Summaries (Spoilers, Obviously) and Comments

Note: I group summaries by story line, not in presentation order. If you want to know how the scenes actually played out in their official sequence, why not follow this link to the episode and watch for yourself?

Episode 21 Summary:

Noh is recounting how the girls at the convent were all into him during the concert to his classmates (Ken and Keng I think. Or is it Rodkeng and Ken? Or Rodkeng and Keng?) Earn walks by and Noh notices that he is looking sour. Earn gives Noh a cold shoulder after Noh makes fun of him for looking constipated. Noh heads off to the music club room.

When Noh enters the club room, he finds that the boys are taking the piss out of Ngoi for having a crush on Lhiew. They’ve noticed that he’s been in skyland since the concert and after a bit of confused questioning, realize what the issue is. Ngoi wants Noh’s advice on how to approach Lhiew since he is the only one besides Per who has dated a girl. Noh decides to make Ngoi a project and collectively the boys transform Ngoi throughout the day. Spending most of their days living in Guyland has its perks, but it obviously hasn’t taught the boys much about dating, as they confuse Ngoi with ill-conceived pick-up lines, phone ringtone messages, and dance lessons designed to turn him into a Korean pop star. The boys turn Ngoi from a lovably awkward loser into an unlovably awkward loser.  The boys head over to the Convent to push Frankengoi out into the world.

While Ngoi is learning to dance, Noh leaves to check in with Earn. He finds Earn listening to sorrowful broken-heart songs and changes Earn’s playlist to something more upbeat. While Noh is correct that Earn needs to stop wallowing in self-pity, the fact that he cares isn’t helping Earn recover from his loss. Earn tells Noh that he is behaving like someone who wants to keep his options open and that while he understands that his feelings for Noh changed and that that isn’t Noh’s fault, he would rather Noh not hang around him.  (As Noh departs, Nolan was shouting “and the same goes for those “dates” you keep going on with Yuri after you broke up with her. Stop that!” (But I’m getting ahead the story a few episodes.))

Aim and her mother are in a car. Her mother informs her that even though she paid a bribe to the convent to keep Aim in school, she has decided that the humiliation and shame from those videos is too much and Aim will need to go abroad to study for a while. Aim calls Phun who initially won’t pick up his phone. Phun is with Fi and Joke in the student council room. Fi asks Phun if everything is alright and wants to know why Phun won’t take the call from Aim. It might be an emergency. Fi then tries to turn the topic to his problems with his own girlfriend who has stopped talking to him. Joke takes Fi away to Phun can have some privacy. Phun picks up the phone and Aim asks him to meet with her later. At a restaurant, Aim tells Phun that she is leaving and asks if she can get back together with him for the few weeks she has left. Phun says that he has moved on and has someone new in his heart who he can’t date at the moment. Aim asks him if he can ever go public with this new love. He says he is planning to and not just because she’s confronted him.

At the convent, the boyflock has gathered to find Lhiew, who conveniently is hanging out by the gate with Nan, discussing why Grace hasn’t shown her face at school recently. Nan spies Ohm in the guy line up and chases him down, declaring that she will still date him even though he is gay. Ohm manages to confuse her enough to escape and the boys misdirect her. Noh spies Aim and decides to follow her instead of waiting to see Ngoi in action. He overhears the beginning of the discussion Aim has on the phone with Phun. He is clearly annoyed but decides that he trusts Phun. Like any wolf, Jeed has seen that Noh has left the safety of the flock and corners him. She wants to know if Yuri knows he is at the convent. She has undone the buckle on her shoe and asks Noh to fix it for her. He does and while he is on his knees, she puts her hands on his back and then grabs his hand when he stands up. She asks Noh if he likes someone else besides Yuri. Noh tells her to mind her own business.

Noh returns to find the boys celebrating. Ngoi’s attempt to get a date is successful, although it is only successful because at the last minute, Ngoi put his glasses back on and behaved like himself. Lhiew likes nerds (who knew).  Ohm tells Noh that he should be brave like Ngoi.

