Hello and welcome to Big Gay Energy.
I'm Caitlin. And I'm Fiora.
Come along with us while we dive into the fun and nuances of
queer media. Representation matters, and
we're here to talk about it. Cheers, queers, welcome back to
another big gay book club. Today I'll be discussing the
water. So I, Theora will be your host
for this super gay, super fun 4 elements book club.
Whoo. Caitlin will not be joining us
because Caitlin hasn't read the book, but Caitlin did join me in
discussing why we both really love the water the series and
that episode is already out if you want to check that out.
But this will be the book club we'll be talking about the book
club. So for everybody.
Come to the. Studios, I know you're out there
for everybody out there who commented on our why did you
love water and you had a lot of things to say about the novel
and how many many novel things were not in the series.
This is the episode for you because today I'm going to be
talking about the novel and what made the novel so so special.
If you're looking for other four elements book clubs, I also did
the earth as the novel and I will be continuing to do the
rest of the four elements books, including the like special book
that's like just all about the cousins and their wives and
stuff. So we're going to be overviewing
all of it and it's going to be super, super fun.
But today it's going to be dedicated to the water the novel
or with water waves of deception, which tells you
everything you need to know right off the bat.
This was written by Salman, who read the rest of the four
elements and honestly, fantastic writer.
This book did not disappoint. And I personally read the
English translation, so I want to do a shout out to the
translator. Natita.
I think it's how you say that. I'm really sorry if that's
incorrect. Thank you.
Your translation was honestly really great and I appreciate
you because you made it accessible for me to read and I
very much appreciate your time. OK, so like I said, we're going
to be focusing on the book mostly what I liked about it,
which is so many things. Honestly, this is a great story.
I'll do a little bit of comparison to the series, but
not a not a ton because I mean, there were a lot of differences.
So a lot of the things I'm going to go over were not in the
series. So honestly, if you have never
read the book, you've only watched the series.
A lot of this is going to be brand new information.
So if you don't want to get spoiled for the novel, turn this
off. Come back after you read it.
But if you don't mind, this is going to be a lot of spoilers
for the novel if you haven't read it.
Yeah. So let's get into it.
So I read this through the. I can never figure out how to
pronounce this app. It's Meeb or MEB.
I don't know. It's MEB is how you spell it.
That's the app I use to read tiger love novels that are
translated in English so that I can read them.
And I read it because I love the earth.
Like, I really love the Earth, particularly in the novel.
And I was super eager for more in between the break of a
reading the Earth B the series ending and the Earth may be
super curious about who Nam was because for me I felt like that
was the character I knew the least.
About. Because she's really quiet and
so there's not a lot to go off other than she's super smart,
good at planning weddings, and we'll ignore your wedding to
stay on a work call. That's all I knew about Nam.
So I was really. Curious to be like.
Who is she really? Because this is the water, so
it's going to focus on her. And my overall impression of the
novel was honestly very positive.
After reading it, I truly loved the story.
I am a sucker for a slow burn, enemies to lovers type of
situation. So this is I had everything I
could have wanted in a story and coming and again, coming off the
earth, I was like, I'm very confident it's going to be a
great book because the author is so great.
Like I mentioned earlier, I thought the the translation was
fantastic. And because Oppo is so
introverted to me, I, I, I knew I was going to like the novel
honestly more than the series because introverted characters
read better in written word because I knew I was going to
have access to her thoughts and introverts tend to be more
thoughtful and less verbal. So I knew I was going to get to
know Oppo a lot better in this the novel, and I was not
disappointed. I feel like I got to know her
super well and Lada too, who's also kind of introverted as
well. So at this point, I will say
that I have watched the entire series of The Water.
I was going to film this a lot earlier, but scheduling made it
kind of challenging and I'm glad I and then then they started
doing weird stuff in the series where they very much deviated.
So I was like, let me wait so I can just kind of talk about the
novel as a whole and what's different, which is most things.
So again, mostly going to focus on the novel here, but I will be
doing some I'm I'm going to have to talk about the series because
they just changed so much. I kind of have to mention it.
So this will be a little bit different from my Earth book
club where I just focused on the the book.
OK, so with that, if you're I just want to do the timeline of
the major events that goes down in this series in the book
before breaking it down any further.
And so when the water picks up, it picks up a few months.
After the. Earth ends so it doesn't
jettison very far in the future. It's like Din and Rose been
married for a couple months. Then we start the water in the
story, it starts with Shamlada. She's kind of the main character
and Apple's like kind of secondary similar to the Earth
where Rose was really the main character in the novel, didn't
was secondary in a way. So tells you everything you need
to know about these cousins being bottoms because their
wives are always the wives are actually the main character and
they're like this is importing role.
So and now that I realize that's kind of revealing actually.
So starts with Shamlata's family and her brother Pat recruits her
to spy on their business rival, the Watson Group, which is owned
by Nam's family and Shamlata gains employment in Nam's
specifically is Hua Hin Hotel. Shamlata literally crashes into
Nam's life and gets this relationship off on the wrong
foot. Nam personally watches
Shanleta's career hoping to fire this troublesome employee but
overtime recognizes Shanleta's value.
Nam's curiosity with Shanleta morphs into attraction which is
hallmark of an introverted relationship which I will expand
on. They flirt, then date officially
with supervision from Nam's dad, which is never not funny.
Inevitably, the truth of Shamala's family comes to light
and she has to choose her loyalties.
Spoiler, she chooses her family. Now I'm in the chaos.
Cousins and crash Shamala's wedding almost successfully.
This is probably one of the major differences from the
series. Meanwhile, Shamala runs away
with her oldest brother Watts. Help.
Then we get the classic third act breakup with self reflection
and eventual proposal from Nam and a happily ever after, which
I feel like is going to be hallmark of the four elements.
It's like good good good third act breakup, Ted angst and
marriage and then the next one. So honestly fairly similar just
on face value from what happens in the series.
So the series did a good job getting the main points from the
novel, but there's so many other little details that just made
this book so special. But before we jump into all of
the scenes I want to 1st give the characters their due.
So I want to start with Nam and answer the question who is Nam?
So who's the water? So this is Oppo within O IT, AKA
Boslek, which means little boss Siloam thing.
She gets called little boss, her dad is big boss.
It's adorable. She started managing her
father's hotel empire at 16 of her own accord.
So in the novel it just came in, Oppo started working at 16
because she wanted to, not because her dad insisted.
She insisted that she was going to start working at 16.
So by the time we start the water, she's had at least a
decade and a half working experience in the hotel
industry, which is a lot. She is the second eldest cousin
of the four elements. She's almost 30 years old when
we start the water, and her name is very indicative of who she
is. So it roughly translates to my
understanding by reading this as she's the water, like calm
Stillwater. Which makes sense because Oppo
is very introverted. She's serious, very balanced.
Except she's a workaholic, she makes time for the people she
loves, and she cannot handle Chili Peppers.
I think that's a summary for personality.
Because she's so introverted in Syria, she's fundamentally
misunderstood by most people. And we really get the context of
this when Rose starts interacting with Shamlena and
she labels Nam as nerdy and doesn't think Nam understands
human biology. Just one of the best scenes.
Thank you Salman, that was fucking hilarious.
But honestly, the fact that she's fundamentally
misunderstood by most people, you really can't blame people
when it comes to Nam because honestly, when we first meet
her, Nam doesn't know herself that well either.
So think about the context of Nam.
She became a leader at a very young age, which is similar to
Din. I would say of all the cousins,
she's the most similar to Din. And her story matches Din's.
So Din. But the motivations of why she
became a leader at a young age differs from Din.
So Din did it after duty. When her father died, she took
over the farm versus Nam volunteers because she loves it.
But they both started working and became adults, like at a
young age. But Nam is so singularly focused
on work that she doesn't have the mental or emotional capacity
for anything else. And so because of that, she
comes off as really dismissive and cold.
And I feel like that's something that was lost in the series
because Nam was portrayed more as like, cuddly, kind and like,
warm. Whereas like, she's supposed to
be water. She's supposed to be cold.
Like, and not because she's mean, but because she's so
introverted and serious that that's how people perceive her.
And it isn't until Shamlana crashes into her life literally,
that Nam breaks from this and that that is the the homework
significance of their relationship and what makes
Shanleta incredible. So who is Shanleta?
Shanleta's name is indicative of her character as well.
It translates roughly to ocean waves.
So where Nam is the cool Stillwater, Shamlada is more
energetic, chaotic, unpredictable version of water,
which is waves because you don't always know when a waves going
to come crashing into you. They just kind of happen, but
you know they're going to happen because chaos is needed for
life. And one of my favorite quotes
from the book is an explanation of how she got her name.
Where I think Shamlada thinks this, her mother had chosen it,
hoping she would be like a wave, free to drift across the vast
sea, discovering new places, growing with independence, and
exploring the world on her own terms.
So her name is indicative of who she is and who her mother wanted
to be. So I really love that her
mother, when you get to know her mother, I think this is so
important that she wanted her daughter to have freedom, to
live a life she didn't live, be independent and do things on her
own terms, kind of like a wave. So that says a lot about their
relationship and how Shanala's mother, how much Shanala's
mother loves her and how she loves her.
Other personality traits besides her name that I think are
significant are Shamlana is Nam's intellectual equal, which
is why their relationship works. So she, like Nam, is also
strategic. Shamlana is very resilient.
She doesn't give up very easily. She's incredibly intelligent and
she, unlike Nam, knows what she wants.
Like she knows she knows. She's more self aware of who she
is. She is also a 22 year old chaos
demon. And I think I'm going to leave
OPPO to explain this because she thinks this about Shyam Luda
quote. If someone told her Shyam Luda
had two different personalities, she would believe it.
One moment she could be completely chaotic and the next
she was serious, professional and responsible.
So John Luda is a woman of multitudes and even notes this.
I think that sums up her very well.
Thank you oppo. Another character trait for her
that's important to the plot is that she is desperate to be
valued by people she loves and it starts with her family and
stays with her family mostly. In terms of plot, I think that
her desperation to be valued is part of her resilience.
It's what makes her stronger and unwilling to give up and keep
fighting. But unfortunately in the context
of the story, it also made her very susceptible to
manipulation, particularly by her brother Pat.
Another aspect of Shama's personality that I really like
is despite her coming from a rival family, she was always
very respectful and not respectful, but she had a lot of
respect for Nam's family, like the very successful hotel empire
that her family, Oppo's family built.
So in Chapter 1, when she's staking out the Huahin Resort,
Shamlola thinks to herself about the hotel is that or about the
Wathen group is that even Oppo, who is also a daughter, was
given the chance to be an executive.
So she has a lot of respect for their family because she comes
from a very misogynistic family where she's like respects them
because they, they put the best person in charge of that hotel
because this is the part where she's like trying to find fault
the hotel and it's like there is none and it's oppo's hotel.
And she's like, well, they even took a chance.
They even like put the best person in charge even though
she's a woman, something my father would never do like that.
That's why she's having this thought.
She's like, even if I was the best like business person in our
family, he would never put me in charge strictly because I don't
have a penis, which is insane. So there's respect for Oppo's
family even when she's at the like, peak of her, like I need
to take them down. So it says a lot about
Shantalena's like moral compass and her thought process versus
like the brainwashing and manipulation that kind of goes
on with the family that influences her decision making.
All right, so now that we've met our protagonist, I want to talk
a little bit about Oppo and Shantalena's relationship.
Just kind of like an overview of what it is.
So what I love about it is it's messy adults who discover who
they are through their relationship.
And that's probably one of my favorite stories ever or type of
romance because it just leads to dumbass behavior.
And I find it more interesting when you have adults who like
should be better at this, but they're navigating this for the
first time and it's just worse than if teenagers are doing it.
And the other aspect of the resident that I love is that
this is an intellectual's falling in love love story.
And so it it parallels my absolute favorite television
show of all time, which is Killing Eve.
So I like to call this the villain Eve syndrome.
OK, which is the ship in that show.
So the question is, how do you get an intellect to fall in
love? It's not a typical like, I see
you across the room. There's an attraction just by
looking at you. That's not what works with
intellect, which is why I think Salmon plays with the oh, I saw
you and immediately there's a spark trope and shows it doesn't
work here because you're dealing with intellect.
So that was never going to work. It might work in the air, but
it's not going to work here because we're dealing with
intellects. Another another piece of media
that really it shows the how this works is the poet Empress,
if you've ever read that story, but it's an incredible book.
It's not it's not queer, but then there's queerness in it.
And I wasn't expecting it and I was like reading this book
through the audio book and I was just listening and then I was
like, why did they just get really gay out of nowhere?
So but anyway, it's a phenomenal story about power and it's
excellent, excellent way it's written.
But in that story there's a whole the basically the the
Empress has to like get through to the emperor in the scenario
and like he's a monster literally.
And well, not literally, but like, yes, he's a monster and
she has to get through to him and he's incredibly intelligent.
And so she described it really well when she was explaining how
she's going to do this is to get past the mental defenses of an
intellect is you have to play into their intellectual
curiosity. And that's part of a that's what
happens between Oppo and Shamlada.
So it's not that they're attracted to each other
physically. There is an intellectual
attraction that stems from I'm curious about you because I
cannot figure you out. And then because they are so in
their intellects, they're constantly thinking.
They're more likely to overthink things.
So if you peek an intellect's curiosity, they're going to keep
thinking about you, whereas normally they would stop
thinking about you. And eventually that curiosity
then morphs into attraction because then they're thinking
about you constantly. And then we'll actually look at
you as a whole person. And then attraction will happen
that will eventually develop into love.
And that is exactly like the beat by beat of what happens
with Oppo and Shamlara. So this is the villain Eve
syndrome. This is poet Empress approach.
It's one of my favorite things because it requires a lot of
mental it it it's it's slower, it's a natural slow burn because
you have to get through the thought process first.
So it works super well here with the slow burn situation.
Another aspect of their relationship that I really love
is that the two of them balance each other out, both
professionally and personally, which are like the the you know,
which again is very. They're a very.
Balanced couple and I like that. So I'll start with
professionally. So professionally, I think that
they operate in a similar way, like they have similar
strategies when it comes to work, but they have different
approaches. So Oppo believes that outcomes
speak for themselves, meaning like our like in the hospital.
Sorry, that was my Freudian slip for my job.
My hotel has a lot of satisfied customers.
We're winning awards, we're doing well.
Outcome, the outcome speaks for itself, which is very logical.
She's a very logical approach to things.
Whereas Charlotta understands what motivates people, which is
which motivates people's behavior.
She understands the behavior of people and she's able to
leverage that to get the outcome she wants, which is more
emotional intelligence. So which is something that Naam
lacks and Lada has an excess. And Lada, while she's logical,
she can be more of a slave to her emotions versus Nam, who's,
like, cool and collected. And so in that way, they balance
each other out. And I think something that the
novel was able to articulate way better than the series is that
their relationship was, is and was always built on the mutual
respect between the two of them. Because these are intellects who
understand each other and they were always respectful towards
each other. I mean even outside of like the
rivalry stuff, the whole fuck shit that goes on in the
beginning with Shambhala and the ultimatum of I will fire you if
you fuck up again. But the two of them have have
respect for each other at the end of the day, particularly
when it comes to like professionally.
They have respect for each other.
It then later morphs into personal respect when they get
to know each other as people. But it starts like
professionally. The moments from the book that
helps emphasize that is when Shawna is thinking about their
relationship and her thoughts go quote.
It wasn't surprising that they often disagreed on things her
and ABO meaning though their disagreements weren't fights,
more like debates to find the common ground.
End Quote. Which is very healthy.
And what she's saying is that like it's not that they get into
these explosive arguments that are passion driven.
The two of them when they disagree on something, they the
conversation is them trying to figure out how they can
compromise or meet in the middle.
It's not a, this is what I want at all.
You know, it's not childish. They're very adult about their
relationship despite they that they have an age gap.
And because they're both intellectual, they're more able
to talk things out. And so they, they have a very
healthy relationship. When you look at the two of them
in isolation and get rid of like the external stuff, that makes
their situation dramatic really, which is the family stuff, the
hotel business, that kind of stuff.
And so to kind of conclude this part, just talking about the two
of them, I want to do a quick personality comparison because
that was like kind of the professional stuff, a little bit
of personal, but like a little bit more about the personality
comparison. So Oppo and Lada are both the
smartest person in the room but. Oppo has.
Experience and reinforcement that she is the smartest person
in the room whereas which is both internal and external
validation because oppo has been working, like I said for like a
decade and a half by the time Shawn Letta is starting her
career. So people have and she's won
bunch of awards. She's the CE, she's like in
charge of this whole hotel. Shawn Letta is starting as a
receptionist. So Abbos had it reinforced that
she is the smartest person in the room, whereas Shawn Letta is
insecure and less experienced, which makes her prone to
manipulation by her brother. Even though she is the smartest
person in the room sometimes, like she just she no one has
ever told her, yeah, you are like her family does not
acknowledge that she's intelligent.
Maybe her mom. But like she's not trying to win
her mom's approval like the dad and the boys.
They're like, no, you're just a girl.
And she's starting out her in her career.
So she has no accolades to be like, I won these awards because
I'm good at this. Like she has her degree, but
that's it. So like she because she's she's
more insecure about her intelligence and her how smart
she really is. That's why she's easily more
easily manipulated, whereas Oppo would never be manipulated by
somebody like a family member like this because she's so
intelligent and like knows she is OK.
Oppo and Lada are both strategic thinkers.
Both of them. I think the series harps on the
fact that Oppo is, but they both are.
But the difference between their strategic thinking is that Oppo
can't human and Sean Lola can't. So Sean Lola is better at
reading people, Oppo is not. And because Sean Lola can think
from the perspective of other people, she has much higher
emotional intelligence than Apple and she uses it to her
advantage. So her strategy differs.
So one of the biggest examples of that is when the rumor starts
circulating that they're dating because like she came out of
Apple's office in the morning because Apple made her stay
there to avoid Lam or whatever. I think that was it.
Rumor starts circulating and Lana is like, here's the rumors
and she's like, it could stop this, but quote, scandals are
more interesting to people. So she's like, I could leverage
this because this is going to create a situation and that
oppo's going to want to stop. And I'll use that to my
advantage. I'll just sit back and let it
happen. And then when that scenario goes
down in the book, what happens with oppo doesn't know what to
do with this? She's like, I don't know.
Then won't they stop talking eventually?
And then oppo keeps doing all these things that makes it worse
because she doesn't understand people and human behavior.
But like Lotta does. And so strategies will differ.
So that's a fun difference between them.
Another thing they unfortunately have in common is that they are
both lonely. But Shamlana is aware of this.
But Appu is completely oblivious that she is alone until Shamlana
comes in her life. Because Appu thinks Appu fills
the loneliness void with work but constantly working.
So she doesn't think about the fact that she's like alone.
She doesn't feel it until she is forced to stop.
So another So when Oppo finally realizes it is when she's quote
sick in the book and Shala was taking care of her.
And Oppo insists on joining a lot of for a walk and a lot of
things. Honestly I was happy the morning
the the walk back wouldn't feel lonely with someone walking
beside me so like they. They both.
Kind of come to this realization later on that like, oh, I didn't
realize how lonely I kind of was until we started bonding and I
was like going through my normal routine and I realized it's
nicer to have you there because she would walk a lot and like
Nom joins her and she's like, oh it's kind of nicer to have you
here than than not have you here kind of thing.
All right, last comparison that they have in common, they are
both workaholics but but nothing they both respect each other for
it and it's why their relationship works.
And I feel like the series kind of got weird with it when they
tried to do the special chapters but but nothing no, that's one
of the the things they mutually respect about each other.
