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AbsoluteBL

chronic traveller

AbsoluteBL

chronic traveller
La Cuisine thai drama review
Completed
La Cuisine
7 people found this review helpful
by AbsoluteBL
Jun 4, 2022
13 of 13 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 8.0

crush, campus star, bully trigger, best boys, soft & sweet

Look, I am trash for trash, but this was less trashy than most Thai BL pulps. University set about a popular architecture student who is a picky eater and the food science major who has a crush on him and uses food to court him. I COULD NOT ASK FOR MORE. Basically it gave me reason, and room, to breathe by being exactly what I want from a Thai BL with no attempt to be anything else.

I adored the taste-then-cook competition opener. The chef teacher is queer, not just visually but linguistically. Do I spot an actual butch character in a BL? YES! Meanwhile, the seme love interest, P’Ram, is a rich campus moon but also a genuinely nice guy with 2 hot besties. So, sure, we are in hella familiar y-novel territory. But if I were into BL for novelty of it, I wouldn’t be into BL. The older architecture phis with their colorless lives coming up with tricky ways to keep meeting up with the bright sparkly queer food service kids is the CUTEST flipping thing. It’s like watching two friendship groups falling in love with each other.

What is unique about this one is that this pulp has unexpectedly high production values and good quality cast, sound, & wardrobe. Even the het couple is cute. Love the pink hair! What a surprise gem. This season’s Nitiman with a better ending.

Chup being bullied is so sad. But Ram’s “my good boy” is the best, because it’s so true. Honestly, these two are just about the marshmallow fluffy sweetest softest little snookums. I like the external bullying as a narrative pressure, although I wish it hadn’t been combined with the faen fatale. I wish this show had just taken shipping culture to task.

I enjoyed La Cusiine but it is awful slow. Thank goodness GaGa has 1.5x speed option. It also takes the faen fatale archetype to the next level of extreme evil. Everyone got a cute couple ending, even characters I didn’t really recognize, couldn’t remember, or showed no chemistry. But hey, shrug. Also, Sky & Phai = unexpectedly great kiss.

Why did we not get their thread (and Kitty’s for that matter) throughout the show? It would’ve helped with the pacing a lot. (Honestly, these two actors probably should’ve played the leads, IMHO).

In the end, a sweet and kind of pure show, and like Thai desserts perhaps requires too much patience for a layperson. Because of the pacing and the focus on the bad girl character, I did dock it. But if you like stuff in the Oxygen vein, then this show is for you, and far better than most Thai BL pulps. That said, I suspect that I enjoyed it more than many would.
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