#utt uttsada

[wen-kexing-apologist]

IS BROTHER ANURAK THE ONE ARMED MAN?

OKAY! SO! 

I feel like I am teetering on the edge of delulu for this fucking show, but…because I just wrote a post about the Left Hand Path and all the left hand/left side imagery, and because I’m…well, me, and hands in shows are My Jam. When I was watching the promo trailer for Episodes 8-14, I noticed something. I never once saw Brother Anurak’s left arm. So I went to the teaser trailer for the whole show, just to see if it was coincidental that the like 5 seconds total of screen time Brother Anurak had in the Part 2 trailer just happened not to show his left arm…but uh…

Brother Anurak holds his rosary with only his right hand…

And Brother Anurak’s left hand just hangs at his side, rather than resting on his lap like his right hand is doing…

And Brother Anurak is shoving Trin with only his right hand…

And Brother Anurak’s left hand is hidden from view by some books…

And this, naturally, started me thinking about the One Armed Man. We don’t know much about this man, only that lost his left arm in an accident and then engaged in some homosexual and substance use activity, he was arrested and executed. We know that Dan, after losing his lucid dreaming stone, had some sort of dream or vision about this one armed man. 

We do not know what purpose he serves to the story yet, we do not know if he is truly evil or just presented that way by the villagers. I mean, if the One Armed Man truly is a wild ghost, the Venerable Monk gave a few theories himself: a) The wild ghosts in the village got angry when the school was built and floating bodies down the water in sacrifice was banned after World War II or b) the wild ghosts take those who ask them for help, and who they like. 

And we do not, currently, know the One Armed Man’s identity. Or…do we, cause you see, I was thinking about the fact that in just these trailers alone, I had not seen a single instance of Brother Anurak using his left hand. 

And so…I did what any completely reasonable, totally non-obsessed, definitely completely normal human being would do….

…and spent the last few hours watching every single scene that involved Brother Anurak in Episodes 1-7 to see if he ever uses his left hand. (I don’t have photo evidence for all of these because trying to screen shot them all would be impossible but, trust me or you can verify for yourself. I also recognize this is a lot, so you’re welcome to just like, choose at random which ones you read).

Episode 1

Welcoming Dan The first time we meet Brother Anurak is when Dan first steps foot on campus. Anurak is the person who gives Dan the school tour and walks him to class. When Dan arrives, he does the traditional ‘wai’ hands that we have come to expect of any Thai show, that is, he presses the palms of both of his hands together when he says hello. Brother Anurak, whose arms are both tucked behind his back, does not return the ‘wai’ and instead just nods. When Rerng, the groundskeeper, runs in to Dan and Anurak, he does the ‘wai’ hands at Anurak and uh…once again Anurak just nods, he does not return the ‘wai’. When he introduces Rerng to Dan, he gestures at Rerng using only his right hand. Otherwise his hands remain tucked behind his back out of view. 

Rescuing Dan from Anan  We are introduced to Anan in the locker room where he immediately establishes his Utter Irrepentant Douchebag status and tries to control all the boys. Anan comes in at some point and puts a stop to Anan’s hazing, and you don’t really see his body at all, the camera mostly focuses on close ups, but if you watch closely you can see only his right shoulder moving because he’s gesturing with his right hand. His left shoulder stays relatively still. 

Talking to Dan about the Shadow

Brother Anurak has been working with Dan and his mother since Dan was about 7 years old. When Brother Anurak is talking with Dan in his office after his first Shadow dream, you can see Anurak’s left hand stays staunchly at his side, he does everything in this scene with his right hand. 

Visiting Dan in the infirmary  Dan spent the night in his dorm away from his dorm…the infirmary, after he faints in class. Brother Anurak comes to visit him, and both of his hands are hidden by the bed for the entire scene. 

Episode 2

Finding Dan at the lake  At the end of Episode 2, Dan collapses near the lake while coming face to face with the Shadow. Anurak and Rerng find Nai and Dan, and Rerng helps Nai carry Dan, Anurak takes the flashlight from Rerng with his right hand and that is his full contribution for Getting Dan Out of There.  

Talking to Nai  When Brother Anurak is scolding Nai about being off school grounds with Dan, his hands are once again hidden behind his desk, and he only gestures with his right hand. 

