#I feel bad for him the most after Tonkla

[yujeong]

just my thoughts but episode seven just made me realize that i don't think korn loves tonkla the way tonkla loves him.... and win really not going to end up with him (i mean: there's no romantic attraction with tonkla to win).... those three fr.... still baffled how tonkla doesn't know who great is?! with those years of being together?! i mean?! what.... even though they're hiding their relationship but that's so...... 😔 he knows fasai but not great oh my

Korn loves Tonkla the only way he knows how: by keeping him at a distance and by enforcing some sort of power imbalance through his money. It's unfair and it's toxic and it's downright horrible to be completely honest.

But it's still love. I need everyone to understand this. Korn loves Tonkla.

Win doesn't stand a chance with Tonkla. He tried everything, he got threatened and shot over the info he found about his brother, he fucked Tonkla raw like he wanted, heck, he even dropped the "khun" in episode 7 which shocked me more than the fact that he never made copies of the footage, but nothing mattered. Tonkla didn't give two shits about him and he never will.

It was a bit shocking that Tonkla didn't know Korn and Great were related, but honestly not surprising. As I said, Korn was being secretive in his relationship with him and he only mentioned his dad in front of him (and Fasai).

I believe the main reason was that Korn didn't feel the need to ever mention him. I view Korn as someone who only shares information he deems valuable or useful to share, which might be a habit or a character trait he gained by being his father's son.

Whatever the reason, I love Sammon's choice of including that. It makes it all more tragic and all the more delicious.

[lurkingshan]

Things That Have My Attention in 4 Minutes Episode 4

Congrats to the Dome is Tonkla's brother truthers!

Let's talk timelines again. I still think we're working with two timelines, but I no longer think they're cleanly separated. Because if they were, you could not have some of these things happening concurrently. If we only had an Original timeline and a Redo timeline, then everything Great changes should be part of the Redo timeline. But in this episode Great saved Nan in the same timeline where Dome was dead, which we know because Great got Nan's location by getting Korn trashed after Korn fought with Tonkla over his abandonment in the aftermath of Dome's death. These things are all connected, so we can't cleanly sort events into one timeline or the other.

Which means it's most likely that the two timelines are bleeding together, making things unstable. This would explain Great's experience of overlapping moments last week, and Tonkla seeing Dome briefly before things went all weird and he disappeared at the end of today's episode.

By the way, it turns out those cold opens are not of the future--Tonkla has already done the murder in the same timeline where he's messing around with the cop. ETA: @my-rose-tinted-glasses pointed out that this is not necessarily true if the scene of Win getting the fingerprints and the phone call is also in the future. So back to square one on that!

Speaking of, what is up with Win? He is fully engaging in an affair with a murder suspect and doesn't seem to be investigating Tonkla at all. And I cannot let this pass without comment: why on earth did Win not put his pants back on during the long scene of him listening to Tonkla and Korn?! Was this really an appropriate situation to Winnie the Pooh it???

The flashback to Tonkla and Korn's beginning gave good context for why Tonkla thought he might be able to have more with Korn. I appreciated the details there: Korn was giving him money before they even had sex the first time and was lying to him about his intentions from the start, while Tonkla had zero experience when they met and didn't know how to recognize the signs of Korn's lies. Korn basically groomed this kid to be his sidepiece and has strung him along for years.

Tonkla definitely feels like a tragic character heading for a bad end, though perhaps he will also be saved eventually by the timeline shifts. In the timeline where Dome is dead and he's fucking Win, Tonkla is being incredibly reckless. I couldn't believe he just moved a new man into the home Korn pays for, he's gonna get caught.

I was grateful the show did not actually go all the way with Korn assaulting Tonkla, but it was clear he would have if Tonkla had not managed to distract him.

I continue to find the emotional tenor of Great and Tyme's scenes kinda weird. I don't understand why Great is so willing to betray Korn to help Tyme after just meeting him, I don't understand why Tyme revealed his face only to run away and then accused Great of being in on the conspiracy after already confirming he's not, and I don't understand why they were acting all blushy and awkward in that sex scene rather than leaning into the adrenaline high for a more sultry tone. They have been on one (1) date so the emotional investment is not really tracking for me for two experienced adults, but I can't tell if I am supposed to find this all weird and confusing or just go with it. It feels like the show just wants me to accept the shortcuts and buy into them as a serious romance, so okay I guess!

Speaking of betraying Korn, Great's plan was abysmal. He steals the information from Korn's phone (so considerate of him to spell out his criminal conspiracy including names and locations in one convenient text chain), tells Tyme everything without any knowledge of what his brother did, then walks right into an active hostage situation in his designer whites and shows his face to all Korn's goons. Korn is gonna know you did this, bro! Do you care?

It seems that Nan has a friend who was killed in a similar fashion to Tyme's parents, though I'm still curious how they connected and came up with this plan.

I still got nothing on this Lukwa connection. Why are she and Great the only two experiencing this phenomenon, and why did they see each other in this liminal space?

Also noting that there were several sex scenes this episode and no condoms or lube anywhere. I guess this show only depicts safe and realistic sex when they have a sponsor paying them.

[mischief----managed]

4 minutes timeline guide (for the confused and the new watchers, keep in mind there are spoilers.)

The 4 minutes they have is them making up for mistakes they made and re-writing their story as a way of creating peace for their dying brains or selves. Great going back 4 minutes is equivalent of that thing most people do when they're going through maladaptive daydreaming where you adjust the trajectory of the story to give yourself a better outcome of continuation of your storyline. Tyme on the other hand kind of jut straight up re-wrote the whole story with little to no elements of reality. Great kept some parts of reality and edited the video in his mind.

Ep 1 - 5 - Great's 4 minutes, but you need to understand that the main timeline is still being shown, the story from the start. Any scenes that didn't have Great for example the Korn and Tonkla scenes, actually happened. Dome seeing Title with his girlfriend fighting. But remember in ep 1 we see Tyme get shot which is something we circle back to in ep 7.

Ep 6 - 7 is the real timeline. Here you see the truth and everything that led up to Great's 4 minutes that we have been watching since ep 1. This is where you'd understand why Great's 4 minutes looks the way it does. But also why Tyme feels guilty when he see a hospitalized Great after getting shot.

Ep 8 - We have Tyme's 4 minutes but here we have seen him get hot and then we see his 4 minutes and see him come out of it. From the moment Tyme is at the door calling for Great while getting wet is Tyme coming back to life but also in a twisted way is Great coming back to (when he closes his eyes with blood splattered on his face). Unlike Great's 4 minutes, we do not see the the real timeline in the middle of Tyme's 4 minutes.

Ep 8 final episode - Happy ending for some and sad ending for others but it is kind of poetic regardless. Keep in mind no character is all good or all bad. They all fucked up and made mistakes as any human would or can. Some more than others and the reality of it is effect or reaction of whatever actions each person took may not satisfy you, but realistically that's how it goes. This is an intriguing and beautiful piece of media and is open to interpretation from multiple points of view just remember that the only reason a discourse on the storyline or plot can be had is because the plot, the writing, the writers, the crew, the actors, the characters did all they were to do to trigger conversations that are otherwise sensitive or ignored. They did their job well and all deserve their flowers for it. You don't have to agree with everyone's point of view but remember to be respectful with one another.

I hope you this guide helps and enjoy your first time watch or re-watch.