Heartwarming Flashbacks & Heartbreaking Future

MY 👏 HEART 👏 IS 👏 MELTING!!! (BTW, this is a super long post)

All of the flashbacks really tug my heart either in a warming way or in a painful way. However, I did expect them because I watched the teaser for this episode a couple of times and I have noticed that Day's & Night's hairstyle looks a bit different, so I have predicted that this episode would not be in 2020. Plus, someone told me that Night seemed to wear a grade school uniform. Though, I was surprised that the episode was mainly flashbacks. Not that I mind though since the background information on how Dream & Ozone came into the picture was much needed.

The scenes with Day's aunt and Night's girlfriend were so sad, especially when the aunt said "I will buy a bigger cake for you NEXT time" and Joy saying she will ALWAYS be there for Night. Their deaths were expected, but a part of me wished they would have survived, but if they did, Ozone & Dream would not be in the picture. On that note, the curse is so cruel! Like, the uncle didn't have to die since he is not close with Day and he does not like being near him. However, his death (along with his wife's) is needed to force Ozone to get close with Day just like Joy dying is needed for Dream to meet Night. The curse (yes I am talking about it like it is a person) is planning for 4 years ahead. The curse knows that if it only killed the aunt, then Day is left alone and once Day ages out of the orphanage system, he has nowhere to go and most likely will isolate himself, making the curse having no one to kill for Day and the chances of Day & Night ever meeting becoming non-existent.

As for Dream, I adored the scenes of her guessing Night's name (wondering what attempt she was on when she guessed it correctly) and the scenes of her and Night getting closer. I loved that they showed how hard it was for Night to stay away, but can't since he craved the attention and need for relationships (in general). Like I said before, the curse is cruel as it gives you a normal life for four years and then turned your life into hell in one day, so it is very hard to be tense for four years just to prepare for one day. I also love the relationship development with Dream & Night and Ozone & Day. They only had 1 episode to showcase this and they used their time well. I appreciate the fact that they made it clear that Ozone resent Day for the deaths of his parents because that is a normal reaction. I think Ozone still feel resentment, but more to what Day brings with him (the curse) rather than Day himself.

Moving onto present day, I LOVED Pond's acting when he showcased Day's anger against Night and against this entire situation. He knows that he cannot blame Night because he knows it is all the curse's doing and even if Night wasn't there, Ozone would still be hit by a car, but it is hard to not lash out at Night since this is the first time (I think) where a stranger that is involved in this is right in front of Day (btw, this is not the first time that a stranger has been involved because Day's sister was killed in a mass shooting, but I think Day never met the shooter before). I also really liked that they showed Dew being in extreme guilt as not only he felt at fault with failing to keep Dream safe, but with potentially killing a stranger and getting more people involved. I think one of my favorite scenes is when Day offered a drink to Night and the staff member revealing their shared birthdates. The scene showcased both of them thinking that the other doesn't know about the curse with Day trying to be nice to Night, knowing it was the curse's fault & not Night's and with Night refusing the drink due to him knowing that the curse that Night brings caused this to happen.

Before I talked about the final shot with them realizing about their shared birthdates, I have to give praise to the acting as always. There are not a lot of tense scenes compared to the first episode, but there didn't need to be as there are a lot of emotional and important relationship development scenes, which the actors killed! I will say that I think Dew is a bit stiff on his acting in 1 or 2 scenes like in the waiting room scene. I know his character is supposed to be emotionally reserved, so with these types of characters, I tend to really look into their facial expressions more, but his eyes tend to be hard to read. Its probably on me and I need to get used to the look on his eyes, which is why I tend to not take points off for acting for the first 3 episodes since I need to have a good feel for the characters. About Dew, I loved his little smirk when Dream got his name right and the look of dreaded realization on his face when Dream almost got hit by a car. As for cinematography, I loved the shot of the two grave sites, the shot of Ozone & Dream being rushed into the hospital, and the shot of the waiting room with Day being under bright lighting & Night being under dark lighting. There is quite a bit of visual comparison & parallels between the two, which brings me to my next point.

I am super excited for the next episode which will show us a proper interaction between Day & Night. Even though they are both affected by the same curse, their socioeconomic differences and their different backgrounds will cause them to have different opinions about the curse. Judging from the teaser for the next episode, it seems that Day still have hope in breaking the curse while Night doesn't. It makes sense since Day never been alone in his life since he always had someone to take care of him like his family or the orphanage and he cannot leave Ozone alone or push him away. As for Night, he has been alone for majority of his life (excluding interacting with the housekeepers here & there) and he is able to push Dream away since they are not dating and he is not bound to any family matters. Also, with the nature of Joy's death being so sudden and happening right in front of his eyes, he knows that no matter what he do, he can't stop someone's death. While with Day's family, their deaths gives off Final Destination vibes and looks "preventable" as in looked like "just in the wrong place, at the wrong time" rather than every place is wrong and every time is wrong.

Most of my predictions from the first episode are already proven wrong lol. I was so sure that they were going to be in a time loop, but I guess time is still moving normally. I am assuming that the curse is going to have power on every day now rather than just on leap day. Based on the teaser, it seems like if Day & Night are apart, then the curse will take affect, but if they are together, then the curse can't do anything. Also, I know the professor isn't in this episode, but I know he is important since he is in the opening credits along with 1 other guy who seems to be his curse partner, meaning they are probably the older equivalent of Day & Night. I wonder if they are still affected by the curse or not and if they are good or bad guys. If they are not affected by the curse, I feel like they will be bad guys and what if they are the ones to put the curse on Day & Night, so they themselves are not affected by it like they have to do something every 4 years to get rid of the curse for them, but restate it on Day & Night. I have no idea who is bleeding on the floor and who walked past Day, but I am excited to get those answers in the next episode. Can't wait in two weeks!

P.S. I was so sure that the aunt would die from the car crash, but I was SO surprised that she made it to the hospital until my hopes were crushed seeing her go into the elevator.

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Nice work, Gun & Pond!

After a solid opener, ep. 2 surprises with an unexpected venture into the past of the main characters. While I applauded the lack of comedy in ep. 1, I'm not entirely against using it in this show - hence I'm fine with what ep. 2 did in this regard. Dew and Pahn keep annoying me and their story doesn't interest me in the slightest. Gun and - surprisingly - Pond were both the strong points of this episode. Day's and Ozone's relationship is more complex than I expected it to be, also presented in a skillful way - thanks to both the writing of the episode and the performances of both actors. This is by far the best I've seen of Pond - ever. Well done, gentlemen.

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