#pattssaengtai

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Pee Peerawich Can FUCKING ACT

Alright, I have not been seeing enough praise on my dash for the sheer acting prowess that came out of episode 10. Everyone was great- Copter had the most expressive face I have seen from him the entire show, Suar broke my motherfucking heart, Title was a BEAST with his microexpressions this episode (and could, frankly, use a post all on his own), but it is time to talk about Pee Peerawich Ploynumpol and his acting in this episode. 

The micro and macro-expressions that man was pulling? Exquisite and worthy of praise. 

Car Ride

Tai asks to stay at Patts place that evening, with an immediate implication of #gaysex

Despite the fact that Pee has not moved that much (considering he is literally buckled in to a chair) you can see and feel the excitement radiating off him in this moment. Patts is pumped. Patts is locked and loaded. Patts is ready to commit traffic violations if it gets him to that dick faster. Pee makes that excitement legible to the audience by making his eyes wide, turns that eye shine up, the way he moves his lips, the way he holds his body, the tone he places in his voice. 

gif by @liyazaki

Tai Ride

There are not enough gif-makers watching La Pluie, I need more people to watch La Pluie and know how to make gifs to watch La Pluie so that I can have immediate and easy access to an entire episode’s worth of gifs, because this screenshot does not give enough information here. 

What I want to highlight in particular in this scene is that Patts *swallows hornily* when Tai steps towards him. It’s fun for me to see a bit more of a role-reversal here with Patts and Tai. Title is portraying an aura of utter surety in the way that he carries Tai in this moment, and Pee is carrying the excited, yet nervous and cautious energy that Tai usually brings to their emotional connection. 

Then of course, we get the easy chemistry between Patts and Tai in the bed scene. I’m probably gonna have to do a separate post about the hands in this episode, so I won’t talk about them here. But we always have to appreciate the way that Pee is able to portray desire. 

For the sake of time, I am going to link to my Episode 6 and Episode 7 posts about hands, so you can see how good Pee is at making his hands relaxed and natural in these scenes. (What do I mean by that? I mean, if you compare Pee’s hands here to say, James in Bed Friend, you will notice that oftentimes James’ hands are very stiff, like he’s trying to remember how he’s supposed to hold them). 

If you asked me to pick one moment from this scene that I thought was the best part of Pee’s performance, it’s a quick, easy, no contest answer for me, because Pee absolutely crushed the line delivery of “May I?” He makes his voice so soft and kind, and strained/broken. There’s a gravel to it that he doesn’t usually have. Because of it you can tell how important this moment is for Patts. 

The Calzone Betrayed Me? 

Tai and Lomfon are spotted and a picture of them is sent to Patts, Patts who has been told by Tai that they can’t hang out on Sunday because Tai has work he needs to do. Patts calls Tai to check on him, and it is at this point that I honestly believe that if Tai had told Patts the truth, Patts would have been okay with it. Patts is giving Tai an opportunity not to lie, and Tai chooses to double down. 

And it feels like a slap in the face, and Pee nails this moment, this flash of anger and heartbreak that Patts feels when he hears Tai lie to him. And he’s able to switch it so suddenly to Patts’ acting, not Pee’s, when Patts makes his voice cheerful and says that he misses Tai.

He hangs up the phone, and there is not even a second of time between when that phone call ends to when Patts starts spiraling. Again, there are not enough gifs of this show at all, which makes it hard to show everyone the very impressive acting beats, but Pee has a whollllleeeee internal monologue happening throughout this entire scene. Pee makes it so easy for the audience to read Patts’ mind here just in his physicality, in the way his face drops, in how quickly his eyes move. 

The anger and frustration is starting to build. 

Patts trusts Tai, Patts does not want it to be true that Tai is lying to him, so Patts goes to Tai’s place to check on him. He knocks on the bedroom door, and for a split second there is a smile on his face before he processes that  it’s actually Tien at the door. 

Lomfon Gets a Shiner (aka Fight Scene One): 

This is the point in the story where the explosion start, and it is in these moments that Pee really shines in his performance. Lomfon needs to have consequences forcibly beaten into his skull, Patts needs to grapple with all the frustrations he has had with Tai over the last two years of silence, Patts has been patient, graceful, and nothing but kind, and he deserves to McFreakin’ lose it. We know from Patts final conversation with Nara that Patts can have a temper, we know that he is not abusive (Nara’s interactions with Patts and Patts feelings for Nara would be very different if that were the case), but his temper is a flaw Patts himself is aware of. 

Pee has a very difficult job here, because he has to make sure that Patts is allowed to get violent, get loud, and remain sympathetic. Because Patts is a good person, a kind person, who is reconciling with years of unresolved frustrations around Tai and Tai’s silence on top of waiting for Tai to feel comfortable and secure in his connection with Patts, and Lomfon is coming in here to tell Tai something that has the potential to undo all of the months of progress Patts and Tai have been cultivating.

Anyway, Patts wailing into Lomfon is uncomfortable to witness, I am not satisfied by watching this boy who kept disregarding the feelings of every single person around him for the sake of figuring out his own, finally get a face full of consequence because of how blinded Patts is by his rage. Anway, let’s get into the fight itself. Pee handles this scene expertly, the size and severity of Patts unbridled rage oozes through the screen. He makes this fight scene uncomfortable to watch. Now, I’m a simple bastard, right? Normally, I love when a rude character (like Lomfon) talks shit and gets hit. And as much as I have been saying for weeks Lomfon needs to be beaten up, Patts wailing into Lomfon (still holding back because that man did not have bruises and we know there is enough budget for a makeup department to give him bruises if they wanted to, cause they did so for Patts and Tai on the mountain). Anyway, Patts wailing into Lomfon is uncomfortable to witness, I am not satisfied by watching this boy who kept disregarding the feelings of every single person around him for the sake of figuring out his own, finally get a face full of consequence because of how blinded Patts is by his rage. 

