#dff ep 8

[lemon-salad69]

Me and the other non supporters watching him finally snap

[tbhimnoteasyonmyself]

TAN IS NEW

Hello, fellow associates, I, local deranged man, bring you (by request of @ayansbff who said I should "go make a post and patent it fr." thank you, Naga <3) once again a theory as insane as whatever has been going on in the ASOIAF fandom in the last 10 years (but no, I'm not here to tell you Tan is a horse or New is a faceless man).

For this week's episode: Tan is New (but with some spice).

Pls beware, this will require a certain level of "bear with me", ok? Ok.

Also: long ass post, guys. Be prepared.

So, 1st things 1st: New is obviously studying abroad.

This would mean that, in all the episodes we've seen of the flashback, we wouldn't have seen New. Because he's literally in a different country (cue theory: New is Mhok working as a cook in Hawaii ksksksk /j).

Nevertheless, in the latest events of the past storyline, Non has just gone M.I.A. Which is definitely something you'd tell the kid's brother about. I'd be pretty pissed if I was New and no one fucking told me about my brother vanishing.

(I think it could definitely be argued that their parents might try to hide the whole getting involved with money laundry and even the pedophilic child revenge porn sex tape on Twitter thing, especially their mother. bc, considering their treatment of Non this episode, it would definitely cross my mind that they'd think something along the lines of "New shouldn't be worried about what his fuck up of a brother is involved with, he should just focus on his study". And idk if Thailand's national news would arrive to New in the US just like that (maybe, maybe not, I won't try to speculate too much, I think it's too much of a wild card). YET, I still think, regardless, they'd have their limits even if the rest was true and they'd tell him about his brother being literally MISSING. So yeah...)

So back on track: sure, the police "think" Non has run away with Keng

Or, was convinced by Tee's uncle to accept that storyline

but Non's parents don't believe that shit

("They're TRYING to make our son LOOK LIKE" not "They think our son HAS")

And I think the same feeling could've been passed to New by his parents or just by New himself. But even if not, I think it's pretty reasonable to assume he'd come back to Thailand after that news. Like, if my brother was missing, I'd feel pretty bad, my parents would feel pretty bad and I'd want to go back home and be with them a bit, follow things up close, at the very least.

So, assuming that's true, it's not weird to presume New could be back in Thailand by the time The Hidden Character (the film Non wrote, not the BOC reality show thing) airs. Which would lead us to:

Now, I've seen people say it's Tan, I've seen people say it's White, I've seen people say it's Bible (?)... To me, that's Tan. The voice that calls "Phee" seems to me that's Mio's voice and the person we see in the door, albeit he does resemble Bible, reads to me as him as well.

Besides, we see him being introduced to the class in the ep.9 preview so, yeah, it could be to throw us off, but I genuinely think it's just bc it's Tan.

Regardless, even if not, Tan will appear next episode. So... There's that. Question is: why?

We see both Tan and Phee moving to the gang's class next episode, which the gang points out as "weird". Now, idk why it would be weird to see people change schools in 12th grade but fine, I'm not gonna argue, maybe they know something I don't. Ig you could argue it's bc it's the last year but I'd say people have issues all the time (being the last year of school doesn't change that) and people also move houses all the time. So I wouldn't question it but ok. Moving on.

We know Phee has a connection to Non (as his ex-boyfriend) but we don't know why Tan would be there too. Sure, we can argue Phee has to have friends. But, ngl, if my friend asked me to move schools bc he wants to find out what happened to his bf who mysteriously disappeared, I'd politely decline. I'd support him in his endeavours, of course, but I wouldn't change my entire life for it. I could even go as much as to help him befriend them and hang out with the fuckers but I wouldn't move schools, I think.

So Tan must have a bigger motive, right? And what bigger motive than being the brother of Non, am I right?

Furthermore, we have to consider legal matters. They're all minors. Phee's father, of course, knows about Phee being, at least, friends with Non. And, even if he told him to stay out of trouble and that he himself would not go around poking in the business for Phee's own safety, I think he'd be okay with Phee moving schools for grief reasons (a.k.a being close to Non because that was his school) or even bc he knew Phee was trying to talk to his friends (I don't think he suspects the kids too much and honestly that's a terrible lack of sight on his behalf but, I mean, they're kids, I think it's fair to assume they're innocent).

