Love in the Air (2022)

Soaring High with Some Turbulence

"Love in the Air" hit the Thai BL series scene in 2022, bringing with it a whirlwind of emotions, drama, and romance. The series started strong, captivating me within the first few minutes with a clear time jump that set the stage for the story to unfold.

One of the most commendable aspects was the natural and affirming approach to LGBTQ+ representation. Ple's outright statement that "being gay is not a bad thing" was a significant moment, and the inclusion of bisexual characters added a layer of much-needed representation. The thrill of street racing injected an adrenaline rush into the narrative, while the NSFW scenes, particularly between Rain and Phayu, were handled with a finesse that was both realistic and respectful to the story.

The tender, sweet moments of care between the characters provided a heartwarming balance to the more intense scenes. It was refreshing to see university students depicted as genuinely engrossed in their schoolwork and assignments, adding realism to their lives. Sky's initial sass was a delight, offering a sharp contrast to his later development.

However, the series hit some turbulence that could not be overlooked. The decision to separate the narratives of the two couples was a gamble that didn't pay off for me. The second half of the series lost momentum, and I found my attention waning.

Furthermore, the handling of serious topics within the series was troubling. There's a fine line between portraying reality and glorifying poor behavior, and "Love in the Air" often crossed it. This was particularly evident in the writing, where serious issues were sometimes treated with a concerning lightness that failed to do them justice.

As for the acting, the cast brought commendable performances, especially considering this was a debut role for many. They rose to the occasion, bringing depth and charisma to their characters. The duo of #BossNoeul & #FortPeat stood out, and I genuinely hope to see their talents blossom across a variety of genres in the future.

In conclusion, "Love in the Air" was a series that soared in many respects but encountered some avoidable rough patches. With its heart in the right place, the series offered moments that were genuinely touching and engaging. Here's to the continued growth of the cast and the evolution of Thai BL storytelling.

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The perfect amount of everything!

The drama really had a bit of everything. Be it action, romance, intimacy, conflict - it was really well designed! I also found the actors super authentic and it was just fun to watch them. I also found the story itself really exciting and it's definitely a drama that I'll watch again sometime. Above all, I found the story of Sky really touching. It's the way Prapai is gentle and patient with Sky, who has had such extremely traumatizing experiences. Especially at the moment when he finally figured it all out. It was emotional and touching and made them my favorite couple.

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2 main couple story done right.

i usually watch dramas when it's ongoing and if I feel like I would not finish the drama it either be dropped and forgotten or put on hold for the longest time until I feel like watching it again. this drama is the 2nd one and I'm glad I did.

story/plot flow- lets put aside the fact that mame was the writer for the novel version. (i think we all know what sh*t she's been doing and have done) story wise, the scriptwriters did so well to mellow out any red flag scenes that it was bearable. (tbh you can skip those scenes if you really hate it). i loved how they did the 2 main stories in one drama, the 2 cps had enough screen time to fully develop whatever they needed to develop (romance-wise) this was the only drama that i didn't have to ask any screen time about the second cp. they served and served well at that. no draggy scenes that felt unnecessary tbh which i liked. its compact but it wont make you feel less.

acting/production- technical stuff first, since this one is not that much, scenes were translated quite okay with the lighting and framing, not the best but like i always say, its watchable, but the sounds. omfg. the unnecessary sounds from the mic that was in their bodies omg-- it was a distraction. (but it was fun to do some guess where the hell they put the lapel mics lmao also this issue with the sounds goes with a lot of other bl dramas that I've watched lmao so this is not even new but i think someone needs to point it out)

- so for the acting, for th dramas I'm not as picky as i am like i am with cdrama or kdrama and fully knowing that 3 of the main casts are new or just debuted i wont really nitpick. yes there were scenes that felt like they could have done more but again i won't take it against them, they will improve (probably) on their 2nd drama. my faves out of the 4 would be peat and noeul, them as rain and sky was a treat.

this isn't everyone's cup of tea and i get that but for me it was a fun drama to watch and i maybe biased but the 2 parallel arcs for the 2 cps made me love this. the 2nd cp wasn't thrown out for them to only progress on the last 2 eps they established both the story arcs that it somehow covered some lacking points of the whole show.

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Averagely acted and directed addictive BL story with weather metaphors and steamy scenes

A BL series showcasing 2 duo of characters who are playing cat and mouse with each other, with a lot of chasing around, some angst and pining for. The first half of the show focus mainly on one couple while the second half centers around the second relationship. I found this narrative choice a bit odd and I think both storylines would have benefited to be spread and mixed together all along the drama rather than having such a big separation.

There was some noticeable issues with the sound in a lot of scenes. Most of the sound effect, ambiance and background noises were done quite clumsily: for example, when some characters were speaking on the phone you could hear that the text was being read post production and set too loud, and the mix between some background noise and the music was most of the time super awkward.

The acting was quite average and unequal with a main cast made of inexperienced actors. There were not all at the same level and depending on the scenes they had to play were rather able to convey in a suitable manner the emotions they were portraying (especially the more playful and sexy ones). However, there was also quite a bit of overacting and some of the most angsty and traumatic scenes felt a bit flat to me.

Despite this, it was still a thoroughly fun and enjoyable watch with some really steamy moments that give you all the feels. There were a lot of cute interactions between the protagonists and the story was pretty addictive to follow. The episodes were overall well-paced (with the exception of the ending which felt a bit rushed given what the characters had to deal with). Even if they were a bit on the nose, I also highly appreciated the weather metaphors highlighting the various stages of the romance all along the episodes.

I would recommend this to people looking for some steamy story with a lot of chasing around, who do not mind some all over-the-top elements and that are not triggered by scenes portraying rape and abusive relationship.

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Not worth all the hype ?