Pee lets himself be ugly, he lets himself be intense, and over the top, and aggressive, he lets Patts feel all of those things. I have seen multiple posts circulating over the last week defending Patts and his anger, and I think part of the need people feel to explain Patts stems from a fear that people will hate this character after this street fight. Because Pee did his fucking job and did it so well that the violence feels real. His anger leaves shrapnel everywhere and you truly truly get the blind rage that Patts is experiencing in the way that Pee does not allow Patts to be detained, in the way that Pee does not let Patts process a single thing around him. 

AITA? (aka Fight Scene Two)

(sorry, this is kind of a self indulgent picture, y'all know I'm a slut for hands)

Now, the verbal sparring match between Patts and Tai immediately following this fight with Lomfon and Tai’s rejection of destiny, is something that has to be handled very precisely by these actors. Too intense and there may not be a clear path to reconciliation, too reserved and Patts’ justifiable anger at everything is undermined, and we don’t want that. Patts’ motivations for beating Lomfon up and our need to still feel sympathy for Patts, us wanting him and Tai to be together at the end does not work if you undermine the logic behind Patts’ behavior. So Pee is toeing a very precarious line here. He has to balance expressing a lot of anger and not making his character irredeemably violent. 

And GOD, I mean, a gif or a video clip is one thing, you can watch the scene play over and over and over again, and you can analyze it that way, but I actually want to just put a couple of screen caps in here because well…

Pee embodies that rage. These screen captures are a split second of time, a brief moment, when I take them I take hundreds of them because I am never certain what I am going to get in a singular moment. But every single frame I have of Pee’s face during this confrontation is just the most open and obvious manifestation and portrayal of anger that I have seen in quite some time. 

EVERY

SINGLE

FRAME

From a body language perspective (surprise, surprise WKA is talking about body language in a TV show again, how original..) Pee has set his jaw. Pee has set his shoulders. This man is tense, he is stiff, he is using so much goddamn energy. He slouches forward when he’s confronting Tai, leaning in, getting closer to him but still maintaining a distance. They are within arms reach of each other, but Patts is not fully up in Tai’s face. Which I think is important for the audience in maintaining the idea that Tai is safe, and that Tai feels safe with Patts, despite his anger. Which I think continues to hold because Tai is pretty even-keeled in his responses and it is obvious that Tai is not in distress or actually scared of Patts when confronted by this side of Patts. 

BUT when Tai responds with “Patts, I can’t understand what you are asking” ohhhhhhh ohhhhhh the way Pee leans back, the way Pee’s shoulders go straight. Like, seriously, look at the second and third image in this set of four (“who do you choose” \\ “Patts, I can’t understand what you are asking”) can you spot the differences in the way Pee holds his body in those two screenshots? Let me know what you see! 

[Oh and hey! Would you look at that! A barrier between them…]

Thai walks away, leaving Patts in the rain and this is the critical moment, because Patts breaks down. Patts screams “FUCK!” and just swings his body around like he is trying to forcibly expel all the anger from his body. 

gif by @liyazaki

And this is where Pee really starts to crush his performance, because he shifts Patts’ rage to fear and heartbreak in an instant. He is balancing Patts’ anger and Patts’ insecurities on a knife’s edge, and he is wielding it with expert precision. 

Fundamentally, (and if anyone as an audience member has not picked up on this theme yet, Patts will state this explicitly at the end of the episode so I am confident in talking about it now) Patts’ biggest hurdle to being with Tai is Tai’s silence. Patts waited for years for Tai to talk. He was patient for years. He has been navigating this relationship with Tai very smoothly. He is understanding of Tai’s hesitations and respectful of Tai’s boundaries. But he knows how easy it is for Tai to slip away, and Patts is OVER waiting for Tai to break the silence. He wants to talk, he may be angry here but he wants to resolve the issue. He is confronting Tai’s behavior, Tai’s lies head on, and he needs to hear assurances from Tai that Tai does not have feelings for Lomfon. Or rather Patts just needs to know what Tai decides, and Tai won’t talk to him about it. 

Patts is terrified of being left alone in all of this. Patts is terrified of losing Tai to another “soulmate” because he knows, or knew, that there was still some part of Tai that believes or wants to believe that that is real, and he knows how easy it may be for Tai to get confused, or Tai to overthink, or Tai to retreat and leave him because Lomfon says they are soulmates. What Patts is grappling with here is two years of reaching out over and over and over again only to be met with silence. Patts lost his relationship with Nara because of his connection to Tai. And Pee needs to be able to show the audience the part of Patts soul that this anger is coming from. 

Because it starts as him being infuriated by Lomfon not respecting Patts. It starts at him being lied to repeatedly by Tai. The anger starts there and the longer and longer the conversation goes and Tai refuses to just FUCKING SAY that he chooses Patts, Patts spirals further and further in to the part of himself that has been breaking from the moment his soul mate decided not to reply. And Pee 

NAILS

THAT

SHIT

gif by @liyazaki

I know I have already used this screenshot but I am placing it here as a visual comparison for where Pee ended with Patts and where he started with Patts in these scenes from the fight with Lomfon until Tai walks away. 

