O-Negative (Art might want to reconsider his courting rituals)

It looks like Art has some competition

Episode 11 of the Thai TV show O-Negative (Episode 10) starts with Art and Prim on the train. They are having a pleasant conversation and are soon joined by Peun. Peun has bought bottles water for them. He has also noticed that the wind from the open window is blowing Prim's hair into her eyes so he has bought a bandana to tie her hair back. Of course Art is bothered by Peun's sudden solicitous attitude towards Prim.

Prim asks Art to take her picture and as he does Peun leans in to horn in on the shot. Prim sends the picture to the group chat for Foon and Chompoo.

Art isn't the only one bothered by Peun's interest in Prim

Ong-art's coffee looks a little weak

Foon is in her room getting ready when she gets the message with the picture. She is obviously bothered by it. The nerve of that cad Peun! How dare he show interest in another woman just because Foon hasn't dumped her boyfriend yet?

Speaking of her boyfriend, Ong-art is waiting for her in her kitchen. The maid enters and he imperiously orders her to get him a latte. Hilariously, she returns with a glass of water instead. All he can do to save face is instruct her to bring the right drink next time.

When Foon greets him she doesn't exactly look thrilled. Later, in his car, she continues to look at the messages with pictures of Peun and Prim. She is growing increasingly unhappy looking. Ong-art is trying to flirt with her, but she is lukewarm to him.

Meanwhile Chompoo is also looking at the messages. She is supposedly studying for the entrance exam, but she admits to mainly watch a Korean drama she's got addicted to. I wonder if she is writing goofy recaps of it and posting them to her blog?

Eventually her mom enters with some lunch. Throughout the family fights is has been apparent, although she doesn't always take Chompoo's side, that she is bothered by her husband's treatment of Chompoo. The lunch she brings looks pretty tasty and generous. I'm guessing her mom will eventually help Chompoo get back to her art studies. We shall see.

Art mooches chicken from Prim

We then have a long sequence of the three on the train. They've ordered chicken on a stick and, as they eat it, we have a long expository dialog dump of Art talking about his past. In an odd interplay Art asks Prim to tear off some chicken for him, he claims he doesn't want to get his fingers oily. She serves him bits of chicken.

Art was an only child and his parents, both of whom were artists, were teachers to make a living. They were poor, so they also worked on the weekend by painting cutouts for movie lobbies and posters for fairs and temples. Art went along with them and that's how he started drawing and painting. He didn't have toys, so he picked up their brushes and started using them by first playing with them. His dad died when he was 12.

He met Peun in a drawing class. The class was for rich kids, so Art had to apply for a scholarship to be able to join it. For Art's sake, I hope this class wasn't the one he had to drop after Peun noodled the teacher.

When he first went to Bangkok he originally stayed with Tum, his friend from the Foundation. He knew Tum from high school. One early reason Art like the Foundation was because it provided him with free food which helped with his living expenses. He eventually started to make money by drawing portraits in places like Railway Park and Ratchayothin.

Enjoy it while you can Art

It is a long train ride. Eventually Peun and Prim both fall asleep. This leads to the scene, so beloved by romantic drama writers, of Prim's head flopping over so she is sleeping with it on Art's shoulder. Is such a posture even possible? Regardless, Art enjoys this little interlude.

Finally, after a long trip they arrive at Art's house. His mom greets them, invites them in for dinnr and does a bit of Utaitip water product placement.

We then have the start of a weird sequence. Art's mom goes into the kitchen to prepare the dinner. Prim follows her and asks his mom if she needs any help. Art then shows up and starts instructing Prim what to do next, first cut cucumbers and then scoop rice. The whole time his mom is looking at him kind of weird, but she seems amused. There is some sort of subtext to Art ordering Prim around, but I don't know what it is.

The weirdness continues when they are seated for dinner. Art instructs Prim to get the water. Then he instructs he to make sure there is ice and to serve the water. Both Peun and Art's mom are noticing this. Peun looks amused and Art's mom asks him why he can't do this by himself. Why does he always order Prim around? Meanwhile, I'm thinking that a Western woman would have emptied the pitcher of water over Art's head by now.

