When last we left our confused high schoolers, Atom decided to go to the same university as Kongthap. He’s got these two episodes to make it happen.
So far, it’s not going well
He has a 23% chance of getting in. Teacher-friend points out he’s improved 5%.
Meanwhile, here’s another school play! It’s Beauty and the Beast and Half is cast against his will as the Beast. But there will be auditions for Beauty. I don’t understand how this works. Mudmee auditions and gets the part despite not knowing the story. There’s a kiss and she doesn’t want anyone else kissing Half.
Atom can’t join in the fun because he’s so busy studying. He pauses for some PPL and Kongthap gets him to agree to go to the school festival.
Meanwhile, Atom’s mom finds the eraser with Kongthap’s name on it. Her spider senses tingle. Later, she tries to get Atom to open up about Kongthap, but he doesn’t.
School Festival, Part Deux
The My School President band shows up! Atom and Kongthap dance together. Does this make any sense in the context of My Love Mix-Up? Nope! But I like Winny and Satang so whatever.
Atom’s mom shows up and looks worried, calling Atom later to let him know she’s there. For some reason, Atom finds this terrifying. Why? His phone dies and he goes to intercept her but she arrives and finds Kongthap alone.
Atom’s mom thanks Kongthap for supporting Atom. She’s worried about Atom trying to get into the University. Kongthap promises he’ll be there for Atom whether he gets in or not. Atom’s Mom is grateful. I’m still enjoying these sincere moments the most with this show.
Atom overhears all of this and joins them, but his mom has decided to leave and let them enjoy their time together. What a nice mom.
Half has “something” he needs to tell “her”
He’s going to a university in Chiang Mai. This is legit far from Mudmee’s University in Sri Racha. Mudmee is disappointed. She keeps saying it’s okay with tears in her eyes. Right before the play she disappears, but she’s pulling a Yoyak and is in the bathroom. She tells Half it truly is okay and appreciates him telling the truth.
There’s a kiss in the play and then they have another on the roof. I don’t mind fake kisses, especially with younger actors, but they don’t need to hold the shot on them that long.
Atom is doing better than he thinks
Kongthap discovers Atom had the wrong faculty code on his practice exam. He has a 55% chance of getting in.
Up on the roof, Atom asks Kongthap “Is there anything you haven’t done lately?” which has to be a bad translation. It’s also an opening for Kongthap to initiate a kiss for the first time. And second!
Finally, it’s exam time. Everyone is feeling confident except Atom. So he distracts himself by deciding to tell their moms about their relationship. Starting with Kongthap’s, since he’s afraid of his own.
Mudmee is the first person to jump in front of a car in this episode
She thinks Half is cheating on her with some lady. Mudmee has trust issues. Really, the lady is Half’s driving instructor. He’s getting his license to make their long-distance relationship easier.
Who knows why, but Atom is in charge of revealing their relationship to Kongthap’s mom. He’s so nervous he spits up drink all over himself and has to wear Kongthap’s sweater.
Over dinner, Kongthap’s mom casually asks Atom if Kongthap is dating anyone. Parents, don’t do this to your kids or their friends. She wants Kongthap to date someone like him, who is smart and a strong leader. It seems like she already knows Kongthap is with Atom so why is she saying this? Anyway, Atom chickens out.
Atom goes home and washes the sweater, ruining some embroidery Kongthap’s mom did.
Atom is the second person to jump in front of a car in this episode
It’s graduation day and the guys and their moms are there. Atom’s mom encourages him to confess about the sweater. Why not tell Kongthap first? Whatever. Atom is being tortured in this episode. So he jumps in front of her car while she’s driving. Kids, don’t do that at home.
He apologizes for not being good or smart enough for Kongthap. For a moment it seems like she disapproves of Atom. Maybe because he jumped in front of her car? Atom tearfully asks if they can still date. Kongthap’s Mom tells him he’s already good enough for Kongthap.
Later, everyone is at Atom’s for exam result time. When he hides under the blanket, Kongthap joins him to comfort him. It’s adorable. But Atom gets in and everything is great!
Why is Atom tearfully confessing twice in this episode?
Not only does he tell Kongthaps Mom he’s Kongthap’s he also tells his mom he’s Kongthap’s boyfriend. But his mom already knew and is relieved he finally told her. There are more tears and hugging. Atom must be exhausted.
We learn that the teacher-friend is marrying his boyfriend. Kongthap’s basketball friends are dating. The class does a time capsule. Kongthap and Atom go to their classroom and relive their various seat changes. There is one final kiss! And we again thank the power of the eraser.
This episode is a microcosm of my larger issues with this story
It’s a series of low-stakes things happening with little effect on the characters. Atom is worried about getting into his college of choice but then he does. Kongthap isn’t doing much besides supporting him. Mudmee is motivated by jealousy but Half either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. Half decides they’ll have a long-distance relationship on his own and that turns out fine.
It’s not Pit Babe, where the plot is disjointed but also so far out there that it’s entertaining. Nor is it a character piece like Moonlight Chicken, where boring daily lives are made interesting by the backstories and choices of the characters. These characters are all just nice high school kids doing things for reasons I often don’t understand.
I think a big chunk of blame goes to poor adaptation. The Japanese drama followed the manga fairly closely. Here they’ve moved things around, changed things, added singing, and updated it and I’m not sure what they were trying to accomplish. (Except I know they added singing because it’s Gemini and Fourth.)
Yes, manga Aoki/Atom ruins Ida/Kongthap’s sweater. He’s nervous because of something he overheard, but he’s not also planning on revealing his relationship. They changed things to make it harder on Atom so it would be a bigger moment I guess, but why? Meanwhile, they removed Aoki/Atom’s mentor being homophobic, which gave Aoki/Atom a reason to be fearful. Now motivations don’t make sense and weaken the already shallow characters.
As I’ve mentioned, Fourth and Gemini are cute and I like the sincere moments between Atom and Kongthap. I liked when Kongthap supported Atom, when Kongthap talked to Atom’s mom, and when they kissed on the roof. I wish they’d leaned into those types of moments harder.