Rang Tawan – Episode 9 – Unraveling of The Beast’s Heart

Truly the best part of this show is in watching the Beast’s heart flutter and melt as he learns to love and be loved, while allowing our hearts to warm right along with him. And it’s not even about the romantic love that makes his heart flutter, because it does. But it’s the hard fought love from his own nephew that subsequently melts his heart completely. This is one of my most favorite episode yet, since Show is obviously listening to our wishes, and they are listening very well indeed. Be prepared to curse Visut, hug Suriyen and slap yourself, because you’ll realize it’s a dream come true that a Beast like Suriyen could morph into a Prince right before your eyes. It’s all about our hero today, and thank goodness for that.

EPISODE 9 RECAP

We continue on from the night Suriyen tucks the trio in bed and gets caught by Tarntawan who compliments that he is a good person too. Suriyen could not hide his smile as he leaves the room, only to help her again later that night when she struggles to get a glass of water. His excuse this time around is that he doesn’t like people wandering his home late at night. Tarntawan chides him for monitoring the cameras again, she knows him too well. Suriyen decides he’d feed her the water since she’s such a clutz with all of the bandages, and can’t help but look so pointedly at her, making my toes curl.

And then as she leaves, he tastes the water right out of her cup. Touching his lips as if they kissed. OMG. Tarntawan turns back to thank him for all he’s done, but spies him lost in thought. Suriyen throws her a guilty look and blurts that he wasn’t thinking about ANYTHING. Hahaha. I’m dying from Suriyen’s cuteness.

The next morning Nong Phit wants his auntie to brush his teeth for him but Uncle Phu Bear laments that he’ll do the honor for anyone who is incapable of brushing their own teeth or doesn’t want to brush their own teeth. Nong Phit immediately reaches for his toothbrush. Ha. Suriyen doesn’t see it though as he tells Tarntawan to open her mouth wide, he has experience brushing a horse’s teeth so hers would not be a problem. Tarntawan slams her mouth shut but Suriyen offers two options: let him brush her teeth or wash her ass. Brushing the teeth it is. Hahaha.

And coloring time! Uncle Phu Bear wants to join them but Nong Phit isn’t too receptive to that. To get him to warm up, Uncle Phu Bear draws a picture on Tarntawan’s bandage, indicating to Nong Phit that she wouldn’t need to bring the pictures everywhere with her, she’ll have it right in her hands. Nong Phit likes the idea and claims the other hand. Tarntawan doesn’t recognize what he is drawing so Uncle Phu Bear tells her that it’s the land, the sea, and lastly the sun, which represents him. The employees are in awe at their boss’ depth. The housekeeper though is freaking out about his sudden change, last night she had already seen him smile when he left Tarntawan’s room, and now he’s coloring instead of being tough and order the employees about. The lawyer questions whether she would prefer him to be the mean boss or the kind boss?

Nong Phit draws a grapefruit, which prompts Aunt Kate to start singing and dancing to the grapefruit song. Everyone joins in the chorus except for Suriyen, so Tarntawan urges Nong Phit to ask Suriyen, who thinks Tarntawan is just trying to prank him. Turns out, what Nong Phit wants, Nong Phit gets. Once Suriyen is out of earshot, Nong Phit wonders why he can get his uncle to do anything and why of all people, is his uncle afraid of him? Tarntawan explains that Uncle Phu Bear is afraid Nong Phit won’t love him, so he’ll do whatever Nong Phit asks. Nong Phit beams and says that he won’t be scared of his uncle anymore and will tell his uncle not to bully his auntie. Aw. SuerKong tells Nong Phit that he can’t love Uncle Phu Bear because Aunt Tarntawan will no longer be able to stay at the farm, because she would be of no use to the uncle.

Visut and Pensiri manage to pull Tarntawan aside to discuss their recent findings. They got a call from Officer Ekk who suspects Khetarwut involved in Suri’s murder. The logic follows that Nopasit owes Sia Tanong money and suddenly Suri dies and Nop is the culprit. Afterwards Sia Tanong goes to Rai Phu Tupdao and suddenly Khetarwut reveals the cop’s identity to his older sister, when his older sister has cut ties with members of the farm eons ago. The person who has the most to gain from all of this is Khetarwut. Visut adds that he thinks Khetarwut is framing Suriyen with the murder and other illegal activities that arise at the farm because he wants to oust him. It also makes sense that someone told Nopasit that Suriyen is the real killer in order to frame him. Tarntawan frowns with concern over the thought that someone is causing some serious harm on Suriyen. Thank goodness that this has been cleared up and Tarntawan knows for sure that Suriyen is good and innocent.

