Love in the Air (2022)

THE BEST INTIMACY shown in a BL series with the most realistic portray of sex

I have never written a review before, but I had to do so after seeing how unreasonably harsh people were with this show. Yes, it is based on Mame's novels, but it actually brings out the best in them and improves upon them. She’s also not a screenwriter for LITA, so the series has a different feeling from her previous works. It's a rare gem with a beautiful cinematography and great acting and it's sad to see people skipping it because of the other reviews.

First of all, let me get something straight. This series is not an all green flags show. There are definitely some questionable moments, so if you're looking for a fluffy series with a perfectly healthy relashionship, this series is not for you. HOWEVER, both of the relationships portrayed in LITA only start out questionably, later on they develop into quite healthy and well communicated ones. Many people even call Pai as a walking green flag. There is also a speculated hidden dynamic in Payu’s and Rain’s relationship that would explain most of ther “toxic” moments.

Now, when reading OTHER REVIEWS and seeing this:
"TW: (non-consensual touching, homophobia, manipulation, mind games, s*a*, torture)", you’d really think LITA is some kind of twisted show. But this is where the overreaction, too harsh of a criticism and Mame's hatewagon come in play, because:

IN REALITY:
- (mind games, s*a*, torture) refer to Sky’s past. There are some flashbacks and difficult scenes in ep 13, but that’s it.
- (homophobia) refers to a comment / question made by Rain in the first episode, it happened just this once and Rain regrets saying it instantly
- (non-consensual touching) yes, this one is valid.
Still, let’s clarify it a bit - it obviously refers to Sky's past (as most of the brutal and horrible tags do). It also refers to some actions attemted by Payu to Rain, but he never actually does anything in the end. It refers to a scene where he's sniffing / butterfly kissing Rain's neck (not really touching him) and also a scene where he tries to sleep with Rain (so non consensual kissing of his neck), but doesn't after Rain refuses him (though Rain has to say it like 4 times).

Compared to what is normalized and shown in the BL industry today though, it’s laughable that it's LITA that got tagged as 'The toxic show' out of all of them. Yes, there is an obvious dose of toxicity there, but the biggest shows have all done so much worse in terms of consent, like Cutie Pie - taking advantage of a drunk person, Tharn Type - forcing yourself on somebody, Kinn Porsche - taking advantage of a drugged person, torture and so much more. Even shows that have aired recently have done much more, like Big Dragon - taking advantage of a drugged person, Ai Long Nhai - taking advantage of a drunk person, etc. And people don’t say nearly as much about them.

I would actually argue, that apart from the scenes mentioned above and some problematic tropes, this show does a solid job at showing us healthy relationships. We can see it the clear communication, mutual respect and also in the way they interact with each others, which brings me to:

WHY I ADORE THIS SHOW SO MUCH
This series really portrays the most realistic intimacy and sex between partners. And I’m not only talking about the NC scenes, I’m talking about the CASUALITY OF KISSES AND TOUCHES. There is no slow motion and ten different angles for a little peck. There are hugs, pecks, kisses and butt slaps, all given casually, as it should be between partners in a relationship. And when it comes to the NC scenes, they not only portray lust, but also the intimacy and love that real couples have. We can see that both parties want it - there is no 'bottom who endures sex', both people want it and enjoy it equally.

In an interview, Boss (who plays Payu) explained that he had asked Neoul (who plays Rain) how deep (when portraying emotions) can they go in the intimate scenes, to which Neoul responded with “as deep as possible”. Boss also mentioned that they wanted to portay LOVE THROUGH SEX , and that’s exactly what they did. Pai and Sky did an amazing job too. And yes, their scenes didn’t have the same kind of loving and a bit kinky intimacy as Payu and Rain, but their realshionship was also based on completly different emotions which were portrayed very well during their intimate scenes (which were wild at times).

THE PLOT
Some people say that there is no clear plot in this series, but that couldn't be more wrong. It's just that the plot is focused mostly on the development of the relationships, the plot is the relationships. Another storyline throughout this whole show is the student life. I really love that it’s taken seriously and there are actual reprocussions for failing an exam / doing badly at school for the characters. All students know that going to uni is sometimes more taxing than a full time job, especially when studying something like architecture. For Payu and Rain there is also the subplot of bike racing, for Pai and Sky there is the subplot of mental healing and trauma. But the main plot is the couples' relationship developmnet, which may not be everybody's cup of tea.

