litg: can't decide if i hate it or love it

Amari says theres drama and it's just iris flirting with everyone (mostly obi)

Trent pulls mc aside and we're back to the him sort of saying he likes you but not really bc hes with amari the way the other slow burns are (nathan, ozzy, etc)

it feels like the star thing doesn't matter anymore we're just in a normal season again, which i guess after Dream boy and bestie that's fine?

game cant decide where iris is flirting, with Noah or Trent or Obi

Thank godddd myra is sick of Noah but im sad they didn't give her a storyline about Rui after their kiss, like they didnt need to fight over him as much as Anabel/Milly/Murphy but as Myra's bestie maybe a conversation would've been nice. At least Lucia says something about them talking it through and working it out between them but they dont talk about him saying hes not going to explore anything with Myra.

license to swill happens, mostly just noah and iris being annoying

I, the number one Amari defender, did of course only take one screenshot this volume and it's of her defending MC

hideaway mid day???

if the hideaway is gonna be open this early they might as well do what love island uk does which is just have it open all the time

MC and Obi have sex then she immediately gets stolen by Kai so I guess that's why it's midday lmao

I still think the hideaway is opened SOO early like

Obi sets up a surprise which is just a tour around the villa that constantly is interrupted lol

I live for the every now and then one line of dialogue that's like "And Trent is staring at you" or whatever lol (CRUMBS it's dire out here)

Also Iris steals Noah so presumably they can get dumped together soon

and Myra partnered with Obi so I assume this means next recoupling MC gets a choice between Obi (OG LI) and Kai and Myra gets the other

first good news is Obi gets a little more time to make his mark because I felt last volume was a bit more Trent focused

But ohh the small bits we did get to hear about Trent (him watching MC at the firepit, remembering the pool kiss, him thinking about MC during his date with Amari) chefs kiss

I do always feel bad with this type of storyline if you don't like your forced LI, which is kinda why dream boy/best friend the last two seasons were a little better since you got to pick which sprite it was at least, in case you don't like the way Stefan/Suresh/Dominic/Trent look... But at the same time I like only having one character to refer to, it makes them feel more personal (like John/Nathan/Jesse)...

the solution might just be revert to season 2 format where we force everyone to have their own routes and personalities and a lot of options so hopefully something hits

so thats not happening

anyway, first thing is sports day to determine if boys or girls pick first (spoiler: the boys pick)

and you start to get Noah flirting with MC 😖

storyline wise it might be interesting though so im curious if thats gonna lead into something to piss off the other islanders or get people mad at MC

but ew and im glad myra is clocking it, even if she does stick with him

sports day highlights are: (1) me not realizing what a "bouncer" was for 80% of the first challenge until I saw the yoga balls in the background and (2) Amari being supportive

Amari is actually very supportive most of this volume, but it may be because I always choose the positive options around her. she's like annoying at worst at this point.

Which sucks because even though her storyline is currently intertwined with Trent, like i could see him pieing her off for a bombshell and then of course we have to keep bestie Myra and wlw LI Lucia so she's more likely to get dumped for another antagonist.

Also I know people are upset Trent is not an ETL story but im still holding out for just like a 0.00001% chance Amari is a ETL.. or like enemies (vol 1-2) to friends (starting now) to enemies (when she finds out Trent still has feelings for MC and results in him accidentally embarassing her) to lovers (when Amari admits she sees what Trent sees in MC and they can be together)

for instance i misread this sentence as "somehow you managed to look hotter THAN even amari on a bouncer" and I'm like omg mc canonically finds amari hot but no i'm just delusional

so thats not happening

idk why but the mental image of obi and noah fighting for first place while rui is fighting for his life and accidentally taking Trent down with him is kinda hilarious

recoupling, basically amari and MC trade

Noah does scare for a split second since he won but then in his speech is like "im picking this girl because she's head over heels for me" which oh terrible speech

And again thank god Myra catches it

Dates with your couple, and its cute with Obi I'll say that

its in a vineyard and there's a healthy balance of agreement/disagreement. I'm curious though if those answers are tied to the LI (which i doubt bc fusebox doesnt do that anymore since S10 😔) or it's just to set up that Obi doesn't agree with everything I picked for MC, but Trent does. (fyi the answers that i remember him saying were he's a beach vacation person, he likes autumn... and a third thing)

coming back from the date amari says it was wonderful and I like Trent route still, but how can I take away from her joy omg

highlight of the episode was probably paying up the gems to eavesdrop on rui and myra in the secret garden

and im surprised because usually the gossip that comes from those types of gem scenes end up being kind of meh

but we find out Trent told Rui he didn't like his date with Amari because she kept talking (which, bless her heart, she's star struck lol) versus with MC he felt the conversation flowed more naturally

and not for nothing it seems like Rui asked Trent about Amari and Trent instead just kept talking about MC 👀

(ok and sorry to keep talking about amari but hc she was a dork and then got better at her social skills later, including her like getting a dog and feeling more confident, maybe grew into herself and her beauty so thats why she's so insecure and "talks too much")

THEN Myra confesses she doesn't like Noah after his speech and Rui says after his date he thinks Lucia and him have very little in common apart from a physical connection and then those two KISS 😲

scandalous i was kinda actually shocked

anyway i will be a little upset if this never gets addressed again outside of this and the kitchen because it was a gem scene

but im kinda invested and I do want noah to go away ASAP and i'm curious how Lucia would react.

