Honestly, Yotha and Faifa’s relationship is lowkey tragic.
They obviously care for each other — they obviously want to support each other — they obviously are glad they’re brothers and happy to be in the same grade, have similar friends, etc.
That’s all obviously. It’s clear in how Yotha asks Fai to be more selfish, how he worries that Fai will be taken advantage of, how he wants Fai to find someone who loves him, how he asks for Fai’s opinion on their mother.
It’s clear in how Faifa changes rooms so Yotha can get to know Gun, how Faifa stays quiet when their mom explained things because it needed to happen for Yotha, even in how Faifa cared for Gun until Yotha figured things out.
What’s tragic is that they don’t speak the same language. Yotha can’t find the right way to make Faifa confide in him — and Faifa can’t figure out how to reach out and ask for support.
Yotha tries to make sure Wine knows his brother’s boundaries, but Faifa isn’t conscious to hear that level of care.
Faifa cares so much about Yotha not hating him — a thing I don’t think Yotha could do — that he’ll sacrifice anything and everything to make sure Yotha can’t hate him.
New edition of "I don't have a type, I have a dynamic"
Stormclouds with cptsd wearing "human" shirts
who closed themselves off until their sunshines come along, and suddenly the alarms are blaring in their heads because they know they're going to fall hard even as they fruitlessly suppress their emotions
because of course they do. how can they not be endeared by these earnest, adorkable, full-hearted boys.
Faifa deserved to have better friends in the show! Because they didn't give him that, I think Yotha is just bearing the brunt of the show deciding Faifa only needed (romantic) "love" to be "seen". And Yotha is sadly the only one who talks about Faifa constantly enough to have to deal with it.
Listen, I love this show, especially the faifawine arc (honestly, because of the faifawine arc!). But this arc uses a storyline that I hate so much- "you just haven't met the right person" and somehow handles it so beautifully! Because the concept isn't that Wine was enough to change Faifa, it is that they loved each other enough to be a positive influence on each other. And that I 100% believe in and will always eat up!
But Faifa had virtually no friends in figuring anything out!! He is a very private person, obviously, he bottles everything up! And this arc was supposed to be about him not doing that anymore.
(ep22)
They made it a point to show us how often Faifa shows up for other people (which is constantly) and that is the reason most of us fell in love with him.
And when his arc started I was really excited about him finding love, but I was soooo excited to see Phuri, who was apparently his only real friend!
Louis is a delight in this show! Steals every scene he is in. What Phuri unfortunately isn't, is a good friend to Fa (at least he doesn't have enough screentime to prove otherwise). I love their playful banter, but he doesn't even do as much as Ben and Jay!
No one shows up for Faifa except Wine.
(ep21)
And Yotha- he shows up for Faifa when there is an external conflict. He's never been good with emotions.
(ep20)
I mean, he was so bad with Gun, Arm and Fa had to play mediator. So it's not a shock that he doesn't see Faifa is in soo much pain because of what their mom did. Yotha understands anger; he doesn't understand sadness over something that should make Fa angry.
(ep16)
But he still understands Faifa! (He's probably the only one at the table to make this connection and continues to do nothing about it :) )
(ep18)
And I think that's why he's getting so much flak. I think he's getting a disproportionate amount of hate (and defence) for what is happening to Faifa. But I'm still mad at Yotha, and this is why I feel justified about it.
I'm mad at Yotha because I want Faifa to be mad at Yotha. Because Yotha might be the safest person for Faifa to show his anger to, and he's too scared to do that, too! They are brothers, and it doesn't matter if it wasn't Yotha's responsibility to inform Fai of anything about his mother's flight being delayed- Yotha knew, and that alone should let Faifa be whiny and angry- but he wasn't.
(ep21)
I am angry because having a fight, showing you're upset, and knowing that your relationship is stronger than that is a privilege - one that Faifa doesn't seem to allow himself to have. If he has it with anyone, it should be with Yotha (or Phuri, if the show gave him anything to do at all, but I digress).
We, as the audience, have seen Yotha, we know him, and we know he loves Faifa. And knowing he loved Fa makes it so much worse that he still doesn't feel loved or wanted. I don't think Yotha is a bad brother or a bad character. In fact, I'm angry because he's a well-written character!
(ep13) (Like, where did this Yotha go after he got a boyfriend??!)
It just seems like the show decided that he is going to be a Gun simp and nothing else. And that falls back into another trope I hate. Being in a romantic relationship is not an excuse to ignore everyone in your life. Priorities can change, but not to the extent that you only have one priority! Yotha is a better brother than that, and I think we deserve to see that side of him as well!
Could someone go and smack Yotha and Newton for being shitty brothers this episode and not checking on Faifa when they knew their mother wasn't coming?