Visiting Dan in the infirmary → transitions to his office

Brother Anurak is standing on Dan’s right in the infirmary when he wakes up after his collapse at the lake. Once again, Brother Anurak’s hands are hidden behind the bed, so you can’t see them, and then when, out of nowhere, Dan and Anurak are talking in Anurak’s office, his left hand is hidden behind the arm of his chair. 

Dan wakes up from his dream

During their office session, Dan is shunted out of his dream and realizes that he has been in teh infirmary the entire time, and was not actually in Brother Anurak’s office at all. What has snapped him out of his dream is Brother Anurak shaking him awake, but… he is only using his right hand. 

[Side Note: I am taking careful notice of the fact that Dan’s ability to remain present and conscious in reality seems to slip often when he is in Brother Anurak’s presence. Then again, he also sees the Shadow a bunch when he is around the theater teacher, but I have already looked at his hands, and his left hand is real and he does use it so I at the very least I don’t think he has any relationship to the one armed man.]

Episode 3

Dan, Josh, and Nai are punished for coming back late.  At some point, Anurak appears to observe, but not deliver, the caning of Dan, Josh, and Nai for missing curfew after going to see the Venerable Monk. We get a wider shot, which means Anurak’s left hand is visible, but it is held in exactly the same position it always is, and he continues to only gesture with his right hand. 

Telling Dan not to wear the ring   Brother Anurak runs in to the boys in between classes, and he notices the lucid dreaming stone around Dan’s neck. Anurak reminds him that accessories are not allowed in school, and while standing there, his left hand still in the same position it has always been in, and he only points to  Dan’s necklace with his right hand. 

Teaching class 

Brother Anurak is writing on the white board with his right hand, this in and of itself is not all too suspicious because he could just be right handed, but when turns to face the class, his hands are covered by the students so you can’t see either one of them. He moves to the podium and his left hand, which continues to hang at his side, is hidden behind the podium, so we can’t see his left hand. But he places his right hand on the podium, and whatever brief glimpses of the left hand we see when it peeks out the side of the podium, it is in exactly the same position as it always is. 

Episode 4

Grabbing Dan from his room to take him to visit his Dad  When Brother Anurak visits Dan and Josh’s room to bring Dan to the hospital to say goodbye to his father, not only is Anurak’s left hand hanging at his side, but he is shot from the right side of his body so any potentially visible part of his left hand is hidden by the open dorm room door.

At the hospital Anurak is standing on Dan’s father’s left hand side, making his left hand visible… in exactly the same position it always is, his fingers never even twitch. When Anurak leaves the room to give Dan some time alone with his father, he uses his right arm to comfort Dan even though his left arm is closer to Dan’s shoulder. 

Outside the hospital room, after the flashback to Dan’s homelife  Left hand visible, in exactly the same position it always is, cut to talking to Dan outside the hospital room, his left hand is hidden between his legs. We get the best close up we have had of Anurak’s left hand and it is too smooth, and is lacking in any pores or spots, and it’s weirdly shiny. (Unfortunately like the one above, the way my computer works for screenshots, the play bar covers the part of the screen I would need to take a photo of).

Flashback to Anurak talking with Dan’s mother

When we see Anurak interacting with Dan’s mother, because she was his patient, his left hand is visible, still in the same position. AND HOLY SHIT, ANYONE READING THIS, YOU NEED TO GO TO TIME STAMP 18:27 AND WATCH HOW BROTHER ANURAK STANDS UP FROM HIS CHAIR. THAT LEFT HAND IS FUCKING FAKE. IT’S FUCKING FAKE!!! He gives the rosary to Dan’s mother with his right hand. 

Dan’s mother’s funeral  Anurak is sitting on a bench outside the temple, and we only see him after Dan drops the coin he has leftover from buying ice cream, and it hits Anurak’s right foot. We pan out into a wide shot, and Anurak’s right side is visible. Both his hands are in Anurak’s lap but his right hand is covering his left hand so we can’t actually see it. Then, Dan sits on his left side so we never 

Baby!Dan sees the Shadow and Anurak comforts him

Shortly after his mother’s death, Dan wakes up in the middle of the night and sees the Shadow looming over him. He runs screaming from his room, at which point Brother Anurak appears on the stairwell. (What he is doing in their home after Dan’s father accused his mother of sleeping with Brother Anurak, is beyond me but I digress). Brother Anurak’s right arm is hugging Dan while his left arm stays at his side, in the same position it always is 

Right before Dan fights his father

Dan’s Father’s funeral  Anurak comes up to talk to Dan at his father’s funeral, and as he does he places his right hand on Dan’s shoulder. Left hand? Does nothing, as usual.

