lilili

One of my podcast partners just said this and I think she nailed it: If the badger is Thyme, it's showing us that even though he's trying to be softer, he's still got an edge that wounds her.

I rewatched the episode before reading your comment and that's when I noticed the line about her saying she wants to go on the double date and that does seem to be less pressure than an "F4 date" so I'm coming around on that scene.

You are right about the physical threat and I've always said that a huge part of HYD is women grappling with the reality of male violence. Like how do you deal with being a woman who loves and sexually desires men and yet the person you love is the person most likely to assault and kill you (statistically speaking). That's been backgrounded a bit in F4T until this latest episode. I do not blame Gorya for being conflicted, not one bit. Her monologue at the zoo cut with scenes from the brutal Ep 1 bullying is an incredible illustration of why.

But I'm still struggling with the pinprick and blood and exactly what's being communicated there.

Question: What do you think was the significance of Gorya pricking herself and drawing blood when she was punching the plushie that Thyme bought for her at the zoo? I wasn't quite sure what the show was trying to say there.

BTW, my podcast partner thinks the plushie is a honey badger and if that isn't the same energy as Thyme omg

I don't want to respond to every comment you've made, just saying I agree with everything you're saying

How very dare you. Mismatched prints, fanny packs and khakis are the height of fashion (says Thyme)

When Ren said he would go on the date if Thyme didn't want to, ugh. How about some loyalty to your friend?

I know! Especially when they had this fantastic dialogue at the zoo with flashbacks to the first bullying scene in ep 1: "I used to think that you're becoming a better person. But it's a false hope. You know why? Because you're still the same. And I hate this kind of person." So why not frame it as I want to believe this guy is better but I have doubts instead of her saying she went on the date to avoid trouble? Ugh.

So I went back to the episode and this exchange between Gorya and Kaning bothered me so much, it's upsetting me. It's so uncool and unnecessary to write the date this way. Women shouldn't feel pressured to go out with men to avoid trouble wtf.

Gorya: I wanted to say no [to the date with Thyme]. But I could imagine a world of headaches that follows. If I say no there'll be more trouble from him.

Kaning: You should just go out and get it over with.

Ep 7 preview is out but no English subs yet sob https://youtu.be/HYYvpQLpREQ

The mother says "Make sure everything is put back in its rightful place" and in ep 1 Thyme tells Gorya "Things that are not placed correctly need to be disposed of." I loved that parallel and what it says about Mama Paramanantra's values and how Thyme is evolving away from them.

I adored Thyme in this episode which made the whole pressuring/forcing thing even more upsetting. I have such high expectations for the show's writing at this point that I feel incredibly let down when they miss the mark.

I 1000000% agree with your first point! It was so unnecessary to write it that way after they had that incredible scene in the storage room. At this point I was expecting her to soften and be more obviously open to seeing him again but maybe Ren showing up caused her to turn her attention away from Thyme. Also it really didn't sit right with me that Kaning, the flower shop owner and Tia all pressured Gorya to accept Thyme. It just wasn't needed and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Having said that, I loved Thyme in this, he is so utterly ridiculous and OTT and it's endearing. I thought Dew's performance was much better in this episode and his monologue about Mira was genuinely moving. I absolutely love how the director used Ren's sketchbook to show the relationship dying, especially how the drawings got smaller and smaller and then the pages went blank.

Gorya lying about the phone felt very real to me. She's a teenage girl, of course she's going to lie about silly things and give mixed signals to everyone.

P.S. are you on Twitter? I am @daebakpodcast1

I agree with you. I love this version but it didn't sit right with me that Thyme pressured her so hard into the date and that everyone else pressured her too, Kaning, the flower shop owner, and Thyme's sister. Especially after the last episode when they spent the night together in his house and had those lovely, intimate moments together, I would much rather have seen her softening and kind of opening up to learning more about him than the way they wrote it which was her getting pushed and pressured into spending time with him. It especially bothered me because he was actually quite charming and funny in a lot of the episode so really there was no reason to write it this way. I loved the episode and felt let down by it at the same time.

The bullying is a proxy for abuses of power in the real world. In Gorya's voiceover after the first bullying scene, she says "To be honest, I am disappointed by the world. The world where everyone is drawn in by a shiny shell, ignoring a real problem inside. Is this a good world? Is this a world we want to live in? " It isn't about whether schools literally have bullying this severe, it's about a much bigger problem of how people with power and money are abusing their privilege.

Oh my God the music I just about died

I created a playlist because GMMTV has been weird about creating a playlist just for episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfOfbDVSQAtPofdKm_SxozVZzwUpAqo5I

I'll put up Ep 6 as soon as I'm awake on Saturday but it will be a little late for people in other parts of the world.

I just read an article in a Thai newspaper that said when it was announced she'd be playing Gorya people said she was too ordinary looking which is crazy to me. She is stunning.

My favorite scene in 2gether, the intimacy they built with each other was amazing. ETA: Oh wait, my favorite scene is the one of Sarawat dressing Tine's wounds after the fight, not the guitar playing but anywho this is good too!

What's sad to me is people saying Bright was really nervous instead of understanding that he or the director made an acting choice. Like this is his job?