So that night she takes a walk on the beach and spots Suriyen on the patio. He had been thinking back on the whole day with a smile. At the sound of footsteps, he immediately reaches for his gun. Tarntawan wonders if that’s necessary but Suriyen relents that you never know whose intruding, enemies or someone wandering the night unable to sleep. Ha. With a sigh Tarntawan plants herself in the hammock with Suriyen seated on the ground next to her, giving her one of his curious looks again. He asks what’s bothering her but she retorts that ever since she met him, she has a slew of things to be stressed out over, which does he want to hear first? Ha.

Suriyen astutely brings up Visut’s visit earlier today, Suriyen surmises that she must have received an update about his sister’s case. She questions in return about how far he has gotten with her brother’s whereabouts. Suriyen admits that he’s lost him, but decides to tease her that he’ll do something once he finds the man again. Tarntawan points at Suriyen to warn him that he promised not to try anything, but realizes that she’s being rude and takes her finger back. Suriyen is reminded of her injury and asks after her hand. Gosh, he is being so sweet. Tarntawan gives him the “you know how to care for others too?” look. Suriyen proceeds to tend to her bandage with care.

“Why aren’t you like this all the time?” Tarntawan asks. “Don’t you know that you’re cute?” Hee. “Why do you act like a bad person?”

Tarntawan peers at him as he silently goes to task with wrapping her hand up again, “I get that you need to protect your employees, but you don’t have to be mean to everyone. You should be nice to people who are nice to you,” says Tarntawan.

Suriyen looks at her and comments that it’s the nice people who are the worse. Tarntawan thinks he’s being pessimistic, but Suriyen questions whether she’s being nice to him for a reason, does she want him to go easy on her brother? Tarntawan regards him with concern, “Your problem is that you don’t trust people.” Suriyen confirms that it’s because people cannot be trusted.

Tarntawan explains that she really does want to help Nong Phit acclimate to the farm so that he can live with his uncle. “You may think that I’m doing this for P’Nop and I won’t deny it. At first, that was my intentions. But now that I got to know you, I don’t want to just help P’Nop, but I want to help Nong Phit too, along with myself.. and you.”

Suriyen eyes her and says he’ll have to wait and see.

“But I want you to trust me,” she pleads.

“Then make me trust you.” Oh, them words, how they make me smile.

Tarntawan broaches another subject that Visut and Officer Ekk had asked of her. These two men are plotting something without sharing with Tarntawan, but they ask that she help them anyway. And so Tarntawan tells Suriyen that she made a promise with Nong Phit to take him to the amusement park in the city tomorrow, and she wants Suriyen to join them, knowing that Suriyen may not have ever been to an amusement park before.

And what happened at the amusement park is both terrible and great, and changes everything.

When they arrive at the amusement park, Suriyen says he’s not wearing the bear hat in there and Nong Phit claims no one told him he ought to wear it, he has been willingly wearing it on his own. Ha. He decides to dismiss his bodyguards to wait outside of the park since Tarntawan complains that he always acts like a Big Boss, swarming himself with bodyguards at a kid’s play area. Look who’s listening.

Suriyen becomes putty when it comes to Nong Phit asking for things, taking cute pictures, wearing family tshirts, and participating in the fun. But things got REAL quick. Tarntawan makes an excuse that she’s going to the ladies room and she will leave Nong Phit with Suriyen for 5 minutes. She tells him that this is his test, he can’t make Nong Phit afraid of him. Suriyen lights up at the thought that he’ll have his nephew to himself, but Pensiri distracts him and in a matter of a few seconds, Nong Phit disappears. Oh crap. Suriyen frantically searches for his nephew, in a panic that some child molester has kidnapped the boy.

Meanwhile Tarntawan thought she had to make a call to Officer Ekk but turns out Visut is scheming to get her alone. Another reason why I want to punch Visut! He tells Tarntawan not to worry because the kid is probably not missing but just running around. Tarntawan turns to him in anger. Visut admits that he knows where Nong Phit is hiding, he had asked La-Or and Suerkong to hide Nong Phit away from Suriyen. They are given Pensiri’s GPS location and whenever she comes near (because she’s supposed to be following Suriyen) they are to go in the opposite direction. Visut argues that doesn’t Tarntawan want to get back at Suriyen for all of the things he has done to her? Tarntawan spits that she has no desire to do that! Visut reasons that he wants Nai Phu to suffer and worry about his nephew for a bit because he doesn’t yet know that he loves Nong Phit. Tarntawan exclaims that Nai Phu certainly loves his nephew, hasn’t he seen what Nai Phu has done so far? Visut says that he wants Nai Phu to realize that if he doesn’t want to lose the people he loves, he should take care of them and not kick them out. Tarntawan gives a moment’s pause but gives Visut an opportunity to tell Suriyen the truth.

