Girl Rules EP 1 - Welcome to the Mess!

Wow….this is the messiest show I have seen in a while! I cannot get a read on Bambi and quite frankly she terrifies me 😅 Bambi is such a menace right out the door 👀

We start the show with a flashback: it’s Prim’s birthday four years ago, and Bambi presents her a cake while both are sitting in a bathtub, and she wishes her success with her company and a lovely girlfriend for a lone time. She wished that they can celebrate her birthday every year together, and Bambi make the promise that only she will be the one holding the cake in the years to come. But three years later, we see that Prim is celebrating alone. After the credits, we switch to Shasha, who is doing a photo shoot for Prim, with Gorya as her assistant. Gorya suggest that opening up Shasha’s jacket will improve the quality of the shots, and Prim trust her, so she proceeds unbuttoning the jacket, with Shasha hitting on her, but Gorya ignoring her advances. Prim’s business partner Min is worried about overtime, but Prim thanks they are on time, and complains about Shasha’s attitude and her high fee; then, Shasha is noticing someone who takes unauthorized pictures and stops the shoot. Min intervenes and scold the shooter – apparently, a trainee and a Sascha fan – for not following the rules; Shasha’s manager Woon complains about the lack of professionality on set, and in the end Shasha takes a break claiming she’s not in the mood anymore. We then switch over to a company – Yanin - presenting their collection, where Bambi is appearing, claiming the came back from the State at her mother’s request. Bambi steals the final dress and the show. This certainly created a buzz among the fashion press, but not in the way that her mother intended. Meanwhile, the photoshoot is finished with everyone preparing for Prim’s birthday at a bar named “Blossom”, and Shasha tries to hit again on Gorya, but she claims she’s not her type. Shasha thinks she can be her type if she knows what Gorya wants, but Gorya finds her cocky, and reminds her that not everybody likes her. Back at Yanin, Bambi tells her mother she wanted to surprise her, and thus not told her about returning. She scolds her for ruining a show she worked on for months, but Bambi argues everybody is talking about the show, and is asking where she’s been. Her mother wants to know how long she is staying this time, arguing that she sent Bambi to school only for her to drop out; she argues there is no need for her to study, she can leech off her mother. But her mother tells her to behave, or she will send her back. At “Blossom”, Prim celebrates her 25th birthday with Gorya, Min and their friend Ant, who argues that this will be the year where she will either rise to the top or fall to the bottom, but Prim thinks she’s got everything under control. Ant claims that et age 40, she will realize that nothing is under control, to which Min claims that Ant doesn’t look like she’s 40. For this compliment, Ant kisses her on the cheek – which results in a warning by Prim that Min’s boyfriend might object to this, but Ani argues she has a girlfriend and she’s done with straight girls. Gorya then asks if Prim has anything planned for her birthday, and tries to hit on her, but Prim claims her life is good now: plenty of friends, plenty of money, that is enough for her. But when she will find a girlfriend if she’s always working, Gorya argues. Prim claims she’s enjoying her life for now. Gorya asks if she can have fun with her, and they cheer. Then, Ant wants Preaw to take a picture of them, so she calls her over, and Preaw takes a few photos of the gang. Then, Min gets a message from her boyfriend Park waiting outside. Min walks out of the bar to tell him that she will not be coming home at this point but to the ongoing birthday celebration for Prim. He scolds her for not answering his call, but she claims she was having fun with her friends, and wasn’t staring at her phone all the time. This goes on a little more with Min finally asking to breaking up and Park accusing her of wanting to date a girl instead. But Min maintains that she can date anymore she wants, and she’s breaking up with him not because he’s a boy, but because he’s a jerk. She then turns to leave, but Park grabs her arm and doesn’t let her go, saying they need to talk. She pushes him down to free herself, to which Park responds by trying to hit her, but Preaw comes to her help and pepper sprays him. He tells her to stay out of it and calls her a lesbian, but Preaw reacts to this only with a “So what?” and a few more doses of the pepper spray, and he gets him to retreat by urging bystanders to film him and call the police for harassment. Afterwards, Min thanks her for helping her and admits that Park is like that when he’s mad. Preaw just wants to know whether she’s okay. Min says she can handle it, which get Preaw to say that it’s a good thing she broke up with him, as he didn’t