OK, another thing I have really interesting when I was reading
the novel and came apparent to me is that when you first meet
Nam, because she's the calm Stillwater, her life lacks daily
chaos. So in the beginning, Nam is
succeeding in her life. Like she's CEO, as you know,
she's head of this thing doing great, but she's like not living
her life. She's succeeding but not like
living living. So her organization and serious
nature breeds routine that lacks randomization with these
processes in place to keep things very orderly, all these
rules and all that kind of stuff.
She's kind of like marching through her life on autopilot.
And I mean, she's doing well. Like by all.
If you were to just look at her on paper, you're like, damn,
she's killing it. OK, But the thing about Oppo is
that she's she's introverted like I've mentioned.
So she lives in her internal world, like mostly most of her
life is like in her thoughts. So it's more mental than like
physical world interaction, which works for her at this
point because she's just doing work, thinking about work.
So that works great. But then when Sean Lomit comes
up and comes into Nam's life, she forces Nam the wave.
The wave crashes into the Stillwater and forces Nam out of
her comfort zone, which forces Nam out of her mental like world
and like forces her to interact more with the physical world
where Shyamala is. And when that starts happening
with Nam, that's when she starts questioning her life.
She starts questioning her identity and her wants and
needs. So Shyamala is like this element
of chaos that forces Nam to re evaluate her life.
And when I was thinking about Shamlola that way, it kind of
reminded me of the the chaos cousins, like Nam's family
members. So to me, the the cousins are
like elemental chaos. It's part of their charm, right?
That's why when they show up, you're like, this is going to be
a great scene because they're chaos, right?
But of the cousins, Nam is the least chaotic.
She she's the Stillwater. I think if I'd have to rank the
cousins in terms of chaos, I think Phi is probably the most
chaotic, followed very closely by YO and then like over here,
like far far far away is Din. OK, Din is way less chaotic than
Phi and Lom, but Din is still chaotic because Din is a awkward
dumbass who can't communicate sometimes and so causes chaos
out of her being awkward. But then like even further from
Din is Nom so Nam is like the least.
Chaotic. Of all of these cousins.
And what I kind of got from the novel is that Nam doesn't
interact with her cousins on a daily basis.
So like she seems to interact with them, like she doesn't go
seek them out. They seek her out kind of thing.
So it's like she's interacting with them probably the least and
it's definitely not on a daily basis.
So that means that in her day-to-day, there's a lack of
constant chaos that her family would bring.
I mean, you can grant, you can say the dad brings chaos, but
Abo keeps him in check. OK, so I will, I will make the
argument to her life is missing some chaos.
So that creates a perfect opportunity for Shawn Le to come
in and fulfill a role in Nam's life, which is to bring chaos to
her. So to emphasize that, I want to
I want to bring up something that was definitely missing,
missing from the series, which is after the wedding debacle,
like a Shamala's arranged marriage situation.
After that ends, Nam and what Shamala's oldest brother have a
conversation. This is in chapter 17 of the
novel. And what happens is that Watt
goes and confronts Oppo for a heart to heart because he's the
one that aids Shamleta in running away from the wedding.
She he helps support her plan basically.
And so he has a heart to heart with Oppo.
And honestly's heart to heart goes really well between the two
of them. And I'm really sad and feel
robbed that this wasn't in the show.
So this was important. And in that conversation, Watt
realizes how much Oppo loves his sister and basically accepts
that their accepts their love and roots for them.
But as a Big Brother, he warns Oppo quote.
It won't be easy for you Oppo. My little sister is as stubborn
as they come. Lada always does the unexpected.
You've seen this first hand with what she put my father through,
which was the public humiliation by running away from the
wedding. And Oppo replies yes.
And I love her for that. So it's it's Nam's
acknowledgement that like, Shamla is so chaotic and
unpredictable and that is why Apple loves her, because her
life was lacking chaos. It lacked unpredictability
because Nam like sheltered herself and cocooned herself in
routine, in predictability. And because of that, she's not
living her life. She's just like walking through
it. And then Shyamala forces her to
live and experience the day-to-day and experience
unpredictable things and love them.
Like just getting flowers just because like things like that,
like trying ramen noodles, like she forced her to do new things
that Nam would never do on her own.
And that and she started to really appreciate living her
life more. And that's when she started
taking a break from work. I mean, like, oh, you know,
there's other things I like. I thought I only like this.
So ABBA loves her because she's chaotic.
And I think that in that way, it makes her a perfect fit, like
Shamlada a perfect fit in her family because her family is
chaotic and that's part of their charm.
And so she's is the chaos element for Nam to kind of like
solidified Nam in the family. You know what I mean?
Like Nam's not chaotic, her family is.
But then like the wife makes her chaotic.
And so it's a good fit for this family and I, I love that about
them. And on the flip side, so that's
what. Shamlena brings to APO's life
and what's makes the relationship special for APO.
And then on the flip side with Shamlena, Shamlena's life lacks
stability. OK, so Shamlena has never ever
experienced stable love. Just let me finish this before
you start arguing with me in the comments.
In her looking at her family, OK?
Like the dad, the brother, sister-in-law, mom, there is no
love in her family. There's no love there.
It's not a loving family. It's a family that structured on
obedience and obligation to the patriarch who is her dad, who's
in charge. It's just that you do what I say
household. That's it.
And now you can argue that Sean Luda has her mother that loves
her unconditionally and she does until dad needs Sean Luda to do
something and then mom is like do what he says to make him
happy. So there is a condition there.
The condition is I love you unconditionally until your
father needs something and you have to meet his conditions kind
of thing. So, and again, mom's in a
horrible in a pretty shitty position here.
I'm not blaming mother. I'm just saying like Shan Letta
has never experienced stable love because there's always
conditions and it seems like she can never meet the expectation
to get the love kind of thing. So psychologically, you can see
how that messes with Shan Letta as a person.
And then here comes Nam. OK, Nam is calm and serious,
which is the complete opposite of unstable.
And just like the scene I mentioned with Watt and Oppo,
Sean Little admits that this is what she loves about Oppo.
She loves that she is calm and serious and stable.
And the other thing she loves is that Oppo, once Oppo learns how
to express her feelings because she struggles with it because
she's an introvert and never had to do it before.
She just learned. Once she learns, you can't.
The thing about Oppo is once she learns something new, you can't
turn it off. So once she learns how to like
like be expressive about her feelings, she will never turn it
off. Like she's just that's who she
is now. And once she starts doing that,
Appa was very direct in her actions and feelings towards
Shanleta. And that's she shows Shanleta
stable love. Like it never changes.
She's like, I love you and like I will show you that
consistently versus the wishy washy shit from her family
because they're all crazy. And so in a way they have a ton
in common. They do.
But this is an opposite to attract couple because each
partner knowingly or unknowingly seeks a character trait that
they lack from the other partner, that the other partner
has an excess. So Oppo seeks the chaos that
Shanleta has to bring color to her life, which I'll get to
that, to that metaphor in a second, where is Shanleta is
seeking the stability that oppo has an excess.
And by coming together, they achieve balance, which is a very
like Eastern philosophy type of thing.
So the two of them are unbalanced apart together,
they're balanced and therefore they are kind of perfect
together. OK.
Other thing I like in the novel that Salmon was talking about is
she used or they, I don't know, the pronounce situation with
that the author apologized. Are she used a couple of
metaphors when in the in the novel to kind of describe their
love. And so she used color and see
metaphors. And so one of them was that that
Shamleta brings quote color to Nam's life.
So it's one of those things where like Nam's life is like
completely black and white and Nam doesn't know that's weird
until Shamleta comes in and like she sees the chaos and she sees
color for the first time, which I love that because I think
that's such a which Nam was. Nam is the one who thinks this
and you're just like, damn, she's actually pretty poetic for
somebody who's a robot, you know what I mean?
Like she's actually pretty poetic in her brain, which is
really cute and an interesting character trait for Nam.
The other thing that Nam does is she starts speaking in metaphors
by using the C as code for Shamlada and uses that as a
stepping stone to be able to express her direct feelings for
Shamlada. Rather than saying I love
Shamlada, she's like, I love the C so which is cute.
And it's also a play on words because Shamlada means like
ocean waves. So at one point.
So the best example of this is when she's with Din and she's
tells Din, I think I like the sea now.
And Din is so confused. She's like, what the hell are
you talking about? Live in Hua Hen.
But and I was talking about Charlotta.
And so she she uses that as like the stepping stone to being able
to like express herself fully, which is really cute.
But it goes a little bit deeper than that because oppo work,
like I said, works at Hua Hen. So she's like literally always
by the sea, but once she falls in love, suddenly the sea is
something that feels special to her.
So in a way, I think that the setting it in Huahen, the names,
the water kind of thing, I think it's a good metaphor by the
author for how where where Oppo starts saying I think I like the
see now. I think it's a good metaphor for
how Oppo didn't appreciate the beauty in her life before Shamla
comes into it because Oppo couldn't really see it.
You know, it was all black and white and then Shamla shows her
color and then she's like, whoa, there's all this beauty here I
didn't see before. So I love that.
I'm a sucker for that trope too. So like, they filled a lot of
quotas for me of things I love. In romance.
So brought up Din. So I think now is a good time to
segue into the families, because a hallmark of the four elements
is we're all about the family here.
It's not just the protagonist. So we'll start with Nom's family
and get into them a little bit because I think it's important
and it's different from the series.
If you're just listening to us and haven't watched, you know,
read the book. OK, so Nam's father is probably
the biggest character in the series or in this novel, aside
from the two protagonists. So her father is Addisore and
he's big boss. So he's like the leader of
their, the Watson group, this hotel empire.
One thing I want to talk a lot about Asaran and Oppo cause the
their relationship is so interesting.
Like it's a, it's a, it's a relationship where the father
clearly loves his daughter, which I'm all about.
But the way Nam talks back to him is astounding.
And it's something that's very lost in the series because he's
this huge, like hotel tycoon and like she go, he go, he will talk
to her and she will like flat out ignore him, ignore his text.
Like he didn't like tell him no. Like the way they verbally spar
was I think lost in the series. Like how much Appa like kind of
fights with him a little bit. Just really funny actually part
of the relationship but I think everyone can agree that probably
his most endearing trait as he is the number one Nam lotta
shipper like from the beginning that he ships them first and the
most. And it's.
Honestly, really adorable how how much he he ships his
daughter with Lotta. And what's funny is he he again,
nobody knows who Nam's gonna fall in love with, but at the
beginning he's like, I I want you to find love so you're not
alone. And then when he finds out that
Ma has a woman, he's like, yay, I'm getting a daughter-in-law.
Like he doesn't question it. He's just like, yay, finally
somebody. Is it a woman?
Great, I'm gonna have a daughter-in-law.
That's wonderful. So and he's so like eager to
meet her. And it's just really fucking
sweet. Like their relationship is
really cute and adorable. And I think the two of them have
definitely have a lot of similarities.
They definitely both have like the workaholic thing in common,
which honestly Appo also has in common with her mother actually.
So let's talk about mom. So mom in the series, her
parents are not divorced by the way.
They have this long distance relationship where mom lives in
Canada where she runs her business, dad's in who and him
run his business and her parents maintain a healthy relationship
like despite the distance because they their I think their
relationship like Lada and oppo, it's probably built on the same
type of mutual respect because they understand each other's
like workaholic nature and they make it work.
The series divorced them because I think that was just some kind
of an explicit like Oppo. This could be you if you fuck it
up kind of thing, but I like this better because it gives you
more similarities between the parents and the daughter because
and the daughter and her relationship because that's kind
of something that's missing a little bit in the in the in the
earth, because you Din lost her parents when she was so young.
So it's harder to make the comparison.
And also like Rose's mother isn't alive, so there's less of
that comparison happening. So here, particularly in this
story where the cousins are involved less, I thought this
was good that you had this kind of like stable family kind of
comparison for Nam and Lada personally.
In the same vein, I would also argue that Nam's family circle
consists of her assistant Prim, because that's the closest thing
Nam has to a friend. Honestly so and oppo at the very
beginning thinks this about Prim where she says quote, if she
ever lost Prim, who understood her perfectly mainly things
would become significantly more difficult.
So she made sure to keep Prim happy.
And a lot of the book is her being like I'll give you a
raise, I'll give you a bonus, whatever makes you happy.
You can't leave me. So that in noms workaholic I
can't see color yet Life Prim is the closest thing she has to a
friend. But I will note they have a very
a strictly business relationship despite this being the closest
thing that Nam has to a friend. So in the series they have the
character FA who does not exist at all in the books that is a
made-up character. Nam does not have a sister, none
of that. He has parents that are together
and her assistant and that's kind of it, OK.
But then she also has the cousins.
And so I have. To talk about one of the
funniest things that was definitely messing from the
series is that Din's marriage ruins Nom's life and Don's and
and Nom's not too happy with Din at the beginning of the book.
So. And it's not because she's not
happy for Din, it's because of the way her dad reacts to Din's
wedding. So this is what?
Oppo thinks about the situation so quote ever since Din had
gotten married, her father, Ada Soren had suddenly become much
more open minded. Going so far to say is that he
would accept whoever she loved regardless of gender.
He just wanted her to care about someone or at least try opening
her heart as if it were a national crisis.
So he he's on like the warpath to be like, you have to get with
someone before you're going to die.
He's like, you're going to die alone now I'm so worried about
you. Like, I love that she thinks
about it as like a national crisis.
That was one of the funniest lines.
Like Alpha was funny in her brain.
OK. But the problem is that like,
excuse me, that Nam really doesn't know what she wants
outside of work because she's been, she's almost 30 at this
point. She's been working since she was
16 and doing nothing else. She's like, she kind of like
doesn't know herself and really doesn't know what she wants.
And as she continues that thought like the national crisis
thought she keeps thinking. Honestly, she, meaning Nam,
wasn't even sure what her own preferences were.
Unlike Whyo, who had known since childhood that she had a thing
for beautiful women, or did who surprised everybody by marrying
Rose. What really was that a surprise?
OK Abo, Abo does a bad dungeon. I'm convinced Atrima was similar
to her, indifferent to love, but even she wasn't as completely
uninterested as Oppo. Abo had never felt her heart
race for anything except work. OK which makes sense.
She's the she's the workaholic. Also, I love that they're like,
Llama's gay as fuck since the womb.
Like they're like, we're all, we all know where that's ended, OK.
And so Din eventually confronts Nam on this.
And like basically being like, I'm like, aren't you?
Don't you want to like a life partner like me?
Like I have Rose, everything's great.
And Nam, when she thinks about it, says quote, That's just
another burden I don't need. I can't even picture someone by
my side. Just thinking about it annoys
me. So so.
That really, like I, I read that as like Nam really is a creature
of routine when it comes to how life operates and another person
would just disrupt the routine she has built.
And I think when you think about Nam that way, I think you could
definitely make an argument that like Nam is a little bit on the
autism spectrum here by just her thoughts that go in her head.
And Caitlin and I did speculate a little bit about that in the
why We love the series, if you want more on that.
But I love that she's like, I can't even picture that.
And just thinking about it pisses me off.
OK, so let's talk about the cousins just a little bit.
Give them some love. So like I mentioned a bunch,
like they unfortunately play a minor role in this novel.
I think that Addison really replaces them in a lot of ways
as like the element of chaos aside from Sean Leto.
But a quick run through of what's going on with them in
this this novel. So it is for Din.
We'll start with Din. It is established at the
beginning that Din and Rose, this is my favorite thing.
I'm sorry, this is my favorite thing that was left out and
unclear in the series. It is established at the
beginning that Din and Rose are, are, are so ungodly gay on mane
that no one wants to hang out with them.
Like they're just so in the honeymoon phase that literally
nobody wants to be around them. They're so they're like, I don't
want diabetes, so I'm going to stay over here.
And now I'm well, kind of annoyed with them because
everyone's annoyed with them because they're so ungodly in
love with each other. She's genuinely happy for dance.
Not that she's not happy. It's just that they're, so
there's lots of, there's lots of marital hand holding and nobody
wants to see that basically. And Nam puts it this way where
several months into her marriage.
Quote Din. Never missed a chance to show
off her wife. So, like, again, like, they're
flaunting their love constantly to the rest of the cousins who
are not in serious relationships.
So, like, nobody wants to be around them.
And then Rose, OK. He said Rose does play a little
bit. Din and Rose are probably the
most in love, are the most involved.
I kind of like shows up once and then pieces out, does the wrong
thing. But Nam in in between the earth
and the water. Nam sorry.
Rose encourages Nam to preserve the Rose, the roses from the
wedding bouquet she caught, and Nam takes the advice and dries
out one rose. So the reason she had that is
because Rose told her to and then Rose, which was lost in the
series. Rose is the actual MVP of the
quote shut down Shan Ludo's marriage mission.
And I personally prefer how this went down the novel 'cause it
was ungodly chaotic. It was so chaotic what they did,
but Rose is the MVP of the whole kerfuffle.
Then Whyo. Whyo tries to hit on Shamla
which both Lada and Nam shut down.
That was missing from the series and the series it looks like it
was Nam that shuts it down. Lada does too.
And honestly her thoughts because Lada's point of view are
hilarious when Whyo is doing this.
It's so fucking funny. And then while conspires with
Phi to get Nam to admit slash act on her feelings for Shala.
So why is the one stirring up the family in the background to
like be like she's always like the ringleader.
She's like, we gotta like, get Nam her girl.
And so she's like, she's the one that calls in all the favors and
like gets everybody together. And then Phi, again, like I
mentioned, doesn't really interact with Nam a lot, but she
does remain president of the Rose Protection Squad because I
feel like she's going to love Rose forever.
And if anything ever happens to Din, I'm confident Phi gets
custody of Rose. All right, so now let's talk
about Nam's father. One of my absolute fucking
favorite things about this novel is all of his interventions when
it comes to his daughter and his daughter's love life because
they're just hilarious. So after the rumors start that
Appa was dating Shamlada as Soren takes it on himself to
take Shamlada out to lunch to get to know her better, which
because he's so eager, it's really sweet.
So, and this is during work, which is hilarious.
He just takes her out of her job.
I mean, he's the big boss. He's like, I'm going.
To take you out for. Lunch, let's go.
And at the lunch, he immediately is that she calls him dad
outside of work and he starts nicknaming her Lada before Nam
does, which is crazy. So like in, you know, Thai
culture, like that kind of naming is like super intimate.
So he makes their relationship incredibly intimate immediately.
And Shamlin doesn't know what the hell is happening.
It's crazy. Like he's like they're closer
than Nam and Lada are at that stage.
Like just by the way, he's like referred to me this way.
I'm going to call you by your nickname.
Like he's just like, he's just so eager and so happy his
daughter found a human. And so it's just really cute.
But he's just so much because he strikes me as the type of person
kind of like oppo who's like not used, who's used to getting
their way. Not because they're pushy and
he's a little pushy not but not because they're pushy, but
because like they're really good at their and effective at their
jobs. So they're used to like getting
things done is what I mean. And so like here he is being
like, my daughter needs a wife. I'm going to get this.
I need a daughter-in-law. I'm going to get this done, but
like everyone else is just confused by this and all of his
behavior really stems from the fact that he's genuinely worried
about Appo. So to continue that after Appo,
Appo after Lada then denies she's seen Nam in this
conversation at lunch, Addison asked her a serious question
where he says Lada, tell me what's wrong with Nam.
If there's something wrong, she needs to, she needs to improve.
Like, I can tell her to work on it.
And Lada says, why are you asking me that?
And Anderson says, because I don't want Nam to be lonely.
And which is really, really sweet.
Like he he just, he's over the top because he cares so much
about her and he's so afraid she's going to end up alone.
