Love in the Air (2022)

they sure tried

This drama confused me so much. The opening was pretty good and quite promising, I went into watching it with a healthy dose of optimism. It appeared that it would be more mature than most Thai BL out there so I was excited.

It didn't last.

I'll list the positives first because there are some things I genuinely liked about it:
There is something quite nice about having bisexual characters who are openly bi and owning their label. I'm sick of the 'But I'm Not Gay' trope and there is very little of it here. The actors' chemistry is good and I believe that given a good production they can really shine. Sex, when consensual, is not something the top does to the bottom, but an enthusiastic and reciprocated act. And lastly I enjoyed the attempt at making the plot more than just university students catch feelings. The bike racing and the shady ties to powerful people could have been so good if the story had chosen to focus on it. (it didn't)

And now the negatives...

A lot of other reviewers have talked about the non-con aspects of the show and how creepy yet unaddressed it all is, so I will leave those out of my review. I agree with those statements and don't have much to add, but they apply to my opinion as well.

What I do want to add is just how much Rain, and to some degree Sky's personalities really took me out of it.

Rain is supposed to be 19. He acts like a child. His character goes beyond naive at times, not just someone silly or adorably dumb, but outright seems to have the comprehension abilities of an 11 year old. The only times he appears mature is during the sex scenes but is right back to wide-eyed pouty idiot the moment that's done. I couldn't bring myself to like him.

Sky on the other hand I really enjoyed in the first half of the series. He appeared driven and a little bitchy with a strong personality. I couldn't wait to see more of him. Then his half of the series rolled around and it took him two episodes to turn into a different person. I'm aware that feelings make people act different but it quickly turned into Sky Needs Help With Everything And Frets Constantly. His entire personality shifted into Prapai's Boyfriend and suddenly his self worth depended solely on that. Not to mention that in the Rain/Phayu portion of the story Sky is shown to be around their friends often while that is basically gone once the focus is on him.

Lastly, the way the story presents it Phayu and Prapai are supposed to be best friends but they barely seem to even like each other.

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Red Flags and Clichés ft. Sexiness

Love in the Air had me at attractive street racers, but it took me only two episodes to figure out everything that I needed to know about this series: it is a plotless, sometimes nonsensical string of overused clichés with some spicy non-consensual stuff on the side. What makes it more watchable than its counterparts is that its shallow essence is concealed by a shiny wrapper of high-quality cinematography, smoking hot guys, and sexy bed scenes.

PayuRain's story proves that, unlike Hollywood and the K-drama industry, the Thai BL industry has a long way to go before it gets out of its Twilight phase. A rich, cold, handsome, dangerous, smart, and well-spoken older guy falls for an awkward, naive, clumsy, unremarkable younger guy, who is – for reasons unknown – "different" from all the other people who would like to be with the hot, rich guy. Sounds familiar? I am sure that it does to everyone who has read romance bestsellers.
My thirteen-year-old self would have probably gone crazy over this story just as it went crazy over Edward Cullen and Bella Swan's, but I am not thirteen anymore, and romances like this one have become a dime a dozen since Twilight achieved its success in the 2010s. This dynamic has got old. It is high time scriptwriters realized that.

If you, like me, have noted that Edward's behavior is kind of creepy and stalkish, let me tell you: the vampire has nothing on Payu, whose actions and logic in episode one bordered on that of a rapist. Yes, I understand that the relationship between Rain and him involves dom/sub undertones, but forcing yourself on someone and excusing your actions with classical rapist phrases, such as "you approached me first" and "what you did is throw yourself on me," is a different matter. Imagine how this would have looked if Rain was a girl. I was so disturbed that from that scene on I could not see Payu as a positive character despite the fact that he got nice and romantic afterwards. If someone oversteps your boundaries once, he might do it again. Payu is a walking red flag.
I dropped his and Rain's story at episode four because, the rapeish scene aside, I also found their interactions really cringy. I felt like the only objective was to show what a hot alpha Payu is. Instead of being attracted to him, I was uncomfortable. Furthermore, I knew precisely where the story is going. It is too predictable.

I decided to give the second couple a chance because Sky is not as much of a Gary Stu as Rain. His character is actually the only likeable one. He is a kind person, a supportive friend, and he stands up for himself. This is why I believe that his story will be more interesting. However, his love interest, Prapai, is even worse than his friend Payu – at least Payu did not extort sexual favors from Rain. Episode eight, the first one dedicated to PrapaiSky, introduced a sex scene of dubious consent. You might disagree, but I do not think that there can be anything romantic about a relationship that starts with something that borders on sexual assault.
I will give the next episodes a chance, but romanticized rape is an idea that should not be made popular. If you have heard of the Overton Window, you will know why.

