Ron Does Stuff

I know, I know, updates on this have been sporadic. And it’s totally my fault too because if it’s not my work or personal life in the way, it’s me trying out new shows that I end up not liking as much as I’ve liked this one so far. But that’s changing now! I hope!

As befitting the penultimate episode, Tao and Charlie have a falling out that perfectly sets up what happens to Charlie in the coming seasons, as far as I know from the books. But let’s find out the immediate aftermath of it in this episode!

Charlie, unsurprisingly, is taking Tao’s turn against him pretty hard. He’s turned to his drums as an outlet. Tori quickly figures out that Charlie banging on the drums is a sign of something else and asks her brother what the hell is going on. She figures out that it’s more than just Nick and Tao fighting with Harry and it really all stems from Ben ruining his self-esteem when they were together. It literally makes Charlie not want to exist and I really like how good Joe Locke and the actress playing her sister is in this scene.

Back at school, Tao doesn’t want to talk to Charlie and it really is not going to make Charlie feel any better. Charlie’s even refused to eat lunch with Nick and he’s quit the rugby team. Tao reasons for refusing to fix things with Charlie — he wants some appreciation for trying to look out for Charlie’s safety and not be forgotten — sounds selfish but it’s a lot more palatable to me because him in the book was doing it out of guilt and it just sounded too goody two shoes, you know what I mean? Like everyone in that school took a class and rehearsed. And Tao, despite all of that, is really on Charlie’s side especially when he’s frank to Nick about Charlie wanting to be more than secret kiss buddies with him.

Later that night, Nick tries to make Charlie take over the phone but Charlie just literally hides under the blankets and maybe this is just me being an oldie and this could be a wrong opinion but I like how this show has been showing how young people converse on the phone. Oh god I can feel the arthritis in my joints now.

Sports Day arruves at Truham and I’m guessing the equivalent of this back in the ancient times was the intramurals? Charlie is still avoiding Nick because of everything that’s happened while Tao is still being pissy and I’m kinda mad at him about it? Which is a good thing because in the book this whole storyline was just “Oh, okay.”

In a bid to patch things up with Tao, Charlie takes his place in a foot race that unfortunately pits him against Ben. Fortunately, Charlie is a fast runner — it’s what made Nick notice him, after all — and beats Ben in the foot race. And he gets to tell him off as well! Charlie and Tao also get to mend their friendship. Hurray for Charlie!

And there’s also some movement when it comes to Elle and Tao, as the two of them almost kiss. But the two of them are still too hesitant to just push that last little inch for their lips to touch.

It’s finally time for the rugby match and at the start, Nick is out looking for Charlie amongst the crowd. He doesn’t see him there, but at least the show doesn’t use that to do that overdone trope of the character not performing well because the love interest isn’t there. But I guess I spoke too soon because he walks away from the game because he sees Charlie in the crowd and he goes to him instead to tell him he doesn’t want to break up and Charlie kisses him after Nick delivers an impassioned speech. And lemme tell you if I heard that speech from a hot guy when I was a teenager I would have caused a scandal because I would have done some MALICIOUS GAY FAGGOTRY on his body while we were out in public.

Charlie at least has some decorum and only makes out with Nick.

The rugby game truly is forgotten because we then jump to Charlie and Nick’s weekend trip to the beach which is nice and all but those rocks have got to be painful to lie on and I’m used to the soft white sand of the tropics. And that water looks like sludge I am sorry. Sorry I know I should be focusing on them finally saying they’re boyfriends but I just can’t with the water! Apparently I am a beach snob!

Fortunately, the show moves on from that to the very famous bisexual coming out scene and I gotta say, even after hearing so much about it and actually having watched it before devoid of context, this scene with Academy Award winner Olivia Colman still hits. It goes without saying that Academy Award winner Olivia Colman is good in this scene but so is Kit Connor. He’s so good in it!