Rang Tawan – Episode 7

My heart hurts for Suriyen and Tarntawan. The more I get to know these two, the more I find their painful past touching. Tarntawan realizes that in order to gain trust, you have to give trust. By sharing her vulnerable, painful past- something that she doesn’t normally share with anyone else – it is therapeutic and encourages an exchange of storytelling. And the scars that we carry with us aren’t always visible, but it’s there, forever embedded in our minds.

I am a fan of the quieter, solemn moments in this show. But the cute and funny that follows towards the latter half of this show, especially coming from Suriyen, makes me feel like everything will be all right. As long as there’s Nong Phit, Tarntawan and the lawyer, Suriyen could fight the beast inside him and transform into the prince we know he’s totally capable of. At least in Nong Phit’s eyes, his uncle is capable of going from being a big scary bear, to one of an adorably cute (but still big) bear. Can’t hide them muscles.

EPISODE 7 RECAP

 

They are being gunned down by illegal loggers and Khun Decha and company. I knew he could not be trusted! The seemingly nicest person in this show is the most evil. After Nai Phu capably knocks down the illegal loggers, Khun Decha fires a gunshot that hits Nai Phu. Nai Phu pulls Tarntawan close and uses a large tree for cover, then they make a run for it.

Khetarwut is in for a rude awakening, his dad is the person who has hired people to cut down trees illegally. Dad smacks him beside the head angrily, he spits that Khetarwut should have been nicer to Nai Phu, now Dad’s corruption plan is in jeopardy. Nai Phu is bleeding excessively and gets light headed from the loss of blood. Tarntawan urges him to rest or stop the bleeding somehow, but he’s stubborn and insists they continue lest the baddies catch up to them. That is until he passes out.

The cop manages to make his escape from Sia Tanong’s men and finds his way to Rujira’s condo. He tells her that the people who beat him up are Suriyen’s men. We see a flashback that after the fight, the cop meets with his sergeant and learns that during the same time that Khun Sopah (Suriyen’s stepmom) died, Khun Suriyen saw a therapist. They think it has to be connected somehow. So back at present time, the cop inquires Rujira on why she’s allowing Suriyen to threaten her, she should report anything bad that she knows about Suriyen to the police. Rujira doesn’t think the police could do anything, but the cop says it’s good to bring it to their attention at least.

When Suriyen comes to, he’s resting by a boulder and Tarntawan brings water on a large leaf for him. However she accidentally spills it all over him, which makes him think she’s pranking him and he wants to punish her by kissing her. Suriyen threatens that he’ll be her husband for real and starts forcing her.. but Pensiri shows up in the nick of time and screams at him to stop what he’s doing..

ONLY this is Pensiri’s imagination. Haha. I almost fell for it.

Instead, Tarntawan keeps Suriyen at the same spot, holding him while she waits for him to come to. When he finally does, he asks about her first (aw). She assures him that she’s safe, but that they need to stop his bleeding. She takes his jacket off and proceeds to rip his tank top, but the sight of his scarred back shocks her. She doesn’t comment but gingerly tends to his arm, while Suriyen looks at her quietly. *Gulp* Aum shirtless!

Khetarwut is bitter and questions why his dad is kissing Suriyen’s ass. But dad says it’s best to be above the law and make friends with your enemies. Furthermore, dad says Khetarwut is an idiot that’s why he doesn’t tell him anything. But it dawns on Khetarwut, he argues that dad is using him to eliminate his enemy, knowing how much Khetarwut hates Suriyen and would take any necessary measures to kill him. He wonders if he fails, would dad help him or just let him suffer. Dad’s silence is answer enough for Khetarwut.

Back to our duo, Tarntawan peers at his bare chest (could you blame her?) and asks him if he has been tortured before. He pulls his arm away from her shoulders (they’ve been snuggling haha) and decides they need to be on the move.

“I’m sorry. I led you straight to those illegal loggers,” Tarntawan utters, “and you saved me.. then got shot.”

“Don’t mention it,” he says and shakes his head from the dizziness. She eyes him with concern. “Don’t look at me that way,” he warns her. But she doesn’t look away. Hee. “Tarntawan!”

“You were hurt before right?” she presses.

“Keep asking me this question and I’ll ensure you get the same wound.” Pff.

She doesn’t drop it. “The scar on your back, and your palm..” she takes his hand. “Have you become aggressive because someone hurt you?” She surmises that he’s just like her nephew, they’ve been hurt and scarred, so much so, that they’re wary of strangers. But his method of dealing with people is different from her nephew’s, instead of running away, he scare people away. Tarntawan says that in actuality, he’s the one who’s afraid.

