#i am so tired why do i write analyses.... mhm i know why. to SOB.

[petekaos]

the chanonpom rooftop scene; an analysis

so. what a proposal scene that was, huh?

like always, i’ll be breaking down the major chanonpom scene we got this episode. this scene was given so much meaning by both the things they said and the things they didn’t, as well as the parallels to other characters that have already been established, and scene framing and composition in general.

strap in, folks. chanonpom won, and so did we.

a quick comment on the flashback before pom walks onto the roof - i think this bit is so incredibly important. first of all, chanon looks so terrified and lost here. he clearly hasn’t thought his plan through - all he does is hold a knife to the director’s neck with trembling hands, a half-baked idea of revenge brewing in his head. doesn’t this say something so clear about chanon’s perception of pom and how much he means to him? he remembered out of nowhere that he was subjected to this torture and was forced to live without his memories for years. and yet he never even blamed pom - not for a second. this is the chanon we know, the chanon that was ready to give everything up for pom, who put his own name on that document so that pom could have his future. this echoes in something pom says later as well but either way, chanon’s first instinct is to exact some sort of revenge on the director.

supot, as he does, immediately manipulates him into thinking pom is the one who he should blame and take revenge on - and i fervently believe that supot used his power on him here. he grips his shoulder, the music goes quiet as the camera focuses on supot’s face: all clear signs pointing towards the fact that supot put him under his control. like it was established in this analysis, chanon never would have ever done anything done against pom willingly, considering the fact that he was ready to give his life up for him when he was just seventeen. but him being manipulated into taking revenge against pom is completely believable, especially when supot is the one behind it - as he has been with all of it. chanon was so impressionable and hurt and lost, and he took clear advantage of it.

the composition and framing of this scene is beyond gorgeous. we start out with a shot of chanon on a rooftop, alone. as it has been established with pangwave, the rooftop is a place for vulnerability, for confessions, for the spark of love, and that’s exactly what happens here. just like for pangwave, chanon and pom’s safe space also appears to be a rooftop. moreover, we see chanon from the back, alone as he looks out over the city - the city that has housed him for all these years and that he has gone through without even knowing who he was, having lost everything remaining of him. we, the viewer, are removed from him in this moment as we see him from the back, through glass - because this is his moment. he starts off alone, like he has been for ten years now with nobody to reach out to, his only life force being to take revenge on his pom - a manipulated goal.

then we see pom walk in. chanon doesn’t look at him, doesn’t acknowledge him until the editors cut in with this wide shot again, directly following the last one where chanon was alone. this framing follows their reconciliation process in such a subtle and yet unconsciously noticeable way. pom has just moved into the shot, standing with his hands in his pockets and open, vulnerable towards chanon. his entire body is angled towards chanon, whereas chanon is angled away from pom - but still looking, still having turned his head. they start off on opposite sides.

the care these two lines demonstrate is truly unreal. pom has just been stabbed in the neck with a virus that he’ll now have to deal with and take medication for his entire life, and still he loves chanon so much as to find him and go after him because he knows, in his heart of hearts, that he’s the only one who’s able to stop him in any way. chanon doesn’t expect this obviously, still not looking at him because he can’t bear the thought of what he’s done to pom, but pom doesn’t take his eyes off of chanon here once. it’s worth noting that chanon looks up at pom clearly, levelling his eyes with his for the first time, when he hears that pom has come to stop him from doing anything stupid. this is where he, too, realises, how much pom cares for him. even after all these years, even after everything they’ve done to each other, even after they’ve forgotten and remembered again. they meet in a new life.

again, this is a parallel to the pangwave scene in episode 11, where wave stops pang from doing anything to himself. both of these couples are incredibly romantically coded - what with their rooftops, their subtle ways of taking care of each other, and their utter devotion that shines through their actions. in chanon and pom’s case, the way pom comes to stop him here, the way chanon is ready to give everything up for him. 

pom takes a couple of seconds to say this, clearing his throat and looking out to the city - the same place chanon looks when he’s contemplating or doesn’t know what to say - because this is forgiveness. this is him forgiving chanon. he doesn’t say it in the same words, but he says it in the way his eyes flicker down to the floor and then up to chanon, staying there for the remainder for the time until the next wide shot, like he’s waiting for a response. the magnitude of this does not go unmissed - as mentioned already, pom forgives him, even after chanon had injected a virus into him, whether through his own will or not. he clears this up for chanon, to make sure he knows that he could never be mad at him. again, it is very much worth noting that chanon doesn’t take his eyes off of pom once during his little speech here.

