#because Tonkla is not there but he also is

[yujeong]

"Marry me. And stop seeing that boy. The reason I've let you have all that fun is because I know that you'll think of me first when something goes wrong. And that boy is just a toy. Right? You don't have a choice. This is what you must trade." 4 Minutes (2024) | Episode Five

[divineandmajesticinone]

4 MINUTES (2024) I 1.03 "I didn't think you were like this. Like what? Like this..."

[the-wayside]

What makes me a bit feral is that it isn't even objectively wrong for Korn to 'teach' Tonkla about sex because he is being genuine about trying to be that person for Tonkla. Still, in doing so he inherently binds them in a slight level shift with Korn always on top.

And in the, I wouldn't say inverse, but Tyme doesn't approach the situation the same way. There are two clear points where he stops and considers whether he should do this with Great. Great backs off and let's Tyme come to his own conclusion. At no point does their intimacy feel unbalanced or that it something that is being done to the other person. It isn't a teaching moment, it's two people coming together to enjoy each other. I really like the choice of Great opening his eyes and checking on Tyme after he comes.

It's the difference between taking something and it being given.

[sherrymagic]

tagged by beloveds @zhouxiangs and @sanvees 🩷🩷🩷

as usual my picks prove i have insane range, and by insane i just literally mean... insane hajdakds

no pressure tags, feel free to ignore for whatever reason 🫶🏻✨: @iwantoceans @gawincaskey @uppoompat @ayansukkhaphisit @hyunsung @byemambo @errorkey + official edit with tags that tumblr ate up and made invisible for some reason but according to Jenn likely showed up in your notifs anyway: @first-kanaphan @puppy-phum @takaramagi 🩷

[respectthepetty]

Tyme is getting close to Great because he knows who Great's family is since he saw the card on the flowers and apparently wants to take them down.

Because he was quick to cross the barrier to speak to Great in the hospital.

While everyone else was quick to put up barriers between them and the others.

Each time.

And each pair was quick to show power dynamics by who stood and who sat.

(or kneeled)

But Great not only crossed the boundary, but also leveled the power dynamic.

Even though he was seen as a god-like being.

Since I think Tyme is the one going through cardiac arrest in the beginning of the series, I think the opening scenes are the future and Tonkla is getting revenge on whoever he believed killed his brother, so I think the rock the detective found wasn't this one

But instead the one Great used to hit Title so he could escape.

Which is why the rock was far away from the body.

Finally, blue is used in the hospital (as it should since it's a calming color), but the use of red feels significant since the patients Den spoke to only mentioned black and white, which are the colors of Tyme and Great, so seeing pops of red, which is used for blood and death could be important.

As if someone is coding.

Bonus: I wonder who Dome was supposed to see that night.

[istanchan]

Maybe a hot take but in my opinion the nc scene between Great and Tyme was perfect. Honestly my only issue was that it wasn’t long enough🥲

Like I have no words they were so soft and sweet and I know people were expecting something a lot more fast paced and extreme just because of every other nc scene in the show and also probably because of kinnporshe. BUT I feel like because it was the complete opposite the scene felt so much more impactful.

We’ve seen how sex in the show is used as a device for power. Primarily we’ve seen how Korn uses sex to assert power over Tonkla. And in turn Tonkla does the same to Win. And while she had only a few mins of screen time the sex scene between Fasai and Korn really portrayed their power dynamic as well.

But the intimacy between Great and Tyme isn’t as calculated. The scene is just so sweet. Tyme playing with Great’s hair and kissing him on the forehead first made me melt. THE NOSE KISS/BITE?!?!

They way they interact makes it seem as if they’ve known eachother forever. It makes us as the audience forget that these two characters are practically strangers and know nothing about one another.

And that’s where my issue comes in. Their scenes are so short. And there’s so much left unanswered. Like did Great not question Tyne about how his parents died? Does he not question Korn about what business he’s doing? How is he going to explain anything to his family and Korn?

I definitely think this is purposeful though. If this is Great having an out of body experience and just seeing not living everything happening it makes sense for the scenes to feel that way.

And the scenes between him and Tyme make sense. In his past/present timeline he must have loved Tyme so much that the love transcends time. (Haha)

I do hope though going forward the show focuses a bit more on Great and Tyme because there’s only 4 episodes left and there’s a lot that needs to be addressed.

