Love by Chance (2018)

Baffling how much love this series is getting. It was okay but nothing spectacular.

The only good things were TinCan (which was developed too late but which was 5000 times more interesting than AePete) and Ae. Really, the only thing Pete has going for him is the looks, but such a personality-free, "too perfect" Mary Sue from my POV.

Maybe if they got rid of the other two ultimately unnecessary BL subplots, the writers could have given more time developing/fleshing out TinCan and could have actually written better plot directions for AePete, this would warrant the praise it seems to be getting.

Actually: the rape/PTSD subplot was also a very unique and intriguing one. They could've also developed that more instead of randomly inserting it. It's a very complex issue, and to reduce it to barely-there subplot doesn't do it justice... especially since it's potentially a better narrative than the almost-conflict-free AePete dynamic.

And yes, agree with the comments about how foolish it was to try to tackle the theme of rape and the damage it does... and then in another subplot pretty much has another character rape another and made it seem "romantic" (while shifting the blame to the victim). Talk about mixed signals.

The cast per se is fairly good, especially Mean, Plan, and Perth. I did love the music and bought a couple of singles on iTunes.

If they do a Season 2, it's best to just focus on TinCan and maybe Ae finds someone else until they give Pete a spine.

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i like this series in the sense that if saint's character were not pete it would genuinely be more enjoyable. and no side characters. his roommate was kinda dumb too. no rape. no fucking possessiveness (ahem ae). alas, he is not. it is not. so my enjoying only goes so far. i can only rewatch this show about once a year (as opposed to any time i need background noise) because of it. but i genuinely enjoy the unfolding love story as limited of space it can take up in my brain.

however, it gave us perth who is, so far, one of the best thai actors i have gotten to see in any of these shows. who has an actual passion for acting and to continue that. i really admire it. he's so childlike and immature both as a character and just as a kid IRL at the time but it's really nice to see him act, for his certain charm to come out; he became the one i loved to watch. i loved him. and pete as a character really facilitated that. it was sort of made for him to do a blank slate on since perth's so small but not intended to be read as feminine or with any background trauma (like pete) so it was just easier to connect with him as someone who has a lot less of an identity both because of intentional purposes and the writing's own flaws. it's interesting to see how he's evolved since then. and you get to see this young new actor with a true passion for the craft. it's less about ae as a characer and more about just getting to watch someone grow into a better version of what's on the page. genuinely that's the best part of the show and what i'm happy it gave us.

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CA (caution advisory) this is a show definitely worthy of the American TV-MA rating.
This is a great show. It's going to go down as one of my favorites BL or otherwise. I was crying from episode 1! The show feels so unique and refreshing because they avoid most of the BL tropes and cliches (at least with Pete/Ae).
Honestly, I wanted to give the show a 10/10, but I really did not care for the secondary storylines. Pete and Ae carry the entire show for me. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised that right off the bat Pete came out to his mom in the first episode and she accepted him! I was so happy to avoid that trope. I really love Ae's character he is direct and never shies away from Pete. I also love that they avoided the whole "only gay for you" trope. I can't emphasize enough how much I like Ae's character. He was never at any point embarrassed to be around Pete and when he realized he had feelings for him he didn't push him away and/or get angry at him. 99% of the issues that arise in these dramas are from a lack of communication and that doesn't really happen with Pete/Ae or else it is quickly squashed. This feels like a really genuine exploration of first love. There's a lot of sex and mention of sex in this show, but I really appreciate how they present it. It felt real and carefully done.
I really wish they had made Tin/Can's relationship platonic because where they had otherwise been really good at avoiding tropes this relationship falls into so many (guy with a rough past is angry at the world until he meets the happy-go-lucky character (who he is mean to in the beginning) that opens his heart and makes him trust again)/ the enemies to lovers. But damn, it took until episode 14 but they reeled me in. They got me. I mean Tin's scene in the shower! Ugh, my heart was breaking.
You get the feeling early on that they always envisioned a season 2 (which is confirmed and set for 2020) although after shooting the first season the director said there wouldn't be one. The secondary storylines are very poorly laid out and convoluted leading you to believe they will delve into these storylines in-depth in season 2. I have no idea where the Tar/Tum storyline is going or what are the circumstances surrounding what happened to Tar and how that relates to Type and his BF. *Update: i watched TarnType so i no longer have these questions, although is still don’t know where they’re going w/ Tar/Tum. I highly recommend it!* This forbidden familial love trope is one of my least favorites. I also don't know or frankly care about Kla's crush on No. I HATE the way they set up their relationship, That's rape. It was rape and for the life of me i can’t understand how they spent time dealing with Tar’s emotional issues from being raped only to have one character rape the other (ugh!!).
I wasn't sure but I came to like Tin/Can's storyline but the rest of them weighed down what was otherwise a fantastic show. I highly recommend it. I definitely will re-watch at some point (just as enamored with the 2nd rewatch) although I'm skipping over some parts. I was also unsure about season 2, but after seeing the trailer I have slightly higher expectations. I am among the many heartbroken that Saint will not be participating in season 2 :(.

