story progression & implied(?) hints we might have missed

i think they utilised the fact that this show is short to their advantage, especially when it came to resolving the mess that is the wedding plan. its not perfect, but i feel like they made it so that there's a lot implied/said things (that we might not really notice) that wraps everything up pretty well, at least for me. though of course its all up to interpretation so you may not agree with me but here's an essay of the things i noticed and how they make sense for the story (including issues that bugged me at first). i just need to vomit all these thoughts out HAHA 

[spoilers ahead]

1. the wedding plan, lom & yiwa

lom & yiwa's story head back to when they were still young gay teens, realising their sexuality while knowing their mothers' homophobia. they've confided in each other and kept each other's secret of homosexuality since lom was 15 and yiwa was 13. if i'm right, it is implied that nuea and marine could be the first people they've actually liked and pursued since marine said "they've never told anyone, not even their best friends. since they told us it means that they've chosen us". lom & yiwa created the false image of a relationship for 13 years (if i rmb correctly), and its quite a realistic and understandable thing. this false relationship would prevent their parents from asking questions or pushing them to be with other people, allowing them to like who they like. but of course, when they pretend to be in relationship for over 10 years, their mothers eventually desire for their marriage. i don't think they specifically mentioned when the wedding plan started but i believe it was actually after yiwa and marine had gotten together. my theory is that yiwa asked lom to agree to their mothers' push for marriage as a way for her to leave her mother's surveillence and live together with marine, hinted from how marine told lom "you're doing this for our sake too". though it could also be that she wanted to leave even before marine came into the picture. was it the smartest plan? probably not, but it's also not completely illogical imo

2. lomnuea's ambiguous and morally weird relationship at first few eps

honestly in the first few eps my biggest questions were regarding lom's very obvious flirting and invasion of private space and also nuea not really pushing him away. really, the invasion of personal space only worked becauuse nuea likes lom; because if nuea didn't he would have pushed lom away like he did with the creepy guy in ep 6. nuea's inability to push him away really stemmed from how much he was starting to like lom, it was very wrong from his perspective of lom being a groom and they did address this wrong in ep 5. their first night was messy, but other than lom being drunk i feel like nuea had also drunk too and he was likely too caught up in the moment and his feelings. thus, when he woke up the reality sunk in and he ran away. i liked the acknowledgement that his involvement was wrong and that he was guilty, while also showing how nuea likely had some clue that lom's wedding was a fake one in some way or form. basically, nuea could tell that lom was prob gay and that his wedding was just a disguise, he just misunderstood that yiwa actually is in love with lom and they were hurting her by pursuing whatever they had. (hence him saying he has no right to face yiwa after what he did) meanwhile, lom also mentioned in ep 6 that he just wanted to have some joy before he got married which could indicate that he may have just wanted to tease and interact with nuea throughout the planning process and had no initial intention of pursuing a relationship. but nuea also liked him back and his feelings were also growing, making him want to pursue nuea.

3. lom not telling nuea

i think this was one of the most irritating thing for many of us throughout but from what they later reveal it actually makes sense. basically lom and yiwa have never told anyone about it, aside from marine, and he has spent his entire life closeted and likely never pursuing anyone in the way that he is doing now. on top of this, the wedding plan is yiwa's and not his, he was doing it for her and likely did not want this reveal to ruin anything considering lom and nuea have only met for like a month or so (which later yiwa assures him and asks him to do so). plus, this whole wedding plan thing is a very messy thing to get into and he was also prob scared nuea would not accept him. lom also may not haved emotionally emphatised with how terrible nuea feels as a 'third party' since to him, he wasn't really doing a 'wrong'. it's still unfair, especially since it felt like he was playing with nuea's feelings, but i think they set up the reasoning well and lom also admitted he was wrong. (+ we also got to see him get wrecked by mama tiger j'im and nuea's support network that felt good)