THE STORY OF PAYU AND RAIN (ep 1-7) starts out kinda questionably like I already explained, but progresses into something amazing and sweet. I especially love the character development of Rain, who gets progressively more serious and responsible about his schoolwork and confident in his relationship and needs. I love how he strats teasing Payu back and expresses his own needs for intimacy (he’s not afraid to initiate the touches / kisses) and I love how patient Payu is with him. And can we talk about how this show lets Rain discover his kink and actually acknowledges it (especially in the special episode)? It's done so casually and there is no weirdness about it, it just becomes a part of their relationship. The characters can feel a bit unreal sometimes (Rain is sweet, but kinda cartoonish at times and Payu is a bit too perfect), but it doesn't take away from the rawness and realness of their relationship.

There is a suggestion that Payu and Rain have a Dom / Sub dynamic. It was brought to light by people from the scene, who said that it’s very easy to recognize once you are in the know. To me it makes a perfect sense and adds a lot more depth to their relationship. It’s shown in some obvious and many subtle ways (like Payu saying things like “Answer me”, “Sit still”, the constant conversation around rewards and punishment, etc.) and it shows their early “toxic moments” from a different perspective. If you are interested to know more, please read my reply to Meca’s comment under this review, it’s explained in details (it contains spoilers, so beware).

THE STORY OF SKY AND PAI (ep 7 - 13) is a story of healing. We've got a flamboyant CEO Pai and a sassy but traumatised Sky, which creates an interesting dynamic. Although their first meeting is questionable and Pai turns into a lowkey stalker for a bit, when he sees Sky for who he truly is later on, he turns into the biggest walking green flag ever. The way Pai's always there for Sky, being patient with him and honestly just being happy seeing him and being with him is beautiful - as is seeing him, the playboy he is, putting Sky's need for intimacy (or lack of) before his own. We can also see how Sky slowly opens up and doesn’t see sex (or himself for that matter) as dirty anymore. I appreciate the clear communication after a misunderstanding and how Pai always double checks before doing anything with Sky, just to be super sure.

Both couples turned out to be different in the end, in a good way. Rain and Payu are the sweet, loving, but kinky daddy / baby dynamic couple, who have the most scorchingly intimate but also sweet sex. Sky and Pai are the couple who are careful to double check consent and communicate things through, but also have a high sex drive and thus end up having the wildest sex with Sky being an obvious power bottom.

OTHER THINGS I LOVED:
- The show is fast paced (because it squeezes 2 books into 1 series), but that makes it perfect. There are no unnecesary conflicts just to drag it out. It’s a fairly straightforward and nice watch.

- The ACTING. Although sometimes there were shortcomings, you would never have know that all of the 4 main actors are rookies. They did a truly fantasctic job portraying the characters.

- The cinematography is simply BEAUTIFUL.

- The SPECIAL EPISODE is a cheffs kiss, please watch it if you haven’t yet.

- The breaking of the stereotypes when it comes to sex and portray of intimacy.

- The comedic duo that Sky and Rain are, their dynamic is super cute and funny as best friends.


THINGS THAT COULD USE IMPROVEMENT:
- The sound editing, it just wasn’t right sometimes. The loudness of the music was weird at places.

- The last episode felt a bit rushed, though the special episode definitely makes up for it.

- The problems with consent (like mentioned). Payu’s and Rain’s realtionship started a bit doubtiously and it was on a very thin line from being a non-con. Though if you count in the Dom / Sub explanation of their relationship, it may not have been as non-con as it seemed, but that’s up to you to decide. And Pai’s stalkishness at the beginning also felt very abuse of power-y.

- The series has a slight unrealistic / wattpady feel to it, it’s a clear fiction.

- Some undeveloped plot lines. I really want to know more about P'Pakin and the bike races, like who is he? Does he have connections to the mafia? How did he get to know Payu?