Episode 5

Dan confronts Brother Anurak

We get the scene from the trailer where Dan tells Brother Anurak that he thinks Trin was murdered after seeing the visage of Trin’s dead body in the pool. This is one of my favorite instances of the hidden left hand, due to the creative use of binder placement. You get a little bit of skin from Brother Anurak’s right hand because it is further away from the camera, but in the foreground? We are not entitled to see what Anurak’s left hand looks like. 

Flashback: Talking to Trin in his office after his Student President Win

After Trin wins the student body president race in a unanimous vote, he is taken first to the Headmaster’s office and then to speak with Brother Anurak about the policies he hopes to institute (read: the traditional systems Trin is hoping to change). Like always, both of Brother Anurak’s hands are initially hidden behind his desk, but as he gets more engaged, more serious about the conversation at hand (haha) he leans forward and he only brings his right hand on the table.

Anurak gets a phone call about Trin’s medical records

I don’t remember if this is the first phone call where Anurak is told that Trin had bipolar, was off his meds, and was treating his bipolar with narcotics, or if this is the second phone call where Anurak is calling an unknown person, angry because he didn’t know how Trin’s medical records got leaked to the press. Either way, and in both cases, he answers the phone with his right hand, and never uses his left. 

In his office with Trin’s parents 

Trin’s parents (one of whom is an MP) are naturally, pissed that Trin’s medical records got leaked and storms over to the school threatening to sue. Brother Anurak speaks with them in his office, and he offers them tea, using only his right hand, his left isn’t even in frame.

And while he is speaking with Trin’s parents, trying to calm them and sort things out, he once again, only puts his right hand on the table. His left is hidden from view. 

In his study, listening to old recordings of his sessions with Trin  Anurak is thinking more about Trin, and digs out old files of his using only his right hand to pull the files out of his cabinet. When he sits in his chair to listen to the audio tapes, his left arm settles in to the same position at his side as it always is when he’s in that chair, and he hides the hand very quickly underneath the file folder when he opens it.

Episode 6

Brother Anurak does not have a lot of screen time in Episode 6, but he is at the student org fair where he meets the husband of the homophobic teacher that is sleeping with Anan. And here again, the people he is with all do the ‘wai’ hands, while he just nods.

Episode 7

Taking Dan from the headmaster’s office after Anan beats him up

Dan is the unfortunate victim of Nai’s decision to blackmail Anan, and gets beaten up once again. He and Anan are called in to the Headmaster’s office to talk about what happened as Dan left the Funhouse, when all of a sudden Brother Anurak appears, asking to take Dan away since Dan is under his care. Brother Anurak’s left hand is visible, but it is once again, still held in the same position, and his right hand is the one he is using to place a comforting hand on Dan’s shoulder.

Talking to Dan in his office 

We reach the final scene with Brother Anurak in the first half of the show, before the One Armed Man is introduced to the story. And it is, once more, the same deal as it has always been throughout the entire show so far. Brother Anurak’s left hand is sitting at his side, in the same position is has literally never changed from. And then he is gone from the rest of the episode, so we don’t have any visual reminders that he exists while the One Armed Man is being introduced and discussed. I have gone through every scene, I have watched to see if his fingers even twitch. They do not, his left hand, whenever it is in view, never moves. You cannot convince me at this point that Brother Anurak and the One Armed Man aren’t connected somehow. This man does not have an actual left hand. 

I do not know if Brother Anurak is the One Armed Man, if he is the scapegoat for the One Armed Man, if he is possessed by, a reincarnation of, or a legitimate ghost of the One Armed Man we learn about at the end of the episode. I do not know what the Shadow is, what it wants, if it is malicious, neutral, or good, I do not know what the ghosts of Trin or those two boys want, who the dead bodies are, what happened at this school. I don’t know any of it, I don’t know if all the pieces of the puzzle we need to figure it out have been revealed yet. 

