La Pluie (2023)

It was an all-time favorite... till it wasn't. Enough holes to swallow me up.

La Pluie started out on a fast track to being an all-time favorite of mine. It started out so strong. The aesthetic and cinematography of it all caught my attention before a word was even spoken. Then we got that gorgeous monologue overtop Tai riding the bus in the rain. We're told immediately what kind of fantasy world we're getting into. A world where people believe in and even trust in soulmates - because on your 20th birthday, people with rain-affiliated hearing loss can hear another person, and only that person, so long as both of them are in rain at the same time.

An interesting premise. Made all that more interesting by the fact that our main character is stubbornly refusing to acknowledge his soulmate. And that his parents are divorced, despite being soulmates themselves. It had all this set up to create a memorable message about not putting all your faith in destiny, that relationships take a lot more than love to make work. A message that they did exceedingly well throughout.

I fell in love with our 2 main leads immediately. And was giddy when ever they were on the screen together - with all the adorable awkwardness of getting to know and getting comfortable with each other. They were respectful, fun, and very cute together. They both had insecurities stemming from their pasts, as well as all the miscommunication/misunderstanding trappings that a new relationship and those insecurities are prone to. In theory, this all fit who the characters were. Tai, who learned from a young age that talking before things are resolved doesn't do anything. Who prefers to solve things on his own. Patt, who reached out for love and acceptance, and got shot down with silence instead - making him wonder if he's worthy of the love and acceptance he sought out. But when push came to shove, when it was time for the writers to deliver, it felt out-of-character. In one singular fell swoop, it undid all of the progress, development, and communication the leads had had prior.

The major support characters were also so fun. Tien was an adorkable brat and fantastic (and accurate) little brother to Tai. I wish we got more background to why he was so pettily antagonistic to Lomfon in the beginning, but by the end I was solidly sold on the Tien and Lomfon couple. They were equally as adorable as Tai x Patt when they let themselves relax, and they had the benefit of similar interests and passions to keep them talking, even when they clashed.

We even got a lesbian couple! One that felt pretty natural, even though they had very little screen time. But I am a little bit salty that the other pair of girls, who got quite a bit of screen time, did not become a couple. In fact, they gave one of them a HEA with a character we never even saw or heard about! Even if they didn't put Bow in the lesbian couple they seemed to had been hinting at, they could've ended her story in a different way that didn't feel as out-of-left-field. Even just her flirting with a coworker or thirsting after guys as usual. In a story where we literally get told that love can come in several forms, it felt artificial.

But the thing that really put a sour taste in my mouth and changed my overall view of the story isn't any of the above oversights and pacing changes. It's not even about the fact that it started feeling like a different screenwriter took over in those last few episodes. But rather the fact that we have several plot holes.

In episode 1, minute 1 of this drama, we get told how this world works:
- Certain people have a form of hearing loss where they can't hear anything when it rains (as suggested by the fact that everyone knew Tai had hearing loss already before the rain on his 20th birthday, and that he apparently never heard the sound of rain before).
- These people with hearing loss start to hear their soulmate on their first rain after turning 20 years old.
- That hearing loss is irreversible.
- That everyone is only able to hear 1 person

But suddenly, Lomfon spontaneously develops hearing loss. Spontaneously, Lomfon can hear Tai. And Patt. And Patt and Tai can hear him. No where near a birthday that we know of either. Oh, and spontaneously, you can just yell to the universe that you don't want the soulmate bond, and suddenly you won't have it anymore.

Absolutely none of this is questioned. None of this is explained. None of this is even pondered. In fact, in the last few minutes of the drama, we quite literally get told that it doesn't matter. "In the end, the hearing-loss and soulmate stuff are still questions that no one has an answer to. Rather, no one chooses to find an answer anymore." That love is all that matters.

I'm sorry. I'm all for making us and the characters question how the world works, but you don't get to just set rules for the world, break them, and expect us to be content because everyone gets a happy ending. That's not how worldbuilding and writing works.

And the fact that technically, Tien and Lomfon don't have a happy ending yet. Because, what do you know? Tien suddenly, spontaneously develops hearing loss and a soulmate bond too! And not on a birthday!

There's also a few smaller plot holes. Such as how Patt knew where to go to see Tai - when that was not Tai's usual café. And no one knew Patt was going there/went. Also, Patt apparently has had a long-time desire to resign and open up a vet clinic in rural Thailand? That definitely wasn't set up in the story. But the reason for it's existence was apparent: gotta have a good ol' ill-placed and ill-timed tourism ad for that final episode.

I love these characters. Some I loved almost immediately. Some, grew on me as their characters shown more depth in the story. And I loved that this drama didn't go the typical "villain" route, even while it did go the typical "misunderstanding" route. For probably 75% of it's runtime, this drama was a favorite. I was in a rush to get through the week to see the next episode. I scoured every corner of the internet for fanfictions and fan-edits of this story or similar premises. And I still highly recommend it. But I don't know what happened in those last few episodes. The writing went downhill along with the plot conflict's impact on the happiness of our leads. It stopped being thought out, and it shows. But can a terrific start truly make up for a lackluster ending?

