Themotherofloopers
Cliches are treated realistically for the most part.
Have you ever asked yourself, “if I wanted to introduced someone into the world of Boys Love drama series, what would be the first recommendation I would make?” As someone who has been reading and watching Boy Love content for nearly fifteen years of my life, I made my first trip into the BL drama series by watching a few Chinese dramas that were circulating on the web. I began to explore more of the genre, which led me to gems such as Sotus (the first one), Love sick, HIStory the complete anthology and so on. However, now that I am a bit more knowledgeable and have watched a fair number of series from different countries, if I were to make a recommendation to a new fan, I would simply say that Love By Chance (LBC) is definitely where they want to start. There is so much I can write about this drama. I don’t usually recommend dramas to people because we all have different tastes. However, I feel that this drama was well done even with some missed opportunities here and there.
Edited to include comments regarding the last episode.
Why you ask? (spoilers ahead) LONG REVIEW AHEAD
The drama is cliche as any other drama---Rich kid falls for poor kid and vice versa (or poor girl marries into rich family if we are speaking in the heterosexual genre) The two come from two completely different world and were raised differently. Rich kid is shy, introverted, polite, has a low expectation of himself, low self esteem. Poor kid on the other hand is, honest, to the point, explosive in nature (his feelings), knows has faults but doesn’t let those flaws define him, sweet and a protector of sorts. So the two are complete opposites and they as the cliche saying goes “opposites attract”. However, these two also help each other become better for themselves and for others.
Consent: This drama is all about being “woke”...without getting too political I just want to say that in the midst of this “#metoo” movement, it’s refreshing to watch a drama where characters are always asking for consent--to kiss, to touch, to have sex. Often, as I mentioned in the beginning, many of the BLs I have watched have normalized drunken sex (where one party is drunk and has sex with another person who isn’t drunk...someone is drunk they cannot consent, no matter how HOT that character is.) Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not out to lynch anyone for liking those types of scenes, but when the default sex between a couple who is of the same sex is that one is drunk, then we have a problem. Sending the signal that it’s okay to have sex with someone drunk is wrong. (How to know when it’s wrong? Ask yourself, would you be okay if the drunk person had been a woman?) I bet most will say NO it would not be okay, so why would it be okay for it to be the default for two boys in a drama? That's why I was conflicted with the Kengkla/Techno pairing because their story does rely on this trope. However, the director wisely left this until the very last episode and while they still romanticized it and made "drunken sex/rape" something "acceptable" by the offended person, I can easily say you can chose to ignore that scene and the drama would still be a good one to watch.
Communication: It was surprising how easy most problems were resolved by communicating! Who knew that talking it out instead of prolonging the problem work? [sarcasm on] This is one thing that seems to evade other dramas, where a character is having a problem or a couple is having a communication issue and instead of dealing with it head on, they let it fester until a bigger problem arises. However, in LBC Ae/Pete talk their problems out making this a very healthy relationship. Even if they don't speak for a few hours, they come back and address the issue head on.
Chemistry: ON POINT! With every character. Ae/Pete, Pond/ChaAim, even Tin-Can though I didn’t get into them until much later. I really loved that we had actors willing to go the extra mile and not seem robotic in their intimate acting. Kisses seemed natural, hugging and touching seemed like they wanted to do it and not like they were “gay for pay” acting. Perth and Saint really sold their pairing well and I’m a sucker for small intimacy such as fingers touching, gentle tapping etc, so there was a lot of that. Only thing I would have loved is for more pecks here and there, but I’ll take what they gave us.
Friendship goals: This drama had it right the minute they introduced the friendships among all of the characters. It was great to see so many people root and support their friends, because let’s be honest, in real life same sex couples have many supportive friends, but in BLs sometimes that isn’t highlighted as much as it should and often it seems as if the leads are ALONE in their journey-with families being opposed to the relationship or with someone trying to break them apart-so to see a group of college friends support, tease and encourage each other just made me extremely happy. POND will forever be known as the best CUPID in all of the BL world. He was undoubtedly the MVP of this drama. If we were to rank favorite characters, my list will always include him in the top 3.
Sexual orientation: I was so happy to have a series where the lead knew he was gay, accepted it and never lied about it. I also appreciated that Ae was not sure of his sexual orientation and even when he was not sure, he was completely taken in by Pete and all he knew was that “oh this is the one, the person/soul that I was waiting for but didn’t know.” I know some people complained about his “I like you because you are you” but Ae had no experience in the love department. Pete was his first literally in everything.
