“You’re Not Nong May” – Ep 12 Pon Prom Onlaweng

The heart breaks a little more in episode 12 when Dr. Pathawee and Tanyong are confronted with difficult choices and crushing realizations. They both have to make life-altering decisions that will leave them reeling, and realizing the expense of getting what they want. Either way, it does not look like a win-win.

The episode opens with Dr. Pathawee sitting in his office with deep consternation. The pieces of the puzzle are coming together as he remembers the first time his niece awakens from her accident. She was disoriented and had questioned where she was at and who she was. Another time she had brought up that what if she’s not experiencing a short-term memory loss, but if she is actually someone else. There was another time, shortly after the accident, he found her almost falling down the stairs again, as if intentional. She received straight A’s in school, she spoke French before and recently, she and Kru Bie were calling out Nong May’s name in the hospital. Every rationale adds up and Dr. Pathawee could not ignore the final conclusion. We see him posing this question to the void: “The person in her body is you, right Khun Tanyong?” OMG.

The next morning Tanyong gets on the phone with Kru Bie. She also came to the conclusion that the only way to get to her normal self, is to recreate the same scenes where she and Nong May got into an accident.

“That’s too risky, what if it’s not successful Yong?” Kru Bie questions, concerned.

“If it’s not successful.. then I won’t ever wake up and I end up harming Nong May’s body. I just can’t get myself to do it.”

“Then just think about the solution carefully.”

“I think I may be in this situation for the rest of my life,” Tanyong surmises, losing hope.

“Don’t lose hope, Yong. Do you think Dr. Wee knows?” Kru Bie asks.

“He shouldn’t. He’s not the type to believe in this kind of thing,” Tanyong says.

Ah, but Dr. Wee must bring himself to believe it. During lunch with Dr. Neung, she tells him that there are many things out there that we don’t know, that we currently do not have the technology or capacity to know.

This got him thinking and he visits Tanyong’s room again. With an orchid, he approaches her bed. “Right now you are actually conscious. But you’re conscious in my niece’s body. But what about my niece? Where is she now?” Aw, poor Uncle Wee. He is concerned about his beloved niece and the heart breaks a little more for him. Dr. Neung had been eavesdropping and a look of concern crosses her face, which prompts her to do something she wouldn’t normally do, go over his head with a decision.

Tanyong has been waiting for Uncle Wee at night. She spots him climbing the stairs.

“Uncle Wee!” she calls out.

He looks slowly at her, still feeling confused, frustrated about the whole thing. “You’re not in bed yet, it’s late now.”

“I’m not sleepy. I wanted to wait up for you,” she says.

“Well you can go to sleep now. Please excuse me (he didn’t say it in the way of ‘please excuse uncle’ the way that he normally does, but he uses ‘pom’ which means me/I in a formal way.) His impersonal, distant words hurt Tanyong.

“Uncle Wee, what’s the matter with you? Are you mad at me?”

He doesn’t answer and walks away.

This tells her that he has changed his behavior towards her. It started since the day they were in the hospital and he had acted weird, asking her to do things a 6 year old couldn’t have known to do. And it hits her. “You know the truth now right? And why am I sitting her and feeling hurt?” she asks herself.

At the same time Dr. Wee contemplates their former discussion about who he likes better, the former Nong May or the latter. He cringes with the realization. He had been talking to Tanyong all along. Feeling used, ashamed and disappointed.

They both cry for the loss of their companionship, their mutual love for what was.

The following morning, they look at each other awkwardly from across the table. The rest of the family had talked about the good news regarding Khun Pat’s pregnancy. Grandma turns the question on him, when will he have some good news for her? Dr. Wee only looks at Tanyong and replies, “Not yet. I haven’t met anyone whom I like yet.” Ouch.

The decision Dr. Neung makes sends her to Tanyong’s parents. She took the research data from Dr. Wee’s desk and offers them to the parents. She tells them to read and figure out which route they’d like to take. With amount of time Khun Tanyong is in the coma, they didn’t think that she would return recover 100%. This causes distraught to the parents and Piram. Piram vows that he will do what it takes, even if it means taking her to a different hospital abroad. Tanyong’s parents will travel abroad first and discuss with the doctors there before they send Tanyong over.

Dr. Wee learns of Dr. Neung’s decision and he understands where she’s coming from. So shortly after, he summons for her to meet with him and request that she hands over her patient to his care instead.

Shocked, as if her decision hasn’t helped him any, Dr. Neung asks, “Why? They are in the process of removing her to another hospital.”

“I know,” Dr. Wee says, “No matter how little time I have, I want to try.”

“But we started the healing many times over, every doctor came up with the same conclusions- why are you starting over?”

“If we still have time, I won’t give up,” replies Dr. Wee. Hah! In your face, Dr. Neung. You overstepped your bounds, you think you are helping the obsessed Dr. Wee, but you just have no idea what is at stake here!

Dr. Neung frowns at Dr. Wee, looking at him as if he is a mad scientist.

Early the next morning he stands alone thinking about how he would resolve the situation. “How will Nong May come back?” he asks rhetorically.

At this point Tanyong doesn’t know full on that he knows she is not Nong May.

She approaches him from behind, “You haven’t gone to work yet?” she asks.

“You came so quietly, not like Nong Ning (the dog).”

“I’m sorry,” she feels compelled to apologize. She walks and trips, he helps her up.

“Be careful,” he warns.

“I feel like you’re avoiding me, what happened?” Tanyong asks, peering uncertainly at him. “Please tell me,” she pleads.

“Then you answer me first. Is there something you are hiding from me?”

Is he waiting for her to confess?

