TinyMoose

I agree with you. I don't think the temple story was meant to cover the whole series; it was a reason for a connection/adventure outing together of our main characters, and definitely serves as a conversation starter about love and acceptance of those around them and within themselves. Definitely parallels/concepts the writers want us to hold onto as we watch the rest of the series.

Just finished ep 8 (please note at this point I am under the assumption that Amber is indeed Wenwen). And WOW. Amber had seen them a whole year ago. He looked surprised to see them at the park, so I have the feeling he was not intending on looking for them initially.....only revisiting childhood locations for nostalgia reasons. Things that are clear during this flashback: Amber 1) recognized them and realized who they were on first sight, 2) instinctively wanting to interact with them, which is clear by how far he had walked over from the swing..... , 3) lost the little bit of courage he had in approaching them (the thought of saying something to them dying as quickly as it came initially when he first spotted them) when they completely did not look at him as they walked past, and 4) Amber did NOT even attempt to contact them again for an entire year, implying he was willing to just hold onto the happy memories and move on, too afraid to reconnect with them. Amber's look after they had walked past him with no acknowledgement SAYS IT ALL. There is no anger, no blame there, but simply melancholy sadness filled with resignation of almost like 'of course they won't recognize me' and 'of course they won't remember me'. This parallels nicely with the scene before when Ah Le told Amber, after Amber asked him if he'd want to see Wenwen again, "It's been so long, I doubt she even remembers me." It EXACLTY mirrors the feelings of Amber toward his childhood friends also. Amber had the same doubts! That lack of confidence and probably fear of rejection (and fear of them not even remembering him) was so STRONG that it took Amber an entire year (a whole YEAR!) to gain the courage to attempt to approach them again for whatever reasons (whether it was just curiosity or a sincere desire to try to reconnect, only time will tell....if even the series will let us know Amber motivation). But for these reasons, rewatching the end of ep 1 and the beginning of ep 2 is even more heartbreaking when you see Amber's reactions/mannerisms when bravely deciding to walk into that cafe. I imagine he may have been standing outside across the street for hours before being able to do so, maybe after seeing Ah Le run in..... I really love the slice of life vibes of this series and many of the beautiful camera shots (gives me such a french cinema vibe).