But what about Tan? Assuming Tan is not Non's brother, would his parents let him move schools to the school where all those nasty kids who keep appearing on the news study??? I don't think so. Sounds dangerous. Things change, of course, if Tan is not actually Tan but New.

Non's parents, despite their obvious lack of parenting skills, care about him. He's their son. They'd want to know what happened. And, sure, New getting involved would be terrible for them (bc he's their son and clearly the favourite child and god forbid he wastes his potential studying there bc of Non's failures AGAIN), but if New specifically requested that, would they go against it? Would they go against their talented son and his show of altruism and love for his brother?? Especially when the police are not doing anything and it's just trying to close the damn case??? I don't think so.

Thus: Tan is New.

"But what about his legal name???", I hear you say. "If they're siblings they'll have the same last name!!" And yeah. That's true. Especially in Thailand where most surnames are exclusive to a singular family. But I thin- "What about the age gap??? New is older than Non!! His mom even refers to him as Non's phi!!!" Yes. I know. That's where the spice comes in:

NEW IS ADOPTED.

There, I dropped the bomb. This would mean that, maybe, his legal name wasn't changed from what it originally was. Sure, it could've, since he's now part of a different family but they also could've kept the original surname. Which is likely if New wasn't adopted in a normal fashion.

We have to consider how poor Non's family seems to be. Whether that's a new situation or it has always been like this we don't know. But that's something. Now, I'm not Thai nor do I live in Thailand but from what I read, income does factor a lot into whether or not a family can adopt a child (at least in theory). So I'd assume a poor family would struggle with it. Nevertheless, it seems Thai law puts a lot of value into family ties with the child so, maybe New was someone else's child originally like of a brother or a sister of one of Non's parents. Or maybe something else entirely, I don't know. I don't think it matters that much.

"That still doesn't explain the age gap though. Tan is only 2 months older than Non!!"

Well, that's still older. Would that qualify him as "phi", idk? Both Pimpa (Non and New's mother) and Non refer to him that way. But maybe that's just another way for the series to tell us there's a ver clear hierarchy between these brothers and Non comes second. Idk. (if you're Thai or know Thai culture well and would like to add input here, pls do)

"WHAT ABOUT THE PICTURES, DANTE???"

Ok, yeah, I know. They make a compelling case.

(I took the liberty to brighten them bc OMG WHY IS THIS SHOW SO DARK????)

And yes, in the picture further to the left it does seem like they have a huge age gap but also, in the picture right next to it, it doesn't seem so (in fact the kid in blue seems about the same age in both pics, only the other one doesn't). So maybe the kid in pic one is not Non, it's some other kid (could be, especially considering he's wearing blue and, as the fandom's most dear colour theorist @shannankle has pointed out on a lot of posts but most especially this one: Non's colour is red). Or maybe it is one of them and they just grew up at different paces, idk. It happens, man.

TBH I'm not greatly concerned about the pics. What I am concerned about is the narrative implications of this. That his parents's (and, as previously established, especially his mother's [who is the most present parent in his life, as stated by the parents themselves in ep.8])

favourite kid is the one who isn't even theirs by blood. That their favourite son is the one that is not actually their son (I obviously do believe adopted kids are as much people's kids as biological ones, family is made not inherited, but I mean this as strictly talking about the blood relations of these people)! That no one ever loves Non enough to actually save him from doom (bc, like a fairytale princess, the thing that could prevent Non's demise was love).

If his peers had loved him enough he wouldn't have felt the need to cling to that awful gang. If Jin had loved him enough he would've helped him get away from Tee in this episode, at the very least. If his parents had loved him enough, they would've prevented him from falling prey to so many people or, at least, would've been trustworthy for him to talk to and helped him get out of the situations he was getting himself into.

This would also play well with the character's names:

Non. That which/whom isn't.

Who isn't seen, who isn't heard, who isn't loved, who isn't perfect, who isn't who people expected him to be, who isn't the gang's friend, who isn't his parent's perfect son (not blaming him but that's how they see it), who isn't the boyfriend Phee hoped he would be (not blaming him for the sexual assault he suffered, just seeing it through Phee's eyes, pls don't misinterpret).

New. That which/whom is fresh, original. That which just arrived.

Who is a prodigy, a talent, one of a kind. Who is so different from Non and his "crooked ways". Who arrived at the family later. Who just arrived in Thailand, who just arrived in Non's school. Who is a new person, who has a new identity, who has a new life goal.

