Recap "F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers" Episode 7

Episode 7 of F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers (YouTube, GMMTV, Viu) returns us to the scene of the crime as Thyme observes Gorya and Ren’s embrace. Thyme then overhears a kid boasting about playing someone and lets all his anger loose.

Ren and Gorya reach the scene and in front of the crowd, Thyme denounces Ren saying F4 will now be F3. Gorya tries to intervene but he pushes her phone into her hands by way of explanation.

Thyme announces they’ll no longer be F4.

Thyme continues to rampage through the school so Gorya pushes him into an empty classroom to talk. It doesn’t go well but he stops short of punching her, giving up on her instead.

Tia is called to the school to clean up after Thyme as kids are sharing video of the incident. Thyme’s Mother sends her lawyer in with generous compensation just as those clips are being deleted from the net. She’s back in Thailand.

And heads straight to see her grieving son. But it’s not with sympathy. She departs on a threat – he’d better control himself. Or she’ll do what she did to his sister.

At the flower shop, Kaning shares Tesla has ghosted her and Ren stops by to see Gorya. At Thyme’s house, MJ and Kavin try to convince Thyme to make up with Ren. They show Thyme the news about Mira but he continues to rage.

Kavin’s at his limit but MJ can’t stand to see them break up, punching a wall in frustration. Kavin backs down, agreeing to speak to Ren. But if things don’t work out, they should go their separate ways.

Ren takes Gorya out to relieve her stress but fails at fun. She takes over planning, bringing him to play games instead.

Kavin hits the flower shop to seek Ren but Kaning tells him he’s out with Gorya. A date? Annoyed, Kavin calls MJ who then asks Kaning to help.

Gorya and Ren talk about Thyme and he astutely notes she’s happy even when complaining about him. She dodges when he asks who she would choose between them. When she has a moment with Ren, she thinks of Thyme. Kaning interrupts with a call.

Ren and Gorya have a moment, but Gorya thinks of Thyme.

As Kavin and Kanning wait for Gorya and Ren, they spot Tesla with another girl. Kavin consoles her, indicating he’ll help even the score.

Gorya clocks Tesla with his new girl and is about to interject, but Kavin appears. Tesla’s girl recognizes F4 Kavin and it doesn’t take much to get between them. He then turns it on Tesla implying that Kaning is his girlfriend.

Tesla remarks that Kavin isn’t the only F4 guy he’s met and maligns both Thyme and Gorya. Kavin readies for battle but Gorya steps in and kicks Tesla to the floor. She defends Thyme, referring to him as her boyfriend, then races from security leaving Ren behind.

At Thyme’s house, it’s MJ sitting outside his door trying to get through but to no avail. He finally exits when Ren calls to meet.

The four regroup at the old stadium. Before Ren can speak, Thyme hands Gorya over to him, insulting her in the process. They start to fight and when MJ tries to stop it, Thyme punches him too. Before long all four are fighting each other.

MJ tries to prevent a fight between Thyme and Ren, so Thyme hits MJ for getting involved. 

In her room, Gorya is about to send an apology to Thyme, saying she now understands what happened with Tesla. But before she taps send, Tia calls.

As only guy best friends can do, MJ and Kavin have run out of steam and are sitting together in the muck. Finally, after a bit more goading and bleeding, Thyme admits his feelings. Ren takes back everything he said, sharing that Gorya talked about Thyme all day.

They finally make up and then Gorya appears. As they’ve so obviously been fighting, she hits them all with her bag. Ren says it’s now time for Gorya and Thyme to sort things out. He reminds her that she referred to Thyme as her boyfriend during the fight with Tesla.

She tries to deny it, but Thyme jumps on the lifeline. As the other three exit, F2 ask Ren about his clever plan. He claims he just wanted to beat up Thyme over a childhood thing.

Gorya treats Thyme’s wounds and apologises for not trying to understand him. He says sorry too and talks about his life before Gorya. Closing off the stadium, he says he won’t use violence or red cards to solve problems anymore.

As a smiling Gorya arrives home, Thyme’s mother is there to greet her.

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The Episode Review

This one should have been titled, ‘Flower Boys Erupt,’ as everyone gets pushed to the brink. Thyme is angry with Ren and Gorya, MJ and Kavin are fed up with Thyme, Ren is generally a mess and Gorya explodes when Tesla dares malign Thyme. Everyone landing at the stadium by close is exactly right.

We kick off with Thyme spotting the Gorya-Ren hug and King Kong-like, lashing at everything in his path. He and Gorya have it out but it doesn’t resolve anything. And Ren, who seems to be drifting, tests the water with Gorya. But what is Ren really doing here? Dew Sutivanichsak nails this, keeping us guessing until the end. The live comments on YouTube were just exploding. In fact, well done to all the guys for some pretty convincing fight scenes.

What do we think really happened – underneath? Perhaps Ren was on the fence, as for him, either result is a win-win. If Gorya happens to have feelings for him, she’s a girl he likes and respects. Things could be worse. If, conversely, she has feelings for Thyme, he could hit him over the head with them. This too is how it’s played out in previous versions. Ren/Rui/etc is cute but for the most part wishy-washy until this point. Here’s where he finally stands up and is counted.

And after a lifetime of Thyme wreaking havoc, Ren (with half a smile) pushes those little buttons, knowing just how to dig down into his brother’s true feelings. Ren has single-handedly got the two back together, whereas the romance kings – Kavin and MJ – were just chasing everyone around.

It’s with the magic line: ‘You’re on the right track, Thyme. Don’t go back to how you were’ that Ren blesses all and swans into the background. Until Gorya appears, so he can tag her with a bit of reality too. Maybe we should rename this episode ‘Ren Knows.’ Like my brother, who would make the perfect ‘Agony Aunt,’ Ren spots the real and quietly (on the outside) hands over next steps.

Now that everything’s been sorted – nearly at the halfway mark of our tale – of course, it’s time for Thyme’s mother to make her move. Whatever you may have previously heard, it’s really not that easy being a flower.