And kudos to Jes and Bible for bringing these two to life.

[spicyvampire]

Let's talk about Mark & his upbringing, mental illnesses, vampireness and emotions processing, can we talk about Mark & his upbringing, mental illnesses, vampireness and emotions processing, please I've been dying to talk about Mark & his upbringing, mental illnesses, vampireness and emotions processing all day

Putting this under read more cuz it go way longer than I planned, okay So

Part 1 : The only child curse

So last episode we learned that Mark grew up in similar ways to Tong but worst, only child, no mother, there really is only him and his dad (probably the people who occasionally visit the infirmary perhaps?) And Mark has been bedridden for so long no outside people can possibly know him (ep 3)

And this is what is way worst than Tong, cuz even if they stopped Tong from doing literally everything ever, at least he was always surrounded by people his age in the orphanage and at least he does have Tonkla (ep 3)

And while Tong feels betrayed right now, Miss Nuan was probably a warm motherly figure too, where as Mark had no one but his father and when he got turned into a vamp (and his dad died) he had no one but Khun Milf

Part 2 : Maybe the real curse was the depression we got along the way

This means multiple things, first of all, the loneliness and depression Mark is feeling as a vampire probably started way before he got turned aka since he was a sick human, it just was what he was used to, being bedridden for years, and it just got prolonged when his life also got prolonged because he knew nothing else (ep 3) (also lol so Mark was sick & frankly dying until he got turned into a vampire, Edward Cullen getting turned by Carlisle cuz he was dying of the Spanish flu anyone?)

Second of all, Mark was probably never properly socialized as a child or before he became an adult vampire, and I think we can all agree that while Khun Milf is a Mother figure for Mark, she is not exactly the poster person to help someone figure out what the fuck emotional processing is (which okay not her fault, alright, she has an entire vampire empire to run and children to grow for their golden blood 😤, go queen), and as a vamp, as he is basically Khun Milf's personal guard dog he doesn't really have friends either (ep 2)

Like Auntie Wan is there and would probably make for a better teacher for all of this emotion stuff but when you've always been a way, you aren't necessarily aware that something is wrong and u need to change it, and again Khun Milf has no advantage in Mark getting better (she got a bag to get, as is her Vampire Empress God Given Right), so I don't see her pointing him in that direction, except that by making him Tong's main guard, she kinda accidentally did?

Part 3 : The Bodyguard (1992) starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner

While since Mark got close to him the changes in Mark have been accelerating (thank you Tong and your fluids we are forever grateful), Guarding Tong has been changing Mark for a while now, emotionally I mean, and how I know this? First of all, the goddamn guitar (ep2)

Like yes it is important you dumbass, like I cannot stress enough how to guard Tong it was not necessary to give him gifts, like this isn't anywhere in the bodyguard handbook, in all those years watching over Tong, Mark genuinely took interests in Tong as a person (which is something Tong craves, because he feels like people consider him as a breakable object needing protection more than a person with an agency), and for someone who has no feeling for anything or anyone, that is a huge goddamn step towards caring for something/someone else, second of all the rose necklace (ep 1)

This fucking necklace, while it was given accidentally at first, is also a genuine gift for multiple reason, like obviously after ep 3 Mark gave that to Tong consciously and permanently, but when it stopped Mark dead in his Golden Blood Lust, it wasn't, and yet that necklace had became of symbol of who he protecting and caring for, so he could not hurt Tong any further

Part 4 : feelings vs vampire senses, unstoppable force vs immovable object (or is it more like hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby?)

So we've established Mark doesn't know how to process emotions or feelings, but the thing is, Mark does know what being a vampire is, he has been that for a while now, so when the emotional changes in Mark started being noticeable by Mark, there was a very huge fucking problem in the way

Tong, being the resident Vampire Tasty Fluids Fountain that he is, a fountain that Mark has sampled multiple times at that, is making it fucking impossible for Mark to differentiate between his feelings for Tong that are slowly growing stronger and the effect of those goddamn fluids on his vampire senses, so when Tong got angry, Mark could not tell why he cared so much about it and immediately blamed it on The Tong Fluids Intakes (ep 3)