“Is there something you need to tell me?” he asks her again.

She could only tear up and shake her head.

“If that’s the case, then we don’t have anything to say to each other,” ah, he’s so harsh.

This makes Tanyong cry and depress for the rest of the time.

Dr. Wee doesn’t know what he needs to do and wants to vent so he calls Nawin out to meet with him. He asks his best friend if he believes in the spiritual world. Nawin tells him that he does and that even if Dr. Wee didn’t believe in it, he should not underestimate it.

Prang is fed up with the happiness in her cousin’s life, especially when hers is falling apart. The last straw is when Khun Metee tells her that he’s glad she gave him such a hard time. It made him work harder and it made him realize that he’s glad he married Khun Pat, and not her. Prang is livid and hires his mistress and brother to teach them a lesson. He wants them to rob Khun Pat’s home while Khun Metee is away. Enough to scare them but not enough to end their lives. In a spur of a dark moment, Prang thinks this will make her happy.

Meanwhile Khun Pat dreams of Nong May visiting her. Nong May asks her mom if she could be her daughter again. This confuses Khun Pat and she tells the little girl that she is still her daughter and will always be one. She pleads for the little girl to come to her, but Nong May merely says ‘not yet. Goodbye for now.”

Tanyong had noticed that Aunt Prang was conversing with her father’ s mistress and a man. She suspects they were up to no good and keeps her eyes on them.

Finally, Tanyong receives the confirmation she needed about what was plaguing Dr. Wee. Nawin visits Kru Bie at her condo (the very first time he has been able to enter!) and he drops the bomb on her. He tells her that he knows that Khun Tanyong’s spirit is in Nong May’s body. This floors Kru Bie and she drags Nawin back to Nong May’s home.

“Dr. Wee knows that you’re in Nong May’s body,” Kru Bie exclaims.

“And how do you know that?” Tanyong asks.

“Win told me..”

“And how did he know?”

“Wee told me,” Nawin replies instead.

And the truth came out. Tanyong admits that she fears he would be angry and misunderstand her. Nawin advises her to give Pathawee some time and another chance. Kru Bie merely says that if anyone is to blame, it is fate.

Khun Pat is always the sweet and endearing person. No matter how mean and evil her cousin is towards her, she never took offense. She even made some dessert and gives them to Prang, who is slowly developing some regret with her decision. She doesn’t want to go through with it and calls Chat and her brother to cease their robbery. The other gang decides that they will proceed with the plan with or without Prang’s consent.

Nervous, Prang is in a state of anxiety and remorse. She spies by the bushes and when she sees the thieves coming in, she phones Wee to come home. The thieves made it to Khun Pat’s room and threaten her to be quiet while they rob. Tanyong hears the commotion and comes to see, but she is caught by one of the thief. Unfortunately, the thief starts to squeeze her throat and she starts to black out.

Dr. Wee rushes back to the house but not in time to save Tanyong as her spirit ejects out of Nong May’s body. Tanyong could feel her spirit wanting to return to her former body but she tells it to stop and re-enters Nong May’s body. She realizes a very dark and deep repercussion.

Dr. Wee chases the thieves out and sees his niece crumpled on the floor. He takes her to the hospital immediately.

She wakes that night and sees Uncle Wee.

“Where am I?” she asks. (She uses the adult, formal word, instead of referring herself in the third person.)

This seems to tell Dr. Wee that Tanyong is still in his niece’s body.

“You’re not Nong May..” he starts.

Tanyong’s body heaves and she cries, “I’m sorry.”

He steps back, the heavy truth is between them.

He watches her cry and it breaks his heart. He closes the distance between them and pulls her into his arms. And that is the sweetest, sweetest thing he has ever done. They both know that she’s not Nong May, they both are hurt, but he can’t stand to see her hurt without lending her a shoulder. They remain silent as he holds her, and she holds on to him for dear life.

When Tanyong wakes up the next morning, she sees Dr. Wee looking at her.

“You’re awake,” he says plainly.

“You haven’t slept a wink,” she guesses.

“I was worried about you,” he replies. They are so formal. No more Uncle Wee’s and Nong May’s. Replaced with “Pom, Chan and Kon” (I, me and You.)

Before they could say anything further, Kru Bie storms in, “Yong are you ok?”

That’s saying a lot. Kru Bie wants to kick herself.

Dr. Wee excuses himself.

After Kru Bie and Tanyong embraces, Tanyong tells her friend that while she was being hurt by the theif, her spirit came out of Nong May’s body and returns to her own body.

“Then that means..”

“Yes,” Tanyong confirms the repercussion, “If I want to return to my body, we will lose Nong May.” Oh shit. She will get her life back in expense of Nong May’s life.

“What horrible fate,” Kru Bie mutters.

What heavy, heavy repercussions. Sacrifices. Losses. What would you do if you are confronted with such a decision? Would Tanyong choose to stay in Nong May’s body to save the little girl? Dr. Wee is already distraught with the news, how will he feel if he learns that to get Tanyong back to her own body, it requires losing his beloved niece?

Chaotic blessings. Is it truly a blessing? Unfortunately, some happiness comes in expense of another’s demise. That is the way of the world. That is fate. But doesn’t mean it is no less sad. It is bitter sweet. You win some, you lose some.

The finale is coming sooner than later. Next week Pon Prom Onlaweng will give us a closure, be prepared to take out those tissue papers, it’s going to be more sadness before we can have our happy ending.

That kind of puts this Sunday in somewhat of a stink. But it puts our characters through emotional hurdles, and I can’t wait to watch how they recover from it. Next Friday cannot come soon enough.