‘WHY RU?’ What’s in store for Tutor and Fighter in the finale?

If you’re no stranger to the Thai BL industry, then you would be well aware of the fact that sometimes, their shows can be quite a wild ride. These shows are often subject to low budgets, young & inexperienced actors, with chaotic scripts & storylines. Despite all of these factors, however, the industry is absolutely thriving right now. 

Leading the charge right now is WHY RU? the series. Reported to have a much higher budget than many of the other Thai BL shows circulating now, it still does have some of the other issues. The storyline is a little chaotic, most of the actors are very young & the editing has a tendency to be quite choppy here & there. Even so, the show is absolutely killing it in ratings. 

The season finale of this show is very quickly approaching & the fandom is sitting by, tightly holding their breath. Why? Because the show started out on a journey of consensual love & exploration. Very recently, it took quite a drastic turn. Worried for the outcome of our beloved characters, as the series wraps up, we can’t help but wonder, what does WHY RU? have in store for Tutor (Saint Suppapong) & Fighter (Zee Pruk Panich)? 

WHY RU? An Overview

In a nutshell, WHY RU? is a BL television show about a girl who writes a BL novel about all the people around her at University. The storylines essentially play out in real life. Set at the same University in Bangkok that so many of these Thai BL shows are set (including TharnType: The Series), the Engineering & Music Departments seem to be where it’s at if you want to find true love. 

The show essentially follows the evolution of 2 young gay couples, as well as several other subordinate ones too. Tutor & Fighter, as well as Saifah (Jimmy Karn Kritsanaphan) & Zon (Tommy Sittichock Pueakpoolpol), drive the narrative forward for the first half of the show. However, in the second half of the season, Tutor & Fighter emerge as the clear favorites. 

That’s what people thought, anyway. It has since been announced that COVID-19 greatly impacted filming & many scenes between Zon & Saifah were not yet shot. When lockdowns were imposed, subsequently, that ‘ship fell back as secondary while Tutor & Fighter (whose scenes were completed) took center stage. 

While this angered fans of Zon & Saifah, Tutor & Fighter stans rejoiced. WHY RU? effectively became the Tutor & Fighter show as fans watched a very detailed account of their relationship evolve. There were several episodes that aired which focussed on them entirely. 

Why we love Tutor & Fighter

LGBTQ fans, and fans of BL, in general, rejoiced at the way the creators of WHY RU? treated this relationship. It starts out in much the same way that all new queer relationships do (especially on these shows). Two young boys who are clearly attracted to each other decide to fight their feelings for a while because of confusion & social pressure. Eventually, they give in & romance blossoms. 

What makes Tutor & Fighter so different from many of these other BL shows is the absence of problematic factors that are so everpresent in queer storylines on television. Despite the fact that the BL industry is entirely about depicting stories of boy on boy love, it is also plagued by many of these issues. 

Most noticeably, the evolution of Tutor & Fighter as a couple is founded entirely on consent. In the initial stages as they are developing a physical relationship, when they kiss, if either party asks to stop, all activity immediately ceases. Fighter even asked permission several times before kissing Tutor at all. 

When they begin to move their physical relationship forward into a sexual one, Fighter clearly asks for permission more than once on their first encounter. In episodes that follow, we see Tutor do exactly the same thing. 

In addition to this notion of consent, the characters of the show actually have very mature conversations about the social pressures, members of the LGBTQ community face. In episode 9, while sitting on the beach Tutor & Fighter discuss these very issues. 

Tutor expresses that prior to that moment, he had carefully considered how society would see them as a couple. Would they be judged? Were they doing the right thing? He also goes on to tell Fighter that he hasn’t ever felt so happy. They have a similar conversation in episode 10 but essentially conclude that they believe in each other, that their love is more important than all of those other things. 

These mature discussions depicting young men discussing real issues in light of actual feelings are often so rare, especially on television. Men are too often depicted as unemotional & uncommunicative. Well, Tutor & Fighter completely thwart both of these notions as they continue to talk about their feelings constantly. Almost so constantly that they don’t shut up about their feelings for the next couple of episodes!

Apart from the fact that the actors who play these characters are smoking hot together, the other thing we love about Tutor & Fighter is their chemistry. Their love for each other bleeds off the screen. They are tender, playful & incredibly sexual creatures that live in a total bubble. When they are together, no one else seems to exist. 

The evolution of their relationship lacks any kind of violence, whether physical or sexual, which also seems to be rare for the depiction of boy on boy couplings. Well, that was until episode 12, where things took a grave change that had fans lamenting at the screen. 

This very quick change in their relationship trajectory was very unexpected. Fans lashed out saying that actions were out of character, that they were disappointed in the writers & directors for going that path when they had done such a good job of keeping the show free of such things. There is much trepidation in the air as fans anxiously await the season finale. 

The anticipation!

So what happened, and why is everyone freaking out? Here’s the skinny. Caution: *spoiler alert*! If you haven’t watched episode 11 & 12 and you don’t like spoilers, stop right now and go watch. Read on at your own risk.

So, essentially what happened is that Fighter’s dad catches wind of their relationship. The man is not impressed that his son is doing the dirty with another boy. He pays Tutor a visit & tries to convince Tutor to leave Fighter alone, offering him money to do so. Tutor declines of course but ends up agreeing to break up with his boyfriend for “his own good”. 

This devastates Fighter who spirals into an epic fit of sadness that makes him ragey & mad. He drinks a little one day, approaches Tutor at his home and pushes his way inside. He gets very handsy with Tutor, and not in a good way, while things take a turn for the worse very quickly. 

He violently wrestles Tutor onto his bed, who puts up a good fight. Eventually, it seems that Tutor decides he isn’t going to win against Fighter, so he goes limp. Fighter continues to force himself on Tutor but as he is reaching for his fly to take it even further, Tutor says something that seems to snap Fighter out of his madness. He flops back on the bed, breaking down crying. 

So while no rape per se actually takes place, WHY RU? certainly took this relationship down that road, essentially tainting all the goodness they had created before this moment. Many fans were devastated that the creators of the show decided to do this, crying out that even in complete despair, Fighter would never ever treat Tutor that way. Social media posts spouting betrayal littered the internet. 

While there was some attempt to rectify the situation throughout the episode, the damage was done. The bitter taste was already left in the fandom’s mouth. Will Tutor & Fighter get a happy ending? Does Fighter even deserve one now? 

Furthermore, how on earth will they resolve all the issues between Fighter & his father with so little time left? Will they even try? Fans are very nervously awaiting to see what the creators of the show will do. 

Sneak peek

Based on the sneak peek that we see here, it looks like Fighter & Tutor do in fact resolve their issues. However, WHY RU? are notorious for releasing an incredibly misleading sneak peek trailer for what is to come. They have done it many times throughout the show. 

There is so much hurt & so much damage to clean up that we are very anxiously waiting to see what happens. It also looks like Zon & Saifah come back to center stage. For a finale, that seems odd. The creators did say they will release an extra episode when they can go back to filming though. This episode will focus solely on Zon & Saifah, much like 9 & 10 did for Tutor & Fighter. 

We’re interested to know your thoughts. Have you been watching? How do you feel about the sharp turn in plot development that occurred in episode 12? As we all anxiously await episode 13, why don’t you drop us a comment below and share your thoughts with us.

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