Saturday, July 18, 2020

O-Negative (time to wrap things up)

Prim, Foon, Art, Peun, and Chompoo in happier times
Edit to add: I've noticed a lot of people are coming to this page via Google. It is actually the last episode in the show. If you're interested in the full set of recaps it starts with the first episode O-Negative (love can't be designed). At the end of each recap is a link to the next episode.

Episode 26 of the Thai TV show O-Negative (Episode 25) is the final episode and thus the end of my self-inflicted recapping chore. As I mentioned earlier, Asian TV shows, rather than being designed to go on for as many seasons as possible like U.S. shows, have a set number of episodes with a defined beginning and end. The climax of a show is frequently in the second to last episode, with the finale episode used to wrap things up.

We start with Peun in the waiting room after Foon tossed him out of her hospital room in the previous episode. You may recall that Peun had just seen a husband pushing his wife and newborn baby past in a wheelchair which had thrown him into a frenzy of emoting.

He is still misty-eyed when Foon's parents come out of her room. They say that she cried herself to sleep. He starts apologizing for creating this whole mess. Again, I've got to say, not to take anything away from Peun's sketchy behavior, but Foon's mind-bendingly awful driving skills are the main cause of this latest mess. At any rate, Foon's parents are surprisingly understanding. They tell him nobody wanted it to happen.

We next see Peun in the hospital cafeteria. He is sitting at a table with a pack of Dentyne Spearmint Ice Gum on the table in front of him. He's no doubt chewing it because, as Brittney I from Scottdale Pennsylvania assures us, it has a "great long lasting mint flavor for great taste and fresh breath! The price is reasonable and it is sold many places!"

Well, enough with the product placement. Chompoo soon arrives at Peun's table with two trays of food. She tells Peun not to give up, that Foon will forgive him eventually. Chompoo, I thought you were Foon's friend, but now you're encouraging that bounder Peun to keep chasing her? Shame, shame, shame! To her credit she does tell Peun to go home and leave Foon alone for a while. Chompoo tells him that she'll watch Foon and call him if anything changes.

Foon goes berserk and ends up on the floor
Later we see Chompoo relieving Foon's parents from their bedside vigil, saying she'll watch Foon. When they're gone Foon wants to sit up. She asks Chompoo about Prim, because she still wants to apologize to Prim for slapping her. Chompoo tells her Prim was at the hospital earlier, but left when she heard Foon was OK. She adds that Prim has disappeared; that she quit her job, put her house up for rent and won't answer her phone.

When Foon hears that she starts getting agitated, sobbing that she wants to find Prim to apologize. She starts tearing our her intravenous tubes and what-not and, having gotten completely hysterical, tries to get out of bed. Foon ends up sprawled on the floor. Poor Chompoo, from the start of the abortion talk to now, she's been stuck trying to keep Foon from twirling out of control.

Art and Prim in his small loft apartment
We jump to Art's loft in Paris the morning after Prim had discovered the old love letter Art had written to her but never sent. He's taking pictures of the roof tops visible from the windows. Now knowing Art's feelings towards her, when Prim comes out of the bathroom she is subdued and awkward, not sure how to act around him. When Art takes her picture she is so nervous she can barely manage a smile. She answers his questions with only a single word.

After they get the key to her room they go to eat and do more sight seeing. Prim is relaxing a little, but she intensely watches Art. You can see the wheels turning in her head as she tries to figure out, in light of that the old love letter, what Art is thinking now.

On the subway he gives Prim a guidebook. Inside it, being used as a bookmark, is a laminated Bangkok/Kanchanaburi train ticket. She realizes that Art keeping the ticket must mean that he is holding onto the memory of their school break trip. With that realization things get awkward between them again.

Amidst the tourists at the Eiffel Tower
They do more sight seeing and eventually end up at the Eiffel Tower. Prim is a bit more relaxed by then. She asks Art to take a picture of the two of them with the tower in the background. He sets up his tripod and, in a crowd of fellow tourists doing the same, he takes a picture of the two of them. Prim manages a nice smile.

We return to Bangkok for a brief interlude where we see Peun sitting in the backyard with his parents. Peun is telling them that he doesn't know how to get Foon to forgive him. Oh, quit whining Peun, I'm sure it's not a big deal, all you did was knock her up and then dump her to go chasing after Prim. Why would she ever hold a grudge over that?

His dad asks him if he loves her and Peun says he does. This prompts his mom to give Peun an engagement ring they bought for him. She tells him to give it to Foon to show his commitment. I figured the parents would intervene with these two nitwitted love-birds. I wonder if Foon's parents are in on it as well?

We jump back to Art and Prim who are taking pictures on the Pont Alexandre III bridge. Prim is smiling again and Art asks her if she's feeling better. She asks him what he means and he points out that she's been acting oddly. He tells her he often comes to the bridge when he feels down. That seeing the people and decorations cheer him up, but that he thinks it is still best to get to the bottom of a problem when you're bothered.

