Episode 1 Recap "Growth Hormone"
We open with Boss listening to the radio on his bicycle, so not only is the title first in English, but the first words this season are in English.
Zomzom gets yelled at by a teacher for riding a motorcycle with her legs spread open. She pulls up her skirt to shock the teacher and show that she's wearing shorts, too; this makes sure no one sees anything, she says. Her gang chases other people from "their table."
We meet Non and his friends. First is sweaty but insists on hugging Non. He announces to Pala that the Running Club is accepting new people; Pala agrees to join. A basketball almost hits KNP; Non rushes to get it, apologizes to her. Later, SeeScape comes on the campus radio; KNP looks a bit affected. First sings loudly. Non notices KNP and gets First to shut up. Non and KNP exchange a nod after that. Non's thoughts and intentions are clear?
..
Oil gives Kanompang food she "brought back from her home in Uthai [another province]." She also gives her a book she made herself.
Rolex tells Phao that he could hurry to school. Phao wonders why. Rolex points out all the girls in the class, and they agree this is a pretty good reason. The conversation reveals that Phao has broken up with P'Mind (or rather been dumped). But he still has her photo on his phone. Rolex tells him he won't get over it if he keeps seeing that picture. "Oh wait, I get it. But she was your first, right?"
..
Dao and her mom in the car. Dao is happy to return to school, because this means she won't just be preparing for exams alone but will see her friends at school. She hasn't spoken to Koi. In fact, Koi went to Belgium to visit her mom and older brother.
They see a couple of girls appearing very close to one another. Long silence passes.
..
Koi gives Dao something, a gift. She's handing out Belgian chocolate. Dao says thanks. Nut (Kaopun) goes by. He exchanges looks wiith Koi. They are not together.
Koi has moved seats this year to sit with Elle instead of Dao.
..
Jane arrives late, listening to music. The discipline teacher catches her and tells her to stop being smart and get into her line. She doesn't know which one is hers. The principal announces student council president elections. It will teach them about the country's future and about the workings of democracy. He wants it to be done well, not just for fun.
Jelly wants to start a team. People around her love the idea. She approaches Boss. He says no thanks; he'll start his own team. As they leave, Jelly's friends make fun of Boss.
..
Ryo, Ae, and Sun wake up in a car. Ae wakes them up. It's already past 8am (they're already late). They hurry to get ready in the car. They have to throw their stuff over the fence and climb over to get in. Sun calls home and says he slept at a friend's last night.
Teacher Nanthiya introduces herself to the class (5/1). She says she will be their homeroom teacher. The teacher says how they are late on the first day. Sun says the teacher looks good today. She won't smile for him. The teacher asks Jane to stand up; she introduces her and her past, coming from new York, she'll be here the whole year. She talks about the student council president election. The teacher throws something at Sun for chatting with Jane. Sun gets yelled at: "Be a good example for your new friend!"
Jane: "Is this normal?"
Friend: "Yeah."
Jane nods sadly about the state of affairs, not about Sun, but the teacher's way of being a teacher.
..
First throws something he calls "Brian" at the girls. They scream at his prank.
..
Non and Boss clearly know each other already.
Boss: "Do you remember junior high? Bird?" He tells the story quite seriously. Boss wants to show that everyone can chane the school, anyone, average people. Ter tells him that working with lots of people might run into difficulties, though.
Boss: "What's Non like?"
Ter: "He likes to play around... Why do you ask?"
So they talk to him after. Non: "Me?" They want him on their team.
Boss then spots Kanompang and approaches her to get her involved, too.
..
Koi dumps into Net at the cafeteria. She says he's her dad's saviour. Net asks how her dad is, still running marathons? Koi forgot his name. He remembered hers. Koi asks if he's in the Running Club. Yes. Head of it? No or not yet. They continue talking or flirting.
Elle and Dao watch. Elle: "It's been long enough already not talking to her. You can try."
..
Boss: "You're new students here [or at least they're younger than him, and he's in Grade 11]. Is there anything you're wondering or concerned about? I can help you. Something small, something large. it's OK. I'm interested for the student council election."
One of them talks to him about his full schedule from waking up to going to bed. It's suggested that there should be reduced homework, they have been having to copy and cheat, it's too much. Boss writes it down and makes note.
..
In an office, he approaches Teacher Ping (!), who explains that this request is very difficult. How can all the teachers do this? If the teachers don't give HW, how is that showing they're serious?
Can they give an appropriate level of HW? Not too much or too little? Boss is trying hard to get across the precision of his request.
Ping says that they'd need to figure out if students are lazy or if the teachers give too much. It's hard to tell. It depends on one's viewpoint; one has to make a judgment and that's not so easy and obvious. He understands Boss' POV and the good thought behind it, but whether that is something someone else will understand or not is an open question.
Boss says that if it can't be ironed out as a point for the student council election, then he can pass it by.
..
Boss's assembled team is based on them being good students. One of them denies it outright (GPA 3.0, not 4.0!). He asks if they want to be a team or not. He's named their political party "Nadao The Next Gen".
Non is taking his picture. Boss wants his picture to be serious, not playing around, dedicated.
They get to work.
KNP gets a message from Oil: "Finished yet?" KNP forgot! Oil will just go home then, she texts. "Please don't be mad! I'm sorry." says KNP. Oil, outside the school, starts to walk sadly, dejectedly, home.
Meeting of Ter, Non, Boss. Boss is the party leader but he doesn't want to be the one to give the speech or presentation or to be the focus of attention. he doesn't want to be the frontman, just the leader. It's not that he's shy. He just doesn't want to. He wants to give the frontman job to Non. So Non goes around. He makes noise and grabs people's attention. He gets people involved, but they want to be on his "fanclub," some perhaps not interested in the political party.
