The main couple here is Pete and Ae. One day when Pete is being harassed by another boy, Ae comes to his rescue. Over time, Ae looks out for Pete and protects him from the world. Somewhere between their intense closeness and shared soft touches, Ae develops feelings for Pete that go beyond friendship. Similarly, Pete falls deeper and deeper in love with the kind-hearted boy on the bike, who once hit him purely by chance. There are a couple of other subplots that don't bring much to the story; they're also given minimal development when compared to the central couple's. We have another rich boy Tin who wants to date Pete but somehow falls for Can, a normal boy who is just so simple and not very smart. We have Tum and Tar (whom I had first met in TharnType show) and we see a few more scenes of their Brotherly love. We have Ae's best friend Pond and his girlfriend and finally another random couple, who also features on poster but adds absolutely nothing to the show.
The series, as you can expect is predictable and generic, something that you have come to figure out if you have seen a few Thai BL shows by now. The lead couple is always the focus and there are a couple of other subplots that don't bring much to the story; they're also given minimal development when compared to the central couple's. The leads story is romantic yet very gentle because the two boys meet very unexpectedly. Pete and Ae are two very different personalities, social status and different colleges even, but their journey of love is very convincing. Pete is emotional, protected boy in a rich family; while Ae is always direct and to the point. He doesn't assume things. Interestingly, it's Ae's crass, porn-addicted roommate Pond who make Ae and Pete towards accepting their love for each other and even consummate their love. With his help, Ae and Pete realize that first love can be beautiful and romantic, but it works even better with open and honest communication. I can't remember of any other Thai BL show where there ws more than enough focus on in fact having sex between the couple. Most times, my complain was always that the couple barely kissing each other and always playing coy. But here, for a change, they talk about sex, preparing themselves and enjoying the action and wanting to do again. That was quite refreshing. Once the boys are together, they fall even deeper in love with each other, simply by being honest and happy together exactly as they are. But after a while it gets repetitive. Some forced drama gets into the picture when a girl starts liking Ae and Pete's rich friend Tin wanting to date him for no reason whatsoever. Luckily the couple talk all out. Actors playing these roles suit their part. Ae was brilliant. Pete was too shy and coy and many times I just wanted him to speak faster and shake him up. Ain't no body got time for him to take forever to finish his thoughts. But they are cute together.
Tum and Tar's story line is grossly underdeveloped, which I also saw in TharnType. I am not sure which of these shows came first. But that storyline felt very forced. Even of you remove all their scenes, it will have absolutely no impact on this show. Tin and Can are still better developed and in fact I enjoyed that. But it was odd that once their love story sort of started, the makers almost forgot that Pete and Ae still exist. They were completely sidelined. My favorite, to my own surprise was Ae's friend Pond, the mischievous, porn addicted guy. He was fun and most real in my opinion. He's given an endearing hetero subplot with beautiful, intelligent student. He is annoying initially but eventually is given a nice character arc becoming a decent personality beyond the clichés. The show was quite alright with some decent acting overall. Had I seen the show when it came out, I may have rated it much higher. The problem is now that I have been exposed to some much nicer BL shows from all over Asia, by expectations have sort of gone up (which is unfair, but..)' so I am going to be slightly more judgemental. By the way, someone needs to rethink the whole background music in these shows. It's soooo bad. (6/10)
Comments
First Ae/Pete. They defy the BL tropes as when they meet they like each other from the start, it isn't dragged out, everything happens quickly, it’s built and above all else there aren't any stupid classic drama misunderstandings for any unnecessary fall out. No toxic ex, no evil rival lover, no constant crying. Ae & Pete never hurt each other, they talk, they stay together and it feels so so good. We even get great skinship between the two, and yes they like it, like a real gay couple woohoo! Just like you Golu I wanted to shake Pete at first haha. But he graduately grows stronger and I liked that developement. And for a change in the BL world, he is out from the start. Ae is luminous from beginning to end.
Then we have my personal favourite Tin/Can. Can simple minded and straight forward attitude made me laugh so much. Ice Tin slowly melting got me to melt as well (sorry maybe that was more in season 2 but I’ll still put it here). The end was quite unexpected for those two but calls for a very welcome season 2.
Mischievous Pond was probably the best typical funny type support character I’ve seen so far. And the build up of his relationship was adorable.
Tum/Tar and Kengla/Techno were just awful (incest and rape, yay!) but thankfully they didn’t get too much screen time. Too bad they didn't keep actors from tharntype (altough I have to admit Type replacement was hot as hell, and I'm a big fan of the original Type).
If you can, go watch reminders right away. It’s not good per se, but seeing LBC characters with switched personalities was soooo fun to watch.
And if you ever watch season 2, do yourself a favor and skip episodes 2 to 6. They are just an (bad) re told of Tin/Can beginning story. Eventualy watch ep.1 to spot the small differences. At ep. 7 you will get exacly from where you left at the end of season 1 without losing anything trust me. That’s what I did, and enjoyed season even better than the first one (because Tin/Can are so good). After that I rewatched the whole season and was happy I skipped the first episodes the first time.
That's it, just writing this review brought a big smile on my face :-)
Thank you for the tip on season 2. I will keep this in my mind. Tin/Can ending in season 1 was very weird, but now after your comments, I am looking forward for season 2.
Are you going to consider reviewing shows like The Untamed and Guardian? China has censored BL content but they are getting very popular, currently Word of Honor is all the rage.
Sooooo biased, LOL again!!!
I will not throw stones, I am equally biased when it comes to my favorites.
LBC fails to be as good as major shows like 2gether, dark blue kiss, why r u or Tharntype, it is cute and fluffy but lacks of intensity.
Season 2 was no better, Can is unbearable and his acting is strictly the same all along.
Too bad when it had very good actors (Perth, Saint, Mean) but even the sum of their talent could not make up for the desperately poor writing.
No offense to anyone, I absolutely loved My Day which is in all points worse, but too many good shows litteraly overshadowed LBC since then. Not to mention the feud between managers that led to an insolvable conflict between the main actors, hence Saint's absence in Season 2.
Newcomers to the BL world should definitely give it a try while more demanding viewers might end up disappointed.
@Edward, I have not heard of either of the three shows that you have mentioned. are those BL shows? AFAIK, china really censors BL stuff. The only show I have on my list to watch at some point from China is 'Addicted' as of now.
However there’s one thing I have to respectfully disagree. I think I liked LBC precisely because I had seen many other BL now and this one is free of many of the usual easy drama cliches. There is no waiting episode 100 before a kiss (hello sotus, 2moons, my engineer…), that is when there actually is a kiss (hello 2gether and chinese ones), no « once we kissed I’m still in denial or confused at best» (hello so many BL), no « let’s break up because I think you’re cheating but let’s not talk about it that way it can last more episodes » (hello dark blue kiss, tharntype S2), no evil ex trying to break the relationship etc… Doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy watching all the others (I mean, if you watch BL it’s also because you want the drama lol), but the simpleness here is what I liked the most. No punch in the gut, but a constant happy feeling for me.
But you're so right, most of these shows are unnecessarily stretched. I am sorry I teased you this way, I just wanted to see how you'd react, even if I meant absolutely everything I wrote.
And I am very happy to hear you had a constant happy feeling, because this is exactely what we are all looking for. BL shows do that better than any other kind of content.
This is what makes us a community, and in the end, Friends.
I'll take your offer for a job at GMMTV. Can I be in charge of the casting? In the shirtless division please. Thank you ;p