So, yeah, it is a bit crazy and depends on a lot of circumstantial and potential facts that have not been hinted towards AT ALL by the show. And I recognize that. But I think this is what is fun about theories and speculation and, even if this is not true (likely), I still had fun crafting this and showing it to you guys. At the very least it's entertaining and keeps us thinking.

Pls feel free to add stuff or question stuff in this post, I'd love for us to work together as a community for our little murder gays show. Hehe.

Also, I'll leave you a question myself: if this is true, does it mean Phee and Tan are working together as the killers, only one of them is killing or neither is committing murder? 🤔

[vani-ash]

I support Nons wrongs

[glazecaramel]

WELL DESERVED DISH

Well, now get some beauty sleep for an hour before watch the new eps

[jenyifer]

Dead Friend Forever ep 8 initial reaction

Omg everyone I’ve caught up!!!!! I’m gonna get to watch the behind the scenes and first eps again woooooooooooo. Thought this ep would have more answers honestly but I got some big new questions

Let’s get into it

But hey he told someone before he died hopefully something can come of that. Once again we know Tee’s uncle gets caught.

Okay so Non’s crying scenes where he’s wearing the bracelet really killed me. Poor baby. So lost and scared no where to go until he mentally snaps. We don’t know exactly what mental disorder he struggles with. I assume it’s bipolar or schizophrenia. It’s sad but I’ve know people who struggled with both. Going off their medication lead to really dangerous places and ways of thinking. I don’t blame non for going to extremes here. Ugh his scream up the stairs really is going to torture me

Tee does at least extremely regrets what he does to Non. I really don’t think he wanted Non dead or in this much trouble but besides non he’s the one most in over his head. He’s also in an impossible situation. No escape his dad is sick and his uncle is an evil bastard who barely takes care of him.

God I hate Por he is really despicable. He’s so realistic though the bully with too much money for his ‘friends’ to speak up. Por has 0 empathy for anyone has little concept of others even his ‘friends’ when Top gets attacked you know you didn’t care? Por.

Oh Non. They did bully and torture you. Non was too good too desperate to make friends to even have one like Jin. He genuinely was doing most of it for Jin. Just to have one friend. So painful. Bullies don’t care what could be going on in your life. I think it’s part of having their brains under developed because later in life they may apologize. I was really bullied in school and when I go home which is 16 hours ago via car sometimes I’ll run into my bullies and they’ll act like we were friends. Or they’ll try to contact me online etc. I think they learn what it means to be bullied later in life or (this actually happened) they have a kid that has ADHD and likes anime and other interests I had and they realize that as a school kid they would have bullied and tortured their own child. So to make up for it they want to talk to me again. Non shouldn’t have gone to that house. He should have just pretended like they were already dead. Change schools. But… if he’s off his medication he can’t be held accountable for his actions here. He’s already obsessed with his story pre everything breaking down. Gahhh I feel so bad for him.

Is this the last time we see Non? He could still be alive I doubt it though. I can’t believe Jin thinks he’s better than the rest of them. Jin and Fluke should have stopped them. I realize that maybe they didn’t understand the depths of trouble Tee is in. Maybe they didn’t compute the graviety of the situation. Non told them Tee had him do the horse account. But it’s worse than that. I’m sure with time Jin at least can put together the extent of trouble Non was in and know he’s been killed.

Tee does try multiple times at his own risk to try to find out what happened to non which is something. It’s possible his relationship with White is an idealized penance for what he did to Non. White is also innocent looking and sweet like Non really was.

Phee’s dad is in an impossible situations the bad guys have proven they are willing to kill and completely cover it up with money. I don’t blame him for backing off to protect his child.

Gahhhhhjj I hate Por so much. Idk why he acted so upset about Non at the beginning of the series. If anything the one who seemed least upset about Non was Jin. But Jin broke the camel’s back and lead Non into the lions den again and again.

Come on Phee let’s get those bitches.

So Tan I’m 100% sure he is New. You can change your nickname.

What I don’t know is

1. Why would Top do anything to Por? Top delivered Non with Tee. Top knew about the accounts. Top doesn’t seem involved heavily else where so… idk

2. Where and who is White? Did he really not know anything is he related to the teacher maybe? Cause we know the teacher is dead. I doubt it though.

3. Does Phee have any feelings for Jin? I doubt it.

[mirabella96]

Dead Friend Forever ep 8

And that will be it

Can we get another car?

