Perfect 10 Liners 1×18 Review: Episode 18

Wow, we are literally two episodes into Faifa and Wine’s story and already these two seem to be gone for each other. Appearances can be deceiving, though. After all, we have six more episodes to bring the heartbreak. And given what we know of Faifa, I suspect it will be a doozy.

So, it turns out that the reason Wine is heartbroken is because he recently broke up with his girlfriend. I think it’s interesting how much he is mourning the relationship, considering that he is the one who ended things, and why he ended things in the first place. But then, his attachment to all of the things that reminded him of his ex could simply be a strong desire for things not to change. After all, why else bring all of these items with him to university?

But the reason he and his ex broke up? He developed feelings for her older brother. And given how cagey he’s been about the breakup to even his close friends, and the way he reacted when drunk and surrounded by couples at Newton’s bar, I’d suspect that someone in his life gave him a reason to think those feelings weren’t acceptable. I don’t think it was his ex, considering that she told Jay she wasn’t mad at Wine – although the way she casually outed Wine to his best friend was heartless. I don’t think it’s meant to seem so callously cruel, but I definitely read it that way.

But someone made Wine think that. Someone told him that two men having feelings for each other wasn’t normal. And poor baby has internalized that message. But hanging out with what may be the gayest group on campus has thrown the concept of those feelings in his face, and now he has to confront the very real fact that he is gay.

Now, Faifa has been apparently designated as the person responsible for bringing Wine out of his funk. I think even if Arm hadn’t asked for help in figuring out why Wine is upset, Faifa would have inserted himself anyway. It’s just the type of person that he is. And Faifa, who has never been heartbroken himself, goes to his father for advice.

Unfortunately, Yotha also happens to be visiting their dad (along with Gun), and because siblings cannot let anything go ever, Yotha gives Faifa a hard time about the advice he’s looking for. He – along with their father and Gun – does not for one second believe Faifa is asking for a friend and assumes that he is the heartbroken one. While, yes, asking “for a friend” is always the number one excuse people give when they don’t want to admit they’re asking for themselves. And anyone who knows anything about Faifa would know that he would never admit when he’s heartbroken.

But also, they spend a lot of time with Faifa. They know what he’s like. He’s someone who, so far, has not let himself get in too deep with anybody. I don’t think he’d be heartbroken because he’s purposely not involved his heart – at least not to that extent. Yet. I do believe he genuinely cares about people; I don’t believe he’s ever let himself truly love someone.

Because his mother is the worst. I will forever blame her for his issues.

I really love that Wine is already so comfortable with Faifa that he calls him when he needs help. He doesn’t want to go to the Perfect 10 Liners hangout alone, so he asks Faifa to come, too. After his ex outs him to his friend, he calls Faifa for comfort. (And by the way, Faifa’s immediate reaction – “Don’t hang up until you see my face” – makes me worried about what happened to him that necessitates a response like that.)

When you think about it, Wine doesn’t know Faifa all that well. They’ve only met a few times, stretched out over a year. But I think he recognizes something in Faifa that indicates he is a safe person. Wine didn’t even tell Jay that he might be gay, but he comes out to Faifa twice. (Granted, once is when he is blitzed out drunk, but still.) And I think the reason Wine kisses Faifa in the bar is because of Faifa’s blasé reaction to his coming out.

Wine is drunk and sad. He’s spent much of the day with his friends destroying every shred of evidence that he had a relationship at all. Then he’s faced with like every gay couple at school. And he finally admits to himself (maybe? we don’t know how things went down before) that he’s gay, and Faifa is just like, “…OK?” I loved his speech. He’s basically like, dude, as long as you’re not hurting anybody, who cares what you do?

Then Wine kisses him. (Also, I had no idea that hands on the throat during a kiss was such a thing for me, but after Dangerous Romance, Jack & Joker, Love Mechanics, and now these two, I am a new person.) I think that jostles something in Faifa; I do believe that Faifa has feelings for Wine already, I just don’t think he knows that he does. As I’ve said, I think that Faifa has all of these walls put up because allowing himself to be vulnerable would open himself up to being hurt, and he’s been hurt enough.

Plus, Faifa hasn’t really seen a good relationship yet – even Yotha and Gun had some serious issues before they got their acts together. He might not recognize how a healthy relationship is supposed to look at the beginning. However, when Faifa kisses Wine later (two episodes in and already two kisses? We are being fed), he does admit that Wine “makes his heart flutter”. So he has to know on some level that whatever he feels for Wine is different than what he normally feels for people.

The issue will be, how does he express that? We see in the promo for next week’s episode (but also in the everything about Faifa) that Faifa is nice and helpful and accommodating to literally everyone. So how can Wine tell that he’s special if Faifa is that way with everybody? I don’t think even Faifa knows how to do that. His natural behavior seems to be flirting.

(Side note: I hope they keep the running joke of Faifa’s clown car. I find it hilarious.)

There is also the problem that we’re only two episodes in. There is no way that it’s this easy. And don’t worry – it isn’t. If I remember correctly, the basic premise for Faifa and Wine’s arc is that they are, like, trial dating. Faifa is trying to help Wine get some experience before he goes after the guy he really likes. But feelings are messy, and I’m looking forward to seeing all the ways that this blows up in their faces before the end.

Something that this show has really nailed is the different friend groups. I miss the chaotic energy of Arm, Po, and Sand, but now we have Wine, Jay, and Ben. I love Jay and Ben trying to help Wine get over his ex, and I couldn’t help laughing when they were like, “yeah you’ve been super obvious about how sad you are, we can hear you crying in the bathroom”. But given that Wine doesn’t seem comfortable telling them a lot, I do wonder how close they are. 

(Strong Theory of Love vibes from the bathroom crying scene, by the way. I would not have been surprised if Wine brought out a water bottle.)

The sibling dynamics are also top-tier. Sometimes siblings can come across as so fake, but Yotha and Faifa are so obviously brothers (and brothers super close in age). The way Faifa saw Yotha coming and immediately went to run away, and then Yotha grabbing the back of his shirt? I really loved that scene. I mean, if I didn’t know Yotha was just as emotionally stunted as Faifa, I would want him to be a little more understanding. But it does look very bad that Faifa kept Wine out until basically dawn.

And while they may not command as much screen time now that their arcs are over, I am living for the glimpses we get of the previous couples. I’m a little concerned for Arm’s liver at this point, since every time they go to the bar he gets trashed, but I think it’s adorable that his being drunk just makes him even clingier with Arc. I also love so much how Gun and Yotha are basically attached at the hip now. Yotha’s jealousy over Gun ogling Arc shirtless was hilarious, and I love that he immediately stripped off his own shirt and started flexing. I really appreciate being able to see them all happy and settled; most BLs are about the getting together and don’t focus on the staying together.

I’ll say it again: I am very excited for this arc. I cannot wait to see how these two completely screw everything up despite clearly already having feelings for each other.

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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