Perfect 10 Liners 1×19 Review: Episode 19

Let me tell you, I really needed some joy this weekend after the one-two punch that was Thame-Po episode 12 and the Jack & Joker special episode. I was counting on Perfect 10 Liners to deliver, and boy, did it. Thank you for the dose of serotonin!

I think the FaifaWine arc may be my favorite on this show, and I did not think that would happen. I assumed it would be YothaGun, because the grumpy/sunshine dynamic is my jam, and Perth and Santa really delivered on the chemistry despite not having that much time to build it up. (Not like the other pairs on the show, who have all worked together before.) But Faifa and Wine are both just so very much; they have the potential to be the best relationship of the group.

As with all the other pairs, the communication is not perfect. Something that this show does well is that all of the couples are similar, but in different ways. They all have had issues communicating with each other in that they don’t make their intentions clear. It’s the reasoning behind it, and the particular faults of each character, that have made the nuances in the story.

In the case of Faifa and Wine, they have two barriers to happiness. First is that Faifa currently believes that Wine has feelings for someone else. He straight up asked Wine if he still had feelings for Tor, and Wine admitted that he thought he did. Second, Wine has seen Faifa in action; he knows Faifa goes above and beyond for literally everyone he knows. And he knows everyone. So there is no way to tell if Faifa is intentionally flirting because he’s just like that all the time.

Now, in Wine’s defense, he fully admits to Faifa he’s confused about his feelings. He says the same thing later to Jay. He broke up with his girlfriend because he wasn’t sure how he felt, and he didn’t think it was fair to her to stay in the relationship. Still, I think it’s pretty obvious that he also has feelings for Faifa at this point. Even ignoring the kiss he planted on Faifa in last week’s episode, he displays enough signs during this episode. He’s jealous that Faifa pays attention to his friend Jan even while Wine is laying across his lap. He, to quote Jay, freezes whenever he thinks about Faifa doing something nice for him.

Meanwhile, Faifa is proving himself to be Yotha’s brother in all the ways that matter. He admits he doesn’t know what it means to be special, or to treat someone special. He works really hard to treat everyone equally, because he has a pathological need to be liked. But he doesn’t even understand what love is; although, to be fair, I think he does understand, he just isn’t able to recognize it. He told Wine last week that he made his heart flutter. He’s relieved to learn that Wine is into men, and when he finds out that Wine’s crush is also into men, he gets upset and tries to cover it up. I think he knows that Wine is different, but he may just not be able to identify why.

These two are so obviously into each other. Faifa waits outside of Wine’s dorm until he calls to verify that he’s OK. And Wine immediately calls Faifa after his conversation with Jay to tell him that it went well. (Jay knows what’s up; the look on his face when he saw that Wine was calling Faifa and not Tor was priceless.) When they’re both wet from the rain, Faifa sneaks into Wine’s classroom and turns up the thermostat, even leaving a note on it so that no one will put it back. 

And Wine takes care of Faifa in the way Faifa takes care of everyone else. He tells Faifa not to drive drunk, and to let him know where he’ll be sleeping, so that he knows he’s OK. He won’t let Faifa drive alone while he’s sick. He makes sure he gets home and into bed. And when Faifa tries to blow off the intimacy of the moment by suggesting Wine use the opportunity to practice for Tor, Wine firmly tells him that he’s doing this because he wants to do it for Faifa.

The issue is that we’re going to get a cyclical story. It was like this in the other arcs as well. Something would seem to change over the course of an episode, but then the next week it’s back to square one. Faifa’s offer to “teach” Wine how to be in a relationship is ridiculous from the outset, as Faifa has never dated anyone and Wine has. And while Wine may not have ever made the first move, Faifa literally treats everyone the same and doesn’t realize when his behavior could be construed as flirting.

Case in point, the shoe thing. Because it’s more than the shoelaces, although that’s where it starts. Wine is laying on Faifa’s lap, and Faifa actually jumps up and rushes to tie the shoelaces for a friend of his, so that she doesn’t trip. Then he suggests that the two of them go running together sometime, when just about an hour before that, he told Wine that sharing activities was a way to get close to someone. So when Faifa goes to tie Wine’s shoelaces as well, Wine gets understandably upset. If Faifa is that way with everyone, there is no way to tell if you’re special to him.

As the episode goes on, this seems to change. Faifa gets completely wasted at Newton’s bar, which is out of character for him. Then Wine calls him for help and tells him that he’s special to him; Faifa melts, and it seems to trigger something in him that recognizes that Wine is special to him as well. Later, when Wine is taking care of a sick and hungover Faifa, Faifa admits to him that he thinks he knows what “special” is now, and he’s pretty sure it’s Wine.

And the kiss – the kiss! This is a kiss they both go into intentionally. Both previous kisses were one of them initiating and the other not really responding. But this one they are both fully aware of what they’re doing, and it’s reciprocal. (Hands on the throat, I die.) The hesitation before going into it, and Faifa wondering if this is a bad idea, seem to indicate that he knows he could be muddying up the waters. Their relationship at this point is confusing, but they both clearly want this. A kiss like that seems to point to an important shift.

However, the trailer for next week’s episode shows that even after that kiss, even after these revelations, they’re still in the “practice dating” mindset. I need Wine, at least, to have the emotional intelligence to recognize that he and Faifa are dating without calling it that. After all, they’re following in the tradition of ArcArm and YothaGun in that regard. This is a relationship without defining the terms.

The comedy in this show has always been great, but I feel like this episode was especially funny. I think my favorite bit was how Faifa said he was praying to Heaven for someone to love, and Wine immediately rushed up to him. And then Arm turned to Pun and said, “Heaven was fast.” Actually, Gun and Arm being the meddling cheerleaders that they are was fantastic. (The little high five thumbs up? They are so adorable.)

Also, the entire possession scene? Comedy gold. The fact that Wine immediately called Faifa to ask for help, and Faifa actually was able to? I’m still not sure if that was meant to imply that Faifa does know how to exorcise ghosts, or if it was just him tossing out random Japanese words and it just happened to work. Either way, it was just so silly, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Anyway, I hope these two figure themselves out soon. But given that we still have five episodes left (they haven’t even gone to visit Tawan yet, and I’d love to see how Faifa gets himself on that trip), I’d wager we’re not quite there yet.

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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