Overcompensating

There’s rarely a sense of vulnerability in a show that resonates so deeply — 20 years ago, on my first day at university, I was just as lost, just as unsure, and just as determined to mask my emotions.

My roommate would talk about his high school ex-girlfriends, and I wouldn’t know how to respond—what could I possibly say? Should I admit I had a crush on a male classmate, only for him to call me a creep?

Of course, I’m not the kind of high school star that the protagonist is. I don’t have his high, handsome, and athletic presence. If he were straight, he might be that typical frat boy vibe, but the writer gave him a different identity, one where he’s had to play another person since he was very young.

It’s like a slow, glitchy virtual machine running in his brain. That virtual machine is called "I’m straight, I like girls."

That’s his life, and it’s my life too.

I fell for him because, just like me, when he sees someone he likes, his brain freezes, and he visibly flounders when talking about love.

Logically, we should ignore our true feelings and act indifferent, pretending to be normal. When we see someone we like, we should immediately look away, lower our heads, and pretend to think about something else. Because, if you let your brain foolishly stare at someone you like, they’ll say: “You’re a creep.”

That’s the protagonist’s vulnerability. He hasn’t yet turned into a slick, middle-aged man who tricks women into marriage. And I think, maybe, it’s the appearance of vulnerability and sadness that forms the bridge between people. In an instant, I intuitively empathized with his internal struggle, and none of us have the answers on how to escape it.

Maybe the question itself is foolish. Maybe it’s just that we’re foolish, so we don’t have an answer.

That’s why I’ve stayed single, now approaching forty, ready to quietly grow old and pass away alone. I’ll come alone, and I’ll go alone, not bothering anyone.

You see, in 2025, in the most developed places in the world, a sincere and gentle person can only live cautiously. Even though there are so many fairy-tale stories on social networks of lovers finding their happy endings, the reality is, maybe most people will never exist in a fairy tale.

I stayed up until 2:30 a.m. binge-watching it and was too excited to fall asleep afterward. I thought the cast wasn't good-looking enough in the first episode, but they got more and more attractive from the second episode on, mainly due to the camera angles, lighting, and makeup. After watching the whole thing, including the villain, the second male lead, and the third male lead, I have to say the eye candy in this youth sex comedy is totally on point. The villain is the cute guy who played Stanford in The White Lotus Season 2, and there are many guest appearances by big beauties, including Cindy Crawford's daughter and Megan Fox.

The male lead's family favors sons over daughters, treating his sister like she's invisible, while the female lead's family, after her brother died, treats her like an orphan, so her nickname is "orphan slut"—so funny.

How did the female lead's brother die? Looking forward to Season 2.

When I was watching the last episode, I still couldn't figure out the lines of those four characters because I had skipped two episodes earlier. But since I'd gone through most of the plot, I rewatched what they said and finally understood. To be honest, their relationships are really like a spider web—complicated, yet not exactly tedious. If you're just here for the eye candy, it's still watchable.

Maybe others have seen similar works, but I don't think the plot is too cliché. I know there are many stories about recognizing one's sexual orientation, and while this one falls back on some old tropes, it still has charming parts—at least it's not too melodramatic.

Moreover, the friendship between the character Benny and Carmen is something we should learn from. When he gave up his tickets twice to rush to Carmen and approached the relationship earnestly, it showed he understood his friend's needs. If I had such a friend around, I'd definitely treat them well.