(I am curious what similarities and differences people see between the gif above and the screenshot in terms of Patts' body language)

Correct me if I am wrong @bengiyo but I believe you had mentioned in one of our sidebars that they only had enough money to really run this truck once, so every scene was done in one take. It’s not a single shot, there is time to set up and take things down, cool yourself down or amp yourself up, but if is is indeed true they only had the money to run this once per angle, then we really really need to be appreciating Pee’s performance here, because Patts has been a happy, smiley, calm, and patient person for the entire show. Pee and Patts both deserve the emotional catharsis they are getting from a scene this big and complicated.

An Intervention for the Hopeless Romantic (aka Fight Scene Three): 

Patts gets drunk and goes to continue the conversation he started with Tai in the rain and Tai does not want to entertain that conversation, knowing that Patts is drunk. Suggesting they hold off on that convo is the smartest thing that Tai could have done imo, because he knows there is a high possibility of a bad outcome from the kind of conversation he would have to have with Patts (though I also do think Tai would have had extremely similar responses to Patts’ questions either way but I digress)

Patts has had some time to process what happened in that earlier fight so he is capable of calming down, but he is also drunk which means that Pee has to navigate behaviors and physicality of someone who has calmed down about a sore point, but who has also #releasedhisinhibitions by getting drunk and therefore making it harder for himself to moderate his physical responses to his fluctuating emotional state. 

While I personally do believe that Patts would still be angered by the conversation he is having with Tai even if he was sober, I also think having some time and space to process would have enabled him to manage his responses more and allowed him to make more rational versus reactionary decisions if he was sober. But that isn’t what happens. So Tai is his typical, conflict avoidant, fed off of romance novels-self and is therefore infuriating to have a real conversation with to work through everything that happened that day.  

gif by @liyazaki

(Fun Fact: I am pretty certain that pointing is considered to be extremely rude in Thai culture)

This conflict scene is interesting to me because Title is giving a master’s level of microexpressions to his performance as Tai, and Pee is giving a master’s level of macroexpressions to his performance as Patts. I like the dichotomy of the character’s reactions in this scene. I like how Title and Pee are able to root their character’s personalities so heavily in to how they react to and engage in conflict. Tai runs from it, sure, but similarly to Tien he is able to temper his temper, he is pretty good at remaining, or appearing to remain, calm, cool, and collected, in the face of explosive, loud, and large emotions because Tai has always been a shy, introverted person, who intentionally created silence for himself. Patts is the first one to talk in that soulmate link, Patts was frequently the one who reached out, Patts is older, he’s been in relationships before, he knows how they work, and he understands the realities. So naturally, Pee’s going to play Patts with more obvious, easily readable, and intense emotion. 

A (not-so) fun parallel in this scene is actually the way that Patts swallows in the following gif:

gif by @liyazaki

At the beginning of this post I mentioned that Patts and Tai seemed to almost change personalities, where Tai was confident and certain and Patts was nervous? Yeah, Patts swallowed hard there (more out of nervousness and horniness) in a similar way to how he swallows hard here before he loses his grip and has that little burst of anger. Patts here, is trying to swallow his anger, but he’s drunk and tired of the bullshit so it doesn’t work. (Pee has some great microexpressions in the moment above too, I want to know what people think is running through Patts' mind based on the small face movements you can see)

gif by @liyazaki

Tai puts up a test. “let’s break up” thinking this might give Patts an opportunity to pause and re-evaluate his behavior right now. Tai is offering a test of Patts’ love for Tai. If Patts really loves Tai he would just inherently know what Tai is thinking and feeling all the time without ever needing to ask. If Patts really loves Tai, he would never break up with him even if he was mad. But, in a drunken, heat of the moment bout of anger at Tai’s sheer inability to navigate conflict rather and refusal to answer what Patts thinks (and I think too honestly) is a pretty simple, straightforward question about who Tai chooses and agrees: 

“Alright you said it! Let’s break up” 

(not the best screenshot I've ever taken, but I just needed everyone to see the second time Patts points to Tai.)

Pee does an absolutely phenomenal job of letting Patts process his own words a second too late to stop them. Like????????

Pee lets Patts be angry, loudly angry, physically angry but not dangerously so in these scenes. Tai again is not scared of Patts being here. 

(it is so interesting to me because I feel like ^this photo makes Pee look younger)

The legibility of feelings in Pee’s performance from this episode is truly incredible. You can see the moment Patts realizes what he just said, you can see how quickly Patts cycles through his own stages of grief and regret at what he just said. 

Patts knows he just fucked up. Patts knows exactly how badly he just fucked up. And just as quickly as he is able to fall from the anger to the regret, Pee is able to fall from the regret to the fear. Patts is trying so hard to apologize to Tai, Patts wants to take it back so badly. And my heart is breaking for him. 

gif by @liyazaki

He is begging, he is pleading, he knows what happens if Tai closes that door and he is desperate to stop that from happening. 

And I think it happens a little bit earlier in the scene than what the gif shows but there is this millisecond in that movement of Tai pushing Patts out the door where Pee switches from panic to heartbreak. 

(when I say this change happens in a millisecond, i mean that I literally had to slow the video down as slow as it could go and then just rapidly pressing the spacebar to pause and play and pause and play to creep to it frame by frame for this shot, he switches so fast).