Make it two more cars

Ohhhhhhhhhhh

This is some Joker shit going on

Kinda wondering how or if Tee cut ties with his mafia uncle bc I do not believe future Tee will be with White otherwise

The fu

sick sick

Jin run away so maybe he will live in the future

The fu with this Non is with the teacher, you freakind psychopats, all of you

(But if Phee saw the movie and Tan is asking about scrip in the preview does ep 1 of this series makes sense?)

[sammylamsu]

After Watching DFF EP 8 I'm listening to this song and crying myself to sleep.

[live-from-flaturn]

Not to be like... "I called it."

But...

I called it. 🥳🤡🕵 I knew Tan was New out for revenge and Phee played some kind of role in it. Alas that my hopes for Phee's loyalty were dashed, but oh well. That's what you get etc.

My gay little detective brain is content.

[demiromanticmickey]

DFF making me finally read this. (Look at the cute little sticker my library gave me!)

[visualtaehyun]

DFF language notes and observations

This was originally just supposed to be a quick look at Non's meds in ep. 8 but then I finished watching the episode and felt compelled to rewatch the entire show 🫠 So might as well collect everything into one post!

Disclaimer: not a native Thai speaker, still learning 🙏

Por's mumblings (ep. 2)

กูขอโทษ อย่าเอาคืนกูเลย /guu khaaw thoht. yaa ao kheuun guu loei/ = "I'm sorry. Don't take revenge on me/Don't get back at me."

Time and ages

The present takes place in 2023, the past was three years ago, in 2020. Apart from White, the boys are all the same age according to the character overview below, which makes them all 19-20 years old in the present (while White is 18 and a freshman). In the past up to ep. 8, they would have been 16-17 years old and in 11th grade (ม. 5/3 -> Matthayom 5, class 3; ม. stands for มัธยม /mat tha yohm/ = secondary school).

Potty mouth Fluke

In the present, I swear every other word out of his mouth is a swear and the subs don't always make it obvious. An example of when he's speaking calmly in ep. 3:

เพราะคนอย่างไอ้เหี้ยท็อปอ่ะ แม่งคงไม่ปล่อยให้โอกาสแบบเนี่ยะหลุดมือไปง่ายๆละเว่ย /phraw khohn yaang ai hia Top a- maaeng khohng mai blaawy hai oh gaat baaep niia loot meuu bpai ngaai ngaai la woei/ = Because someone like that dipshit Top wouldn't fucking let an opportunity like this slip his hands so easily.

It's not like the others don't curse, they sure do lol, but Fluke does so even when not in a stressful situation, and it sticks out in contrast to White especially because the baby speaks so properly and politely to his phis.

Newspaper clipping (ep. 4)

เป็นแฟนไอ้ตี๋แต่มึงไม่รู้จักอาโจ้นะ /bpen faaen ai Tee dtaae meung mei ruu jak aa Joe na/ = You're Tee's boyfriend but don't know uncle Joe?

The headline reads: ตายปริศนา'เสี่ยโจ้'นายบ่อนใหญ่ /dtaai bprit sa naa 'siia Joe' naai baawn yai/ = Mysterious death of 'bigwig* Joe' the gambling magnate** ฟอกเงินบัญชีม้ากว่า 300 ล้าน /faawk ngern ban chee maa gwaa 300 laan/ = Laundered money with over 300 million mule accounts

* เสี่ย /siia/ = a rich guy who squanders money, a big spender in illicit businesses, mostly used for middle-aged men; it's used as a pronoun, hence why he's known as เสี่ยโจ้ /siia Joe/ and we hear his subordinates call him เสี่ย /siia/, often subbed as Boss; it's a term of Teochew origin that describes an aristocrat's son, originally ** นายบ่อนใหญ่ /naai baawn yai/ = big shot gambling den boss or the boss of a huge gambling den

The snippet on the right is another easter egg btw - 'Talking to Pond Krisda, director of "Man Suang", Thai filmmaking [...]' but I can't make out the rest in that box (the snippet above that, too, though some of it I can tell says tourists, free visa, 3 months).

Greasy

What the boys call Non is (ไอ้)เมือก /(ai) meuuak/ which is more like Slimy or Mucous, actually.

More news (ep. 6, 7, 8)

Gang of senior high teens accomplices to mule accounts

Police does 180: Senior high teens escape lawsuit for shady mule accounts

High school kid goes missing at same time as teacher in leaked clip Connected to case of shady mule account teens

Past injury?