Like ideal scenario (for me) is next recoupling MC and Obi ; Rui and Myra ; Lucia and Kai ; Trent and Amari ; Noah and Iris (then they can get dumped together)

(Also now seems like as good as time as ever to now try to create a hc to explain Noah's total shift in behavior: so he's only had the one girlfriend, not experienced with dating. He's farm boy but that doesnt mean he's sweet, he's maybe just a little sheltered. So thats why he's acting so cringe)

Trent wants to pull MC for a chat but she and Obi get pulled away to the sleepover villa, which for some reason everyone in the villas response is like its the hideaway even though they've only ever used it for bombshells

So we get two bombshells

and no shade to the big brother game, in fact I even praised its character designs recently, but these two look like unfinished big brother game characters

Iris is set up to be the mean girl and with any luck she will be dumped soon

Kai is fine 🤷‍♀️

Truth or Dare happens, I only remember that theres a pay to win part which I didn't care to spend gems on, but I do wih they wrote MC doing SOMETHING instead of just refusing and being a party pooper. I mean it happens a lot, but like I just wish the options were "pay to win: do a good party trick" or "don't pay to win: shitty party trick" instead of "don't pay to win: refuse the dare"

and then for no reason whatsoever, only Kai and MC stay in the sleepover villa

drama when we get back i guess

Trent admits he did kiss Amari when you ask and mc gets to have a reasonable response of being annoyed he wants a fresh honest start but not telling the truth

meanwhile I guess obi and amari's date goes south fast and he interrupts mc and Trent arguing to he like "let's go on a separate date" and im like ... bro we're busy?

its a gem option too so mc is just like no thanks

anyway I feel like they resolve that pretty maturely

then theres arguments on the lawn for whatever reason, something probably about Lucia and Noah im guessing idk didn't pay the gems for gossip this time

Obi tries to calm everyone down and noah threatens him with a secret and like okay not cute farm boy

then we got excess baggage

Noah says kissing doesnt count as cheating 🤨

Rui says he's never gotten a girl a gift, which i guessed that belonged to Obi because Rui is a CEO he should be rich lol

(but idk maybe merged routes)

However I will defend him because also in my asian household we don't give each other gifts for special events either. but for your partner?? i probably wouldve

whatever still not as bad as Noah's lmao

Amari has donated a lot of money to charity! amari they could never make me hate you

Then trent kisses MC for the "worst date" review secret, which hey offensive, but also wow a kiss from Trent 😍

uh yeah whatever I thought it was funny

tbf he does say "as an actor" he doesn't think much of bad reviews bc someone's always gonna be negative so it doesnt necessarily reflect on the actual person which I guess?? but he doesnt explain it well

everyones aggy so girls chat and guys chat and I dont remember what happens

other than myra concerned about noah

Trent pulls MC for a separate chat and explains all the complaints she had last volume, that he was nervous and didn't realize he bumped into her, then was going to apologize at the red carpet but was stunned by mc or whatever and then tried to get her on the carpet but could only do it by holding the umbrella

silly

and yay MC can call him out for how stupid that was

even the lunch he paid for that was revealed in excess baggage she explains is such a roundabout way to apologize for something without actually saying sorry

and this is how MC becomes fan favorite to the public 🙂‍↕️

also idk i like this characterization for Trent as a genuine character flaw that he's gonna have to figure out

as opposed to obi whose chat is just telling mc how much he likes her

(there mightve been more but you have to pay for it)

so im saying the story is very much in trent's favor sorry obi

then this shit again

we gotta come up with a game other than hide and seek i understand that villa is boring but what ever happened to having normal chats

anyway obi says he's in the shower and I fully intended on going to him first but I forgot which room was the bathroom so I find Noah first

Noah who clearly had a kiss with whoever found him first (he says MC found him second)

and then I think, oh this one must be the bathroom, and im wrong its the terrace (that one's embarassing i shouldve known)

find lucia who says she has only found noah, so I think oh lucia found noah and kissed him

(but no thats a branching error as i will find out later)

then I forget about the bathroom thing and go to the pool first lmao

honestly what happens in the bathroom doesn't matter (obi gives you flowers and I do give him a quick kiss but nothing further bc I did go to the pool first)

Trent says he loves coming to the pool to decompress

and he also says he feels a spark between him and MC

and they can share a passionate kiss in the pool 🤭

Ngl i was so excited about this and thats fully bc after last volume I thought it was gonna be a slow burn route lol

but I guess the problem is more gonna be outside factors (so like S6 where Grace is always picking Ozzy before MC can basically)

which sucks bc i do like Amari

but yeah between that and the DJ LI, maybe we were all wrong about this being a S11 repeat and its a S6 repeat with the twins taken out

besides, most people seem kinda desensitized to trent's fame by now anyway, aside from Amari wanting him

Speaking of, Amari and Rui come out of the secret garden looking sus and ask MC to keep that secret between them???

then everyone reconvenes after hide and seek but everyone looks mad awkward

only for the next day Myra tells MC all the gossip (for a price of ten gems) that basically nothing happened and everyone was aggro for no reason

I would actually argue MC had the most suspicious night kissing both Trent and Obi and not really telling either of them despite chewing out Trent that morning for kissing Amari

But yeah Noah's hide and seek kiss was with Myra, his own partner, so who gives a fuck

oh wait jk I do because Myra you were so mad at him all day girl BEWARE 🤣

and Rui and Amari's secret chat was actually about reassuring Amari she can go for Trent, which is valid good for them, love a little friendship

But I also understand why they were being suspicious about it when MC found them, because clearly it has to do with stepping on MC'S toes

but then as for why everyone on the beanbag were awkward despite not doing anything idk

final thoughts: literally just so cheesed about kissing Trent either that blocked out my memory of the rest of the volume (aside from the screenshots I have lol) or the rest of the volume was unmemorable

so far more of the gem scenes went to obi, so like getting to know your own LI costing money versus the main storyline about Trent not? RIP if you did like your OG LI i guess