I understand why people have strong feelings against this second season. I understand people do not want to see characters they love make moral mistakes and hurt each other. But if this was a fluffy fan-service season, it would not have been true to ITSAY.

ITSAY was an absolute masterpiece of LGBTQ media and I don't think that can be disputed. It's hard to live up to that. But I think IPYTM did an excellent job. ITSAY is a coming of age story about falling in love for the first time - but it is honest, messy, and raw. It never gratuitously gave us what we wanted. Therefore IPYTM needed to continue to deliver on that honesty. But the tone is different, as this is a different journey in the lives of Teh and Oh.

First loves when we are young rarely work out, and if they do, they do not do so without difficulty. I really appreciated that they showed us that people do change, and love isn't always enough to keep two people together. Sometimes you have to mess up, suffer, and make the wrong call again and again before you learn what you actually need.

I know there is a lot of hate for Teh, but here's the thing - Teh and Oh were always different people. Oh was always more in tune with his feelings and empathetic to others. Teh was always a bit more selfish and slow to examine his feelings or consider the feelings of others. Teh isn't a bad person and I don't think he ever did anything to intentionally hurt Oh, however he is still naïve and rash. They went from essentially being kids, to only being with each other and being shoved in a drastically different environment than they had fallen in love in. They are learning how to be partners from trial and error. They don't fully know who they are yet, let alone how to care for another person.

This series is one of the only ones that does not placate the viewer or comfort us, but shows us the raw and often painful journey of growing up. I really appreciate it so much, and I feel like it would be almost impossible for another series to compare to this one.