Edit: To call PrapaiSky's story a fanfic is to insult the well-written fanfics that I have read, so I will have to call it an unsuccessful attempt to use fanfic tropes in a "romance" full of red flags. There is no scenario in which obtaining a spare key to your crush's room without telling him and entering when you want is acceptable and romantic. Mame, if you thought that I would buy controlling stalker Prapai as a sweet, caring guy, you thought wrong.

Overall, I would say that this series is something like the college version of KinnPorsche. The actors are attractive and deliver either good or mediocre performances. The OSTs are great, but they do not always fit the mood. The bed scenes are hot. The plot is nonexistent. You might like this series a lot. You might dislike it like I did.


On a side note, I have to say that Boss deserves all the praise that he is getting and some more. It is his charisma that saves his character’s clichéd lines on many occasions. I hope that he will get to work with better scripts in the future.

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Far away from being likable and decent show

I was warned, have read many negative comments and frustrating feedback but still pushed myself to watch this show. And yes, they’re all correct. This BL is hard to be consumed when you’ve seen a lot of toxicity being romanticized in the industry. I am not surprised with the poor storyline because the writer herself was fan of turning untowards behavior as a form of profitable ideas. The characters have a good base but never given a chance for a good character development.

Totally skipped all of Phayu & Rain episodes as it has nothing new to offer, the same hate and love plot with too much cringeness. I thought that Sky & Pai screen time would save the show but it ended up with the same uninteresting plot. The traumatic events don't even give a satisfying conclusion. The acting was below average too, I hate all of the self-talking dialogues and overly-acted gestures. The only one that manages to amaze me with his acting skill is Prapai, the rest are amateurs.

The title should be Love in the RAIN instead of Air, since it's always bursting with water each episode. The sole element in this show that I approved to captivate me was the OST that has an addictive tune and vibes.

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A waste of time

I've heard a lot of good things about this series so I started watching it with a good set of mind (and it has an 8.2 mark on this site, so I really thought it would be very good). However... I don't know if it's because I'm probably older than 99% of the people that have watched this series and that my taste have changed over the years I've watched BL but... this series is not the masterpiece people are claiming to be... And I could notice it as soon as the show started!

Let's start with Payu and Rain. Rain is an annoying child... First scene we see him in, he's panicking over the fact that his tire is flat. And even though I can understand that he doesn't know how to change a tire, he really looked like a damsel in distress (especially at the arrival of his knight in shining armour, Payu...). Also, I would have understood his reaction better if he was in the middle of nowhere with no signal on his phone. Here, he was clearly on a busy road and could easily call a garage to help. Next scene, he's trying to get in the pants of his classmates (who is a girl). So... did I miss something in between?... Because we see him fawning over a guy being all giddy with excitement and then, we learn that he is a very straight guy as we can understand from his judgemental remarks about Ple's brother. I mean, don't get me wrong, I know that straight guys can find other guys handsome but... he clearly wasn't fawning over Payu as a straight guy... Also, at the dinner party, I was expecting him to dislike Payu even after he recognised him (just because Ple was talking a lot about him) but no... He went straight back to the not so straight guy fawning over him again. And I won't talk about the fact that he forgets very quickly about his crush for Ple and wants to make Payu fall in love with him just because... This plot has no bloody sense... The editing is sh*t, it goes way too fast and Rain is a child! He acts like a kid since episode 1 and doesn't improve along the way. Let's also not forget that Payu tampered Rain's car at the dinner party for him to be able to do him... What a great relationship! And people liked it?... I thought we were past those kind of plots in a BL...

About Prapai and Sky... I don't have a lot to say. Unlike a lot of people, I prefered this plot and couple to Payu and Rain's (at least, they had something to tell with Sky's past). My problem dwells more on the acting. Sometimes Sky's actor was really crying and delivering his scene, but sometimes, no tears were visible and I felt like he was just forcing himself, which was not very nice to watch. That's a shame because Sky's past is really interesting and important, but I sometimes couldn't get into it because of his acting. As for Prapai, a lot of people complained about his stalking behaviour. Well, I would say that Payu tampered Rain's car... Why forget about that and not about Prapai's behaviour?...

