Summary
“Pregnant” finds Nanno back doing what she does best, targeting a serial womanizer with a habit of getting his classmates pregnant.
This recap of Girl From Nowhere season 2, episode 1, “Pregnant”, contains spoilers.
“Pregnant” opens with some spiel about how people don’t always take responsibility for the life they create and leave other people to shoulder that burden, so with that and the episode’s title it’s pretty obvious what Nanno’s objective is here in the premiere episode of Girl From Nowhere Season 2, another eight episodes based on real-life events. In the first proper scene — the familiar sight of Nanno introducing herself to a new class — we’re introduced to Nanai (Teeradon Supapunpinyo), who has apparently knocked up half of the girls in the school, most of whom were forced to get abortions out of shame. Things do not bode well for this guy.
Of course, Nanno, despite warnings from female classmates that she’s going to be taken advantage of and the fact that the students are taking bets on how long it’ll take Nanai to get into her pants, immediately begins cosying up to the creep. The fact that Nanai is so unlikeable would be frustrating in most shows, but not this one since the whole premise is predicated on the idea of pending revenge. It lends the whole thing a unique vibe.
Part of this comes from the fact that Nanno has so much agency. She controls everything. When the students figure out who placed the most correct bet, it turns out to be Nanno herself, who predicted it to the second (she even made Nanai wait a minute before they hooked up, to ensure she was exactly right.) Pocketing all the cash, she tells Nanai, “You just got played.” And she’s right. The tables are turning already.
This vibe also contorts scenes that might be horrific — Nanai basically trying to rape Nanno in the bathroom — into ones of hilarious oneupmanship. Nanno’s smugness when Nanai can’t get it up, her feigned tears when he tries to break up with her for looking at him “like an object”, her manic laughter when he walks away — it’s all part of a calculated act. Revenge is a pretty common theme in film and TV, but only a few shows have this much empowering fun with it.
There’s obviously a lot of thematic meat in Girl From Nowhere season 2, episode 1. Teenage pregnancy, for instance, is a major focus, as is the shame associated with abortions and being perceived as easy for young women. But social cache is on the chopping block too, since Nanai begins to lose his lothario tendencies after sleeping with Nanno because he becomes pregnant himself. His belly swells, he starts having morning sickness, and an ultrasound scan reveals he’s carrying a little girl. Naturally, none of his usual flings are interested in him when they see his big belly, and that’s before Nanno spreads the news that he’s pregnant.
It’s a novel concept to see the typical social stigma associated with teenage pregnancy being reversed like this. Nanai loses all his social standing and opportunities. His father pressures him into getting an abortion. He’s ostracised and ridiculed. Nanno ghosts him afterwards, telling him “it was just a hookup” and “we both enjoyed ourselves”, regurgitating his own standard lines back at him. Pretty soon, Nanai is dressed as a woman to play off being so heavily pregnant and is deeply apologetic to the girls he has wronged in this exact way. The point is proved.
But Nanai isn’t let off the hook that easily. He pays a doctor for an abortion but ends with a healthy baby girl. “If you want her killed,” says the doctor, “You can do it yourself.” Thus, Nanai becomes a single father. Of course, despite his hands hovering over the crying child’s neck, he can’t do it. As it turns out, extinguishing a human life — especially one you’ve created — isn’t as easy as he thought it was. He’s left to tearfully breastfeed and beg Nanno to come back to him. She isn’t interested, though. She just wanted to see if he was a good father, or perhaps more accurately a good mother, so he’s put her mind at ease. Perhaps he’ll be a bit more responsible in the future.
