Magnex

Having said all that, this rant is examining Kim's privileges in the context of Asian family dynamics and cultural traditions, and taking into account as to what those said privileges he enjoys could possibly motivate him to do. I'm also gonna include some novel bits, so if you haven’t read the book, here’s your obligatory spoiler alert warning, as well as my one plea of “please don’t attack me for reading the book and using it as part of my basis in arguing my thesis.”

But I digress!

In regards to my claim, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing; if anything, it goes to show how effective BOC, Daemi, and Jeff were in developing his character, that the Kim we see in the show embodies a key characteristic of his that’s very loyal to the original novel: his thoughts and motives are often hard to read, and even his own family members have trouble trying to understand what he’s really thinking.

I for one can definitely say that Jeff leaned heavily into Kim's character archetype of a cool and mysterious love interest, which we do see a little bit in the book.

As we see below, per Korn:

Like in the show as well as the book, the audience doesn’t really know what Kim is thinking.

(Just as a little side note, even within fandom, I think that's probably part of the reason he gets such a bad rap—yknow, outside the Kimchay community—and on the other side of that, there are sometimes conflicting interpretations (which is a good thing, we're engaging critically with the media!) in regards to what motivated him to make the decisions he did.)

He’s not a main POV character in the show, so his motivations are pretty murky, since it can be argued just as easily that his sleuthing behind the scenes can be seen as a way of strengthening his own position within the family, as it is his own efforts in protecting his brothers.

Perhaps it’s both or more than that—or hell, perhaps none of those things; it’s not as if he’s only allowed one or just those motivations, right?

Having said that, what the audience does know about Kim and can confirm, are the privileges he enjoys as the third son:

he was able to move out early and live on his own

he does not have as many bodyguards, which enables him to go sleuthing behind Korn’s back

he has the freedom to pursue a career in music, since that’s his main interest

In and of itself, the privileges Kim enjoys, if anything—demonstrate a lifestyle in which he is neither trying to run away from the shadows of the Theerapanyakul family’s infamy, nor is he really trying to gain a foothold within the mafia’s hierarchy in order to up one, or all of them. And I believe that's the entire point of his character, because we're not supposed to understand what he's thinking.

The way I see it, Kim enjoys the privileges as mentioned above because of the fact that he’s the third son of the top mafia family in Thailand, not the other way around. And because I see them more as privileges, they don't necessarily mean anything in terms of what motivates his actions.

There’s a few reasons for this:

Pursuing the Arts and Asian Style of Parenting

There’s a bit of a negative stigma in Asian cultures in general when it comes to pursuing the arts. Mind you, this isn’t unique to Asians, but it’s also a much more noticeable sentiment in Asia (i.e. the stereotype of Asian tiger parents wanting their kids to pursue something that contributes to society and makes a solid income, like doctors and lawyers). Asian parents in general tend to be overprotective and controlling of their children’s futures, and there’s still a relatively pervasive idea that one’s education is strictly tied to their lifelong career.

We see this in a multitude of ways in the show: for example, when Kinn first brings up his interest in music to Porsche during their ep. 6 forest adventure, he speculates on his father paying off the judges in the music competition he’d participated in. Even if at the time, Tankhun would presumably have still been the heir and Kinn was freely allowed to participate in the event, Korn exerted a tremendous level of control to ensure that Kinn came out on top, irrespective of how Kinn himself would feel about this.

Another example: Chay himself is willing to give up a college education, let alone study music, due to having seen how much Porsche struggles to financially provide for both of them. In the scene below, he makes it known that he's open to the idea of using the last of his parents' savings for his education in order to move some place else.

For Chay, the prospect of college is in and of itself a privilege they can't afford and at large, speaks very much to the wealth gap and inequality that still exists in Thailand, as it does for other Asian countries. It's not hard to understand why Chay is easily able to give up the opportunity of the oral interview in his dream school, besides just being heartbroken—he's always been more willing to face a reality of lifelong struggle, so long as it means he and his brother are together.

It's only because of Chay's own obedience to Porsche and his respect for him, that he even makes a show of going to the interview, rather than outright admitting to Porsche that he's no longer interested in going to that particular school. His short stint of teenage rebellion in the second half of the show is hidden from Porsche, in order to maintain the illusion that he's following the path Porsche specifically worked hard to set up for him.

Of course it goes without saying, this is no way meant to discredit Kim's work and effort to maintain a career in the entertainment industry, free of his family's influence or financial manipulation in that field. What I will say however, is that Kim's access to wealth, as well as the freedom afforded to him, allowed him to pursue his passion in music with significantly fewer obstacles, in comparison to Chay—enough so that the negative stigma is a bit of a moot point.

And we all have some idea of how Gun views Vegas’ culinary interests. :’D

Traditional Gender Role(s) and Internal Sexism

If we were to compare Kim's situation with any other character that would have been in somewhat similar circumstances regarding "leaving the family business," the only one that comes close to fitting the bill is Nampheung. Arguably we could also count Macau in terms of the lack of family involvement, but presumably since Macau still relies on his father and brother financially to support him, I'm leaving him out.

In the flashback scene with Nampheung, we see indicators of a contented life she's already begun to lead, away from the Theerapanyakul household: she's married with two kids, her husband runs a successful business, she manages to find time to pursue her passion in art, etc.

For all intents and purposes, she lives independently, and seemingly without having to rely on her adoptive brothers and father.

And yet, we know how Nampheung's story plays out, regardless of which brother pulled the trigger.

Mind you, although Korn and Gun's reason(s) for wanting Nampheung to return to the Theerapanyakul household has less to do with her sex and more to do with what she and her husband knows (whatever the heck that means, lol), it doesn't mean that a double standard, when compared to Kim's own living situation, isn't baked into it.

(And again, before I continue: this is in no way discrediting Thailand's efforts in furthering gender equality at large. The Thai government has made significant strides in improving women's rights, particularly in the work force. Despite this however, challenges still remain to this day, as do for most countries, when it comes to this particular issue.)

Why is it that Nampheung—a woman who was able to make a life for herself completely free of the Theerapanyakuls' influence—was still forced to return with Korn and the danger of being involved with the Theerapanyakuls, and yet Kim—who we can argue still benefits greatly from his family's (ill-gotten) wealth—is somehow able to more fully enjoy the freedom Nampheung could have only dreamed of and experienced for a short time?

In the same episode when Porsche reunites with his mother under the worst of circumstances, Gun makes a plea towards Nampheung to return to him, that he would be the one to protect her. The scene paints Nampheung as a damsel very much in distress, and though Gun claims to love her, he still treats her as a prize to be won, to take his side in their family conflict.

The framing of this theme in the show, of "trying to get away from the family," is gritty at best, heartachingly frustrating at worst.

I think this in particular is part of the reason why I'm less inclined to believe that Kim moved out strictly to not involve himself in the business. Like, for my own peace of mind, I try to temper this point (perhaps to my own detriment), yknow?

Personally, I feel like since Kim is able to live comfortably outside the family compound and pursue his music career, there would have had to be some sort of return or condition for this to be allowed (one of them being, he knows how to fight and protect himself).

After all, as Korn himself said:

Filial Piety and Birth Order

I've talked about this plenty of times before, so I won't get too deep into it (haha), but this perhaps plays the biggest role in what is disregarded in the "western bias" I spoke of earlier.

As a working definition, filial piety means showing care, gratitude, and obedience to your elders, be it one's parents, grandparents, ancestors, etc etc. This virtue is one of the most important cultural aspects in Thai culture, as well as other Asian cultures, and underpins the very bedrock of our communities.

I've written out another rant before that Porsche's initial judgement of Kim moving out of the family home hints very much at not only his own specific veneration of the family unit, but his internal biases in the way he sees how a family should function.