As a whole, I don't recommend this series. There are so many better BL elsewhere, don't waste your time watching this.

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Like Jisoo said - "Not Bad But Not Good"

I have very mixed feelings about this BL. Probably the most mixed I've ever felt for a BL series. For one, we have to consider that this is a MAME series, which is already negative, and for that alone cannot get at least a 10 out of me. But in regards to everything else, I don't know -- I'm seriously conflicted. So join me on this very bumpy roller coaster that is gonna just be me writing my real-time feelings while still trying to figure out how I'm going to rate this.

Let's Dive In.

Let's forget this is a MAME series for a second so I don't immediately decide to hate this series because of her alone lol. But if anything, I think this series leaned more in "ehh" plot-wise. I hate when a plot gets weirdly turned into some crazy out-of-the-ordinary scenario, and this series had quite a bit of those. Rain getting kidnapped, Sky walking into a set-up rape (us seeing him get raped good lord), yeah, a bunch of those scary ones. Other than that, I get lost in what the plot was supposed to be. Rich illegal street racers fall for uni students?? Yes, I think?? Nothing really happened and there wasn't any real conflict. It was really just a happens-as-we-go type of thing, which I didn't mind too much with this series. Really, the plot is what I'm least conflicted on, and more so these couples.

Payu and Rain were surprisingly pretty good. what really takes the cake are their NC scenes which are done very nicely. I don't have much to say about them, were they toxic? For sure in the beginning, but it seems to get better by the end.

Who I'm really conflicted with is Sky and Prapai. For one, Prapal coerced Sky into having sex with him. Then continues to pester Sky into dating him until Sky's forced to give in. But then he says all the right thing to Sky and becomes super soft and respectful, and you forget about all of that, but it still looms in your head like, damn, he's not a good person. Especially when Sky is being raped and when Prapai is "saving" him, he's just being forceful and mean. I think this is where I broke my, "I like you have a cupcake" with them. Outside of that, I think the actors had nice chemistry and had played out their NC scenes the best.

Actually, now that I'm writing this, I don't think I liked it all that much. Outside of the actor's chemistry, the NC scenes, Payu being shirtless, and maybe PraPai sometimes being a gentleman to Sky -- I didn't really enjoy the series. Cause if all of these things were taken out, I would've probably dropped this series by episode 2.

Rating:

Story: 5/10 - I don't know why I gave this rating either. While the plot is lacking, it's still somewhat followed this personification of weather and comparing it to their stories at the beginning of each episode, and I did appreciate that. The other two points would go to the chemistry of the couples, but outside of that, I don't really remember when the story get's "good" per see.

Acting: 8/10 - Pretty good. They know how to have chemistry with one another, which is important. Nouel needs a bit more work, and I would say the same for Fort too. Other than that, the cast was decent.

Music: 6/10 - I don't remember it, but that means it wasn't distracting.

Rewatch Value: 3/10 - it would only be to watch the NC scenes if I'm being honest.

Watch it if you want. Think less plot and more chemistry. That's what I should've done. I don't necessarily recommend it unless someone is looking for a spicy series, and then this would be my go-to.

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I definitely didn't get bored that's for sure.

Not gonna lie, I giggled when I saw the high rating for this show, if I could rate it in the negatives I would. You gotta hear me out tho, because I really want people to hear my thoughts (especially the cishet girlies that defend this show with their whole heart). This is a story written BY an mlm fetishiser FOR mlm fetishisers.