Whoever actually leaked the clip has this pelvis x-ray saved that's labeled to be from that same year, 2563 aka 2020. The two files at the top look to be invoices.

Pronouns

When Phee goes to confront Non about the leaked clip, he's so furious that he switches from their usual เรา /rao/ (= I; informal) + calling each other by name instead of using a 2nd pers. pronoun to calling both Non and Keng มึง /meung/ (= you; impolite) and himself กู /guu/ (= I; impolite). For reference, กู/มึง /guu, meung/ are the same pronouns the entire friend group use with each other, as male friends in Thai shows often do. Non, as the new addition to the group, is the only one who uses เรา /rao/ + names, and Jin is the only who reciprocally uses these pronouns with him.

Non's meds

Lorazepam -> benzodiazepine; used for treating anxiety disorders, insomnia, seizures etc.

Sertraline -> antidepressant; used for treating clinical depression, PTSD, OCD, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder

Quetiapine -> antipsychotic; used for treating schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, clinical depression etc.

THC poster, and a goof

ที่แห่งนี้...ไม่ได้มีแค่พวกเรา /thee haaeng nee...mai dai mee khaae puuak rao/ = In this place... it's not just us.

I'm sure there's more going on than just Phee and Tan infiltrating the group to get evidence and avenge Non. Like, Keng was on the phone with his contact Joy when he got hit by that white truck of doom car so I wonder if she's gonna come into play again in the present and who she really is.

And just for fun: that half-heartedly covered poster behind Tee looks suspiciously like a movie about a young chocolatier that shouldn't be out for another 3 years, according to the time line of this show lol

[fracturediron]

Just realised Sammon and medical realism was at it again in DFF ep 8 when Tee drugged Non. Unlike what you see in a lot of TV/movies, ingested drugs aren't gonna knock you out immediately because your body needs to actually digest it and for it to hit your bloodstream first! Which can take anywhere from half an hour to an hour depending on whether you've eaten recently, your body's tolerance for drugs/alcohol in general, your metabolism and how potent the dose is

[lemon-salad69]

Praying for this to be the final outcome

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

DFF - Character Reveals and Why Some Work and Some Don't

I have been thinking about Phee and Tan and why the Tan reveal was so amazing while the Phee character reveal post episode 9 destroyed the character for a big chunk of the audience.

It all started with a post from @mikuni14 here is the link with a couple of additions and back and forths, from me, op and @leconcombrerit and the comments in the notes by @kerrikins which I just say today and accidently helped me figure out why I don't like post episode 9 Phee.

Set Up to The Reveal

I think most of us can agree that Tan and Phee have been suspicious since episode 1. The key to the later reveals was for Phee to appear the one in charage as highlighten in this excellent post episode 9 post from @lurkingshan

So for 8 weeks of real world time, everyone who watched live spend that time with this image of Phee: A loyal, smart, leader oriented teen that made a mistake in anger and betrayal and is now trying to make up for it. Someone who is charge and on top of this revenge plan. Someone who is willing to get their hands dirty.

While Tan came across as someone who wants answears, who likes to get high with these people but is only for real close to Phee, and fades into the background unleass you are specifically analyzing his character.

Speaking from me only, even while I was obsessing over Mio's microexpression I was skeptical over the Tan is the brother reveal, I was coinvinced that I wasn't going to suspend my disbelief over Mio's age and that it didn't make any sense because Phee looked to be so much more in charge.

Writers don't know what the audience is going to like about the character before the reveal happens. And with every character you ran the risk of that reveal destroying the audience's attachment by changing the wrong things.

The Reveals in Ep 9

While DFF had other reveals, specifically with Phee, all those revealed only served to strengthen the audience initial perception of Phee.

Then came episode 9. And while the Tan is New reveal blew everyone including me out of the water over how good it was, seriously Mio was amazing in this role and the writing for him was insanly good, Phee's episode 9 reveals didn't work as much.

Why?

It's simple because Tan was very much non entity pre-reveal. If you weren't obssessing over everything like myself you barely payed attention to him.

There was no character for the reveal to assinate, Tan never came across as someone who was especially close to any of the others except for Phee, at the most he Fluke and Top were his weed buddies and that is the extent of the friendships you saw between Tan and the group.

The reveal strengthents the character, they make it better, they make you go back and appriciate everything you didn't notice. All the little moments of barely concealed disdain.

While with Phee it's the opposite. Phee was a strong character already, and everything that we saw seem to reinforced that.