Suriyen asks the park officers to announce Nong Phit’s disappearance and orders his men to scour the park, while Pensiri who should have come clean, tries to stall him by suggesting that he takes a break. He has been searching for two hours and has not rested. Suriyen glares at her for that suggestion, but says he’s open to hearing other plans that she has. One of the park officers says she found a boy that matches Nong Phit’s description and Suriyen dashes to the waterpark to look for his nephew. Only, that’s not the right boy and at his moment of utmost dismay and desperation, the waterpark dumps an onslaught of water right on Suriyen. He’s soaked from head to toes.

No matter, he perseveres, and everyone, including Tarntawan and Visut witness how worried sick Suriyen was. But Visut doesn’t dare to confess the truth because Suriyen threatens to kill the person who kidnapped his nephew. Instead Visut orders La Or and Suerkong to return the boy without letting Suriyen know that they have been the one to take him.

But too late. As soon as Suriyen spots Suerkong, he goes after him. Tarntawan stops Suriyen, exclaiming that she can’t let him act violently in front of Nong Phit like this, and Visut finally finds the gumption to confess. To protect everyone involve, Tarntawan says that she’s just testing him, she wants to know how much he loves Nong Phit. Which of course makes Suriyen gape in befuddlement – does his actions not mean anything? Does she have to go to this extent? That’s what I’m saying. And with tears welling up in his eyes, he asks her, “Do you see what it’s done to me now?” Aw. Tears.

Tarntawan follows him to the stadium. She apologizes that things turned out this way. Suriyen holds his head in his hands and repeats his question of why she felt she needed to go this far. Tarntawan takes his shoulders and says that she knows that he’s scared, but everything is ok now and Nong Phit ISN’T gone, he’s still very much with Suriyen. With that, Suriyen breaks down and cries, overwrought at the thought and fear that he’d lose his last kin.

In the meantime, more development in the subplot front. Nopasit gets cabin fever for being locked up at Decha’s home and Decha not doing anything as fast as he’d hope, so when Kaekhai sneaks into his room to find out how the decoration is going, he learns something suspicious about Decha. Kaekhai says that Decha loves Suriyen like his own son, he would never do anything to hurt him. Nopasit tells her that her dad promised to help him and is out to get Suriyen. He can no longer trust Decha anymore so he escapes, tying Kaekhai up. Officer Ekk realizes that he could not get Suriyen and Rujira’s past out in the open without putting the two in the same space. Oh snap.

Suriyen decides they’ll spend the night in Bangkok at his sister’s home, and Nong Phit and Tarntawan are surprised and elated. Nong Phit is concerned about his Uncle Bear who’s wearing a long face. He asks auntie why his uncle is so sad, and auntie shares with him that uncle has gone above and beyond – not to mention worried sick – when Nong Phit had gone missing. Uncle Bear loves Nong Phit. I love it when Nong Phit then asks, “What can I do?” Nong Phit wants to go to his uncle and comfort him because he notices the man is stressed out. Aw.

Visut peers at Tarntawan and asks if she’s mad at him. You think? She glares and says, “YEP. Even if you tell me that you have good intentions, I won’t believe it. You have a personal vendetta already so you took the opportunity to prank him. It’s not fair for Nong Phit.”

Visut admits he has bad intentions, but it doesn’t have anything to do with his personal vendetta, in fact it has to do with her. He’s practically confessing that he likes her. He adds that she has dealt with a lot of burden recently and he just wants her to relax.

Tarntawan basically gives him the “are you kidding me” look. I love that she tells him that her sister in law is dead, her brother is on the run and she’s responsible for her nephew’s welfare, she will NOT be able to relax until everything is resolved. Visut has the gall to ask her pointblank if she would give him the opportunity to date her once everything is resolved.

Tarntawan doesn’t answer but it’s almost like she shoots him down anyway, haha. Instead, she takes Nong Phit to his uncle and tells Nong Phit to give the man medicine and water if Nong Phit wants to show that he cares. Suriyen looks tenderly at Nong Phit, the boy says he doesn’t want his uncle to be sick.

Once alone with Suriyen, Tarntawan asks if he’s feeling better. She gives the excuse that she should know how he’s feeling in case Nong Phit asks her. Haha.

She plants herself right next to him and asks if he’s still mad at her. He regards her with sad eyes, “You must be satisfied to have gotten back at me.” But there’s no bite to his words and Tarntawan explains that she didn’t intend to prank him and didn’t know that it would hurt him like that.

“I’m really sorry,” she apologizes.

“I wasn’t hurt..” he lies.

“Did you notice that Nong Phit was worried about you?” she asks, disregarding his lie. “You made him feel less afraid of you.”

Suriyen looks at her.

“He smiled for you!” she adds.

“I didn’t see it,” he relents, hahaha, but he turns away with a smile. She calls him out on it, “why are you looking away then?” He merely says he’s annoyed with her. Tarntawan says that his secret is safe with her, and that he can tell her if he’s happy about something. Aum just gives her a killer smile. The kind that kills you on the spot. So friggin handsome.

