#gotta update my yuletide letter and beg an anonymous writer to help me fix it

[rythyme]

I don't think they were saying Boston was lying about wanting romantic exclusivity but not physical exclusivity. The fact that Nick said "I think you should roll alone" tells me more about Nick than Boston, namely that Nick thinks you can only have a relationship if you're monogamous in every way (because that's what he wants for himself). But I'm confident Boston would be great in an open relationship and he's going to New York so who's to say he won't find that there?

Within the context of the show, i.e. from a Watsonian perspective — yeah, I 100% agree. What Nick said is more of a reflection of him. He doesn't think what Boston is asking for is possible with anyone, not just specifically with himself. That's Nick's problem, not Boston's.

But thinking about the creators of the show and how they wrote that scene (i.e. from a Doylist perspective), I don't think they were making that distinction clear enough. As presented, it seems like we're supposed to think that Nick is right when he says those things. If that's not the case, then I think it was poor execution on the creators' part. The tone of that scene was not giving me a "Nick is in the wrong" vibe.

It also just seems like a weird place to take Nick's character arc? Nick's arc has been about exploring relationships and building his self worth, so it's strange for the culmination of all that to be a scene where we're supposed to think he's coming to the wrong conclusions. A more satisfying and natural conclusion to that arc would have been "I am monogamous and you're not. I can't change you, nor should I. We should break up. I wish you the best in your next relationship."

And to make it even more confusing, the show *does* reference characters in an open relationship. Boston is trying to sleep with a couple like that in episode one! We've also seen plenty of coupled characters kissing other people, even in this very episode. And Nick kissed Atom for christ's sake. I just can't wrap my head around this narrative choice.

Overall it just feels? Really weird to me?? What was the point? Why did Nick and Boston have a "forgiving each other" arc if they were just going to be rushed into this conclusion in the second half of the finale? It doesn't make sense to me!

My best guess is that this wasn't originally the planned ending for Nick and Boston. I'm not sure why it changed — maybe there was some meddling on the production/GMMTV side, or p'Jojo decided to pivot after seeing how much fans hated Boston? Either way, it feels disjointed and poorly executed in a show that otherwise does a pretty good job of building up to import character and relationship development moments.