The Sign (Thai BL) – Episode 4 Recap & Review

Investigating the case of the Sexual Offenders’ Murderer

Episode 4 of The Sign starts with the boys questioning the victims, who say they were threatened into killing the criminals who had assaulted them sexually. The victims explain the gory details of what they did with images of the scenes on the screen. Forensic evidence collected on the scene does not place anyone else on the scene other than the victims and the rapists killed. The boys start deliberating the various scenarios and try to get into the minds of the criminals and the victims. Captain Akk divided the group into two, with each side assigned a task to investigate the case. 

After work on their first day, Yai gets an intimate call from his girlfriend and hurries home. Tharn has no choice but to let Phaya drop him off at home. Phaya forces Tharn to accompany him to dinner first, where they meet with a mysterious Granny who warns Tharn about looking out for the people he had wronged in the past since they were coming to take his life. The same woman tells Phaya always to keep an eye on Tharn and protect him from the people coming for his life. After the mysterious Granny leaves them, she morphs into a young, beautiful woman and walks away. 

The mysterious Granny’s words get into Phaya’s head, and after dropping Tharn off at his condo, he decides not to go home. He pretends his motorcycle is broken, forcing Tharn to let him spend the night at his house. After his encounter with the mysterious Granny, Tharn is wary, and when he hears a knock on the door, he carefully approaches it with a knife in his hand. Phaya spends the night on Tharn’s couch. Later that night, Tharn dreams of intimately getting close to Phaya, and when he wakes up, his framed photo on the bedside table consequently cracks.

The next morning, Tharn is uneasy around Phaya, and Phaya’s flirting does not help the situation. In his uneasiness, Tharn accidentally spills ketchup on Phaya’s trousers, and Phaya decides to wear Tharn’s clothes. In the bedroom, he notices the cracked photo. He does not stay in Tharn’s trousers for long because they tear as soon as he tries sitting down at the restaurant when they meet with Yai, and he has to buy new ones. 

Yai, Phaya, and Tharn investigate the restaurant where one of the victims says she bumped into a man and their phones were swapped, but checking the CCTV footage does not give them any credible clues. While deliberating what to do next, Phaya overhears some customers talking about an influencer reviewing the café three days ago, giving him an idea. He approaches the customers, gets information about the influencer, and links to the online video.

The three watch the video keenly, looking for clues. Their creativity pays off when Tharn notices the woman bumping into a hooded man. Although the clip is unclear, Lieutenant Singh can create a potential match using AI. However, it will take some time, and they must wait for more CCTV data. The boys start to get frustrated. 

Forensic officer Mayris brings the team more information. From the information provided by the victims, Mayris suggests that the victims were kidnapped and helped in a dark, humid room like a cellar, and the irritating noise is because the cellar is near an airport. She adds that they could not find the mastermind’s DNA at the scene because he knows how to wipe and destroy all evidence. Phaya adds that the killer has access to criminal data, making the team think that the person they are looking for is a police officer. Inspector Akk gives Singh an order to check who accessed the case files in the last month, and the rest are sent out to look for more clues in the woods. 

Mayris, Tharn, and Phaya arrive at the woods to check out a deserted building that used to be part of a mental hospital. Before entering the building, Tharn gets a vision of a woman hanging herself in the woods but ignores it. The three arrive at the building, and a plane over them confirms the irritating noise. Once inside, Tharn gets another vision of a man throwing a fire bomb inside the room, which happens soon after. 

Phaya runs after the suspect while Tharn helps save Mayris from the fire. Tharn gets another vision and has to run after Phaya and save him from the suspect while Mayris stays behind to call the fire rescue. Tharn arrives just in time before the man stabs Phaya, but the suspect gets a chance to escape. The police arrived, and Mayris reported the incident. Meanwhile, Tharn scolds Phaya for running after the suspect alone and putting himself in danger.

Phaya gets angry and tells Tharn he is overreacting, and if he were to be stabbed and die, it would be entirely due to his individual decision. Phaya stands to storm away, but Tharn grabs him by the collar and sternly warns him never to hear him talk about himself dead.

After returning to the precinct, Yai asks Tharn why he is upset. Tharn tells him he saw a sign about Phaya, but he does not understand why he gets so upset anytime he has a vision of Phaya. Tharn wonders why he cares so much about Phaya, keeps thinking of him, and gets so scared anytime he thinks Phaya might die. Phaya overhears their conversation.

The boys wait in the meeting room for news about the identity of the suspect since Phaya gave the knife to the forensic team. Inspector Akk arrives, but he tells them that the forensic team has no fingerprints from the knife. Phaya gets upset and thinks the forensic team overlooked something since he is sure the culprit held the knife in his hands without gloves while they were fighting. The team hit another dead end.

On the way out, they ask the inspector to allow them to check the building for more evidence, but he refuses since the fire almost destroyed the building, and it would be dangerous to go into the cellar. The team has four more days, and the boys return to the deserted building despite the inspector’s warnings. 

Later that evening, Phaya was leaving the office when his friend Dao paid him a surprise visit. They speak privately away from the rest of the team when the boys see them while on their way home. Tharn looks upset, especially when the boys think that Dao is Phaya’s girlfriend. Chalothon arrives to pick up Tharn, and when Phaya sees them leaving together, he follows and asks to join them for a meal. Tharn does not want to, but Chalothon agrees. 

During the meal, Phaya seems hostile towards Chalothon, and Tharn asks him to leave if he is uncomfortable eating with them. Tharn excuses himself to go to the washroom, and Chalothon starts diagnosing Phaya’s mental disorder using information about his dreams and hallucinations. Phaya thinks Tharn told Chalothon about him. Phaya gets angry and suddenly leaves the table when Tharn comes back. Tharn asks Chalothon what happened, but he acts like it is nothing but silently smirking. 

The next morning, Phaya finds Tharn and Yai at the workplace gym but ignores them. Tharn goes to check up on Phaya, but he attacks him furiously, asking why he did what he did. Tharn is confused, and Yai goes to stop the confrontation. Phaya asks Tharn if he thinks he is crazy, so he tells Chalothon about his dreams. Yai and Tharn look confused, but Khem runs into the gym before they can follow up and calls them out for an urgent meeting. 

Protests asking for better justice for victims of sexual assault gather outside the police station. The inspector says that the killer is trying to pressure the officers by provoking victims of sexual violence. Singh arrives with the AI reconstruction of the suspect from the clip provided earlier, and the team has a clear potential suspect, a forensic officer called Narong. Records show that within the past month, Narong had requested to look at many case files involving rapes and sexual assaults.

The motive for his killing might be because his younger sister was a victim of sexual assault, and she killed herself while the assailant was released without any charges. Suddenly, Tharn gets a sign and asks Singh for a picture of the man who hurt Narong’s sister. At the end of the episode, Tharn tells them that Narong is not running away but will kill his last victim. 

The Episode Review

The episode is excitedly about police procedure as the Special Investigations Unit leaves no stone unturned in looking for the killer. The fact that the series so far covers all the bases of the plot perfectly, giving the boys a romance story and showcasing their prowess in solving cases, makes The Sign a unique series.

Tension at work increases as tension and confusion about matters of the heart also emerge. Doctor Chalothon is officially a person of interest. Is he interested in Tharn, or is he a part of some bigger plot? Did Tharn tell him about Phaya’s dreams? It is highly unlikely since Yai, closer to Tharn than Chalothon, seems to have no idea about the dreams.

How did he know if Tharn did not tell Chalothon about the dreams and voices? The boys are almost solving their first case. Let us tune in for the next episode to find out who is the rapist’s murderer.