My Magic Prophecy 1×08 Review: “The Devil”

I do so love a love interest who knows what he wants and how to get it. Thap is constantly confronting common romcom miscommunication tropes and tossing them out the window. Nothing will stand between him and his In.

First off, many apologies for missing last week’s episode. There was a thing with stuff. I won’t talk much about it so as to focus on “The Devil”, but can I just say how much I love the casting of Book Kasidet as Thap’s ex, Wan? First, we had Sea appearing in Perfect 10 Liners as a potential romantic rival for the attentions of Book’s character, Arm. And now we have Book showing up as a potential rival for the attentions of Thap. I enjoy a good surprise cameo.

But this is My Magic Prophecy, and Thap won’t stand for this slander. From the moment he wakes up in the hospital, he’s looking for In. I couldn’t help but laugh that he asked for a sleeping pill literally every time Wan came to see him. And he wasted very little time in letting Wan know that they had no hope of getting back together, no matter what his mother said. His speech about how it didn’t matter what In did, because he would love him no matter what, was just too precious.

(Also, mad props to Wan for being an adult about it. As soon as he found out Thap was seeing someone, he showed genuine interest in Thap’s happiness. I don’t know that I’ll forgive him for that Instagram post, though. Dude, seriously?)

That said, I do understand In’s insecurities here. When he talks with the village elders, he talks about how he felt overwhelmed while faced with Thap’s family. He’s not used to being part of a family, and while the two of them have confessed and are quite obviously dating, they’re not technically official. No one in Thap’s family knows that they’re dating – though it’s clear that both Dao and Thiu suspect – and he doesn’t know if he would be welcome in the hospital. He doesn’t really know the family all that well, except for Dao. In is particularly concerned about facing Thap’s mother, knowing that Thap was shot while in his care.

Not to mention, In knows that Thap cares for his family a lot. So he doesn’t know how much importance Thap would place on his parents’ opinions about his relationships. In overheard Thap’s mother telling Wan that the two should get back together, and it worries him that Thap may go along with it to please her.

They lived in a bubble in the mountains. Though they ventured often into the village and interacted with the villagers, they were mostly on their own. Thap getting shot is very much reality settling back in. But I love that it’s partly that bubble that has In summoning his courage and going to visit Thap in the hospital. Obviously, he was going to find the bracelet that Thap bought for him – the one that matches his own. Given the importance that was placed on it, there was no way it wouldn’t reappear. However, I was not expecting the camera full of pictures of In, and that was a lovely surprise.

I love how confident In was in Thap’s feelings for him. A lot of times when this happens in BLs, people can waver in that. When an ex (or other romantic rival) shows up, it usually means we’re in for at least two episodes of constant miscommunication and miserable pining. I was very pleased that that wasn’t the case in “The Devil”. In drunkenly admits to Tul that if he only had to worry about Wan, he wouldn’t worry at all. It’s refreshing for someone to be so sure about the other’s love.

(Hilariously, Tul himself was presented as a romantic rival, but he similarly stood no chance.)

That said, I wouldn’t blame him if he did waver a bit. After all, he’s a fortune teller. He may have given Thap a reading that pretty much implied they are soulmates, but everything between Thap and Wan also feels very fated. They have the same rare blood type; Wan just happened to be nearby when Thap was shot and was able to swoop in and save the day. Meanwhile, In literally saw what was going to happen and couldn’t do anything to stop it. (Though, granted, that was partly at Thap’s own request.)

My Magic Prophecy also turns the jealousy trope on its head by having In recognize that he’s jealous, and acknowledge how ridiculous his jealousy is. Isn’t it hilarious that he admits to being jealous of Wan’s blood? Kudos to Tul for being a ride or die and immediately offering to drain Thap’s blood to get Wan’s out of it.

But Thap doesn’t let In suffer for long. In a hilarious scene, he checks himself out of the hospital and immediately goes to where In and his friends are drinking. It’s a nice role reversal from “The Temperance”, where this time we have Thap taking care of a drunken In. In’s drunken thoughts don’t make much sense; when Thap refers to him as his boyfriend, In is like, “when did I agree to that?” But later then Thap officially asks, In is like, “do you even need to ask?” Apparently, he does! But at least it’s all official now.

Admittedly, I’m missing a huge chunk of information and context because the second part of the episode was missing English subtitles. So I can’t really talk about that scene between Pong and Ton (cute as it was), or what we did or didn’t learn in Kasidis’s interrogation.

But it is confirmed, finally, that Karn is helping Kasidis. We didn’t need to see the tattoo to know that, though. He’s not exactly been subtle about it. I think people were hoping that he would be a red herring because it was just so obvious that he was involved. I do like a little bit of mystery in my mysteries.

But, you know what? First can be a little bit evil. As a treat.

I am very curious as to how he got into Tara’s room. I thought no one knew where she was except Thap, Pong, and Ton? And she looked terrified when he walked in. (Of course, he was looking particularly villainous, so I don’t necessarily blame her.) She must know something about him and Kasidis; I can’t imagine she’d be so scared if she didn’t know anything. But what does she know? And what are Karn’s motives? Right now, it doesn’t make sense.

We have two episodes left, and ordinarily I’d be worried. After all, a series doesn’t need twelve episodes to suffer from the Episode 11 Curse (a nonsensical breakup). But I’m fairly confident that very little could shatter In and Thap. They seem to have a pretty solid foundation. That doesn’t mean these final two episodes will be smooth sailing, though, especially as it looks like Thap confronts Karn next week.

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

Twitter

Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary