365 WHR episode 8 recap: A Needy Time

365 Days of Love Episode 8 recap: A Needy Time

I had a hard time with this recap. Writer's block? Nothing interesting happening? Anticipation for episode 9? I don't know. It just didn't seem to give me something to hold onto, some defining concept of what happened, until I went and started on the screen-shots. And I saw that this episode is really about  . . . the joy in a needy time. The silver lining in the cloud, if you will. A moment that makes things better . . . for a moment, just a moment. A needy time.

"And joy comes well in such a needy time." (Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, scene 5)

Download this lakorn here, Streaming here.

Lan's sitting in the dark at her mom's place, found out by her mom and sister Da, and they notice she's been waiting for a call from Toon. Finally Toon caves in and calls Lan in the morning, telling her he has to take their dog to doctor's, so he'll pick her up as well.

Lan's pleased to death that he called, but these words are off putting to her and she tells him he needn't bother as she doesn't want to go home. So Toon tries again, asking her out to a movie. Lan can't believe her ears, but at the urging of her sister, tells him coolly she'll see if she's available and will call back later, which she does.

Nid knows Toon is going out with Lan, so she comes up with a plan to stop him, telling Toon that the main boss, her father, invited Toon over for dinner so he can discuss Nid's training. Toon calls Lan with the news.

But Nawat tells him he'll go in his place and picks up Nid in Toon's car, much to Nid's fury, while Toon picks his wife up on Nawat's motorcycle (he let Nawat borrow his car). Nawat tells Nid he sees through her plan and knows she was just trying to get Toon alone as he called and found out her dad's going out of town that evening, not planning to have dinner with Toon.

During the movie, Toon gets a call from Racha, whose husband was trying to force her to sign divorce papers by beating her up and threatening her. She refuses and manages to escape and call Toon.

Anyway, Toon tells Lan he has to help, but Lan asks "Between the two of us, whom would you chose?" We don't hear the answer, but we do see that both Toon and Lan arrive at Racha's hotel, as well as the cops. Toon tells Racha she should file a report on her hubby and tells Lan to go home. He has to go with Racha to file charges. Lan doesn't like it, but gives in rather gracefully for Lan.

Well, not really. Lan goes to the fortuneteller's house instead, meeting Thy there, but the house seems empty. Toon finishes at the police station, and then tries to find Lan. As to be expected, Lan's upset at Toon, saying Toon went to comfort Racha and everything seems to be building up to a divorce, but Thy tells her she'll lose her hubby for sure if she doesn't go home. But Lan makes it clear to Toon she's mad when he calls (memo to self: find another word for mad, angry, upset) and heads for her Mom's place instead.

Nawat drives to Toon's to exchange vehicles and Toon drives off to visit his father, who gives him sage advice. Lan goes to Mom's house, only to be stopped by Ting. Ting, who heard about it from Toon, has decided to take matters in her own hands and asks Lan to come back, calling her useless at housework and so on, but being better than Racha and Nid. Lan agrees, but with conditions attached. Namely, Ting's got to do a 180 reversal of her previous behavior. Ting agrees if Lan will stay with Toon.

Toon stays the night with his Dad, talking things over. The more he stays with his family, the more apparent it is how differently he and Lan grew up. Lan grew up with a bitter mom cynical about men and relationships and no dad in sight. Toon had a pretty good family life compared to hers.

He arrives home the next morning to find Lan, whom he's been trying to call, cooking with his sister Ting. After the meal, Lan tells him she's sorry, she'll stop making him uneasy and she loves him. She waits for the magic words, but all Toon does is hug her her to him and kiss her forehead. Boo! Jeers from the audience

When Toon's on his way out to lunch with coworkers, Lan comes in with dessert, only to find Nid has dessert for Toon as well. Much to everyone's surprise, Lan doesn't slap her into heaven or hell, but takes the sweets and says she'll eat them while Toon eats the food she brought. Everyone, including me, is surprised, but Lan calmly goes out with Toon. She returns to get the dessert she left and sees a scene that makes her think of a new way to keep Toon to herself: matchmaking!

Lan thinks of various ways to get the Nawat and Nid together, eventually settling on flowers delivered with a song presumably from Nawat. Nid's pleased with the gift, but Nawat gets chewed out by his boss for conducting personal business in the office. Lan visits the office to see what happened and Nawat figures it out, telling Lan he likes Nid, but wants it to happen naturally and his heart is not a tool to be used by her. He tells Lan that Toon really only thinks of Nid as a subordinate and Racha is just a witness to an important case, and she should trust Toon.

~End episode 8~

Other story lines, characters:
There's progress in Nawat's and Nid's relationship, with Nawat and Nid sharing a lunch on the rooftop, and Nid asks him if he likes her. Bingo! He chokes and doesn't answer, not that he needs to.

Mini-review of 365 Days of Love so far: I think it really made Lan think and mature when she was separated from Toon for a while. If episodes 1- 4 set up the background of the series and the basis of the troubles between Toon and Lan, episodes 5- 8 go into more depth about the psychology behind why they behave the way they do.

I really like the discussion of marriage in this lakorn and what it takes to be in a committed relationship. And I must say, Ann as Lan is WOW! She's sooo vulnerable, prickly and not necessarily all that likable, but in the coming episodes I grow to love her more and more.