TL;DR: Kim moving out is something that Porsche does not see as a good thing whatsoever, despite his own misgivings about the Theerapanyakul family, when he first starts working for them. Porsche sees Kim's actions as being egotistical and self-serving, and to a certain extent, unfilial towards his family.

And part of this filial piety is the obligation that in their parents' old age, children are expected to take care of them. We see this in a couple of different ways in how Kim behaves towards Korn:

In the first and only scene they have together, Kim brings Korn one of his favorite snacks, to show consideration towards his father while stopping by for a visit, since his main objective (besides snooping around) was to ask Korn why Big was assigned to him.

Although the highlight of the scene shows the very mutual distrust between father and son, Kim still shows how dutiful he is towards Korn. He makes a point to show that he's very aware of his father's preferences in many different things: his food, his requirements when hiring bodyguards, hell—even the way Korn organizes his private space and his use of secret cuckoo clocks to open locked drawers, lolol.

The filial piety he exhibits towards Korn is, to a certain degree, very much a front. Yet its very role as a front in how Kim interacts with his father is telling of how much there exists a familial hierarchy between them, and that Kim still respects and is a product of his upbringing. He's not openly hostile against Korn, or even against whatever Korn has up his sleeve with Porsche's employment; if you think about it, at least up until Kim realizes he's fallen in love with Chay, Kim has the least to worry about with Korn's intentions in hiring Porsche.

Theoretically, anyway.

Another point, for which I've brought up before in another meta: at the end of the day, Kim is unable to actually disobey his father, as shown in this scene when Chan comes down to escort Kim to see Korn.

While there are definitely times in the show that Kim plays at straddling the line between filial piety for show and disobedient, spoiled child, at the end of the day, the deference he feels compelled to show Korn is still a leash around his neck. Even in this scene where Chay has gone missing along with Porsche, Kim cannot yet, if ever, cross that almost insurmountable boundary of actually going against Korn's word.

Especially given the context of this scene, at the eve of the Minor Family's coup.

In fact, I could even go so far as to say that perhaps another one of Korn's conditions for allowing Kim to live away from the compound, is Kim's obedience.

To be honest, Kim's place in the familial hierarchy of the Main Family is very much a double-edged sword, in that his position as the third son is simultaneously the place of least expectations from Korn, and thus, the one with the most freedom, yet also the last bastion of Korn's hopes and expectations for their family, should Kinn become unable to perform his job as the current heir.

The way I see it, though Kim doesn't have the pressure of running the mafia empire, he still carries the weight of authority that his name represents, and Korn (as well as the very environment and culture that he grew up in) holds Kim to that, as his father, as the one in position of authority in their family.

In retrospect, I think that's part of the reason BOC chose to elevate Kimchay's love story as much as possible, despite their story being almost entirely absent in the first novel the show is based off of.

Kim needed to be humbled by falling in love with Chay, because he too carries the weight of power like Vegas and Kinn. And like the other two men, he needed to understand what it meant to have a weakness.

(As a side note too, in terms of tropes in fiction, Kim's position in the hierarchy actually fits a number of them: Youngest Child Wins, Rule of Three, and Underdogs Never Lose.)

Conclusion

Kim, for me personally, is such an intriguing character because he represents both what Tankhun has long forgotten (and perhaps never even had in the first place—ambitions of his own, a passion to pursue outside of his family), as well as what Kinn had lost, when he took up the mantle.

Personally, I think the fact that he has these privileges—being able to live outside the compound, not having to involve himself in the tedious running of their family businesses, etc—gives him more reason to stay within the fold of the Theerapanyakul family (despite his emotional distance), not less, even if we don't take Chay into consideration.

We may not know what Kim is thinking, but beneath his aloof exterior, I'd like to think that, at least when it comes to his brothers and his father, he's not entirely self-serving (Chay is a different story, lmao).