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I have watched many Thai BLs and honestly apart from a couple which are ok, most are boring, have plot holes, crap kisses, no chemistry, bad acting and shit story lines. But then along comes LBC and literally leaves me stunned and blows my mind. And the main cause of getting my mind blown is by a kid, Ae (Perth) he's acting is amazing and so convincing he totally had me believing, and for me he is LBC because he stole the show. With him been young i did not expect much tbh and i certainly did not expect what we got with the kisses and hot scenes, he was amazing. He's co star Pete (Saint) was ok, at first i felt his acting was a bit awkward, but as the story progresses and he comes out of he's shell you get to understand why he's acting was like that. So these two where actually perfect for each other, and their chemistry alone puts all other BL couples in the shade. There story was cute, fluffy and hot but also real and down to earth, there was not any missed details of the story which most BLs have, which leaves me confused and wondering, because LBC is so beautifully written, acted and filmed it left me satisfied.

Our next couple Tin (Mean) & Can (plan) i shipped these 2 so bad, that the sails were already up, the wind was blowing, and the anchor was lifted ready to sail forwards, only to be left stranded at the harbour, heartbroken and in pieces. I was gutted. And now we know that season 2 ain't happening i just feel worse. But i will look forwards to the books been translated as we all know that the ending on the show was just the beginning for these two. And i'm hoping P'New will have a change of heart and make season 2, as this show has been a massive hit it would be stupid not to.

The other 2 couples Tum/Tar Kengla/P'No were just irrelevant to me, i understand there part of this story, but we really did not get to know them well as the focus was mainly on the other couples, which did not bother me one bit haha although i did find Tum/Tar scenes sad and my heart went out to them, because things like this and others in the show do happen in the LGBT community, so it was realistic in the fact that not everything is rainbows and unicorns.
Kengla & P'No's sex scene was a bit of a turnoff for me as it was uncomfortable to watch, and with the debate of was it rape or not, i don't really care as them 2 just never drew me in, so i found the scene quite awkward as there was no chemistry there at all, so i was happy we hardly saw them.

Overall this show was amazing and goes to the top of my list, i just hope future coming series take note and up their game, because LBC has set the benchmark, and it is going to be hard to beat.

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Holy Moly

I really don't know what to say for my general feeling on this drama. There were some strong points but a lot of weak ones as well. It's just a real mess.

Story:
Pete and Trump's conflict was kind of interesting? I mean, I wasn't that convinced of the situation and just saw it as a way to show Ae in a heroic way, but how could they just completely forget about Trump? He was the only major antagonist in Pete's life so I don't understand why he was underutilized. Also, I found Pete's character to be very weak. He's shy, nice, handsome, and rich (had all the Apple products and matching pajama sets lol). He wasn't very compelling to me, and it didn't help that he was always a damsel in distress.