And like, in this context, he's in a happy marriage with another
workaholic. So like, he's like, oh, I just
want my daughter to find somebody else who's like her
that will they'll make it work. And he thinks that's Lada but Oh
my God Lotta's inner monologue was so hilarious after.
He's like I don't want my daughter to be lonely and he's
like tell me if she has flaws. And, Lotta thinks to herself, if
Addison really wanted to know Oppo's flaws, did he have an
entire day to listen to her because she could list them all
non-stop? So fucking funny.
I feel like a lot of her humor is totally.
Lost in the series and it makes me sad.
She's she's really funny and she's kind of a brat sometimes
and it's hilarious, but she's like, wow, but how long do you
got? I can tell you all of her
fucking flaws for hours, OK? And then this.
This conversation continues where Adasorn asks Lada if being
a workaholic is a deal breaker because, again, he's similar to
his daughter. He knows how important that is.
And I love Lada's response. Lada says being a workaholic
isn't a flaw for Oppo. On the contrary, I think hard
working people are attractive. When it comes to relationships,
I believe the amount of time spent together isn't what
matters. It's about communication and
understanding, which is 100% the foundation of her relationship
with Oppo. Other thing is a lotta also
admits to herself during this that she admires Oppo's work
ethic. And because again, like I
mentioned, this is all the evidence of like their
relationship really being built on this mutual respect between
them. So like in the same conversation
where a lotta is like, wow, Oppo is a deeply flawed human being,
here she is being like, well, she has these good qualities too
that I respect in her because they've always respected each
other. Again, even when they're on the
out, even when they were on the outs of each other after this
admission, Adasorn responds with so that means eventually you'll
fall for a nom because she's like just kind of complimented
her in a way. And then when he trails off the
next line in the novel with no context says, what the hell are
you thinking, dad? So nom shows up to this much
being like, what is this? And then Nom tries to insist
that there's nothing going on with Sean Widow.
But Adasorn leaves this conversation by saying I'm
rooting for a lot of Oh my God he's ridiculous.
And then Nam and Lotta bicker after this because Nam is in a
bad mood because of Father's fuck shit.
And mentally in this part, lot of them refers to Oppo as Nam
for the first time when she's thinking after this, which I
thought was really interesting because the two of them make a
make a big deal about the first time.
Not that it's I mean they have a big emotional reaction and a
big, big feelings really about the first time they hear their
nickname from the other person 'cause it's very intimate way of
speaking. So it's interesting that Lotta
uses the intimate name for Oppo, which is nom in her thoughts
first. So she thinks intimately about
Oppo before she like verbally says it.
Which again is more evidence that Lada is introverted like
NOM, at least I think. OK, so.
Continuing on with Addisorin, so later on he insists way later in
this in the novel, he insists on introducing Lada to his friend's
son. And Lana and Nam at this point
aren't seeing each other. So it's fine right now because
he that's what he says to his daughter.
It's like it's fine, right? You're not seeing her, right?
Spoiler it was not fine. So jealous and possessive Nam
that appears and she grabs Sean Liu's wrist for the first time.
She like touches her and then holds it for so long that Lana
notices and it's like, what you doing there, little boss?
And this whole exchange with the sun, like Oppo, it's the most
off kilter that Oppo is in the novel up till that point.
And she's so like off balance by this thing that her dad
introducing Lada to somebody else that she insists on driving
Lada home, which sets up the noodles at Lada's scene, which
is one of my favorite scenes. And I will get into that scene
much later in greater detail because it deserves it's time to
shine. But focusing on the dad.
So the dad tries to set up a lot of somebody else to, like, spark
a fire under Nam's ass to get her to, like, do something.
And then the noodles happens. And so at Lada's, Lada spills
the noodles on Nam. And then Nam comes home in
Lada's clothing. And this is different from the
series, and it's extremely important to the plot.
In the novel, Ada Soren, when she comes home, is not pleased
to see his daughter in some in Wada's clothing.
OK. And then he says, wait, wait,
don't tell me you and Lada have already reached that stage.
If you're going to date someone, do it properly and openly.
I won't support you taking advantage of anyone.
Remember that because this comes up later, OK, in the series.
So he's basically like, Nom, you have to do this honorably, not
dishonorably. I will not have you dishonor
somebody or have a mistress or some shit like that.
You date, you show the woman the respect she deserves.
Remember that that comes up later and Nam remembers this
moment OK. Probably one of my favorite
things that he does with with Nam is that he dates Shyamala
for Nam for a bit because his daughter is doesn't know how to
human. So basically he sets up and
supervises one of their first dates.
It's one of the funniest scenes and the way he gets this set up
is that he invites Shawn Leto over for dinner and but then he
has to get oppo there and he basically baits her, which is
hilarious. So because they have more of a
back and forth relationship when it comes to like than they do in
the series. And so anyway, he texts her that
Lada's coming over for dinner. OK, he texts her this, but he
also knows that his daughter ignores his texts all the time.
So he texts for that. And then after that, he then
texts Prim, oppo's assistant, and is like, can you tell my
daughter to read her text messages so that Prim goes into
the office and is like, Nah, read.
Your dad said someone's going on for dinner or some shit, You got
to read your text. Oh my God.
So that Ana raises the text and she's like, fuck.
And she literally runs out of the office without saying
anything to her assistant. And there's and Prim's like, why
didn't she just literally run out of her?
There's a whole ass pile of work on her desk and she just like
left it, which is a humongous red flag to Prim that something
weird is going on. Something has fundamentally
changed with Oppo because Oppo that she knows and is very close
to would never, ever do that. And that's like the biggest
hallmark that, like, Oppo is changing fundamentally, that she
leaves work, piles of work to like run, go for personal
matter. OK, But then.
But then then we go to the dinner and we go to the dinner
and we're in Lada's brain. And she thinks to herself, the
atmosphere was undeniably awkward.
And like, it sure is. Because at this dinner at a
sword was like he literally dates Charlotte a Fernom by
bossing Nam around the whole time because according to his
thoughts quote, his daughter was utterly helpless.
Like The thing is like Nam is trying, she's trying, she's
trying to, she's trying to date and like, and he knows she's
trying. It's just that Nam is so serious
and awkward that it like doesn't work.
So he's like trying to help her and makes it worse.
And Nam is mostly just being real quiet and like being
herself and just like quiet and kind of conserved.
And then he keeps interjecting to get her to do something.
He's like, can you peel the shrimp?
He's like, peel the shrimp for Shamlada, give her some food.
And then he orders flowers in advance as an apology gift for
mom. And he's like, Nam, take the
flowers and give them their I'm like, this is what you do in
relationships. And by the end of this I was
like. How is this not mom's father?
Because like, he's literally like dating John.
What a fornom right here. And I feel like it's something
mom's father would do because like if if the fathers are like
their daughters, like mom is like the queer coach for
everybody. So like, I feel like this is
something mom's dad would do. But I guess we'll find out or I
will find out when I read such watch the air.
But I was just like, this doesn't seem like something.
But I guess it's also like Addison's like a problem solver
and he's like, how do I fix this problem that is my daughter's
love life? Got it.
I'll pull up every romance trick on the I'm surprised you didn't
like have chocolates jewelry for not to give her.
You just started with the flowers.
All right. So that was very quickly.
Some like the highlights, I think of the novel, some things
that I really love, and now I'm going to transition into, like
getting into the novel more in depth.
I will say this is probably a much longer book club than the
Earth because there were so many things missing in the show.
So there's a lot to get into. So I'm basically going to start
from the beginning and just go through it a lot more in depth.
But I wanted to give some, you know, set up the stage and then
kind of talk about my favorite parts, which was like Nam and
her dad, which were so funny. OK, so let's start the book.
So the book begins with Chanlada's family dynamics.
So let's dive into her family a little bit.
So her family members, there's Pimduch, who's her dad.
He's the hotel tycoon of the Witchara group.
Then you have Pima or Watt. He's the eldest son and he's
nearly 20 years older than Shan Lada.
What do you think is important to note that they have a bit of
an age gap. Then you have Pimpat Who or Pat,
the youngest son. He's not thriving When it comes
to the business. You have May, who's Watt's wife.
They had an arranged marriage that is very loveless that was
arranged by his father for business reasons.
And then you have Chudaman or Mon, that's Shamlada's mother
and Pimditch's second wife, and she's described as the second
wife in the novel. And so I wanted to provide a
little bit of cultural context of what that means, the second
wife. So this is according to the
Internet. So in Thai culture, the Mia long
or is the first wife or official wife is legally recognized and
often holding financial control, while the mianoi, the minor or
second wife, is an unofficial, culturally rooted partnership,
sometimes tolerated if the husband provides for both.
Although polygamy was outlawed in 1935, the social hierarchy
between official and the second wife or Mianoi persists, often
linked to status and wealth. So I think the reason that
Shyamala's dad has a quote second wife is because it's a
status thing for him to have that and he financially
compensates Ma Shyamala's mother, OK.
So I think it's a status thing because it tells you a lot about
this man's headspace that he's very old school and is all about
status, OK. And he definitely treats
Shamlada's mother and Shamlada as such.
It is also noted that they are a family of Chinese descent, which
culturally is very patriarchal. Definitely values men a lot more
than women. Inshallah is looked down upon
for being a woman and the offspring of quote the second
wife. So she's like a disappointment
upon a disappointment. Her job, according to her
father, is to marry a man that he selects for her, IEA rich man
that benefits him, which is what he did to Watt, his eldest son.
And it's very it does express how unhappy he is in his
marriage, but he did it because familial loyalty and just to
really like drive the knife in there about Lada's dad and why
him having an A redemption arc in the series was insane.
Is this is how his how he described her out loud to her
face. Having a daughter is like having
a public disgrace right outside the house.
Fuck that guy. Thank you, gentlemen, for not
giving this man a redemption arc.
Fuck this guy. Gross.
OK now with the family comes the hotel rivalry between Shyamala's
family and the Batura group and the Watin group which is mom's
family. So Pat extends an offer to
Shyamala that she cannot refuse where he asks her to help him
infiltrate the Watin group by working for them.
So and Shyamala accepts this. But why does she do it?
I think it's important to establish why.
So she thinks about her family. Apart from Team Pat, no one in
that house, meaning her father's house truly welcomed her.
Shawn let her feels like she has less value than her
sister-in-law, somebody who's not related to anybody and this
for Pat to offer her this felt like recognition from her
family. Finally.
She was so desperate for that and up till now, like her little
brother is the one that seems to love her the most.
And so she trusts him. And he assures her that the
wathing group keeps out winning, keeps beating their family.
And the reason they're failing is because that that group, they
cheat and her job is to find evidence of them cheating.
So at this stage, like Charlotte is caught between familial
piety, doing with her family, with mostly her father, which is
do nothing, get married and then her own ambition here.
So she's like, well, if I can find dirt, take down our rival,
I will help my family succeed and show that I'm valuable and I
will win the love of my family. So this seems like a win win
situation for her like and Shalana's motivation for trying
to prove her value specifically to her dad.
This is what she thinks about this.
This comes from her inner thoughts.
She says quote or thanks, living in comfort by having all the
money as the second wife's daughter yet feeling stifled
inside. How could that truly be
happiness? But she didn't want to argue or
make her mother worry. So Lada is unhappy with their
situation and she doesn't want to be put in this box.
Her father's forcing her in, but she, her mother, is trapped in
the box. And so Lada, it shows you how
much she loves her mother and value and values the mother more
than the other family members, which is important for when her
loyalties are tested later. But her father is very insistent
that she has to marry a man. So when it comes to her dad
being like, your only job is to marry a man or else because I
say so this is what she thinks about that.
And this is important for the plot.
She thinks that was the one thing she would fight against
with everything she had. So when it comes to marry a man,
because I say so, that is where Shamlana draws the line at the
filial piety, which really becomes relevant later when she
steps into the willingly steps into the arranged marriage
because she has explicitly said I would never do that.
I will fight the death because I don't want to do that.
So it really sets up the fact that she was never actually
going to go through with that arranged marriage on her own
because she said it herself that she would never do that.
OK, so she accepts the she accepts the thing from her
brother and then like takes a crack at getting through into
the what then group and finding dirt on them.
So her initial attempts include finding fault with the hotel.
So she goes there with Net, her best friend to scope out Nam's
resort in Hohen and they find nothing.
So then she's like fine, I'll just seduce oppo.
I love how she's like just go about the hotel.
Nope, seduce the owner. And she does this because Lada
is beautiful. Which is confirmed by Net, which
when Net says you've had many admirers throughout the year and
Lada assumes the odds are in her favor here because Din and Wyo
are both gay, so maybe it's genetic.
Which is funny because it's true.
And so this force. And so she forces a quote.
Meet you that fails miserably because Salmon hates drama
tropes. OK, so that was when they
literally run into each other. And Lada thinks when it doesn't
work, she thinks, wasn't this supposed to be one of those
moments where time slows down a magical first impression, love
at first sight kind of thing? Apparently not, because I love
this author. She's always poking fun at the
romance ropes. OK, so after those all fail, she
then decides to try to work for oppo at the Huehan Resort and
get her attention that way. Like, forced proximity.
That'll be it. So she scores a receptionist job
and based on her resume, alone with no work experience.
So off the bat, that tells you how impressive Shawn Lavey is
already. Like, like her resume must be
incredibly impressive. We don't get to see it in this
in the novel, they show it in the series, but like, damn, just
off the resume. But she starts working in Oppo
with still oblivious Stellata's presence.
So then she must change tactics because because Shandla is is as
strategic as Oppo is. So Lotta figures out very
quickly how to speak Oppo's language, which is business.
And she learns that Oppo responds to anything that
threatens her business. And Oppo despises rule Breakers.
So Lada decides to break the rules to get Oppo's attention.
And she does this with the dress code.
So then they get into a huge fight where Oppo's like, going
to fire her. And Oppo in the the argument
refers to Shyamala as, quote, an airheaded beauty to which
Shyamala argues. I have a brain.
And Oppo notes that Lada looks her directly in the eye, and she
sees, quote, a challenge in those eyes.
And to me, that was really the start of the curiosity when it
comes to Oppo, because Oppo's the big, like, not the big boss.
She's a little boss. She's a little boss, but she's
used to people like their body language being in deference to
her. That's not Shyamala.
Shyamala comes in all fierce and fiery.
And I was like, whoa, nobody behaves this way around me.
And is that's what sparks the curiosity, OK?
The fact that this woman is brave and enough to look her in
the eye and, like, say they're fit there.
So oppo personally decides to personally handle Shyamala's
misconduct. And already this happened.
This goes down or she breaks the dress code and then Oppo
immediately misses a meeting to handle this.
So what I found really interesting about about Oppa and
what I was not expecting is how quickly she was going to start
breaking her own rules. Because I knew that was going to
happen because again, APA was a rule follower and then Sean and
I was going to force her out of her comfort zone.
But APA starts doing it immediately in response to this
big ass wave crashed into her life, right.
And then the other key to me that like this woman is
definitely piquing her curiosity and getting on her skin is when
APO learns Shamala's name. So that it gave me like
Villanelle vibes, like in Killing Eve, when the her
handler is like, oh, it's Eve Palaci.
And then Villanelle's like Eve Palastry, like corrects him and
like it's like he doesn't think anything of it.
And I'm like, dude, like she doesn't remember anybody.
Like the fact that she knows this woman's first and last name
means she's thinking about her all the time.
So same thing with APO. And what I found incredibly
hilarious about this whole thing with the dress code is that
despite being in the wrong, Lotta argues with Oppo.
And so Oppo shows a lot of the contract she signed about the
dress code. And then I love that Lotta
argues. She's like black clause wasn't
there when I signed it, you added it after and I was like,
girl, I was just reading that and just laughing my ass off
because I was like, who has the audacity to see this?
But I think it's because at that point lotta thinks that nom is
like doesn't follow the law and is like nefarious.
That's why Pat sent her there like girl.
So then Oppo replies in like elitist fashion.
She says you didn't read it before signing?
Or do you have trouble meeting reading more than 8 lines of
text? Like what an elitist.
Asshole answer that one. And from this exchange,
Shyamalan walks away from it. Thrown off by Oppo's confidence.
OK, I think this was also missed in the series.
And Oppo's confidence comes from the fact that Oppo is so sure
that she's right about Shawn Lena because Oppo never makes
the wrong decision. Her decisions are always right.
And that's where her confidence was.
Because again, like I mentioned earlier, Oppo has a lot of
reinforcement of making right decisions from her correct
decisions from her career that makes her so confident.
Whereas Shawn Lena is more insecure because she's like
jumping into this for the first time in this insane way.
And so when Shamala walks away from this exchange with Oppo,
she starts to start immediately starts questioning what Pat told
her about Oppo the first time because he's like, oh, she's not
a rule breaker. They're they're shady.
And then she's like, I don't know, she seems pretty by the
book to me. I just, I don't know, she
already starts kind of questioning her brother.
All right, so then we enter the prohibit probation period.
So then Oppo ends up giving Shaala a second chance, and it's
essentially an ultimatum that if she breaks one more rule, then
Oppo will terminate her employment.
And the reason that Oppo gives her a second chance?
It's not because she's in love with Shaala off the bat.
Someone would never do that to us.
It's because Oppo wants to prove to herself that she doesn't make
mistakes, and she thinks immediately that Lada is a
troublemaker who shouldn't be here.
And so she's like, I don't have to do anything nefarious.
She's like, you shouldn't be here, and you're going to prove
me right by making a mistake. And so I'm just going to wait
for you to make a mistake. That's all this was.
And then Lana rises to the challenge out of desperation to
keep the job for her family and out of spite because Lana's
saltier than the ocean. OK.
And I feel like that's also kind of lost sometimes, like how
salty she's. About stuff.
She's like, fuck you up, I'll prove you right, I'll prove you
wrong. And she does.
And so Oppo then personally monitors Shawn Letta's progress,
because again, she's trying to prove to herself that she's
right, and Shawn was kind of piquing her curiosity a bit.
And so she does this by challenging Shawn Letta with
task after task, just waiting for Shawn Letta to fuck up.
But Lana rises to the occasion every time, and when she does,
Oppo was forced to reassess. So Oppo thinks quote this was
unexpected, disappointing even, no matter what word she used.
Miscalculation, surprise, bad judgement.
Excuse me, None of them sat well with Apple regarding this
decision, meaning that Oppo feels really off balance by this
whole thing because she's like, I was so sure I was right about
this person. And like, she's proving to me
that I miscalculate. I don't miscalculate.
So it, it, it forces Oppo to kind of like reassess herself
and her own thinking, which like is, is who Oppo is Oppo is her
thoughts. So like, this is a big identity
crisis in a way. And so Oppo feels really off
balance, probably for the first time ever, maybe like
potentially like if if not a really long time, like she feels
really off Kelter and like Appa doesn't know how to handle it
because she spent so much time like being balanced and like
robotic about her days kind of thing.
And now she's like, wait, what? Like how did I make this big of
a mistake? Like and she's like, I don't
like this like I don't know how to handle this.
OK, so in the middle of this like identity crisis situation
then wild visits who ahead and Naam is low key annoyed that YO
keeps showing up unannounced. And the reason why I was here
and who in is because she's avoiding Din and Rose because
they are too sweet. And according to Nam, YO was
quote perpetually single and allergic to romance.
So she's like, I don't want to be around this married couple in
a honeymoon faith. Like nobody wants to visit Rose
and Den nobody wants to hang out with them right now.
They're so diabetic inducing. OK, so while I was like, I'm
going to hang out here with my my favorite cousin.
She's like, whatever, go to a room and get out of here.