I'm going to talk about RainPayu first because I have a lot so say.
- Let me get it out of the way and just say Rain is one of the most annoying characters I have ever encountered.
- I'm appalled at how easily you guys gloss over the casual sexual assault that occurs multiple times in the first damn episode, and what repercussions does Payu get? That's right! None! In fact, he gets rewarded with a submissive bf! What a world we live in! Hahahahahahhaahahhhaaha. It makes me so frustrated that it isn't even portrayed to be SA, it's portrayed as hot and possessive and yall just eat it up.
- It is difficult to listen to any of Payu's lines, they're all so corny I had to pause every 2 minutes to recollect myself.
- The only way I can describe RainPayu's relationship is that It felt like I was watching a straight high school couple, they really said let's take a hetero couple and make one of them a man. The gays do not claim them <3
- Neither Rain nor Payu have any personality other than being down bad for each other, Rain barely even does schoolwork despite being an architecture student (which infamously has you working 25/8, you don't even have time to eat let alone bone every night).
- Any BL where one of the characters utters the word 'wife' out of their mouth instantly gets a point removed.
- The start of episode 6 was when I had to pour myself a drink to ease my suffering.
- I am baffled at how people aren't cackling throughout all of their sex scenes... To me it's so clear that they don't know how gay sex works, and don't care they just wanna appeal to a certain audience.
- They tried to force dramatic plot into it but it just didn't work, I couldn't take any of it seriously. They shouldn't have gone for the whole dark kidnapping storyline if they can't pull it off.
- I have to give it to you, the hostage picture gave me a good laugh.
- The villain guy was so one dimensional, even disney villains have more depth than he did, it felt like I was watching a parody sketch whenever he was onscreen.
- When I die and go to hell, the demons are going to strap me down and make me watch the spanking scene for all of eternity, my personal hell.

I originally dropped it after episode 6, but my friend was begging me to finish it because SkyPrapai's storyline is apparently so much better.
- Sky was the only saving grace of this show.
- Prapai lowkey unintentionally took advantage of Sky in their first meeting, but like I said, unintentionally. Great! They're already doing better than RainPayu (the bar is on the floor).
- Abow this is so hypocritical, how the hell does she have the nerve to have a character get assaulted but present it in a positive light and then in the same show have an SA sob story... I'm flabbergasted.
- There's not much to say about SkyPrapai, they don't have any of the major flaws the main couple has, the whole show should've been about them.

Overall:
- The pacing of the show is kind of unbearable, the episodes could be half as long and still have the same plot beats and nuance (not that it has nuance in the first place).
- The noise gating is really jarring at times, just overall the audio quality is disappointing (why are the kissing noises SO LOUD in the mix).
- Music is forgettable.
- Source material is written by the author of tharntype, that should've been everyone's first red flag.

"Just don't watch it if you don't like it" most of my points are not about personal preferences, they are genuine concerns I have about the perception of mlm couples and the exposure that mame keeps getting from her writing. There are so many better shows you could watch.
It's so exhausting hearing so many people defending this show, just because it's fictional doesn't mean it has no effect on real people.

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Had Potential, Bad Writing Wrecked It

LIKES:

Location shots, sets and cinematography were all good. Colour pallet was well chosen for the most part. [Wardrobe sometimes over the top in colour, but for the most part well chosen.]
Decent acting for first timers and the actors were well selected for their rolls.
A story where the leads know how to ride motorcycles. [I’m biased on this, because I ride a motorcycle too and find guys who do so, simply hot! LOL].
The actors actually open mouth kissed and not just did pecks, like in some BL shows.
I liked the chemistry of the couples, even though Rain was a little annoying.
FX: all makeup was well done (bruised knuckles, pale sickness look, etc.). Even the makeup to accentuate the mouth or eyes, was tasteful.

DISLIKES:
Production:
Background noise (rain, vehicles, etc.) was often way too loud and it was hard to hear the actors. Thankfully I read subtitles too. Pacing issues all over the place; too many moments where the actors are standing around and staring out into space, when it could’ve been used to give more depth to the story.

Writing:
Terrible writing/script. Barely any plot, stretching along a theme and then not concluding it [Payu supposed to be a badass, even says he has a devilish side, and it never appeared. Sky having trauma and it never being addressed, just glorified.] We the viewer, barely get any character (or their backstory) development and there was hardly any growth either. Also the gossiping landlady didn’t add anything to the story and was just annoying. Another thing was that Payu was supposed to be bisexual, he even says it, but this was never shown, not even as a flash back memory, so why even say it, that was plain dumb.

Directing:
Why spend so much time watching the guys stand around and stare into space, especially in the final episode! Super delayed reactions and where there should be more action, they cut it out. Is that bad editing, writing or directing or all of it? Now one seriously bad part in the directing is that both Payu and Prapai were supposed to be these awesome motorcycle riders. But neither of them would lean the motorcycle over when going into the curves, not even slightly. They shouldn’t draw attention to the riding, with zoomed out shots, if they aren’t going to show the riding properly. It made those guys look like beginners (and they probably got a ten minute tutorial on how to ride). If they wanted to make it seem like they were going fast and dipping low into the corners, without the riders doing so (or paying for stunt doubles), then zoom in at an angle so it looks as if they are leaning the bike way over.

