O-Negative (Professor Buddy plays the hero)

Peun keeps after Prim

Episode 12 of the Thai TV show O-Negative (Episode 11) starts with Prim tossing and turning after the night of star gazing. She's worried about her mom being alone and drinking herself into her delusional state.  Geez Prim, why so worried? Once your mom drinks a bottle of wine or two her dead husband will be there to keep her company (rimshot).

Peun messages Prim wishing her goodnight and they start messaging back and forth. It may be badly translated captions, but there is a point where it sounds like she is mixing up Art and Peun when she compares her mother to Art's mom's independence.  However, like I said in the last episode's recap, Prim is a very difficult character to get a read on. She can be amazingly oblivious at times.

Anyway, Prim and Peun decide to go outside and talk for a bit. She's so worried about her mom that she decides to cut her trip short and go back. Peun takes the opportunity to say he'll go back with her so she doesn't have to travel alone. He also says he'll explain to Art why they are leaving early.

The next morning, in a bit of an odd scene, Art and Prim brush their teeth together. Then she goes and playfully wakes Peun up. Art watches them, unhappy as usual by the situation. However, later in the morning she comes out and helps Art wash a scooter. They are playful as well as they wash the bike, spraying each other with water as they screw around.

Words of wisdom from Go

We cut to Chompoo's place. She is leaving for the exams. Her dad cheerfully wishes her luck on them, but she looks dejected over the prospect of taking, and worse, passing them. She goes around a corner where Go is waiting to take her to school. She complains about having to take the test and he advises her to just flunk it. She says her father would just get angrier. She's very unhappy at the thought of having to study to be a pharmacist. He ends by giving her the Art-like advice of going where life takes you.

We cut to downtown Kanchanaburi where Art, Prim and Peun are in a montage where they are touring the sights and taking a ton of pictures of each other. They rent scooters. Art sadly notes that Prim decides to ride on the back of Peun's scooter. They visit  a gigantic tree where Peun and Prim continue to pay more attention to each other and render Art more and more of a third wheel in the process.

In the next scene Art is setting up his camera on a tripod for a shot of the landscape. Peun wanders off. Prim says it is beautiful and serene. Art, not knowing she is already planning to leave sooner, tells her to stay longer if she wants. She doesn't answer. After an uncomfortable pause she tries to change the topic by asking where Peun is. Art says he doesn't know, and then asks her "why, you guys can't stay apart?" Again, there is an awkward silence.

Peun continues to lay it on thickly

Art asks Prim to check the framing of his shot. As she looks through the camera Peun appears in front of her holding a handful of wild flowers. Her face lights up with a smile. Art's doesn't. Peun teases her that he didn't bring them for her, that he just wanted to show the flowers to the two of them. He says there is a field full of them and asks if they want to go see them. Prim does, but a despondent Art declines the invitation.  

While they're looking at the flowers Prim gets a mote in her eye. Peun comes close and helps her get it out. They are standing close when Art walks up. Not his day at all, is it? Prim asks him to look at the view, but he just turns and walks away.

Art's back at his camera and the two rejoin him. Peun asks for a picture, and as Art lines it up he says wait and brings Prim into the shot as well. They're doing a cute pose when they notice Art looks unhappy over it all. Another awkward silence and then Peun takes this opportunity to say he's going back early. Art asks about Prim, and she says she can go back with Peun.

As oblivious as she normally is, even Prim realizes that Art is upset. She tells him the truth that she misses her mom and is worried about her. Art lays into the two, saying that they are friends and can at least be honest with each other. Peun is fidgeting around and tries to turn it around on Art. Saying he told the white lie because Prim was worried Art would be mad at her when he heard she was leaving early.

Art then goes into the house to talk with his mom. She can tell something is bothering him and asks him what it is. he tells her that Prim and Peun are going back to Bangkok soon. She assumed he is going back with them, but he tells her no, that he'll stay with her.

She looks at him like she is surprised by that and then bluntly tells him that she can tell he likes Prim. He denies it, but she's not buying that. The mystery of Art bossing Prim around is revealed when she says that is the same way his dad tried to flirt with her. She tells him she knows he is just too shy to confess to Prim what his feelings are. She reiterates that he should just go back with the two and then ups the ante by warning him that she can tell Peun likes Prim as well. Art sticks to his notions of the importance friendship and the passage of time untangling things, but at the same time he seems to sadly give up on Prim.

I will say that Kao Jirayu La-ongmanee, the actor who plays Art, does a fine job with these scenes. Throughout the show his character has seemed a bit cardboard as he preached the need to accept that what will be will be, but in these scenes he underlays Art's stoicism with an increasing sadness and anger that's bubbling just beneath the surface.

Peun experiences a brainstorm

Peun and Prim leave for Bangkok the next day. On the train a postcard vendor comes down the aisle. Prim isn't interested in buying one because she has no idea who she would send it to. Peun gets the bright idea that they should each get one, write a message on it, and send them to each other. This being a soap opera, I can't imagine anything bad could possibly come from that plan.

On the train ride back they both get tired. We have repeat of the 'sleeping head flopped onto a shoulder' trope we saw earlier, but this time it is with Peun. Oh Prim, you little shoulder sleeping strumpet.