Pee demolished this episode, he left no survivors. 

Wet and Pathetic 

I have said it already but I think it does bear repeating, due to the themes that were explored in Episode 10 Pee, hands down, no contest, has the hardest job in this episode. Because Patts gets violent, because Patts’ anger is explosive, because Patts’ anger this episode leans more toward unrestrained which can make him come off as aggressive. The way the audience engages in the rest of Patts and Tai’s story falls almost entirely on Pee’s performance this episode.

Once again, because his anger, his violence, his rudeness, and lack of restraint have to be legible as stemming from a deep wound that Tai caused. We have to be able to see Patts as someone with an angry streak but not someone who will turn to domestic violence. We have to be able to see Patts as someone worthy of compassion. If Pee had failed to deliver a performance that was not only legible but heartbreaking, then why would anyone hope they will find a way to work through this. If Pee does not manage to make us feel bad for Patts after having us bear witness to a decently brutal beating (decently brutal here defined as I thought Patts would probably deck Lomfon once, Lomfon would stay down and the rest of the angst would unfold as a result. I truly did not expect a full smackdown with Patts in so blind of a rage that he didn’t even register Tai trying to stop him) the story ends here. But he didn’t fail…he flourished I mean, look at him: 

gif by @liyazaki

For the second time today he starts breaking down, first because he so desperately wants Tai to choose him. He desperately wants to be chosen. Second, because he wants to keep Tai in his life, he doesn’t want to lose Tai, and he knows that by agreeing to break-up, with the way Tai approaches conflict and romance, that Patts very well may never see Tai again. I think everyone’s reaction to a heat of the moment agreement to break up will be different, I think there is a world where Patts could have a partner who would recognize Patts didn’t mean it, and would open the door to continue the conversation. But Tai isn’t one of those people. Tai locks Patts out like he locked Patts out in his head for two years. 

Sure Patts decked Lomfon (but #lomfondeservedit), sure he grabbed Tai a little too hard, sure he yelled, sure he wasn’t able to manage his emotions better, but Pee was able to deliver a performance that made the rougher parts of Patts’ character go over easier, and goddamn it if my heart wasn’t absolutely shattered seeing Patts sobbing, clawing desperately at the door to be let in.

gif by @liyazaki

Trying to get this out before Episode 11 airs, I just want to state for the record that I agree with @bengiyo, and @ginnymoonbeam, and @lurkingshan that in the grand scheme of the entire situation Tai is in the wrong here. He lied and then he lied again, and then he refused to communicate, and then he pulled some Nora Roberts logic on a real life relationship, and Tai needs to be the one that apologizes to Patts and the one who tries to re-initiate the relationship. I love Tai to death, Title too did a KILLER performance (but is harder to write about because there are not enough gifs in this fandom for any and all of his microexpressions) I get why Tai conflict style is the way it is, I get where he is coming from, I get where Patts anger is coming from, I get where his pain is. But by lying and then refusing to communicate about it, Tai is in the wrong and Patts deserves an apology for the way Tai treated him, and he deserved to be intentionally, enthusiastically pursued. 

Anyway, Pee Peerawich acted his little heart out in Episode 10 and he deserves more praise than I have seen him get.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk!

#la pluie #la pluie the series #pee peerawich #title tanatorn #patts x tai #pattssaengtai #patts x saengtai #pattstai #la pluie meta #la pluie analysis #everyone watch this show challenge #wka long post

[heretherebedork]

We are now facing the ultimate test of the concept of soulmates and choice within their universe as well as the power of kindness, compassion and love.

Tien believes in soulmates. He always has. He watched his parents divorce but still believed that their love mattered and he always believed that Tai would find love with soulmate.

Lomfon absolutely does not believe in soulmates, has stated as much, and now has to face what it means to hear someone in the rain and to face his own changing emotions.

But in this story Tien has to face his trust in soulmates when the person he loves is attached to his brother and to decide for himself, to make the choice, about what love means.

While Lomfon has to look at the idea of soulmates that he doesn't believe in and his crush on Tai while he's also starting to like Tien and he's suddenly in a place where none of what he thought makes sense made sense any more.

Love is a choice and there might be fate and destiny but fate and destiny do not determine your choices, only your chance to make those choices.

Tai and Patts are soulmates who finally made the choice to be with each other and were brought together though shared kindness, compassion and love.

But Lomfon and Tien are strangers who formed a connection naturally only to have fate and destiny and soulmates placed between them rather than enhancing that natural connection. They are both going to have to make a choice but that choice feels bigger.

Lomfon has been flirting with Tai for this long but is still unsure of how he feels now that he's experiencing Tien's kindness. Kindness and compassion are the building blocks of love.

Tai and Tien are both kind people who find kind people in Patts and Lomfon. Lomfon and Patts both found people that they could love and who need their love in Tien and Tai. They all found kindness, compassion and love with each other.

The final hurdle, the last wrench in this is, in Tien's belief in soulmates and Lomfon's new hearing loss. Because this is the final test, the final look at fate and destiny and choice and what is a choice.

The keychain and the rain matter, the post it notes matter, the kindness and the compassion and the silence and the noise all matter because you make choices about what matters.