But the one thing I do know, is that Brother Anurak does not have a left hand, and the level of detail that the show has done to both reveal and hide that is truly fucking impressive. Utt Uttsada who plays Anurak is doing a fucking phenomena job. I do not know how much time and effort went in to consciously never moving that arm. Like he has not once, not ever moved it. His shoulder remains completely still, his arm swings precisely as much as someone with no lower limb to control will swing. He has to be wearing some sort of prosthetic glove to keep his hand exactly in place, to make sure that his fingers don’t twitch. 

It is so incredibly clever to hide his hand like this. To give us enough glances at his left hand from a distance so we don’t question it. I mean, we see his hand, right? We see it is there, it looks real, and there are so many other things to figure out about what the fuck is going on, that the last thing in our minds is the fact that Brother Anurak never uses his left hand. 

Anyway, I don’t even know if this will end up being BL, but I need the entire rest of the BL fandom to deal with the occasional jumpscare and creepy smiles and stares and watch this show, so that I can scream about this with more people. Because holy fucking shit, if this show maintains the quality it has given me with the first half of the story all the way to the end, it might make a last minute grab for Show of the Year for me, with how intentional it has been. 

[blmpff]

Dearly Beloveds, today allow me to present to you: UTT UTTSADA aka BROTHER ANURAK from SHADOW (2023)

18.05.23-15.01.24

[save-the-data]

Shadow | S01E10

Thai Drama - 2023, 14 episodes

Episodes | Gaga | Viki | YouTube | iQIYI | WeTV | Tencent | Catalogue

[pharawee]

It's been 84 years but I finally had the time to finish watching Shadow and...

I loved it? I absolutely loved the ending, and I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be ambiguosly and inevitably dark but I wouldn't mind a second season (gmmtv let their actors do third-party productions before) if only because Fiat Patchata was absolutely incredible and so were Singto (I somehow remained spoilerfree but I immediately picked up on the change in Dan's voice when he... you know) and Fluke (🥰🥰🥰) and Poon and Yaimai, and finally Utt Uttsada who deserves all kinds of awards for his role as Brother Anurak.

I also loved the interwovenness and conflict between psychology, philosophy, history and religion. It painted a very grim but human picture. Plus, the cinematography and colour-grading were incredibly stunning.

I'm tempted to actually go look for other, more in-depth reviews now but I dimly remember the very lukewarm reception back when the series was first released and tbh I'm still basking in the afterglow of amazingly well done Thai psychological horror. 😩👌

[lyricalsakura]

Now that so many Japanese BL series are being adapted in Thai BLs, I wish I could see Kinou Nani Tabeta? (What Did You Eat Yesterday?) to be adapted too.

And you know who'll be the best cast?

These two-

Utt Uttsada Panichkul as Kakei Shiro

Nat Sakdatorn as Yabuki Kenji

I saw them together in the film Fathers and I loved their chemistry. Also, their ages are almost perfect to be cast into these roles.

[littleragondin]

Get to know me tag

Thanks @iguessitsjustme and @heiscomingtomygrave for tagging me! ( ´ ▿ ` )

last song: the playlist is running "Andy, you're a star" by The Killers as I start this

favorite color: It's a tie between purple 💜 and yellow 💛!

last movie/tv show: Last movie was Fathers (2016) with Utt Uttsada and Nat Sakdatorn. Last TV show I finished was A Breeze of Love, but the last episode I watched was - well. I rewatched the final episode of Kimi ni wa todokanai actually (yes for like the fifteenth time and so what 😔)

sweet/spicy/savory: Hmm. Maybe sweet but by a small margin? I like them all tho, even if I am not very good with spicy (I am slowly building my tolerance but I am coming from very, very far lol)

relationship status: that BTS celibacy gif

current obsession: yeah can't pick only one obviously... so currently the brain is stuck on - Shadow generally speaking and brother Anurak specifically, the upcoming Pit Babe and of course The Whisperer, the "Memento" album by Théa, Kimi ni wa todokanai and its theme song, the relationship between Fan Xuan and Zhou Gaolang in Destined, the little biscuits my baby brother sent to me (biscuits bretons mes amours ♡), Nitta Pinyadar (who plays Phai in My dear gangster oppa, but was also the fantastic Worra in Be Mine Superstar (she was delightfully funny in there, my fave character hands down)). Also the rhythm game Muse Dash which has been my go-to after work game to unwind lately.