So then while goes to book, go book room with the receptionist
who is Sean. And I just have to read line for
line the way this goes down in the novel, because I think it's
fucking hilarious. So while says, do you have any
available rooms? And Sean says, yes, we still
have rooms available. What kind of room would you
like? And then while cuts her off and
says I meant the room in your heart.
Is that still available? Shawn Linda froze for a moment,
caught off guard by the unexpectedly cheesy pick up
line. Why, whoever just flashed her
bright smile. And then Shawn, Linda thinks.
If the wachura. Group's target had been YO
instead, things would have been much easier.
She wouldn't even have to put in any effort.
So like, which I think is hilarious that Lada is like, is
she for real right now with this pick up line?
And then also, I was like, damn, my life would be so much easier
if she was the hotel heiress instead of an apple because my
mission would be over right now. But mom, mom is hilarious and so
fucking funny. But like, what I what I love
about it is that, like, Lana is not falling for her at all,
like, at all. Like, like mom is so used to
like women falling for her charm.
And Lana's just like, yeah, no, this is not.
No, I like, I like awkward geniuses.
Thank you. OK, but why I was not letting
this go? So she and then causes a bunch
of chaos for poor Nom. So she then asked Nom about the
receptionist and Nam outs herself by knowing Shyamala's
name, which again, very Velva. And Whyo the detective catches
that. And then Whyo asks Nam if she
can pursue Shyamala and she claims that Shyamala is her type
and like what? Islam's type like women that are
alive? Because like Whyo seems to flirt
with literally every breathing woman in Thailand.
So I'm very curious what her type actually is, which we'll
find out next time on the four elements when we get to the air.
But with Shamlana, Nam was like, no, I I mom was like, no, I'm
serious about this one. This isn't casual.
I've met her for three seconds. I'm in love.
And Nam says no. And Wyle's super shocked by this
and notes it's the first time that Nam has ever shut her down
over a girl, which morning bells.
So Wyle pushes and she's like, are you into her?
And Nam denies it and then thinks to herself that Shanlara
is trouble and she doesn't want her family getting mixed up in
it, which I think is partially true when it comes to where Nam
is at this stage because she's still she's getting evidence
that, you know, Shanlara is actually good at her job.
She can follow rules. And that that would happen
earlier was like an kind of an anomaly.
But. Because Lada did that, she's
like, I can't. I still, even though this woman
had all the audacity in the world, I wasn't ready for that.
And I'm I've no one has ever done that to me before.
And now I'm curious about her because of that.
She's still like, but there's all this other evidence that
proves that I shouldn't trust you.
But now there's this evidence that I should trust you.
And she's like, I don't want my cousin that I love getting mixed
up on this. So I think it's like a
combination of Lom, Nam's curiosity and then like also the
reality of Shawn Lavitt and like Wyo falling in love with
everyone. She's like, are you serious?
You're never serious. So like, I think Nam is just
like, no, let's nip this in the bud before this even happens.
But Wyo doesn't take this mom and she sulks for a while and
then leaves and the next day quote visits Phi instead.
Which like, why didn't you go find Phi in the beginning?
Like because like Phi is also like just living life and that
was always at work. But anyway, I'm pretty sure she
goes and sees Phi and then these two gossip and then conspire
against Mom later on. And that's how we get all the
rest of the cousins involved. OK, so then.
APU and lot of transition into the and they were Co worker
stage. So what I think is significant
about this part of their story is that the beginning of their
relationship is really similar to Lada's family dynamics.
OK, going back to when Lada breaks the dress code and
they're they're having the argument in the office and Nam
is like you're a brainless beauty and Lada's like bitch, I
have a brain. Oppo essentially judges Lada as
this pretty face with no thoughts in her head.
Kinshawana wants to prove her value to Nam because she's
saltier than the ocean. She's not a brainless beauty,
which again, this brainless beauty, it's like that is the
box that Lada's father is trying to fit her into like against her
will, OK. And like here's Nam like making
a quick judgement on her. And so I think that triggers
something in Lada that's coming from her family drama.
So then, unlike Lada's family, Nam then gives Shan Lada a
chance to prove herself, which makes her relationship very
different from the family excluding.
Pat, but like. Because he kind of gives her a
chance her quotes but like he has ulterior motives so let's
leave him out of this. So Nam is already proving she's
different by like good in good faith, giving Shan Lada a chance
to prove herself. And at the same time, Shan
Lada's initial perception of Oppo is warped by Pat's
manipulations, which in this novel become very evident that
they're rooted in misogyny. So a lot of his aggression and
anger and vendetta against Oppo is because he's like, there's no
way a woman beat me, She must be cheating.
And that comes from his father. So anyway, Shaman's warped
impression of oppo is the mindset that drives their
initial encounters. OK, so they're both, they have
these warped visions of each other, and then it kind of blows
up. So Lada is determined then to
find evidence of Oppo's shadiness and then a surprise to
find none. And ironically, over time, Oppo
gives Shamlana the support and validation that she's been
seeking from her family. OK, Because Oppo in good faith
gives her a good chance. Lot of proofs herself.
And Oppo's like, I was wrong about you.
You are capable. You're not a brainless beauty.
You're very talented in your own right.
And one moment in particular stands out to me is when Oppo
assumes Lada can drive. And I think this got missed in
the series by how they had the dialogue go down.
So when they're they have to go, this is when Lada is like her is
like Prim's assistant and Oppo's like, OK, let's go here.
Doors are the keys. And Lada's like, what am I
supposed to do with this? And Lada's like, drive.
You got to drive me. So when Lada admits she can't
drive, Oppo puts her down for lacking the skill.
She's like, it's such a basic skill.
You can't drive. And The thing is that Oppo
doesn't realize how much of A sore spot this is for Lada
because Lada's father forbade her from learning to drive
because she's a woman, which is insane.
And they don't talk about it out loud in the novel.
It's just like a lot of kind of stews over it.
And I think that this like, up to this point, like a lot of was
starting to have like her doubts about what her brother told her
about Apple. But I think this moment very
incidentally, like enforced to Lada that Nam was her enemy.
Because Lada's like, oh, she's looking down on me for not
having a skill that wasn't part of the job description because
Lada's upset because she's like, I would definitely drive if my
father fucking let me learn, but he forbade me.
And so now I don't have the skill.
So she's kind of embarrassed too, in a way.
It feels very insecure and inferior.
And so I think that like she kind of like that fueled the
grudge that was like starting to fizzle out a little bit.
And so and again in the novel, I think this is way more of an
impactful scene because Lada doesn't voice these thoughts to
Nam. So Nam does not know that like
she kind of triggers Lada in this moment.
She doesn't mean to, but I think it was important moment and one
of the biggest defining things that happened in their
relationship when they're in the and they were Co workers phase
is the Chef Ian project. So we're going to spend a lot of
time talking about that. So to me, I think this was the
major turning point in their relationship was this project.
And during this ordeal, Lotta's loyalties and Lam's and Nam's
convictions are both tested. So I'm going to spend a bunch of
time doing the Chef Ian project. But before we do that, before I
do that, I first want to give some quick shout outs to our KS
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We appreciate your support and hope you're enjoying this
episode if you're listening. With that, let's shoot over to
the Chef Ian project. So let's start with this from
Lada's perspective. So Lada is presented with
multiple opportunities to give Intel to her brother up till
this point and most notable it's the chef Ian project.
But a lot of proves that she is nothing like her family in a
good way. So a lot of things quote she
hadn't seen ABO play dirty or use underhanded tactics to get
the chef to agree. From what she overheard today,
it was sheer persistence if she stole the secret.
And handed it to. Pat allowing her brother to
swoop in and take Chef Ian for their own hotel.
Wouldn't that mean she was the one resorting to dirty tricks
first? So Lada has a conscience and
it's kind of like the math is not math thing with what Pat is
telling me. And if I do this I become the
thing he's accusing oppo of. So then Lada tells her brother
I'm sorry and refuses to give him anything.
So in a way, Pat really underestimated his sister's
intelligence, which is not surprising, but he also
underestimated her morality, which definitely worked against
him. All right, so APO's point of
view of this project. So in APO's basically has been
going after the chef and is very persistent, starts bringing Lada
along. And at this stage she's still
watching Lada for any mistakes. So Nam's assessment of Lada's
performance is all good at this stage.
And Nam makes it a point not to abuse her power to get rid of
Lada for no reason because prima one points like should I just
make something up and we just get rid of her?
And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Like, we're not going to play dirty.
Like just, we'll just keep watching.
And then as she gives her task after task, Nam starts to
realize that Lada is actually a really good worker.
And as a boss, she should foster Lada's growth.
So then this project comes up and she instructs Prim Prim,
sorry, to assign Lada a bigger role in the Chef Ian project.
And Prim is like, I don't know if it's Prim or Prim, sorry.
I'm just going to call her Prim. I'm sorry.
Because that's how it spelled the book.
And she's concerned because she's like, well, Lada's new and
like, this is a humongous project.
We've been trying to get this together for years.
And Nam says to her assistant quote, but if Lada never gets
real work experience, she won't improve.
So it shows that Nam is a really good boss that invests in her
employees and that she finds Lada valuable enough to invest
in her by assigning her a project that Nam thinks will
challenge Lada to get better. So this right here is the
validation that Lada has been seeking her entire life.
Like here's Nam giving it to her like Nada doesn't realize it
yet, but like Nam is willing to like invest in her and validate
her worth the way nobody else in her life ever has before.
So this is where we get the turning of the tides when it
comes to their relationship. OK in the context of this
project. So we get the first time that
Oppo takes Shanleta home. So to set the scene, Oppo made
Shanleta work late to quote, make up for missed work because
her dumb ass dad took Lada out for lunch against her will.
And Oppo's like you have to stay here and make up for the work.
And while they're doing this, they're in the same office and
they start discussing the chef, the three Chef Ian dishes that
Oppo has to make a decision on. And this is where it becomes
really apparent that these two are both curious about each
other, which is the intellectual love language I keep talking
about. And it starts with Oppo.
So at the end of this, after they talk about the Chef Ian
stuff, she drives Shanlana home. And during the drive, Shanlana
brings up the dishes and asks, well, which one did you choose
Oppo? Because like a lot of gives her
opinion. And I was like, huh, you can go
home now. And then 5 minutes later comes
out and Lata's like well what did what did you what did you
pick? And then Oppo refuses to answer
which frustrates the hell out of Lata and Oppo's thoughts.
After shutting this down are Oppo still caught Shamleta out
of the corner of her eye. She knew very well how her
assistant acted when she thought she wasn't being watched.
Oppo noticed it all, indicating that like Appa wasn't just
checking up on Lada's performance, like she remembers
little details about Shalala, including how Shalala acts when
she's annoyed at Appa. Appa's like, I know she's
annoyed with me, she's doing those things.
I've seen her do that before and I remember so very indicative of
Appa's very curious and like if that's morphing into more than
just curiosity because of how much she remembers about Lada
and things that are not work related at all, like Sean Luna's
like annoyed mannerisms. OK, so at the end of this car
ride, during the car ride, Lotta's like, I'm hungry.
Drop me like drop me off of this noodle stand.
Do you want to come with me? And at first Oppo refuses and
Sean Luna gets out of the car and goes goes to the the stand
or whatever. So then in the novel, Oppo was
thinking in the car by herself. Quote.
For some reason Oppo found herself still parked watching
this odd woman, someone like anyone she had ever known.
Sean and I was like a splash of bright color in Oppo's well
structured life. Like a black and white painting
where only family and work mattered, everything else fading
into the dark. But this vibrant color had
somehow slipped in, standing out so much that even if she tried
to ignore it, it was impossible not to notice.
Sean Leto was like a shifting shade, constantly changing.
So Nam is in love and quite poetic about it, but it's the
intrigue. It is the intrigue that's the
intellectual love language. Oppo cannot figure Shamleta out
and is so curious she literally cannot think about anything else
to the point where she's like re evaluating her life and having
this like romantic poetic epiphany alone in a car outside
of a noodle stand. Like that's how bad she has it.
And like, this is such a beautiful intellectual falling
in love thing. I can't like, I can't even say
how much I love this. It's so good and perfect.
Like it's beautiful. OK.
So obviously Oppo is then going to join Lada at the noodle stand
because she's having an epiphany.
And then they're together and Lada asks, what would you like?
I'll order it for you. And Oppo says anything.
And Lada says, well, that makes my decision much easier.
And it's short, a short exchange, but I feel like it's
very symbolic because oppo says anything like she wants to try
anything because I feel like she's never tried anything in
her life outside of her normal routine.
And late night noodles with a Co worker are definitely not part
of her routine. So she's just like, I'm open to
experiencing life, show me life. And Lada, who like lives her
full life is like that makes my decision easier.
So I think if you interpret it in that context, it's it's
actually quite impactful, even though this is really short
little exchange because this is a big turning point thing for
them. So then Lada ends up ordering
for Oppo and notices that Oppo doesn't eat spicy food.
So Lada tells Oppo she noticed all of this because this is what
Lada thinks, making sure Oppo understood that she was someone
who paid close attention to the people around her.
So it's like she's like, I noticed these things about you
because she's like, I want to prove to her that I'm detail
oriented and all this shit. And then Oppo takes us to be
like, Oh my God, she remembers things about me.
She must like me. This is weird.
So like, they're not on the same page about this, but it's really
funny because again, Lada is an intellect too, and she would be
just as curious about oppo. And so she's going to remember
shit about her starting from nefarious reasons because she's
like, any information might be valuable to my brother.
But then she's like just remembering shit about her
because she's also falling into her own trap essentially.
OK, All right, so while there's many cute, monumental things
that happened throughout the course of the Chef Ian project,
I think the biggest thing that happens during the course of
this project is that Oppo validates Shamlada, which is the
thing she's wanted her whole life.
OK, so it happens when we get to the culmination of the Chef Ian
project. And this is very similar to the
novel, OK, where we eventually get to the big grand reveal
where Chef we're going to get the dish, Chef Ian's going to
make it all the investors are coming that whole thing.
And so like the like, I'm sorry, like the series, we get the
scene where Lada is helping Shawn Litta pick out a suit.
OK, because Abo asks her too, is the assistant.
And they start talking about Lada's family issue and code.
And Lada says, Boslek, if you had to choose between family and
not doing the and between family and doing the right thing, what
would you pick? And Oppo says the right thing.
Yes, family is important, but no good family would ever encourage
you to do something wrong. And a lot of things to herself.
She. Glanced at OPPO, watching how
calmly she answered without a hint of suspicion or curiosity
about why she was asking. But that response, it made her
feel a little lighter, easing the weight of her internal
conflict. So OPPO validates Charlotte's
morality in that situation by being like, if your family's as
needed to do shady shit, it means they're shady and you
shouldn't do it just because they're family, OK?
Which is where Shawn was like kind of at with her loyalties
being tested when it came to the family stuff because she's like,
the math is not mouthing with my brother here, OK?
And then we get the then we shoot on over to the grand
reveal. Actually, we don't shoot on
over. Then their conversation pivots.
I'm sorry, they're still looking at the suits or whatever.
And the conversation pivots to the big, grand reveal, OK, where
Chef Ian's going to be there, and they're going to reveal the
dish that's going to the hotel. And so Oppo insists that
Shyamala comes to this. And Shyamala is like, listen, I
don't have the money to afford a dress for this grand event.
And Oppo's like, says, you were part of the project.
You have to be there. And when Lada argues about
money, Oppo says you can pay me back in installments, as many as
it takes. So then Lana, meaning Lana's
like, I'm not a charity case. Like I want to earn everything
and and Apple's like, fine, you can earn it, but like you can.
And by the it's a loan. It's a loan.
I'm not giving it. If it's a loan, just pay me back
whenever you're ready. And then OK, so Lana's like, OK,
so she agrees to this because she's self reliant.
And while she's in the changing room, Oppo goes and just pays
for it all, which is really cute.
She's like, I'm not, you're not paying me back.
I'm just going to give you those.
And Oppo thinks it had been a day of both in a day of both
time and money spent, but at least it hadn't been a boring 1.
So I think it's a very sick that was a very significant shift in
how oppo thinks about her time spent with Shandla doing quote
non work related stuff or like nonsensical stuff.
The fact that she was like, I wasn't bored.
So like, she's having fun, you know, which is really cute and
significant. So like their their relationship
starts shifting here. All right, And then and then we
get to the big grand reveal of chefs Ian's signature dish.
And so oppo's the one upstage is on stage and she's the one who
is explaining this to all the investors and everybody.
And she picked the seafood bucket, which is a lot of picks,
but she renames it the Joyful Ocean.
So Oppo renamed it after Shamlada, which surprises
Shamlada because like, it's like another translation for like
Lada's name in like kind of a novel.
So the irony is of this, which it's adorable, but also is very
ironic because when they were originally talking about this
and Nama was like, give me your opinions.
A lot of does. And then at the end, Oppo told
Shawn Luna quote, you can't let your personal preferences
dictate your work decisions. And then here's Oppo literally
breaking her own rules and announcing it to like a crowd of
people. So like it just goes.
She's so funny. Like she just starts breaking
her own rules. Like like it just goes downhill
for her really pretty consistently and pretty fast.
The way she just breaks all of her rules for Shawn Luna.
It's really kind of funny how much she changes.
OK and then so then Lana's in the crowd.
She goes and she's hearing this and it she, she realizes that
oppo took her suggestions seriously because like Sean has
been wondering, did you pick? Did I help her?
Did I not help her? What did she do?
She ignore me. And so she's like, oh, she took
my suggestions seriously. Like no one takes me serious,
especially the boss, you know? So then Oppo is describing why
she picked this to the crowd, and she basically quotes Shan
Lada, OK. And she's like, you know, simple
dishes can be great. That kind of, she literally like
quotes Shan Lada. And then Shan Lada realizes this
is my idea, the thing that Oppo was saying.
And she thinks initially Oppo stole it because Oppo's saying
exactly like very close to what Shan Lada told her.
And so initially she's like, Oh my God, my brother was right.
She is shady. They do play dirty, like to
quote her own thought, but big important difference from the
series. So they that happens in the
series where she basically quotes Charlotte.
I'm a cut away and you don't get the reaction from Charlotte
being like, Oh my God, she fucking stole my idea.
But in the novel, Oppo keeps talking and I think this is
actually the more important dialogue and they cut it out of
the series and they don't know why.
So Oppo continues and says the truth is I got this idea from my
assistant. I have to thank her for her
excellent suggestion that allowed me to develop it
further. I hope that if my assistant is
listening, she'll be very proud of herself, just as I hope
everyone here enjoys the exquisite dishes prepared by
Chef Ian. Thank you.
And Shamala thinks to herself. Who would have?
Thought that Apple would give her credit and thank her in such
a grand event. Was this real or was she
dreaming? To me, this is one of the most
significant parts of this whole thing, and I don't know why the
series cut it out. Because here's Oppo validating
Shamleta. Not just validating her, like,
but like in a room full of people acknowledging that, like,
this was Shamleta's idea and it's brilliant and she should be
proud of her work. Like, wow.
Like this is like for workaholics.
Like what a grand fucking gesture this was.
And that's why Apple's like, you have to be there because she was
going to praise her publicly for her work.
Like, this was a huge deal, especially because, like, you
set them up as these workaholics where work is so important to
them. How could you cut this out?
This was like, so important. I thought that was a crazy
decision by North Star. Like, you started the
conversation. Just keep it going.
Yeah, this scene deserved love because this was a humongous,
monumental moment. OK, so their relationship
totally shifts after the chef Ian thing.
And so let's then go back to let's go a little bit forward to
one of my absolute favorite things, which is Oppo awkwardly
asking to eat with Plata, which is one of the funniest fucking.