Later that night, Phun and Noh are getting ready for bed. Noh wants to know why Phun came over and asks him if he went to see Aim that afternoon. Phun says that he did but that Noh shouldn’t worry about it. Phun is happy that Noh is jealous as it means he must like him (duh!). Noh denies being jealous. Phun asks Noh out officially. Noh is at first reluctant to say yes, which bothers Phun. Finally, he blurts out “let’s do that” so that Phun will stop shaking. The boys hug each other and Phun tells Noh that now that they are dating, they don’t need to hold back any longer.

Rambles

And so Episode 21 ends with the boys getting ready to commemorate their “official” status with a shag. At least they do in the book. We’ll see how they spend the break between episodes 21 and 22 next week. Stay tuned.

Oh wait, I guess I do need to actually write something about 21. The problem is I don’t have much to say about it. Not a lot happened, really. I know I was one of the fans calling for Ngoi to have his own episode, but honestly, there isn’t much to say about Ngoi’s story. He learned that his friends were wrong about women and how to approach them, which is not all that shocking. Since Lhiew smiled at him when he was wearing his spectacles last episode, it is not a surprise that he needed to put them back on to win her heart. It’s only his friends who don’t see that he can be desirable. Ngoi’s glasses help Lhiew see him for who he is. Kind of deep, I know. Unlock it for whatever juicy life lesson you can.

I guess we should be ourselves and be courageous if we want to win someone’s heart. That could be the theme of the episode. It could be the theme of the series, except as far as I know, it has only worked once so far. Khom won Jeed for a while by pretending to be a rich boy (status: disaster); Neung won Jeed by pretending to be a nice guy (status: disaster), Yuri thinks she has Noh because they are playing the boyfriend/girlfriend game (status: on the brink); Noh and Phun started by pretending to be boyfriends while pretending to be uninterested in each other sexually (status: success); Pop won Pang by pretending to be gay (status: success); Golf won Mo by…well…by the writers deciding to write Moan out of the series (status: success with a lot of help from the writers. I think that’s cheating.). Mark has been the most open and courageous of all the suitors so far, but we are still waiting for word from Win on that relationship. It seems to have been 5 or 6 episodes since their first date and they haven’t made an appearance since.

Mick, Ohm, Arm, Per, Fi and Oil are all up in the air at the moment and if I am disappointed in this episode, it is because it spent a lot of time rehashing things we already knew rather than moving the plotlines along for the other pairs. Noh and Earn aren’t getting together and Earn is sad about that. Aim and Phun are never, ever, getting back together. Nan is never going to get Ohm. Jeed is not a threat to either Yuri or Phun. At this point, showing us these things again seems repetitive and distracting. Honestly, it’s no longer funny that Nan is wild about Ohm and he doesn’t share her feelings. I hope the next time we see Earn, he’s doing something else besides listening to sad songs. Noh is right – Earn needs to do something to get his mojo working again. Although Earn is also right to send Noh away if a mojo-motivated Earn is going to appear before the end of the series.

O.K. That’s really all I have for this week. Be yourselves! Unless that isn’t working. Then be something else and that might or might not work. Resort to tricks. Although I wouldn’t recommend that, really. The message is jumbled, just like life I suppose, and just like life, I’m sure we’ll make it through to the next episode.

Up Next

Peale tries to get his mojo back and catch up with the episodes of the series. He’s also starting to take a course to help him with his career so he might be busy for the next month or so. Be patient!

Random questions:

At this point, we’re far enough along in the series that I will no longer be making predictions. Especially after episodes like this one where nothing is left open. So instead we are going to ask questions.

• Why did Aim’s mother pay a bribe to the school if she was just going to send Aim overseas? And why is Jeed still at the Convent when there is no way her father could pay off the school? I guess the bribe was meant to buy time for Aim’s character to hang around until episode 21, but honestly, I’m not certain what the bribe was “taking care of” in the first place.
• What is up with Ohm’s fascination with Poom? I mean in the Christmas episode he’s holding Poom’s hand and in this episode he’s all over Poom’s hair. He can’t seem to keep his hands off of him.
• Likewise, Film and Noh’s thigh. Guyland at Friday College is very touchy. I’m beginning to think that the reason that the boys don’t know how to approach girls is that they honestly aren’t really interested in them.
• Is Jeed ever going to go after Bee and Neung? Her fixation with Yuri as a source of her troubles is a continuing mystery. As is the introduction of a rivalry on a swim team that never seems to practice or participate in any competitions. Are we done with Neung vs. Khom?