Recap
Li Ming and Heart wake up in bed together and play little hand games and footsie.
Meanwhile, in another bed, Wen wakes up next to Alan. They’ve broken up, but still live together and things are complicated. Everything seems to turn into a nasty argument.
Wen asks his blond friend about having a relationship with someone he slept with already. The friend gives better advice this time, to just go along with it and also end his previous relationship first.
Li Ming comes home to find Jim going through his stuff. They fight, with Jim full of worry and wanting to take care of Li Ming and Li Ming feeling like he’s a burden to Jim. Li Ming accuses Jim of not being happy and forcing his dreams down his throat and Jim has no answer.
Later, Heart notices Li Ming’s bad mood and won’t leave him alone, so Li Ming sprays him with a hose. Li Ming ends up in a better mood, and Heart admires his bare chest.
Wen throws a surprise party for Jim, and Li Ming is there with the cake. He apologizes to his uncle, who smears Li Ming’s face with cake. Gaipa isn’t there but sends a gift and texts.
Wen crashes in Jim’s room and gives him advice on adjusting to Li Ming becoming an adult. He gives Jim a shirt that says “Keep Calm and Eat Chicken”, possibly as an excuse to get him shirtless. Wen goes in very slowly for a kiss, but Jim thinks about his ex before putting Wen off.
In the morning, Wen tries to watch Jim’s favorite movie but the DVD won’t work. Jim recounts the tragic story of a man who loves one woman but has to marry another. They disagree over what the characters should have done.
There’s cat PPL and flirting.
Wen goes home, where Alan is pissed Wen didn’t tell him he’d be out and didn’t answer his calls. Wen says he’s moving to a new condo and Alan wants to know if it’s a new boyfriend’s condo. Wen says this is why he doesn’t want to be there.
Alan goes to the blond friend and whines about having tried to do things for Wen. The friend suggests he should have asked if Wen wanted those things. Alan shows him a picture of Jim from Wen’s social media and asks if he knows him.
Gaipa pushes Jim into letting him help with car stuff while Jim goes to the bank. Jim doesn’t have collateral for a loan and Alan, who works there, is called over to help. Alan takes a look at Jim’s info while answering loan questions.
Gaipa’s mom is sweetly supportive of him and his crush on Jim, telling him to play hard to get.
Wen brings Christmas decorations to Moonlight Chicken.
Heart and Li Ming sneak out at night to get street food. Li Ming wraps Heart’s arms around his waist on the bike. He takes him to a church where a Deaf group is meeting.
Li Ming talks with the director there about how it can be isolating to be deaf. He asks an asinine question about if Deaf people can be happy. It’s an excuse for that actor to VO about happiness taking many forms as we see Leng and Praew listening to their baby, Gaipa and his mom on the couch, and Wen and Jim putting up the decorations.
Alan shows up, angry and wanting to know more about Jim. Jim tries to get him to leave and Alan starts questioning him and getting physical. Wen gets knocked into tables. He explains to Jim that they are already broken up, but Jim wants them both to leave.
The sign language group director now VOs that despair is part of life too. We see Leng contemplating bills, Gaipa’s mom looking at medication, Li Ming looking at his Work and Travel flier, Heart by himself with the same flier, Alan crying alone at home, Jim looking at the broken decorations and Wen walking by himself.
The VO tells us we choose our lives and have to accept them.
Thoughts
This episode is so slice-of-life to me. So far we’ve had a pregnancy, a birthday, an annual festival, and now we have VO about happiness and despair and the lives we lead, key tropes of the genre. I love slice-of-life, but I think if you’re here for BL you might be disappointed.
That doesn’t mean the couples aren’t a big part of my enjoyment though. I may be enjoying them more this rewatch.
Once again, Jim accepts Wen’s help more easily than he does Gaipa’s. Gaipa has to physically push Jim to help with the car while Wen throws a party, gives advice about Li Ming, and has Jim decorating the restaurant without argument.
This makes it all the more heartbreaking when Gaipa is talking hopefully with his mom about his doomed crush. Been there Gaipa, it sucks.
Alan and Wen’s messy break-up feels very real. It’s a terrible idea for them to still be in an apartment together, and I get that Alan is confused and trying to hold onto the relationship. But the possessiveness, going after Jim, and getting physical is taking it too far. If I were Jim, I would have made sure Wen wasn’t being physically abused before asking him to leave.
My first watch-through, I didn’t realize how early on both Li Ming and Heart know that they are attracted to one another. This time I think they’re both flirting and they know it, with Heart admiring Li Ming’s bare chest, Heart taking Li Ming’s hand, and Li Ming wrapping Heart’s arms around his waist.
I appreciated the sign-language group director talking about how isolating it can be to be deaf. Of course that’s not always the case. Right now I’m also recapping On A Starry Night, which features an extroverted Deaf man who isn’t lonely at all.
But as someone who is hard-of-hearing and an introvert, I feel cut off sometimes. I also think that depending on location, a Deaf person may or may not have people they can easily communicate with. Heart was trapped in his home with no one, he had to be starving for interaction.
Li Ming for boyfriend of the year.