An ending that outdid the rest of the show

Spoilers ahead

Wow this episode was so much better than nearly all the episodes leading up to it. That scene at the dinner table where Pai started crying was so freaking good. I have hardly cared about these characters for the last 3-4 episodes, but I could really feel his pain there. Of watching his parents move on from taking the best part of his life away like it was nothing, for trying to force himself to do the same.

I did enjoy seeing Pai's character development in his ability to stand up for himself to his parents. I don't fully agree with how it supposedly came about (Itt's unreasonably "tough love") and believe that part of the show could have done with some clearer communication, but on this episode alone, the character development was nice to see. From Itt as well, his decision to go talk to Pai's parents was really mature and showed a lot of growth, I think, compared to the passive-aggressive ways in which he's always dealt with issues in the past. It was so cool to see that moment at the end where he said something like "I did everything to make you who I wanted you to be, but I never stayed by your side" - I really loved that. And it captures even the way they first met, when Itt would help Pai and then disappear. Those scenes felt a little bit unrealistic, but from a symbolic perspective, that's a really neat little detail.

I really liked that Pai's parents were shown consulting someone about Pai's stress (though I wish there was more info given about who they were consulting and some background in general about them because the scene felt a bit out of pace/randomly thrown in there). I'm not sure I buy the whole "we were just worried about you" thing and honestly I think the episode would have been more compelling if they'd presented it as parents having to confront and overcome their own homophobia for the sake of their son. That was a bit disappointing, but not entirely unexpected in this kind of a show.

One thing that really threw me off about this show as a whole was the way Itt's mother's death was dealt with. I don't know that I've seen the death of such a close loved one in a show like this before, but I was expecting a lot more from that. I am sure they didn't want to make it too depressing, but it almost felt like a trivial plot point when the show just continued to focus exclusively on the romance and quickly brushed past any feelings of grief Itt was experiencing. I know that didn't happen in this episode, but it does make a lot of what happened here feel overly dramatic in comparison.On the other hand: the discussion of safe sex and STDs is really wholesome and was addressed in a way more thoughtful way than I could have hoped for, really, so kudos to the writers for that. Honestly, Pure and Folk's relationship carried this show in many ways. I've never seen a relationship like that in a show before and I love that Pure isn't just dismissed because of his past. I love that he isn't entirely let off the hook either, and that Folk always holds him accountable for his actions.

This show was massively frustrating to me the whole time I was watching it, and some of that is just personal preference and my not loving slow pacing, but part of it was that these characters really had significant flaws. I love that they grew from them here, I just wish that growth had come a little bit sooner and been explored even more. As frustrating as this show has been for me, I am glad I watched all the way through to the end!

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Loved this Series -- SOME SPOILERS!!!!! Proceed with caution

I really enjoyed this serious but the reason for that is because of the side character's story (i.e. Pure and Folk). I loved how the directors incorporated the importance of practicing safe-s3x and demonstrated, that just because you are young does not mean that you are invincible. The actors perfectly portrayed the fear one feels at the possibility of having an STD, from having no protective s3x with people. I also enjoyed the development of friendship between Pure and Wan and how Wan was the friend needed when Pure, had to go get tested and having all that fear. The drama also took a "tough" love approach when it came to Itt and Pai because Itt definitely took a more mean and rude in order to push Pai out of his comfort zone. I liked the series a lot. I gave it an 8.5 because I wanted more screen time for Pure and Folk because Pure definitely grew and learned from his mistakes but it seemed rushed. I also wanted to know more about his story and how he came to realized that he is bisexual since the story just shows that he has s3x with both men and women. Regardless, I would recommend it.

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