Read More

I really enjoyed this series. The cast is simply adorable. I have loved Title ever since TharnType 2 and Saur since You're My Sky. While I didn't really recognize he rest of the cast, they did a fantastic job in conveying their emotions and rounding out the characters. The storyline was definitely unique and interesting, and the screen writers did a great job keeping things moving in a timely manner. The music was okay, but maybe a little old fashioned for me personally. I really enjoyed the scenery and all the different parts of Thailand they helped us explore. While the makeup did get a little heavy handed a few times, it wasn't so overly done that it took away from anything. All in all, well done.

Read More

Lost Then Regained Interest Towards the End

Ok I have a lot to say lmao. Firstly, I want to say compared to some of the other recently released Thai BL's, I think this one is one of the better ones I've seen. With that being said, this series was a good at first but I then slowly started to lose interested towards the middle and then regained interest towards the end of the series. Let me explain.
Ok, so I think the plot was very original. I don't think I've seen another BL series with a similar plot. But I think about 4-6 episodes in I noticed the main characters are literally self-sabotaging to the point where it's kind of ridiculous. For example, with Lomfon and Saengtien, Lomfon continuously goes after Saengtai when quite literally everybody else in the series is telling him not to. Also, I think Saengtai also self-sabotaged because there's no way he couldn't tell Lomfon liked him. Even when Beau told him that Lomfon liked him he completely disregarded her observation. I think Phat self-sabotaged in the end because instead of listening to Dream he ran away from his problems.
Also, the lack of communication in this series is actually wild. None of the main couples in this series know how to actually communicate, from Phat and Saengtai, Lomfon and Saengthian, to the parents.
Overall, though I did find the lack of communication and the constant self-sabotaging slightly annoying, this series actually wasn't that bad and there were a lot more good scenes than bad ones.

Read More

Incredibly impressive with tiny misses

I went into this drama knowing nothing about it and expecting nothing - and I was very quickly drawn in! The acting and visuals and wardrobe hardly ever miss, and even the stock footage is gorgeous. The music is CONSTANTLY on point! The plot has a very interesting premise and I liked the way the show handled and presented its message (discussion more below). At a few moments the show loses its pacing which ends up hurting the overall vibe somewhat, but the acting really makes up for it. All in all, I wish there had either been 1-2 more episodes, or some of the drama around episode 8-9 would have been tightened up. A huge plus are the kissing scenes: always nicely sexually charged, always erotic and romantic. It gets a little spicy at times in a very tasteful way! Pee and Title are both super handsome, and Suar's character was my favorite all around.

My biggest compaint: not enough scenes of Tai and Patts getting to know each other, growing closer and more comfortable. We weren't /shown/ enough of them falling in love, more so told. I think that Pee and Title have great chemistry but we just didn't get to see enough of it. And the fact that the final episode barely had any scenes of the two of them together...an abomination. It hurt my overall enjoyment of the show, they deserved better. Still, I'll be rewatching...This show is dear to me and I loved it. I'm super excited to see all the actors in other things!

Read More

So happy to watch this. Interesting plot that in my opinion done right. Haha... Read the review, read the comments not everyone think good about this drama. Especially for the last couple episodes.... Yeah I agreed, some last episodes kinda stupid & rushed, but for me that's not enough to condemn the whole drama for it. Haha... Let me explained

I most agreed with lurkingshan writing. Yeah this not casual, fluff romance like any other simple story about soul mates or romance. This have more deeper meaning to the story. This drama actually kinda rebuked the concept of soul mates & that's what I love about this drama.

For some of us soul mates mean the perfect fit, it's like a perfect pair of gloves, but this drama talked about relationships not only need love, but also communication & how to put some efforts in your relationships. Like Saengtai's parents, they're the soul mates, but decided to separated cause life happen & they in the end have different focus & goal in life. And that's OK, that's just life. No matter how fit our soul mates with us, sometimes we find out that we actually have different set of goal. What I regret is just Saengtai's parents not really explained to Saengtai about it until much later, which for me already too late & damaging Saengtai's view of love & relationship.

What the rushed...? How to 'ruin' the relationship between Saengtai & Phat. Yeah the explosion of Phat's anger toward Lomfon is really out of character. If Phat & Saengtai haven't really settled their relationship it more make sense, cause Phat feel insecure about their relationship. But this happen after Phat & Saengtai already in the relationship, so no matter how insecure Phat, he's not supposed to exploded like that. Phat from the beginning is the mature one in their relationship, so he supposedly can hold his emotions & talk like grown man, not just burst his emotion out like that.

