TL;DR Version:
Pat and Pran compete to get the other to confess their feelings first, which means a lot of teasing, skinship, and PPL. Meanwhile, it’s school play time. Pran keeps Pat from getting the lead, only to need him later. Pat pushes for an embarrassing confession, and Pran refuses to give in, leaving the play in peril. But Pat shows up to save the day and his boyfriend.
Recap:
We start with car PPL, and Pat sends a selfie asking Pran to ride in the passenger seat. Pran chokes on his breakfast and sends back a picture of his current driver, his dad.
Pat’s sister Pa gets in the car with him. He compliments her beauty and says the guys will be lining up. It’s nice to see a brother boost their sister rather than be overprotective.
Pran’s family teases him about his texting and his mom says he can date anyone, man or woman, as long as it’s not one of the kids next door.
And now for the school play portion of the Thai BL. The play is also a BL. Wai wants to do sound and make Pran help him, but Pran wants to do backdrops.
Pat and Pa now share the dorm room, which is divided down the center. Pat no longer wants to do Rugby, but can’t tell their father. He sneaks to Pran’s for more printer ink PPL. Then Pran tries seducing Pat with food. Pat calmly rejects him but back at his own place acts so upset that he confuses Pa.
Ink helps Pa and her friends out with a school activity, and now all the freshmen girls have a crush on Ink.
In the library, Wai needs Pran’s help with a sound thing for the play, which has the plot of Bad Buddy. Pran agrees then goes into the shelves and finds Pat, who is planning to audition even though it’s the architecture student’s play.
Pat gets Pran to come over, using Pa’s makeup to help fake being sick. Pat pulls off his shirt and demands another Thai BL mainstay, a sponge bath. There’s some teasing, some skinship on the ground, and the hard question “do you still want us to be friends?” Neither of them is brave enough to say it out loud and instead fight again. Predictably, Pa enters the room sending Pat into fake exercises and Pran out of the room.
At Rugby, Wai and Pat are still on the team. When Pran shows up and gets too close to Wai, Pat uses the ball to hit his rival.
Auditions for the play involve playing the xylophone competently and acting. They have one viable candidate when Pat shows up for his own try. In the hallway, Pa slams into Wai, who gets an immediate crush on her. She rushes away because she’s bringing Pat his xylophone sticks. I’m not sure how seriously I should take this.
Pat does well but Pran says he won’t get the part. Ink shows up and she and Pat go get noodles, only for Wai and Pran to follow. Now Pat and Pran flirt with their confused companions while making eyes at each other.
Pat shows up in Pran’s dorm for face cleanser PPL but has to hide when Wai shows up. Wai can’t do sound anymore, and somehow this puts his scholarship at risk unless Pran takes over. He also brings back Pran’s guitar, which Pat had previously held onto. After Wai leaves, Pat is upset.
Pran is out of it the next day, and their lead actor won’t stop being rude. The two nearly get into a physical fight.
Pran meets with Pat on the roof, and Pat is smiling and talking again, but he also knows why Pran wants him there. Pran offers to go first, in return for Pat taking the role. Pat though, wants a big public declaration. Pran leaves in a huff.
Pran’s getting chewed out by the director the next day because they’ve lost their lead when Pat dramatically shows up to take the part. A flashback shows that when he did his lines at the audition, he directed his confession of love straight at Pran. Present day Pran is smiling brightly and later asks why Pat did that. Pat says he’d rather lose than put Pran in trouble.
Later, Pran is feeding Pat, which is something he wants to do for someone he likes. Pa shows up knocking on the door, and the two fight about who will answer while also giving each other quick kisses.
Thoughts:
Awww. That ending. Though I’ll admit I’m a little confused by the way they intercut the dialogue and the clips. I think the implication is basically that the entire time they really were telling each other they liked each other, just not with words. Which is pretty beautiful.
It is amusing how these Thai BL, which I am by no means an expert on, often feature the same elements. The university ones in particular, often have a play or some kind, a band/concert, a sport or game, some kind of forced BL situation, and of course the sponge bath. I think that this show, even as it is using these tropes, was doing a tiny bit of satire by having Pat try and force the sponge bath situation on Pran.
Pa and Ink are adorable, and it seems like everyone on this show has some kind of crush on Ink except Pran, who liked her even when he was also jealous of her.
Cute as it is to watch our leads play and flirt, my favorite parts are more about seeing them be vulnerable. Seeing Pran be in a bad mood and Pat tease him into happiness. Seeing Pran be shy and then give that big smile. Seeing Pat enjoy getting to be the hero by stepping in to act in the play. I’m looking forward to seeing them start to navigate this new relationship they’re entering, for which this whole episode was their own silly foreplay.