Sydney
Nara, Japan
This review may contain spoilers
I really loved Love by Chance. It was my first Thai BL drama (and first Thai drama in general), and I think it was such an adorable introduction into the genre. My favorite couples were AePete and TinCan. Truthfully, I skipped through scenes with the other two couples and I don't even know their names, so I'm going to be exclusively discussing AePete and TinCan in this review.
(NOTE: One of the couples that I didn't watch apparently has a scene that's sexual assault, so if that is something that triggers you then I'd recommend steering clear of episodes 12-14 unless you can just skip those parts easily. I know I skipped them, but I did see pieces of scenes and it was uncomfortable for me since I understood the characters' backstories up until this point. I wasn't a fan of LBC's choice to include these storylines, but I'm rating this show based on AePete and TinCan ONLY.)
Love by Chance begins with Ae and Pete meeting by chance (ha ha), which launches their initial relationship. Pete is a rich boy at the international college while Ae is a poor engineering student. They start a friendship that quickly becomes more as they realize their feelings for one another. I really loved how Ae was more of the confident gay (though he doesn't explicitly state his sexuality, which I love), and I loved the scene where he tells Pete that there's nothing wrong and "abnormal" about Pete's attraction to men. Similarly, I loved the scene between Pete and his mom where he comes out to her and she just hugs him and tells him it's okay. So many LGBTQ+ stories both in fiction and real life are about awful parents hating their children for their sexuality, so it was great to see a supportive mom. I don't think Ae ever explicitly shares his relationship with his family, but he doesn't seem to hide it either. Like I said: Ae is kind of a confident gay.
AePete is just a really adorable, loving story. I couldn't get enough of them. Truthfully, I would've loved a season 1 where it's just AePete and a season 2 with just TinCan. I felt that both relationships needed enough space to develop and while AePete had a lot, TinCan didn't get as much space for development. Also I wanted double dates asdlfkj.
Speaking of TinCan: their ending was tragic and upsetting, and I'm still not happy about it. I love their relationship in general so I don't want to dock the entire show for its ending, but I can't deny that I was severely disappointed. LGBTQ+ couples already deal with unhappy endings, and if there was no guarantee for season 2 then I think they should've given TinCan a good ending at the very least. Something uplifting and promising, not this. Tin didn't deserve it, and it felt so out of the blue since Can was clearly beginning to develop feelings for Tin. I just think there was so much potential there and it was lost... but for what?
Also, the other two couples in the series are boring and not really worth watching, so I don't recommend them. I think most reviews say more or less the same thing. AePete and TinCan are the most popular pairings and it's understandable why that is. One is just a wholesome, beautiful story about young love and discovering your sexuality while the other is an enemies to friends story that's also about discovering your sexuality. I think both stories were handled really well, and it's sad that so much screen time was given to the other two couples that really didn't make a difference anyway. LBC would've been so much better without them, and I think there would've been more space for AePete and TinCan to develop.
Anyway AePete is a beautiful ship and TinCan deserved more. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
(NOTE: One of the couples that I didn't watch apparently has a scene that's sexual assault, so if that is something that triggers you then I'd recommend steering clear of episodes 12-14 unless you can just skip those parts easily. I know I skipped them, but I did see pieces of scenes and it was uncomfortable for me since I understood the characters' backstories up until this point. I wasn't a fan of LBC's choice to include these storylines, but I'm rating this show based on AePete and TinCan ONLY.)
Love by Chance begins with Ae and Pete meeting by chance (ha ha), which launches their initial relationship. Pete is a rich boy at the international college while Ae is a poor engineering student. They start a friendship that quickly becomes more as they realize their feelings for one another. I really loved how Ae was more of the confident gay (though he doesn't explicitly state his sexuality, which I love), and I loved the scene where he tells Pete that there's nothing wrong and "abnormal" about Pete's attraction to men. Similarly, I loved the scene between Pete and his mom where he comes out to her and she just hugs him and tells him it's okay. So many LGBTQ+ stories both in fiction and real life are about awful parents hating their children for their sexuality, so it was great to see a supportive mom. I don't think Ae ever explicitly shares his relationship with his family, but he doesn't seem to hide it either. Like I said: Ae is kind of a confident gay.
AePete is just a really adorable, loving story. I couldn't get enough of them. Truthfully, I would've loved a season 1 where it's just AePete and a season 2 with just TinCan. I felt that both relationships needed enough space to develop and while AePete had a lot, TinCan didn't get as much space for development. Also I wanted double dates asdlfkj.
Speaking of TinCan: their ending was tragic and upsetting, and I'm still not happy about it. I love their relationship in general so I don't want to dock the entire show for its ending, but I can't deny that I was severely disappointed. LGBTQ+ couples already deal with unhappy endings, and if there was no guarantee for season 2 then I think they should've given TinCan a good ending at the very least. Something uplifting and promising, not this. Tin didn't deserve it, and it felt so out of the blue since Can was clearly beginning to develop feelings for Tin. I just think there was so much potential there and it was lost... but for what?
Also, the other two couples in the series are boring and not really worth watching, so I don't recommend them. I think most reviews say more or less the same thing. AePete and TinCan are the most popular pairings and it's understandable why that is. One is just a wholesome, beautiful story about young love and discovering your sexuality while the other is an enemies to friends story that's also about discovering your sexuality. I think both stories were handled really well, and it's sad that so much screen time was given to the other two couples that really didn't make a difference anyway. LBC would've been so much better without them, and I think there would've been more space for AePete and TinCan to develop.
Anyway AePete is a beautiful ship and TinCan deserved more. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
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