last thing I googled: "thailand mermaid tales" to find some references for a gift (and "[not so random gene] tissue expression" if we include work related queries I guess)

If you feel like doing it, I will tag @scienceoftheidiot @coquelicoq @fandomfairyuniverse @benkaaoi @petrichoraline @troubled-mind @sparklyeyedhimbo and @gillianthecat (´꒳`)♡

[madeinjapan-thailand-blbambeyond]

MCF: MADE IN THAILAND/UNITED STATES

PATPASIT NA SONGKHLA

[Nickname: COOPER]

PAHUN JIYACHAROEN

[Nickname: MARC]

&

GREG UTTSADA PANICHKUL

[Nickname: UTT]

[blfanfest]

Unforgotten Night

Details

Title: ร้ายนักนะ รักของมาเฟีย

Also known as: Mafia's Bad Love,  Rai Nak Na Rak Khong Mafia,  ร้ายนักนะ รักของมาเฟีย The Series

# of episodes: 12

Air date: Jun 22 - Sep 7, 2022

Genres: Drama, Romance

Director:

Adapted from: Adapted from the web novel "Mafia's Bad Love" (ร้ายนักนะ...รักของมาเฟีย!!) by Yoe Nim (ยอนิม)

Country: Thailand

Stream via: GagaOOLala

Summary

Kim needed someone to embrace his body for just one night. It's the only night to know what your true needs are. And it was the only night that made the mafia "Kamol" not want to let Kim belong to anyone.

Kim, a 25 year old office worker, has been in one sided love with his senior, Day, for a a long time. To forget about him and move on, he decides to have one night stand with a random stranger he met at the bar. What he didn't know was the stranger would start liking him to the point of no return. 

Kamol, a 30 year old mafia, has some special needs in bed and so he keeps switching partners but no one is able to satisfy him. One night he meets Kim, who perfectly meets his needs. Right at that moment, Kamol decided to make the man his own and starts pursuing him.

Cast

Yoon Phusanu as Kamol

Ton Saran as Kim

Peat Suchanon as Baiboon

Baitoey Punnisa as Metawee

Samantha Melanie as Jin

Ging Areeya as Cherry

Tong Supanut as Lop

Tan Tanchanit as Ruj

Khopkhet Natkharin as Day

Ice Saranwich as Itt

Ku Deachit as Kit

Title Kirati as Karan

Utt Uttsada as Evan

Check out my blog for episodes and updates.

[dramaplatters]

I want to see him as leading guy in a drama pretty soon, I'm still under the hypnosis of Utt from #RakRae #Utt #GregUttsadaPanichkul #UttsadaPanichkul

[lalaberfor-blog]

Nombre: Full House Thai - วุ่นนัก รักเต็มบ้าน Protagonistas: Mike D Angelo, Aom Sushar, Utt Uttsada Panichkul, Jane Janesuda Parnto Sinopsis: Trata sobre una joven escritora de nombre Aom-Om y su hermana que viven en una casa que fue heredada por su padre, sin embargo su hermana termina vendiendo la casa a las espaldas de Aom-Om mientras ella viaja a Corea engañada en un supuesto viaje todo pago. En Corea conoce a Guy un joven empresario quien es amigo de la superestrella Tailandesa Mike.Un día antes de que Aom-Om regrese a Tailandia se entera de que debe pagar por el día que estuvo en el hotel donde se hospedaba del cual ella creía estaba pago, al no tener a quien recurrir ella decide ir con Guy sin embargo el ya ha regresado a Tailandia así que recurre a Mike mintiéndole sobre que ella es la prometida de su mejor amigo Mike decide ayudarla y Aom regresa a Tailandia al regresar a su casa se da cuenta que no hay nadie y que la casa ha sido vendida. Al no poder localizar a su hermana ella decide quedarse un día en la casa, lo que no imagina es que la casa ha sido comprada por Mike. Cuando Mike la descubre decide dejarla quedarse un par de días a cambio de que lo ayude limpiar la casa. Sin embargo en una fiesta Mike besa a Aom-Om para demostrarle a su mejor amiga y de quien Mike está enamorado desde niño (Mintra) que no la quiere a ella sino a Aom y que ademas se van a casar, Aom-Om se sorprende mucho pero al final acepta hacer un contrato donde Mike se compromete a regresarle su casa si finge un matrimonio por dos años. Ellos también prometen que en este tiempo ninguno se debe enamorar ¿Lo podrán lograr? #FullHouseThai #วุ่นนักรักเต็มบ้าน #AomSushar #MikeDAngelo #UttUttsadaPanichkul #JaneJanesudaParnto #ThaiDrama

[wen-kexing-apologist]

The Left Hand of God

OKAY! SO!

