TL:DR Version:
Pat and Pran grew up next door to each other but set against one another because of some bad feelings between their families. After being gone for three years Pran is back, an architecture major at the same college where Pat is an engineering major. Despite their histories and their departments being in ongoing war, Pat and Pran are reluctant to fight each other. With school activities at risk, they agree to work together to try and keep the peace.

Recap:
We open with a fight between groups of college students that will continue throughout the entire episode. Eventually, we’ll learn a member of the Architecture department flipped off a member of the Engineering department over a sportsball in what seems like the latest in an ongoing feud. But the important thing that happens with the first fight is that our two leads unexpectedly nearly punch each other. They are Pran and Pat. The fight gets broken up before either of them hurts the other.

Backstory on these two is also woven through the episode. They’ve been set up against one another since before they were born. There’s some ill will between the families having to do with business, but they live right next door to one another. Pat and Pran’s bedroom windows face each other.

Apparently, Pran has just come home from studying somewhere else for three years. His family home looks conservative and stuffy compared to the more bright and casual look of Pat’s home. That night Pat and Pran have an amusing fight over the location of the trash can that mirrors an earlier flashback between their fathers. Only, once it’s over, Pat fixes everything, if a little resentfully.

Pat’s sister Pa asks him not to hurt Pran but only alludes to why. So as the fighting at school continues Pat plays along while trying to keep Pran from getting involved. But he does sign up to compete against him musically, the two of them getting a head start by pounding the drums (Pat) and strumming the guitar (Pran) aggressively as they wait for the application forms.

Despite Pat’s best efforts, Pran breaks away and nearly gets beat up before Pat grabs him and hides him. More backstory reveals that even as kids they might not have always been fighting, and Pran once saved Pa from drowning. This might be why she’s so protective of Pran, although it definitely feels like there’s more to the story.

Pat ends up sneaking into Pran’s room to discuss the gang situation. Despite their parents and everything set up, it’s clear they don’t actually want to fight. Even though they come up with a perfectly reasonable solution their departments manage to screw it up and Pat and Pran fake fight (while accidentally landing blows) to keep up their cover.

Everything seems to end well for them as this should end the immediate fighting, but now they’ve got a teacher threatening to curtail their activities including the music competition. There’s nearly-kinda the “bandaging each other’s wounds trope” as they share bruise cream outside the pharmacy and discuss the situation. There’s a kiss joke, an overly complicated exchange of online IDs, and we’re out.

Thoughts:
Though the school fighting is silly there’s clear care and depth in the characters and the story that makes it a pleasurable watch. It’s always fun to see a couple set up as opposites right from the beginning. Pat wears shorts and flip-flops and likes the drums and seems more outgoing. Pran seems more reserved with pants and Birkenstocks and an interest in guitar. Between the two I got a stronger sense of Pran with his colored markers, interest in design, and smiley faces everywhere. I appreciated that it was clear both their clothes and their rooms reflected their personalities, giving insight into them without it having to be dialogue.

The other thing that’s already strong is the intriguing backstory. The episode introduces Pat and Pran as sworn enemies and then promptly shows that they don’t actually act like enemies. They don’t seem to really be friends either but they are already looking out for each other and comfortable with one another even though they haven’t seen each other for three years. There are also a few hints to the past that make me curious if anything else happened before Pran went away for three years.