I agree with Pinoy Ares, the writer better spend the rest of duration by give us more explanation about the soul mate connection than just give us the bullshit about the explosion of Phat's emotions & their break up.

Overall this really one interesting concept of soul mate that's quite different from the others

Below is SPOILER ALERT!!! Read it with ur own risk.












==================================================
SPOILER ALERT!!!
==================================================

One thing that's pissed me off the most is the very last scene. What's the heck is that....??? How can they give us the open ending like this.......!!!! Hope we get second season about Lomfon & Saengthian.

Read More

This could be a 10 but..

This is the first BL series that is almost my first 10/10 BL series ever. I watched more than 150 BL series so far and I still couldn't find my 10/10. I met La Pluie when it came out and I felt my connection to it. It's consistently a 10/10 from every episode until it reached the episode where the hearing loss of the main leads was suddenly cured without proper explanation. All stories have been closed and entered a new beginning at the final episode except that one plot hole. How the hell was the hearing loss cured? Was it because of the third-party? Was it because they were close to each other when it was raining?

Other than that, I love most of the things they gave to us. I love their solid characters. I like Tien's character the most. I like Tien-Lomfon relationship. I love how Tai realized his actions were the same as what her mother did when she and his ex-husband divorced. I really appreciate the detailed characters. There are no wasted characters. The OST is so good. Every time it was played as background music during an emotional scene, I got teary eyes. Well, the whole Episode 12 did make me cry.

Thank you to all who made this happen.

THIS IS MY TOP BL SO FAR. We may have different tastes but for me, this is the series that I would love to recommend to everyone.

I LOVE THIS!

Read More

One of my favorites!

This has got to be in my top list. The story was so interesting and full of suspense and mystery. It kept me watching episodes back to back. The idea of sudden hearing loss when it rains is fascinating. And to be able to only hear your soulmate.

I thought all the actors did a fantastic job. Of course, I loved both leads but Tien stole my heart. What a cute guy. I just loved his acting… his facial expressions and his playfulness were so well done.

Warning: I was not prepared for the huge twist at the end of episode 8. Wow.

I will definitely watch this again.

Read More

The rainverse

The best thing about this show that i felt was really that everyone felt like a main character to me , pat tai lom and tian all owned the story equally , no body felt a little left out anywhere and the most imp thing about how they interpreted the way love works regardless of the unrealistic storyline , basically they made us beilve that soulmate is a person who is there for u in any case senario even if u don't have a hearing lose , it's simply a person who is your safe zone I loved how every up and down of there life were connected And it's you who makes love looks difficult it can be easy too indeed .
One more lesson learnt of communication don't fuck up things in anger THE MOST IMP
IF U FUVK THINGS UP THEN UNFUCK IT I will really miss these characters i am not even kidding, i can talk about them soo much

Read More

I like the concept. I love Title But I Just Can't

Title is a great actor which is why I even devoted a moment of my time on this show. But he's not the only great one on this show. Pee is a marvel and a stunning young man. And of course there is Suar from You're My Sky is fantastic.

However, I have to drop this series because the Motive Village Trash is stinking up the place. Yes, the screenwriter is that arrogant piece of bleep that wrote that piece of bleep called 2 Moons The Ambassador and there is another piece of bleep from the above mentioned series that plays PingPong so I would rather not continue.

I wish the absolute best for Title in this series but as much as I would love to watch him blow everyone away with his talent I can't knowingly support a series written by Fluke. I really just don't like him.
But I wish those who do choose to watch a great time. But I'm gonna have to pass.

Read More

Surprisingly really good!

I didn't quite expect it (mostly because of the 7.4 rating that is not THAT good when we consider that a lot of shitty shows are overrating on this website) but I found myself really liking this series.

The story is quite original - losing the hearing when it rains - and, even though, I wasn't really convinced of the you-can-only-hear-and-talk-to-your-soulmate-when-it-rains thing when it first appeared, I quickly forgot about how weird that was and went on with the show.

I also really loved the maturity of the characters. Although the actors are young, they managed to make me believe they were qualified to work in their field (especially the vets). I was especially surprised at Pee's performance. I have to admit that I wasn't very convinced with him when I saw the trailer for this series - I mean... his previous roles were in sh*tty shows like YYY and Y-Destiny in which he had the crazy/funny-type character, if I remember correctly - but he plays a complete different role in La Pluie and he is shining in it! He looks really mature which makes him ten times more handsome than in the two series that I mentioned and he really delivers. I was convinced by his performance. As for Title, I already knew he was a good actor as I watched Remember Me before.

My only complaint would be that the end was rushed. I think they had enough materials to make another episode. Especially because they wasted about 10 minutes on Tai looking for Patts in Chiangmai... They even gave us a flashback of characters that were just introduced and that we didn't care about! And that cliffhanger...! Does it mean there's going to be a second season?

Anyway, as a whole, it was a great series.

Read More