KNP meets First and Pala. KNP gives them flyers. First says to Pala afterwards: "Isn't she cute!"
Ter to Boss: "Think it'll work?" (about Non) Boss is thinking...
..
Political party meeting in a classroom without Boss and Non. They ask KNP to close the door. Boss and Non weren't invited. Ter called the meeting, Ter says, without those two, because it might be better for Non to be leader instead of Boss. They'll get more votes.
One of them thinks it would be better not to do this. Is there another way? Boss created the party!
They discuss. One of them even says that Boss' goal to change the school is never going to happen.
KNP: "If we change leaders, it won't be fair. There'll need to be a discussion. Someone will feel really bad if they know about this."
Ter says he'll talk to Boss himself one more time about how this is going.
..
Boss with Ter alone. Boss: "It's not enough to have Non as the frontman?"
Ter: "The image of the party is attached to the leader... The presentation is coming soon and so on. Non will get more of a rise out of people..." He tries to convince Boss logically. They really do communicate logically together, but I don't think it's as equal as Boss says it is.
Boss is silent after Ter's explanation. Boss: "Ask the others first. If they're OK, then I'll be OK with it."
They hold a meeting with everyone present. Non is surprised at the proposal to make him party leader. Boss announces the reason for the meeting. He says he doesn't agree with the proposed change, but he puts it up to a vote. They vote en masse for Non to be leader. Boss will do stuff in the background, such as organization, research, planning. KNP asks Boss how he is with this; she is still concerned about that. Boss tells KNP that we have to respect one another and what people decide, he's OK with all this.
Non is still reacting to the turn of events. Non doesn't want this job still. He says in the end: "If you want me to be the leader, don't give up on each other!" One guy tries to comfort him. Non just says, "That's just making me more stressed about this."
Boss walks down the corridor and sees the "Nadao The Next Gen" (Team 1) poster with Non on it; Non is being silly in the photo. Boss gazes at it; he looks both sad and upset/angry.
Boss tells some people at a table that he's with Team 1. He then does his pitch asking if they can do anything and he can listen to their problems. Girl: "Oh, Team 1! I sooo cheer for you. Oh. Wait, you're on Team 1, too?" She doesn't recognize him at all.
Jelly comes into the cafeteria and does a dance/performance with her team. Everyone cheers. Boss is distracted the whole time.
Boss resumes his pitch: "Is there anything you'd like to change? I can hear you out."
Now Sun and Ae interrupt everyone to play an acoustic song, standing on tables in the cafeteria. Non is in on it. He becomes the singer, and Sun keeps playing the guitar. Poor Boss. But to get SeeScape to advertise for you is good strategy, Non. Agreed. ;)
Everyone is excited and cheers.
Boss is upset.
..
Afterwards, Non thanks Sun for the help. He watches KNP and Sun interact. The look on his face is one of interest himself but also of amusement. KNP comments on Sun's looks coming undone and brushes him a bit.
Non: "What's the deal with the two of you? Are you...?"
KNP: "Heh. No, we're not. I don't like playboys [like him]."
..
Boss and Non are comparing notes about a speech and promises and so on. Non looks over. He sees a list on Boss' phone. "Hey, 'reduce homework'? What's that?"
Boss: "Oh, I used to have that as a thought."
Everyone's attention is riveted on this. Boss explains that they must not use this promise. It's not clear. He talked to a teacher already. Non insists that this would be an awesome election promise.
Boss: "No! Our party will not promise things that are not certain." It's an outburst, him taking control, an order masked in strong but less direct language.
Non: "Everyone wants us to win. That's all. Don't be too serious."
Boss: "Sorry."
A guy: "That's OK..."
Ter looks displeased at Boss' outburst.
It's the day of the speeches.
Jelly promises things about various things, includes 15 min extra break at lunch to better digest food at so on. Boss comments on the impossibility of some of these promises.
Non takes the platform. Promise #1: "Green Nadao," one tree planted and taken care of per room. # 2 emphasizes recycling. #3: Free Space which the students can use themselves and make their own dreams come true.
No one is interested. Nobody cares. Non notices. He is losing the plot. Ter: "This isn't going to cut it."
People have totally lost interest in "Nadao The Next Gen."
Wow, it's really quiet.
Non makes the decision to talk about the too-much-homework talking point. He agitates everyone about this. It's too much, right? Everyone is getting into the speech. They say how true this problem is. Non promises an appropriate level of homework. Jelly looks uncomfortable. Boss is pissed off and looks spacey at the same time. Non wraps up his speech.
..
The team, after the speech, congratulates Non. Ter and the others talk while Non apologizes to Boss and asks if he's OK.
Boss: "I'm not OK, no. But forget about it. You already said it. We can't take it back."
Non: "I'm sorry, but I will try to make the promise come true. You don't need to get worried about it."
Boss: "Yeah."
..
They publicly count the votes one by one. Team 1 "Nadao The Next Gen" wins the election. They raise up Non on Pala's shoulders. Boss stands by himself while they celebrate.
..
Next Episode
Jane and the mistranslation, as we've seen before.
Net and Koi in a park. Net: "So, are you a lesbian? Is that the right word?" Koi: "Maybe." Net: "Have you never liked a guy?" Koi: "Well, there was a guy, we hung out, but that wasn't working." Net: "Well, how about I try, and we see how that turns out..?"
Dao sees them together at the foot of the stairs.
Dao and Koi on the rooftop, as we've seen before.
Dao offers Koi her pinky finger to make up.
Net offers Koi his hand (I guess as a promise about him trying and seeing how that works).
Credit to @bencanuck
