4Minutes (Thai BL) – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Episode 3 Recap

The recap of 4Minutes Episode 3 begins with a second body being found at the riverfront. The victim has the same wound on the head and the cops think it is a case of revenge. As for Dome, he finally wakes up and Tyme checks up on him. Dome is confused about what happened as he only remembers talking to Title.

Tyme leaves him to rest only to be accosted by Den who is furious with him. Turns out, Tyme intubated Den’s patient, Ms. Nongnuch against her will. Den calls him out for not caring for the patients and storms off. Elsewhere, Tonkla has left tons of missed calls which Korn looks at in regret.

Meanwhile, Great notices that the clocks are stuck at 11:01. When he calls Korn, the clocks shift to the proper time, 9:30. In class, time moves, but when Great is alone, the clock again changes back to 11:01. His trance is broken when Mod arrives with a drink from Tyme. It has a note which tells him to treat his wound. The note changes to an apology note for a second and Great is confused. He runs out and finds Tyme just in time.

Great is confused by the attention and Tyme comes clean as he shares he wants to know him better and asks him out. Great is amused but regretfully turns him down as he has an assignment. He is about to leave but he gets a panic attack and goes back in time to 4 minutes ago.

Tyme looks concerned and Great tells him about his visions. To prove it, he tells Tyme that he knows he wants to ask him out. Tyme promises to look into it no questions asked and a thankful Great asks him out.

Unfortunately for Tyme, Den gives him the silent treatment for messing with his patient. Tyme teases him for acting like an angry wife but they patch up as he promises to consider the patient’s wishes. Back to the problem at hand, Tyme tells him about Great and Den recalls Lukwa having the same symptoms. However, she could only see 4 minutes into the future when she went into cardiac arrest. 

It cuts to Great seeing a vision of meeting a faceless woman before he comes back to reality and he realises he is on his date with Tyme. Pushing aside the vision, Great gets obsessed with a claw machine and they have fun as Tyme helps him win several plushies.

Following a fun date, Great drops Tyme home. Tyme confides that his parents are dead and he wants to be rich to take care of his grandma. We also get Great’s backstory as he reveals that he has money but he is not happy. His mom is his dad’s second wife and they never give him any attention. If he wanted to play on the claw machine, they would just buy him toys.

Tyme promises to hang out with him and play on the claw machine whenever he wants. Touched, Great holds his hands and they are about to kiss when Grandma interrupts. As Tyme leaves, he offers to set up a meeting with Dr. Den and Lukwa. Great gives him one of the plushies as a reminder of their date and they part on a sweet note. 

On to the shady casino mystery – Nan hooks up with Samarn and once he is asleep, she opens his safe and finds documents with a bunch of officers’ names. Just as she sends photos of it to Tyme, Samarn wakes up. He chases her out and she throws the phone in the river right when he shoots her. A worried Korn orders his men to fix the phone and nurse Nan so they can interrogate her.

Elsewhere, Chief Naret takes over the murder of Tonkla’s brother and the second victim. It cuts to Tonkla who is angry with Korn for ghosting him in his time of need. He is busy smoking up when Win drops by. He is apologetic as he shares the chief is known to take bribes, so the case will probably be buried.

However, he promises to continue looking into it in secret. Tonkla wonders why he is going to such lengths till he realises that Win likes him and kisses him. Win is hesitant at first but they hook up. Tonkla calls the shots and once he is done, he pushes him away, leaving Win with blue balls.

But poor Win is still head over heels, taking a photo of Tonkla and hugging him. Tonkla asks him to stop by often and Win is more than happy. He once again promises to look into his brother’s case and Tonkla looks determined.

Alone, Win notices on the brother’s last post that Mod commented that everyone knows who did it. He approaches her at university but she feigns ignorance and leaves. A male student (who is very likely the killer) watches Win and leaves a threatening note on his car.

It cuts to a brooding Great who is thinking about Tyme. The clock suddenly changes to 11:02. Alarmed, he notes down everything that has happened to him since the exam day when it was 11 and he ran over Manee. The clock had switched to 11:01 when Great and Tyme exchanged numbers. Great calls Tyme, desperate to meet Lukwa but no one answers. 

Meanwhile, Korn wants to call Tonkla but Samarn tells him about Nan being uncooperative. Korn decides to personally interrogate her and warns Samarn not to hurt her. But first, he meets Great who is going through his existential crisis. Korn frets over him as Great tells him about his visions and even suggests a different doctor when he learns Tyme is not responding.

Great, of course, is not happy about replacing Tyme but Korn heads to the washroom. He is jumped by a masked Tyme who wants to know about Nan’s whereabouts. He cuts Korn who fights back but Tyme is stronger. On hearing the commotion, Great arrives and Tyme is shocked. He runs and Korn tells Great to follow him. Outside, Great stops him and is about to fight him when Tyme takes off his mask. And with that, the recap of 4Minutes Episode 3 ends.

The Episode Review

Following that exciting Episode 3 recap, let’s get on to the review bit because we have a lot in mind. Some good, some bad, so this is going to get long, bear with us.

While the plot is interesting, it feels rushed, we still don’t know much about the characters. Why is it that we know more about Tonkla and Korn but not Great who is one of the leads? The writers need to flesh out the characters so that we can relate to them which is necessary when romance is involved. Otherwise, how can we root for the couple? Like why has Great gone from being wary of Tyme to wanting to kiss him on the first date itself? Y’all have literally met thrice!

There hasn’t been enough time to do justice to all the subplots as well as the characters. While we are only 3 episodes in, it feels like the actions that have happened this week should have happened at the midway mark such as Great learning about Tyme’s casino mission. Apart from Great suddenly changing his mind about Tyme, the love at first sight for not one but two characters (Tyme and Win) is also lazy writing.

Don’t get us wrong, the show is still entertaining. Tyme and Great’s date was cute, Job’s back as the hilarious Den, Bas finally got his action scene and that Tyme reveal at the end was a jaw-dropping moment. We just wish the writers would focus more on the characters rather than the action.

We also have to talk about the whole vision and broken clock thing. It seems that the change in Great’s broken clock may be related to his dying. Since Lukwa sees 4 minutes when she has a cardiac arrest, it could mean that when Great’s clock changes to 11:04 he may have a cardiac arrest from which he cannot return aka death. We do see someone dying in the first episode’s first scene. Is it Great?

There is another popular fan theory going around that Great is dying and the whole show is him reliving his life. It could make sense as to why, at times, he can see the future for more than 4 minutes like the mysterious lady, the apology note on the drink and hooking up with Tyme. Once the clock reaches 11:04, he will be dead unless he has a chance to relive the past and fix his mistakes before the countdown ends.

It seems that the killer is Title, Tyme and Korn are out to kill each other and Great has a chance to stop them all.