Suriyen assures her that he isn’t afraid and he can prove it to her. As he turns his back, Tarntawan touches his shoulder and tells him not to be afraid.. which causes him to clasp her throat. She stammers that he doesn’t need to do this, but continues that he’s not covering up his fear of people. She must tell him that she’s afraid, otherwise he won’t let go. But Tarntawan isn’t afraid and refuses to say it. She takes his face in her hands as she struggles to breathe, “I understand…”

He releases his hold but as he peers at her, he sees the face of his stepmom. He flashes back to 20 years earlier in the hay barn, where his stepmom tortured him and made him pay for what she claimed his dad had done to her. Poor Little Suriyen. He bit her arm to run away from her, and accidentally pulled on the tie that held a large baseboard, which came crashing down on his stepmom. Little Suriyen shook his head and muttered that he didn’t do it. Back to reality, he covers his head and mutters that he didn’t do it, but everywhere he turns, he sees Sopah’s bloody face haunting him. He cries in anguish and Tarntawan pulls him close and wraps her arms around him. *Tear*

But we get the continuation of that flashback from Rujira, who refuses to tell the cop anything (she still doesn’t know he’s a cop yet). But he urges her to trust in the law. When he mentioned Sopah’s name and that perhaps Suriyen had killed her, Rujira, ushers him out of her condo. She recalls that day where the board had crashed on top of the stepmom, but that it actually didn’t kill her. What did though, is her dad (Decha) who came to the scene and released the second board, which instantly killed stepmom. He was hugging Suriyen, playing hero, which is the start of his master plan. But his daughter witnessed it. Present time Rujira yells out into the night that she has nothing to do with Rai Phu Tupdao now.

I really like the unspoken moments between Suriyen and Tarntawan, no words are needed, just comfort. Suriyen walks away from Tarntawan, embarrassed by his tears? He sits alone on a boulder, but Tarntawan quietly follows and sits with her back to him – offering her back for support.

Meanwhile Pensiri pitches a tent in the forest and tries to get Visut to stay with her. This girl is another level of nonsensical. Pensiri starts to develop feelings for him when he agrees to stay and tends to her slight burn from the campfire ashes.

Tarntawan opens up about her own trauma that happened five years ago. She was close to getting raped by bad men. Luckily she was saved by her brother, but she remembered being terrified. She chokes back the tears and says that she can no longer sleep peacefully at night. But Suri had been the one to help her through this harrowing time. Suriyen listens quietly but questions why she’s telling him this. Tarntawan merely wants to show him that everyone has a scar and that he’s not alone. Even though her scar isn’t visible, she has one and will never forget it. She adds that sexual assault is the absolute worse that people could do to each other. Suriyen surmises that is why she’s helping Visut find his dad, and wonders how much Visut is paying her. But Tarntawan knows he’s trying to be gruff to hide his true feelings. Tarntawan says that Suri once told her that a person is capable of hurting us, but they can’t take away our happiness. What those bad people did to her, that’s not on her. She refuses to let them take away her happiness. Kudos to you Tarntawan. It’s bittersweet that Suri’s lesson and comfort that was given to Tarntawan at her moment of weakness, can also be shared with Suriyen.

Tarntawan asks Suriyen if he wants to be happy. She encourages him to talk to someone about his bad experiences. He peers over at her but has a hard time saying anything. She suggests that he rest up and she’s got his back. She rests her head on his shoulders and he leans back to look into the blackened sky. I..Just..AWE!

The next morning, Suriyen wakes with the sleeping Tarntawan against his back. He smiles and as she wakes, teases her for acting tough when she could barely fend for herself. And then they walk towards the stream, and I’m sure something else happened, but the Prince Beast’s shirt is unbuttoned, revealing rock hard abs, so I kinda lost my train of thought. Thank goodness the camera pans to Tarntawan who tells the beast that she had no idea he could be this kind, he let her sleep against him without even waking her. Lol. Suriyen says he wasn’t being kind, but there’s no bite to his words. He looks at her as she smiles at him, ha someone is getting undone by her smile! He smiles back but tries to cover it up.

They find the missing horse, who tends to run to the same place every time it’s scared. They are reunited with the lawyer and second leads – it’s pretty funny – the lawyer is SO worried about his boss, but boss only has eyes for Tarntawan who’s getting attention from Visut.

