I have a lot of thoughts about episode 10 of Between Us. Some good, some not. On the good side, I absolutely loved how they showed the progression of their relationship by giving Team the chance to watch over and take care of Win for the first time. This whole season you see Win doing everything he can to take care of Team and everyone else, even to his own detriment, and you just know, at the beginning of the season, Win would not have allowed Team to try and take care of him. Itās just not in his nature. Win actually showing that vulnerable side, letting Team actually take care of him, that is a build-up of trust that Win doesnāt seem to have with most people, and I love that despite their tragic inability to FUCKING TALK to each other, that we did get to see how far their relationship has come, even if they donāt know how to acknowledge it. Another thing I really like, and this is more technical than story, is how well they did with the little details. This trip was one of the few times in UWMA that Win and Team actually had a major acknowledgment of their relationship, and it was a very big scene for them, and this is honestly one of the few times in Between Us where the differences between the shows would be extremely jarring (and trust me, they were, Iāll get back to that in a moment), at least to me. The effort the crew put into the small details, such as their outfits, Winās speech to Team (besides the outcome, and āman upā) even down to the act of Team flipping them over when on the bed and asking Win to be there to catch him. These things may seem small, but coming from someone who studied film and cinema, details like these are so important, but so easy to miss.
Now on to the not so goodā¦ Listen, I understand why they had to change the outcome of Winās confession, I get that they used it to show Winās fears and how they affect Teamās fears and that they need to FUCKING COMMUNICATE (have I mentioned that before?), and while I donāt enjoy the emotional damage this episode left me with, it actually plays along really well with their characters and their fears that have been revealed over time. However, they messed with one of my favorite scenes from UWMA. This is one of the first times that I have been so jarringly taken out of the story because of the extreme differences between the two shows. Like I said above, this is one of the few times they went in detail (why did autocorrect almost change that to Denki? I donāt even watch MHA?) with a scene that overlaps between the two shows. Usually they will just make references, like with the Christmas lights, or show a different side than what we saw in UWMA, like with the training camp. Due to the huge step Win and Teamās relationship took in this part of UWMA, they couldnāt do that this time, they had to show it, and the completely different ending, while meshing well with the character progression we have seen for them in this season, almost ruined the connection between the two shows for me. It really showed the disconnect that has been simmering beneath the surface this whole time.
I know that people are upset that because there are only two episodes left, this is probably the only big thing they will be able to resolve between Win and Team due to there being other couples that have to finish their stories as well, but to me, that actually makes a lot of sense. With where the definitive moments that brought Teamās trauma and Winās ptsd to light fell in the storyline, it was too late for anything to be truly resolved there by the end of the season. Do I hope Win and Team at least talk to each other about these things sometime in the next couple of episodes? Yes, especially with Winās brother falling ill, it would be a perfect catalyst for them to talk about their trauma. However, these arenāt things that would be able to be resolved in one season of a show realistically. Just them talking about it, and some sort of progress between themselves, is the most that would really make sense, at least to me, and there is plenty of time in the next 2 episodes for that conversation to happen. And I know a lot of people are upset due to how many couples are in the show and are saying that this will take away from the time Win and Team have to finish their story, but I donāt really have an issue with the amount of couples. We knew from the start that Dean and Pharm would exist, but they arenāt telling their story, that already happened, we donāt need to see it again, and while we see more of Manaow and Pruk, they were also established already. Bee and Prince are already pretty solid as a couple, they are in the cute get to know you/wooing stage, and I could be completely wrong, but I canāt imagine too much more drama coming from them. The biggest story from side couples is Waan and Tul, and with how they seem to be bringing them together, with Waan getting sick, that is a story that ties directly into Win and Team, and I canāt see it taking too much away from them. But that is just my opinion, and again I could be completely wrong. Overall, I obviously had a lot of thoughts on this episode, so if you have read until this point, thank you for letting me put them into words.