show her any respect, and Min admits she should have broken up with him a long time ago. But Preaw reminds her to be careful, a guy like that may not let go easily. Then, Preaw notices a bruise on her arm and asks if her grabbed her that hard, and proposes they should get that fixed, but Min wants to do it herself at home. She leaves with Preaw looking after her. Meanwhile, Prim and Gorya are dancing inside, and Gorya asks her if she could stay over at her place, she has a new project to present to her. Prim argues that she is drunk, but Gorya says she isn’t, she just wants to talk to her. Does it have to be that tight, Prim asks, and Gorya wonders if she’s taking someone else home. Prim sys she isn’t and invites her home. In the restroom, Gorya is approached by Shasha, who claims she doesn’t need makeup, and she says she knows, and asks her whether she was invited to Prim’s birthday party, but Sahsha denies it claiming she came on her own. Gorya reminds her that there are a lot of her fans in the bar – Shasha claims that may be, but she isn’t interested in them. Gorya reminds her again that she isn’t everybody’s favorite, and leaves ignoring Shasha’s invitation to join the afterparty at her condo. At home, Prim is talking to Min on the phone, offering her help in regard to Park. Prim the closes in on Gorya, and remarks that if they are going to “do it”, they need to make sure that they are not drunk. Gorya still claims she isn’t, and she is fully aware of what they are doing. Prim they asks if they kiss, could they still work together as friends, and Gorya asks what if she wants more than that. But Prim cannot give her that right now; if they are doing it tonight, it’s just for fun, and asks her whether she is okay with that. Gorya nods, and they start to make out heavily; but then, they are interrupted by a knock on the door: and it’s Bambi presenting her birthday cake to Prim. Prim asks what Bambi is doing here; and she claims that she brought her a birthday cake, like every year. But Prim doesn’t want it, and Bambi asks her if she is still mad at her, having missed her birthday only once. But Prim thinks it’s not a good time, and argues she should go. Bambi blows out the candle herself, the Prim tells her to go, and adds that she has a guest. What guest comes at this hour, Bambi argues, and Prim claims she’s her guest, not an uninvited guest like Bambi. But Bambi ignores her and goes inside. She says sorry for interrupting Gorya and Prim, Bambi invites Gorya to join in eating the cake, ignoring Prim repeated requests to leave. She tastes from the cake, and point out her middle finger to Gorya (surely by accident…), then introduces herself as Prim ex-girlfriend, but they are still friends. Gorya claims she was her junior in school and is not working with her. Bambi thinks Prim is wicked for targeting younger people. As Bambi still make no effort to leave, Prim sends Gorya home, claiming she is sorry. And Gorya understands and leaves, remarking that she doesn’t eat desserts at night. Afterwards, Bambi makes herself at home at Prim’s, but Prim immediately shuts her down, not believing that that came home for her birthday, and calling her out on the lie that she made the clearly store-bought cake herself. Prim wants to know where she has been and why she has never contacted her, and Bambi argues that she wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone. Prim follow up with has she ever thought about how she would feel, having essentially ghosted her for a year. Bambi is sorry but claims she knows how she is. But isn’t she going to change it, asks Prim, and Bambi claims she’s back to keep her promise, but Prim claims that was broken since she left without any explanation. Prim tells her once again to get, but Bambi wants to sleep at her place, draws her down to her and kisses her, arguing she should not be alone on her birthday, and she put on ribbons to be her gift. Prim gives in – sort of: she says she can sleep on the couch, but warns not to turn on music or bother the neighbors, then calls her annoying and leaves. Bambi ends this “conversation” with the words: “Good night, birthday girl.” While sitting alone on her bed, Prim is remembering the time they first met over listening to Amy Winehouse. The next day, Shasha and Gorya are in the same gym, with Gorya choosing a separate room (probably not to get hit on again). As she’s training Shasha notices a man making cellphone videos of her. Sha accuses him of filming her without consent. Shasha grabs his phone and gives it to Gorya who find her video is not the only one on his phone, there are dozens of similar videos. The gym staff detains the “amateur filmmaker” and secures the evidence. Gorya thanks Shasha for intervening, and Shasha remark that she doesn’t need to hide from her, she’s not going to hit on her every time. Min and Pri are standing in a gallery talking about Bambi; Min hopes that they didn’t get back