But the thing is Mark does genuinely like Tong outside his duty as a vampire bodyguard & the delectable nectar of Tong's various bodily fluids (sweat, as the one that is the most recent), and we know this not only because of the gifts (see part 3), but also because Tong genuinely makes Mark laugh which we only see him do around Tong, and Tong brings out his sense of humor too

He wants to show Tong that he can really take cares of him, and want him to try new things (ep 3)

He also sees how sad Tong is to only be filming a video for Miss Nuan's birthday and immediately decides that he is taking Tong there to see her instead, he let Tong go back to the dorms and to Tonkla, after seeing how restless, bored and lonely Tong is with him and the fight in ep 3, because he thinks that's what Tong would like, even if he thinks Tong would be safer in the house with him

Again Mark doesn't need to be doing all of this, like his job IS to be a bodyguard that's all, but for some unknown reasons (to him at least, my eyes are wide open) he is doing his best so that Tong is comfortable and happy, because he likes seeing Tong comfortable and happy

[lurkingshan]

Things That Have My Attention in 4 Minutes Episode 2

Great is truly an unusually unlikeable protagonist. The fact that Title is his closest friend speaks volumes, as does his mild reaction when Title bragged that he had locked up his girlfriend. Great really didn't care until the situation suddenly escalated to Title asking him to help murder someone, and even then he tried to just leave Dome to his death before the powers yanked him back.

Speaking of, it seems the 4 minutes reset is activated whenever Great makes a cowardly and shitty choice. The powers that be want him to be a better person.

I am also curious about why Dome has been watching Title. He already had that phone set up to record him and View, and he also made sure her friend knew to go looking for her. Does he like her?

I was very interested in the reveal that Korn has another arrangement going on with Fah, the daughter of the man he seems to go to for shady assistance when he fucks up, in this case by trying to expand the gambling operation too quickly and leaving them vulnerable to a hack. And in this relationship, Korn is the subordinate one. Gives new shading to the way he treats Tonkla, with him is where he gets his power back.

And speaking of Tonkla, that appears to be him in the hoodie at the start of the episode bashing someone's head with a rock--which implies he killed his own brother?! But then was also mourning him, and not just performatively because we saw him alone.

Between the spooky cat last week and the quick and disturbing cuts while he was grieving, I am getting the sense that Tonkla is mentally unwell. Perhaps he doesn't even remember he is the one who killed his brother??

They didn't show us that picture he was hugging for a reason. Who is Tonkla's brother!

Tyme's primping and flirting this episode was very funny. I also got a kick out of the cockblock nurse constantly catching him, and his stumbling to explain how he just happened to be there when Great got attacked (he doesn't have any friends, let alone one who could afford to live in Great's neighborhood).

And to tie him into the other plot, that was him at the end receiving the data from the lady hacker, right? Is it Great's family that he is in debt to?

Noting also that the suicidal woman's son is already dead, so won't be revealed to be anyone in the story.

I continue to be so impressed with the filming and editing of this story, it's gorgeous and there is so much going on in every frame that it's hard to keep track of it all. In this episode it's the image of the red umbrella going flying that is sticking with me.

We continue to see 11:00 constantly. I think others have theorized that this is the time of the cardiac arrest event Great is likely experiencing, and when the clock moved to 11:01, it was ominous as fuck. Is that an indicator that his time in this experience is running out? Does he only have until 11:04?

This show is taking over my brain, come tell me your theories.

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

How am I supposed to deal with the fact that Tonkla see's his dead cat as a constant reminder of him playing within the system (going to cops to get rid of his dad) and it backfiring and leading to his cat dying.

Which directely lead to him killing his dad and taking a life. Something that has my 100% approval. But probably fucked with his head enough to lead him to drugs and sex as a dual coping mechanism from hell.

Something that also lead him to Korn, someone who looked a knight in shining armour that has since basically dumped him in a house and uses him for sex and nothing else.

How am I supposed to deal with the fact that he tried to put his faith in Win. But he had the constant reminder of the last time he lost something important weighing him down. That he was staring at collar of his dead cat. The reminder of what playing within the system gets you. And the reminder what of what he himself can do. Of what he did the last time the system didn't help.

How am I supposed to deal with the fact that he has apparently been seeing the cat as a constant reminder of what he did and what he can do for years now. Since he was 18.

How am I supposed to deal with Dome being a super good and kind kid. That wanted to do the right thing, go to the cops again and called an ambulance even if he hated his dad. Because he doesn't want anyone to die.

