic is going to somehow win Noh over? I mean, if Noh takes her keychain or eats her food, does she really think he’s bound to fall in love with her? Maybe she thinks that Yuri will combust in a poof of jealous smoke if she finds out that Noh has her keychain? I am beginning to wonder if Thai teens actually believe in these little games. Jeed doesn’t strike me as the girl who would believe in Santa Claus at 17, but she apparently believes that there is something in what she’s doing that is compelling and seductive. Phun is a believer, too, which is why he’s quick to stuff food down Noh’s throat this episode. Unless that drink is laced with something, I can’t see why they’d think accepting a drink from someone on a hot day would mean something. Well, since it’s Jeed, there probably was something in that drink. But those are barbiturates, not magic love potions. Honestly, she’d probably move things along more swiftly if she’d just hand Noh a copy of her cover issue Girly Pink with a note that she puts out.

Per and Lok? Well I guess there had to be a reason why Per would try to give it a go with Win. Lok could be the girl to make him realize that taking on a girlfriend so your friends don’t ask why you don’t have one is a bad idea. If PerWin is ever going to launch, and entanglement with the convent’s third meanest girl will probably do the trick. Good luck.

We’ll see in a later episode how Ngoi fares with Liew. I’m not opposed to that pairing, as not ALL of the boys can turn out to want to date other boys, but I was kind of hoping for Ngoi and Munmee or Nan. If Grace isn’t around to influence her, I guess Liew is fine, although she’s also a little dull without Grace as well.

Speaking of her Graceness – how the hell did Jeed get away with assaulting Grace? I really can’t see Grace keeping quiet about losing her hair after a chloroform attack.  Maybe her looks meant so much to her that she just withered away like the Wicked Witch of the West after the last episode. I just can’t see her not tattling to the Convent’s incompetent teacher. But then Lok unbelievably still wants to be on the dance team with Jeed after Jeed’s assault last episode. That’s a rather scary lack of self-regard she’s showing. Great catch, Per. I’m sure she’ll be easy to dump if the time comes. I can’t wait to see what happens.

Up Next

Ngoi comes into his own by using honesty! Phun and Noh finally get their mojo working. And we learn that first dates with best friends aren’t any easier to pull of successfully than blind dates with strangers.

Fearless predictions

• That company who drove Phun out of the house will turn out to be Pop (what happened to him)? (Probability: 15%)
• On their first date, Per and Lok will run into Mark and Win. By the end of the night, Mark will be dating Lok. (Probability: 50%)
• If the above happens, the writers will need to change their names and move to Paraguay. (Probability: 100%)
• Khom will find his true love with someone other than Jeed. Please. Can this boy catch a break? (Probability: 2%)