together, reminding her that last time, she wrecked her so badly that she couldn’t work. But Prim claims she learned her lesson, she’s not like Min. But Min claims to also have already taken care of it (i.e. Park). Then, Preaw joins them, and she gets kudos for her work on display, which are photos of female backsides. Prim tells Min that Preaw will be famous someday, but she claims she’s just practicing. Prim gets a phone call and leaves Preaw and Min alone, Min asks Preaw how she came up with the concept, and Preaw explains that women’s backs tell stories of their histories, and explains that the woman in the photo where they are standing was in a toxic relationship, and stayed because she was scared – that no one would love her. She then asks if she could take her picture, but Min claims she’s very shy, and her life is not that interesting. But Preaw claims that every life is interesting, it just depends on who’s looking at it. Min nevertheless declines, but wants her to work with her, she has a client who wants a girl power concept like this, and Preaw is happy to work with her. Bambi comes to Prim’s company seeking for a job, claiming the doesn’t want to live aimlessly anymore. But Prim argues there is no job for her, even as she vows to be a better person, and pleads for her support, and proposed to be hired as her secretary. She sits down on her laps and claims she knows how good she is at taking care of her. But Prim tells her to find a job somewhere else, and that she doesn't accept unpredictable people. At home, Prin tastes the cake Bambi brought over, then reminisces about them becoming girlfriends. She drops the cake into the trashcan, but retrieves it moments later, places it on the ground and her beside it. At Yanin, Bambi mother tells her she is creating a new brand targeted at teenagers, and argues that learning the business is better than partying every night and causing trouble. But Bambi thinks that’s her only concern, and asks her if she was interested in how she was doing while living abroad. She argues that all she ever wanted was sending her away. Then, Bambi realizes that Shasha is also present, and a smile hushes over her face, as her mother introduces them, and remarks that Bambi just returned from the US. They know of each other but have never met, though Bambi is a fan of Shasha and Shasha claims she has only heard good thing about Bambi. Bambi like the outfit Shasha is wearing, her mother’s previous outfits were a bit outdated. But Shasha argues that having a good model can turn any outfit to look good. Bambi likes her self-confidence, and think they can be friends. Bambi proposes to do something fun with her. One week later Prim, Gorya and Min are at the office to meet a new client, a clothing brand that is not yet widely known, seeking a fashion video, a work which Prim quickly accepted because they have a high budget. Prim apologizes for “that night”, but Gorya is fine about it, and asks her whether Bambi is the one she can’t get over. Prim confirms it saying the started dating in college and their relationship lasted several years. She doesn’t know what she wants. Gory holds her arms and tells her, whatever she wants, if Prim doesn’t give it to her, there’s nothing that she can do. Min tells them that they’re waiting for a new brand, keeping details a secret, and they specifically requested Prim, with Gorya tackling the clothing and Preaw for behind-the-scenes photos. Then, Shasha comes in, the model selected by the brand. The brand representative is already almost an hour late – the comes in to commence the meeting – and it’s of course Bambi. And that’s where episode one of “Girl Rules” ends. ___ This kept the gist of the novel GMMTV published last fall but changed some details and covered the first close to 25% of the page-count (first nine of 29 chapters) leading me to believe that the show will deviate more as is goes on, or they will run out of material pretty soon. The first episode was of course a meeting of the characters, while the only man got the short end of the story (Park and Min don’t break up immediately in the novel) everything else was pretty close: Gorya hitting an Prim but being interrupted by Bambi, the one girl who Prim can’t forget, Min and Preaw getting to know each other over Park, and Shasha failing to land with Gorya is all well portrayed and acted, with almost everyone acting against type or at least contrary to their previous roles without missing a beat. Bambi is of course close to insufferable by now, but that is by design and for a reason. The only thing I didn’t like was that “Girl Rules” is blocked in Germany both on IQIYI and YouTube. And I had to use a VPN to watch it at all. But I’m looking forward to the next 11 Mondays.

omg this reminds me of a thai version of The L word

I want to know who is responsible for the music; some of it is good, and some of it is unsuitable for the scene.

Love you ♥️♥️♥️