#pete saenghtam

[fruityuncleskeletor]

What is this I hear about my boy Pete not being able to cook- - and the reason being he is so desperate for Vegas to feed him? It's all poetic and nice but- LOL lolololololol it's not about the food, people who are excellent cooks also enjoy being pampered and catered to. Sure, food you make tastes good, but the food someone made for you with the intent to spoil and spare you hits way more satisfyingly. Pete has been a minion all his life, always in the background, always being made to cater to his many bosses' wishes. This mf excellent at his job, but still got asked to serve Kinn his breakfast - that's the equivalent of insisting your cleaning lady must have a PhD or paying John Wick to sort your sock drawer. It's in poor taste and unjust. And then comes Vegas, with his huge need of someone wanting his attention and his love. Those noodles he served Pete in the safehouse were the most delicious thing that crossed Pete's lips up until that point. I can cook just fine, but after 12 hours away for work, I barely have energy to do so every day and I am mega grateful when someone else (who isn't a takeout service) does it for me.

[aleng-neng]

Cheklist ✔✅☑

This is a near accurate depiction of what happens in my head when I think of Pete Phongsakorn Saenghtam (Vegas' too tbh)

@kprecfest

[fruityuncleskeletor]

On the topic of Pete and food, I imagine one of the reasons he wasn't too fazed or broken by Vegas feeding him slop on the floor in a dog bowl is because this is his life in the mafia anyway. He comes from a very poor background, with no opportunities and no ways out. Then he gets picked to work for a super powerful family that has more money than God but still has their employees on a daily calorie budget. Pete eats his kid-appropriate meals and then serves Kinn his luxurious breakfasts. He can't go to the kitchen and say "mhm, today I feel like binging on sticky doughnuts and drinking bubble tea until I pop". The HUMILIATION is repeated daily and normalised, but I think Pete feels it more acutely than his co-workers from less bleak backgrounds. And sure it could be argued that Thai culture and customs revolve around respect and hierarchy and people who know their place don't feel vexed by witnessing their betters thrive. But the heart sees. Pete was a child who learned early on to not ask for anything, not wanting to make his parents have to say "no, we can't". He is not a pet. A pet is someone who looks at you with big eyes and suddenly you're on your knees spoonfeeding them pheasant confit. Pete is a bodyguard, a working dog. The kind you keep in a kennel and feed no more and no less than its prescribed diet. So when Vegas calls him a pet and feeds him from a dog bowl, Pete must be thinking "well at least this one has the grace to tell it how it is." And Vegas, unlike the main family, has the decency not to eat whole feasts in front of Pete and then ask Pete to clean after him.

[fruityuncleskeletor]

Even more late night thoughts about Vegas, Pete and how VegasPete came to be-

After writing "Grinch, please!" I had a revelation about VegasPete. A micro one, but still.

It's always SO fucking vital WHEN you cross paths with someone and what point they are at in their lives. If Pete had somehow caught Vegas' attention BEFORE everything began to go to shit, he might have been just another main family bodyguard Vegas railed and bailed on just to stick it to Kinn. Vegas would have moved on to fucking his next target and Pete would have been a(n even more) broken man for it. But like, Vegas' identity as the contender for the title of heir to his dad's position starting to crumble; Vegas' long-running, carefully executed plans being rendered useless by an abundance of muppets being sicced on him (Tawan, Porsche and Pete) - it all ensured that Vegas was on the brink of a HUGE breakdown and life crisis. When he caught Pete, he was alone, overwhelmed and tired of his life of abuse and humiliation. He literally did not have the sanity or the energy available to be cruel and calculated Khun Vegas. I think this is what the recurring label of sad little meow meow encompasses. The Vegas from episode 7 would not have taken his captive along to the safehouse for entertainment. Everything he does to Pete, from the electroshocks to the balls, to calling grandma and to playing cat and mouse with an injured Pete, is coming from a desperate and very basic need to be SEEN before he completely falls apart. On a level, even if not conscious, Vegas knows his number is up and that soon his family will get rid of him in an attempt to paint themselves as the good guys (Korn has no qualms murdering his own brother in front of witnesses, so we know that Vegas' predictions are not unrealistic). This is a man who did not hesitate to torture, murder and disfigure a prisoner just to persuade Big Wang to cooperate, only to then also get rid of Big Wang. This is a man who felt it necessary to spit a one liner at an Italian mob boss before killing him, like he was in an Al Pacino movie. My unhinged son would have made Pete into a matching purse and pair of shoes if he had caught him earlier in the game. And sure, Pete is exceptional and wields untold power, but even he couldn't have gotten through to Vegas if Vegas' armour hadn't been cracked prior. This doesn't take away from Pete's power and his ability to reset Vegas from the ground up, but it does show that life itself is cruel and everything depends on the headspace we are in when we meet someone or go through an experience or another. I also think that Korn was counting on Vegas' sanity circling the drain and taking his nephew out of the game for him. But he did NOT reckon with Pete being able to get through to Vegas because their different brands of crazy are compatible. Korn grossly misjudged Pete, as did everyone in the main family. There's this joke I love, about a new psychiatrist beginning a job at an asylum and seeing an otherwise non-communicative patient pull a length of string after himself. The new doc goes to him and asks: "Hello, are you out here walking your imaginary dog?" and to everyone's surprise, the patient looks at him, scoffs and says, "what imaginary dog? That would be insane. I am pulling the rope after me because it's limp and I cannot push it ahead of me!"

Pete succeeded because a. he was given a favourable window to try and get to Vegas and b. he was willing to do so because he recognised he and Vegas were not all that different underneath it all. Everyone else gave up on Vegas before they even took a closer look at him. It was always some flavour of "ugh, Vegas, fuck that creep" and moving on.

[aleng-neng]

Vegas having a coma dream where he's living his best domestic life with Pete but the real Pete and Macau are slowly breaking down his coma-fantasy and is asking for him to come back. Someone* should write this.

*not me

[fruityuncleskeletor]

Chapters 8 and 9 of "Grinch, please!" are up today! There is pain (Vegas') and ass (Pete's).