Khun Decha tries to wash his daughter’s (Kaekhai) brain by telling her that her brother believed people too easily, and those people are trying to pit him against Suriyen. If she wants their two household unable to face each other, then she can go on and tell Suriyen. He suggests that she stay put and he will fix everything and help her relationship along with Suriyen. But when dad looks away, we see his true colors. Dad continues to have power struggles with his son, who doesn’t listen to him. Khetarwut suggests that his dad lay low because Suriyen might have already sent the police down to the forest to catch the illegal loggers.

And he couldn’t be more correct. The cops swarm the forest but could not find the perpetrators, they only found a shirt that belongs to Rai Phu Tupdao. The lawyer reports that they are trying to put the blame on them. He orders the lawyer and his guards to investigate who’s behind this. As he peers at Tarntawan, the lawyer assures him that she’s doing well. Hee. Suriyen tells the lawyer to come a little closer but our smart lawyer finds an excuse to leave, knowing that he’ll get a thrashing for his nosiness. Haha.

Visut and Pensiri finds out the reason for Tarntawan’s marks on her body: her wrists and neck. Suriyen orders them to leave his farm but Visut grabs Tarntawan’s hand and says he’s taking her with him. Tarntawan refuses to go since that means leaving her nephew at the farm alone. Once Visut leaves though Suriyen grabs her arm and remarks that she’s so charming, since Visut is falling at her feet. Nong Phit sees this and rushes to protect his aunt. He pushes at Suriyen and cries for him to leave.

Suriyen flashes back to when Tarntawan tells him that the people he love will fear him and that he’ll be alone for the rest of his life. He’s struck at that realization and looks at his gunshot wound, blood has seeped through his shirt from Nong Phit’s punches.

Pensiri tells Visut to go home and drink milk because he can’t pursue Suriyen. What’s he got against the Big Boss? His threats are just empty threats. Lol. At least someone is pointing out the ill fitted character. Visut thinks his love conquers all. But when Pensiri gets a text from her mom that they’ll be leaving the farm, Visut and Pensiri hug out their jubilation.

Tarntawan approaches the lawyer about Suriyen’s scars. He suggests that she direct the question to the boss, but Tarntawan relents that it isn’t something he’s willing to share. And if the lawyer wants her nephew to live here in peace and wants his boss to be happy, he should tell her. And so he does. The backstory about Sopah and Athit (Suriyen’s dad) is that they were forced to marry despite having no feelings for each other (Sopah had been Visut’s dad’s girlfriend), the agreement is to protect both of their reputation. Sopah is dissatisfied about the arrangement and hates Athit, so she takes out her anger on Suriyen. Eighty percent of the scars on Suriyen’s body was created by his stepmom. Tarntawan is horrified, how could a grown woman do this to a child? The lawyer urges for her sympathy, no matter how badly Suriyen could speak to her, he really does need Nong Phit.

Tarntawan goes to Suri’s grave and says that she realizes why Suri had given custody to Suriyen. He’s the only remaining relative for him. That night she comforts her nephew who misses his dad dearly and promises that he’ll see his dad again.

The sound of the sad piano song makes its way to her ears and she approaches the player and tells him that she’s decided to let Nong Phit stay here and help him feel safe with his uncle. But that it requires his help. Suriyen blurts that he doesn’t need her sympathy, but she says she doesn’t pity him, she just pities everyone involved. Lol. She suggests that he participate, like smile a ton when he’s around Nong Phit. Suriyen doesn’t agree nor disagree, just kinda pouting. It’s SO hard to be nice. Ha.

Visut’s investigator found what could have been Athit’s necklace. A townsfolk had tried to sell it and he’s going to find out more information. Er, ok. Meanwhile Decha takes his son to meet.. Nopasit! Decha must have been the man he called.

Suriyen wonders if he could trust Tarntawan in her efforts to make Nong Phit like the farm. His employees even dress in cowboy getup, but Suriyen doesn’t think they need to adjust to that extent. Tarntawan says his biggest problem is trust, doesn’t he want people to love him back? The lawyer intercepts and says that making a kid like him is a piece of cake, since he’s the big boss. That cute encouragement got Suriyen all, FINE. “Tell me what I need to do.” Haha. You’re in for it!

Next thing we know, Suriyen walks out with a bear hat. Haha. But one word from Nong Phit – monster- and Suriyen yanks the hat off. Tarntawan puts the hat back on and encourages him to persevere. She turns him into a nice big bear for Nong Phit and even takes his hand. The best part is the lawyer’s expression, he’s totally mirroring OUR expression. Suriyen concedes and gives his hand (more like the low five of death) and forces a smile. He later pulls her aside and says he won’t be a big bear, he could be a cowboy, anything but a bear. All of the employees spy their big boss in the big bear getup. Ha.