We jump to Chompoo's house where she is on her phone screwing around. Som O, her sister, comes in to tell her it is dinner time. Chompoo isn't interested until she finds out dinner is salt-pickled vegetables and pork bones. Yummy, who could resist that?

At dinner it is obvious that Chompoo's mom made it primarily for Chompoo. Her sister is goofing off on the phone as she eats, behavior which her father excuses. At the same time he yells at Chompoo for being a glutton and eating too loudly. Chompoo's mom doesn't look at all happy with him, and she is obviously getting angry at Som O who's still on the phone. We do learn that Chompoo is going to take the entrance exam for pharmacy.

We cut back to Art's mom's house where Prim is offering to wash the dishes. Art tells her he'll do it or his mom will accuse him of bossing her around again. When Prim leaves to take a shower Art's mom comments that Prim is a hard worker. Art agrees, and adds that Prim likes to help people. Art's mom asks him if he likes having somebody help him. I think Art's bossing Prim is supposed to mean he likes her, but I could be completely wrong.

The waiter can kiss his tip from Ong-art goodbye

We cut to Foon who is eating dinner with Ong-art in a fancy restaurant. As they wait for the main dish he invites Foon and her family to a vacation home his family owns. They reminisce about times they spent there in the past. She remembers picking grapes and his father letting them taste wine. At the time she thought it was bitter, but now she prefers wine to any other alcohol.

Ong-art invites her to fly to Paris on his private jet where they can tour wineries and learn more about wine. She likes the idea of a vacation in Paris, and all seems well with the couple.

However, then their meals arrive. He immediately starts bitching that his steak is too tough. She tastes it and says it seems tender to her. He calls the waiter, and eventually the manager, to his table where he creates a scene ranting and raving about the steak. They offer to replace it with another. He insists on going to the kitchen to supervise the master chef as he cooks it.

Foon is mortified by his loutish behavior. When he's left she apologizes to the waiter, telling him Ong-art usually acts like a jerk. She then picks up her phone and messages Peun that she has a surprise that he'll like when he gets back from his trip.

Back in Kanchanaburi Peun, Prim and Art are sitting on a bench outside looking at the night sky. Art's mom brings them some sticky rice and mango for desert. Art's mom and Peun then both tease Art for bossing Prim around. Seesh, we're entering beating a dead horse territory with that joke you two.

Prim is admiring the stars when Peun says it's beautiful. Prim fishes for a compliment by asking him if he means the stars or her. Peun says that of course he meant her. Poor Art looks like a whipped puppy while Peun looks happily smug over this development. Prim soon brings an end to that by saying she misses Chompoo and Foon. At the mention of Foon Peun starts squirming around and looking ill at ease.

Prim starts group chatting to Chompoo and Foon. We cut to Ong-art driving Foon home from the restaurant. He knows she's mad and is trying to grovel his way back into her good graces. Foon is pretty much ignoring him as she reads the group chat.

Art as the odd man out

As Prim texts Chompoo, Peun tries the ol' lean back, do a stretch and casually put you arm around a girl move on Prim. He pinches her hair so the move fails, but they both lay their hands on the bench next to each other. They both twitch their fingers around to touch each other.

Peun says that Chompoo's dad was probably worried about her getting a job in fashion design, and that's why he pulled her from the school. Prim says she's lucky that both her parents supported her, and that it is too bad her father didn't live to see her in school. Peun takes that opportunity to discretely hold her hand to comfort her.

Art comments that his college entry story was similar to Prim's. He too followed his dad's passion for drawing until it became his passion as well. Peun reflects that all his other friends knew what they wanted from the start except for him. He never knew what he wanted until he met Art. It was Art who inspired him to take up drawing.

Prim then zeros in to the essence of Peun by asking him, "so you like anybody you get close to?" I've got to be honest, Prim is an extremely difficult character to read. At this point in the story you know what every other character in it is angling for except her. Chompoo wants freedom, Art wants Prim, Foon wants Peun and Peun wants anybody in the vicinity that's wearing a skirt. So far Prim is a bit of a cipher.

Finally we cut to Foon in the car with Ong-art. When he gets her home, before she gets out of the car, she tells him she wants to breaks up.

[Episode 12]

Ong-art gets dumped