They're like first date kind of. This is hilarious.
OK, so I meant talked about this very briefly at the beginning.
This is when Adda Soren tries to set Lada up with one of his
friend's sons. And Nam is not OK with us.
She literally pulls Lada out of the situation and drives her
home. And Lada is like super flustered
by the whole fucking thing. And then and she's as flustered
as Nam in this situation and thinks to herself, today has
been unexpectedly overwhelming, stirring strong emotions she has
never felt in her 22 years of life.
Shamlana wanted some alone time to process everything in
solitude. If she accepted APO's kindness
any further, she feared it would complicate things.
So this was just proof that Lada is introverted like APO because
she's like, I need to go home and recharge and process all of
this. Like, they're very similar
people. And you're like, this has been
crazy and a lot. And yeah, basically she's like,
I feel like I'm falling for her maybe.
And this is no longer work platonic.
What the fuck? I need some alone time.
So very introverted Shamlana. OK, so then Nam drives her home,
and they arrive at Shamlana's apartment.
But APU was not ready for this night to end.
So at first, APU's like normal about this.
And she tries to ask Lana if she would like to stop at the noodle
stand where they've eaten before, but Lada says she'd
rather eat at home. Lada gets out of the car, and
Apple follows her and says, I'm hungry.
And this is where the series ends, which is a crime because
the rest of this is hilarious. And then Lada's like, OK, we'll
go eat something. Like, you're rich.
Like, just go somewhere. There's plenty of places around
my condo you can grab a bite before you head back.
Like, why are you telling me this?
And then Apple says, do you have dinner in your room that you can
share with me? When I first thought.
My first start reading this was Oh my God, Nam was worse than
this that did this was so awkward when she says it.
Do you have dinner in your room that you can share with me?
It's so awkward. It's.
So awkward. I'm really sad they they erased
how fucking awkward she is. She's like, there's a reason
Rose at the end is like, I'm worried Nam doesn't know what
sex is because Nam is so awkward.
Like she's worse. She's like, I thought Din was
bad. Like Nam is really like Din
we're proposing the first time Nam is worse.
And so they totally erased that in the series.
And this was one of I laughed so hard when reading this because
like to be Baba in this situation be like what?
Like, you're so why are you so weird about this?
Oh, my God. And the reason she's weird is
that no, I'm essentially it's like a baby deer learning how to
walk, OK? She's learning what life is,
what living her life is really about, OK, in the scene.
And Lada doesn't realize she's the guide, OK?
She has no idea. All right, So then Lada, for
some reason, let's Nam in. She's like, this is weird.
And like, lets her in the apartment.
They have noodles. And I think the reason we end up
in the apartment is because the inner monologue thing I gave you
with Shawn Leto, where she's like, I'm having emotions right
now and I need time to process them.
And Oppo's having feelings and she doesn't have time to process
them. And this is bad for introverts
because speaking as an introvert, because introverts
need to think and process because we are more internal
people, OK, If introverts are having a bunch of feelings and
we don't have time to like get into solitude and think about
it, we're more likely to act on the feelings, good or bad, OK?
That's how you get this noodle scene because you have two
introverts whose emotions are running high and they can't
think about them right now because everything's crazy.
So then a lot of makes the noodles and goes and sits on the
floor like she normally would without company present because
she thinks it's more comfortable this way.
And she explains it to nom and Mom's like, OK, that's a better
way of doing this. So the nom joins her on the
floor and it's like, to me it was like oppo, like Nada is
teaching Oppo how to be human. My little like leading her out
of her comfort zone because like wealthy girl would be like I
said at the table, you know, with the napkin in my lap or
whatever. I do all the proper things.
I'm like, here's a lot of just like on the floor eating Goodles
and mom's like, what are you doing?
Maybe I should do that? Is that the better way to do
this? I should do that.
And she like goes and does it like it's like again, like
leading a baby deer around. Teach her how to walk.
And to me, like this was a cute, really cute example of like how
the how the two of them grow as people when they are together
because they they, they learn from they're open to each
other's like thoughts and ways of doing things even when it's
different from their own. Like Nama's like, I don't do
this, but you do it. Maybe I should try it.
And like they learn from each other, like what works for them.
And I think this is really a really a hallmark of a strong
relationship foundation. And so like, again, the author
did a really good job of like establishing that they there's
mutual respect. They learn from each other.
They have a very solid, healthy relationship foundation.
And like, here's a little scene of like how that works for them.
The only thing I love about the scene is that none of those are
like weirdly smooth in the scene, despite being a is like
worse than Din to get herself invited in here, she was weirdly
smooth. So then a lot of sorts teasing
Nam about eating unhealthy food with her and Nam says because
you made it, a simple meal becomes special.
And not only is this sweet OK, because in the series they're
basically they just have the part where she's like you made
it. Therefore it's it's like good.
The A simple meal becomes special because you made it is
the more important part of the dialogue because this is Nam
quoting Lada right back to herself, OK?
Because that was Lada's fundamental argument in favor of
the seafood bucket with the Chef Ian Project.
And Nam is showing Lada that she pays attention to her opinions
and reflects on them. And that's incredibly sweet for
Nam to do that and be like, I think about what you say.
I internalize it and I'm going to give it right back to you to
show you that I pay attention to you and I value your opinions
and that is validation in the relationship, which is brand new
territory for a lot of like this was also supremely validating.
OK for a lot of who's insecure and has never had stable love.
Here's none being like I value you like by literally quoting
herself back to her. So again, the dialogue in the
novel is so good. Like it should not have been
messed with in my opinion. OK so then we get what I
anticipated would happen in Oppo's story as the collected
calm person. We get her control slipping.
OK, And it really goes off the rails when Addis Thorn puts the
fear of lesbian Jesus into numb. So the noodle scene happens.
She gets the, you know, the noodle happens where she gets it
spilled on herself. Lada gets her clothes, and then
Nam goes home. So when she comes home in Lada's
clothes, she gets in an argument with her father that I went over
earlier where basically he tells her be clear with your feelings
where he's like, you need to respect her.
And then he continues and he's like, you need to be clear with
your feelings before you lose Lada to somebody else.
And he says, quote, consider this a warning.
So, so that puts the fear of lesbian Jesus to nom.
And so the next day, she shows up at Lada's flat unannounced to
drive her to work. And then Oppo in the drive,
brings up her father and then asks says to Lada, who do you
trust more, me or my dad? Out of nowhere, she says this.
And Lada's like you, of course. And then Oppo says, that's all I
need to hear. And then and then, like, she
stops talking. And then a lot of things lately,
Appo had developed a habit of mumbling to herself, saying
things only she seemed to understand, while leaving
Shamlana out of the loop. In other words, I think Appo's
losing it a little. It's like we truly didn't get
this version of Appo, who was like, off killed her and like
mumbling to herself, like being weird as fuck.
And like a lot of just like, I don't think she's doing all
right. She's acting weird.
OK, so basically now, OK, so like the external.
So like there's the stuff with Pat going on in the background,
like the family drama in terms of the rivalry.
But then now we start getting into like Oppo's family starts
interfering. So like Adamson was doing his
thing. And then the chaos cousins start
inserting themselves so fine and randomly appears and adds
gasoline to this dumpster fire by complaining that Wyatt was
sulking over Nam denying her to Shamla.
Like such a what a dramatic gay Wyatt is OK, She's so gay.
That's how she's dramatic. OK, she's part of me a little
old. Nam was gay.
I'm sorry, why was gay from the wound?
So she's the most dramatic. And then while this is exchange
is going on with five publicly, Nam insists very loudly that
Shyam Lana is not her girlfriend.
And Lana feels extremely irritated by this and then talks
to her best friend net and puts together that she's falling for
Oppo. But Oppo clearly does not feel
the same way. So a very upset and salty lotta
then tries to ghost oppo. But oppo gets really worried and
oppo is so desperate she consults her father who
immediately is like do you want me to step in and do something?
And she's like Oh my God no I just want your advice.
Just your advice, Dad, don't do anything.
Sit down. And his advice to her is really,
it's really good advice about relationships where he says
nothing gets accomplished without effort.
Love works the same way. And that's kind of like speaking
her language because they're both workaholics and they're and
they're, you know, hotel executives who get results.
So he's speaking to her in a way she understands where he's like,
you know, like work takes effort.
Love also takes everything of it as work.
It's very similar. It's just humans versus numbers.
So then Oppo then takes this advice and confronts Lada and
literally lists off the number of days that Lada has ignored
her, showing her hand that she's like, I could literally count on
something. I'm literally counting days.
And then Lada notes that Oppo looks disappointed when she then
rejects her offer to get dinner. Because Oppo's like, go out with
me. And then Lada's like, no.
And then she's like, why does she look disappointed if she's
not into me? So again, the whole time, like
Lotta's doing math when it comes to people like people math, he's
like the people math doesn't work out, doesn't work out here
the way the people math was not working out with my brother.
OK. But then luckily for all of us,
Adasorn ignored Nam and already intervenes to set them up on a
date at his house. And that's when Adasorn dates
Lotta for Nam, that whole thing. So I won't revisit that because
I it's just one of the funniest things and I already talked
about that. So I'm just going to skip ahead
and go to after that happens. So then after that, Nam is upset
that her father overstepped and cannot let it go.
And so at this stage, Lada is like, they're not on the same
page. So like Lada is resigned that
her feast feelings are like 1 sided.
And I don't know what she thinks is going on with Ada Soren, but
she's like this, you know, whatever, I have this crush.
It's, you know, unrequited whatever, but Nam quote cannot
let it go. So to me, I think this whole
thing with the dad like dating essentially dating Lada for her
and like getting a lot of flowers and like being like give
her that food, do this and that. I think that.
For Nam, it was like, in a way, it was like witnessing something
adjacent to someone else. Dating Lama dating Lada, like
Nam was watching like, oh, like if, if I don't, if I'm not clear
about my feelings, like dad said, like somebody else could
date her. It's almost like that's what was
happening in the house. And I think that scooped Nam
more than anything. And that's like her breaking
point here. So then Nam takes over courting
Lada from here. And spoiler, it starts out
awkward as fuck. So then after this disaster
dinner, Nam then takes Lada home and then says to Lada, I wanted
to bring you home. It wasn't because my dad told me
to. She has to clarify because she's
very serious. Nam is so serious.
And like, I imagine she delivered this very seriously to
Lada. And Lada's like, OK.
And then Nam is like, give me, can I have the bouquet that my
dad gave you? And then she takes the flowers
and throws them away. And she says that she does that
because she doesn't want Lada to misunderstand.
That's all she says. And my first thought was, how
does CERN probably bought these perfectly fine flowers from
probably from like rose and den And like, here's Nam throwing
them away in the trash. And I was like, what is she
doing? But there's always a reason.
Trust the process. So then Nam asked Shamleta what
flower she likes. She's like, what is your
favorite flower? And then Shamleta tells her
tulips. Then Nam asks what color tulips
and I love that she she like keeps asking and she's like I
want all the details exact what exactly do you like?
I need to know. And then John Linda tells her
and then she's like, OK, tomorrow morning I'll come pick
you up with pink tulips ones I personally choose.
And the cutest thing is, is that oppo is 20 minutes late to pick
up Lada because it she explains it was her first time picking up
flowers and she was so determined to get Lada quote the
right ones that she's late to pick her up for work.
Like that was huge and really cute and really sweet the way
that went down. I just I love how like again, it
shows you like how thoughtful she again, she's somebody who
overthinks things. She's really intelligent.
So she's like, I need to know your favorite flower down to the
color, the eyes, the smell, all of that.
And I'm going to personally pick you out your favorite flowers.
And she's late because it took her so long.
She's never done it before. She's on my first time doing
this. She's like, I'll get better at
it. It was very cute.
It's a very oppo and it just it should, it's how serious she is.
She's like, I'm so serious about you that I'm serious about these
fucking flowers that we're going to be late for work.
So I thought that was a big moment and it was really sweet.
And just the way it was written was, fuck, it was more than a
lot of just getting these flowers.
It was Appa being like, I put in all this, I'm putting in the
effort. I'm taking my dad's advice very
seriously to put in as much effort.
And like she's like, when it comes to Shawn Lana, my effort
is limitless and like, I'm going to show her that.
So it was very sweet the way she did that.
OK, But I mentioned earlier, Lada is softer than the ocean.
So eventually the truth comes out that Lada was upset that Nam
denied liking her in front of Phi.
And Nam admits to her she's like, well, I did that because
my cousin's a gossipy motherfucker.
And I'm like, God, tell her that.
And I can't tell her that. You see what my dad does?
Imagine all of my cousins here. So OK, but Lada's upset about
this. So the non persists in asking
Lada out, but Lada gets her revenge, OK because she's
spiteful. And I feel like that was kind of
lost, I bet. So basically they they go out
and Lada is like, I'm picking the food today.
And so they go to the street vendor that Lada picks out and
she rattles off all these spicy foods and she's like, I'm going
to check with you apple to make sure these are OK.
And Apple every time is like, Yep, that's fine.
And Nam is A and and a lot of
like that. They're all spicy and Nam is
basically like, quote, I'm not leaving, I'm having dinner with
you. She's like, I don't care if I
die in the process with this food.
I'm doing this, I'm putting in all the effort.
And then to Nam surprise, when the vendor comes over and asks a
lot of what she wants, she she orders Nam quote kids food,
which is like not spicy. It's code for not spicy, which
is really cute. She's like get her the kids
food. And then Nam's confused because
a lot of it's just rattling off, like all these dishes that would
have killed her, essentially. And then Lada says, quote.
I was worried you'd end up crying from the heat and people
might think I broke your heart and I don't want that
misunderstanding. And then Nam Mumbles.
Would it be far from the truth? I'm sorry.
Some of their dialogue is so fucking funny, and it was not in
this show. It's so funny.
Like, that is so petty. Sometimes it's really funny.
OK. And the nom essentially they're
they get the food, they start eating and the nom proclaims
that she's going to work on tolerating spicy food so that
she can eat the same thing when they go out.
And Lana's response is quote, you don't have to force
yourself. People like different things,
but we can always find common ground.
And like, what an incredibly mature point of view.
Despite all the teasing that went into this and the fact that
Lada is much younger than Nam, like again, it goes to show you
that they're intellectual equals, like Lada's like.
And also Lada is essentially telling Nam, I don't want you to
change. Like these two never try to
change each other like ever. Like Nam does change, but she
changes because she's experiencing life for the first
time. And she like is curious about it
because Lada is like living in color.
And she said, well, I kind of want to experience that too.
So like, I'm going to learn from you.
It's not that Lada changes Nam. She just opens up the world of
possibilities and Nam goes and explores them with with Lada and
I like that lot of very consistently throughout the
novel. It's like I'm not trying to
change Nam Like she's like, I like it's OK that we like
different things, but like as long as we communicate, we can
find, you know, we can have fun together.
Like we're still having dinner together even though we're
eating different foods. So I love her mindset when it
comes to but of course she has to like tease Nam, which is like
the hilarious part about everything.
But like at the end of the day, she a date, she respects Nam and
she's not trying to change her. And that's I think so important
and I love that about their relationship and and I love that
it consistently comes from Lada and and nada.
Also is not trying to change lot like Lada is a pain in the ass
sometimes. She's like and.
That's why I love her. I'm not going to change her like
she says. It's a what she's like.
I'm not changing her. That's why I love her.
So they neither of them want to change each other.
So I love that about them. OK.
And then the water starts coming in in the form of rain.
So like literal water. OK, so on another time and
another day after that, they are working on setting up a hotel
event and it's outside. And Lada was on the team that
was setting up the outside and she leaves her handbag outside.
OK. And this is the the stage where
essentially Nam and Lada are on a texting basis, which is
hilarious because Oppo texts like an old person.
Like with like this is oppo and like uses punctuation and like
it's she just texts like an old person.
And then like a lot of teachers are how to use stickers and
oppo's like I will only use stickers with you.
Like I'm serious about this. And she's it's just adorable.
OK, so they're on a texting basis.
And I have to point out that like in the novel, like the way
Nom gets, I mean, yeah, I guess Lada's line ID is not from HR.
She or like from weird workarounds.
She asks Lada because like, she's like, like consent.
Consent is important to APO. And she's like, I'm not going to
like go into your private life. I want you to give it to me if
you want to. And so then they get on a
texting basis, which is because, again, mutual respect.
And so then they get on a texting basis.
And so in this scene where it's like the while I was setting up
the event, she leaves her handbag, her phone's in the bag
and it's about to rain. And she, despite the rain, she
has to go get it because her phone is in there.
And quote, she thinks to herself, she wouldn't be able to
receive messages from someone who texted better than she
spoke. So once they're on a texting
basis, Oppo texts her like non-stop.
And then it becomes very glaringly obvious just how
introverted Oppo is because she's like, we'll be there in
person and Shawna will be like, God, I kind of wish we could
both text On this date, even though I'm sitting with her
because she's more talkative in text messages than in real life.
Because Oppo's a deeply introverted person.
And that is, it's easier to text than it is to talk.
So like, that's when Lata really gets to know Oppo is when they
start texting. Because she's an introvert.
She's a deep, She's more introverted than Lata, but it
was really cute. But then she was like, I like
talking to her, so I need my phone.
So then she's almost out there trying to get the thing and it's
in the pouring rain. So that Oppo literally runs out
in the rain to go get her when she realizes where she is.
And then this is different from the series.
So that Oppo saved Shamlena from a giant arch decoration that was
falling. And so something nefarious, it
was just part of the decoration in the wind.
And she saves her and then loses her glasses in the process and
then ends up fawning all over Lada, who's like, Oh my God, are
you OK? She's like checking her to make
sure she's not injured. And Lada's in shock that Oppo
just saved her. So then Lada's in shock.
And then Oppo notices Lada's clothes are wet and they're kind
of revealing. So then she like, puts her
blazer over Lada to cover her up.
And she explains to Lada that she can she's like, you can keep
the jacket. Like, I have like 500 of them.
And then it's not a big deal. And then Lada finally speaks
when she like, like realizes like she's getting all these
like caretaking behaviors from Oppo.
Oppo literally saved her life. So like directly flying in the
face of her initial impression that like, Oppo doesn't care
about me. Like here's evidence that she
does. Very much so.
And then Lada, when she speaks, says, can I stay like this for a
moment? And we're they're in the rain.
And then Oppo freezes and lot of raps oppo in a hug.
And in this situation, this is when Lada admits to herself that
she fell into her own trap. And there's no greater
declaration of love than what Oppo just did, like literally
saved her life. And especially for Lada, who's
had such little genuine love in her life, Like this moment was a
humongous deal because Appa was showing how much she cared not
just by like saving her from the falling thing.
She was then very methodically making sure she was OK, gave her
her jacket because she could tell the clothes were see
through. And like was literally doing all
these things just for Shawn. Let us like take care of her.
And so like, that was this is a huge deal for her.
And this is also a huge moment for oppo in the hug because she
admits internally that she's taken off guard by the hug and
she loses track of time when they're in the hug again, Miss
Control loses track of time and she thinks, quote, she would let
Shamla to hold her for as long as she wants.
Like that's what bad oppo has at this stage.
It's so bad. But like, wow, very different
from the person who's like, I broke your phone call.
My assistant, she was like, she can hug me in the rain for as
long as she wants. OK, so we're finally getting
closer to these two. Well, not these two for.
Yeah, these two getting together.
OK, so we're making progress. And then Dean and Rose come to
visit something else that wasn't in the series.
I think that was a scheduling thing.
But anyway, there are but red flags abound when Din and Rose
get there. So what happens is that Din
books a trip to the hotel months in advance on like Lam and Phi.