IN CONCLUSION, if you want a clean show where everybody is a walking green flag and there is 100% consent with everything, then LITA is not for you. But if don’t mind some toxicity and can bear to see Sky’s flashbacks of his difficult and abusive past in ep. 13, then PLEASE, WATCH THE SHOW. It has so much to offer, so much sweetness, cuteness and sexiness, it would be a shame not to give it a try. The intimacy, chemisty, cinematography and acting are all excellent. It also comes with a delicious special episode as a cherry on top.

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Love In The Air (aka a bodice ripper set in current times)

Overall/Note: This series is based on a novel by MAME (TharnType author) who writes "bodice rippers", i.e. a wealthy, handsome and aggressive pursuer goes after a naive and/or reluctant pursuee where non/dub con is involved and they end up happily ever after. This series has the very FICTIONAL 'mouth says no, but body says yes' idea. In real life, even if a person's body reacts to touch, it doesn't mean that they want it. Just one verbal or non verbal 'no' means to stop immediately in real life. In real life buying multiple burner phones/sim cards to contact someone who has blocked you isn't romantic it's stalking and creepy. In real life spanking someone when you haven't established a role play/boundaries/safe word is physical assault. I think/hope most people can tell the difference between fiction and real life. There are valid reasons for creating and enjoying non/dub con that I won't get into, however steer clear if this is not your thing. On iQIYI and YouTube (varies by country).

Content Warnings: manipulation, dub con touching and kissing, non con touching and kissing, manhandling, homophobic comment, kidnapping, violence, stalking, harassment, past sexual assault references/brief scenes, PTSD/trauma, gang rape

What I Liked
- really was hooked in the first few minutes
- clear time jump
- Ple said that being gay is not a bad thing*
- bisexual representation
- liked the street racing aspect
- the NSFW scenes were well done, most like Rain/Phayu's
- the sweet/caring moments
- that university students were actually busy with school assignments
- how Sky was sassy in the beginning

Room For Improvement
- separating out the two couples didn't work for me, I was bored in the second half, felt like it went in circles
- not a fan of Phayu's "plan" or Rain's "plan"
- how Rain has a crush on a woman and says that he's not gay he just thinks one guy is hot seems to be setting up or is the gay for you trope, related to this
-* the whole conversation around 17 minutes in episode 1 was bad/odd, Rain said Ple's brother must be gay because he said something about another guy, it was good that Ple did call Rain out on it but the whole conversation was not needed
- scenes kind of jumped a bit a few times
- the second episode had too much recap from episode 1, this happened again in later episodes where they showed a lot of footage that we had already seen
- audio issues
- I disliked Pai at the beginning for the initial coercion and then the harassment/stalking but ended up being annoyed with Sky and his lack of communication with Pai and also making Pai do a bunch of chores to prove his love, then I went back to not liking Pai with the yelling in the final episode
- last episode felt rushed
- consequences not shown for those scum of the earth, only referenced verbally

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AFTER KINNPORCHE I NEEDED THIS.

THIS BL is written by MAME thus naturally carry CRASH OF OPINION'S and CONTROVERSIES.
In terms of their relationship, this might be one of Mame's least toxic relationship that she has written. EVER. BUT I can see the development in their characters BUT when it comes to intimacy, they become unhinged and wild.

(TW: toxicity, kinks, fetish, one night stands, sexual favors, manipulation, non-consensual touching, mind games, kidnapping, torture, gaslighting, rape, PTSD]

After kinnporche ended i though i would not be able to watch any BL. Like seeing BL's like UN and CO killed my brain cells. But this i can say is one of the good bl's out there. No its not great but its better than other. Forget better its actually one of the best bl's out there actually.

See i am one of those people that need some dose of a LESS 'lovey-dovey' and 'green flag' relationship. I need my dose of RED FLAG'S and a little bit TOXICITY from time to time. And NO this doesn't mean I encourage abuse of any form but sometimes you need to be realistic.
This BL felt realistic. IT's not your typical green flag relationship which we see in BL's. It was controversial, many scene's seem to have the non- con problem in them but they were not overdone, they conveyed what they were meant to. People had many problem with it being toxic and shit but honestly i didn't see that much of toxicity. NO this was not 100% healthy relationship but it was really realistic cuz it really happens in real life.