Parents: How refreshing to have a mother who is so supportive of her gay son and so much so that she even gets close to his boyfriend. The actress did such a great job of showing what a mother who supports her child will be like. Yes she was upset learning about his sexual orientation the way she did, but she also allowed her son to come to her and confess, not once mentioning what happened prior. And the way she held him and told him “you are my son” just proved that a mother’s love for her child sees beyond what the sexual orientation of that child is. Ae’s parents were also supportive, though they seem to be oblivious to the boys dating. But part me of wonders if they have an inkling to the relationship...there is something in the way Ae’s mother and brother hinted at it, but were totally okay with them.
Villains: Trump was a good villain. His character was believable and the good thing is that he didn’t last long. Tin, yes he was a villain sort of...but the right kind of villain that shows us that people are not just GOOD or BAD, but there are many layers to them. He redeemed himself and that shows that people CAN change (see what I did there LoL) Chompoo--Also not a villain, though for a few episodes she was hated...Dali...lets not mention this one.
Rape and Depression: This topic is such a heavy one to try and digest in a drama series, but in LBC it has so far been handled okay. However, this is only because we have only scratched the surface of the problem. If a second season is green-lighted, I hope it will focus on this and that it gets treated with the utmost care.
Music, Scenery, filming: the use of music was an exceptional tool in this drama. The right music played at the right time and it completely changed once scene to another. The filming and scenery was also nicely done. Cinematography was on point.
The CONs…
Introduction of women as a way to bring romance drama is not only cliche but sometimes not realistic. Sometimes I wonder with all of these dramas depicting women who break relationships as something that happens in real life all the time?? I mean I know there are women out there who when scorned will do whatever they can to break someone apart, but is that really true for every gay couple? Seems to cheapen the experience and like normalization of drunken sex, sends a message that women interested in gay men will do whatever they can to sabotage the relationship, when in the real world, I don’t think it happens as much as it is depicted. If anything, there are more females who support their gay friends...
Too many couples, too little time: This drama suffered from having too many couples, when the focus should have been on the main pairing and one side pairing. The reason I say this, is not because I don’t like the other couples, but because realistically speaking, 14 episodes is not enough for 4 couples. Which is the reason why the Kla/No and Tum/Tar pairing suffered a great deal of missed opportunities. I understand that perhaps because the director was under the impression that they would have a second season, but then the company dropped them in the middle of finishing the first season, they had not hope of a second season being picked up and just tried to introduce all of the stories in one go so we could all at least see where their stories would have gone. I was really looking forward to more development of the other couples. I do hope a second season is picked up. What they should have done was given these couples the minutes/episodes the director spent on Chompoo and Dali..since those girls disappeared anyways...what a missed opportunity that was.
Drunken sex/Rape: While in the real world this does happen more often than people realize, I still think that BLs have an unhealthy relationship with using this trope as a way to get couples together. In a real world most people would not get together with their rapist, so I always side-eye dramas that use this. However, as I mentioned earlier, because they had left that scene for the end, people were not distracted or put off by it through the entire series and can chose to ignore the last episode if they wish.
Edited to include comments regarding the last episode.
Why you ask? (spoilers ahead) LONG REVIEW AHEAD
The drama is cliche as any other drama---Rich kid falls for poor kid and vice versa (or poor girl marries into rich family if we are speaking in the heterosexual genre) The two come from two completely different world and were raised differently. Rich kid is shy, introverted, polite, has a low expectation of himself, low self esteem. Poor kid on the other hand is, honest, to the point, explosive in nature (his feelings), knows has faults but doesn’t let those flaws define him, sweet and a protector of sorts. So the two are complete opposites and they as the cliche saying goes “opposites attract”. However, these two also help each other become better for themselves and for others.
Consent: This drama is all about being “woke”...without getting too political I just want to say that in the midst of this “#metoo” movement, it’s refreshing to watch a drama where characters are always asking for consent--to kiss, to touch, to have sex. Often, as I mentioned in the beginning, many of the BLs I have watched have normalized drunken sex (where one party is drunk and has sex with another person who isn’t drunk...someone is drunk they cannot consent, no matter how HOT that character is.) Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not out to lynch anyone for liking those types of scenes, but when the default sex between a couple who is of the same sex is that one is drunk, then we have a problem. Sending the signal that it’s okay to have sex with someone drunk is wrong. (How to know when it’s wrong? Ask yourself, would you be okay if the drunk person had been a woman?) I bet most will say NO it would not be okay, so why would it be okay for it to be the default for two boys in a drama? That's why I was conflicted with the Kengkla/Techno pairing because their story does rely on this trope. However, the director wisely left this until the very last episode and while they still romanticized it and made "drunken sex/rape" something "acceptable" by the offended person, I can easily say you can chose to ignore that scene and the drama would still be a good one to watch.
Communication: It was surprising how easy most problems were resolved by communicating! Who knew that talking it out instead of prolonging the problem work? [sarcasm on] This is one thing that seems to evade other dramas, where a character is having a problem or a couple is having a communication issue and instead of dealing with it head on, they let it fester until a bigger problem arises. However, in LBC Ae/Pete talk their problems out making this a very healthy relationship. Even if they don't speak for a few hours, they come back and address the issue head on.
