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?

Chapter 22 Episode Summary

Early in the afternoon on Saturday, Phun wakes up Noh. They talk about how “rowdy” Noh was the night before, when Noh flipped Phun over during sex. Phun seems interested in going at it again, but Noh doesn’t want to waste the day having sex and would like something to eat. Phun wants Noh to shower with him, but Noh resists. Phun reminds Noh that he knows that Noh showers with Ohm, but Noh remains under the blankets and catches a few more minutes of sleep.

At the mall, Noh is complaining about his itchy sweater. I have no idea what the next bit of dialog means and what exactly Phun is shopping for in that store, so I won’t try to explain it. Something about a narrow path that’s apparently a little risqué in the Thai language.  Noh wants to get a bite to eat and Phun offers him a steak.

At the café, Ohm is eating lunch with Mick. He notes that Mick is eating fish and shares some of the fat from his pork chop with him and accuses Mick of trying to diet (even though Mick is already thin as a rail). Noh and Phun sit down at an adjoining table and don’t notice the other pair until Mick calls over to Noh. Noh comes over and starts to make fun of Ohm for taking Mick out on what looks like a date when he should be giving Mick horn lessons. Mick tries to explain that they aren’t on a date, but that Ohm just asked Mick to come along to pick up some books. Ohm tries to interrupt Mick and scolds him for revealing too much information. Ohm then turns his attention to Phun and tries to find out why Phun and Noh are together. Ohm asks what the nature of their relationship is, and while Phun is about say something, Noh interrupts him and says that they are just friends.  Noh grabs Ohm’s lunch and takes it back to his table. Ohm grabs Mick’s lunch and eats it himself.

At home, Phun is obviously upset with Noh and remembers the other times Noh has had a chance to say that he loves Phun but hasn’t. Noh and Phun exchange texts but they don’t speak with each other.

At Friday College on Monday, Noh is late and has not tucked in his shirt. The vice principal catches him at the gate and after caning him a bit makes him do 100 push-ups as punishment. Noh is struggling to do them (Seriously. More half-assed push-ups I have never seen). Phun interrupts the vice principal with paperwork to sign and Noh escapes to class.

In the classroom, Ohm is waiting for Noh. He gives Noh the handout for the class and the boys start bickering again about the truth about their boyfriends. They agree to reveal the truth on the count of three, but as they reach three, the teacher hollers at them and makes them stand in front of the class for the rest of the period.

After lunch, Noh tracks down Phun at the bleachers to thank him for helping him with the vice principal. While they talk, Noh notices that he’s been bitten by an insect. Phun inspects the wound on Noh’s arm when Knott drops by and apologizes for interrupting. Noh struggles free from Phun’s hands and yells to Knott that nothing is going on. After Knott leaves, Noh asks Phun if he can use the calamine lotion in the student council’s first aid kit. Phun responds that he should just go to see a nurse since Noh obviously doesn’t want to give anyone the impression that something is going on between them.

Later in the day, Noh is in the music club room listening to music, upset by the fact that Phun was curt with him. Film is playing the piano and trying to lead the music club rehearsals and is a little tired of Noh’s attitude. He points out Mick and Ohm looking happy together and says that while he was originally upset that Ohm stole Mick out from under him, the fact that his friend is visibly happy makes him support them. He reminds Noh that his friends aren’t going to care who he likes, but warns him that people who are ashamed of their lovers end up unhappy. He feels sorry for lovers who are publicly ignored by their partners. He then gathers the band members for rehearsal outdoors, leaving Noh alone with his thoughts.

Noh changes his ringback tone to a song about love so that Phun will know how he feels when he calls. Phun dials the number and listens to the song. He’s happy to hear it, but because Noh isn’t picking up he leaves the student council office to find Noh. At the end of the episode, Phun opens the door to find Noh napping on the music room floor.

In other news…it is Golf’s birthday and he heads over to Mo’s condo hoping to celebrate. She has been reminiscing about Moan and has forgotten his birthday. He wants to go out, but she says she is sick and wants to stay in by herself. He buys some take out and invites himself over anyway. After the meal, Golf brings out tiramisu cake, which reminds her of the time she tried and failed to make tiramisu for Moan and how he had bought that cake on their anniversary. She is starting to regret breaking up with Moan. Since she is visibly upset by his birthday cake, Golf asks Mo if she wants to be alone. She does and he leaves. Dejected, he returns to his condo, throws the tiramisu away and goes out.

For the third time in as many episodes, we have a “goodbye, Aim” scene…this time its Jeed and Yuri’s turns to say goodbye. Jeed confirms with Aim that she is leaving. Jeed says it is sad that she won’t be able to see her, but before she can say anything else, she notices Yuri and walks over to her to scowl at her. Aim is reminded of an early time together with Yuri when they had just met. Yuri brought Aim sweets that Aim was afraid to eat because her mother didn’t want her to be fat. Young Yuri decided that if she opened the package for Aim it wouldn’t be the same if Aim had opened it herself. Young Yuri opens the package so they can share.

Yuri comes over to Aim with a parting gift to say goodbye. Aim apologizes to Yuri for everything, although Yuri isn’t fazed by anything Aim has done. Aim starts to explain that she needed someone who would care for her no matter what and when she couldn’t find it…but Yuri cuts off her explanation. She promises to be there for Aim when she needs it.

