DAMSEL CODED
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-- sad puppy x sad kitten
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Kang/Sailom and competing meanings of 'security'
Kang: "Let me ask you this. If I were to wake up tomorrow with no money, would you still like me?"
Sailom: "I. Like. You."
Episode 4 made it clear that Kang and Sailom enjoy each other’s company, that they mutually missed one another after Sailom lost the tutoring job, and that they would like to continue spending time together moving forward. It’s particularly important how well Dangerous Romance demonstrated that this goes two ways - that for Sailom his sadness wasn’t just about losing Kang’s financial support (seen below in the scene with his brother and also in his disappointment after Pimfah hires him)
These scenes show us that he missed Kang outside of the bounds of tutoring him. Said differently — that he gets more from their relationship than Kang’s family’s money.
This is so interesting to tease out because right now, Kang is obsessed with making sure Sailom is financially secure -- specifically with Sailom having enough money to pay off the monthly debtors so he won't be beaten or have to work as an escort.
For Kang, his money is the most important thing he has to offer Sailom. He agonizes over his midterms, not because he personally feels driven to pass them all, but because he's terrified of what will happen to Sailom if he gets fired.
However, while money is particularly important to Sailom at this moment in time while his brother is 'injured' (side eyes Saifah real hard), it is not what he values most about his relationship with Kang. For Sailom, Kang gives him an emotional security he doesn’t get anywhere else.
Kang does this in several ways. First, he offers Sailom the space, lack of judgement, and often encouragement to just be a teenager:
To play video games
To take naps
To experience the joy of a late night ride
To be kind of a troll:
((I don’t believe for ONE SECOND Sailom would talk to any of his other tutoring clients like this))
Kang also puts Sailom first in a way in a way no one else does (I love this post by @jojotichakorn about this being important). He constantly worries about Sailom and his needs. LOOK AT ALL THESE MOMENTS IN JUST THREE EPISODES:
And finally, Sailom can relax and be himself with Kang in a way he doesn't seem to with anyone else. While he does lighten up a little with Auto and Guy, he still seems to play a caregiver role for them. And he’s quick, when he does start to let his guard down, to snap back into his top student role.
The way Sailom is with Kang is actually best contrasted with how uncomfortable Sailom is at home. However much he adores Saifah, he is always on guard with him, perhaps even more than Sailom himself even realizes.
He doesn’t admit to his full emotions about losing Kang
And he constantly worries about Saifah’s spending habits and behavior with his clients
While Kang’s money is helpful for Sailom, like Sailom said, he could have found another job. We saw that on screen when Pimfah offered him the tutoring gig.
But Sailom would have been (almost) as miserable as Kang in that scenario. Because Kang gives him an emotional security that Sailom has been desperately missing in his life.
It may seem surprising to hear that Sailom’s former bully is now his biggest source of comfort, but I think there are a few reasons Sailom feels this way about him:
He never truly feared Kang to begin with; Kang started to really frustrate him towards the end, but Sailom didn't ever get scared by his attempts at physical intimidation
Kang has already seen him at the absolute lowest point in his life (the night of the beating)
Kang saved him and then cradled him protectively in his arms while he cried
Sailom has already seen Kang at one of the lowest points of his life in return (his birthday); he's also seen Kang at his abject worst (any one of his many bullying attempts) -- so there's no pressure to impress him
Since they started spending time together, Kang has never done anything but reward that trust. He hasn't made fun of Sailom or made him feel any lesser, even in situations where Sailom was clearly out of his element (the steak, the VR)
In summary -- Sailom needs and wants to be around Kang just as much as Kang does him, and for reasons that are intrinsically Kang.
However as long as Kang continues to think the most important thing he can do is buy Sailom's time, they are going to keep having conflict. Because:
And the more Sailom falls in love with Kang, the less he is going to like the idea of feeling like Kang is trying to buy him.
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I am halfway lol, halfway throwing up my hands in despair in the DR tag. Six weeks ago, it was full of people being all, "I cannot BELIEVE that Kanghan has turned into a puppy just like that, how has this show forgotten what an ASSHOLE he was? How can I continue to watch this show?" and now it's full of people being all, "I cannot BELIEVE what an ASSHOLE Kanghan is!! How can I continue to watch this show?"
Y'all, he was never NOT an asshole anymore, it's just that only about five of us trusted the show enough to A) expect it to come back around again and be explored like the recurrent issue it is, once some stress was applied to the weak points of the infrastructure when the scaffolding Sailom provided was endangered and B) meanwhile appreciate how the show took the time to show-not-tell that he was so much more complex than just being an asshole.
Nothing about this was ever simple, it was never gonna be simple.
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YALL IVE JUST THOUGHT
kang was wearing sailom’s shirt for going out with sailom’s friends
but then look at the shirt sailom’s wearing to go out with kang’s friends
sailom doesn’t own ANYTHING anywhere NEAR as nice as that shirt
id bet my future firstborn child that sailom decided to get “revenge” and take one of kang’s shirts
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shy kitten sailom (episode 9)
seductive kitten sailom (episode 12)
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kanghan + the rain
[How did your talk with Sailom go?[ [It went okay. We talked it out.]
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Sailom and the equal footing in Kang’s vulnerability
In a second installment of having a lot of feelings about Sailom, I want to talk about how Kang’s willingness to be vulnerable with him puts Sailom in a position where he feels he has something meaningful to offer in their burgeoning relationship.