So like Nam prefers Din because Din is more respectable and
she's like, I'll come visit you on March 15th.
In a few months me and Rose will be there and book a room for two
versus Phi and Lam just show up randomly like I'm here and it's
like, girl, I'm working. So Nam prefers Din because Din
is more structured than the other two.
So Nam gets a call when Din arrives and she admits to Din
she took the day off from work and Din because like after the
the rain thing, Nam gets sick and then we go through that
whole thing. So then Din's like, wait, are
you sick? And Nam's like, well, no, I just
wanted to take a break. And Din's like, what's gotten
into you? I can't read you at all right
now. Who are you?
Are you my cousin? And then Nam says the C is
beautiful. I'm like, the way if you're dead
in this conversation, you're like, is oppo on drugs?
Like the way she's answering stuff.
You're like, you're like, she's like, you took off from work
because you wanted a break, a break.
And then she's like, what's gotten into you?
She's like the C is beautiful. And you're like, what?
Again? Nam is worse than Den.
She's more awkward than Den. It's amazing.
I didn't think it could happen, but it happens.
And of course Din thinks Nam right now in this conversation,
she's talking about the actual ocean because they're who hen.
And until Lada walks by and the Nam gets hella distracted.
And then Din's like, who was that?
And then Din says and then sorry.
And then nom says the sea. Din, I think I like the sea now.
And then Oppo continues this in her brain, in her poetic brain
and thinks a sea that was bright, full of life and
completely herself because Apple's got it real bad and she
loves sound a lot for who she is.
But like, this was one of the most awkward verbal exchanges in
the story. And I'm upset that we're robbed
of watching this in the series because it's so awkward to watch
these two interactive and so funny.
OK so and the thing else we were robbed of is Shamlana bonds very
quickly with the family. So here's the deal.
So this was all conspiracy from fine Lom.
I'm 100% sure Sofi off screen told Din and Rose everything
that has been going on with Nam and Shamlana essentially in
their suspicions and the Lom situation.
And I'm pretty sure the other cousin sent Din and Rose to like
suss out the situation. That's why they're here even
though they probably booked this already.
But they're on a mission now. And it's really sweet that Din
throughout this whole thing notices how much more Nam is
smiling and notices that Nam is acting very carefree, which is
atypical for Nam. But also Din is in love now and
understands that she's like, oh, Nam's in love.
I can kind of see it because like this is the way I look at
my wife kind of thing. Well, what's really funny is
like they hang out with them and then like did and Rose gossip
behind everybody's backs because they're this is just married
life perks. But it's really funny that
they're like the secret agents going in there and then they
like regroup and talk about them.
It's hilarious. We were robbed of the scene of
these scenes. OK, What's of note is that Rose
and Charlotte bond, bond here and they bond very easily
because it's like Rose is almost like the peacekeeper of the
family. I think that's like her role
because like the cousins are so fucking chaotic and Rose can be
chaotic, but she's more like she's the she's the negotiator,
She's the she's she's good at diffusing situations.
She's good at getting people like her, getting people like,
you know, she's that person. So her and Charlotte do bond
here, which it's important because like at the end they
have a sex talk and so like that didn't come out of nowhere.
It's because they already bonded.
So it's not as weird as it was in the series.
Or are they just out of nowhere have that conversation?
Anyway, so then Nam then tells Din because they they go off and
like the the women, like the women, the wives essentially go
off and go to a spa, have a spa day.
And then like Nam and Din hang out like the the gentlemen, the
gentlewomen are hanging out. And so Nam tells Din in this
conversation that she's into Shamla before she even tells
Shamla. So she confides in Din and
anything that goes to show you, like I think of all the cousins,
that makes sense. She would have told Din even if
mom didn't have a crush, because like I think they're the most
similar. Din's really calm.
It Din's really rational. Din has experience.
Din Din has experience. But like, I think they're
they're closer. Also, they're closer in age
probably. So I think it's it makes sense
that Nama confide in Din and also Nam and Din just kind of
like share her brains out a little bit because they're very
similar. And so after she confesses this
to Din, Din presses her a little bit on this.
And Nam says she the reason she hasn't said this out loud other
than to Din is because she doesn't know how a lot of feels
and she's afraid she will make a lot of uncomfortable or quit her
job if it's not reciprocated. So like Nam is super conscious
of the fact that like we have an employer employee thing going on
here and like this can get really messy and I like don't
want her to leave or I don't want her to feel uncomfortable
and like I don't want each targeting involved, you know
what I mean? Like mom is very conscious of
like the context of their relationship.
Like thank you. A self aware character in a
workplace relationship, being self aware of the situation and
how messy it is. I appreciate that from mom.
So then Din gives APO the advice to tell Shalala how she feels
and not just use actions alone because like a lot Nah.
I was like I'm doing all these things to show her I'm afraid of
saying it and Din's like been there buddy.
It doesn't always work so you have to use your words.
Also speaking from experience Din girl you even when you use
your words it goes barley so for you to give her advice.
Anyway, I wish we got that scene because just the awkwardness of
the two of them is just beautiful.
OK, so then like I mentioned earlier, so then Din and Rose
like go off screen and like go away from them and like talk
shit about them basically. And they're like, what did you
see? What did you see?
And they essentially just bless this union basically.
So after reading this, I'm pretty sure these two dumb asses
were on a mission here and Din's target was Nom and then Rose's
with Shan Lada. And so they meet up later and
confirm that Nom and Lada are into each other, in which, duh.
And then Rose is all of us because again, we were robbed of
this. So Rose is talking to Dan and
she says, do you think Nam will succeed?
To be honest, I'm worried. If this were mom, I wouldn't
worry at all. But Nam, she's even more upper
than you, Dan. Does she even know how to flirt?
That was my favorite line because yes, that was those were
my thoughts too. Rose, she's worse than you.
Like, I think that Rose points that out because I literally had
that thought so many times in reading this.
And so I'm glad that Rose agrees with me, agrees with me.
Like, you're worse. You're worse than her.
OK. So then after that conversation,
then they they have dinner with Rose.
Rose, they have a double date basically.
And then Nah, I'm just drinking alcohol during this double date.
And on the walk home, essentially like dinner and Rose
go to their room and then Nam and Shamala like go on a walk
around Huahen and then Nam, the Huahen resort.
And then Nam blurts out that she likes Shamala.
She uses her words, she uses to take some advice.
And Shamala freaks out and like almost walks into the ocean
instead of like on the path on the shore where they were
walking. And so Nam has to so she becomes
a mess and then Nam has to stop her.
And she tells Lada like, because Lada's like you've been drinking
you, you don't mean this. And so the nom says, OK, well,
if you don't believe me because I was drinking, then I will tell
you again tomorrow. And if you don't feel the same
way, I'll we will forget this ever happened.
So then salt because she's not, she's trying to be respectful.
So then salty Shyamala comes back with quote.
We will not forget this. You have to take responsibility
for your feelings. And then Lana admits that she
likes Nam and has for a long time and they agree to date for
real. I just love how fiery she is.
I feel like all those dialogue was a mess in the show.
OK. And then Oppo thinks the gentle
waves of the sea like Shamlada had brought new life to the one
still and quiet sea that was Oppo.
Which yes, they're water metaphors.
So cute and I really like the comparison to the waves because
it again, it makes Shamala just seem like this element of chaos
that oppo needed in her life. Like sometimes chaos can be a
very good thing because her cousins are chaotic and she
loves them and and you never see her smiling more than when she's
with them like prior to Shamala. So like, you know, I love that
and I love that kind of comparison.
Like she needs that. That's her love, part of her
love language or whatever. OK, so they start dating for
real. So then they have to tell Big
Boss, they have to tell Addison. All right, So then Nam is very
insistent about this. She's like, he's our number one
shipper. We have to tell him.
And Shaman is a little apprehensive about this because
again, workplace relationship until Nam points out, quote, if
my dad thinks I'm single, he won't stop trying to set me up
with someone because that's another thing going on in the
background. And so Nam continues.
I want to make it clear to him so he stops interfering.
But if you're not comfortable and then Lana cuts her off and
says let's go see Big Boss. I'm not letting anyone take you
away from me. I just love how fierce she is
sometimes. Like when I was trying to be
respectful and do like, this is what I want.
But if that's not what you want a lot, I was like, you're
fucking doing this because you just said it and let's go.
No one's taking you away from me.
So then Addison's reaction to this news is literally
everything. So he they tell him and he says
finally my daughter has found someone and no one replies.
Dad, could you not? He could sound like nobody
wanted me. Their their conversations are so
funny. They have much more of a this
like back and forth thing that's hilarious.
Like, it's like poor. No.
All right. So meanwhile, that evening, Lada
Nam drives Lada home and they're talking.
And then Lada says, you know, your dad seemed even happier
than you were when he found out we were dating.
Wait, wait. Why are you pulling over?
So the Nam Nam is driving. And then Lada says this and Nam
started pulling the car off the road.
She parks the car inside of the road and turns her and says I
may not have reacted as dramatically as my dad, but I
promise you I am happier than he is.
Lada says don't tell me you pulled over just to say that.
And oppa very serious is like I did.
I needed to clarify and I'm like, I'm sorry.
Like Nam is as dramatic as her father.
This just proves it. It's just that she executes it
more seriously because she's like, so she's she's like, I'm
so serious about this. I had to pull the car off her.
So you knew I was serious. I was about this.
But she's she's another being a dramatic age, just like runs in
their family because like they're all gay.
So therefore they are all dramatic.
And this is the part where a lot of notes like mentally that Nam
is steady and clear with her feelings.
And like This is why she likes Nam.
She's like, This is why I love her because she like is so
serious and means like her love is very reliable because again,
like Lada very sadly has never had that type of stability from
her family. And so she always feels like
she's walking on egg shells when it comes to her loved ones.
And so it's so it must be so nice and like a relief to have
somebody like Nam who's so straightforward and honest about
how she feels. And then after this, they
officially nickname each other and they both feel very deeply
when they hear their nickname for the first time.
And I just and I was executed nicely in the series and I love
that this is a very Thai language specific detail and how
it was executed in this novel and also in the series to just
show like how them removing hierarchy from their language
and like speaking intimately because again, intellects the
speaking intimately. That's the thing that like
really like gets to them. It's like those like mental
things because like they're intellects.
OK, so things are going well right now, which means the drama
has to come back. So it comes back in the form of
Shamlou's family. And so after she's happy with
Nam, her father decides to marry her off because he's a demon and
her father, her family doesn't know about Nam and Lana has not
told them because she knows they are homophobic as fuck and they
will never approve of of Oppo for so many reasons.
But her dad at this point is looking to strengthen the
business because Pat is fucking up everything.
So Lana thinks to herself quote she endured it for her mother's
sake who always begged her to obey her dad.
Like that's how she got into this whole fucking mess.
And to me, Salmon is always speaking truth in these novels
because she continues a lot of thoughts and thanks about the
arranged marriage. Was this really still happening
this day and age? Arranged marriages for business
alliances and family status? Why isn't this outdated
tradition died out yet? Thank you, Salmon.
I couldn't have said it better my fucking self.
I'm always saying that I'm like, why are we still doing this?
Like there's you just make a business contract.
We don't need to fuck to have this solidify.
Like why? Why are we still doing this?
But yeah, Shyamala is not about this.
But like she endures her dad's bullshit for her mother mostly.
OK so then as all the shit is going on with her like trying to
appease her dad and keep her dad from abusing her mother.
Shyamala then confides in her mother, OK, and her mom is
trying to convince her she's like, just meet the dude.
Just meet the dude, it'll appease your father.
But Shawn, Laura replies that like, if I go, my girlfriend's
going to be upset. And she leaves out Oppo's like
name to leave out the like, you know, business rivalry stuff.
But she leaves out Oppo's last name.
But she then describes Oppo like very excitedly to her mother.
And I think her mom picks up on how happy Sean Letta is when
she's talking about Oppo and a lot of things.
Quote she hoped her mother would appreciate the love she has
found the same way she once believed in the love her dad had
for her. Whether right or wrong, love was
always something beautiful and she wanted to believe that her
love was just as strong and meaningful.
So she's like really proud of her relationship, but also like,
here's her and her mother in this like loveless family
situation. She's like, my mother always
wanted the best for me. And I hope she recognizes how
this is the best thing for me and like how beautiful this love
is that I have, how meaningful it is to me.
Spoiler she does. OK, something I want to note in
the novel that I liked much better than the series is that
Pat is while he's a bastard, he is less cartoonishly evil
compared to the series. Like, he's still a whiny little
bitch. He's just way less cartoonish.
OK, Like a lot of the sabotage that goes on in the series does
not happen in the novel. There's Pat does undermine Oppo
when he can, but he doesn't like hire people to like poison
events or like try to kill Oppo outside in the rain on her own
property. Like none of that happens.
But there's like a business intrigue, which I guess is less
sexy on a television. You know, it's more like
politics versus like action, I guess, oriented kind of drama.
But instead, the main crux of this boils down to he backmails
Sean Lada when he finds out she's dating Oppo and he tries
to use her happiness to get what he wants.
And the most nefarious thing he says is essentially, quote, oppo
loves you. That means she trusts you.
So use that love to your advantage.
Do as I say before I run out of patience and expose everything
to everyone basically like dad, mom, abo, everybody.
And so literally this is him showing his hand of what he did
to Shawn Luna because he's like Shawn Luna loves me.
That means she trusts me so I can use the love to my
advantage. So he's like use the thing I use
to get you into the situation. And it's really heartbreaking in
this moment when Lotta realizes that the one family member she
thought cared about her never did.
And she says, Pat, do you even see me as your sister anymore?
Like, oh, that was so heartbreaking to hear 'cause
like, lotta, like was just so on a mission to get validation from
her family finally. And she thought she had a shot
with the one brother that, like, saw something in her.
And it turns out he literally used her love, he weaponized her
love for him to use to his own advantage.
And she's like families that like back to what Oppo said,
she's like a family. A good family member would never
do that. Like she's like, am I?
Do you even see me as your sister?
Like, am I, am I even family in your eyes?
Or am I just a tool? Like that's awful for this poor
girl. Like all she wants is love and
validation. And like, this was awful to like
realize this about her brother. OK, so then the next dilemma
really for most of the book going forward is Oppo doesn't
know the truth. This is according to Lada.
And so Lada is very, she told her mother that you're like 1/2
truth. She like told her she's dating
somebody, told her real things about Oppo but left out Oppo's
last name. So the next hurdle for Lada is
like, she needs to tell Oppo the truth, especially now that she
has Pat blackmailing her. And so really, if you think
about the water, the real drama of the story, again, it's not
Pat sabotaging the hotels. The real drama comes from Lada's
conflict, which is family versus Oppo, like blood, relative
versus like my love interest. That's the real drama of the
story. And so at this stage, Lada has
not told Oppo who she's related to.
And Lada rationalizes why she doesn't yet is quote their love
was still too new, too fragile or still fragile.
They hadn't built up enough strength to weather storms
together. So she's very aware of the fact
that we just started dating. I just got her to admit she
likes me. Like, I don't think we have
enough of a foundation in our relationship to weather a storm
like this, which is I am related.
I I've been sent here to sabotage you like.
And this is where the guilt that Lada has starts really like
gnawing at her. So she thinks every time she
caught the sincerity and Nam's smile and gaze, selfishness held
her back. Like she wants to tell Nam the
truth, but like selfishness is what holds her back because she
wants to hold on to this happiness for just a little
longer. Because she finally found the
love that she wants in her life. And so she's really hesitant to
like expose the truth because she's so scared of losing Nam
and losing the kindness that Nam shows her.
She's never had it. It's just so heartbreaking.
This girl has like, this woman has like very little love in her
life. I mean, she has net her ride or
die and then she has her mother, but she's never had a love like
unconditional love quite like Nam before.
And she's like, I don't want to lose it.
And I know I'm confident that this will put everything in
jeopardy and I there may be no coming back from this.
Like once the truth is out, I can't take it back.
And so she's like, I just want to live in the happiness while I
finally have it for as long as I possibly can, even though I know
that that's selfish. But The thing is, at this stage,
Oppo knows Shan Lana well enough to know that something is
bothering her. She's not dumb, she knows how to
read her at this point. And so Nam asks Lada like what's
bothering her, and Lada tells her she's not ready to talk
about it. And so Nam replies.
I'll wait. Tell me when you're ready.
And so this is another part of Ma Nam's character trait they
think is so important to bring up is that she's incredibly
respectful when it comes to Shamla.
So again, in a way, Nam is very similar to Din.
Din is also an incredibly respectful person, very
respectful with her partner. So is Nam OK?
And I think this comes from their similarities a little bit
because like Nam, like Din is, is also like bad at
communicating her feelings. And I think that like in this
situation with Vlada where she's like, OK, you're not ready to
tell me. I'll wait until you're ready.
I think Nam empathizes because she's introvert, very much more
introverted. She's like, I'm also bad at this
and like need to be ready before I'm ready to say this.
So she's like, OK, I understand. So like.
I'll. Wait.
I understand communicating that's hard.
I will wait for you. So then the next.
Day Nam brings Shamla tulips because quote you once told me
that beautiful flowers could lift your mood so she's like, I
know you're upset and I know you're not ready to talk about
it so I I will bring you these to make you feel better in the
meantime like and the Nam's kindness like this really just
ratchets up the guilt for lotta and a lotta things quote how
could she possibly hurt and betray the person who loved her
like she's like it just makes it worse.
The fact that she has to do this thing that's going to like, like
potentially blow this up, like it just so the guilt just keeps
ratcheting up. So then because the guilt is
ratcheting up, Lana starts telling Nam bits and pieces of
the truth as she's like feels more ready to do so.
And so she kind of starts telling Nam about her family,
like mostly. And sadly, before she can get
too into this, Nam says, your family doesn't approve of me,
does not approve of me. Do they?
Like it's like I she's like, I, I feel like that's that's what
this is about. And then Lana even explains
about the arranged marriage, what that the dad is doing.
So like Nam knows that her dad is trying to put her in an
arranged marriage. Nam knows and Lada insists.
Quote. I won't let him force me into
this P. Nam and Oppo nodded.
This is part of the the text listening intently to everything
her girlfriend was finally sharing.
So once La and Lada was ready, Oppo like absorbed literally
everything she says. But she's like finally I, I will
remember this forever. And Lada also shares that she's
afraid her father will try to break them up.
And then Nam replies. I won't let you fight alone.
And this is something that's going to come back later to
haunt Oppo. So these are like some famous
last words kind of thing. So once they start getting to
the family thing, like Apple's like, I understand better why
you're upset and but she's like, you're not in this alone.
You have me. Just remember that.
OK. But even with divulging all of
that and still getting still not having these things be a deal
breaker, like a lot I was afraid they were.
She still holds back who her father is, like who or what her
real last name is and stuff. And this is because, like that
she feels like it's the deal breaker.
And this is the part that weighs the heaviest on her.
And Lada then starts like crying in her sleep kind of thing.
And poor oppo like consoles Lada at night when she cries without
knowing why. She's just like, why is she
still so upset? But she's like, there for her.
But she's like, I don't know why.
And so it's it's causing all this tension even though, like,
you know, yeah. So like the truth needs to come
out kind of thing, OK. But to give us some.
Levity in here throughout this ordeal we get some scenes of the
idiots flirting that I fucking love, OK and we need for comedic
effect while all the dramas happening so eventually Pat is
like OK here's my ultimatum you have to fucking give me I'm
blackmailing you give me the give me the information or I
tell everybody. Lana decides not to give him
info on oppo. This is the last time she does
it. She's like, we're done.
And after she does this, Lada feels way less guilty.