When they get home Art group messages the two asking if they got home alright. Foon is in the chat making note of the fact that Peun and Prim came back together. Foon butts in to remind Peun she has something to tell him. He asks what it is, but she tells him to come over because she wants to tell him in person. He makes a snide remark about her boyfriend. She tells him OK, she'll wait until later and he says OK as well, and then returns to chatting with Prim. Dark clouds gather over Foon's head.

Chompoo prays for failure

 The next morning Chompoo and her sister Som O are waiting to get the results of their exams. Chompoo is praying to her ancestors to fail, while downstairs her parents are lighting incense at their shrine and praying for her success. Chompoo and Som O work up the nerve to look at their results. we cut to downstairs where her parents hear both of the sisters scream when they see the test result.

That night the group is at Go's bar. Chompoo is down because she passed her exam for pharmacy school. Adding further weirdness to the group is Peun desperately trying to ignore Foon as she looks at him puzzled. Chompoo, after trying to put on a brave face, eventually breaks down sobbing that she doesn't want to study to be a pharmacist.

In a voice over Chompoo then quotes Eleanor Roosevelt saying "the future belongs to the beauty of those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." We see Chompoo's parents sending her off to school as her voice over reflects that, along with her dreams, she has a family with their own good wishes towards her. We then see Foon text messaging Peun as he waits for Prim at the gate of her house. Meanwhile Art messages Prim and gets no response. Throughout these scenes of the growing divide in the O Group Chompoo's voice over has been babbling about the good friends she's made.

After this reminder of the show's themes of unity and friendship we cut to Art and Foon at a picnic table at the college. In the background we see Prim and Peun arriving. Foon looks surprised. Prim gives Foon a bag of sun-dried mushrooms from the trip. Foon hold out her hand to Peun and asks him what he got her. He points to the mushrooms and says they are a gift from him and Prim. Prim takes it as a joke and corrects him that she bought them. Foon looks distraught. Art can see this situation is going south fast so he interrupts them and gets them all headed off to class.

Peun tells Art the obvious

Later we see Peun and Art on their way to watch the Freshman hazing. An odd thing about this show is how little these friends know about each other. Supposedly they've been friends for a year, but none of them know who the others like. Apparently in this soap opera universe boys don't discuss girls amongst themselves and girls don't discuss boys with each other. Strange, but I guess it is needed to drive the goofy romantic angst this group is mired in.

Anyway. that's about to change a bit.

Art and Peun decide to get something to drink on the way to the hazing. Peun has a not so secret secret to tell Art -- that he likes Prim. When asked he tells Art they aren't in a relationship (dating) yet. Art again warns Peun that he is risking his friendship with Prim if she rejects his advances. He also reminds Peun that he does this with virtually every girl he runs across. Peun scoffs and says this time things will be different.

As usual Chompoo screws up in the hazing

The kids are in an auditorium. Art, Peun, Prim and Foon are in the seats. Chompoo is on the stage with the rest of the Freshman. She is getting the bejeezus hazed out of her. Merkin, the senior  in charge, ends up dragging her out of the group and screams in her face about what a dunce she is.

Meanwhile Peun and Prim are amused by all of this. They are taking pictures of Chompoo and laughing at her expression. They are sitting in the middle, with Art and Foon on both sides. Art and Foon are both giving the two of them dirty looks. I suspect the looks are because Peun and Prim seem so chummy, not because they're amused at their friend Chompoo getting tormented.

Merkin has the other Freshman file out of the auditorium. When they do Chompoo runs up to him and starts hitting him and yelling at him for spitting in her face when he was screaming at her. Wait, what?

Professor Buddy saves Chompoo from the horrors of pharmacy

We jump to Go's later that night where they are all toasting Chompoo's role as a phony Freshman. They asked her to repeat the story about how Professor Buddy convinced her dad to let her stay in art school, so she flashes back to her house. Her parents are drinking tea when Professor Buddy arrives with Chompoo. Like anybody who is sane would be they are puzzled by him until he introduces himself as Chompoo's advisor and a university lecturer.  They are impressed by that.

Bringing up them catching her smoking, he points out that every major will have good and bad people. He then asks them why they are against her majoring in art. Her dad basically says it is a nonsensical major that offers very little chance to make money down the road when she graduates. It's hard to argue that, but Professor Buddy counters that every major has lazy bums in them that won't succeed. Considering what we've seen so far of Chompoo's work ethics I'm not sure that's the line I would use, but Professor Buddy forges on with it.

He then starts spewing some BS about art being necessary because it causes people to look at the bright side of things. Chompoo smiles at that, and her dad starts yelling at her for smiling. That causes her mom to finally explode at her dad, she grabs him by the ear and starts yelling at him for always berating Chompoo. I guess it all worked, because Chompoo is back in art school.

Chompoo looks out the window and sees a squid vendor. She starts to go to get some, but Foon says that she and Peun will. She then drags Peun off so she can finally tell him she broke up with Ong-art. When she does finally tell him she's single and ready to date him he blows her off by saying he's not ready yet.

[Episode 13]

Disaster at the squid cart