Leap Day 1×02 Review: Episode 2

This week’s episode of Leap Day does little in the way of explaining just what the heck is going on, but it does a lot to showcase the importance of these relationships. Through a series of flashbacks, we are shown how Ozone and Dream came into Day’s and Night’s lives.

As I suspected, much of this episode is told via flashback, and though the promo for this episode heavily implied that Ozone and Dream died, they are both still alive, though in critical condition. So while they fight for their lives in the emergency room, we are taken back to the previous Leap Day in 2016. Day’s and Night’s 16th birthdays, having each lost three people they care about at this point. Interestingly, their attitudes toward their birthday seem to have flipped from what we saw in last week’s episode. Or, at least Night seems to have a completely different outlook.

Both Night and Day visit their families’ graves, but Night’s girlfriend has gone with him for support, and he seems fairly eager to celebrate. At least, he doesn’t seem to be as concerned as he will become. He takes Joy back to the empty house where he’s lived alone since his uncle died four years before.

Meanwhile, Day goes back to the group home where he lives, only to find out that his aunt has visited for his birthday. He warns her more than once that she should leave, that it isn’t safe to be around him. But when she gets a call that her son (Ozone) is in the hospital, Day begs her to stay.

Of course, tragedy strikes, as it does every Leap Day. Joy suffers from heart failure after giving Night his cake, and Day’s aunt and uncle are killed when the elevator at the hospital suddenly plummets to the ground. (They are really upping the Final Destination aura with this. I am dying to know what supernatural entity these poor boys angered just by being born.)

The funeral scenes do a good job of highlighting the differences in their upbringings. Night seems to have lost his only family – his parents and his uncle – so the curse has spread. And though surely the mourners at Joy’s funeral must know Night’s circumstances, no one says anything to him or even indicates they think that what happened is his fault. This may explain why he didn’t seem to be that concerned for her safety, or even worried in general.

Day, on the other hand, is all but barred from his aunt and uncle’s funeral. Anyone else who comes into the room while he’s paying his respects are hurriedly shuffled out, lest they be tainted by whatever has cursed him. He is point blank asked to leave for everyone else’s safety. And as he exits, his family hiss vile things at him. Someone even has the audacity to call him a murderer, which is just ridiculous. He’s a sixteen-year-old kid; it’s not like he sabotaged the elevator. Someone else tells him that he should never have been born – like he had a choice in that.

I have to wonder how long it took for people to recognize what was going on. Why is the default assumption that they’re cursed rather than extremely unlucky? The first death would be written off as tragic. I would guess that perhaps the second death was met with, “Oh, that’s weird and unfortunate.” And then the third death people were probably like, “…What the heck.” I’m very curious if we’re ever going to learn the reason behind this. 

Much of the rest of the episode shows us how Ozone and Dream came into their lives. As Ozone’s parents have both just died, Day is named in his aunt’s will as his caretaker; however since Ozone is older and Day is a minor, Ozone officially becomes his guardian. However, Ozone is aware of the curse, at least on some level (probably his father, that dude was bad-mouthing Day in the elevator before the accident), and doesn’t want to move in with the person he believes to be responsible for his parents’ deaths.

At first, he is very antagonistic. He blocks Day from entering the house, he keeps turning off the lights when Day is in the shower, and he purposely messes up the living room. Over time, though, he softens towards Day and their relationship becomes more amicable. I loved the moment in the store when Day defended Ozone against his coworker who called him a “dimwit”. Them bonding over the blind boxes was adorable.

Dream officially meets Night when she thinks she’s talking him down from a ledge, but due to the angle of the sun, she can’t see his face. (Night claims that he wasn’t going to jump, but it sure looked like it from where I was sitting.) So when they meet later at a tutoring class, she doesn’t recognize him, even though he recognizes her. He’s very standoffish at first – after all, his girlfriend just died in his arms – but eventually, she manages to charm him.

I actually really loved how she just kept calling him different names until she guessed correctly. She was so happy to have guessed it, too, and it was so cute how giddy she was saying goodbye to him. However, she almost gets hit by a car in her exuberance, and I think that must remind Night of everything that’s happened. He must now believe that he’s cursed; there is no other explanation for the abrupt way Joy died.

When we return to 2020, Day and Night anxiously wait for news about Ozone and Dream. Day keeps sending glares at Night (he did hit Ozone with his car), so Night moves to an adjoining hallway so they have some distance. Now, I’m not one to notice these kinds of things that much, but I did like how Night was sitting in a darker area, whereas Day’s was brighter. (There’s a scene a bit later where it’s reversed, which I also appreciated.)

Though Day is told to go home and rest while Ozone is in the ICU, he stays at the hospital. He ends up bringing Night, who also stayed, some coffee. He explains that Ozone has autism, was scared by an incident at their house, and ran out into the storm. I believe he does this so that Night will understand that it was an accident, although I’m sure Day can’t stop thinking about the curse.

When the doctor collects the inpatient forms for Ozone and Dream, he makes the remark that both Day and Night were born on February 29.

After having seen how important Ozone and Dream are to Day and Night, I am really hoping they are able to figure out the curse and no one dies. This is the kind of show where you have to prepare yourself that not everyone is going to survive. I’ve yet to see a GMMTV drama where any of the leads die, but that doesn’t mean anything. (And I mean, honestly, how many GMMTV dramas have I even seen? Not that many.) 

But mostly what I’m excited for is the mystery. Are we going to learn about the curse? Is it a curse or is it something else? Is it something that affects them only, or is it all Leap Day babies? (Remember, Night’s professor was also born on February 29.)

Something interesting that we learned in this episode is that Ozone apparently was not able to hear the stars until after he became Day’s guardian. At least, that’s the impression I got from that scene. He seemed to have no idea what was happening. If this was a common occurrence, he would not have had that reaction. But that means that the stars have been talking to him for years; what are they telling him? Maybe he knows more about the curse than we think.

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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