Prim considers that for a bit, and then directly asks Art if he likes her. Again, in Asian dramas saying you like somebody is tantamount to saying you have feelings for them. It is Art's turn to be taken aback. He asks her why she suddenly asked him that and she confesses to reading the postcard in which he said he loved her. She says that after she read it she didn't know how to act around him.

She had came to Paris to see him, but the postcard was from a long time ago and he may feel differently now. She directly asks him again how he feels about her. He tries to deflect by asking her how she feels about him, but she  pulls the 'I asked you first' gambit.

Art then delivers the longest monologue of the show. He says he has had feelings for her since their freshman year. He kept those feelings to himself because Peun liked her as well and he didn't feel it was his place to interfere as Peun and she grew closer. He says, "all I could do was hope that as time passes, my feelings toward you would fade." However, his feelings remained the same and eventually, no matter how he rationalized it, in the end he couldn't bear it and that's why he moved to France.

Art continues by saying that if he could turn back time he would have never attended that university so that they would have never met. All he could do in the end was try to be the best friend he could be to each of his friends. Prim had listened intently as he told her his feelings, but she said nothing, Finally, he asks her what she thinks. She says, "I just wish I knew better. You are one of my most precious friends. Please give me some time, Art. I still haven't made up my mind."

Foon's parents agree to unload her onto Peun
We cut to Peun at Foon's house talking to her parents. He must have gone to them to ask their permission to marry Foon because the scene starts with Foon's mom saying they have no objection, but the final decision is up to Foon. Her father glares at Peun and adds, "don't you dare hurt her again." I don't know, considering the amount of times Foon's dad ignored Foon as she was hysterically blubbering away in her room it is a little hard to take his concern seriously by this point. However, Peun does take him seriously and he promises to do his best to win Foon back.

We follow with a montage of Foon convalescing. Peun tries to give her water to drink, but she turns her head away and Chompoo needs to take over. Peun helps her get up and she glares at him. Her parents are in the hospital room visiting and her mom feeds her. Chompoo helps her return from the bathroom. Days pass and soon enough Foon is strong enough to wash her face with some Garnier Pure Active Matcha Detox  Pollution & Oil Deep Cleaning Foam. Whew, good to see her back on her feet and healthy enough to do some product placement.

Next Foon is seen sitting on the edge of her hospital bed with her parents and Chompoo in the room as well. Peun enters with a wheel chair. Foon gives him a dirty look and asks her mom to get a nurse to push the wheel chair. Chompoo takes over the wheelchair duties instead and asks Foon why she won't talk to Peun who has been tending to her so faithfully. Foon answers that they've been through this before, that she doesn't want to talk to Peun.

Peun makes a promise he'll never be able to keep
We cut to Foon painting in her home studio. In walks Peun. What? In spite of their daughter clearly saying over and over again that she wants nothing to do with him her parents let him in the house? So much for it's Foon's decision. Anyway, he tells her that he knows she doesn't want to talk to him so he'll just silently stay at her side. Oh this poor girl, with this doofus hanging around 24/7 she's probably wishing for the happier days of Ong-art pestering her.

There are shots of him hovering around her when she's leaving her house and going to a doctor's appointment with her. Then we see him, Foon and Foon's parents all eating dinner together. He puts items of food on her plate which she shoves aside. He also peals a shrimp for her. Good Lord, she can't even eat in peace? On a scale of 1 to 10, Peun pegs the Creepy-Stalker meter at 15.

The four move from the dining room to the living room. Poor Foon is sitting there looking miserable as always. Peun excuses himself to leave. When he says goodbye Foon ignores him. However, as he leaves Foon walks to the door and asks him if he is tired. He says no, he'll keep pestering her to make her love him again (I may have paraphrased that). However, this time, instead of telling him to get lost, she tells him to get home safely. Oh no! After weeks of being held hostage it looks like Foon has succumbed to Stockholm syndrome. Her parents look absolutely delighted. I guess they're glad at the chance to marry their daughter off before she creates another scandal.

Chompoo has important news
When we next see Peun and Foon they are in her home studio. I guess they are back to being on good terms with each other. Chompoo calls and says she wants to get together with them at Go's bar that night. For some reason that isn't clear to me Foon hesitates, but Chompoo talks her into going because she says she has some important news to share.

As an aside I love the décor of the room she calls from. The newspaper wallpaper, hipster furniture, red toy truck and green couch with the matching stuffed doll is a sight to behold. Hard to imagine her parents decorating like that, I wonder if it supposed to be Go's place? But why is she wearing her shoes inside a house? Gah -- if I'm worried about that then I've spent entirely too much time rewatching this show while recapping it.

When they get to the bar that night Go has plates of food out for what turns out to be a farewell party. Go is closing the bar because he he wants to move on and do more important things with his life. At least, that's what he claims. We've seen plenty of scenes of the bar were it is... how shall we say this politely... lacking customers, so I have my own theory as to why he's pulling the plug on the place.

This gets Foon remembering happier times in Go's bar. In particular she remembers the time, at one of her many birthday parties, where Chompoo recited a schmaltzy 'friendship' poem. After Chompoo's poetry reading Prim had said she would like to see the storage room of the place turned into an art gallery with monthly poetry readings. Foon gets inspired and, to the surprise of everybody, tells Go she'll buy his bar when he sells it.