How do you expect me not to want him to have a happy ending????? How do you expect me not to root for him???????? How can I not love him?????

SAMMON IF YOU DO NOT GIVE TONKLA A HAPPY ENDING YOU AND I WILL HAVE WORDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cornyonmains]

Great being like, "Listen, the dick was so good I'm ready to film a six part anthology series," is something I'm still trying to emotionally process.

It's such a stark contrast to the character we're seeing in the timeline he's imagining/changing/discombobulating. It's a jarring and inappropriate response to a terrible betrayal, but also one that kind of makes sense for a spoiled college kid who has never known accountability, consequence, or structure. The entire situation was all novelty and kink for him, because that's all it ever has to be with his family's money and influence. He was enchanted by the fact Tyme would even dare.

This show really seems to be focusing in on how the sins of the parents can impact the children. Great, Tyme, Korn, and Tonkla are all in relationships where the actions of their parents have deeply warped their ability to have relationships. Great's self-destructing with sex and alcohol, Korn is in a loveless relationship with Fasai to maintain the family's stability, Tonkla attached himself to a rich man that can't really be with him to escape an abusive household, and Tyme has essentially been frozen in his emotional development since the death of his parents, who may not be so innocent themselves.

And what's at the core of all this timeline fuckery?

The woman Great hit with her car. The one parent we've seen in the entire series who actually seems to give a shit about their kid.

It's episode 6 and I still have more questions than answers.

[fiddleyoumust]

Using Tonkla in the first four episodes to ground us in reality, while we're all charmed by imaginary Great and Tyme is a stroke of brilliance. Tonkla is a sympathetic character in any timeline, so even when he's being self-destructive and making awful choices, we understand him.

Great and Tyme were awful people in the original timeline. Had we been given real Great and Tyme in episode one, there would be zero reason to root for them. But, now we've had a glimpse of the people they might have been had they made different choices.

I'm not super invested in them getting a happy ending together or separate given what we know now, but I do like that Great's regrets in the imaginary timeline put our emotions in turmoil. Is he a bad person, or did he just make bad choices?

I also want to point out that in the imaginary timeline, Great still tries to both excuse and atone for Manee's death. Manee is the one who tells us she jumped in front of his car and was trying to kill herself. We don't actually know how she ended up being hit by Great, and if that was just an excuse Great's brain made up to try and absolve himself. We also don't know if her son really killed himself because of Great's family or if that, and the subsequent murder of his mother and him being shot, was his brain's way of making him pay for killing Manee.

Anyway, I love this show. I hope we get some Tyme POV next week since I still think he is also having an OOBE.

[le-trash-prince]

WAIT Y’ALL SAMMON POSTED A CAT GRAPHIC WITH SCHRÖDINGER’S EQUATION???

WAS I ON THE MARK WITH MY DOME = SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT THEORY???? Quick someone who understands quantum mechanics talk about a particle existing in multiple states simultaneously until wave function collapse occurs

bc I’ve been thinking about this since Friday night—to me we aren’t looking at multiple timelines, we’re looking at a single timeline where Dome exists in multiple states: alive and dead. (Aside from the ending scene of ep 4, my primary support for this is the fact that Korn shows up at Tonkla’s with the neck wound he received from Tyme)

I think potentially anyone whose life Great saved could be in the same condition as Dome—except that Manee’s son was already dead. There was no one left to mourn her and hold her in that potential state of being dead, the way that Tonkla does for Dome. Everyone who sees her only knows her as being alive, and so her state is fixed. (Am I making sense? I feel like this sounds super abstract but I promise this makes sense in my head)

But that’s not the case for Nam, since Tyme would mourn her, but—and I’m gonna throw in more symbolic quantum mechanics here—I think Tyme could be in a state of quantum entanglement with Great. They are two parts of a whole that, even when separated by physical distance great enough that communication is impossible, share the same state—such as their death. So because they’re entangled, Tyme’s perception of the world is influenced by Great’s perception of the world, therefore he observes Nam as being alive.

Some of this may be wildly off the mark, but I do think Dome is both alive and dead in the same timeline. And also I do think Great and Tyme’s fates are intertwined.

(If they do represent parts of a whole, I would love to hear thoughts from someone who has a better understanding than me about yin and yang bc that’s what their colors feel like to me.)