AE. I fell in love with Ae's character. He was the realest character to me with how multifaceted his personality was. I could genuinely feel his confusion at having to deal with feelings for a person for the first time, and his flaws also added to his realness. His possessiveness was a bit concerning to me, but Pete obviously didn't mind it. I really just admired how honest he was throughout his relationship with Pete.

Other characters that I liked were Pond, Cha-am, and Good. Pond is probably really accurate in representing a college-aged male and could be quite distasteful sometimes. However, he was such a delight and showed some redeeming qualities. He pretty much carried all of the humor in the drama. I especially loved him and Cha-am together because she really brings out his more gentle side. As for Good, he reminded me of a sloth. His mannerisms were just so cute and his interactions with Can were interesting. He's iconic.

I didn't find Tin and Can's relationship all that enjoyable. Can was extremely petulant most of the time and he also looked really young to me, too young to fit with Tin. There was a lot more they could've done with Tin and Can's storyline as far as Tin's family interfering in Tin's life. It was just such a missed opportunity to cause more drama from Tin's brother especially as well as the fact that they have different lifestyles.

Tum and Tar felt very irrelevant in Tharntype (until the end) and the same can be said here too. You could watch the whole drama without them. Their relationship is also very taboo, and I don't understand why this isn't being questioned by the other characters in the drama. However, they barely interact with Tum and Tar so it makes sense.

I think everyone agrees on how terrible sexual assault. There's just something about selling your brother to your friend and allowing your friend to molest your brother, hmm. Anyway, Kengkla and Technic were unnecessary and their behavior was downright disgusting.

Acting/Cast:
A lot of it was average or kind of rough.

Saint is probably a really good actor, but his role as Pete was just so subdued. He also is very manly compared to Pete in the way he speaks and acts which is very interesting but he's acting. Understandable. He also reminds me of Jin from BTS, lol.

But holy moly, Perth carried the drama with his acting. I already praised Ae's character as being so real, and this wouldn't have happened if Perth hadn't been casted to play him. Perth absolutely sold me on every feeling Ae had. He could just convey so much with his eyes, and I could feel the love he was portraying toward Pete. It also helps that Perth is a cutie. My only gripe with casting Perth in this role is the fact that he was doing all of these scenes at the age of 17. I know the age of consent is different in Thailand but still. It just kind of weirded me out even though I'm around his age. Anyways, he's an amazing actor, and I'm definitely looking forward to his other works. (He did great in UWMA.)

Music:
The music in these dramas aren't that great, the background tracks in particular. But for some reason, I really enjoyed the music. The little techno instrumental was funny.

Rewatch:
The only thing I would rewatch is the Pete and Ae interactions. Everything else can go.

Overall:
The drama lacks good conflict and also has a ton of questionable/abhorrent behaviors portrayed in the show. I enjoyed very few characters. I mainly stayed for Pete and Ae's relationship.

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Pete and Ae couple were pretty boring to be honest. They were both good guys and stuff but I can say that the author didn't give much depthness to them. Pete's character was an unreasonablely shy guy and Ae was a stereotypical hero. I liked the Ae character because the actor playing him did a great job but I can't say that about Pete. Sorry but his smile is like when I'm forced to smile at a school photo. I didn't watch other series of him but he annoyed me here.

I watched the series because of Tin and Can however something annoyed me at the final episode. Can kisses with Tin but he still can't date him? Like how immature you can be? I think he is so cute but his actions and age don't really match. I think both of their characters were unrealistic and cliche as well. However we get to learn more about them compared to Pete and Ae. Well I might be wrong because I skipped Pete's scenes lol. It was fun to watch TinCan.

Kengkla and Techno... I like Techno and it really made me angry how his brother literally let Kengkla rape him. I hope in the 2nd season Techno will beat their ass.