I didn't really understand the rave about this show! Was it all the nc scenes ?? Some scenes made me cringe tbh. Imo Sky/Pai story started not as a one night stand, it was more of a blackmail sort of thing and made me really uncomfortable at the beginning due to the fact that Sky already had a history of emotional/physical abuse by his previous partner!
On the other hand, Rain/Payu story was much more fun to watch. Sometimes I laughed Sometimes I cringed so bad ?. The monologue, for example, that Payu had after Rain bruised his lip, could've been had internally instead of externally! I mean who would stand outside a room on an empty hallway talking to themselves like that ?.
Overall, I gave the show 6.5 just because I had a good laugh and some scenes may have given me butterflies ? ☺️ ? also the soundtrack was amazing.

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I liked it!

Just me not loving this drama! The audio is horrible which to be be honest tends to be a theme in Thai BL but I'm here to gush about Payu and Rain. Don't get me wrong, Sky and Prapai are a much more healthier and balanced dynamic and their story was lit but I was expecting that. What I didn't expect was to like Rain and P'payu's story so much, their arc is so stereotypical BL manga I'm surprised I binged through the whole thing.
I HATE clichés and I admit I had very little hope when I started the series yet the producers managed to give me a story I didn't hate with that overdone trope and I actually fell in love with them. I like a bit of psycho with my MLs, enough to give him edge but not too much that he winds up in red flag valley...and Payu fit that bill...Rain...my poor baby...was sold and helped the villain count the money.
The antagonist arcs were rushed and didn't feel like part of the story, they are like 1D caricatures that seems to have very little character and just exist to bring the leads together...that was disappointing...I don't even know what was happening with the PayuRain antagonist...

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Best R-rated content with no toxicity

By toxicity I mean sexualized rape and abuse but Payu and Prapai, even though they were portrayed as playboys, they both turned into amazing boyfriends who take care of their loved ones better than anyone. I really enjoyed the story and the development between the characters. Rain became more responsible with his life and well mannered. Just the stupidity didn't leave him. ?
Payu became much less aggressive, more calm and very caring. Hubby material.
Prapai became faithful to one person and learnt to treat his lover with respect and stayed by his side in his darkest times. I really loved how he stayed with Sky all day and night when he was seriously sick from overworking himself. The worry in his eyes was everything and gosh his smile.
Sky learnt to trust people again and learnt to love. He became my favorite character with his dark story he was able to hide with his smile and overworking himself but it hurt him. He needed someone to start new story with so he can stop thinking about his trauma. I don't know if he ever visited therapist and was taking pills but it hurt me every time seeing him suffering in his own dreams. It kept hunting him for so long and there's no way he can ever forget about something like this.

All I wanted was worse ending for Gun because in the end he got the same punishment as Stop but it's completely incomparable. Stop kidnapped Rain and was threatening Payu with hurting Rain but in the it were just words and all he did was give Payu few hits till Chai came for him. While Gun... physically and mentally abused Sky for a long time and when he got bored he really.... I don't even want to mention it but it made me so freaking angry like how can you give him to your friends for rape?? And when he was finally happy with Pai, it made him want to rape him again and brainwash him about Pai hating him like wtf??? How can someone have this kind of mindset??? He reminds me of those psycho murderers who became legend for their craziness

Overall, I really enjoyed those love stories and they made it well with dividing their parts. Not like UWMA and Between Us which should be in my opinion mixed together.

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Falta de sentido

Y sí, muchas veces no encontré sentido en la historia. Con esto no me estoy refiriendo a las dos partes sino a la primera. Que quede claro que no quiero decir que sea mala.
La primera vez, al verla en emisión y tal puede que no te des cuenta de la falta de coherencia en muchas ocasiones pero al volver a verla lo haces. Por lo menos yo.
Muchas, muuchass veces parecía el desarroyo de las historias de wattpad cursis que no tienen sentido, pero la actuación de Noeul hace que sea más graciosa, sin duda para mi el mejor personaje el suyo, el de Rain. No por que fuese la mejor actuación sino porque me ayudó a ver la serie con más diversión y facilidad.

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didnt take me by storm but still good-ish

LITA was i think only the 2nd BL drama i watched and i honestly did not know what i was starting. It is...a hot mess!
Also, I don't have a problem with NC scenes, but idk some hint, a warning that this is a highly spicy series would've been nice because I went into this blind. probably because back then i didnt know who mame was yet but whoo boy!!!

Onto the real review:
LITA consists of 2 stories part one is rainxphayu and part 2 is skyxprapai.
I prefer skyxprapai because i feel like the characters had a lot more depth and realness to them and i enjoyed skyxprapai acting a lot more too. i also think that sky as a standalone character has much more charm than rain as a standalone character!
however the whole stuff about sky's backstory ;-; how tf is prapai going to help him, this man needs therapy!!!

rainxphayu was ok the first time i watched it, but the second time around it just fell flat and became boring and repetitive to me with a weird kidnapping episode which was wasted time they could've used to flesh out phayu and rain as ACTUAL people. why tf did phayu fall in love after seeing rain one (1) time? and then he pursued him weirdly but then again, prapai also had a whole non-con/dub con relationship with sky sooooooo...they're not really prime examples of best boyfriends/best men on earth.

anyways, the NC scenes are choreographed with great detail and are very very steamy which does distract from the sometimes subpar acting.

i actually did enjoy the music! i thought the lyrics were quite clever and i just enjoyed that it changed for when skyxprapai story was happening.

one thing i would change is the editing. the motor race scene from the beginning was shown wayyyy too often in the series, like at least 4 times. it became boring and unnecessary but i guess they spend a lot of money on those scenes?
all in all, not a bad series, don't use it as a moral compas, and just enjoy the hot mess of a ride it is!

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