Pensiri tells Visut not to give up hope, but Visut is discouraged, he says that he can tell that Tarntawan is worried about Suriyen. This character gets on my nerves, he doesn’t even feel bad at all about what he did. But Pensiri tells him to persevere because she thinks Tarntawan is only acting out of motherly instincts. Uh, ok. She stays by his side through the night, tries to cheer him up with dessert and spends the night in his car.

The next morning Suriyen’s mood is high, he’s standing there alone, smiling like a silly, silly fool.

Tarntawan happens by as she’s preparing Nong Phit’s breakfast, and she just stands there and takes it in. When he turns, he spies her watching him.

“How long have you been standing there?” He asks. Haha.

“Oh, I was just preparing Nong Phit some breakfast and happens by someone in a very very good mood.”

“Who? Who’s in a good mood?” kekeke.

Oh just someone who isn’t willing to even show his guards that he was smiling. He even takes his mother’s ashes back to the farm, indicating that he wants to show her his success. But Tarntawan surmises that he thinks Suri is lonely so he’s taking his mom to accompany her. Aw. I love that she can read his mind. He just gives her one of his “whatever” smile. These two.

Nong Phit smiles up at his uncle as they prepare to go back to the farm, but the employees ask for a few minutes to pack up some stuff. Suriyen gruffly tells them to hurry it, but Nong Phit reminds him that his mom has taught him to speak nicely and sweetly when requesting something. Without even a beat, Suriyen softens his voice and orders his employees in a very nice way. Even I can’t handle this entire package of goodness that is Suriyen right now. All I need right now is for the lawyer to surface and join in this fun. I miss him, but I’m not complaining because Suriyen, Uncle Phu Bear, is just a big ole softie, and this episode is all about him.

I’m afraid for Tarntawan though, because for the second time, she’s doing what other people think is best. She’s stalling time so that Officer Ekk can bring Rujira to the house and confront Suriyen, trying to get a rise out of Suriyen. That sounds like a very bad idea, because we see Khetarwut following the cop’s car.

Visut’s actions are unredeemable and selfish and callous – which serves to dislike him even more – but in the grand scheme of things, he pushed Suriyen to realize his own feelings. I would much rather Show does it in a more natural way, remove Visut’s schemes and have Nong Phit get lost while Suriyen discovers his own feelings. But I guess the method doesn’t matter in this case as long as the result is the same: Suriyen realizes it’s ok to show someone that you love them. It’s ok to take care of them and expect them to take care of you. I also love that the grand perception of both parties – that Suriyen is not the culprit behind his sister’s murder and that Tarntawan isn’t doing things for money – gets resolved and fall by the wayside. I’m glad that Officer Ekk is piecing the puzzle together and taking every necessary measure to find out the truth behind Rujira’s suspecting behavior, and that Khetarwut is the real culprit. Nopasit is not off the hook for me because he’s just a sneaky person. It’s hard to trust someone who believes everything he hears.

But at the end of the day, what captures my heart and squeezes it is Suriyen- going through the emotions of love, with Tarntawan by his side, refusing to even scoot over. She may go along with what others think is best for Suriyen, but she is always there to pick up the pieces and glue it together. She’s not afraid to give anyone a piece of her mind and protects the people who need protecting the most.

If Suriyen looks at Tarntawan with hope and love in his eyes, and looks at Nong Phit like he couldn’t believe his luck, while peering at everyone else with sadness in his eyes – like they’ve all ganged up on him because they think they needed to go to a certain extent to reduce him to a crying shame – I will literally perish. There is something about a lonely and sad soul that calls out to me, perhaps like Pensiri says, it’s my motherly instincts. But anyone watching Tarntawan while she’s watching Suriyen, can tell that her feelings are far from motherly. And I’ll watch that any day.

So thanks Show, for giving us what we’ve asked for. If there’s more of this lovely screen time for our main characters, I might just cry.

Due to the demand, here’s next week’s Preview:

Suriyen: “Don’t destroy my trust (in you) Tarntawan.”

Officer Ekk: “Don’t meddle with Khun Kim anymore.”

He gets punched by Suriyen.

Tarntawan panics and Suriyen warns Officer Ekk that HE should stay away from Khun Kim.

Khun Kim: “Please just let me go..”

Officer Ekk: “How much longer are you going to allow Suriyen to depress your life?”

Visut goes down on one knee with a bouquet flowers and Tarntawan remarks: “Are you really going this far?”

Aunt, uncle and nephew hold hands.

Suriyen gets closer to Tarntawan’s face and says, “From now on Nong Phit will no longer have Aunt Kate.”

Oh my. Stay tuned for next week!