Last Twilight 1×07 Review: Episode 7

Have you gotten your weekly gut punch yet? No worries, just watch the latest episode of Last Twilight. It will give you all the feels!

I have to say, after last week’s episode, where Mhok apparently had no idea that he liked Day, and this week’s episode, where Day insists he doesn’t have feelings for Mhok, I’m starting to suspect that these boys are not all there. Are they just swimming in denial? Jimmy and Sea are making it very clear with their faces that these two are smitten with each other. Yet their characters are just so dense.

When Day initially rejects Mhok, he does it by saying that Mhok just isn’t his type; he likes men who are warm and nice. This from a guy whose last crush was August, who despite their reconciliation this week is still probably one of the most selfish, prickly people ever. Day has even admitted that most of his friends are jerks. And he has the nerve to tell Mhok, who has been nothing but kind and cares for Day in a thousand little moments all day every day, that he isn’t warm. Maybe if he were still the same guy he was in the first episode. 

It’s just one of those moments where you want to reach through your screen and shake the characters. Like, are you out of your mind? What is wrong with you? (Sort of like how everyone described Pat from Bad Buddy as “angry” and having “fierce eyes”, yet he was the biggest ball of sunshine golden retriever ever.)

Regardless of whether or not these two have any sense, I really like how everything was handled. The miscommunication trope is so common in media, particularly with regards to romantic relationships, so it’s always a treat to see characters actually talking. Mhok admits to Day that he wanted to tell him his feelings, and Day lets him down gently. And because he doesn’t want to lose Mhok (though he doesn’t yet seem to know why), he brings everything back around to their usual playful banter, threatening to fire Mhok if he hits on him again. And Mhok immediately does something flirty that is also still in the realm of his actual job.

There is so much flirting in this episode. The reading scene, where Mhok tells Day “sweet dreams”, and then Day promptly screams into his pillow? Dude, SAME. But more than that, Day is being shown all the different ways that he has affected Mhok’s life, the same way Mhok has affected his. Thank you, Porjai, for setting these two straight two weeks in a row. It’s she who tells Day that Mhok has been reading Last Twilight at home (to practice reading aloud for him!) and that he planted the jasmine in the front yard.

I also like that they continued the thread from last week where Mhok takes something of Day’s and fixes it. Last week it was the running shoes – which he brought back when they couldn’t immediately sync up. (By the way, Day, you clearly didn’t sync with August immediately. I love how he conveniently forgets this.) This week, he repairs Day’s torn sweatband. I think this is meant to emphasize that Mhok is patching up the holes in Day’s life. But I also think it could be demonstrating that just because Day’s life is changing, it doesn’t mean he has to give up things from his past.

This episode 7 reminded me of another episode 7, that of Bad Buddy. (Don’t worry, I’m sure that won’t be the end of the Bad Buddy comparisons.) Pran wasn’t ready to be with Pat, and so Pat bought the both of them time by appealing to Pran’s competitive side. It’s similar with Mhok and Day; I think Mhok realized on some level that Day’s feelings for him weren’t entirely platonic – his face when Day rejected him gave that away. So he goes along with Day’s request because it doesn’t do any harm to keep their relationship in a state they both are comfortable with. And once it does start to cause them harm, Mhok puts an end to it.

Finishing the race is an apt metaphor for their relationship, especially as the phrase “crossing the line” was used something like half a dozen times in this episode. Mhok stopping just before the finish line to say that he’s tired of games indicates to Day that he’ll have a choice to make soon. Likewise, Day stopping right at the line and untethering himself from Mhok is a sign that he is consciously making this choice. He isn’t just crossing the line because Mhok is dragging him along; he’s doing it of his own free will.

So naturally we are then kicked in the stomach with the reminder that, oh, yeah, Day’s sighting has been deteriorating. Now he’s lost even the blurry close-up vision that he had and everything is completely dark. I trust P’Aof to give us a happy(ish) ending, but until then it looks like we’re going to experience some angst. They’ve mentioned the transplant surgery too often for it not to be something that happens, so I find myself wondering how I think they’ll handle it. At this point, though, I don’t even want to speculate.

In other news, how long has it been? Porjai is already five months pregnant and showing? How far along was she when she found out? I do like her scenes with Night, though. I think it’s hilarious that last week she was talking about how good-looking he is, and this week she’s like, “I’m pregnant and eat a lot so you better be prepared to feed me.” It’s a subtle way to remind him that she’s about to have a baby, and if that’s not something he can handle, don’t even try.

What these scenes also do, though, is show that whatever is going on with Night and Day, it likely doesn’t predate Day’s accident. Night showing up and secretly taking photos of Day running is basically the opposite of performative. He seems to genuinely care about his brother and his happiness, and he recognizes that their relationship is strained so he doesn’t want to do anything to make it worse. I am dying to know what happened. I wonder if he was driving when Day had his accident.

There is a lot of stuff about the past that we just don’t know, and I really hope we learn these things soon.

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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