I felt people have connected MAME'S name with toxicity. Where people saw sexual verbal abuse i actually saw flirtation, like come on guys don't you dirty talk with your partner or tease them??? they may not have the best relationship but they were TRUE AND REAL AS THEY CAN BE.

BOTH COUPLE'S relationship is RAW. Its raw and passionate. They are INTENSE.
I MEAN IT WHEN I SAY IT'S RAW. The tension is real. YOU can see the LUST, THE PASSION, THE CUTENESS AND EVEN THE LOVE IN THIER RELATIONSHIP.
The chemistry is sizzling and scorching hot. DESPITE the facts that all the 4 actors are newbei's they have really acted well [i can even say better than most of the famous bl actor who still don't know how to act.]
AND FOR ONCE THEY CAN ACTUALLY KISS AND ITS NOT THE 'TYPICAL' COLLEGE ROMANCE. Thank god for that.

LEGITIMATE 18+ ranking. i am not kidding. THIS IS ADULT, There are quite a LOT OF detailed NC SCENE. And for once NC scene are actually amazing, like hatsoff to the actors and production. The NC scene are RAW and HOT like their chemistry.

I´m impressed by the visual quality. The music of the series both main theme song and the background song's are amazing and well placed. Both the thai and English song they have put in the series are AMAZING.
The cinematography of this series is so good, like you can see the money in the camera quality and shooting places. Like the production was in bar with the production of Kinnporche and cutie pie. The screenwriting was done really well.
The side characters are also really good, firstly they can act and for once you would actually be interested in them as well.

MUSIC. CINEMATOGRAPHY, PRODUCTION, VISUALS AND CAST get a full on 10/10 from me.
OVERALL, the PLOT may be simple, but the couple's killed it with their chemistry. The production is amazing ang this is what was needed honestly. IT's new and fresh. THE story will hook you.

PAYU AND RAIN'S story was the fluff and sweetness i needed before they dropped the bomb of RAIN AND PRAPAI, there story was full of heartbreak and pain. I FELT FOR SKY SO MUCH. Prapai was such a sweetheart.

PERSONAL OPINION- SkyPrapai >>>>>>>>>> RainPayu

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Controverse Love 4 Love In The Air <3

LEGITIMATE 18+ ranking
ALSO because it´s written by MAME and there are displayed CONTROVERSIES stuck to the way both main characters approach each other etc.
(TW: non-consensual touching, homophobia, manipulation, mind games, s*a*, torture)
If you´re not okay with those, I would not recommend watching this series.

Story >> 7.5 >> 8.0 >> 7.5 >> 7.0
While this story contains a lot of elements that appeal to me, because I am a fan of controversy, it´s somehow not entirely intriguing, hence plotwise not capturing me as much as I want it. However, what I find significant is the emphasis on Phayus's kinky and controlling nature and the interesting balance of power in the main couple´s relationship. I can see that I start liking the plot because it´s getting more capturing and unpredictable the more it is broadcasted.

Production (>> 8.5)
I´m impressed by the visual quality, such as the cinematography, of this series and how well the screenwriting was done. When watching the series on YouTube tho, especially when the censored parts are cut, the cutting is a bit confusing. Overall I think the team did a great job!

Acting/Cast >> 9.0 >> 9.5 >> 9.0 >> 8.5
I don´t have much to nag here, Boss is showing off some cheeky skills while playing Phayu. The roles were distributed thoughtfully and I think that all the actors fit their characters. If they were following hardcore clichés of how Rain was perceived by some readers of the book, my view on this would have been different.

Music >> 7.5 >> 7.0
Personally, I don´t find any of the soundtracks outstanding and they give off a little bit of a Sims-Vibe. However, there are no errors in matching it to the series' overall vibes and I´m hoping that some darker scores are yet to be revealed, so that I can lift my rating a little. Gotta appreciate the singing tho.

Rewatch Value >> 8.0 >> 7.5
I´d watch it again if I will be looking for a series where one of the main protagonists is as manipulative and daring as Phayu. I like how they respectfully embodied the sensuality between the main couple.