Pond, Good and ChaAim are my favourite characters lol. We can say that Pond is kinda sexist however he is a nice guy actually. I think that's what makes him realistic. He is flawed but still better than that Kengkla guy. I enjoyed and laughed during his scenes a lot. ChaAim is a really cool girl and they are the couple with most chemistry in this series.
Good may seem like a charicaturised character however he reminds me of a classmate of mine. They are both very blunt and slow. I would like a main character like him in a series because he is ICONIC.

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Ae-Pete :) :)

My rating of 8/10 is mostly based on the Ae-Pete story. Even though cliche of damsel in distress and save me from that story, their chemistry is beautiful. Pete being gay and having gone through tough times with that, tries to avoid confronting his feeling for Ae. But Ae is so open minded and accepting. Him telling that it doesn't matter boy or girl, I love you because it is you, is so beautifully shows that love is not gender based for him and he fully accepts Pete. Ae was so open and very well communicated from the beginning about how he felt. When he wasn't sure of he like Pete romantically, he told him but when Ae knew his feelings towards Pete, he was clear about that as well. And on my god! CONSENT!! (even in the novel) the number of times Ae asks for consent from Pete was very very refreshing to watch. They COMMUNICATE!! If they are jealous or have doubts, they talk about it rather than just sulking over that many many months. When Pete had issue with Champoo teaching Ae, he was sad but same day he told Ae and Ae told the reason and they sorted the matter. When Ae had questions about Pete and Tin, he asked. He did not assume they were having affair and broke up or anything like that. Also, Ae telling Pete that he hasn't told his family about them but he is ready to tell them whenever Pete wants. Both of them give each other space to express. Pete understands and tells that, it's okay. I understand that these things are hard so take time. They both are respectful of each other so much and that is such an amazing adult and respectful relationship. They are good for each other. Pete got courage to come out to his mom and be firm in his decision as Ae was encouraging him and for Ae. Both their character is so honest open and sincere. It is sad not to be able to see them in Season 2. Also Pond is a great friend. Even though talk rubbish most times, he is so accepting and supporting of his friend and a big shipper of Ae-Pete haha! We all need friends like him in our life haha

Now for the second couple: yes It is great to have the story of enemies to lovers but the first kiss was assault! You cannot go around kissing people. It is assault! Tin has painful upbringing and he is sharp on the edges and he doesn't trust anyone because of this childhood trauma. His character development is great and if he had not gone through what he went through in childhood he might have been different but I have to call out assault when I see one so! Can is cute. he is a great friend and he doesn't talk shit from Tin and calls him out. So yeah looking forward to season 2 with these folks!

Now for the other two KleNo and Thar-Tum: I don't even want to talk about rape and assault here,
If these two couple story was different or showed that what they did was wrong then I could have rated this drama 9-9.5 but because they seem to NORMALIZE rape and assault, i can't rate his show more than 8. If there was issue with Ae-Pete storyline and character, then I would have rated this much lower.

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I like this series! But I have to be honest about this series and review based on my experience watching BL series and films, since 2006. Why are many BL series now similar !! This series is like copying scenes from another series. It doesn't matter if you are inspired by another series! But too much inspiration or imitation is not good! MIR? LOVE SICK? Water Boyy Series? TOGETHER WITH ME? BAD ROMANCE? 2MOONS? ADVANCE BRAVELY? GREY RAINBOW? PUPPY HONEY? SOTUS ?? AND ?? Oh my God !! They have to find original ideas and stop imitating! Don't hate me for this review :) I'm just honest with this review. I hope with this review, the BL series can develop better without having to copy other popular series.

