A woman in a bloodied white shirt gives her baby to a monk. The monk knows the baby is fated to see and hear things they’d rather not. The woman who brought the baby is revealed to be a creepy, bloody ghost.
The baby is our lead Thup.
25 Years Later!
Our cop, Singha, arrives for his first day back on duty to a perfectly horrible scene. Seven bodies dangle from a tree in the middle of an abandoned mall. The victims were killed at different times, somewhere else, their mouths and eyes sewn shut.
On the second floor, Sing finds a man chanting and frantically crawling backwards towards a deadly fall. It’s Thup. Sing pulls him to safety, climbs on top of him, and demands to know who he is. Thup babbles nonsensically and is happy “they’re” gone.
Further making himself suspicious, he blames ghosts for the murders. At the station, he begs not to be left in the interview room and is left in the room. Alone, his chants don’t banish a hanging ghost, and he nearly copies it with his own belt. Somehow, he gets a hold of himself and bangs frantically against the door.
Sing let’s Thup leave the Murder Room
In a non-murderous room, we learn that Thup moved to Bangkok after the monk who raised him died, and is a freelance illustrator. He was at the mall because he dreamt about the murders, but once there, wandering spirits came after him. They vanished only when Sing grabbed him.
Sing wants evidence before he lets him go, but Thup won’t return to the other room. Another cop confirms someone hung themselves there, and since then, everyone has been hanging themselves in there. Really? Don’t put anyone in there.
Sing leaves Thup in his office and checks in with Commander Yuth, telling him Thup is most likely a witness. Yuth wants Thup to be the murderer so they can close the case fast, and someone important can build something important at the murder scene.
Yuth threatens that Sing might be transferred again if he doesn’t solve the case quickly.
Sey and Darin, our forensics team, have forensic-ed
The victims had GHB in them, and no physical similarities except being dead. They don’t know if one person could have done it all. But the blood on Thup’s shirt is his own.
Sing returns to Thup and bandages his wounds, earning him some big-eyed feelings. Thup has seen ghosts for as long as he remembers. While living with the monk, he didn’t see any, but it started again after he died.
Sing finds Thup pathetic and even gives him his jacket when he’s cold. But once he leaves, the lights flicker and another ghost shows up. It looks like the one who handed him over as a baby, but Thup is still terrified. Sing has to snap him out of it, and the room is a mess.
Thup would like to stick to Sing, who keeps him safe from ghosts.
It’s take-your-witness home week
They have a nice “hold me tight” motorcycle ride home. Thup snoops around Sing’s place, prays to a statue for protection, and blows a fuse while Sing is soaping himself in the shower. This gets him a lecture from a naked, sud-covered Sing.
The next morning, after some intense staring, they stop by Thup’s place for his stuff. It’s Sing’s turn to snoop. He finds Thup’s drawings of people with their eyes and mouths sewn up, and hanging from trees.
He takes Thup to the crime scene so Thup can repeat the story. Thup believes the place used to be a cemetery because it’s overflowing with spiritual energy and has all the wandering spirits. The bodies might have been part of a ritual sacrifice that would allow the murderer to command the ghosts.
Sing doesn’t seem to believe any of it.
A new investigator enters the ring
His name is King, and Sing HATES him. More on that later. The higher-ups want King in charge to get everything “solved” faster.
Sing tells King that Thup is not a suspect, but their only witness, and drags him everywhere with him like a favorite stuffed animal. Thup wonders if he’d have been framed by now if Sing weren’t investigating. Sing denies it and promises to protect him. Which is contradictory.
At a meeting, the forensic guys say the victims were killed one a day, with a transgender woman victim killed last. Sing wants to start with her to get the freshest leads.
The backstory on King and Sing is that King sucks
Two years ago, an innocent man died because they arrested him and pressured him. King wanted Yuth to “take care of it”, but Sing wanted to accept his responsibility and have nothing to do with King.
Sey wakes Darin up on his day off to tell him about the King situation and get his help. Darin breaks a glass of blood colored liquid, nearly gets run over by a motorcycle, and can’t start his car. He thinks he’s cursed.
At the victim’s home, they find a bloody symbol on the ground, and Thup finds the victim’s will when her ghost tells him. As they leave, King tries to call a truce with Sing, who is not interested. Thup hears it all.
Thup sees SOME ghosts even when with Sing
There’s one on an upper balcony of the victim’s home. It looks like a child. He draws them and shows Sing, even knowing he won’t believe it.
Sing is irritated that Thup treats him like a holy figure. Thup explains that Thao Wessuwan is protecting Sing because of his statue and some tattoos, which Thup caresses. Sing downplays them as tattoos he got to put others at ease.
Then he teases Thup for fondling his tattoos, asks if he’s sticking close to him for other reasons, and pinches his cheek. Right then, Sey and Darin show up.
Darin is On Board with Thup seeing ghosts
Sey guesses there’s something wrong in his brain, and wonders if he’s had a check-up.
They’ve come over because Sey found a very similar case from Chang Mai, 5 years ago. The killer was never found.
But it also happened in Sisaket, where Thup lived, 15 years ago. The monk warned a young Thup against the ritual for feeding spirits, before performing over bodies just like the ones at their crime scene. There was a yantra symbol to summon spirits there, like the one at the victim’s home.
Later, Darin teases Sing about Thup, and Sing teases Darin about Sey. Our forensics teammates were lovers once, but not anymore. Though they still seem … close.
Sing nearly fall-kisses on a sleeping Thup. It’s not enough to wake the younger man up, but maybe he smiles after Sing leaves.
Thup tries to pay for rent with… breakfast!
But Sing would rather he help investigate the murder. Thup would rather he not. He doesn’t want to keep running into ghosts. But he also needs to stay near Sing, so he doesn’t have much choice.
At work, Sing calls Thup their temporary spiritual consultant. Former Pit Babe pal, historical servant, and now co-worker Mek updates them that they found another similar case, in Phang Nga ten years ago. It seems to be happening every 5 years. They wonder if there are more cases.
Guys, Thup is 25 years old… That’s a multiple of 5.
Sing reports to Yuth and King about 3 of the cases, excluding Thup’s place. Yuth is upset that Sing bypassed King with his investigation. King backs up Sing and gets him off the hook.
But King also suggests they give Thup to the news as a suspect, to get them off their backs. Sing is not into the idea. King still wants more info on Thup. He makes a smug face at Sing
Meanwhile, Thup sees something on the back of some paper he’s been drawing on in Sing’s office that makes him tense up.
People are worse than the ghosts, right?
At the very least, the high-ups in the police are the worst. It’d be good to catch a killer quickly, yes, but that’s not what they want. They want to keep things quiet. I won’t be surprised if one of these corrupt people in charge is tied to the murders in some deeper way.
So is Sign secretly spiritual? Has he lost his faith because of police corruption and innocent people dying?
Is it a good idea to take a witness home? Or allowed? Probably not. But we love a cohabitation trope, so shhhhh. At least that backstory gives him a good reason to keep Thup around. Sing may seem harsh and cold, but he’s a man of strong morals. I, too, suspect that Thup would be an easy scapegoat for what’s happened without Sing protecting him.
I’m finding Sing more likable than Pavel’s previous role. He’s less childish and self-absorbed. The reason he is the way he is has to do with a desire to do the right thing, not to Be The Best At Everything.
Pooh works for me as Thup because he feels a little out of step with reality, with his unconventional upbringing and ghost issue. But I don’t understand his powers, yet. He clearly does see ghosts even with Sing, but specific ones. I think there are different kinds of ghosts? And that one ghost is his mom, but he doesn’t know it?
Only way to find out is to keep watching!
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