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The lover's hand: A Midnight Museum episode 4 rambling

Will GMM TV pull a If Marnie Was There card on us with Khatha and Dome? They might. They probably will, but since it hasn't happened yet, I will be in denial until the big reveal.

It hasn't escaped you that Khatha's touch grows gentle whenever he touches Dome. So far, Khatha has allowed himself to touch Dome to either protect him or make sure he is safe. But in today's episode, things have developed a bit.

The beginning and the end of today's episode confirmed that Dome (let's pretend his real is name Dome for now) and Khatha have met before, a long time ago. Khatha lost Dome however, under traumatic circumstances which seem related to the creepy seated mummy we've seen in previous episodes.

The bond they share has nothing in common with the kind of bond siblings might share. Siblings don't look at each other like that nor do they touch each other like that either. (I don't even need to add screencaps here, you know which scenes I'm talking about). The intense relief Khatha feels when he sees Dome after many years resembles the kind of relief a tragic lover would feel seeing their long lost lover again with whom they can't reunite yet. I mean look at him! That look is the embodiment of selfless love, not brotherly love.

To prove the point everyone agrees on, I'll now focus on Khatha's hand gestures in today's episode (i.e Midnight Museum episode 4).

I've said in a previous text post that Khatha does not want anyone to see he cares for Dome although everyone is pretty much aware. Even Bam. This is again proved in this episode when he doesn't meet Dome's eyes — at first — when he voices out his worry and asks Dome to stay close to him.

What's even more painfully interesting in this scene is what Khatha says next: "I will be able to stop it in time". The way he says it might hint at the fact that, in the past, he failed to stop "it" in time. However, things are different now. Dome is back and Khatha intends to have him stay by his side no matter what. "It" won't happen again, whatever that is. Not today. Not ever. His words are more than a mere statement. They're a promise.

Khatha's feelings for Dome aren't clear in the sense that they are strong emotions, all intertwined. But one thing is for certain: he deeply cares for Dome and although he wished he could hide that, his body betrays him because his hand will always reach for him. There is something achingly beautiful in the way Khatha always seem to want to be in direct contact with Dome whenever he is hurting. It's as if he wants to take his pain away and replace it with comfort. He wants to be the only one suffering and he cannot bear seeing Dome risking his life and going through the same kind of pain he must have experienced at one point during his immortal life.

Tor's way of showing how relieved his character is whenever he fears for Dome's life and realises that he is safe is beyond amazing. His eyes speak volumes and his micro-expressions make your heart squeeze in your chest. I can hear the thoughts that might have crossed his mind the second he believed Dome wasn't breathing anymore. His agony is so loud and yet Khatha remains so quiet whenever he is scared, hurt or distraught.

In the beginning of this text post, I've described Khatha's look as the embodiment of selfless love. The perfect illustration of that selfless love is when he tells Dome that his immortality is not a curse hence the fact that he doesn't need anyone to save him from it. We all know it's a lie and so does Dome who is no fool, but Dome is aware of what Khatha was trying to do. Khatha didn't want to put an additional pressure on him and so implying that he is not cursed meant that he needn't become some kind of saviour.

Dome sees that and as the empath he is, he is devastated. He feels for Khatha but he knows him not controlling his powers (or anything that's happening to him) is not helping and, in a way, he may have felt relieved by Khatha's thoughtfulness .

But Dome knows that this the face of a man made so utterly lonely by a curse so ancient that he himself has forgotten that this excruciating pain is not natural. The camera angle here makes us see Khatha through Dome's eyes and it's heart-breaking.

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Khatha's loneliness

Episode 6 made me emotional so here I am rambling again.

Once in a while, there's a shot of Khatha which embodies the utter loneliness he feels in a way that just makes your heart squeeze in your chest.

In episode 3, we get this kind of shot right after June tells Dome that Khatha is under a curse. Then Dome turns around as he hears Khatha walking into the room (what he really heard was Khatha clearing his throat to get them to stop talking) and it feels as if he sees him in a new light, hence that shot. Dome catches a glimpse of the man Khatha truly is. It doesn't last long because Khatha is quick to pull himself together but it was enough for Dome to see.

There's just something profoundly sad in the way Khatha stands on his own at the opposite side of the room. His shoulders are slumped, his arms are limp at his sides, and he is slightly leaning, as if no strength was left in him to carry the weight of his curse.

