Love by Chance (2018)

I only watched for Earth Katsamonnat.

I actually really liked this during the first half. Ae and Pete were two characters I liked and got invested in their story. I happily shipped them and had no queries with their relationship.

But as the episodes went on and they became less of the focus, I just stopped caring. Almost all of the side characters were annoying af and I did not get invested in their relationships at all. There was just too many side couples who had little to zero development and lacked any likability.

I ended up skipping the majority of Tin and Can’s scenes as I just did not care at all and by the end I was so glad it was over. I was so disappointed as I really enjoyed AePete, but the rest of it ruined it for me. And then the ending happened, and they weren’t even together in the final scene. It all just felt like a waste of time.

I wouldn’t bother with this one if you’re thinking about watching it, there are so many better shows you can spend your time on.

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A cute love story ruined by incest, rape, and annoying characters

This started off mostly well - the love story between Ae and Pete is really sweet and it was so nice to have an openly gay character. They have a pretty grown up relationship which was good to see. If the whole show had been about them, I'd have rated it much higher. But sadly, it wasn't.
Everything else is beyond gross or annoying. Why no reviews mention Tum and Tar being two ACTUAL brothers in love with each other and the wrongness of it is beyond me! I kept waiting for the bit where you find out one's adopted to make it sightly less disgusting but that never happened. I'm not sure why they felt the need to have Tar be a rape victim other than, in some sick way, they thought it legitimised him being in love with his brother as he couldn't trust other men, and there's never any explanation as to why Tum is in love with his sibling. When Tum tells Tar he's in love with him, Tar says his rape is the reason why Tum shouldn't love him - YOU SHOULDN'T LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE'S YOUR BROTHER, YOU SICK F*CK!
As for the other characters, Kla stalks then rapes No which then ends with cute music and a hand job like it's fine - WHICH IT ISN'T!!! Tin is insanely gorgeous and I actually enjoyed the character development, but his relationship with Can is mostly him forcing Can (who looks waaay too young and is possibly mentally retarded) to kiss him against his will until Can starts enjoying it. The females in it - Can's sister, Ley, and Ae's fan, Champoo - are both insanely irritating, and Pond is a pervert who manages to still get a girlfriend despite being a deluded sleaze and a porn addict. They also do a product placement for face whitening cream like it's not sad that such a thing even exists.
All of my stars are for AePete, and I judge the sh*t out of anyone not offended by this show which, apart from AePete, is an insult to the LGBTQ community, rape victims, and men in general.

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There's a rape scene in the last episode

I liked the show well enough. Pete and Ae are an okay couple, although Ae is too controlling and jealous and also manhandles Pete several times (pushing him against walls, grabbing his wrist and dragging him away). But I guess it's not too unrealistic considering that he's like 18 or 19 years old and in his first serious relationship. I still liked both Ae and Pete as characters because they feel fleshed out.
But then the last episode happens and there is a literal sexual assault happening and we are supposed to be okay with it?! That's why the overall rating is so low. I was not prepared and it's just so wrong. I can overlook some other problematic stuff (like one side character making homophobic and sexist remarks) but the rape scene messed me up.
There's also a love story between two brothers, which is disturbing. (Them being stepbrothers doesn't make it better, they grew up together.)

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What To Even Say

How can I sum up my feelings about this show in a way that would be helpful for others?

I guess the most important part is provide some trigger warnings:
incest, mentions of offscreen rape of supporting characters, implied attempted rape, blackmail, homophobia including homophobic violence, unsafe sex, bullying, and tbh I'm not quite sure how to put this one but a sister actively shipping her own brother with a guy he hates. I have likely missed even more because this show drove me to befriend the skip button.

This show is hard to rate because the main pairing is so sweet and earnest, they eventually figure out how to best communicate when they're upset, they support each other as friends and as partners, and they're overall one of the most compelling onscreen Thai BL couples from this era. And yet. And yet. This show insists on splitting the focus across at least five or six couples, and every single side pairing is awful. Truly awful.

