Only Friends 1×03 Review: Episode 3

Only Friends is getting messier as our group gets more tangled. Or, more accurately, as tangles are revealed. Now all the main players have met, and we have learned that, despite first impressions, no one is really as innocent as they seem.

In Episode 3, Cheum wants to throw a pool party, and it winds up being sort of a launch event for the hostel. Everyone gets roped into helping – Ray recruits Sand to play while Nick agrees to set up CCTV around the property in exchange for Boston helping him move. Nick, if you remember, is moving in with Sand – who knows Boston and is curious how Ton and Nick know each other.

Nick throws up some serious red flags in this episode. I mean, I was already side-eyeing him with how he went through Boston’s phone in Episode 1, but bugging his car is a next-level stalker move. You want to feel bad for Nick, because he’s obviously extremely attached to Boston and not happy with the current state of their relationship. And yes, Boston is giving him mixed signals; he’s way too affectionate for what’s supposed to be a friends with benefits arrangement, and saying things like, “You’re my favorite”, and implying their relationship may evolve is honestly kind of mean.

But mixed signals aside, I assume they’re not exclusive. That’s a conversation that needs to be had, and Boston is not the type to agree to it anyway. So Nick doesn’t really get to make demands on his time, or his feelings. He also has no right to be such a snoop; looking at the picture in the frame is ok, as it’s on display, but pulling out the photo strip is just nosey. (Also, knowing that Boston and Top hooked up in the photo booth, I was expecting the photos to be a little racier. They’re fully clothed, even!)

Boston is the most dramatic person on the planet. He says he doesn’t want any drama and then proceeds to go cause tons of it. What he meant is that he doesn’t want anyone to call him out on his behavior. (Side note: this may just be the ace in me, but his technique in bed looks painful.)

I really don’t know what his endgame is here. I can’t tell if he’s seriously interested in Top, or if it’s a case of he doesn’t like the fact that someone else is interested in him. Regardless of his intention, he is running around stirring the pot like it’s his job. He goes to Ray to try to prompt him into confessing to Mew, and he goes to Top to try and convince him that Mew and Ray are more than friends and that Mew isn’t as innocent as he seems.

To be fair, I thought after last week’s episode that Mew might be playing Top just a little bit. Without seeing what’s on the video that Boston showed Ray, we can only make assumptions. But apparently, it’s obvious enough that Top caves and sleeps with Boston again. It’s weird that Ray and Mew don’t seem to acknowledge what happened, which makes me wonder if Ray was blackout drunk and doesn’t remember it. Or perhaps they just haven’t told anyone else and didn’t realize that Boston knew.

But also, Boston, sweetie, that photo of Ray and Mew kissing is two years old and you still have it on your phone? Why would you keep that? Has he just been waiting for an opportunity to use this to his advantage? (OMG does that explain that creepy moment where he was developing photos in Episode 2?)

I am confused as to the status of Top and Mew’s relationship. I do think it’s weird that when Beam was hitting on Top in front of Mew, Top didn’t shut it down by saying that he was seeing someone. After all, you can be dating a person without using the “boyfriend” label. Maybe he was trying to respect Mew’s wishes that they not be considered boyfriends yet. Or perhaps he was trying to see if Mew would get jealous.

Apparently, it’s been three months of them not really being boyfriends, and Top has been respecting Mew’s desire to wait presumably because he thinks Mew isn’t ready. I’d wager that finding out that Mew is more experienced than he let on felt like a betrayal. (But also, Boston repeatedly told Top that Mew was a virgin, which now makes me wonder if that was an attempt to deter Top from pursuing Mew.)

Unfortunately, I think Top will take Mew crashing at Ray’s as further proof that there’s something between them. You would hope that he would have some rational thoughts and realize that 1) if he hadn’t lied to Mew about his dad texting him, Mew probably wouldn’t have sent him away and 2) Mew called Top first and he didn’t pick up. But he seems to be incredibly insecure about the speed at which their relationship is progressing, so he probably won’t be that rational.

I am dying to know why Sand doesn’t like Top. It has to be more than Sand having a chip on his shoulder about rich people. The way he flips Top off at the party, it has to be personal. Some people are speculating that Sand could have an ex who cheated on him with Top, but we just don’t know yet.

Sand and Ray are my favorites. I don’t care what happens to everyone else, but these two need to end up happy or just slightly less miserable than everyone else. You can see Sand trying to put distance between the two of them yet being continuously drawn back in. I wonder if he knows that he’ll fall for Ray if he lets himself and is trying to prevent that from happening.

Whereas on Ray’s side of things, he does still seem very hung up on Mew; he does, after all, end his and Sand’s makeout session to go pick up Mew when he gets locked out of his apartment. But at the same time, he is also attracted to Sand and keeps seeking him out. He refused to let Sand sneak out the morning after. He was so excited to be able to be in charge of music for the party and have an excuse to talk to Sand again. I suspect that, at this point, he doesn’t recognize the feelings he may or may not have for Sand because he’s so used to liking Mew that it’s become a habit.

Interestingly, Episode 3 did not utilize the confessional asides that Episode 2 did. Instead, there was more of a focus on social media, with Nick turning to the internet to ask about his situation, his stalking of Ton’s Instagram, and whatever the hell Ton was tweeting. The confessionals weren’t in the first episode either, so I wonder if every episode is going to have a different gimmick. That’s a pretty neat feature.

So the drama is fast piling up. The preview for next week’s episode shows Nick telling Sand about what happened between Top and Boston, and I can’t imagine that staying between the two of them for long. Also, it looks like Ray does intend to shoot his shot with Mew. Considering how hard Mew was pushing Ray towards Sand, I don’t think Mew will accept his feelings. Unless that’s a flashback.

Oh, man, can it be next Saturday already?

P.S. Give the ladies more to do, ok? Thank you, bye.

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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