Chemistry: ON POINT! With every character. Ae/Pete, Pond/ChaAim, even Tin-Can though I didn’t get into them until much later. I really loved that we had actors willing to go the extra mile and not seem robotic in their intimate acting. Kisses seemed natural, hugging and touching seemed like they wanted to do it and not like they were “gay for pay” acting. Perth and Saint really sold their pairing well and I’m a sucker for small intimacy such as fingers touching, gentle tapping etc, so there was a lot of that. Only thing I would have loved is for more pecks here and there, but I’ll take what they gave us.
Friendship goals: This drama had it right the minute they introduced the friendships among all of the characters. It was great to see so many people root and support their friends, because let’s be honest, in real life same sex couples have many supportive friends, but in BLs sometimes that isn’t highlighted as much as it should and often it seems as if the leads are ALONE in their journey-with families being opposed to the relationship or with someone trying to break them apart-so to see a group of college friends support, tease and encourage each other just made me extremely happy. POND will forever be known as the best CUPID in all of the BL world. He was undoubtedly the MVP of this drama. If we were to rank favorite characters, my list will always include him in the top 3.
Sexual orientation: I was so happy to have a series where the lead knew he was gay, accepted it and never lied about it. I also appreciated that Ae was not sure of his sexual orientation and even when he was not sure, he was completely taken in by Pete and all he knew was that “oh this is the one, the person/soul that I was waiting for but didn’t know.” I know some people complained about his “I like you because you are you” but Ae had no experience in the love department. Pete was his first literally in everything.
Parents: How refreshing to have a mother who is so supportive of her gay son and so much so that she even gets close to his boyfriend. The actress did such a great job of showing what a mother who supports her child will be like. Yes she was upset learning about his sexual orientation the way she did, but she also allowed her son to come to her and confess, not once mentioning what happened prior. And the way she held him and told him “you are my son” just proved that a mother’s love for her child sees beyond what the sexual orientation of that child is. Ae’s parents were also supportive, though they seem to be oblivious to the boys dating. But part me of wonders if they have an inkling to the relationship...there is something in the way Ae’s mother and brother hinted at it, but were totally okay with them.
Villains: Trump was a good villain. His character was believable and the good thing is that he didn’t last long. Tin, yes he was a villain sort of...but the right kind of villain that shows us that people are not just GOOD or BAD, but there are many layers to them. He redeemed himself and that shows that people CAN change (see what I did there LoL) Chompoo--Also not a villain, though for a few episodes she was hated...Dali...lets not mention this one.
Rape and Depression: This topic is such a heavy one to try and digest in a drama series, but in LBC it has so far been handled okay. However, this is only because we have only scratched the surface of the problem. If a second season is green-lighted, I hope it will focus on this and that it gets treated with the utmost care.
Music, Scenery, filming: the use of music was an exceptional tool in this drama. The right music played at the right time and it completely changed once scene to another. The filming and scenery was also nicely done. Cinematography was on point.
The CONs…
Introduction of women as a way to bring romance drama is not only cliche but sometimes not realistic. Sometimes I wonder with all of these dramas depicting women who break relationships as something that happens in real life all the time?? I mean I know there are women out there who when scorned will do whatever they can to break someone apart, but is that really true for every gay couple? Seems to cheapen the experience and like normalization of drunken sex, sends a message that women interested in gay men will do whatever they can to sabotage the relationship, when in the real world, I don’t think it happens as much as it is depicted. If anything, there are more females who support their gay friends...
Too many couples, too little time: This drama suffered from having too many couples, when the focus should have been on the main pairing and one side pairing. The reason I say this, is not because I don’t like the other couples, but because realistically speaking, 14 episodes is not enough for 4 couples. Which is the reason why the Kla/No and Tum/Tar pairing suffered a great deal of missed opportunities. I understand that perhaps because the director was under the impression that they would have a second season, but then the company dropped them in the middle of finishing the first season, they had not hope of a second season being picked up and just tried to introduce all of the stories in one go so we could all at least see where their stories would have gone. I was really looking forward to more development of the other couples. I do hope a second season is picked up. What they should have done was given these couples the minutes/episodes the director spent on Chompoo and Dali..since those girls disappeared anyways...what a missed opportunity that was.
Drunken sex/Rape: While in the real world this does happen more often than people realize, I still think that BLs have an unhealthy relationship with using this trope as a way to get couples together. In a real world most people would not get together with their rapist, so I always side-eye dramas that use this. However, as I mentioned earlier, because they had left that scene for the end, people were not distracted or put off by it through the entire series and can chose to ignore the last episode if they wish.
Was this review helpful to you?