Rambles

Well, we’ve reached the technical half-way point of the series with a five week break between episodes 22 and 23. Yes, I know, we’re in September and the show has been back on the air again for over a month in Thailand, but we’ve fallen behind in our series write ups, mainly because the English subs are trickling out much more slowly than they did back in May. When I look back at the commitment I made at the beginning of the series – to get these reviews up within two days of Kuda’s English releases, I feel a bit foolish. As an adult, I have too much going on in my life to take on such commitments: work to do all day, boyfriends to please, puppies to train, cats to feed, dinners to make, movie reviews to write, classes to take and a novel that’s been bouncing around in my head to outline and put down on paper. It’s no surprise that I’ve fallen behind and haven’t been paying attention to the fact that the show is almost finished while I wait for p’Kuda to release the next round of subtitles.

I’ve been thinking of dropping the entire enterprise, but I’ve come this far and I would be ashamed of myself were I not to finish. But if I must carry on, I will need to cast off my reliance on Kuda’s subtitles. I feel like I am cheating, since if it weren’t for her, I would have never discovered this series or the novel or many of the wonderful things coming out of Thailand these past few years. I feel like I am breaking a commitment to her work when I use other subtitles. But in order to keep a commitment to my readers and others, we may need to let go of other important things. Perhaps the commitment we made to write up reviews was foolish to begin with. And perhaps we have given up on Kuda too soon. Time will reveal if our choices were correct ones.

Yes, I am navel gazing this evening as a write the rambles for Episode 22, but it is appropriate to reflect a bit about the idea of ‘commitment’ this week, since that was one the core themes of the episode, with Phun starting to wonder if he hadn’t forced Noh into a relationship he wasn’t ready for and becoming a bit concerned that Noh is neither ready to say “I love you” in private nor admit “I am with Phun” in public. At the same time, Mo is starting to wonder if she ended her commitment to Moan too soon as there were times when Moan was actually a sweet boyfriend. Unfortunately, she’s remembering the good times and forgetting why she broke up with him, which is straining her relationship with Golf.

I always thought she jumped into Golf’s arms too quickly after her break-up with Moan, and I think that the danger of advancing into a relationship too quickly is what the writers were going for this episode. Now what can she do? She can’t properly mourn her failed relationship with Moan without hurting Golf. But she can’t go on with Golf until she closes out her relationship with Moan. I think she needs a visit from Moan to remind her what an ass he truly is, but dropping him back into the show after he’s been buried for a dozen episodes is going to be a bit tedious, since no one I know wants her to give him a second shot even if he comes back “a changed man.”  Mo and Golf are stuck as long as she has regrets. But as fans, we said “goodbye” to Moan a long time ago and don’t need him to come back only to be dumped again. We’d be walking in circles.

I wonder where Golf went to celebrate his birthday.

Since we are on the subject of regret, we might talk about Aim. Honestly…goodbye already. We have a little more insight into her behavior, although we already gathered that her cold mother is behind her antics. She can’t enjoy sweets because she’s worried her mother won’t love her if she gets fat. She’s been looking for unconditional love all along (apparently). I guess that explains her anxiety and why she seeks people who will forgive her no matter what she does – she won’t be getting that at home. While it is a little touching that she is sorry now that she is leaving, she still has the same flaw that she displayed at Hua Hin with Phun. She feels bad for hurting Yuri and says she is sorry, but she wants Yuri to forgive her without actually telling Yuri why she is sorry. She wants a blanket forgiveness without having to give a confession and she doesn’t want to actually do anything to correct what she has done. “I’m sorry that I tricked Jeed into hating you and turned the school bully against you. Here. Let me tell Jeed to knock it off.” She could say that, but since Yuri might not be able to forgive her were the entire story to come out, Aim manipulates the situation so that she’ll get a blanket forgiveness she hasn’t actually earned, taking advantage of Yuri’s goodness once again.

In a different series, I’d actually want Aim to finally get her desserts, as her forced exile just ends her role in the story without developing her character or illustrating the workings of poetic justice in the world. But in this series…well, I just want her out. We’ve had enough “goodbye, Aim” scenes. She’s close to realizing her flaw, but not close to correcting it. I think she’s run out of people to say “goodbye” to. I hope we don’t have to see her again.

As for our main couple. I think they’re doing just fine. Phun is learning that dating a guy isn’t the same as dating a girl. He can’t expect Noh to behave like Aim did in public. Once they, I don’t know, TALK about this issue, they’ll be fine. Phun is willing to work at Noh’s speed. Noh seems to be aware of what the issue is as well, with no small thanks going to Film for pointing the problem out to him, as well as letting Noh know that everyone is waiting for him to come out. Until this episode, Ohm was on track to win the “friend of the year” award, but from this point forward, it is Film’s award to lose.

Ohm, of course, is losing the award because he can’t get over the hump of admitting that he is on a date with Mick. Even to Mick. I believe Mick is sincere in his story and thinks that Ohm just wants to buy books in the mall and doesn’t know they are on a date. Of course he’d believe that. He doesn’t yet know Ohm well enough to know that Ohm probably hasn’t read a book since he was ten.  Anyway, if you’re tired of these snippy battles between Ohm and Noh over who is going to admit that they have a boyfriend first, get used to them. For some reason, p’Hed decided to stall out the boys in this perpetual argument for most of the novel and if the writers follow the novel, we’ve got about 600 more “You have a boyfriend, Hahaha. No I don’t, you do, Nyeh, Nyeh, Neyeh” arguments to go before the end of the series.

Up Next:

Making up is easier than breaking up. Yuri sees what she already knows. And Mark is not who we hoped he was.

Fearless Predictions:

• Golf left Mo to go to a bar with his friends where he’ll hookup with Aim so we’ll get one more “goodbye” scene. (Probability: 14%)
• Moan comes back a not-changed man (probability: 75%)
• Film-Poom all the way (probability: 50%). Come on. Film needs a boyfriend.