I know I said like, literally two days ago that I was as of yet unable to write meta for this show. Because there is so much mystery and we don’t have the answers yet. 

BUT! 

There are benefits to talking about this show with friends, especially friends who are not watching Shadow, and are only seeing patterns based on what I tell him. Because my dear friend @so-much-yet-to-learn heard about the gay boy (Nai), the boy who was fighting the system (Trin), and the boy who has completely rejected filial piety (Dan) and immediately came up with the theory that the Shadow or, rather, the ghosts that all these boys can see are visible because they are breaking from tradition. 

And in conversation with @slayerkitty earlier about the preview for the second half and the trailer for the show, and arms and hands (are we surprised this is where I am going?) I realized a pattern that I hadn’t quite picked up on. 

Left Hands. 

Now, depending on your level of involvement in religion, you may be more or less aware of where I am going with this. I was not raised religious, I had minimal knowledge of the significance of left hands in religion. But boy oh boy do I now. (If you are better versed in religion than I am, I invite you to please read me for filth and make and let me know what mistakes I made in writing this).

ANYWAY. To sit at the right hand of God is an honor, and there are a few references to sitting at God’s right hand in the Bible. According to Vexen Crabtree, there is a right hand path in religion that is associated with goodness, while the left hand path is considered evil. In certain cultures the left hand is considered to be unclean. 

Essentially, the left hand is considered to be Satanic and can be associated with the occult. Why is this important? 

How accurate is all of this? Idk, but I’m rolling with it for the sake of the argument! 

Because in Shadow almost all of the Shadow and ghost shit happens on the left. In fact, every single injury that occurs in the show (so far) occurs on the left-hand side. @so-much-yet-to-learn’s theory about the Shadow is that Dan, Nai, and Trin can see ghosts/are being pursued by ghosts and shadows because they are breaking societal norms. Therefore they are evil, they are deviant, and they must be saved from continuing down The Left Hand Path.

Anyway, shall we look at some instances of left hands in Shadow? Of course we should!

Episode 1

Episode 1 starts out immediately with the first left-arm related injury of the series. It is hard to see, I completely missed it the first time I watched (and to show it clearly, I had to up the brightness in this image), but Trin’s left arm is bandaged. We do not yet know what the injury is, or how he got it. But, he is wounded nonetheless. 

Things we know about Trin that could tie him to the “deviant” left-handed path: 1) Trin is queer, 2) Trin was fighting for institutional change at his school, 3) Trin was (apparently) using narcotics to treat his (extremely stigmatized) mental illness. 

Left Hand Injury Count: 1

When Dan enters the pool for the first time, the Shadow, a Shadow? grabs a hold of him and he drowns. Where was Dan grabbed? His left ankle.

After Dan nearly dies in the pool, and Nai sees the Shadow that tried to drown Dan, Nai pulls Dan aside for a conversation about ghosts. Nai confesses to Dan that when he was a child, he listened to a voice in his head that asked him to play with it, and he wound up with a scar. It is an old wound, we can assume how he got it, but when he shows Dan the scar, it is a cut on his wrist. Which wrist? The left. 

What do we know about Nai that could tie him to the “deviant” Left Hand Path? 1) he’s queer.

Left Hand Injury Count: 2

Episode 2

There are no left hand injuries in Episode 2, but there is still a lot of left-sided imagery

When Dan is telling Nai some of his backstory after they finish cleaning the chapel, Nai puts a comforting hand on Dan’s left shoulder. Dan tells Nai “You’re making an excuse to wipe your hand on my shirt as well. You got it all dirty” (not necessarily the strongest argument, but I wanted to note it because the left hand is considered unclean. Nai may be using his right hand, but he is adding dirt to Dan’s left side).