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rain, rain, go away. come again another day.

if you're giving this a go with a thought that this drama will tell you well-written stories about love and all that fancy stuff, you might want to think again. 'love in the air' attempts to depict two couples with interesting themes but fails to feel like a solid drama.

now, let's jump right into the couples
phayu x rain:
one thing i'll have to say is that there is no logical progression whatsoever in their relationship. besides the questionable actions of phayu wherein consent gets glossed over, as the episodes went on, their relationship felt like a compilation of sweet and intimate scenes but there was no proper story. the timeline itself was iffy.

what made their story a mess was the editing. it was nonsensical to the point that there is no telling what scene the viewer will see next. while that might work for something else, the way it's done here makes it seem as though the drama was jumping from one scene to another with little to no explanation what happened in the previous scene. one example is a cute scene when phayu asks rain to wait for him so they can have dinner together. it then abruptly cuts to a whole different scene and sets a completely different tone leaving the viewer with no time to adjust.

despite the negatives, this couple actually deserves better. the relationship dynamic was pretty good and phayu grew on me as the episodes went on. the actors did super well to make their chemistry work on screen. the intimate scenes had me pausing every second because whew it was a lot to process. make sure to have your earphones on.

prapai x sky:
another one bites the dust. in the beginning, the consistency of prapai not understanding how important the word 'no' is really frustrated me. just because they had a one night stand (which btw sky was pressured into it) doesn't mean prapai has the right to get into sky's life. clearly, there's a fine line between 'love' and 'harassment' and i think pai sort of falls under the latter.

what sky really needed was a proper support system and lots of therapy. on the topic of support system, he has his parents and his friends who could lend him an ear or two when he needs it. however, the bl formula is to skip the therapy and rely on a handsome hunk is the best way to go. in other words, he can 'fix' him. in the end, sky still has to live with his traumas and having no control over them.

despite prapai frustrating me with his actions, i can't deny that those sweet moments the two had in the last episode made me almost erase everything else. i feel like prapai in the last episode was the best prapai out of all the episodes. however, the message that love can somehow eliminate your traumas is absolutely bullshit.

even though i didn't enjoy this couple as much, the pacing and progression of their relationship was much more developed and smooth. there were still some problems with transition of scenes but it was not as bad. at least prapai x sky story was easy to follow through and there were less jumping of scenes.

so... what bothered me the most?

both couples have different feel to them. their stories have interesting themes that can branch out into a very engaging drama. however, what i was served is half of 'what could've been'.

one thing that everyone must've noticed was the constant raining that made some scenes 100x hilarious. the use of the main couples' names were evident throughout the drama and in some way, i feel like it was overdone. there were at times that the sound of wind added to the scene minimised how impactful that scene was. thankfully, peat did well to portray his character's traumas. though i wasn't a fan of fort's acting, he nailed the emotional scenes.

honestly, i have no clue what goes on with the production quality in this one. the background music was at times distracting and not fitting to the scenes. for some scenes, the music would go on longer than it should and it almost overpowered the dialogue of the characters. the voiceovers were poorly done. for real, i hate to say it but the editing team did a lackluster job. while the pacing was odd for payu x rain, the production quality got worse for prapai x sky.

this is one of those dramas where i can't help but complain over the quality of the drama because there were so many factors that bothered me that usually doesn't bother me in other dramas.

overall, there was so much potential with this drama. if more time was given to the production team and tweaked the parts that lacked coherence, 'love in the air' would've made me like it a tad bit more.

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felt like torture towards the end

honestly, if mame had to write anything without SA, she'd pop a blood vessel.

I genuinely enjoyed the first half of this show. Noeul and Boss have great chemistry and it showed on screen. their stroy was alright. I don't mind a simple plot of people falling in love, but that being said, it didn't wow me either. their 18+ scenes were crazy though, never expected the things to happen the way they did. but these scenes sadly carried the show. if you were to take them out, I don't think the show would be as highly rated as it is right now (over 8).
except for cringy scenes and ambiguous consent, I don't really have too much of a quarrel with the first half. if it was just that, i would've given a solid 6 stars.