[hotasfahrenheit]

anyone else spend the past week thinking about how it's not just that Tonkla pushed Korn out of the way to take the bullet for Korn, but also that the reason Win drew on Korn to begin with was because Korn was about to shoot Win and by pushing Korn aside, he stopped Korn from being able to shoot his gun at all?

he was trying to save them both, and in the end he only saved Win.

Tonkla was on a mission of vigilante justice for this whole show, and he made sure that the one person who was not actually associated with crime or anyone's death or murders, who had spent the whole time trying to get justice for Dome and Tonkla, who had tried to help even tho things were constantly taken out of his hands and every trail he followed led to a dead end, was the one who survived.

Tonkla died thinking that both of the men who loved him were alive, that he had stopped them from killing each other. that they would both live even if he didn't.

it just makes everything sadder.

[respectthepetty]

I'm a dumb bitch when it comes to pretty people, but I fully believe there is truth in what fine ass Nakan is saying.

He wants Tong's blood because he has beef with Thara, but I think he is right that Thara isn't great either, and him always being in black with pops of red, and her always being in white with pops of red reminds me that both of them are vampires.

Mark is being played by Thara, so Mark is the real Trojan horse to get Tong on their side, and Nakan's fine ass is right about that too.

(He is also probably going to drain Tonkla of all his blood, pero . . .)

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

Caught up on the last two episodes of My Golden Blood, and for one, I am definitely on board the "Thara is sus" train.

She's not keeping Tong safe and secure out of kindness. I think she is genuinely worried about the influence of the golden blood on Mark, but only because he could disrupt her plans for the blood. I also think she is completely missing the genuine love being formed - which would make sense, as she hasn't felt love for centuries. And which means she is underestimating how dangerous Mark will end up being to her.

For two, with all due love to our sweet Tonkla, I am going to need Nakan to do some terrible things to him.

The blood test was a missed opportunity. Show, I know you are airing on GMMTV, but c'mon.

We know these two can bring the heat.

Now just add a little teeny bit of torture, and we're golden! (heh)

[kerrikins]

I'm going to go against what seems to be a common sentiment in the tag and say that I think that Tyme and Great live in the end, and also that I think that the story is much more poignant and beautiful for this fact. Stories don't always have to end in tragedy to be meaningful.

It's actually kind of making me laugh a little because I think that the scene at the end was intended to state quite clearly to the audience that they lived, but instead people are taking it to mean otherwise - but that's where art subjectivity comes in. Just because an author intends one thing, doesn't mean that's how the audience is going to take it. (And this is twice now that Sammon has had people questioning her ending, and ironically enough I wonder if this ending was intended to be clearer than DFF and still failed...)

Contrasting to DFF's ending, I think the messaging that they survived is quite clear. The characters are not questioning at the end, there's no moment of ambiguity (like there was with Inception, for example). There was no lingering shot of a location like there was with DFF.

Plotwise, i also think that the two storylines were set up as a deliberate contrast to each other. Korn, Win and Tonkla were there not only to fill out the story and explain what had happened to Tyme and Great, but they were also there to show the reality of not getting that precious second chance, not being able to reconsider or change decisions.

It's also laid starkly clear in the moment where Korn is dying, where we get a glimpse of his 4 Minutes - an alternate timeline where he would have chosen to leave with Tonkla way back at the start, rather than following along the path that doomed them both.

But the watch - blood-spattered - moves on and then unlike with Great & Tyme where we see them still alive and happy, we instead see Tonkla and Korn lying together in death, making their fates painfully obvious.

It's a tragedy - and a deliberate one. The two stories augment each other, because their ending is all the more painful for the happy ending that Tyme & Great tentatively get, and Tyme and Great's ending is all the more beautiful when we realize what a miracle it is.

4 Minutes is a story about getting the chance to reconsider your behaviour and your decisions, getting the chance to reconsider your motivations and actions - and then getting the chance to follow through on everything you learned. I saw someone say that they would have preferred that Korn and Tonkla lived, but for me that would have missed the mark if Tyme and Great had died simply because of the fact that Korn & Tonkla hadn't gone through that process of reconsidering who they were and what they had done. (I would have been fine with all of them living but I also think the story is richer this way).

So those are my thoughts, based solely on canon interpretation.