#chalothorn

ok I don't know if this is like obvious to everyone else but I figured out something rewatching The Sign

this scene in episode 2 where Phaya gets lured out to sea?

This is NOT Wansarat!!!! This is CHALOTHORN!!!!

this is something that has confused me. why would Wansarat be leading Phaya out to the ocean? that doesn't seem to make sense considering everything, but I just brushed it aside as a plot hole or something but then rewatching noticed this!

if you look closely you cans see that Wansarat's eyes flash green for a moment (there's a little sound effect when it happens too, but it's easy to miss)

you know whose eyes also flash green? Narong (the police officer who killed those guys in episode 5) when he was being possessed by... you guessed it CHALOTHORN!!!

(here you can see how his eyes changed while he was being possessed)

now at this point Chalothorn has shown up twice (though we don't know that yet). once in his sea serpent form in episode 1 and then in episode 2 he's camouflaged at the bar

and look at those eyes!!! they're green!!!

but wait there's more!!!

when Phaya sees "Wansarat" here, there's an interesting effect as he goes into a trance and walks into the water....

this being identical to the effect in episode 9 where Chalothorn lures him into the water by pretending to be Tharn!!!!

FURTHERMORE!!! The only times we see Wansarat directly are in Phaya's dreams and in episode 1 where she rescued him from the water/Chalothorn which turned out to also be Tharn pulling Phaya out

So why would Wansarat be over here by herself, while Tharn is elsewhere, since they're the same person? Why would she lure her soulmate to drown? It's because Chalothorn has disguised himself as Wansarat to lead Phaya to his death!!! He has been spying on them at the camp at this point, but at this point couldn't gauge how close they were so he went with Wansarat to lure Phaya (opposed to episode 9 where he disguised himself as Tharn for the same purpose since he knew Phaya would go after Tharn). He had already seen Wansarat save Phaya earlier, so he knew that he would follow her, and he even said the exact same thing to him to lure him over.

So this?

is Wansarat

But this?

So when he showed up at the beginning of Interminable last week, I was like “Oh Hell No!” But he changed my mind within the first 30 seconds he was on screen. Really loving him in this new series!

Enter new Villain:

"ความรักไม่มีผิดหรือมีถูก ข้าจะทำให้ท่านเห็นว่าครุฑอย่างข้าก็สามารถรักวรรณษารัตน์ได้"

Justification:

"Sharing is caring. In this case sharing your naga wife" - Anonymous

My post about the visual rhetoric around Phaya and Tharn's lovemaking in Episode 7 got temporarily flagged for being sexually explicit (it really isn't), and happily Tumblr has now unhidden the post (also linked here).

I've had a few new thoughts about the visuals since, but I'm not going to edit the original post in case it sets off another sequence of flagging, banning and unbanning. 🤣 So I'm just going to post about it separately.

Although the action moves from the shower to the bed throughout the course of the scene, the visuals in the final shot don't only acknowledge the garuda (which is what the flare of light is doing at Ep.7 [5/5] 20.05).

Aside from the blue bedding nodding at the colors of the naga's waterworld, the view is also broken up with various reflections. And my first thought about this (when it came to me later) was how it resembles the reflections off the surface of a waterbody when seen from below.

The scene is also mirroring the underwater homeland of the naga, and shows us that Phaya has truly entered the naga's realm (in more ways than one):

(above) The Sign Ep.7 [5/5] 20.05

But what we see here – visually beautiful as it is and resonating with meaning – also has ominous undercurrents streaming below the surface.

For the multiple reflections showing this moment of exquisite tenderness between Phaya and Tharn are also paralleled by the fracturing of the screen beneath the weight of Chalothorn's vengeful gaze at Ep.7 [5/5] 20.39.

And knowing that he is watching a replay of Tharn's amorous betrayal from a lifetime past, the scene suddenly also begins to look like the inside of an aquarium, into which Chalothorn is peering intently.

The inhabitants of this fishbowl, Phaya and Tharn, seem blissfully unaware that their every move is being watched and tracked. And because of his omniscience and omnipresence, Chalothorn is seeming less and less like the reincarnation of a naga, and more like the naga himself shapeshifted into human form, with all his memories, self-awareness and emotions of wrathful vengeance intact.

With Chalothorn's full naga powers at his conscious disposal, Phaya and Tharn will need to watch out for themselves henceforth, for they have absolutely crossed a line. 😢