4. the underlying emotional depth of the characters

some are more obviously shown while others are passed in a few lines but there are a few emotional scenes and points i really like. for example starting with lom as a character, we only get to see a glimpse of his vulnerability in ep 6 when he cried hugging nuea. if we really reflect back, lom's story had its fair share of sadness. he knew he was gay since he was young and he knew he wouldn't be accepted in society and especially not by his mother, so he never told anyone. his only confidant was yiwa who was in the same position as he is, and they've kept this secret for years. i think a lot of people blame lom for the wedding plan but yiwa is the real mastermind behind it all, lom prob wanted to help and support just like how they have done so for the past years (and also get some sort of freedom for himself too). lom's (and also yiwa's) mother is controlling and commanding, and he clearly finds it hard to go against her. [i'll discuss about how i liked the way they showed familial pressure later] while yiwa found marine, i theorise that lom prob didnt have anyone and i suspect he expected nuea to reject him and not want to be with him because of how messy his situation is. which is why he hesitated to tell nuea and cried when nuea accepted him; it meant he was no longer alone and that nuea understood him and his struggles. another example is marine, who is mentioned in a few lines to have 'cried in secret'. it's hinted that marine is someone who acts strong but cries and reflects when no one is there and we see that happen when yiwa's mum came to confront her. she bravely said she would not break up with yiwa and that yiwa's mum did not understand yiwa and was hurting her, but later when yiwa came she was the one who suggested to break up as she didn't want this to affect their mother-daughter relationship. we can just see how marine makes sense as a character and its a bit of a sad thought.

5. familiar pressure

as someone who grew up in an asian household with controlling and relatively strict parents, i think this series captured the sense of it really well. they showed the conflicting emotions of loving and respecting your parents but also feeling hurt and suffocated by the pressure and 'love' that your parent gives. they show that to yiwa's and lom's mother, they think they're doing the right thing, they think they understand their children the best. while in truth, their children have hidden a big part of their identity away just to satisfy them, and they don't see the pain that they're causing. it's a common and very real occurence; the gap between the love of a parent and a child and the lack of real heart-to-heart communications. they show how family can still be important to you, even when you have been hurt. the gray area between knowing the care and good things your family has given but also feeling the pain they've caused. yiwa and lom, at the end, walk into opposite directions of this.  yiwa leaves her family because even if her family is important to her, she will not give up on her love. meanwhile, lom gets the opportunity to stay and make his mother change her mind, and his mother even if not elated about it, chooses to have lom rather than lose him.

6. yiwa running away being the most feasible way to conclude in 1 ep

is it rushed? probably. it definitely isn't the most satisfying final ep you'll watch but they did conclude this to the best that they could. it was the best way to conclude with the limited time. yiwa running away wrapped everything up nicely in a quick manner because if they wanted to pursue this in another way, we need more eps and it would definitely get more messy. her running away also helped with the issue of the wedding and their homophobic mothers. (1) she cleaned up the issue with the wedding plan that she started by creating a runaway plan that gave lom an opportunity (2) if lom & yiwa really got married, we would have a messier confrontation with the mothers (3) she and her mother would still have conflicts about her relationship with marine. now she gets to be away from her family and happy with marine (4) it perfectly sets up lom's sob story of falling in love with his previous wedding planner where 'he comforted me when i was heartbroken by my lesbian runaway bride, i'll never marry another woman i'll marry a man instead'. and this allows him to take advantage of his mother's possible guilt since she pushed for the marriage (there's the scene where she watches his 'heartbroken' behaviour and wishes for someone, and anyone to just help him feel better) she also was forced to accept him and his choices even if she does not really agree because she now fears that lom would leave her like yiwa did. (also showing how even if it is hard to accept, you should try if you love that person). 

all of it just ties and wraps everything up very nicely. and because it was short there's a lot of hints that are said, instead of shown, to help understand the characters and the story better. and trying to analyse and dive into it was fun, even if its just a fun and lighthearted show :D do i wish there were things done differently? perhaps there are, i rmb thinking about a divorce or wedding crash plans and also lom having a father who knows about it and is helping them, all of which would have been interesting and funny to watch. 

but i still did have a really positive experience watching this show, im excited for the special ep >_< still hoping for a wedding (can i just say i wanted lomnuea and yiwamarine to have a double wedding so badly)