Oxygen – Episode 3

I have to say that I’m happy with this series so far. I wonder what Krishna will make of this episode, so make sure to head over to Psycho-Milk to see what opinions we share and where we differ for this episode. Just click on the button below to check it out. Don’t forget to like both pieces and leave us so comments so we can chat about it. I love talking to you guys. It’s always entertaining and enlightening. 😁

Spoiler Warning: If you haven’t watched the episode, go do it before you read this review. It definitely contains spoilers.

Let’s break this into couples this time. I like to mix it up every now and then. Let’s start off with the current love triangle that seems to be evolving between Petch, Perth and Khim.

Petch/Khim/Perth – PKP

I like the acronym, so that’s what I’m going to call them.

Petch is at their office when he asks Perth if he’s ever been in love. This startles Perth because we can tell he clearly has feelings for his best friend. He is worried that he’s been exposed until Petch starts to talk about his feelings for Khim. This leads to hurt feelings on Perth’s side. He knows his feelings clearly but must hold out secret hope that his feelings would be reciprocated.

We then see Khim’s personal life as she comes home with dinner late at night. We see that she’s responsible for taking care of a teenage brother. We don’t see the parents, but clearly Khim is in the role of caregiver as she is preparing meals for him, asking him to come home early to dinner. This means she’s working her way through school and shouldering the burden of being a parent to a sibling. She’s clearly exhausted. It’s also clear that her brother resents her for playing parent. He is the typical moody teen who lashes out at authority figures. She doesn’t know how to handle it, so she tries to ask instead of demanding which leads him to stay out late, pushing his boundaries. I feel bad for her.

Then we have Petch, the naive charismatic doctor who seems to be easily swayed by Khim’s opinion. But instead of thinking of his friend in a romantic manner, Petch has decided to pursue Khim. He think’s he’s in love with her. He sneaks into the cafe and teases her by playing a childish game of hide and seek. It’s clear that he’s a kid at heart and Khim plays along, teasing him back, causing him to jump like a frightened child. It’s the end of her shift, so he helps her finish up at the cafe. She gets dizzy and almost falls but Petch catches her in his arms. It’s cliche but they don’t go in for a kiss or anything quite so cheesy. It seems she’s embarrassed and shakes it off quickly.

Another day at the cafe, Khim gives him another test to find out if he likes Dr. Perth. If he closes his eyes, who does he see there? Petch is startled to see this image, but believes it’s coincidence. However, Khim believes her happy fantasy. All she wanted to hear was that he thought of Perth. I see that she is delusional with her silly tests, but it could apply to straight couples as well. Who we think about the most means that person is important to us. That is a true fact, but not a gay litmus test.

Another day Khim is closing the cafe alone, when Dr. Petch shows up. He offers to walk her home, and ends up giving her a piggy back ride. She’s so tired she falls asleep almost immediately and misses that Petch was trying to flirt with her. After waking up once she’s close to home, she’s embarrassed and ushers him away. We see that she collapses outside of her apartment. She’s clearly got health problem, but we don’t know what. I don’t know what is going on with her, but I imagine we will find out next week.

So thats where we leave things with this triangle. Currently Khim and Petch appear to match as a couple as their chemistry is quite nice. This will leave Perth broken hearted, but maybe there will be someone for him. We just need to wait and see.

Phu/Kao

I love this couple. Their dynamics never fail to make me smile. We left off with Kao very happy that Phu had come to see him perform at the Campus Moon contest. He played a song just for Phu that was cute and flirty, just like Kao.

The next day while Phu is eating lunch, Kao joins him. He wants Phu to go to the Campus Moon after party and listens to him play music. Phu doesn’t seem to want to, so Kao is sneaky, pocketing Phu’s keys to force Phu to play a game of which hand is it. where the stakes are coming to party. Its cleverly played by Kao, who anticipates Phu’s moves.

At the party Kao is waiting for Phu. He is very happy when Phu walks in. He asks for Phu to paint his face because he didn’t get a picture last time. He wants to remember what Phu likes. It’s adorable.

The scene shifts to another day. Kao is buying groceries to eat with Solo, but Solo isn’t home. Kao has no money but runs into a sick Phu. Kao pushes his luck and decides to buy groceries for Phu, with Phu’s money and take it to his condo. He want’s to know where Phu lives. It leads to an adorably domestic scene of Kao caring for Phu. It’s clear Phu doesn’t know what to do, but feels happy that someone cares for him.