We have a montage of Foon, Peun and Chompoo working on converting the bar to a gallery while Prim is hanging around Paris. Chompoo is messaging Prim about Foon's project. She tells her Foon wants to open it up on her birthday and wishes that Prim and Art could be there, because they are both missed.

She gets no reply until one day Prim surprises her by messaging, "Chompoo, I'm fine." Chompoo wonders where she is and Prim will only say, "you only need to know that I am fine." She says she is happy about the gallery but she doubts she'll be coming back. Prim is actually with Art when she messages Chompoo. Curiously, while she says she doubts she'll return to Bangkok soon, Art has been on his phone looking at Paris to Bangkok plane tickets.

We jump back to the gallery where Peun enters with a picture he would like Foon to display. Foon says she will if it is good enough. It is entertaining how the show always implies that Peun isn't really a very good artist. At any rate, he shows it to Foon and it is nothing but a college of pictures of her. Foon is deeply touched by this and the waterworks turn on. Seesh, these people are a pack of crybabies. Peun then apologizes, for about the eight billionth time, for being a complete douche nozzle. He then tells her he loves her, she tells him that she loves him. They hug.

Chompoo butts into Peun's proposal
Finally we get to the day of the grand opening of O Gallery. When Peun arrives he tells her he has something to give her. She wonders what it is, since he already gave her the collage as her present. He reaches into his suitcoat pocket and pulls out the box with the engagement ring, that his mother bought, and commences the world's most lackadaisical proposal. Hilariously, before he can even get a word in edgewise Chompoo, upon seeing the ring, starts hopping around celebrating the wedding to be. Once Chompoo calms down Peun puts the ring on Foon's finger. He never actually asks her to marry him, and she never says yes, but they hug so I guess it's a done deal.

As they're hugging Chompoo starts making fake gagging noises and complaining about their public display of affection. When they separate Chompoo gives Foon a box she's been holding as another present. Foon thanks her, but Chompoo say that it isn't from her, it is from Prim. Foon is surprised. Chompoo tells her she has been in contact with Prim for some time, but kept it a secret per Prim's wishes.

Inside the box is a note and a package, The note reads, "Happy birthday, Foon. I'm so happy that you made my gallery dream come true. It's a shame that I can't go back to congratulate you. But I want you to know that I was never angry at you." Needless to say a veritable downpour of Foon tears starts.

Prim's message to Foon
Foon then opens the package. It is a picture of Prim and Art together in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Chompoo is shocked, neither Prim nor Art had told her that they were together. We cut to a flashback of Prim reading the group message from Chompoo that said Foon needed blood. We see that it was Prim who donated the blood that was used for the transfusion.

When we return to the present Foon is sobbing in joy that Prim isn't angry at her anymore. Chompoo blathers a bunch of pabulum, both on the sound track and directly to Foon, that love keeps O Group's friendship strong. Well yea, when they're guzzling beer at Go's rather than cheating on each other and lying through their teeth about it, I suppose that's true.

We jump back to Paris. Early in the show Art had repeatedly tried to sneak pictures of Prim who he was infatuated with. In this scene Prim has the camera and she tries to sneak a picture of Art. They are both all smiles. Aside from that, Prim and Art's relationship is left ambiguous.

The show ends with Foon and Peun back on the ferry after donating blood. Chompoo calls, and they're all planning to go to the airport to meet Art and Prim who are flying back to Bangkok for a visit. We flash back to the kids on the day when, as freshman, they had donated blood and formed O Group on that same ferry. We see more of their conversation from that day, where they express their hopes and expectations that they will be friends forever.

Closing thoughts

When I first decided to do these posts I had meant to talk about goofy East Asian (Chinese, Taiwanese and/or Korean) dramas as my Shelter in Place recapping chore. I chose a Thai drama pretty much on a lark. I had never watched a Thai show before. When I started the recapping it I didn't even know if the show was a comedy, a soap opera, or something else. I guess now I would call it a sort of slice of life with many triangulated romantic shenanigans tossed in.

The story structure seemed very loose and its progression threw me from time to time. For example, I thought Foon keeping her romance secret in the beginning would be because her rich parents wouldn't approve of middle class Peun, but that was not the case at all. As the story unfolded, I could never figure out if the oddness in its telling was because it was a 90 minute movie stretched over 26 episodes, or if I was just missing Thai story telling conventions, or if it was just some clunky script writing. Probably it was a bit of all three.

Would I recommend it? If you've read the recaps you know most of what happened, but I think it would still be an interesting watch, even if only for a few episodes. My somewhat crappy screen grabs, along with showing the characters and some funny captions ("screw these balloons"), tried to show the show's sets and locations. It was filmed much nicer than my screen grabs show. The houses, rooms, temples, work places, street vendor stands and so forth gave a wonderful feel to the show. It was definitely a peek into a different world.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my Shelter in Place recap. I probably will eventually review some Korean/Chinese shows, but they will be just reviews and not such detailed recaps.   

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