Therapy (2025) – Boldness and Controversy in Korean BL - Part 3

 📺 Episode 3 — “The Second Main Course”

Woo‑Gyo is instructed to practice reverse penetration, taking on the passive role in the relationship — despite never having had this experience before. The established procedures are repeated — the patient waits, the underwear-clad stretching (“initial greeting”), and Hee‑soo’s explanation of the session’s focus: exploring pleasure through new positions, with a promise of a “deeper emotional connection.” Hee‑soo assures that they can stop at any time if a position becomes uncomfortable or painful — a positive note in terms of explicit consent.

Woo‑Gyo requests a kiss before any penetration, which leads to foreplay. The scene then shifts to a white backdrop studio, where the sexual practice takes place. Once again, multiple positions are displayed, with a ritualized focus on aesthetics — many of them unrealistic or incompatible with actual male-male sex. In the scene: 

• Woo‑Gyo remains expressive and emotional, moaning and reacting intensely.
• Hee‑soo stays impassive, though the camera gives him more attention this time, possibly suggesting an attempt at narrative balance.
• There are more kisses than in previous episodes, suggesting an increase in physical intimacy — though not much emotional depth is conveyed in the script.

💥Positions

🧠 Psychological Analysis

💬 1. Reverse Penetration, Consent, and Anxiety

Reverse penetration (passive role) can be a validly new and challenging experience for many men. In this episode, Therapy presents:

• ✅ Explicit consent, as the therapist guarantees the possibility to stop if discomfort arises — an important point.
• ⚠️ However, the series still treats the act as automatic, overlooking potential traumas, fears, or the need for real emotional preparation.
• 🧠 Psychologically, introducing this practice in a healthy way requires a gradual approach, emotional dialogue, and respect for the partner’s internal pace — elements largely absent from the script.

🤍 2. Visual Backgrounds — From Black to White

The shift from a black background to a white one between episodes is symbolic and can be interpreted in various ways through the lens of psychology:

• ⚪ White is commonly associated with light, clarity, renewal, innocence, and neutrality. Within a therapeutic or sexual context, it may symbolize:
• An openness to the new — the attempt to face the unknown with a clearer, less prejudiced mindset.
• An unconscious desire for purification or legitimization of the experience — as if the neutral setting visually “validates” the act, which for the character represents a break from rigid norms of heteronormative masculinity.

💡 In the specific case of a straight man engaging in a sexual practice he’s not used to (such as passive penetration):

• The white background may serve as a symbolic space of acceptance and emotional neutralization of guilt or shame — in other words, it makes the scene visually “lighter,” as if the absence of external elements justifies or softens the internal transgression of the character's norms.
• Psychologically, this aesthetic can represent the beginning of a process of deconstructing a rigid sexual identity, by offering a “blank canvas” where experimentation is free of judgment.
• On the other hand, this excess of neutrality can also indicate emotional detachment or dissociation — a scenario so stripped of context that it highlights the performative nature of the act, rather than connecting it to genuine emotional experience.

In short, the white background acts as an ambiguous visual metaphor: while it suggests openness and exploration, it may also reflect an emotional void or lack of internal processing in the face of something new and potentially unsettling.