Today’s agenda is taking Nong Phit to Visut’s sheep farm for a tour. Visut and Pensiri have to literally take their sunglasses off from the shock of Suriyen in a big bear hat. And then in case that wasn’t funny enough, all of his guards show up wearing little animal ears for moral. Hahaha. Silly minions.

The cop reports to Tarntawan that he thinks Khun Kim is hiding something. She refuses to speak about her experience at the farm and she even cringes when he felt something in the back of her head. He thinks Suriyen had been the one to hurt Khun Kim. He tells her to be careful at the farm because he worries about her. Pensiri’s imagination runs wild and she comes up with all sorts of bad things that Suriyen could have done.

The lawyer tells Suriyen that the sergeant that’s working on the illegal logging has more evidence and can arrest the perpetrator. They can then find out who’s behind this. Suriyen tells his staff to offer support to the sergeant. As a parting word, the lawyer adds that he’s really proud of the boss today. He’s really trying hard to make Nong Phit like him. I would use the word “tolerate” more like it. The lawyer thinks that Tarntawan will be grateful, but Suriyen relents that he didn’t do it. The lawyer encourages him to be honest because he’s on the boss’ side – then he adorably points to the bear ears. Suriyen quietly asks his lawyer if he looks ridiculous. Hee. The lawyer asks if the boss thinks HE looks ridiculous. Suriyen immediately says that he does and the lawyer agrees with a smile. Ah, these two.

And it seems to really worry him. Suriyen pulls off the hat and wonders if it’ll work – will it be good with Nong Phit? Aw. The lawyer consoles that since he’s trying so hard, Nong Phit will notice.

Pensiri continues on her tirade about Suriyen. Can someone shut her trap? Visut says it’s no wonder she’s single. Who is she to talk when she doesn’t even know Suriyen?

Khun Decha keeps Nopasit in a hiding place and assures him that he will help clear the murder case. Apparently he’s been telling Nopasit that Suriyen is the real murderer and they need to take caution when clearing his innocence and ensure that they got Suriyen for good. Nopasit came to Khun Decha after feeling that Khun Decha really hates Suriyen, but he doesn’t know why. He feels that the older man can be of help. Khun Decha relents that he’s trusting the right people.

Khetarwut tries to call his dad out but dad knows what he’s done to Suri, so that shut him up, for now. Hm. Turns out, Khetarwut tries to get Nopasit in debt so that he can get all of Suri’s money, but when the plan fails, he decides to set up a murder scene instead. Dad scolds him for picking Suri, since that’s Suriyen’s sister, and now things got a lot more complicated. Suriyen would be capable enough to find out who’s really at fault here – as he says this, Sia Tanong pays him a visit, he’s the gambling owner. He tells Decha that a cop has been getting close to his oldest daughter. Whatever he’s planning to do, he ought to do it fast.

COMMENTS

I didn’t really need the last ten minutes of this episode, really. Or those scenes with the nonsensical Pensiri.

Because all I really care about are Suriyen, Tarntawan, Nong Phit and the lawyer. They make the show compelling because their stories are tightly woven together. The other sub-plots are rendered uninteresting and maybe even irrelevant.

I was really touched by the forest scenes. Tarntawan really took the initiative to trust and be trusted. She shared a horrible experience about her near rape encounter just to show Suriyen that he’s really not alone in his struggles. He may victimize himself and shun everyone else, but if he would just trust in others and embrace their similarities, he too can love and be loved. I LOVE that message.

It’s really sad that he’s so alone in this world, he grew up without any love and semblance of direction – he doesn’t know how to deal and handle his emotions – because he didn’t have a father, mother or sister to help guide him. Not like Tarntawan, who had his sister to bear the burden and help her along. It’s poetic that she taught Suriyen what Suri taught her. I like that Tarntawan realizes that Suriyen NEEDS Nong Phit, without the child, Suriyen will forever be estranged, cold and beastly. She’s bonded with the beast and sympathizes with his painful past.

I am feeling the chemistry between these two and I can’t wait for more intimate encounters, the thought provoking, soul searching and self-realization conversations. Not the man handling or any of the above physical force from Suriyen. We’ve got enough of that. There’s too much hate in this lakorn world, it’s time for love and healing. This episode made me one happy camper. And Suriyen with his personal lawyer? Too cute.