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Cute and entertaining series to pass the time

This series is really cute and is great especially because of the cast. There you have PerthSaint and MeanPlan that made me love this series. Honestly I hate when Pete is being blackmailed by a homophobic asshole for money but if we ignore it at all, this series is seen as light and feel-good. Pond is really hilarious being just a horny roommate of Ae. I'm really here to those scenes where Ae beats Pond when he teases him being with Pete. Perth (Ae) is really charming, the way he cares for Saint (Pete) throughout the series. I love his character being charismatically endearing and caring and Mean's character also got me "blessed my soul" HAHAAHAH!!! Initially Mean is annoying because of the way he acts around Saint and Pete but later on I grew to love his character being charismatically generous to Plan. Plan's character pissed the hell out of me particularly. I'm really like "nope, don't do that" because of his overreacting and childish attitude especially when he's throwing tantrums. I'm starting to think he is mentally unstable (I'm sorry for that ?). His character is ridiculous and I wished it could have been better if he's not behaving that way. The OSTs are really enjoyable. When it comes to the storyline, it's still good and I find it digestible for the most part and I really appreciate how that homophobic guy disappear suddenly unseen. If I were to considered a how good it is, it is great!

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Cute but often annoying

Okay so this drama was really cute and I did enjoy most part of it, however I most definitely did not like Pete (no offence, but I found highly annoying and often to dam baby, This is the second drama of his and I didn't like him in Why R U? either, he brought that baby side and childish behavior to this drama as well). Okay so the ML leads were not so bad, accept for Pete character which really annoyed me, often i skip parts when he appeared which was a bit difficult since Ae was finding out his feelings towards Pete, and how found each other by chance, Ae begins to help and take care of Pete, Ae and Pete throughout the series go through numerous and sometimes humorous trials and tribulations establishing their relationship.

For me the second Leads were much more interesting, Tin & Can that seemed to be story (gonna start that right after i finish write this). TinxCan story, which I admit I'm biased as I loved them since the whole "enemy to lovers" thing is my downfall , and I am looking to see how they story unfolds.

The other characters were okay, nothing much to talk about, there were some funny moments in this drama, and often cute, of course being high school setting, the guys finding there sexual desires, I did find Ae roommate a little to much on the whole porn thing, but then again being a young boy at university guess it was expected. (LOL)

The series tackles about mental illness, rape and Homophobia it wasn't written and executed 100% correctly but it does its job, which is spread awareness about the topics I written above.

The Music was okay, the main song is really nice.

Overall: It was an okay to watch, I just feel that Pete character was a little to babyish for me, and that was one thing put me off or spoils the drama... Tin & Can left me a little heartbroken, hopefully they story unfolds in Season 2. (which I heading to right know)!!!

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Just no.

I really do not understand why people enjoy this show.

It's too problematic, has too many toxic storylines, kinda confusing and with no sense at all. Acting was ok-ish but we need to keep in mind some actors where minors during the filming so... yeah.

The problem I have with this show is that they tried to romanticize toxic relationships, jelousy, incest?!!! and even raping??? like come on... just don't.

I even watched the second season hoping it would become better but it's honestly worse.

If you can, just don't watch this show.

It's a shame because most of the actors in this series are great, they really do deserve better roles in better shows...

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There's no reason for anyone to miss out on Love By Chance.

If you'd like to take a break from the drama in other BLs (especially if you've encountered TharnType before this series like I did), now is probably a good time to watch Love By Chance.|

Love By Chance is a show full of fluff. This is definitely a feel-good series for the most part, and won't break your heart too much. I experienced little to no frustration about the main couple's progression, but that was a good thing for me! The pacing was just right. Instead of frustration, every episode left me smiling over how the characters dealt with their emotions. I found it endearing how the series portrays the awkwardness and bumbling moments in finding your first love, falling in love, and coming to terms with one's sexuality.

The side stories didn't fall short, either. Admittedly, not all of them were very comprehensive, and some are even questionable, but since this is based on a novel I feel like I can't say much on it. However, whatever I have watched in the live action, I enjoyed enough! (Maybe not Kengkla and Techno's though...)

Ah, speaking of which. Watch out for Pond. That character is just brilliant, ahaha! Him being paired up with ChaAim, one of the girls in this series, makes for a very fun couple to watch. Absolutely enjoyed it every time these two were on-screen.

So really, in the end, I believe there's no reason for anyone who watches BL to miss out on Love By Chance. I'd recommend you save it for after a dramatic series though, so that you can smile and laugh after crying a lot, ahaha!

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