Luciddd

I feel like people need to read up the meaning of manipulation more. Nowadays, people misuse Manipulation and Toxicity.
NB: No shade intended please.
I'll put one here.

What Is Manipulation?
Manipulation is the exercise of harmful influence over others. People who manipulate others attack their mental and emotional sides to get what they want. The person doing the manipulating, called the manipulator, seeks to create an imbalance of power. They take advantage of you to get power, control, benefits, and/or privileges.
Manipulation can happen in close or casual relationships, but they are more common in closely formed relationships. It includes any attempt to sway someone’s emotions to get them to act or feel a certain way.

Manipulators have common tricks they’ll use to make you feel irrational and more likely to give in to their requests. A few common examples include:

Guilt
Complaining
Comparing
Lying
Denying

@Nan Hold on, i will address the part where Mew found out about the recording from Ray.
You say Mew manipulated Ray?
Have you ever received bad news before? How did you feel?
It's like going through stages of grief.
Shock is the first factor.
Do you think Mew would raise a row immediately he heard it? Nope, that's totally unrealistic owing to what we've seen of Mew's character so far. Mew is a quiet person and people like that hate public quarrels more than any other thing.
Mew's brain received a very disheartening information. The shock and disbelief. His brain needed time to process it.
Mew went back into the party, looking at his friends and lover, probably thinking "wow, is this the faces of betrayers, pretending nothing of such ever happened? These people claim they love me? " etc. These are valid thoughts.
But then Ray, who didn't get the reaction he wanted, who claims he loves Mew and should have been understanding of his friend, decided to ruin his friend's party and outed his other friends to the whole pub. Worse than what Boston did to him the previous episode. This isnt about Ray. This was about Mew, but No, people will make it about Ray and what Ray wants all the time. They tried to stop him, he didn't listen.
Mew had to stop him in his own way. He certainly did not want to be humiliated there and certainly do not want people to find out that his bf slept with his bestie. This is very matured of Mew and i applaud him for not acting out in public. They are not kids!
At this point and up until they went home, Mew had time to look at Top. Top who is acting like he's deeply in love.
What do you think Mew might have been thinking?
What's manipulative about the way he broke the news to Top when they got home?
Because he played it on speaker and climbed Top on the bed? People have done worse and what Mew did isn't manipulation. It's just a technique meant to be an element of surprise to catch Top offguard. What Mew gave us here was a personality, not manipulation.
His outburst at the end us exactly how you know Mew is indeed a decent person. This is usually the repercussion of cheating. The other partner feels worthless.
If Mew was indeed a manipulative person, he would have done way more.
It just seem like people would read meanings into whatever Mew does to frame him into being a manipulative person.

@oddsare Ok. Let me add my thoughts from the beginning.
Mew is a virgin who his friends claims likes to read, prefers to be at home and likes to drink milk. In order words, the typical nerd who wears glasses. Then, his friends kept encouraging him to find someone and lose his virginity and Mew at some point would have thought "ah, maybe i should". Then, came Top who Mew said "he feels attracted to". Cheum encouraged him to lose his virginity to Top. Mew agreed and led Top home. Here's my question! If Mew grows cold feet and decides not to have sex, how on earth is that manipulative? I don't think people understand or talk about the effect of peer pressure well enough. I'm sorry but when did we get to the point where we are not allowed to change our minds about something so important?
Mew has a little list of points he ticks off about what he likes about someone. I'm sure at some point when I was younger, I once had one. Those points are actually very easy and hence Top made it to someone Mew was satisfied with. Does this sound like a manipulative person?
Mew's friends especially Boston and Ray kept on warning Mew about Top, but Mew decided to give Top a chance, but then he thought, if I don't have Sex with Top, will he really stay with me?.
(Why is everyone pretending like they didn't know Top only wanted Mew because Mew is a virgin, fresh and a challenge?) Him deciding to not sleep with Top is because of his fears, partly not being ready and also as a test. Since when has testing someone you like become manipulation? If he really likes me for me, he'll stay. If he doesn't, he'll leave.
Even up until the moment Mew finally slept with Top, it was because he was scared Top would leave him. I was so disappointed. I wanted him to do it on his own terms. This is why he called Boston first, probably because he wanted a reason not to go ahead with it because he's still not ready.
Even the part where he agreess to sleep with Top, to get Top to stop taking drugs makes little sense. I just thought, what an inexperienced boy. He's playing in the league of experienced men.
Top knows exactly what he was doing when he went after Mew. Even the public confession from Top to Mew was a manipulative gesture to get Mew to say Yes to him and again, i like Mew for not embarrassing Top in public but chose to talk to him about it in private.

Wish you luck. I do not think it will be successful though, but I could be wrong.

I had this thought as well. That maybe the poster was done in such a way to manipulate the audience...or mislead us....
As for Mew being an evil mastermind starting from next week, I'm totally on board with this.
But i doubt he'll go too far because of his personality.. Sometimes, the goodness in someone can also be the saving grace and i don't think this betrayal is enough to send him completely down the deep end.
I can't wait for Saturday.

At this point, I have rewatched all episodes and have read most of the comments on here. I would really like to know one thing. What exactly has Mew done in the 6 episodes so far to imply that he is manipulating his friends?
I just feel like a lot of people cannot accept that good and kind people exist, so they would vilify Mew no matter what, even if he hasn't done anything wrong yet. Comments like "no one can be that good" etc genuinely baffles me.
Now, if Mew will change in the coming episodes and what he will be like, i don't know... We'll see but we can't exactly blame him for reacting to an act of betrayal from his close ones. If he does something illegal or commit murder, that will be entirely a different matter but short of that, I do not care if he begins to manipulate but so far, Mew has not manipulated his friends and anyone who disagrees should tell me why with evidence from the first 6 episodes.

