I think TJ is more than capable of killing Jo but with this kind of narrative he would be more inclined to a 'lovers suicide'. Killing Ian or if Ian's ends up dead, then killing himself, after avenging him. His whole reason to exists it's power and Ian and rn he seems to be losing both. But TJ is very strong and a kind of a wild card so who knows what's up to.
I see Jo as a lighthouse, just being there as a trusting light who's waiting for Ian to guide him back home.
But with all of what's happening, this chapter is not about Ian going to end up with TJ than Ian might die and never reunite with Jo at the gas station aka breaking another promise.
And Toby : (
oh yeah tj can def do it but like i said i dont think hes gonna. doyak did say none of them are dying so thats great.... except tj dying at the end wouldve been a lil yum too (IM A TJ STAN BTW DO NOT COME AT ME). anyway anyway the reason im saying this is bc i was rereading this and theres a scene where tj fully acknowledges the fact that he manipulated and guilt tripped ian into staying w him. he says he thought thats what love was, and ends it w saying ian's free from him to do what he wants to do. (this happens before their reunion btw). right after this jo sees ian kill a guy, he crashes out a lil then they make up and have sex and in the middle of it jo says smth like this is all because of that guy isnt it (alluding to tj) and ians like wait what but jo just cuts him off. so they never talk about it. anyway idk idk im probably delusional reading too much into it (it comes w being a tj stan). the fact that none of them are talking about things is so frustrating though UGHDSHKANAIAHAIAAJHAHS IDK HOW THEYRE SUPPOSED TO END THINGS WITHOUT TJ DYING BC THAT JUST MEANS HES GONNA MESS UP BIG TIME IM NOT READY FOR THAT sorry im gonna kms now. and yeah toby :(
I remember an author saying the same thing a very looong time ago, it was a book, but they ended up killing one of the main because it worker and made sense. I have trust issues hahahaha
I hope they all get to live rlly. They're such interesting characters, with flaws, heart and ambitions. But if nobody dies at the end, timeskip is in order then. Showing that everyone survived.
And yeah, TJ's such a manipulative ass sometimes and he guilt tripped Ian but he also twisted his love for him. But at some point they did love each other like Ian said but never put a label on it because a lot of reasons.
Also, Ian is so used to using sex to avoid confronting things that when he's really having actual caring relations he gets all confused because he never knew that kind a tenderness. Even worse when in the middle of it he thought of TJ because that was something TJ conditioned to do. He knows Ian so well. But, a lot lot things don't get resolution and Jo still believes he's a stand in for TJ and can't fully trust Ian because even if he hates it, he gets their relationship. I think Ian is just afraid that Jo will follow that same path TJ did just because Jo wants to be with him.
And to really talk, Ian should stay put but he can't xD the man is always hiding himself or running hahaha
WAIT. youre right she could be lying actually also iirc she didnt say shes not gonna kill any of them she said smth like shes gonna *try* not to kill any of them so... uh... but also im like 100% sure ian isnt dying bc theres obv gonna be an endgame. i dont think jo's dying bc like thats gonna be the shittiest possible outcome. i also dont think tj's gonna die bc thatll mean jo is the endgame but only by default yk? like if jo really is endgame im sure doyak will show ian actively choosing him instead of just killing tj off so there isnt any choice. she could kill him off after ian chooses jo but idk it doesnt seem plausible to me.
& yeah like i LOVE tj to death but i agree that guys fucked in the head. i normally hate weird ass toxic characters but idk his whole characters is just so well written, doyak showing how his upbringing shaped him to be the guy he is today, him being so multi dimensional IM SORRY I JUST LOVE HIM A LOT. & personally i do believe they genuinely loved each other at one point considering ian stayed w him knowing everything taejoon did. but i dont think ian does anymore (sobbing as im typing this)
jo's def the better option IF he doesnt go down the same path as ian did for tj. & YEAH GOD SOMEONE PLEASE LOCK IAN UP BRO WHY CANT HE STAY STILL OMFG?!!??!@??@
oh god oh god oh god i have so so so so many thoughts rn:
first, the goods:
- props to jo for consoling toby, it was rly rly sweet actually
- IAN STILL KEEPING THE MATCHING EARRINGS & THE (POTENTIAL) MATCHING CHAIN HE HAS W TJ THEY MAKE ME SICK OMFG???? & tj is always ALWAYS wearing the earrings i need to kms actually.
- im pessimistic as fuck so i dont think ian was going back for those, some people on twt are saying he actually wanted the envelopes which makes sense but idk what's in those
now, the bads...
- poor toby. i hope she gets her happy ending.
- WHERE THE FUCK IS JAMIE did they rly js leave him out there help???? but it makes sense bc it's not like they could've taken him somewhere else but also he's gonna stir some shit up now and im not looking forward to it
- my son ian :( that last panel made me want to throw up too. his habit of blaming himself for everything breaks my heart sm. tj deserved the lashings, ian isnt the one who involved jo in everything, jo's the one who decided to meddle, & the chris and toby thing has nothing to do w him honestly. atp i js wanna see him happy.
- jo.... i've seen a lot of people say the point of involving jo into the whole gang mess is to show he's not gonna make the same choices that tj did, that he's different. which made perfect sense to me but honestly,,,, when is that gonna happen? its lowk been going downhill for that guy ever since ian killed that one person. i thought this chapter would at least address the issue, but it wasn't brought up at all. now ians gone again, and idk. BUT ALSO. im ngl i've always found jo so one dimensional but at least hes a lil more interesting now !!
- the one foreshadowing i keep coming back to is the orion myth that was talked about in one of the initial chapters. correct me if it wasnt actually the orion myth bc i cant find the chap. if yall dont know what it is, its basically about orion & artemis who fall for each other, but apollo (artemis's twin brother) tricks her into killing orion out of jealousy. iirc.
its interesting bc this so obviously alludes to the love triangle in wet sand rn too, with both orion and jo being hunters.
initially i rly did think tj would pull some shitty move like trying to kill jo. but now that we know more about him, i dont think hes the type who would do that...? or maybe im viewing him through rose tinted glasses. the thing is, tj literally said he owes his life to jo (after the car blast scene). so would he really go as far as doing smth to him just out of jealousy? wouldn't he have done that already if so?
- but also. honestly, it depends on tj's mental state rn. like so far i've been thinking tj has hit rock bottom so he can only redeem himself now, but maybe he still has it in him to pull more shit. maybe hearing what ian said to him made him lose his mind or smth. but that does seem a little ooc ngl. idk.
- jo still has those 4 bullets remaining (or does ian have the gun now?). tj's probably gonna find out what happened to ian after the police guy brings him the earrings and chain. ian still doesnt know tj almost died in the car blast. jo doesn't know jackshit about whats actually going on.
anyway, im both excited and dreading finding out about tj's plan bc ik something's going horribly wrong. theres sm im excited to see though: ian finally being happy and free of everything, i wanna see tj overcome his trauma and his insecurities but idk if i'll ever get to, i wanna see jamie dead and mutilated, toby happy somewhere too.