this is merely a continuation of pom’s forgiveness - but now it provides chanon with a choice. while he is saying that they could be hostile to one another forever, he is also presenting him with a question. pom is also saying: it is your choice now, what becomes of us. you can choose whether we stay like this, or if we reunite, if we work together. he appeals to chanon here to see things his way, to forgive him too. this also clearly expresses what pom wishes himself - that he and chanon reunite and become themselves again, because pom has spent so long without chanon that it hurts to live longer without him, knowing that he is alive.

chanon looks away for a second, and then back out at the city, contemplating what pom has just asked him. he could have done anything now - moved away, gone through with what he was planning to go through with in the first place... absolutely anything. but he drags his fingers across the balcony, and moves closer to him. this is the part in the reconciliation process where chanon makes the choice to be closer to pom, both emotionally and physically, where he accepts pom’s olive branch and starts to forgive him.

chanon continues with his side of the story here - how revenge against pom (that he was probably manipulated into by the director) was the only driving force in his life. but still - wasn’t it pom he lived for during his darkest times, whatever way it was? while that isn’t completely healthy, they’re building it back up. they’re getting back to where they used to be. chanon says he feels bad, and there we see a glimpse of seventeen year old chanon again, chanon from the gifted, the chanon who was so devoted to pom and the unfurling of his potential and his happiness. we see what he truly feels in this moment. what he doesn’t say here but means is: i’m sorry. i feel bad. please, let’s try again. 

it’s here we see the true extent of pom’s feelings about chanon, in whatever way they are. when chanon says he feels bad in that small voice, his apology to what he’s done to pom, pom’s first reaction is to sniffle, looking away from him in order to not cry. what he says next seals his forgiveness, his desire to have chanon back in his life in whatever way possible, because he has been lonely for so long. they both have. he says he doesn’t blame him. even though chanon has injected this virus into him that could potentially kill him, he doesn’t blame him. he doesn’t even need an explicit apology from him - rather he tells him to forget about it because he doesn’t want him to hurt any more than he already does. the way he immediately throws it to the wayside... that’s the devotion and the pure love pom holds for chanon. he’s saying, essentially, with this: i forgive you. it’s okay. let’s forget about it - let’s try again.

chanon turns away from him again, as if he can’t forget it, can’t forget what he did to pom like pom can’t forget what he did to chanon. but pom looks down, and moves even closer to him, as if he’s sealing the deal. he knows that he forgave chanon the minute it happened, and he needs chanon to know the same. this is the last step in their reconciliation process for now - chanon and pom having started out alone and at opposite ends of the rooftop, now meeting in the middle and finding themselves tentatively together again.

here we see more chanon and pang parallels, calling back to when pang said that maybe everything would be better if he died. these are two boys whose childhood was stolen from them, and who had to deal with the consequences with that mostly alone - chanon because he had no-one, and pang because he takes all responsibility onto his shoulder. chanon is almost like a future pang, someone that pang could become if he weren’t careful - hopeless and defeated, more than he already is. but through this scene, the show makes clear that you are never alone nor is it time to give up, through both pom here and wave in pang’s scene.

pom barely allows chanon to finish his sentence before he shoots out an “it’s not.” he cannot imagine his life without chanon in it, not anymore and not again. he needs to have him in it, cannot even let him believe for a second that he is better off dead. and this is where the wedding vow part of this scene comes through: “if i’m still alive, you must be as well.”

with this pom is saying: “as long as i am alive, i will be by your side.” with this, he is saying: “if i am still breathing, you must be breathing with me.” with this, he is saying: “i will go to the ends of the earth to make sure we are alive and together.” with this, he is saying: “i am devoted to you. we will make it together. we will work together. we will see the end of this together.” with this, he is saying: “you’re not allowed to die before i do.” with this, he is saying: “you and i are the same, our hearts are the same.” with this, he is saying: “i cannot fathom my life without you.”

of course, after this they decide to work together, having reconciled and reunited, and they smile at each other and stay close for the rest of the episode. in the preview, we see them with the gifted kids, working side by side as they always should have. it may have been ten or fifteen years too late, a long time coming, but chanon and pom have finally found each other again. 

our khu pom and p’chanon - together at last.