Sailom is a very transactional person - (see his refusal to take Kang's grandmother's money if he doesn't tutor Kang). You can see this back to episode one — Auto and his mom know they can get him to agree to extra food by empathizing that he does something for Auto in return (also tutoring).
We’ve also seen that he’s not willing to be made to be made to feel lesser because of his circumstances. He works multiple part time jobs, carefully keeping a budget, always focused on the future. Whenever Kang tried to bully him, Sailom looked him dead in the eye as if daring him to do worse and then found a way to one up him. He refused to lie solely to keep his scholarship.
But the two of them were poised to enter their friendship / eventual romantic relationship on wildly unequal footing. The events of episode two forced Sailom into the role of the victim. The attack of those men left him helpless, cowering on the ground and ended in him crying in Kang’s arms.
And that was before he started to appreciate exactly how well off Kang is — he’s now seen how big Kang’s house is, how comfortably he can spend thousands of baht on food, the kinds of gifts Kang gets for his birthday. On paper, Kang has it all: he’s wealthy, good looking, popular, and lives with family who look after him.
But episode 3 flips their dynamic in a really important way.
First, Sailom starts genuinely helping Kang by tutoring him. He witnesses first hand the difference his teachings can make. However this is still a business transaction — this is something he receives money for.
Then, at the night market, Kang starts to opens up to him emotionally. He bares something about himself that it’s clear he’s never expressed out loud before. He put himself in a position where HE’S the one who is vulnerable. At this point, Sailom is no longer the only one who’s shown a weak spot.
Only thanks to Kang’s earlier confession does Sailom understand exactly how gutting this gift of a motorcycle is for Kang. He’s suddenly able to see past the fancy presents and veneer of a loving family — two things that might have further divided them. And this touches me so much — he emphasizes deeply. Sailom is not saying “oh, poor rich boy who doesn’t have real problems”. He looks genuinely heartbroken for Kang.
This all culminates in the pool scene, where (from Sailom’s perspective) they become true equals.
They wrestle, and Sailom wins by stopping Kang from throwing the key. However cliche pool scenes are in BL, the symbolism of water is powerful — they both get completely soaked, showing that this is the point where the events of the past are wiped clean. This is when they truly start over.
When Kang finally lets the full, raw force of his grief show through, Sailom realizes he has something important he can provide that has nothing to do with money or status — his belief in Kang. Because he does believe in Kang -- Kang has already surprised him four times that we've seen: coming to tutoring to begin with, solving the math equation, in his written english, and at the bar.
It is Sailom’s idea for Kang to look to him as a source of inspiration. And he’s instantly validated. After, Kang looks at him like he’s this most important person in the entire world.
Sailom’s transactional personality really shows here because he confirms this new understanding — he asks Kang a second time.
Not until Kang agrees - via the most pathetic sad wet boy nod I’ve ever seen on my TV - does Sailom hug him, sealing their deal.
We’ve talked a lot as a fandom about Kang’s side of this — how important it is for him to finally have someone give him a purpose and take him off the dark path he was headed down. I’ve even seen some talk of how that’s manipulative; or how Kang is taking advantage of Sailom.
But Sailom is never willingly the passive victim. He recognized he had something tangible to give Kang; something that has nothing to do with money, and he asked for Kang to take it. Because in his mind, it allows him to spend time with Kang on on equal footing. And since Sailom is enjoying their time together — that's what he wants.
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Oh. OH.
LISTEN, Y'ALL. I don't even know if this initial offer by Grandma for Sailom to tutor Kanghan is even really about tutoring Kanghan.
Because when she handed Sailom her business card and said "Call me if you change your mind" ...
right in front of Kanghan's salad
That put Kanghan ON NOTICE that Sailom has a direct line to her and could contact her at any point if Kanghan is being a fucking asshole again.
That is a leash on Kanghan, as much as, if not more than, a genuine offer of paying for tutoring services.
ETA: HOLY SHIT, Kanghan, you don't even realize that's what she did. Wow. Stupid babies really do need the most love.
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The one thing I can’t stop thinking about from this episode is that it tries to humanize Kong, which okay, he is that way for a reason and I get it but…
Neglect is neglect no matter what kind it is. Emotional neglect can be just as damaging to a child. He got away with it when his wife was alive because even if he was too strict, she was there to provide the balance needed for child Kang’s emotional needs, but once she died, he went in the complete opposite direction.
He went from having a strict, but from the sounds of it, ultimately balanced set of expectations to having none at all. Even if it’s not what Kong meant, it is still telling Kang that he is worth nothing. That now that his mother is dead, he is no longer worthy of the love, affection and expectations his father used to give him. And because he used to have those things, he knows what’s it’s like which I would argue is worse than never having it.
So yeah I can understand why he got angry, why he took his angry out on others and bullied them. It doesn’t excuse his actions in the slightest (and I’m still upset that we didn’t get better apologizes from him) but it does make his actions make so much more sense. It also explains for me why he got so angry and rejected Sailom when they found out Saifah confessed to shooting Kong. Kang finally had those expectations back, in the form of Sailom. He was given a goal to achieve and expectations to fulfill. He was learning that his father did care enough to come out and watch at least some of his football match. Then it all got upended again.
All this to say, Kong can have understandable reasons but he is still a shitty father and I don’t think getting shot is going to change that for me. Not unless we see actually change from him after he wakes up. I’m sure we will but just as Kang needs to work at his own issues, so does Kong and I really hope the show doesn’t just move on from it.
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