Music:
It was okay, but often ran too long in some scenes and then you couldn’t really hear what the actors were saying.

OVERALL:
Some didn’t like the acting, but I think they did the best they could with such an under developed story and script. Also for beginner actors, the intimacy/chemistry parts were well done. I would recommend it as a good introduction to BL genre. Might just watch the kissing scenes or bits where I liked the chemistry, but wouldn’t watch the whole thing again. I hope Boss and Fort star in more romances, especially BL, but even if it’s with a girl, I’d watch them again. I also hope that in the future serious topics at least have an after message about where to get help, if something similar has happened to you. They need to be more responsible with this type of content.

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The producers had $100, some motorbikes, and a dream.

Eating a spoonful of Tabasco would have hurt less than watching this show. The producers had $100, some motorbikes, and a dream.

Love in the Air embodies the fetishizing fantasy of gay relationships. Watching it feels like seeing a poorly adapted Wattpad story written by a 12-year-old girl about Harry and Louis, starting with the need to categorize characters by their sexuality and as either “top” or “bottom.” The show is literally good looking “bottom” number 1 and 2 plus good looking “top” number 1 and 2.

The NC scene with the first main couple—in short, watching the 👹alpha male👹 force himself on the main character—was terrible. I didn’t last long, so maybe the others were better (I hope so).
Moreover, love doesn’t heal trauma; therapy and long-term personal work do.

I'm giving it a 2 instead of a 0 or 1 only because of the actors' chemistry and Fort's charm. The motorbikes were cool, too.

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Basically p*rn

Okay, first of all, if you're into the no plot, just sex; go ahead. Your decisions don't bother me. What makes me upset with his show is that none of the characters are characters!!!! My favorite thing in media, is for characters to be fleshed out. To have hopes,dreams, fears and sadness. These characters are just people having sex. I really hate the domineering man/naive submissive boy trope, because to me it just feels like sexualizations of kids. It just annoys the crap out of me, because this show is only getting good reviews from people sexualizing bl relationships! :/ I know so many great bls where the characters are themselves, THEN romantic interests. I'm just disappointed ☹️

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Great chemistry and not much else

What can I say lol, it’s a MAME drama. You get what you expect for the most part.

The story is split in two and the quality of the production pretty much tanks with the second couple. I’m not saying it was ever a high-end production, but it was passable. The second half just clearly didn’t get the time or money to be very good.
The sound editing is atrocious the entire show lol. You will hear the actors bump the mic pretty much once a scene. The phone calls have better sound quality than the live scenes, so it seems like the phone call is happening in person lol it’s kind of jarring actually.

Neither story has any plot, really. It’s lowkey soft core porn.
Frankly, just accepting that for what it is, and cutting it off at the first couple, I would have rated it a 9 or something lol. The first couple had really great chemistry, which is really all you can ask for when the story itself doesn’t have anything going on. For the most part, they aren’t especially toxic and are just two dudes in a consensual relationship.

The second couple… well. It’s implied in their first interaction that Sky has a history with being sexually abused by his partners. And I could just tell that they were not going to treat that subject matter with the care that it needs… because it’s MAME.
And, of course, I was proven correct. It’s basically treated as a plot device for their romance.
I did like Sky, before they essentially sacrifice his personality for the sake of “vulnerability”. Sky can still be strong and Independent while also working on being more vulnerable with the people he loves. But that would be too complex for this show, so he is infantilized instead.

Let’s not even talk about the shoehorned in assault scene in the last episode. Just why?

Sigh, oh well.

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NO.-

NO.- NO.- NO.-
I DON'T CARE IF IT'S FICTION, BLACKMAILING SEX IS NO, ALWAYS WILL BE NO AND FUTURE ACTIONS WILL NOT UNDO IT.
- NO.- NO.- NO.-
I cant believe I saw in a drama in 2022 the manual of "How to love your rapist".
First half barely decent I said ok let's have a try beside all the obsolete cliche of harassment, "husband-wife" etc
Second half...NO.
I can't be entertained by normalizing forced, blackmailed sex and then translate that into a twisted stockholm syndrome.
"Since he won't get out of my head, I won't let him go" says the one who forced someone to have sex with him.
How can someone read this and think "oh so cute! Keep up hunting your prey!" REALLY?!
Rape exists, blackmail exists, abuse exists but in NO WAY you can make me see them as "natural" or transforming.
NO.- NO.- NO.-

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