WTH: Oh, Mando

 Or should I rather say: Oh, Barry? 

Hello, hello and welcome to a series I haven’t written in literally years. But I always wanted to continue with my infamous “What The Hell” series and the show who brought this back out of retirement is “Oh, Mando”. You might want to ask why I am even considering bringing this series out of retirement but I have seen this show almost half a year ago now. And I am STILL angry. So I think that absolutely qualifies for this category after all. 

But before I proceed with my lovely rant on this show, let me give you a warning and tell you that I am going to spoil this show. Like really, really badly. So if you haven’t watched “Oh, Mando” and don’t like spoilers, take a turn and come back once you have watched it. Because I am sure you wanna rave and rant about it with me. 

What Is It All About? 

Mando is a rather shy and romantic boy. He loved acting, he is incredibly dramatic and he is gay. But he is so scared about being gay that he hides so deep in the closet that he could also move straight to Narnia as it is. But when his sexuality is in question he does what a lot of young gay boys do: He starts a relationship with rather pushy Krisha. Because if this relationship somehow works out then Mando is absolutely and definitely NOT gay. 

So far, so good. But unfortunately for Mando it turns out that his crush from his extremely homoerotic dreams is actually Krisha’s older brother, Barry. And believe me, guys and girls: Barry is a god. Like he is literally such a good looking guy and of course he is totally popular and everyone’s dream. 

And to Mando’s horror: Barry is actually bi. So all his wet fantasies could actually come true. If there was not Krisha, his girlfriend. Well, and Mando’s own insecurity about his sexuality and ten million other things. 

I would definitely say up until here we have a normal BL plot. I don’t like this whole thing of going after a girl to prove yourself you are not gay, but okay. People have done dumber things. All in all I really don’t dislike the whole premise but there is ONE thing that literally is making my blood boil and it annoyed me so much, that I couldn’t really enjoy the whole thing anymore. 

And this one thing was Barry’s mental health and the way it was used in this show. 

What’s Your Problem? 

Barry is introduced as a happy go lucky guy. He is good looking and seemingly he has it all. He is sporty, has a loving family who accept him for who he is. He even has a partner. 

But early on it’s explained that Barry’s life hasn’t been all this peachy before as it might seem. Barry has struggled massively with depression and also tried to kill himself after his last serious boyfriend separated from him. His sister Krisha is portrayed as his biggest support and his love for her seems to run really deep. 

So now we have our triangle of horror together: Mando, too scared to really go for what he wants. Krisha, who loves both these boys unconditionally. And Barry… Who absolutely seems to be the most vulnerable of these three. 

When things change between Mando and Barry, it is very clear that Barry fell head over heels for Mando. For him to betray his own sister like that… He really must have been so much in love with Mando. 

Again, all this is not the point where i literally wanted to throw my shoe at the telly. But when Mando broke up with him and literally FORCED Barry to admit to his sister that they cheated with each other on her… No, that’s the point where I literally wanted to throw stuff. Gosh, that scene where they tell her… The way Barry is crying made me sob like a crazy person. But he is just so precious and vulnerable. And kudos to Alex Diaz who in my opinion even stole the show from Kokoy de Santos and we all know what a hard hitting actor Kokoy usually is. 

So yeah, surprise, surprise.. What happens? A totally distraught Barry is trying to kill himself. He can’t live with him losing Mando and his sister in one go. And that’s where I literally lost it. Mando KNEW how vulnerable Barry was. Yes, Mando was scared and not ready to come out of the closet. But then for fucks sake take your dirty paws of the brother of your girlfriend. He knew that Barry was not the most stable guy in history. He saw it when Barry’s boyfriend (not the one Barry wanted to kill himself about) broke up with him. He heard it from Krisha and how worried she was about her brother. 

He knew all this and still had to do his sexual experimentations with him. I don’t doubt that Mando loved Barry. I have no doubt at all about it. But I think in this moment in time Mando loved himself even more. And that in the end it wasn’t even Mando who came to Barry to apologize on his knees and beg for forgiveness just makes me even more angry. It needed Krisha and Barry to get everything sorted once more and it literally feels like Mando didn’t really deserve this happy end in the end. He literally never did anything for Barry other than causing him issues and hurting him. Again, I don’t mind a fucked up relationship and I am not a priest either. I have made huge mistakes in my life and I don’t mind the characters in my shows to make the same big mistakes. 

But what I mind is, when a relationship is so one sided and in the end the lazy guy gets his happy ever after anyway. 

In my opinion it would have worked an awful lot better if they would have changed the ending a little bit at least. Make Mando for once put on his big boy pants and take responsibility for the mess he made. If we would have seen him doing a bit more than just crying like a toddler for half of the series I am sure I would have been more happy about these two ending up together. But as it stands… 

This series is absolutely in of the WTH moments in BL history. And another proof that sometimes just one tiny little detail can ruin a whole story. If you bring in such heavy topics as attempted suicide and mental health issues, do it properly. It’s true that teenage suicide in the gay community is a real big issue. They had such a glorious chance to really tell a proper important story here. They had the actors there that could have carried it. Even Barbie Imperial who played Krisha was good enough to be trusted with such a delicate job. 

But no, they used the easy way out and just let Mando continue to cry a lot and then end up with the boy of his dreams anyway. Maybe I am not just upset for Barry after all. Maybe I am even more upset about this missed opportunity. 

It could have been so great. But all you can do now is sigh a disappointed: Oh, Mando..