Dan gets in to his first fight with Anan and winds up having his wounds treated by Nai. Again, it’s not a left hand, but when Dan gets punched by Anan, he is injured on the left side of his face. (again, I understand this makes sense because Anan is right handed, but this is part of a trend, okay? hush.)

Left Side Injury Count: 1

We see Nai’s old injury in the flashback where he tells Dan his backstory and Anan ends up falling asleep on Nai’s left side. 

When the Shadow appears at the piano, it appears on Dan’s left.

Episode 3 

Dan sits on the left side of the monk when he is getting help navigating his lucid dreams and his connection to the Shadow. 

When Dan first starts using that Lucid Dreaming Stone, he wears it on his left hand. 

Episode 4

When Dan first arrives at the hospital to visit his father during the day, with Brother Anurak, Dan is standing on his father’s right side. Dan has spent a not insignificant amount of time this episode being told by Brother Anurak that he should visit his father, being told by Brother Anurak that he should forgive his father, and with the right side being associated with goodness, it makes some sort of sense, to me at least, that when he is under the supervision of the Brother, Dan would maintain appearances. But, in the evening, as he is waiting for his father to die, Dan sits on his father’s left. 

In the evening, when Brother Anurak is not around, Dan slips in to a memory and winds up at a table with his father. His father asks for forgiveness and Dan does not give it to him. Dan confronts his father, makes his disdain for his father and his actions abundantly clear, calls his father by his first name, and beats the ever living fuck out of him. At this his father laughs, makes a comment about how Dan is just like him, and then dies. Interestingly, when Dan is grappling with engaging with his anger and beating up his father, it is his right hand that is bloody. (Again, this is not surprising because Dan is right-handed so naturally he’s going to throw punches with his dominant hand). 

Dan wakes up, still on his fathers left just in time to watch him flatline. Coming out of this scene, what do we know about Dan that could tie him to the “deviant” Left Hand Path: 1) he does not engage in filial piety. Dan does not do what the adults, what his society expects him to do. Dan does not forgive his father. Dan disrespects his father. Dan denounces him. Dan does not honor his father’s dying wish. That is a huge deviation in my eyes from other shows I have watched with complicated, harmful family dynamics. 

Episode 5 

In the theater, Nai sees Trin following behind their teacher. Nai and Dan follow their theater teacher back to his office, where Nai promptly makes direct eye contact with Trin. Nai’s reaction is to  grab Dan’s left hand, until Dan covers Nai’s eyes. 

Nai is knocked over and he falls. This time it is Dan’s turn to tend to Nai’s wounds, and lo and behold, what do we have here? Another left sided injury, this time the knee. This one is notable to me only in the sense that left sided facial injuries can easily be justified by the fact that the person doing the punching is right handed. But Nai falls, so he didn’t have to skin his left knee. But he did. 

Left Sided Injury Count: 2

Also, something that I did notice, (and I have not been keeping track of positionality of the living breathing characters and where they stand cause then I’d be here for a million years) is that in the flashback where Trin meets up with Nai at the lake and Trin reveals himself as Nai’s chat friend he is sitting on Nai’s left.

Episode 6 

IT’S MONSTERFUCKER TIME!!!!!!!!!!! *air horn noises* 

Dan smokes some weed and then falls asleep, only to be confronted by the Shadow. He sits his ass down, spreads his legs open, and has a lovely little wet dream. But when we see the Shadow engaging in some incorporeal sex stuff, the camera is focused on Dan’s left side. And hey, while we’re at it, let me just point out that every single time the Shadow appears to Dan at night, when he is sleeping? The frame we get where the Shadow looms over Dan and slowly sinks down to meet him? Always shot from Dan’s left side. 

Now, we don’t know what Dan’s past experience with sex is like, but you can bet your ass that getting fucked by a Shadow would put Dan solidly in to the Sexual Deviancy category in the eyes of society. (I feel the need to state that only because this is the monsterfucker website, so I know our reaction to Dan and the Shadow doing some foolin’ around would not necessarily be the same). 

When Dan wakes up in the morning, he notices some scratches on his arm and shoulder. 

Which arm and shoulder? You got it! His left! 