If we are talking about motives, it's true Nick recorded Boston having sex with Top but could Nick have predicted that Boston was going to do that with Top in the car that same night?
I think his motive wasn't to record Boston having sex but to know what goes on with Boston when he's not around, which is wrong regardless and I'm not in anyway defending him.
But if comparing Boston's motive and his, it's not just the initial intention that matters but the actions afterwards even more so.

I guess we'll see.
And once again, I agree with you that Boston is not toxic with Nick. I never said he was. If you read my response again, I was talking about what Boston did to his friends. Plus, Boston is not always "honest". He never told Mew he had a video of him and Ray before using it and even after he used it. He only mention it to Ray because he wanted to cause problems between Ray and Sand.
Plus, is Boston actually Honest? Or is he simply a manipulative and gaslighting king who says half truths and lies to manipulate a narrative to suit him. If anything, the only person Boston has ever been truthful to is Nick.

Bro, BTW Nick and Boston, both are toxic. Boston might have recorded his friends 2yrs ago and we might even argue that those two are his friends and so it does not matter but the narrative changes the moment "Boston decided to use that same video to manipuate Top and out Ray to Sand, while insisting Ray and Mew had sex despite those two saying otherwise ". Boston is not better than Nick. They are both Nasty. Btw both, atleast Nick recognises what he did was wrong, which is why he did not necessarily do anything with that video beside showing Sand, but does Boston realise the repercussions of all he did?
Plus, you mentioned that Top looked scared when Mew played the recording because Top didn't know such existed but Top looking scared could be because he's afraid he's been caught and he does not want to lose Mew.
The difference between both scenerios is that, Top atleast got to witness Mew's expressions when Mew played the video and we were about to see Top's reaction as well, but Mew was not so lucky to see the picture/recording of him and Ray when Top learnt about it. We would have gotten to see Mew's expression as well cos I'm sure Mew did not know he and Ray were recorded and he sure as heck did not expect a future potential boyfriend will be manipulated with it and the said boy will not have the courtesy of speaking to him about it but go straight to strapping his bestie.
We could argue these all day.
But I stand by the fact that Nick, Boston, Top, Sand and Ray are all toxic and in a sane world, what Nick and Boston did could be seen as illegal, Nick's moreso than Boston, but none better than the other.

I know. I'm simping for him.

@taeshain Very laughable indeed! Nick did something criminal and Ray did something shitty to his friends but of course both of them are still seen to be babies to be protected at all cost. I truly wonder how most of these commenters who think like this would react if they were ever victims of such acts in real life. Because it seem like the cute guys get a pass in fiction.

The only way to stop Ray was exactly what Mew did, but even at that, most viewers still didn't understand. They crucified Mew for that. Even Sand tried to stop him but look at the humiliation he received in front of the whole pub.

@taeshain Just to say until you've read all the comments which are over 6000, then don't just assume no one is criticing Nick or that everyone sympathises with him and vilifies Boston. I'm very sure some of us have done enough of that on the very day each episodes are released.
Unfortunately, majority will always have the most voice.
I did say on Saturday that characters like Nick and Ray will always garner more sympathy from the viewers because of the way they are portrayed, so sometimes, we need to think objectively, instead of with bias or emotions.
What Nick did is obviously a criminla act and also illegal. Even in the emotional aspect, Ton was clear from day 1 and even up until now. It's up to Nick to let go, but he wouldn't. So I'm just sitting here watching the fun and i really am not invested in any couple. Nope, not a single one but I'm glad a series like this exist. We get to see life situations and how partial people truly are!

@oddsare I like the way you put your thoughts into words and your grammer. Are you a writer or into literature?

You are right. We as individuals are all different in our own ways. Some people allow themselves get hurt by the same people all over and over again before they learn and cut them off. Others will detach themselves and yet another will simply cut such people loose. Whichever it is, I think as individuals in as much as we preach the whole forgiveness thing, we should forgive those deserving only and above all, we should always look after ourselves first before others. That's not selfishness.
Mew did a lot for Ray but Mew is still seen as a bad friend simply because Ray is on a path of self destruction and is deem as pitiful and of course, poor Mew who is not into his friend romantically is thought to have not tried hard enough to help his drunk friend.
Honestly, I would cut all these people out of my life and start anew. These are all toxic people to surround myself with.
I'm probably among the few who is not sympathetic towards Ray. I think he's an adult and it's about time he starts taking responsibility for himself and his behaviour.

Which part was Top honest yo Mew? The part where he was about gaslighting Mew by saying "it was before he met you?" But then, Mew reminded him it happened again. Even if they weren't dating officially, he was courting Mew at the time, yet he slept with Mew's bestie. That's also a betrayal.
Nah! Even if he had stated that in real life, it still won't hold water to anyone with pride.
Poor Mew. Betrayed by both Bestie and Boyfriend. Personally, I'll end any relationship with the two cos I can never trust either again.

I don't think Mew masterminded anything. He couldn't have been able to predict and planned all the individual moves and decisions all his friends made. If he did, he wouldn't simply be a villain. He would be a God!
But I feel like this hurt and betrayal will /spurn push him into becoming a Villain.

You're dead right on that

I've had one as well. This is why i just look at everyone sympathising with him and calling Mew a bad friend. Sometimes, you cant change anyone.

I agree with you @oddsare. He might just drag others down with him. Plus, him being with Sand at the moment isn't ideal. Ray is like an addict. Sand is a dealer... Ray needs rehabilitation and therapy, not love, until he's able to love himself.