But episode 9 changed that. Episode 9 destroyed all of it, and while it worked fine at the time, the cracks started to appear as soon as episode 10 rolled around.

Because everything we learn from episode 9 destroyes everything we know about Phee as a character.

Loyal = He flipped on the boys as soon as they were nice to him and Tan [Read: OUR FRIENDS NEED HELP - I haven't forgotten, OUR FRIENDS I wanted to kill him]. Falls in love with Jin in three scenes (and yeah I know that it might have been weeks of real world time, BUT FOR US it was 3 scenes, in 3 scenes he was over Non and totally lovey dovey with Jin.), Enables New's revenge and pretends to be on his side still all the while not doing anything to help or not even wanting to do anything that doesn't help his guilt anymore.

Smart = Are we really supposed to believe that Phee had no idea that New had the intention of seeing the boys die? Am I really supposed to believe that the son of a cop, saw New totally loose everything, ask to die, profess revenge [the flashback scene I'll Make Them Pay in episode 12] and then heard "This won't killed them" in that tone and not made 2 + 2??? Are we for real right now??????

Leader Oriented = Not in charge of their mission, taking New's lead

Teen who made a mistake and said something in anger = This one is still valid, but it lessened by knowing he never actually confronted that what happened to Non was predatory and a little more complicated then actual cheating. Or the fact that he dismissed Non's call or explanations. The fact that he seemingly gets over Non and totally falls for Jin within a week of meeting him fits with stupid teen boy, but really doesn't help.

In charged and on top of this revenge plan = Again, not in charge of the plan seemingly just going along for the ride.

Someone who is willing to get their hands dirty = He has ethics about muder completely OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE!! It is valid to not want to kill people but I'm sorry where the fuck were this boy ethics before? An incompelte lists of things Phee did that he was somehow totally fine with despite his so called "ethics":

Sleeps with Jin under false pretenses

Lied to his father and implicated himself in a crime just to help Non.

Ok with drugging people with a dangerous experimental drugs that causes fear and paranoia after New's reassurance that it tots won't kill them trust me bro.

Sleeping with Jin while he was definately 100% under the influence of New's drugs (the fail blow job in episode one) [We know they were still influenced because if the hand groping Tee was an hallucination then all the characters were still drugged]

Enabled New's revenge quest for three years whithout ever trying to get New to go back to his family (we didn't see it or have it mention so it didn't happen within the text)

Totally ok with sending Top with New post Uncle Dang getting his head chopped off while under the impression that New is responsible for said head chopping

Under the impression that New caused Por getting impaled but still not saying anything (we know that he could have said something because that is what he does later)

Learns that Jin filmed Non and posted the video and reacts with: So we were both hurting him and is fine with it in 5 minutes.

Apparently never fucking interrogated or contronted what happened to Non with Keng, never calls it grooming or abuse. Never recognizes that there were deeper motivations. In three years he manged to do 0 internal searching on it. Despite the fact that Por (who is a dick and the same age as the other boys and Phee) managed to come that conclusion right away.

There's probably more. His ethics come out of nowhere and feel like he is betraying New and being a dysloyal dick, because this character doesn't and has never come across as someone who gives a shit about ethics.

Like ok none of those things are muder fair enough, but a story needs to set up a character internal conflict over murder on a revenge quest a little better then a simple "This won't kill them right?"

Phee post episode 9 character falls apart because it is simply not the same character we thought we were getting for the previous 8 episodes. If you are not a PheeJin shipper there is not much post episode 9 to like about Phee. In the most charitable of read he comes across as bellyflopping follower who couldn't make a decision about what he wanted for 3 years.

I think somewhere along the lines something from the original idea got lost in the writing. To the writers who know this character inside and out and created him, Phee probably comes across as someone who struggled for years and was very conflicted and tourtured, unfortunatly the structure the chose for the plot doesn't have much time to show that to us.

Character reveals should always feel like they make sense, you should be able to go back and fit what you previously knew about the character with the new reveal. The reveal should feel like something that re-orients the puzzle, or helps you to put something in a different prospective. Not something that totally breaks everything that came before.

Reveals that are meant to make you feel like everything you knew about that character was a lie are much trickier to writer and balance, and crucially YOU MUST TREAT THEM LIKE THEY DO.

I never got the sense that the show wanted me to see Phee's betrayal and flipping on New as a bad thing, as something that goes against what the audience believed the character to be.

