The On1y One – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Episode 3

Episode 3 of The On1y One begins with Jang Tian kissing Wang on the lips. He throws Wang’s word back at him – “it’s just lips meeting”. Later, Wang keeps thinking about the kiss, feeling angry. When he goes downstairs to get some food, he overhears the parents speaking. Tian’s mother goes to drop off Wang’s father at the airport. A flashback shows Wang’s mother collapsing and being rushed to the hospital. Wang still has the button that fell off her shirt that day.

In the morning, Wang wakes up with a cold. Auntie Jiang burns her hands while trying to make the casserole Wang’s mum used to cook. Wang tells her that making it won’t turn her into his mother and storms off to school.

At class, others notice that Wang doesn’t look so well. Tian is about to offer tissues but another student offers a fever patch before he can. In the English class, Wang is forced to sit closer to Tian and go through their English paper. The professor then announces that Wang got 7-8 questions wrong. But when she returns his paper, he sees that the score is 100.

Later, she calls Wang to her office. He assumes she lied about his score so that he doesn’t come across as too good and can assimilate with the other students. But when he gets back to class, most people already know he scored full marks since Wang let Gao Tianyang copy his answers. At the same time, Tian comes in with a bag of medicine from the clinic. He says it’s for his mother’s burned hand.

Later, Tianyang invites Wang to go visit a new café that belongs to Qi Jiahao’s friend. He agrees. When he asks why Tianyang didn’t invite Tian, Tianyang says that Tian doesn’t usually come to these things. When he asks why Wang is concerned about him, Wang defends himself and says he doesn’t know Tian at all.

Tian, who was nearby, then casually tells Wang to tell his mother he’ll be home late, which is a surprise to Tianyang. Wang explains that they are co-renters but doesn’t come out with the whole truth.

Tianyang, Wang and a group of others head towards the cafe. On the way, they tell Wang that after their 12th grade, the school will tell them to move into dorms to save study time. They reach Qi’s friend’s cafe. The friend turns out to be Xi (the man from the shop where Wang bought lunch in the previous episode) who runs the place with his partner Lin Zi. Xi, who knows Tian well, calls him to join his friends but he says he has work.

Tian has in fact gone to visit his grandfather, whose knee is injured. As Tian helps him out, he says that he knows Tian is struggling to adjust at the new house. He advises Tian to face his destiny head-on and find stability.

At the restaurant, Wang finds out that Tian told Xi he’s not feeling well. Wang angrily has his drink but chugs down the beer instead of his green tea. Later on, Qi wants to pay the bill and asks his classmates to vote for him to become the school prefect. But Wang pays the bill as a thank you to everyone for inviting him which ticks Qi off.

Later, when everyone leaves, Wang finds himself drunk and alone. Xi calls Tian, who arrives to pick him up. He gets Wang a bottle of water. Wang complains that while everyone says he and Tian are close, Tian didn’t even bring him cold medicine. Tian shows him the bag from the clinic which contains exactly that.

For now, he makes Wang drink the hangover medicine first. They get home and Auntie Jiang fusses over the drunk Wang. He refuses her offer of honey water and goes to his room. Auntie Jiang understands that he must miss his mother.

In his room, Wang finds that Tian has accepted his friend request on social media. Tian brings him the water and Wang then explains how his mother used to make honey lemon water for him. He opens up about his grief and how he used to sleep next to his father. Now, he misses the feeling of someone next to him.

Tian listens and then makes sure Wang drinks the water. Before Tian leaves, Wang remembers Tian was about to say something while they were walking back home. Tian finishes the sentence he was about to say, “We can try to be a little closer”.

An epilogue of The On1y One Episode 3 shows Tian going to the school clinic and asking for burn cream. The doctor asks him to take the cold medicine for Wang along as well. Tian was about to give him the medicine when he overheard Wang tell Tianyang that he doesn’t know Tian at all. That’s when Tian made the comment about coming home late.

The Episode Review

After the two (2!) kisses from the previous episode, The On1y One Episode 3 offers a fairly lukewarm instalment. But the slow, leisurely story arc of Wang and his cold allows the relationship between him and Tian to become a little soft. Wang’s drunk vulnerability offsets Tian’s stubborn nature and by the end, something has changed.

This show knows how to tap into the emotions of its characters and how to make little dialogues and gestures seem like everything. The mellow background music and the camera’s focus on the boys’ expression lends a seriousness to the drama.

It shows that the story is portraying its core relationship earnestly and this sense of genuine storytelling is enough, for now, to overlook the awkwardness of them also being step-siblings. As for how long the drama will be able to pull this off, only time will tell.