the show completely fell flat in the second half though. it felt as if they pumped 90% of the budget in the rain X phayu story and were left with 10$ and a dream for sky X prapai. the already bad sound design suddenly became worse as well as the acting.
the actors seem sweet irl, and I'm sure they gave it their all.. but even with bonus points for it being their first big role, it was simply painful to watch. emotional scenes were carried by fort, since he was able to get a tear or two out.
what bugged me the most was the sudden infantilisation of sky. Sky was sarcastic and snarky, but all of a sudden he acts like a baby in every scene. pouting, hands in front of his chest, super submissive and needy...
even if prapai "cracked" his "stone heart" that doesn't mean he has to change personalities.

that brings me to the second but also most important criticism. the ending perpetuates that love can suddenly heal your trauma. what a person with sexual trauma of this caliber needs isn't a rich, good looking hunk who borderline harasses them. it's therapy and a good social support system. there are 100 better ways to approach the topic of r*pe. idk why they keep letting mame write stories that use it as a plot device to have two good looking men make out on screen.

and with this, I'm out. I wish I had stopped after rain X phayus story wrapped up. I wouldn't be so upset now.

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MAME does it again.

I guess I should expect this from the creator of TharnType, but to be honest I didn’t know it was this author until I was 4 episodes in.

The actors are okay. I don’t want to say they have no ability simply because they have no reasonable script. I haven’t seen them in anything else, so maybe if they had something better to work with, they could have done well. The music is mediocre. I haven’t found anything great or terrible about the OST. As you may have gathered from the above: the plot is pretty much non existent. Outside of the relationships, there isn’t anything to be said so far. Not really a compelling plot and sometimes the storyline is nonsensical.

I can explain the whole story with some very simple dialogue:
Payu: “Let’s have sex.”
Rain: “No. I’m not gay.”
Payu: “You’re stupid.”
Rain: “I’ll make you love me so you can’t call me stupid.”
Payu: “Let’s have sex.”
Rain: “Okay.”

Pai: *Forces Sky to have sex with him.*
Sky: “What a jerk.”
Pai: “His sex was so good, I think I should make Sky my sex friend or boyfriend, as needed.”
Sky: “Go away..”
Pai: “You’re sick? Let me take care of you.”
Sky: “Okay, maybe we can have sex, but I won’t be happy about it.”

This is the gist of the show to this point (episode 10). It makes little to no sense and has very little plot. As usual for this author, imbalance of power in relationships and forced or non consensual sex that ends in loving relationships. I agree with another reviewer who asked if MAME has ever been in a relationship, cause this is not how people behave. This is soft core porn with very little story. And unfortunately the story you get isn’t worthwhile. We should expect more from our BL series.

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It felt like a wattpad story xD

I didn't hate it, but it was very questionable

I had a hard time caring for Phayu and Rain...
They lacked emotional intimacy and everything happened way too fast.

I didn't like the way either of the couples got together.

I was skeptical about the second couple and how Prapai didn't take "no" for an answer, but it's MAME so what's new...
I did however like that Prapai really tried to gain Sky's trust towards the end.

Gun is a piece of sh*t and I was just waiting for Prapai to beat him up.
The whole thing with Sky's trauma was way too rushed... this boy needs therapy!!
Things like this can't be cured with "the power of love" as much as we wish it would.

However in the end I liked that couple more than the first one.

I don't have much to say about the acting.
They did a good job for their first role.

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No, forcing is not sexy.

Yes, my rating is quite low. And i'm verry sorry for those who appreciated this.
But as a person who was in a kinda abuse relationship, it was really really hard to watch. I ended watching all by skipping.

It was very promising. I just loved how Phayu and Rain met, I found this so romantic. Maybe the first scene of first episode was the best. However, it didn't last very long before Phayu tries to force Rain into sex, then treatening him and blowing hot and cold. Some find this sexy, to me that's just how a narcisist works. But at least, Rain felt he had the choice, if we forget the first rape atempt, despite preassure ("I"ll mAke uU fAll In lOve").

We can't say the same for Sky, who was preassured to have sex with his cOol and rIch Prapai, then stalked everywhere despite not wanting to have a relationship yet. Just how can you force a younger guy to have sexe with you ? Is that how an elder should behave ? Characters may have changed later, I just can't accept even the healthier relationship when bases are so wrong. T

hat's a waste because that started not so bad, the idea of illegal racing was good... But basically, the message of this series is "Have money and you can force everything you can, you can rape and treatening for sex". I know that happens in reality, but at least Thai dramas last years tried to work on people understanding that being gay doesn't equal being easy and always saying yes. But this drama just destroys all this work that was made.

