#jackko

I love how they absolutely seize this excuse to start grabbing at each other

The way they look at each other is beautiful, especially the expression on Jack's face.

I'm very here for the "being shoved into each other's arms" trope

The accidental kiss was awesome

I absolutely adore that even after Jack got all freaked out about it

He still said

I really enjoy the fact that their panic over accidental kissing is for once not due to internalized bi/homophobia, but because they're rivals.

So the subtitles for this episode were much, much better, which means I feel comfortable giving it a proper review.

Even aside from the fact that I found the subtitles coherent, this episode was significantly better. There was a lot less awkward Wayu/Thanu/Phai bullshit and a lot more JackKo/KoJack(lol), MarkKit, and PokTong, and the episode was much the better for it.

The scene with Jack and Ko and the flowers was super charming.

Jack looks so oddly vulnerable. I wonder if he knows how he feels. And if he does, how long he's known.

I'm really glad that the show has moved on from simply them bickering as flirtation and is getting to the longing looks.

I love them and can't wait to see where they go.

PokTong! They had so many more scenes this episode and I was super happy about that. It's strange, even though I very much want to see them kiss, I was kind of glad that it didn't happen in this episode. It feels too soon. And Tong kissing Pok's cheek was very cute.

Mark and Kit were pretty moving in this episode. I loved seeing Mark comfort Kit, and I find it both inspiring and heartbreaking that Kit has decided that it's his job to save Pha. I will say, I found the kiss weird. They've been together for months, and Kit is still uncomfortable giving Mark a goodbye kiss in the morning? It's not like Mark was trying to get Kit in bed, he was just giving him a kiss. So Kit acting like he was doing something inappropriate was strange to me.

I'm so very, very confused by Sandee. What is his motivation? Why was he so weirdly sinister about it when he told Phai what he was doing? I've always been under the impression that he's trying to help the person he loves get the person that they love, but the way he behaved towards Phai was just so strange. He acted like a cliché mustache twirling villain. It would have made much more sense to me if he'd been wide eyed about it, like he couldn't understand why Phai would think he was doing something wrong. Idk, it just doesn't sit right with me. I hope that there's something we're not being told and it's not just sloppy writing.

And I'm sorry, but I simply can't care about the love triangle between Phai, Thanu, and Wayu. Perhaps if Dun was a better actor I could, because Bas and Pon are doing a good job, but it feels like every expression on Dun's face is forced. Like when he smiles it's like he has to remember that he's supposed to be smiling. It's a real pity.

This is the second time we've seen this sort of conciliatory behavior from Jack to Koh. The first time was when Jack got a nosebleed and Koh tended to it, idly suggesting that Jack might not be up for video games that night, and Jack's behavior instantly changed. He gave a nervous smile, called Koh a great doctor, and offered to wash Koh's handkerchief.

Something in their relationship has fundamentally changed. Jack has never behaved this way with Koh before those two times. Earlier in the series I can't imagine Jack looking so nervous in Koh's presence ever. Last season he would not have behaved like this in reaction to kneeing Koh in the groin. He probably would have laughed. But this Jack is shaky and absolutely seems like he's anxious about Koh's reaction.

Well, the Thanu/Wayu parts were predictably dull. Honestly the most interesting part of their relationship is Sandee's bizarre way of interfering.

I don't find Pha's illness interesting either. The only part of it that's at all moving is Kit's reaction to it.

The Markkit parts were super cute, especially Mark bringing Kit food in the classroom. After this, though:

I said, admittedly probably way too loudly: "Wait, these two haven't fucked yet?!"

But what followed was sweet:

I didn't expect Pok to find out the truth this early on, though I suppose it makes sense. The show has to get the truth out of the way so that Pok and Tong can come back to each other. That being said, I have super mixed feelings about this:

I wanted their first kiss to be sweetness and love! Not this heartbreak! On the other hand, it was effectively moving, which is for the good, since one of the main couples is boring af. Really, JackKoh and PokTong should have been the main couples this season, with MarkKit as a secondary, Thanuwayu as a tertiary, if they needed to exist at all, and the Pha illness storyline should have been removed entirely.

Oh, and I don't feel super comfortable with the level of consent in the PokTong shower sex scene.

There wasn't nearly enough JackKoh/KohJack in this episode, but what we did get was great:

I find the level of disgust they seem to have at the idea of dating each other so interesting. Obviously my two openly bisexual(!) boys don't have any problems with internalized homophobia, which is, 95% of the time, the biggest reason that people are resistant to getting into same sex relationships on screen. No, it's the simple fact that they think of themselves as rivals, and have spent so much time both mentally and verbally denigrating each other, that they can't bring themselves to indulge in the feelings that they can't escape having. And I think that's great. I LOVE that there's no homophobia in this series and that there are two openly bisexual men in it.

I think one problem is that they genuinely like each other and the way they interact. They're in a university with hundreds of students, but they always go after the same people because it gives them an excuse to be around each other. If they date, they're risking having a relationship of any kind. It's the same reason friends are sometimes resistant to dating each other. I've just never seen that done in an enemies-to-lovers story.