#la pluie meta #la pluie the series #la pluie series #la pluie #bl series #thai bl #thai drama #thai series #bl drama #thaibl #asianlgbtqdramas #thai bl series #patts x saengtai #phat x saengtai #tien x lomfon #pattstai #lomfon x tien #lomfontien #lomfontian #pattssaengtai #patts x tai #patttai #taipatts #tai x phat #just me losing my mind #i need more people to love them the way i do #obsessively

[tess-from-neverland]

#la pluie in a nutshell #la pluie #la pluie the series #pattssaengtai

[sunshinechay]

La Pluie and The Kind One

So I finally caught up on the show after missing last weeks episode and I have to say I really enjoyed both episodes. I love that Patts and Tai have decided to be together, not because they’re soulmates but because they love each other and genuinely want to be together. This weeks episodes starts those tentative steps, allowing them and Nara to make peace with each other and allow Patts and Nara to grieve their relationship so they can truly move on. The ending of relationships are sad and no matter how it ends, it is okay to be sad about it ending and I thought that was really nice of the show to include.

The thing that really struck me with this weeks episode, is the introduction of the fact that Tai and Patt’s grandmother (and by extension, Patts himself) used to be neighbours. That during the time when Tai’s parents were getting divorced, that Tai had someone anonymously on his side, and that that someone was Patts. It might strike as a little odd to include, given that the show has spent so much time deconstructing the idea of the soulmate. To suddenly introduce the idea that, apparently, destiny has been trying to bring them together for years, though it didn’t work out when Patts was just “the Kind One”.

These small interactions give Patts and Tai insight on each other that they might not have ever been able to know about each other otherwise. That ultimately, Patts understands Tai’s feelings better than Tai thinks he does. Patts has watched it unfold. Even though he didn’t know it was Tai or his family, he has been the persona attempting to help someone through the separation of their parents and so he is able to try and help Tai in some small way. Knowing who the other party in these interactions, does recontextulize a lot for them, but in the end, for the better, not for the worse. Just one more thing for the two to love about each other. That they would each in term attempt to help a perfect stranger through a difficult time in their lives in any way that they can.

I get where the show is coming from though and I think narratively speaking, it actually makes a lot of sense and ultimately feeds back to what I think is one of the shows central themes: soulmates are not born, they are made. The idea that it takes work and honesty and communication, the same way any relationship does. That a relationship needs a solid foundation in order to thrive, and so does a soulmate relationship.

To introduce now that destiny has been at work the whole time might seem like a cop out or render the work the show has done to deconstruction the soulmate trope useless, but I don’t think that it does. For one very important reason. The timing at which it was introduced. If the show was really trying to say that Patts and Tai are really destined for one another, this would have come up much earlier in the narrative. Perhaps not for Patts and Tai, but for the audience certainly. We would have been told, like very near the beginning, that these two were at one point, each others secret pen pals and were helping each other go through these events. But we weren’t. Instead it was introduced in episode 9 of a 12 episode drama. Perhaps if it was going to be the sole focus from here on one, it would that worse thing, that cop out and regression in the show’s message, but we as the audience already now that the end game conflict is going to revolve more around Lomfon (and likely Tein, as opposed to Tai and Patts, but I am even less articulate about those thoughts than I am about these so you know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

Instead I posit that it is trying to build on the established narrative. These events happened and yes it could be destiny trying to pull them together. I (surprisingly) don’t disagree with that idea. It’s established that Patts and Tai already have their rain connection when this happens, so perhaps it is destiny trying to put them in each other’s paths, however, like with the rain connection, it is only trying to do that. It is not saying that they have to be together, like the common belief that the soulmate connection has. It is only placing Patts and Tai in front of each other and what they chose to do after that is up to them. See again about soulmates being made. Destiny can do all it likes, but that still doesn’t mean Patts and Tai would end up together. They still need to put in the work that helps their relationship to be successfully.

This is in contrast with the destiny keychain. The apparent deus ex machina of Lomfon’s story. Unlike the Kind One, it was introduced much earlier in the story and whether the narrative choose to focus on it in that moment or not, has much more significance to the story than Patts and Tai being pen pals. Why? Because while this show wants to break down certain tropes and story beats, it does play in other ones. While we might not know who Lomfon’s saviour was, we know that it’s likely to be one of the three candidates (Tai, Tein or Patts. For my money, I think it’s either Tein or both Tai and Tein, but that’s another post for another time). And because we know Lomfon is about to become the central figure of the story, it’s about to become a LOT more important to the narrative. The pen pal subplot, not so much. It’s going to end here, maybe become a funny story that the two tell at family get togethers but nothing more.

It’s narrative importance lies with what it tells us about Patts and Tai and not about what the show has to say about the soulmate trope and it’s subversion of it. I think it’s ultimately meant to functions as an understanding moment, for the audience, for the characters, about why their relationship works when they put in the effort to maintain it. Each was willing to put in the work for a perfect stranger and expect nothing in return and their relationship can be even better when they know and understand each other.

#la pluie #la pluie the series #pattstai #pattssaengtai #patts x saengtai #i hope this makes sense #mostly i really liked it from a writing perspective #it’s a nice character moment for the two of them #i love this show so much #i love it’s subversion #and this is coming from someone who fucking loves the soulmate trope #what do you think? #this post is brought to you by the version of me that exists at 1am #cap watches la pluie #cap speaks

[thedooristhebluecushion]

Finally starting last week’s La Pluie which I couldn’t watch bc I connect way too much with Patts & knew I couldn’t handle the wait but also every please pray for me.