And then the two of them, her and oppo do some top tier
flirting because Lada's like, I'm going to tell Naam the truth
and she's just like, I'm just want to save her all the happy
moments before that truth comes out right.
So we get some idiots flirting scenes that I fucking love and
they're basically they're getting noodles and Naam is
curious about whatever Shalada orders.
And so she this was hilarious. So she tries it.
We're not saying anything. She like tries it.
And immediately it was like, oh, too spicy and sort of like
guzzling water. So it's a very non just thing.
And Lada starts laughing freely quote enjoying the moment.
It was simple. It was real.
And to me, it's like this was an embodiment in their relationship
of the joyful ocean dish because it's like sometimes the
uncomplicated moments, the simple moments are like the best
ones, you know? And this was just nom being nom.
She's like, let me try your food because I'm curious.
And it's like way too hot and she has to drink all the water.
Like this was a joyful ocean kind of moment.
And just like, I love that she clocks it as like simple and
real. So then afterwards Nam, this
one's this is my favorite. Afterwards Nam drives Lotta
home. Afterwards Nam drives Lotta
home. And Lotta teases Nam about the
first time Nam invited herself into Lada's home because she
was, quote, hungry. OK, so this comes back all
right. And it's a lot of jokes.
Do you want to come inside for noodles?
And and Nam says, are you asking me if I want to eat ramen with
you? And Lotta notices Nam's weirdly
confused expression and puts together why Nam was being weird
about this when she when she asked her that.
And then Lana's like, Oh my God, Nam, what kind of person do you
think I am? Who taught you what that means?
Because it's like code for sex. And Nam's like, I looked it up.
It's just so funny. So The thing is like in this
conversation basically like Nam knows that like eating noodles
or whatever can be code for sex. And so she wanted to make she.
Wanted to make sure she knew what type of.
Ramen Lata was talking about. She's like, do you mean noodles?
I mean ramen. Do you like, do you mean sex or
food? What are you saying?
Lata's like, why are you so weird about stuff?
Oh my God. And this is really cute.
I'm really sad they cut this out of this series because this
becomes this like eating noodles, eating rum and becomes
this like ongoing joke for them. It's super adorkable and it's
really funny. But I really love the evolution
of this inside joke because it's so real.
And I like, it's so real, the way it, like, organically
happens because it's tethered to their first moment where Nam was
weird. And I was like, can I come
inside to eat noodles? And so like, it's like Nam will
never live that awkwardness down ever.
Like, it's going to be immortalized forever in this
joke. And it's just like, that's such
a organic evolution of a relationship and an inside joke.
And I love the way that was written.
Like, Salmon's such a good writer.
I love the way that was written. It's so funny.
OK, Then we finally get to their first kiss.
And this, I'm this is the best version of it is the novel.
OK, so then in my opinion, it's incredibly romantic.
It's incredibly romantic. And we have a parallel moment
later. So, OK, so to set the stage,
Shamlena then decides to tell Nam the truth about who she is
on her birthday. And Shamlena assures Nam it's
OK. She knows what she wants, and
she thinks she wanted Nam's forgiveness just once.
That's why she just says tell her on her birthday like that's
what she wants as her gift. And so she's like, Nam, what I
want is for you to celebrate my birthday with me because there's
something I need to confess. And Nam says, are you going to
confess your love for me? And Lada says if it were that I
wouldn't need to wait until my birthday.
And Nam says, why not? And Lada says because what I
feel for you has been more than just quote like for a long time
now. I love you Pino.
And Oppo was stunned. She says you said you love me.
And Lotta says yes I do. And Oppo says thank you.
Like what a fucking dork. Like the dork she is.
She's like thank you. And so Lotta says do you love me
Pino? And Lotta thanks.
She waited, breath caught in her chest, but Nam didn't say
anything, Not a single word yet. If actions could replace words,
then the touch Nam gave her at that moment spoke louder than
anything she could have said. Because in place of an answer,
Nam closed the distance between them and their first kiss.
Said I love you just the same. This is so much better and so
much more romantic. And I saw some like discourse
online essentially from Thai viewers that we're essentially
seeing like in Thai culture, like kissing is a lot more and
there's a lot more it it speaks way louder than the words I love
you. So like this is like, this was
the ultimate response really from them is to physically show
her with a kiss. Like it's much more in their
cultural context. It's way more impactful than
just like as an American viewer looking at this and I to me,
this is so much more romantic than the way we've done in the
series. And also it to me parallels Din
in rows because their first kiss happens in the novel after the
first I love you. So I like that this is the first
I love you verbally comes from Shan Ladat.
Nam responds with a kiss and then later the reverse is going
to happen. So to me, this was just
reinforcing that like, again, Nam and Din are very similar and
the parallel moment is so beautiful, which I will point
out later. OK, So unfortunately, Shawn,
Linda doesn't tell us. So unfortunately, we get him.
I love you. And not the confession of who
she is on her birthday. And unfortunately, Pat tells the
scary truth to Nam. And this goes down like the
series where Nam has to do business stuff.
Pat confronts her. Lada doesn't overhear it in the
novel. That's the only different,
different thing. Nam knew who Sean Lola was all
alone because like what type of top class CEO doesn't do
background checks? Like come on now.
This was insane. And the series they gave this
whole thing where like FA was going down this rabbit hole and
it's like all she had to do is background check kind of figured
this out like 5 minutes. The important part is that Nam
verbally admits she was also playing the same game they were.
And really the line that does her in is, oh, I'm sorry, Lada
does overhear this. I I apologize.
Lada does overhear this. It's just Nam doesn't know a lot
is there. That was the difference in the
series. Sorry.
But the line that really does Nam in is when she says, quote,
if you're going to play a game, never get emotionally attached.
You all people should know that bad and.
To me, this is the pivot from Nam.
This was very much like she's a person who's used to winning,
especially against him, and takes pleasure in being the best
and was just like, you didn't think I was going to lose my own
game, did you? Like that's crazy.
I'm not so right. So the Nam walks away from this
being like I beat this bastard. John, Willow's bastard brother,
doesn't know that. A lot of overheard all this
shit. OK, And then something else I
really love in the novel that becomes really important at this
stage is Net and Lada's friendship.
OK, so after Oppo breaks Lada's heart by her conversation with
Pat, Net is then the one that lifts up Lada and Lada thinks,
quote Oppo has seen her as nothing more than a fool.
Just like. Pat did so all those compare
little comparisons she was having to Oppo and her brother.
Like, it's kind of like she's like, damn, I was right when I
had those thoughts. And then like Lada, like, gives
up. And she totally gives up at this
point. And this really unsettles net
because Lada is such a resilient person.
So she tries to give her this pep talk and she tells her
quote. But life goes on.
You might fall today, but if you can't get up tomorrow, you can
take your time. Eventually you'll walk again.
Love is the same. If first love always worked out,
then everyone in this world will be happily in love.
So I I like that she's like, you know, we make mistakes, bad
things happen, but like life goes on like you, you will keep
going like you always do. Like love is the same even
though love is new for you. And then she because it's her
birthday. Then she proceeds to give Lada
the sweetest happy birthday where like she make gives her
the sweetest happy birthday wish and then makes her this
improvised quote like cake with a cup of yogurt and a candle,
which is so cute because like Ned didn't like Mata was
supposed to spend with Oppo and so she wasn't supposed to be
with her best friend. So her best friend's like, I got
to do something. So she like just pulls things
out of the fridge and just like I love you.
Like it's just so cute and sweet when she does.
And her birthday wish is so sweet.
I have to say it. So she says to Lotta, from now
on, I wish for you to finally be happy, Lotta to live freely the
way you've always wanted. This is what her mom said when
she named her, by the way. And she said, could she
continues, Your life is yours, Lotta.
Stop living for others. Stop caring too much about what
people think. Please love yourself more then
the arranged marriage wedding happens and that says Oh my God
lot of fun just love yourself Why are you doing this?
Like I love these back-to-back moments with them were so funny.
Just like what the hell did you not listen to me at all?
Why are you doing this? OK so lot of agrees to go
through with the arranged marriage and then the chaos
cousins come to the rescue. This is my other favorite
fucking moment in the novel. OK, cuz like, Oh my God, they're
so stupid, all of them. So first of all, they show up to
find sad girl nom and like talk her up and but like mom's like
before we save you, I got to rub this shit in because you really
pissed me off. Like, and they call her an idiot
and they call up an idiot because like, she is all right.
And Zenwayo does her detective thing, finds out about this
marriage and gets them Intel. And then so Nam knows in the
novel canonically that Lada would never willingly agree to
an arranged marriage by her father.
And so she's like, something else has to be going on that
would put that would she would agree to do this?
Like he has to be doing something to her in the
background. So Nam's like, we have to stop
this wedding because I know that Lada would never willingly do
this. And she's like, I don't care
what it takes. We're going to stop this
wedding, OK? Then they go to stop the
wedding, and the most idiotic person in this cohort of people
is not OK. So it shows you how distraught
she is because she's usually the genius.
She's the collected one. She always has a plan.
She's very strategic. That is not who shows up to this
rescue mission, OK? She's the least logical cousin
because she's that's how emotionally charged she is.
OK, So then I have to recount the nonsense.
So basically, OK, the wedding is happening, OK?
And these idiots are outside, OK.
And they just start arguing, OK. And lamas, like oppo, we cannot
just go in there. We don't have a plan.
So they show up with no plan and they're outside of the outside
of the building, no plan. They're visible.
And they start arguing loudly. And then Phi at one point is
like, you know, those security guards over there keep looking
at this. And then eventually Pat shows up
with the security guard. They like call him.
They're like, there's some suspicious women outside.
He he comes up with the security guards and it's like, you guys
are not invited. You don't have invitations to
this. Get the fuck out of here.
And so they get literally excord excorded off the premises and
then at some point somebody, I forget who it is, but if I had
to get it's probably 5. It's probably like didn't didn't
wear some Rose and then she's not with them.
And then Dan's like, oh, Rose got in a while ago.
She's she's already inside. So like while these idiots were
outside and then she's like she's in, she's in already.
And then salmon like very he's was, he's like.
And then Phi looked at Dan and gave her 22 thumbs.
Up. She she loves Rose.
That was so funny, these morons again, they showed up with no
plan and then Rose is like, I'm just going to go inside.
He's the peacekeeper and she's like goes inside, doesn't cause
a scene. They let her in and she's in the
wedding while these idiots are like, 'cause they inadvertently
cause a distraction with their no plan nonsense.
It was so funny. And then the thumbs up finds,
like, good job, Rose. OK, so then Rose comes out.
Well, they get vanished. And then Rose eventually comes
out and she's like, guys, it's chaos.
It's chaos in there. And she tells them that Shawn
Litta ran away from the wedding. So essentially, they didn't have
to do anything because Shawn Litta is strategic and was.
So Nam's point was never going to go through with this.
OK, so this is not surprising to Nam really, even though she was
so distraught. She's like, I need to get her
out of this. OK, so then the question is,
well, why did Lada choose to go through with this arranged
marriage up to the point of the wedding and then do a runaway
bride? And the reason is she loves her
mother and her mom is not a murderer.
That was a weird thing they did in the series.
OK, She just loves her mother. And so the rationale behind that
is best explained by Lada. So in her thoughts, she says her
parents love was never a beautiful thing.
It was selfish, a result of never knowing when enough was
enough. Excuse me?
And she she was the byproduct of a flawed and imperfect family.
But love was selfish anyway. The world had taught her a
painful lesson and her first love had forced her to wake up
from her naive dreams and face reality.
And quote. She says she also thinks I've
realized that besides you, mom, no one truly loves me.
So essentially, like, her mom is trapped in the situation with
the dad. And he's like, I'm going to do
domestic violence because he takes out his frustrations on
his mother, on her mother through a domestic abuse.
And so Lada steps in to protect her mother the way her mother
has been protecting her. And so in this way, it's like
the cycle of women protecting women in this abusive system,
like repeats itself. And so Lada is going to be
trapped in the patriarchy essentially to protect her
daughters eventually. So it's almost like she becomes
her mother to protect her mother, which is like the all of
the ironies when mom was like, I named you after the wave so
you'd be free and not have my life.
And like, here she is being like, I got to save you because
man is awful. So Lotta uses the arranged
marriage as a strategical diversion because she's like, if
I agree to it, he'll leave us alone.
So she played gets her father and basically it gives her time
to extract herself and her mother, mother from that
household to figure out where they're going to go, get enough
money. Like she has to plan all these
things. And she's like, so if a wedding
has to be planned, that gives me time to like, strategically map
this out because she's smart. And in doing so, a lot of them
frees herself and her mother. And for the first time in their
lives, they can choose how they want to live.
Neither of them have ever had this choice.
And like, Lada is the one that makes that happen.
And what her older brother, like, help support her in this
plan. It's not his plan.
It's her plan. And he supports her.
And So what I love in this plot is that what happens is once
they are free, she has this conversation with her mother
where she's like, well, what do you want to do?
And her mom's like, I want to do something because I'm just going
to get bored being in the house all day because Lana's like, you
don't go to work. I'm going to take care of you.
And she's like, no, I think I'll
be bored. And then she comes up with a
plan to open her own food stall because she's like, I love
cooking and a lot of like your food is great.
And so the mom decides to like follow her passion and like open
a food stall, not an Airbnb or whatever they did in the series,
which I think is more meaningful because like her mother like
never had a choice in her life. Her mother was under the thumb
of the dad and she was like at his Wim because he was
financially supporting her, made her the second wife, the legally
on the legally unrecognized wife.
And she, she went along with literally everything he said
because they have this daughter. But like now her mom is free and
she can like choose her own destiny.
And like a lot of made that happen.
She's like, no, you should choose what you want to do.
And she does. And so I I like that detail.
All right, then we get Lada's brothers.
So let's kind of talk about these two.
So I think it's really interesting the roles that they
play. So Pat plays the nice guy, but
ultimately is the one that manipulates Lada and he's a
rampant misogynist like his father.
But at this point in the story, we then get to know what because
he's kind of just been in the background, but.
The sad part is he. Has the most in common with
Lada. So he was forced into an
arranged marriage with May and there's it's a loveless marriage
and he envies his sister because she fought back like she's
resilient, she's smart, she's strategic.
She got out of it and he didn't he he placated dad and he agreed
to marry this woman he does not love.
And so ultimately he sides with her and he gives her money and
he and they have this whole conversation in the novel about
the money and he's like, I'm giving it to you as your brother
not as a debt. He's like, I'm supporting you
because you're my sister. So remember when she's like Pat,
do you even see me as a sister? Like what really is like, yes,
you're my sister. This is what brothers and
sisters do. And he actively and he
apologizes to her for not being able to help her in the past.
And he's like actively making up for it now.
So like, I'm really sad that all of this from him was really lost
in the series because it was such an important thing for Lada
to be like, I had this family member who actually cared about
me this whole time. I didn't even know like he was
willing. He was he would be willing to
like step up and support me because he was always quiet
around dad kind of thing. But once the dad is removed, it
was like she had somebody in her corner all along.
She just didn't know. And he's even like, I envy you.
You're stronger than me. Like validation here.
She's finally getting validation from a family member, and she
didn't expect it. So I love that for Lauda.
OK. And then I want to get into
another foundational aspect for the story that is brought up in
this in this novel, which is that perfection isn't real.
It's not real. It's an illusion.
It's an aspiration. It is not real, especially with
people. People are not perfect.
And Nod makes it a point to be like, I am not perfect.
I am a human and I make mistakes.
Like I'm not a robot, I'm human and I make mistakes.
And in the story, the the resolution that happens between
the two of them, because ultimately they have to talk
about, you know, a lot of was playing Nom for her family and
then Nom was playing the game too kind of thing.
And in that resolution, the, the core of it is that it's OK to
make mistakes as long as you learn from them.
So like Lot and Oppo really both made mistakes during their cat
and mouse phase of their relationship.
And they both learn and grow from the mistakes.
And honestly, it makes their relationship not only human and
realistic, it makes them stronger to get like when they
come through that because they're overcoming adversity and
they're like learning about themselves and they for
admitting they make mistakes, they apologize, they work on it
and move forward. Kind of like what we just saw
with Watt, right? Like Watt and Lata's
relationship is another great example of this.
So Watt apologizes to Lata for his behavior and his inaction in
the past and corrects his behavior by helping her now.
And that's gets a lot out of the marriage, right?
And then later, like I mentioned at the very beginning, what
confronts Oppo after all of this and apologizes to her?
He's like, on behalf of my family and the hotel shit, I'm
sorry. And then oppo is very real with
him too. She's like, look, I made my
mistakes also in all of this. I am not perfect and like it's
OK not to be perfect. And I I like that.
That's also a big thing in the the story.
Like again, messy adults who are like being messy as part of
life. And as long as you learn from
it, it may be say it's fine. And I like that.
That's part of the story. I thought that was very mature
and, and good point the author is making.
All right. Then we transitioned to the
third act breakup. We must have.
So then during the third act breakup, Lata lives in seclusion
with her mother in Prachap, which is not in Hua Hin, but
it's near Hua Hin. And I looked it up and this area
of Thailand is way less chaotic. It's a more slower paced form of
life. It's not a touristy destination.
So it's kind of like the opposite of Hua Hin in a way,
where Hua Hin is like very touristy, very busy, more
competitive. So it's like more chill kind of
location, but it's like near Hua Hin.
So Waio ends up tracking down Lada and like, shows up at the
house, but like, cannot pass up an opportunity to flirt with her
despite everything. And so Lada's like, Waio, what
are you doing here? And Waio says, I'm so happy.
At least you Remember Me, Shamlada.
I love that she's flirting and she's like an idiot.
OK, So then these two talk and then Yao tries to reason like,
like what? Everything I just talked about
where she's like, listen, Nam, she's like, because Lada's
guilty about everything. And she's like, I started this,
it's my fault kind of thing. And I was like, well, you know,
my cousin's also an idiot and also made mistakes.
And she's like, Nam would definitely forgive you for all
of this. And The thing is that Lada knows
that Lada knows Naam would forgive her.
And she's keeping her distance because she feels like what she
did was worse because she was knowingly deceiving oppo and
oppo was reacting to what she started kind of thing.
So like Lada feels like her her role was worse and like
unforgivable in a way. And really what it boils down to
is that Lada feels unworthy of Naam because Naam is like the
best thing ever in her, you know, mind.
And so Lada loves her so much that she's letting Nam go.
She's like, I make everything worse for you.
I don't deserve you. I'm letting her go.
OK, So then how do they get back together?
So then we get a flower shop meet cute that is not like the
series. So in the novel, they both quote
randomly meet in a flower shop in Penbury.
I think it's like Pranbury. I think it's how you say it
where Nam is not cosplaying the flower shop owner basically like
Lada shows up and she's like, can I get sunflowers?
But she's like, I don't know why I said phone flowers.
I meant tulips because she's distracted.
And then the flower shop owner is like, Nah, somebody already
bought them all. And then she turns around and
there's Nam, well, fucking tulips.
So they both there and Lada chose this particular flower
shop to avoid Nam because it's nowhere near it's not near Hohen
but it's where she lives. And then Nam chose it because
while pushed her to go there. So this is ugly.
Why is fault? This is why they're like we have
to give her the bouquet because like she interferes in a good
way. So then things get awkward and
Nam blurts out she's hungry to get invited into Lada's home,
and a Lotta's so dazed by all of this that she does, you know,
take her home. And then a lotta, I mean, Nam
says I love you. And then a lotta cries because
fear. And then Lada says that she
doesn't love Nam anymore. But Nam doesn't fully believe
this because she's like, I can still feel your love in
everything you do. So I don't believe what you're
saying, even though you're telling me this.