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Their relationship is warming up too. You can see that Phu is softening towards Kao, asking him if he will regret it (caring for him). Kao says that he won’t. He’s proven that if he commits to something, he won’t have regrets if he pursues it with all he’s got. He definitely wants to win Phu’s heart. We will have to see if his determination and persistence pays off.

Solo/Gui

My pair. They are so freakin adorable. I love Solo’s lost puppy side and Gui’s caretaker side. After their holding hands in the last episode with Solo singing sweetly into Gui’s ears, Gui should have a pretty good idea of Solo’s feelings. What will he do?

Solo uses his puppy eyes to convince Gui to come to the Campus Moon after party. And Gui can’t really resist Solo when he’s trained those sweet eyes on him. So of course Gui is going to go, but ends up running late.

At the party you can tell that Solo want’s to be anywhere but there. His friends leave him alone for a bit and Yam wanders over. She’s the senior who was a Campus star herself and has a running date with all the Campus moons to be notches on her belt. She bags them and tags them. She’s proud of this fact. Her friends warn her this years Campus moon is going to be harder to catch. She strolls over to hit on Solo, confident of her reception. As she offers to buy him a drink, he picks up his glass and walks away, humiliating her in front of her friends.

Gui shows up later and Solo is asleep on the table. He’s not drunk, just tired. Gui ushers everyone away, telling them he will take care of Solo.

Gui takes Solo back to his apartment, and Solo asks for milk to help him sleep. I will just put the pictures here to show the domesticated scenes that follow.

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Then we have the sweet shared breakfast in the morning where we find out that Gui was taught to make breakfast by someone who was like a mom, but not his mom. Solo doesn’t pry. I have to say I’m happy to see that no one in the previous night tries to take advantage of each other or push for intimacy or steal kisses. Its all very sweet and considerate but you can tell how much both of them are caring for the other in the little tender gestures they give each other.

Gui get’s bullied by the senior he rejected, by taking shirtless wet pictures of Gui. But he complied which concerns Gui. Gui decides to go to the photo shoot to watch over Solo but gets interrupted by his friends.

Gui’s friends raise a valid point. Solo is a grown up and if Gui doesn’t like Solo then he’s just hurting Solo by leading him on. So Gui decides to back off. Thank goodness for Khim’s lovely who do you love test, which makes Gui see Solo in his mind. He hurries to help his crush.

Trigger Warning: Implied Sexual Assault/Date Rape Drug – Skip two paragraphs if you need to.

Meanwhile we come to problematic part of the episode. The senior Yam gives Solo a bottle of water with a date rape drug in it. Then convinces the photographer to help her carry Solo to the hotel and set up the camera. This is serious. She was just rejected by him and now she’s going to rape him and film it? I’m so disgusted by this. Thank goodness for the rescue by Gui, but I hope they press charges and she ends up in jail. Assault is no joke, not to be dismissed lightly or brushed aside.

This is a despicable plot point for me. Especially in dealing with a man being assaulted by a woman, many people wouldn’t call it assault, but they would be wrong. He was drugged and forced. I’m sure they will stop the scene by having Gui rescue him before actual rape takes place, but if it’s not handled seriously, I am going to be very upset. Also why would someone go that far for revenge because their friends laughed at them? The serious nature of this crime doesn’t match the image of a scorned pretty girl. But maybe they are trying to show that you can never know what deep twisted agenda’s can be hidden by a pretty face.

Conclusion

I enjoyed this episode, though I’m concerned about how they are going to handle the issue of Solo’s assault. I want to see what is next for the characters as each of them grapple with their feelings.

PKP

Will Khim be okay? What’s wrong with her?

Will Perth show his true feelings to Petch?

What will Petch do if he has to choose?

PK

Will Phu let Kao get closer to him?

Will Phu talk about his past with Kao?

Will Kao stay if the truth is hard to handle?

SG

Will Gui get there in time to save Solo?

Will Yam be punished?

What will happen between Solo and Gui?

When will our dynamic duo open up to each other about their past?

Thanks for watching and reading peeps. Can’t wait to hear what your thoughts are and if you enjoyed it as much as I did. And don’t forget to check out Krishna’s review as well. – 🤗💕 – Jen