It just comes across that he is going from sympathic villain to tourtured anti-hero. At least that is what it feels like the writer wanted to show with that. Not that I see Tan or Post episode 9 Phee as sympathic villains. It feels like the writers saw them like that.

[mikuni14]

Dead Friend Forever - Ep 8

One of the reasons I love DFF so much is the fact that we already have 8 episodes and NONE of them are bad or worse than the previous one, there is no annoying fluctuation or drop in quality. From the first episode, the series maintains a constant, very high level, which is almost unheard of in BL series, or in series in general ✨

DFF has the perfect storytelling for a show about crime and mystery. It is as if we were in a dark room surrounded by vague shapes and with one light source, and with each episode the light gets stronger brings new shapes out of the darkness. In this episode, it was Tee's involvement in Non's disappearance. And also Keng's fate. The crew's behavior at the beginning of the series, their sense of guilt mixed with persistent and aggressive convincing themselves that Non simply disappeared (also - as if it were normal, such a disappearance), and Tee and Top's belief that Non is a ghost (i.e. dead), found a perfect explanation. Because when they see Non for the last time, he is alive. And Tee (and possibly Top because he was there) know more, but not everything. What is clear, however, is the power of delulu in all of them and the creeping, repressed subconscious knowledge that no, Non did not run away with Keng...

My personal comment: while I can objectively consider their shades, greyness, nuances and so on, the fact that they lied to the police without hesitation in Non's case and then everyone preyed and fed on his work and basked in the light of success, eliminates all their "shades". And yes, even Jin showing off his pained face. I'm a fan of PheeJin, but I want to make one thing clear: I'm not interested in his remorse, his or Tee's motivations. I'm interested in the result and how they behaved. I'm interested in their choices. And in the case of these guys, the truth is really clear and out there. It's not about one choice, one mistake. What I mean, an endless SERIES of choices and mistakes ending with Non's disappearance, who no one knows where he is, doesn't go to school, is with some shady adult, doesn't live a normal teenager's life. The way THEY ALL LIVE.

Non's relationship with his parents was amazingly presented, as well as the accusations about which one of them was responsible for his sexuality, which is such a rl experience. It's also telling, that neither of his parents asked him how you were feeling? Do you need help? No, they just made it all about themselves, thought that the teenage child, THEIR CHILD, just did it on its own, probably to spite them. And they immediately compared him to his brother who "would never do something like that." Also Non's mental breakdown, his manic episode, but also how he didn't get rid of his old habits, his gullibility, because he gave in to Tee very easily and drank water from him. This is all very credible. Barcode played phenomenally in this episode, his sobs, screams, laughter, the way he flinches when someone says something to him or touches him. Amazing.

Por is happy with himself and his success and then his father's words "My help in this is not in vain" bring him back to reality. I love his reaction to it, how all his satisfaction disappears. I wonder how many times Por realized that he was just an extension of his father's political career. And that he will never do anything on his own, whatever success he has will always be the work of others, his mother, his father even fucking Greasy. Even Tee said that if it weren't for Por's father, this movie would never have been made.

SPOILER FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN THE PREVIEW OF THE NEXT EPISODE: It seems strange to me that Phee and Tan spent 3 years investigating Non's disapperance, being friends with his bullies and, in Phee's case, sleeping with his potential bully. And only on this trip did they finally decide to uncover Non's fate (I tend to believe that Phee and Tan are not murderers and are conducting a psychological war with these boys, and the murderer acts independently of them). I don't question the fact that it was difficult to get anything out of them, because it was obvious that no one would want to talk about their involvement in something like that (which is why I believe that Phee and Tan came up with a plan to scare them and get information out of them). The only thing that worries me is time. 3 years in the company of your loved one's/ your brother's bullies is A LOT and a very heavy mental burden to bear. But I believe in this series and I know it will explain everything 😍

[glazecaramel]

shit, this is what I’ve been waiting for.

Then there’s a probabilty as well Non was there too until now.

This is felt like watching a death note scene📓

[dawnthesheep]

Okay so I was just rewatching the DFF trailer...

*warning spoilers for beyond ep 8*

Idk if this has been said before but there's a clip of White attacking Tee???

LIKE???! THAT'S MY BOY THANK YOU

I know White was gonna become more significant but this is so exciting and I can't wait to see how the rest of this *chef's kiss* show goes down.

White final girl really could be come true y'all I'M SO HYPED