#la pluie the series #la pluie #la pluie ep 11 #patt x saengtai #pattssaengtai #pattstai #patts x tai

[heretherebedork]

We are getting so many fascinating perspectives on the idea of soulmates, especially soulmates that are part of destiny and a disease.

Tai decided he could never love his soulmate because he risked losing him and that would hurt too much.

Phat would cure himself of the disease in a heartbeat and doesn't think of his soulmate as someone he wants to love.

Tian is jealous of the idea of soulmates but also does his best to dismiss the whole concept.

We don't know Lomfon's thoughts, not yet, but I expect he'll be different as well.

We know that Tien and Tai's parents were soulmates but that their relationship didn't work forever and that shaped all of their children as well...

Soulmates being part of a world is fascinating because you get to see how these ideas and expectations shape people but also shape the world. Soulmates are part of a disease, a disorder, but they are also soulmates. So which side wins? The disease or the soulmates? It's so wild to consider how much this means to the world and to love and to how people love and who they love...

#la pluie #la pluie series #thai series #thaibl #la pluie the series #bl series #thai bl #thai drama #asianlgbtqdramas #asian lgbtq dramas #thai bl series #bl drama #saengtaiphat #phatsaengtai #pattssaengtai #saengtaipatts #phat x saengtai #phat x tai #patts x tai #tai x phat #tai x phats #so many names damnit

[heretherebedork]

The way Patts entirely crumbled when he saw Tai talking to Lomfon, the way he had finally worked up the courage and the time and the choice to talk to him again and then saw that Tai wasn't just not talking to him but also talking to Lomfon? The absolute heartbreak on his face? The realization that even though he chose Tai, Tai wasn't choosing him? That Tai was giving him silence but giving Lomfon words and attention and his smile and his touch? That Tai couldn't be there for him?

Patts climbed a mountain for Tai. Patts carried on a path out of that mountain. Patts waited two years. Patts lived in silence for two years. Patts waited and Patts was patient and Patts let their relationship go slow and he was always there for Tai but they have one fight, one real fight, and Tai just vanishes and he doesn't just vanish, he goes and talks to the reason they fought, he goes and he is sweet and kind and cute to the person who hurt them the most but gives Patts nothing.

Of course Patts leaves heartbroken and turns to his friends but also turns to the one thing that Tai has always done... leaving.

It is Patts' turn to let his silence be heard. It is Patts' turn to be chased and to be found. It is Patts' turn for patience and silence and pain and comfort.

It is Patts turn to be chosen, just as he chose Tai.

Love is a choice, love is a verb and so far Patts has done all the choosing and all the acting... so now Tai has to prove that he can and will learn and change and grow.

#la pluie #la pluie meta #la pluie the series #la pluie series #pattstai #patts x saengtai #thai bl series #asianlgbtqdramas #asian lgbtq dramas #thai series #thai drama #thai bl #bl series #bl drama #thaibl #pattssaengtai #patts x tai #tai x patts #taipatts #thai bl meta #thai bl drama

[heretherebedork]

I now fully believe that the keychain Lomfon has somehow came from Tien.

Because La Pluie is entirely about the idea that any belief in destiny and fate are what hurt love. The more you believe in fate and destiny, the more you are going to be hurt and reluctant to love.

So how does this relate to Lomfon, who says he doesn't believe in fate or destiny in anyway?

He talks about the keychain's importance and the person, who he doesn't know, being the one who saved his life. And that's a lot like Tai remembering the anonymous notes and gifts that saved him during the turmoil of his parent's divorce

So there's a direct connection between those two concepts. And now there's a direct connection of the soulmates in the rain and the hearing loss. And now we're taking a close look at that idea that all these assumptions about who you're going to love and who you're meant to love keep hurting people.

Lomfon is about to face a crisis next week. He is faced with hearing voices in the rain that should be his soulmates but already have each other and his own feelings towards Tien that he has yet to acknowledge (even to himself, I suspect) while still holding onto his crush on Tai.

And the keychain has to matter somewhere in this. That keychain came to him at a time that he desperately needed it and is connected to his first love. Who is his first love? Just like Tai and Patts, his first love is Tien.

But just like Tai and Patts, neither of them knows it.

They fell in love before they know each other. They gave each other love without knowing who they were loving would forever in their lives.

It's destiny but it's also not destiny because all destiny does is give you the chance, all fate does is give the choices.

You have to make them. Lomfon and Tai both had to, have to, make their choices.

Patts and Tien both fell in love without fate but Tai and Lomfon each have something that matters to them and holds them back. They are the ones that have to choose the love that destiny has offered them, that has to open their hands and their hearts to what fate is giving them.

Tai was so attached to the idea of his soulmate and his fear of losing him that he never even tried to explore love. Lomfon is so detached from the idea of fate and destiny and soulmates but still holds onto this keychain and the first love that saved him alongside his crush on Tai.

But both Patts and Tien simply fall in love. They aren't looking for soulmates or for destiny or for fate. They are simply there for love. Patts had Nara but also fell for Tai not knowing who he was and willing to leave his soulmate for this love he found. Tien might be confused by the entire experience but he isn't trying to resist the feelings.

Soulmates and the ideas of soulmates has only ever gotten in the way of their love stories because destiny and fate aren't just placed in front of you. They're a choice you have.

Love is a choice.

To love is a choice; to be loved is a also a choice.