Then comes episode 5 in which Khatha feels like he has to send Dome away for his own good. Now that he had grown used to Dome's presence next to him, the face he makes after looking at Dome leaving through the camera is the face of someone whose loneliness is so great that it numbs his feelings. The expression he wears is that of someone who's completely lost. Imagine the pain he must have felt when he sent the one person he has been looking for — for who knows how long — away.

Now on to episode 6 which completely destroyed my heart. Let's not even talk about that phone call because I haven't collected my thoughts yet but let's talk about that shot of Khatha afterwards, the Khatha Triphop and June see upon entering his office.

This shot alone acts, once again, as the very embodiment of Khatha's loneliness. Although Triphop and June are physically close to him, he feels out of reach hence Triphop signalling to June that Khatha should be left alone. The depths of his loneliness makes him even more lonely and that's just heart-breaking.

As if that shot was not enough, let's focus on the song which was played in the background. It's called "Bathed in Her Light" (composed by Ebb & Flod). The choice of song is brilliant. Khatha is indeed bathing in Dome's light. The warmth Dome's words carried felt overwhelming to Khatha who's been stuck in an eternal winter ever since he became immortal. Khatha was already missing him deeply but hearing Dome — hearing his soft voice — tell him that he wishes he could be happy and stay safe... I don't think he was ever treated with such kindness. That piano melody evokes the wonder you may feel when you're spending time with someone you love and you realise how much you love them. It's a kind of beautiful ache which feels overwhelming but implies how grateful you are to them. How important they are to you. How painful it would be to be separated from them. Khatha knows these feelings, better than we might think.

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Khatha or the well of sadness

Thanapob Leeratanakachorn... We barely know anything about Khatha but Tor puts up such a brilliant and emotional performance that you feel for Khatha before understanding the very depths of his being.

Tor shows a full understanding of his character and his emotive and subtle acting makes my heart ache for Khatha.

When Khatha describes death, he describes it as "simply painful and excruciatingly torturing". It doesn't matter how many times he has "died" because nothing will ever compare to the agony he is living now. Khatha is the embodiment of resolute despair. He knows he cannot escape it and so he suffers silently. The silence he chose as an answer to Triphop's grand-father's question — "So why don't you stop?" — emphasises the fact that he has accepted his fate. He seems to be haunted by guilt and so he accepts the agonising truth of his life because, deep down, he thinks he deserves it. (cf. the way he doesn't meet Dome's eyes when Dome asks him if he has done something wrong).

His weariness can be seen through the way he lets his tears fall on his cheeks. His tears are as silent as his stifled pain. Khatha often looks on the verge of tears which makes me think that we've only seen a glimpse of the despair he must feel. It just hurts so much... seeing him show restraint although the emotions he strives to hide are overwhelming.

He doesn't want to show he cares for Dome nor does he want anyone to see how devastated he feels when another life is ruined in front of his eyes.

This expression is that of someone who's seen death more than life, who's been powerless too many times, who knows the bitterness and cruelty of the universe.

Khatha is an intimidating character and yet the people around him see the cracks in his shell. That's why Dome talks back to him so easily although he sometimes looks at him with a mix of wonder and worry. The same goes for June and Triphop who always listen to him but usually still tell him what they're thinking. Khatha is scary because of the depths of his despair. The way Triphop seems so loyal to him no matter his recklessness is because he knows his immortality made him go through things a simple mortal would have never endured. And yet Khatha was a simple mortal at some point too.

June was right to call Khatha's immortality a curse because that is precisely how Khatha sees it himself. He feels like he is all alone and that's why he desperatly wants to protect Dome. Because Dome seems to embody the very light which could bring the sun back to the never-ending night that is his life. But June doesn't agree with that and she might be right. Perhaps only Khatha can break his curse but I believe that Dome will be the one who'll give him the strength he needs to do so. I hope for Dome to become someone Khatha can lean on when his weariness and suffering are too heavy a burden to carry alone.

What kills me is how resigned he looks in this scene. A part of him still wants to fight and that's why he's been watching Dome so closely because Dome's presence by his side embodies the kind of hope he's been secretly wishing to find, but another part of him seems to believe that everything is worthless. And yet he still manages the Midnight Museum. He still keeps a close watch on the cursed items his museum displays. Half of him hopes fiercely while the other half wonders how he is able to keep on fighting like that.