And it doesn’t have to be his left arm, right? Like, just because the scene before he wakes up showed us Dan’s left side, does not mean the Shadow, which is incorporeal, and has on more than one occasion wrapped two arms around Dan (left and right), has to have scratched up only his left arm. We can potentially add two more types of deviancy to Dan’s roster by the time he wakes up: 1) drug use, 2) sexual relationship to the occult

Left Hand Injury Count: 3

The story continues, and Dan at one point uses the restroom. He wipes his face with a cloth, it comes back stained black, and he looks up to see, who? Trin! Standing on which side of him? Left!

Episode 7 

We open with Dan in the Funhouse, staring at a three-paned mirror. We know that when he looks in this mirror he will see two different people on either side of him in the mirror. But he is only shown in close up looking in one direction…his left. 

Dan gets beaten up by Anan and sent to the infirmary where he is once again sexed up by the Shadow while being shot from his left side. Under SMYTL’s theory about the people who can see ghosts and shadows being those that are deviating from societal expectations, we have Dan going deeper in to a potential sexual awakening here. 

Because of his fight with Anan, Dan once again ends up with wounds on the left side of his face. 

Left Sided Injury Count: 3

Flashback to a similar scene with Trin, where Anan is being forced to apologize for fighting. I am assuming at this point I don’t need to say it…

Left Sided Injury Count: 4

(Side Note: Anan has a lot of fucking anger in his heart, idk fully what his problem is but I’m guessing abuse from his parent [I mean we do see him get slapped] and/or the #tired approach of internalized homophobia being externalized as violent homophobia against Known Gays). 

Dan sees the Shadow again during rehearsals for Hamlet, and once again, the Shadow appears on Dan’s left, and I have to believe by this point that it is intentional that we see so much of the Shadow and Dan’s reaction to it from the left side, because Dan is standing on a stage right now. The film crew could have easily had the Shadow appear on the right. But they didn’t. 

Dan has lost his lucid dreaming stone, and then gets shunted in to some sort of dream, vision, or other form of communication with a Shadow that is the most corporeal and condensed it has ever been, looking far more human than smoke. There he finds some drawings, and sees a man locked in a dungeon, handcuffed to a table. 

He wakes up, goes about his day, and he ends up in the village listening to interviews of villagers talking about the wild ghosts that haunt the town. Where he learns about…

The One Armed Man. (you know where this is going).

The One Armed Man lost his left arm (I’ll use an image of the drawing, rather than the image of his bloody stump for people who are more blood averse).

We learn from the villager that the One Armed Man was a boxer, he joined the Navy, and one day when he was aboard the ship, the chain from the anchor…

“Tore his left arm right off.” 

Left Hand Injury Count: 4

What do we come to learn about the One Armed Man that may tie him to the “deviant” Left Hand Path? 1) he sells himself to homosexual millionaires, 2) he starts working on a party boat and giving people narcotics 3) he maintains contact with “sexual deviants” after he is jailed [potentially 4) he uses narcotics himself, I say potentially here because the villager only says he gave others narcotics, but the vision flashbacks we get from Dan show O.A.M. cooking opioids over candle flame]

Promo for Episodes 8-14 

According to the promo for the second half of this show, Dan will get yet another left arm injury bringing the (future) Left Hand Injury Count to (at least) 5. 

Original Show Trailer

Now, based on the clip that follows, I am like 99% confident that this is Trin, so I think we find out how he ends up with an injured arm at the beginning of Episode One.

All of this to say that I think @so-much-yet-to-learn is on to something with the shadows and ghosts being seen by societal deviants and that the show is trying to indicate that with it’s strong use of left handed/left path imagery. 

Alright, I’m off to watch all of Brother Anurak’s scenes again, because for some reason this visual of the One Armed Man looks like Brother Anurak to me, and I want to see if he actually uses his left arm.

[sinlapinthai]

Aom just posted this photo of Utt on her IG and then he made this comment:

And that had me smiled widely. XD

[save-the-data]

Shadow | S01E09

Thai Drama - 2023, 14 episodes

Episodes | Gaga | Viki | YouTube | iQIYI | WeTV | Tencent | Catalogue

[phukao]

[maniacr]

Mike takes care of Aom by feeding her food, medicine, and wiping her forehead, etc (You can tell that he is worried). We find out that he is also looking for a housekeeper. When he finally leaves f...

[jesuisnaraknarak09-blog]

Utt Uttsada and Teya Rogers (WEDDING GURU vol. 2 no. 13 February 2012)