#la pluie meta #la pluie the series #la pluie series #la pluie #phat x saengtai #patts x saengtai #tien x lomfon #lomfon x tien #patttai #patts x tai #pattssaengtai #lomfontien #taipatts #tai x phat #lomfontian #tienlomfon #thai bl #thai drama #thai series #thaibl #asianlgbtqdramas #asian lgbtq dramas #thai bl series #bl series #bl drama #thai bl drama #thai bl meta #love is a choice

[heretherebedork]

Love is most definitely stored in the hands.

#la pluie the series #la pluie series #la pluie #tai x phat #phat x tai #patts x tai #phat x saengtai #saengtaipatts #saengtaiphat #pattstai #pattssaengtai #patts x saengtai #bl series #thai drama #thai series #thaibl #thai bl #bl drama #thai bl series #thai bl drama #thai boys love #hands hands hands

[heretherebedork]

I need to think more deeply about Tai asking Lomfon to be his friend and the way Patts witnessed the exchange and had the same reaction that Tai had to him kissing Nara only without any reassurance from Tai and with them broken up rather than tentatively not together.

There so much there about both Tai and Patts and ended Lomfon and Tien. Tai and Lomfon are just starting to realize that love is a choice and they're both taking their time but also enjoying that knowledge while Tien and Patts have always known that love is a choice and so are the ones suffering while they wait to be chosen.

The show is doing very interesting things with choice and action and love being represented by both and a failing being to love without to those two things, to love without choosing or acting always hurts the one we love.

And now Tai and Lomfon, the two who struggled with the idea that love is a choice, that you can't just let the universe and fate decide for you, are facing their own lives and their loves and realizing that they need to do something, anything, or lose that love.

#la pluie meta #la pluie the series #la pluie series #la pluie #bl drama #bl series #thai bl #thai drama #thai series #thaibl #thai bl series #thai bl drama #thai bl meta #lomfon x tien #pattssaengtai #patttai #tien x lomfon #lomfontien #taipatts

[heretherebedork]

Fate and Destiny and Soulmates are less important than choices but easier

I was wrong about the keychain.

BUT.

It's because the message is different than I expected.

This one isn't as much as about the choices but about the romance genre was a whole, the idea of that one accidental meeting that leads to love and romance and everything else we see so often in other romances.

Yes, Patts and Tai originally met through the same kind of idea but who does it matter now? They made their promises and then broke them all the same and that bond that was the soulmate bond is no longer anything at all.

Taii and Lomfon had the exact kind of meetcute the so many shows do. They bumped into each other, one person saved the other person and then rushed off before they could exchange names. They left only a token that symbolized love to the other person who never got to thank them for saving their lives.

So romantic!

Only... it's not.

Because Lomfon didn't know who Tai was and while he may have felt like he loved the person who saved him... Tai never thought of him again. All Tai did was push him from the road while he was panicking about his own father and then run off after him, never finding his keychain again.

Life-changing for Lomfon... but nothing for Tai.

And now here they are adults, meeting up, soulmates for about a week, maybe? and nothing more...

Fate and destiny are ideas. They are concepts and you can cling to them so tightly that they can destroy the rest of your love and the chance you need to take to make a choice.

The keychain, just like the soulmates in the rain, shows fate and destiny and clinging to what you think they mean gets in the way of actually loving people, of finding the people you love and having the chance to love them as well.

And we have all aspects of this hurt and the way this belief stops people.

Tai is the most obvious. He avoided his soulmate because of his parent's divorce but he also avoided all other relationships because he knew he had a soulmate. Fate and destiny put him into a corner where nothing was acceptable and so he did nothing in return.

Patts had a girlfriend but was rejected by her, in the end, because she believed in soulmates in a way he didn't. And now that he's faced with Tai having a possible second soulmate, he remembers her jealousy and her fear and wants to be reassured that he is chosen... something that Tai's inherent belief in soulmates doesn't allow for in their relationship.

Lomfon has always believed in fate and destiny for all he claimed not to believe in soulmates. He clung to they keychain and the idea of his first love and when he became soulmates with Tai and heard the story, it was confirmation of everything he believed and even the start of his feelings for Tien nothing could compete.

Tien believes in soulmates but he would be the one most likely to bend, most likely to see other ways to love... but he never had a soulmate. No fate, no destiny, just him and his choices and his feelings and his love and he got no choices at all because all the people around him are tied down by fate and destiny, leaving him isolated and alone.

Everyone wants fate and destiny to shape their life but when they actually do... they make it all harder and more complicated and filed with pain.

#la pluie meta #patts x saengtai #la pluie the series #tien x lomfon #la pluie #phat x saengtai #pattstai #la pluie series #lomfon x tien #lomfontien #lomfontian #tienlomfon #patttai #patts x tai #pattssaengtai #taipatts #phat x tai #tai x phat #bl series #thai bl #thai drama #thai series #thaibl #asianlgbtqdramas #asian lgbtq dramas #thai bl series #bl drama #thai bl drama #thai bl meta #thai boys love

[heretherebedork]

This boy has reached never level of absolute darling baby and way too relatable. I love him. I really do. He's so unsure of himself and insecure in the biggest but also the quietest ways and he's living a dream he gave up on because he saw no way of ever trusting it but he can't help but trust Phat.