Khatha is a character so full of sadness that I don't even need to know his backstory to feel emotionally invested. I'm just so impressed by Tor's brilliant acting.

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About Midnight Museum Ep 2 [4/4]

You know what broke my heart this episode (besides Khatha telling Dome to focus on his survival whereas he doesn't hesitate to sacrifice himself to protect him)? It's this scene. ↴

Gun did an amazing job here. You can't see it on the pics but Dome shakes his head before answering Khatha and telling him he is okay. He's clearly not and yet he is so profoundly shocked due to the fact that he had to leave Khatha behind — alone and wounded — that he'd rather lie to not worry him any further. He is terrified but watching Khatha get hurt to protect him acted as a real catalyst that made him forget all about his growing fear to give Khatha the answer he wished to hear — the answer which would give him relief. The concern he saw in Khatha's eyes silenced his fear for a second.

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Khatha's anxiety (headcanon?)

I still could have written another rambling about episode 5 and calling it "the lover's farewell" or "the tragic lover's fate" but knowing what we know now, I can't. Ignorance is bliss. It truly is. I still think there's some hope left. If Khatha truly did meet Dome in that boat then they can't be related.

The fact that the director deliberately chose to add a scene in the first episode that shows Khatha eating a gum meant that the scene itself was relevant to Khatha's character. The first thing that needed to be noticed was the crescent moon on the tin box (?) he keeps his gum in. (I apologise for the low quality of the following screencap.)

I'll try to write something about what the moon might mean for the rest of the series. I might not be able to though so I don't make any promises. (I don't think anyone's looking forwards to reading my MM ramblings but still.) But anyway, you must have realised by now that the moon does play a huge part in this series.

Then comes another reason: Khatha's anxiety. We still don't know much about Khatha's past. However, what we do know is that he went through a major trauma, lost someone important to him, and somehow became immortal. Ever since then, his life turned into an eternal winter with nothing to look forward to. His whole existence is made up of nothing but loneliness, a bitter resentment — towards himself mostly —, and a desperate need to control things. Khatha doesn't accept circumstances that are out of his control. He needs to be the conductor for the orchestra to perform. But the orchestra of his life was always beyond his control and episode 5 emphasised that state of affairs.

Going back to episode 1, Khatha chews his gum when he is taking in what Dome's presence in his museum might imply. He was hurt by the fact that Dome didn't recognise him but he didn't give it much thought because he still offered him to go inside his museum. He said so in a hurry as if he was scared that Dome (who's not Dome) might take flight. But now that Dome is here, he feels anxious because he feels that something bigger has been set into motion. He cannot pinpoint the reason Dome looks so much like the person he has been looking for (?) and it makes him on edge. He looks confused and lost. He was caught by surprise and surprise was never something he found comfort in.

Episode 5 showed us a new aspect of Khatha's personality. He was restless from beginning to end and the way he disregarded Triphop's advice (although he was well-aware that he was being childish and that Triphop was right to tell him to pull himself together) and played along with whatever the high priestess had in mind brought to the fore that restlessness. The way he repeatedly checked his phone to see how Dome was doing (no comment on that one) and the way he remained anxious even after seeing the video proving that Dome was eating again highlight the fact that no reasonable explanation could have calmed him down at the time. Seeing Dome in that state (after using the terrestrial rock) and having to lock him in a room must have been harrowing for Khatha although he doesn't let it show (he tries to at least).

Chewing gum is thought to increase focus via a reduction in stress and anxiety. The fact that he takes one as soon as he arrives at the auction reinforces the idea that he uses gum to try not to get overwhelmed by his anxiety. Leaving Dome in that state in the museum is, on its own, a real stress factor, which makes it hard to focus on winning that auction.

The high priestess' presence in this episode showed us how easily Khatha is unsettled once he realises that things are not going as planned. Losing all rationality, he gives in and buys whatever artifact he can afford just to prove to the high priestess that he can beat her at her own game. However, she is no fool and what she told him at the bar was only a means for her to get what she wanted. And she did although it seemed that Khatha had defeated her by buying the anklet. The face Khatha makes once he realises he has been fooled makes me think that his anxiety will keep on growing :( With Dome being away from him, I'm pretty sure he'll run out of gum soon.