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Part 1 and Part 2 (updated)

Part 1: Payu and Rain
I have been waiting for this series to come out, and I'm thrilled to say my time was not wasted. MAME has delivered another hit as we've come to expect at this point. The scenery is as gorgeous as our young actors. This production company has a true talent for finding actors who have never been in a series but still deliver work as though they were seasoned actors. Boss and Noeul have amazing chemistry (both on and off screen I might add) and delivered in both the sweet and spicy areas. When you get to EP 4 you might hold your breath, but EP 6 might have you calling emergency services. Though I am saddened that part one of the series is complete, I am looking forward to seeing Fort and Pete light it up in part 2.

Part 2: Pai and Sky
Only the final series episode left before the special episode airs, so I feel comfortable writing my update. The storyline is still good. The music is still good, but the chemistry is a little off. I know given off-screen circumstances, it's unfair to expect FortPete to measure up to BossNouell, but even still it falls slightly flat for me. I will say, Fort is a beautiful crier and pulled heavily at my heart strings. On the other hand, Pete is a fantastic sulker, but not a great crier. They did seem to work well together in their NC-17 scenes, but the "red scenes" were a bit off-putting. That being said, I still love the series and recommend it for all BL fans.

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I was hesitant with good reason.

I initially skipped this, then with some free time I decided to try it. Couldn't make it all the way through, skipped a lot in each episode. I'll break it down why starting with;

THE GOOD;
1. Visually appealing. Budget was obviously not bad for this.
2. Sky was (for the most part) a likeable and fairly grounded character.
3. The kissing scenes (only, and not including the very, very, veeeery long lean in shots leading up to most kisses) didn't feel forced, especially between and Sky and Prapai.
4. ...I can't think of anything else.

THE BAD;
1. Rain (as an overall character) was not likeable and his stupid, flakey, flip flopping and nonsensical hot cold 'wtf is going on' behavior was very tedious. I thought it was impossible to get worse, but then the writers drowned the character in cringeworthy tropes during the couple arc with Payu and wow, it was so awful. NB: only really bad writers make their characters declare out aloud to random people (and TOTALLY uncalled for) that only their boyfriend can screw them. That is terrible. And it's not sexy. Self respect is attractive! At least to me.

2. 'Badass' characters should be written in a 'less is more' vain please. I did not at all find any of the bikers, and certainly not Payu and Prapai to be badasses or badboys or whatever. I mean, they looked cool most of the time, but that was about it.

3. The editing. Abrupt cuts scenes and background music abound. There is no flow here. Just 'something happe- cut to a different scene, lose the atmosphere, carry on'. Feels like a rush job. There's an art in cutting a scene at the right moment or fading it out, the editing here didn't flow well in many scenes. Also using boom mics will fix that noisy mic jostling sound that is heard when the actors are making close physical contact.

4. TROPE TROPE TROPE and none executed particularly well, if at all. I am not against tropes, some can be fun and enjoyable if they're done nicely, but no. Just no.

5. So many people are just gay all the way, and in such tight circles. Not realistic. I'm a supporter of sexual fluidity, but if we're basing a show in a factual setting, let's try not to write out fangirl daydreams maybe.

THE UGLY;
1. I don't get why in many BL shows these days things have to be rapey or have unequal power dynamics being abused or enforced. It's not attractive, it's not appealing, it's cringe and it's ugly. I won't comment again on the disaster writing of Rain, but when it came to Sky, I think portraying him as being a little easy would have been better than portraying it as him sleeping with Prapai under some kind of duress. As for his history, well I guess they kind of tried to explain something with that but missed the mark. And making Prapai essentially a stalker was very weird too. Generally, that behaviour would lead to a retraining order guys.

FINAL THOUGHTS;
Over all, both main character pairings had underlying 'manipulated and coerced' vibes. Icky. I would not recc this. Go watch Semantic Error instead!

I don't blame the actors, they follow the script and the director!! I believe they tried their best!

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