#la pluie the series #la pluie series #la pluie #saengtai #saengtaipatts #saengtaiphat #phat x saengtai #patts x tai #pattssaengtai #tai x phat #phat x tai #phatsaengtai #bl series #bl drama #thai bl #thai drama #thaibl #thai series #asian lgbtq dramas #thai bl series #asianlgbtqdramas #thai bl drama #i relate a bit too much #seriously what a boy

[heretherebedork]

Tai is so passive and avoidant that it only makes sense he'd struggle with anything not a soulmate relationship. He waits for Patts to contact him, he decides they're over and never reaches out, he says they should break up first but gets upset when Patts agrees... he doesn't want to make a choice and when faced with one he will always wait for others to speak first and to approach him.

He wants Patts to hear him in his silence and so silence is all he'll give him until something changes in him, not in others.

Tien wants to be loved but he wants to be loved the way he dreamed of love being and he refuses to see that adult life requires more effort and work for a romance than what he dreamed, than the lack of choices he dreamed soulmates would bring.

#la pluie meta #la pluie the series #la pluie series #la pluie #patts x tai #patts x saengtai #pattssaengtai #pattstai #taipatts #tai x patts #bl drama #bl series #thai bl #thai drama #thai series #thaibl #asianlgbtqdramas #asian lgbtq dramas #thai bl series

[heretherebedork]

My undying love for everyone in this show continues but also this was such a good moment and such a fun highlight of their personalities and their growing relationship but also how much this story is both emphasizing the idea of soulmates while also downplaying the concept in the world.

But now they both know and they're both open about it and no matter the doubts and the old relationships that plague them both... there is a future here for them, one they can make together.

(If they take the chance, if they have the chance, even if being soulmates doesn't promise them anything they can make it themselves if they just try... but will they try?)

Look, I just love them? Okay? They're so cute and they're made of destiny and choice and love and care and patient and hurt and destiny that was met by being defied.

#la pluie the series #la pluie series #la pluie #phat x saengtai #saengtaipatts #saengtaiphat #saengtai #patts x tai #pattssaengtai #tai x phat #phat x tai #phatsaengtai #bl drama #thai bl #thai drama #thai series #thaibl #asianlgbtqdramas #asian lgbtq dramas #thai bl series #bl series #thai bl drama #soulmates but they emotionally destroy me

[sunshinechay]

So I want to talk about Tai for a second.

Specifically I want to talk about this moment right here:

Tai says point blank that he’s wanted to get rid of his hearing loss but he doesn’t feel any better now that it’s gone.

Of course I think he hates the way it happened, no one wants to go through anything even remotely similar to what he is going through right now. The emotional pain of having argued with someone important to you, the mental pain of knowing you fucked up in so many situations that you can’t figure your way out of. But this is something he’s wanted for at least the last 2 years. But by his own admission, he doesn’t feel better and I don’t think that’s going to chance any time soon.

It’s been talked about by everyone that Tai’s conflict resolution style is to clam up, to go silence and refuse to communicate. This is why this moment and the ensuing arguement with Patts is so painful. I agree with @bengiyo when he said that Tai is someone who reads too much romance. He has a skewed view of the way relationships are supposed to work. I also think though, that as time as gone on Tai has become more aware of that. He is still naive and fucks up so badly it’s completely understand why Patts reacts the way he does, but I don’t think he’s unaware of his fault. However he lacks the ability to convey the way he feels ( @lurkingshan and @ginnymoonbeam both have great posts here and here in which they discuss his conflict style and lack of ability to communicate) and now he has lost the best tool he had for making Patts believe that Tai finally knows that he will always choose Patts.

For all of Tai’s hang ups about the soulmate bond, I think he also recognizes that Patts doesn’t have those hang ups and that he does hold the believe that it means that they were meant to chose each other. It’s why Patts gets anxious, angry and upset when Lomfon acts the way he does. Why he is so frantic when he tries to confront Tai about it. Sure Tai might not have talked to him for 2 years, but he was still there and they still found their way to each other and that had to meant something, right?

But now it’s gone and Tai doesn’t know how to tell Patts that he does choose Patts because not only should Patts have already known that but the connection was also always there to prove it. Tai shouldn’t have to say it out loud because he shouldn’t have too. Again he thinks Patts should already know that. It’s horribly naive and shows Tai’s lack of dating experience but it’s what he believes in that moment.

The show is of course trying to point out that they don’t need it to have a successful relationship. They need hard work and good communication, but within the internal logic of the universe, I get why Tai would think this. Why should Patts doubt that Tai would choose him. They’ve already said they choose each other and they have (had) that connection.

But now that connection is gone. It’s gone because of Tai and he already regrets that it’s gone and that he took it away. I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out later that he wants it back. A classic case of don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone.

Hopefully before that happens (if it does), Patts and Tai will finally communicate with each other and get on the same page and learn how to work around their conflicts in way that both are able to do. Tai needs to grow up a bit more and learn that life’s not a romance novel (even though we might want it to be sometimes) and that it’s hard but worth it to try and make the best of it.

#la pluie #la pluie the series #la pluie meta #pattstai #pattssaengtai #patts x saengtai #this boy is so naive it hurts #i’m very firmly in the Patts defence squd #but i feel so tai in this moment #my conflict resolution style is a cross between his and tien honestly #clam up go silent think then soothe and give in #all four of these boys are going to kill me aren’t they #what do you guys think? #cap watches la pluie #cap speaks

[tess-from-neverland]

The history book on the shelf

Is always repeating itself

#love parallels #she says while crying #love mechanics #la pluie #la pluie the series #i know it's not the exact same #but this was all i could think about #veemark #pattssaengtai