So the Nam goes through this whole thing where she sneakily
leaves tulips at Lada's new place every morning.
And one morning, she gets caught by Lada's mother.
And so they meet, and Lada doesn't know this until she's
talking to her mom later. She's like, wait, what?
And then eventually they talk because Nam shows up.
And then Lada's mom let her, let's her inside.
And then she's like, all right, Lada, I got to go.
Leave them alone. And then Nam explains to Lotta
that she's like, you are more important to me than anything,
including work. OK, all right.
But then we have to get into Oppo's father, because unlike
the series, Ada Soren does not react well to finding out who
Shamlu's father is. In fact, he forbids Oppo from
seeing her, which Oppo does not react well to.
So Oppo chooses Lada over her father, and in retaliation,
Addison suspends Oppo from work until she agrees to give up
Lada. So when Lada finds out that Nam
is suspended she breaks her because after the conversation
they had at the apartment she's like I can't with you anymore
and so they they she ghosts her again.
So then Lana finds out through Prem that Nana suspended and
since she breaks her silent treatment to yell at Oppo for
being an idiot. I'm so mad they changed this too
because this was hilarious. So.
Oh my God. OK, yeah.
So basically the context of this, because I'm going to give.
I'm going to go through the scenes because the scene is
funny. Lada is terrified of how much
Nam loves her because she's giving up her job, the thing
that she was married to before they met, Right?
And so Lada feels like she doesn't deserve this type of
devotion. But APU is showing Lada how
deeply she loves her by completely divorcing herself
from work, the first love of her life.
OK so how does this go down? So then Lana goes and confronts
Nam at her private villa with a bouquet of sunflowers and it
goes like this. Nam says are those for me out
Lana why did you hit me Be careful you ruin the flowers.
And Lana says what the hell are you doing This is your future
Nam your career. So like Lana shows up an
assaults Nam with sunflowers and I was like don't ruin the
flowers, yells at and then yells at Nam and Nam says if that
future doesn't have you in it, then I don't want it.
And Lada says don't love me Nam, can't you see that loving me
only brings you trouble? Because Lada is worried that
their love is quote selfish, like her parents love.
She's worried about them turning into her parents.
That's the other thing she's worried about because trauma.
And then so Nam keeps insisting she's like that.
She's like, I love you even if I'm disowned, like and Ma is
like. Stop.
Saying it and then Nam keeps going and she said do you
understand now do you understand that I and then she gets cut off
and just you get and then you get Shawn was in her monologue.
It says Shawn understood. She finally understood Nam's
love and she wanted to answer her the same way with touch Nam
had once used to tell her. So she cuts her off with a kiss.
And I love this parallel. First of all, I love the way it
starts super chaotic. And then Nam is saying I love
you because Nam has had a hard time saying it.
So she's saying it finally. And she says over and over and
over and she's associating actions with it.
And then so a lotta is like, the only way I can answer you is
through an action just like Nam did.
And just the best. So, so, so, so good.
And what gets even better is this, this escalates quickly.
So then they start kissing OK. And then Nam awkwardly flirts
because she's awkward and we must never forget that and says
I'm hungry for you. And Lada says you always say
things in a way that makes it sound weird.
And Nam clarifies by saying she wants to get ramen together.
So she brings back their inside joke to be like if we have sex
now basically like an awkward ass than she is.
And then this transitions into their first time and I have to
note. So again something was missing
from the series is that Nam is the queen of consent and
explicitly asks Shyamala, do you want me to continue or should I
stop here? And Lada knows that Nam respects
her and she thinks to herself that Nam would stop if she told
her she wasn't ready. But she is, so they go for it.
And then once Nam has permission, it's then described
as Nam is ready to step on the gas without any intention of
hitting the brake. Like Nam just like, goes for it,
OK. And one of my favorite things
during their first time in the novel is that Lada objectifies
Nam internally. And it's amazing.
And she's like, damn, when did this workaholic find time to get
so fit? Like she's objectifying now.
And it's really funny because like, no, seriously, when does
Nam work out? Like really, when, when did she
go to the gym? She's like, falling asleep at
her desk all the time. I would love the answer to that
question. OK, so them having their first
time is not only good for them, it's also important to resolving
APO's father's anger. So we have to resolve this.
So then afterwards, they're now together and everything's good.
And then Lada tells Nam she's worried about Nam's dad.
And Nam's like and don't worry, I got a plan.
So this is the. Culmination of how strategic and
devious Nam is. So first thing Nam does is she
brings her mother over from Canada and the duck sends it to
him. So she does that first, lay the
groundwork and soften him up. Next thing she does is that Nam
uses Alison's own logic against him and she goes and talks to
her dad by herself and she's like, well, dad, you can't stop
me because she's my wife now, which I think in Thailand means
a partner you're having physical love with.
And so not so as I was like, Nah, you didn't, I don't support
you taking advantage of people. And Napa replies, that's right,
I took her honor. Our family now has to take
responsibility. So you have to let me legally
marry her now. That's how she gets.
Out of it. I love that.
She's like, dad, you don't want me to take her honor and steal
her flower and all these weird shit.
So now I have to marry her by your own logic.
And that's what ends up resolving this.
And he's like, damn, I had to go and raise a goddamn genius,
didn't I? Who outsmarts me like that must
be so frustrating for him to be like, damn it, she outsmarted me
again. But anyway, I love it.
That's how this gets resolved, with Nam outsmarting her father
because she's the smartest person in the room.
OK, But then it gets better because then later on, Nam tells
Lada what happened. And Lada is like, Nam, why did
you have to tell him the actual truth?
Like you couldn't think of anything else?
You're a genius. You tell him we had sex and now
we have to get married. That's what you said.
And Nam's like, I don't like lying.
I'm so fucking funny. I'm sorry.
I'm still mad. I'm so mad at the series.
Cut out all this hilarious dialogue that was in this book.
It's hilarious. Oh my God, they are so funny
when they're bickering. OK, But yeah, Nah.
I'm so stupid. She's like you had.
That's what you told him. You don't like lying.
OK, so then we get to the proposal because we must.
And this is more evidence that Nam and Twin were.
Nam is Dins twin. OK, so in the novel, she Nam
proposes at Hui at the Hui Hin resort by the beach, which is
where the relationship first started.
That's like where the, you know, their hug.
A lot of things happened at this resort and it's by the sea and
they're the water. So that's where we're doing
this. And she uses the Tulip ring
here, which was originally meant to just be a token of her
affection that she was going to give Shamlada on her birthday.
But she's like, you know what? We have to get married down to
shut up my dad. So we'll use this engagement
ring also. There's a lot of meaning behind
it. We're just going to use it.
So there's and there's I love this proposal because there's so
much sass in this proposal and it's hilarious.
So OK, keep in mind these two, they're standing like the whole
time when this is happening and having this conversation.
And mom is like proposing, OK. And then Lada is like, well, not
she's like, we should get married basically.
And Lada is resistant to this at first because she's like, I feel
like we've been dating for a few months.
I feel like this is soon. It's a little too soon.
And Nam says, OK, well, should I get down on one knee?
Like, so you'll believe me? And then Lada says, don't you
dare you ruin your outfit. Like they start arguing in the
middle of this and then they it keeps going.
And then at some point Nam is like, well, I'm just I'm I got
to show you I'm serious. That's why she's doing it.
And she's like, I'm afraid you'll say no.
And Lada says, of course I'll marry you.
I'm not letting anyone else marry you like.
It's. So sassy this proposal.
It's hilarious. I would have I would have died
to like, I'm sorry, see this in the series where like Nam is
being super serious about this and like Lada is being like
fiery and like combative and just like that's the proposal
and so fucking funny. Like it's romantic.
It is, but it's also just funny. She's like, of course I'm going
to marry you, idiot. Like, they're so funny, OK?
And the other thing in the novel that's really cute is that both
of their mothers were in on this because at this point, Nam,
Nam's mother's here in Thailand, and Nam and Maan have a
relationship now. And so before she asks Shamla,
she asks everybody for their permission.
Not Shamla's dad. Fuck that guy.
And actually what they do do is this.
We're also robbed of this scene, OK?
Because when they decide to get married, they then invite
people. And so one of the things they do
is they do invite Sean Lowe's dad and they go to him to give
him the invitation, OK, Which he rejects and basically says
there's no way you will take as good of care of my daughter as a
man could. And then Nam stands up for Shan
Lada on her behalf to him, which nobody ever stands up to him to
him, and but Oppo does. And she's like, well, you better
keep her eyes on us then, because I'm going to take better
care of her than anybody ever could.
And like, she's so serious and shit.
Like, I just imagine her being really serious and telling him
this in this like serious, menacing kind of way and like
meaning it. And that was such a good moment
for like Shalala because she she was like scared.
She's scared of her dad and like, here's oppo being like,
watch us bitch. Watch me bitch.
I'm going to date her even harder now.
Like that's basically what she says.
And then they leave And then like, basically we're here.
She's like, they're the I like that conversation too, because
they're like, we're not here to change your mind.
We're doing this because you're her dad And it you can it's up
to you whether you want to be her dad or like be her dad or
not. They didn't give him some weird
stupid redemption arc. What Salman did is she's like,
it's OK to like not chase these people's affection.
That's fine and go live your life and like here's and and
like be with the person who's going to fight for you.
Like that was the message here. And that's a way better and way
healthier message than like chases affection forever and
take care of him even though he's trash.
So I just need to say that. OK, so after that we get to the
wedding and Nam plans the wedding quote with Lada and I
put with Lada in air quotes because Nam basically plans the
wedding and a lot at one point she's like, you know, the bride
has a lot of she usually has a lot of responsibility.
And this has been pretty chill because Nam is doing everything.
And Nam admits that she's had had the most like she's the most
fun she's ever had planning a wedding ever because it was
their wedding. And she's like, I'm so excited
about everything. It was really cute that she's
doing it. And they end up holding the
wedding at the Hua Hin resort, which again, because that has
all the significance. And the cousins are at the
wedding and there's not much going on with them except that
Phi immediately begs them to have a baby because Den and Rose
are quote taking too long. And it's like, girl, it's been
less than a year since these bitches have been since the
earth. And like, Phi is like begging
everybody to have babies. She's ridiculous.
Phi, the one who gets married last.
OK, but then we get Rose and Lada because again, they have a
relationship already and then here they are at the wedding.
And so we get this really sweet moment where Rose welcomes Lada
as like the next cousin in law. That's really cute.
And then we get a really awkward moment where Rose pulls Lada
aside and we get the sex conversation because Rose is
worried that Nam is such a quote nerd that she doesn't know what
sex is and she's such a workaholic she's probably only
good at work. So she sends Din to go Coach Nam
and like, honestly, we were robbed of whatever the hell that
conversation was. I was like, Rose, you married
Din, Din married Din. Why would you send Din, send
Long to go have this conversation, have the sex talk
with this was insane. And Lada knows it's insane.
And Lada's like, girl, my wife is not a nerd.
She just takes things seriously. Like I looked at like, again,
even family members don't understand Nam.
And like Lada's like, you misunderstand Nam.
I'm just very serious about things.
And she's like, also, she's not just good at her job.
I can definitely assure you of that, which I love.
And then Nam and Lada end up talking about this later, which
we're also robbed of this in the show.
Nam and Lada talk about this later and like, did she give you
the sex talk? Did she give you the sex talk?
And Nam is like, well, did you tell her I'm good?
And a lot is like, you're decent, I guess.
And then Nam's like decent. Well, I guess I'll have to just
prove myself again. This is so funny.
Like them debriefing about because like, there's scenes in
the novel where like Dan and Rose are debriefing and then
like about them. And so like here they are
debriefing about Dan and Rose. I really like that comparison
too. And they're like, they're
fucking stupid. I can't believe they just did
that. OK, Then we get the transition
to the next time on the four elements, which is going to be
the air. And this book, like the last
book is the wedding bouquet, which to me is like the passing
of the torch. And at one point Nam is having
this conversation with Phi where Phi is basically like, is the
bouquet magic or something? And then Nam is like, you got
married and you caught Dins. And so Nam explains, it's just a
symbol. Even if you catch it, you're
not. If you're not willing to put the
effort in for love, it still won't come to you.
So that's like the lesson she learned from her dad.
And I love that she says that it's really cute.
And then Lana and Nam talk at the wedding about the the
bouquet toss comes up. And then they talk and and Nam
explains that she caught the bouquet at dinner and Rosa's
wedding. And Nam says Nam says she got it
by quote, accident and not long after I met you.
And like accident. Like does does not not know how
mom orchestrated that. She not really not know how she
got the bouquet because like, I mean, I know she was not paying
attention in real time when it happened.
But like, did nobody tell her that?
Like mom blobbed it at you, like throw it at you, you would catch
it? Like no, but she doesn't know.
I don't think she knows because I don't think she was bothered
to learn this information until like she started falling in
love, to be quite honest. But I was like, what?
Nah, I'm like, you crazy. Anyway, then Lava takes in this
information. She's like, well, instead of
throwing it, can I just like hand it to somebody instead?
And so Net comes up first as the first person, but then Lotta
reveals that like, oh, Net's seeing someone and it's going
really well. So I don't think she needs this.
We need to give it to somebody who needs it.
So instead, they go into this conversation and Lotta marches
directly up to Lam and hands it to her.
Like, there's no tossing. There's no like ribbons.
She like hands it to Lam. And why?
I was real surprised because in her mind, she she says love has
started to feel like a distant dream.
And then she gets bouquet and Lada explains Nam.
And I wanted to give it to you and we hope you find the love
you're looking for. Like that's really sweet.
So because like Lam is the one that like supports everybody in
their quest for love. And so I think it's really
significant that Lada is like, we we're here to support you for
once, because you're always supporting everybody.
You interfered with us for better or worse.
And like, we appreciate your efforts and like here is like
mom admitting in her brain that she's starting to feel real
jaded when it comes to love because she keeps seeing a lot
of people, but nothing clicks. And so she's like, is it even
worth it? And so like, but here's a lot of
being like, no, well, we're going to help you kind of thing.
So I think that hopefully helps mom's mindset when the air
starts, which I will read later. All right.
And so then this, after that, that's where the book basically
ends. And then it ends the wedding
essentially. And then this like special
chapters, a synopsis of them. I feel like they were, well,
they were done pretty faithfully in the series.
I'm surprised they even went through the special chapters,
but they basically went through all of them with some changes.
So the honeymoon is one of them. So Nam and Lotta honeymoon in
Chiang Rai, which is where Rosen Din's on Rosen Din's farm.
So which we were robbed of all these scenes.
And I think this was a filming issue because Chiang Rai is in
the air. So maybe there was a filming
issue in the series. But there is a huge change in
their relationships after they start getting physically
intimate with each other, where it's noted that Nam is quote,
completely immersed in Lana, whispering sweet words,
oblivious to everyone and everything around them.
I remember there at Denim Roses and even MO Dang notices and
we're robbed of this where MO Dang says out loud, is there an
off switch to Nam's love sick mode?
Which I think is so funny. And honestly, is there?
There's no off switch to Nam ever.
And like none of these cousins. It's like poor one day she's
like, I have to live with these fucking two.
I got to live with Din and I turn this one off.
And so like, by the end of this, they become Din and rows.
So I feel bad for Lam and Phi and the rest of the novels
because they're they're slowly getting outnumbered.
OK. And then Lada is promoted to a
quote boss role in the Watson group because she has proven
herself, not because of nepotism.
And unlike in the series, Lotta insists that they do not share
an office because quote Nam would stare at her all day.
Because I think they try working together and that Nam does not
get anything done. She's like, this will never work
because you're the worst. But then Nam's like, can we just
have lunch together? It's very cute and one thing
that happens is that they go through their first wedding
anniversary, they celebrate their first year wedding
anniversary, Then they get to their second year wedding
anniversary and they both forget it mutually because they're
working so much. But they decide it's OK because
they're like, we will celebrate another day.
It doesn't have to be on that, which happens in my marriage.
We both mutually forget the date, but we do celebrate it.
We're just like, oh shit, that was today.
We'll celebrate this weekend. Whatever, we will still
celebrate. It's just like we forget because
it's like long, long term relationships.
Like the the time works differently and they're just
like they're in their routine now and they're like, everyday
is special. Like I don't remember dates.
The date doesn't matter. The time we spend together is
what's meaningful. And that's a hallmark of their
relationship. All right.
Another thing is they both traveled to Canada to visit
Nam's mother, which is like, really cute.
And they get to, like, explore a new area and then, like, spend
time with her mother, who's not really in the novel a lot.
Nam experiences jealousy for the first time and is confused and
annoyed by it because she cannot control her feelings.
And that was one of my favorite chapters because I love the way
they communicate and I love the way Nam, the controlled person,
is like, what is this feeling? I hate it because it's making me
act irrational. And I don't want to do rational
things around you. I don't like this.
OK. Then we get the Daisy's birth,
which is Dinnen Rose's daughter, and then Daisy's birth prompts
the should we have kids conversation and they're both
like, oh, I never neither of them ever thought about it.
And then suddenly their Nam's like, but I know what I would
name the kid and mom's like, so do I And at the same time
they're both like little C, which is really cute.
So anyway, so that is that is the water and I really, really
fucking love the novel because there's so many funny elements
to it. And Lada and Nam's relationship
is one of my favourites. I absolutely love their dynamic.
I love their dialogue once they start talking.
The way that Shawn Lada is always like, no bitch, we're
doing this like a lot of snobs. Like, Are you sure they're so
funny? I absolutely love them and I
would say for big gay energy award for the water.
So we're gonna I'm gonna wrap this up is Nam and the the
noodles joke, the ramen joke. That is code for sex and a lot
of being like who taught you that?
I was like the Internet like that whole thing and the way it
keeps coming up. It's code for sex.
I thought that was hilarious. The Taylor Swift song I would
give for the water is this love, I think, because I think there's
a lot of lines in it that are literal to the water, which is
like high tide came and brought you in, like lot of the crashing
wave from the ocean that disrupts Nam's life.
And this love is good. This love is bad.
This love is a life back from the dead.
It's like, it's like the whole, like lot of brought color into
my life because Nam wasn't living her life.
It was black and white. And then this splash of color
came in. And now Nam can't Unsee it.
And it changed everything. And even though this love, this
love is good, it had its bad moments because they made their
mistakes. But yeah, I just love it.
It's it's very them. OK.
If you made it this far, thank you so much.
If I left anything out, I hope not, but I'm sure I did let
leave it in the comments. Why did you love the novel?
How would you compare it to the series?
I hope this addressed all the comments we got in our Why You
Love the Water. And a lot of it was like, I
didn't like all these things they left that about the novel.
I tried to incorporate all of them because like they were so
funny. The dialogue was really good.
I really love the characterization of all of the
characters as written by the author.
And I just feel like the series was, it was just different.
It was a completely different story to me.
It was not this novel, and it's not a bad thing.
It's just I prefer the novel because I prefer who these
characters were, how they interacted, all like the
symbolism that went in, all the meaningful moments they had and
the way that really told the story.
So I really love this novel. If you're interested in book
club, I will be continuing book clubs.
I have a couple I think in the works.
I will definitely be continuing the four elements and like I
said, the Air will be next in the four element series I'm also
working on. I will read the Girl Rules novel
at some point when the series ends.
And I'm planning on doing Queendom by Salomon as well
because I'm super curious what the original was like that she
that the author wrote in comparison to the series.
So those are a couple coming up. If you have suggestions for
other novels please let me know. I will keep doing this.
Thank you for joining. Hope you enjoyed this and until
next time, hydrate for lesbian Jesus and get it up all over the
place. Bye.
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