My best recommendation is to scrub through each episode; if you don't see Perth and/or Saint in a scene, don't bother. Their story is the only worthwhile part of this series.

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shame about all the side stories

The main storyline is beautiful but all of the side stories are unnecessary, and I found myself skipping through so many of them.

Pete and Ae are such green flags and so sweet together, so I think it's a shame that time was wasted on a lot of weird and often problematic side stories, and they didn't get as good an ending as they deserved.

Can and Tin's story was the only enjoyable B plot for me, and if they'd paced it throughout the whole season rather than shove it all at the end, their story could've been developed more and it wouldn't need to be dragged over to a second season.

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7 stars for 2 only stars

Yet another show that I kept hearing so much about but it didn't live up to my expectations. Except for the main couple - which would've been an easy 10 if they were the only couple on the show (maybe ft Pond & Cha-aim) - this series was a hot mess.

Let's stay with the main stars for a bit longer: Ae and Pete were great. So good they made me rewatch the show so that I could spend more time with them. They had their ups and downs but they solved every problem almost immediately, in a mature way, with communication. I think that's what I loved the most about them - how open and honest they were with each other. Given that this was their first real relationship they've done a better job than some married couples. And what more - they were extremely cute together. Saint and Perth really took their job seriously and portrayed those two characters perfectly. I was kicking my feet and giggling like a teen girl whenever they were experiencing any kind of their "first" together, starting with something so simple as a bike ride. If this series was purely about them, it would be 10/10.

As for the other couples... Let's go in order of how much I was bothered by them.

Pond & Cha-aim were probably the only other couple I had no issues with. They were cute, funny, maybe deserved a little bit more screen time. I'd really love more depth to Pond than just being a P addict, which we could see a little bit here and there, but I feel like he was there mostly as a comedic relief.

Tin & Can... had potential, but their story could've been written much better. I know the second season focuses on them (and I do plan to watch it) but I doubt they'll do better than in the first season. I must admit I had no interest in them watching LBC the first time so I was a bit bothered when they were stealing screen time from the main couple in the last couple of episodes, but the second time around I became more invested. Sadly, both times I failed to find a good reason why Can would fall for Tin other than feeling sorry for him and his family issues. In the beginning, Tin is nothing but an arrogant asshole and even later he keeps playing with Can instead of trying to keep him by his side (to help him.. whatever Can is helping him with). I also failed to spot a moment when exactly Tin changed his mind about Can (or poorer people in general) and that's why I just couldn't understand why they even keep talking to each other or hanging out. They weren't even friends to begin with, why would Can waste time on someone who has been nothing but an ass to him? Also, Tin forcing himself on Pete made me a bit uncomfy, ngl.

Tum & Tar.. I still don't know what to think about these two. I wasn't a fan of them in TharnType and am not a fan of them here, too. I know they're step bros and we can't really control who we fall in love with... But it's still a pretty uncomfortable relationship to watch if you ask me. Not even talking about how poorly sexual assault is handled in this whole fictional universe.

And lastly, talking about assault... What the heck was Kengkla and Techno? Who thought this was ok? Who thought this was fun, romantic, or whatever? At first I found it cute and amusing how Kla is using Technic to get a shot with his brother, but it started to get weirder and weirder. Who tf ruins someone's motorcycle just so they could play a hero and give their crush a ride? Who tf keeps checking on when a grown ass man comes home just so they could talk - or sleep - with them? Pick up your balls from the ground and go ask him out if you're interested in him. And wtf happened in the last episode...? Not only you rape someone but you also accuse THE VICTIM of the same thing and then ask them if they'll date you? I seriously wanna know what drugs the writer of that scene was on because what in the world was that?!

Anyways...
Watch this show for Ae and Pete. They're worth it. Ignore the rest, forget some scenes happened. That's what I'm trying to do.

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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.

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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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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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