Love by Chance Season 2: A Chance to Love (2020)

What were they even thinking?

I was reflecting whether I should write this review as many fans might find it insulting, but screw it!

To summarise in two words: AWFUL SEASON. Now let me elaborate more.

Legit I do not understand how they decided to go on with this season. Numerous of people had to agree to the final approach for this season plot. I wanna know who in the world agreed to have 6 recap episodes for the first season in a 13 episodes series. Why? Are we, the fans, a joke to them? We did not watch the new season to remind us what happened in the first season. We can rewatch it if we want to remember what happened.

I do not understand how MAME agreed to this approach and the changes in the story. For example, in this season Pete already left from Bangkok and left Ae behind, but at the same time Tin and Can have not met each other. WHAT? I am trying to watch a bl series not to understand the end of Inception. I do realise that there were not able to work with Saint due to previous drama between them, but dude you can not defy the laws of time in the series. If you can not work with Saint, then we do not need scenes with Ae being shitty and drunk, in a series that focuses in TinCan. I feel that they just had Perth in the series for the fans!

Instead, of giving Perth that much of a screen time, they could focus more on KlaNo. LIKE DUDE IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO USE THIS COUPLE DO NOT MENTION IT FROM THE BEGINNING. I felt that this couple was used as an intermission and as a chance to change the mood from Ae's and TinCan's story. Moreover, the couple had approximately 20 minutes screen time in total, and for some reason No was getting softer for Kla in every episode. WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THE LAWS OF TIME? YOU CANT DO WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH THEM. Tbh, I don't like how KlaNo's relationship began in the novel, but you have to show more of what Kla did to win No over. You can't show two scenes were Kla gives No snacks and expect us to believe that this shit is ok.

This leads to my next point. ENOUGH WITH THE PRODUCT PLACEMENTS! I know that you have to find sponsors to produce a series, but there were many scenes that only existed for product placement and had nothing to do with the plot. You could use them in a more discreet way rather than showing Kla giving No those snacks and him eating them. I do not know how the rest of the viewers feel about product placement, but when I see a product being placed in this straightforward way, I usually hate the product.

Now moving on with the acting. Was it bad? Yes! I really enjoyed Mean's acting in the first season, but thanks to the plot changes I felt that what I was watching was not Tin but someone else! You can not have an actor establish a role's character in the series and the next season make him change that. As for Plan, well he was cute in the first season but he was must softer in this season. I repeat: IF YOU WANTED TO USE THE SAME CHARACTERS YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE CHANGED THEIR BACKGROUND! Now as for Perth, I felt that in the first season he was amazing (taking into account his young age), but in this season he was acting bratty and as an asshole. I know that this is how Ae behaved in the novel, but at some point I grew tired of watching the same scene over and over again. So, for the last 4 episodes I always skipped Ae's scenes. You are sad about Pete leaving you. WE GET IT! NOW GET OVER IT AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE WORLD HAS SERIOUS PROBLEMS! However, I feel that Gun's acting has improved. In LBC he was awkward and had no flow what so ever, while in this season he was still awkward but at least not that much. As for Mark's acting, I thought that he was the best actor in LBC, but I can not compare with this season as HE APPEARED ONLY 4 MINUTES IN TOTAL!

To summarise, I feel that MAME and the producers created this season just to make us shut up! They had 2 years to prepare for this series but in the end we got something awful. Tbh, after finishing this season I hoped that we did not get this season at all. For some reason, I believe that MAME and the rest of the team, bet everything in TharnType and in order to please us for TinCan, they just wrote the script in two days with no revision and gave it to the cast a day before filming.

I think that the wisest thing to do is to always ask a fan's opinion prior the decision of a script approach and production. I know that they might worry for any plot leak if they share their ideas with fans; however, they could find someone to trust from the fanbase and let the fan help them with continuous feedback. I feel that if that was done then we wouldnt get 6 recap episodes and the plot would be more fast paced!

P.S. STOP INTRODUCING TOO MANY NEW CHARACTERS IN NEW SEASONS!
I DONT HAVE THE TIME TO INVEST IN THEM AND KNOW THEM BETTER. I WOULD PROBABLY END UP HATING THEM!

That's it! A chance to love was shitty. Change my mind!

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Well, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Unfortunately there are two: 1) the re-telling of Tin&Can story with mixed up timelines, and 2) the chemistry between Tin&Can. Well, the re-telling was an odd choice. I’m not bothered by it, but other people are. I have seen many loosing interest in this series because of that reason (and also because Saint isn’t part of the cast). Starting from zero with Tin&Can while showing us Ae crying through 3 whole episodes makes no sense. It’s not like they tried to reboot everything and make a stand-alone series. Also they wasted 6 episodes with the re-telling without providing something new and exciting. Some of the scenes they had to re-act were not as iconic as the original ones. I liked some of the new scenes, but they didn’t change the story at all. It just feels unnecessary. The characters changed a tiny little bit with Tin being more soft and vulnerable and less arrogant and dangerous looking (which also seem to disappoint many) and Can being a bit softer and more mature. But yeah, not a big difference. It's not like in DBK where they changed Kao's character so much he was unrecognizable (I'm still salty about that). So let’s move on to the second elephant: The chemistry between Tin&Can. I thought the chemistry was so great (much better than in s1) and that's why I looked up the actors (what I rarely do). I was surprised to see how close they are in real life. They seem to have personalities that resonate well together and that explains the great chemistry. But this chemistry vanishes completely when they have to kiss. You can feel through the screen how much Plan hates it, and that makes me sad. It’s not like I get some homophobic vibes from him. I highly doubt Plan would do any better in those scenes with a woman. I have seen him kissing a girl in another series (if you can call that a kiss) and it was even worse. He did well in the famous couch kiss at the end of s1, so I really don’t know what’s the issue suddenly. Maybe they shouldn’t cast two guys who are good friends? Watching them kiss makes me rather uncomfortable. Sometimes I prefer to look away, which shouldn’t be the case. It’s not their fault if their „couple“ becomes so popular, but perhaps they should just stop doing those roles when they don’t feel like it. I highly doubt they are so poor that they need the money. That said, I think the director’s decision plays a role too. Kisses were purposely not shown. They didn’t even kiss when they had sex. That’s a first, really. I’m pretty sure I have never seen a bed scene without a kiss. Enough negativity. Despite Plan being the mood killer I have to compliment him for his acting. He has to play the ugly, stupid monkey which isn’t easy and requires some courage. In fact I have never seen a similar character in any other BL series. He is not just there to look handsome, he has to be lively, crazy, cute, funny, sex-hungry (lol). It’s not an easy role and he does a good job. I’m really into the character when he appears on the screen. But yeah, at the end of the day the whole series feels so uninspired. I feel awkward watching it. I giggle like a little girl (like I never did before, I will admit it), I laugh, I shake my head, I feel embarrassed (really embarrassed like I never did before either watching any other BL), I have to look away, I hold my breath – it’s a whole EXPERIENCE. And then I’m sad, because it could be so much better and I know they messed it up. I wish they had done a better job (better writing, better intimate scenes) and I wish more people would love it. I didn't even mention the other couples, because I feel it's a waste of time. They don't have enough screen time, aren't very exciting or they are just toxic. Tin's background story and the issues with his brother aren't well told or well presented. I'm just not a fan of the writer. If not for Mean&Plan who are very charming, I highly doubt I would bother watching this.
EDIT: Since this series ended I have a strange feeling in my gut. For whatever reason I don't want to think about this series anymore (and I will not rewatch it). Hearing about questionable behavior of the cast towards the only gay character in the show (Earth) isn't helping either. This really was a train wreck.

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