Only HEAs Allowed For Tien! - Tumblr Posts

So, I've been geeking out on all the La Pluie discourse over the past couple of days. And I find myself re-blogging posts that may seem to contradict one another. However, each POV, ultimately, affirms the position the show is taking.

- First, the ideas that people are soulmates AND that love is an action - one we choose to do (or not do) each day - can both be true at once.

- Second, the show seems to be moving towards some kind of choose-your-own-adventure conclusion - open to a number of interpretations.

All the bloggers mentioned above have described this much more eloquently and in greater detail, so take some time to check out their deep dives.

But there's one thing I want to add to the conversation or offer up as a possibility. Most view Tai/Patts as the couple that will choose to love one another without regard to being soulmates, while Tien/Lomfon are the pair falling for one another IN SPITE OF how the stars have aligned. The contrast is a great plot device and I can see the appeal of juxtaposing those two narratives.

Yet (and perhaps, I'm alone here), I can't help but think that Tien and Lomfon are fated AF ... IF we define soulmates - not as people who can hear each other in the rain - but people whose lives keep connecting in ways that are so unexpected and numerous, it can no longer be simply coincidence. In my eyes, that's where their story is headed.

I'll admit that when Tai first described the unknown person who helped him deal with his parent's divorce, I like many people mistakenly assumed that would be Lomfon; this week, that was revealed to be a red herring, because it was always Patts, the Kind One.

Similarly, from the moment Lomfon mentioned the keychain and the unknown person who saved his life, I've known it would be Tien. Somehow, some way, that thread leads to Tien. I'm dying on this hill, people! (Note: episode 10 did kill me; Resurrected by episode 12!)

In the end, both couples are going to push the boundaries on our views of love, self-determination, and cosmic connections.

I’ve been noodling a bit more on this week’s episode of La Pluie, which once again inspired debate about what this show is trying to say about soulmates. This week we learned that Patts used to spend quite a bit of time right next door to Tai when he visited his grandmother, and that two years ago, the two were in touch via exchanging anonymous notes and small gifts to comfort each other through hard times. Patts supported the boy next door when he heard his parents were going through divorce, and Tai supported the boy next door when his grandmother died. They did all of this without ever meeting or knowing each other’s names, and with no motive beyond being kind to each other. The kindness is the point. (@bengiyo)

@respectthepetty suggested that this shared connection in the past is another sign that Patts and Tai have a Big Destiny and the universe was going to push them together no matter what, and read that as the show confirming they are in fact soulmates. @heretherebedork @manogirl and @shortpplfedup emphasized a different perspective, that the importance of choice is a common thread throughout this story regardless of opportunity and coincidence, and that Tai and Patts are not together because of pre-destination but because they have decided on each other.

I posit that the show is knowingly playing with these ideas in order to inspire this kind of debate because they are specifically interested in interrogating the romantic notion of destiny and its use in the romance genre, though I tend to agree with the It's About Choice camp on Patts and Tai’s romance. I’ve already done a full rundown of all the ways the show has subverted the soulmates trope to date, so I won’t repeat all of that here. It’s also important to note that in this universe, the concept of soulmates is tied to hearing loss, that this pen pal revelation is not connected to their hearing loss at all, and that the show is in the process of dismantling the hearing loss connection as a sign of pre-destination in Lomfon’s side of the story as we speak. Tai and Patts were already connected via hearing loss during the time period where they exchanged these notes, but where the more explicit “soulmate” bond was a barrier between them, with the expectations and pressure of that stripped away, they found an opportunity to simply be kind to each other and connect based on who they each are as people.

So how to interpret this new information we received in episode 9? One could look at the reveal this week from either angle:

it’s a sign that the universe was going to throw them together no matter what until they finally met and therefore they are fated; or

it’s another demonstration that when these two are able to connect without the “soulmate” bond getting in the way, Tai and Patts choose to care for each other.

Both of these are valid interpretations, and I don’t think figuring out which is “correct” is actually the point. I don’t believe the show intends to give us a firm answer about whether soulmates are real. Their intention is to make us curious, to make us question, and ultimately to share a message that whether soulmates are real is beside the point.

Perhaps there is some magic at work between Tai and Patts; perhaps there’s nothing but lucky coincidence. It doesn’t really matter, because throughout this story we’ve seen that the characters must do the work to care for each other and build strong relationships, that coincide or fate alone won’t keep them together, that they have choices and more than one path to happiness, and that what they think fate is telling them may not actually be what they want or need.

What matters is that they decide who they want to love and that they choose every day to be together, to be kind to each other, and to keep putting in the work to understand and care for one another. I believe that’s the ultimate message of this story.