2
cdvmty
Mexico
This review may contain spoilers
What a waste of a second season!
Given how popular season 1 was and how much expectation there was for season 2, I'm sure this will be yet another review in the probably hundredths of reviews but here goes.
What a way to waste a second season... and I explain it in several points:
1) What was the point of re-telling the Tin-Can story? One thing that made season 1 so popular was the ending this couple got and how season 2 was going to fix it. Well, it didn't happen until episode 7. Instead, the absence of Pete made the director and writer reset Tin and Can from zero. Their personalities didn't change much from season 1 to season 2 so there was no valid point to waste 6 episodes telling me things I already saw in S1.
2) What was the point of having Ae crying around like a zombie for 3 episodes and then just post daily reports in his social media accounts for Pete to see? There was virtually no interaction with Tin and some advice to Can and the rest it was him starting into the horizon and doing nothing relevant for the plot. If you kept Perth around for S2, then give him something more interesting to do or don't have him at all.
3) What was the point of Ae's friends? Bow and Pond barely appeared in S2 and then we get glimpses of Mai (played by Krit) who I thought was an interesting character but after dragging Ae to the soccer field and yelling at him his appearances started to decrease. Sammy (who plays Bow) has been very well used in other series as a secondary character who is best friend of the lead actor (see "Until We Meet Again" for an example) and I was surprised to see Yacht (who plays Pond) having a role as Fiat's friend and trying to rape Un's character in "My Gear and Your Gown", so I know they are both able to do much more than just product placement or pat Ae's back when he cries.
4) What is going on with Plan's gestures when he is in a kissing scene? The chemistry between him and Mean has always been great and they seem more or less comfortable during all the scenes in their underwear or hugging shirtless, but when it comes to kissing, Plan is simply not comfortable at all and it shows... he never kissed Mean like he wanted it and his face was always one of worry and him wanting to hear the word "cut!" to end the scene. If he is that uncomfortable or unwilling to commit to those scenes (the way Mew and Gulf do in "Tharn-Type" or even Ali and Alec in the very cute "Boys Lockdown", for example) then change the scenes. While we all wanted them to kiss, it was a bit awkward to see those very bad kisses.
5) What was the point of the Tul-Hin saga? I think the chemistry between Meen and Est was very good (especially in the last 2 episodes when they actually had scenes together) so, there was potential to develop the story way more than what we got. We wasted time with Tul acting like a jerk towards Tin but never actually doing anything too bad to him like a true drama villain might do. Then Tul will soften up around Phupha and turn to mush when he thought about or someone mentioned Hin. I get Tul and Hin have a dominant-submissive type relationship that turns into some BDSM in the book, so that would not have been very appropriate for the TV series, but for many episodes Tul was just hating Tin, secretly hoping for Hin to come back and being a good father to Phupha. I wished they developed more of their characters instead.
6) What was the point of the Kengkla-Techno story? We know Kengkla took advantage of Techno in S1 and now tries to be forgiven by doing nice things. But the storyline gets boring and annoying quickly with Kengkla stalking Techno, giving him gifts or trying to talk to him and Techno falling into a mental battle of "oh he is so cute and I like him" vs. "he took advantage of me and he lied to me" every single time. This couple could have been avoided in my opinion to focus on the potential Tum-Keen relationship that seemed to be developing but only saw glimpses of it by the final episode.
Overall the long awaited second season ended up being quite a disappointment. I saw myself just skipping through many scenes that were so predictable and/or boring. I even preferred to watch other BL series that were far less promoted (see for example "Gaya sa Pelikula", translated as "Like in the Movies" in English or "I Told Sunset About You") but that were complete surprises by how well acted, well scripted and well planned those series were compared to the mess that "LBC 2: A Chance to Love" ended up being. I love the actors and the writer but I think this was a failure.
What a way to waste a second season... and I explain it in several points:
1) What was the point of re-telling the Tin-Can story? One thing that made season 1 so popular was the ending this couple got and how season 2 was going to fix it. Well, it didn't happen until episode 7. Instead, the absence of Pete made the director and writer reset Tin and Can from zero. Their personalities didn't change much from season 1 to season 2 so there was no valid point to waste 6 episodes telling me things I already saw in S1.
2) What was the point of having Ae crying around like a zombie for 3 episodes and then just post daily reports in his social media accounts for Pete to see? There was virtually no interaction with Tin and some advice to Can and the rest it was him starting into the horizon and doing nothing relevant for the plot. If you kept Perth around for S2, then give him something more interesting to do or don't have him at all.
3) What was the point of Ae's friends? Bow and Pond barely appeared in S2 and then we get glimpses of Mai (played by Krit) who I thought was an interesting character but after dragging Ae to the soccer field and yelling at him his appearances started to decrease. Sammy (who plays Bow) has been very well used in other series as a secondary character who is best friend of the lead actor (see "Until We Meet Again" for an example) and I was surprised to see Yacht (who plays Pond) having a role as Fiat's friend and trying to rape Un's character in "My Gear and Your Gown", so I know they are both able to do much more than just product placement or pat Ae's back when he cries.
4) What is going on with Plan's gestures when he is in a kissing scene? The chemistry between him and Mean has always been great and they seem more or less comfortable during all the scenes in their underwear or hugging shirtless, but when it comes to kissing, Plan is simply not comfortable at all and it shows... he never kissed Mean like he wanted it and his face was always one of worry and him wanting to hear the word "cut!" to end the scene. If he is that uncomfortable or unwilling to commit to those scenes (the way Mew and Gulf do in "Tharn-Type" or even Ali and Alec in the very cute "Boys Lockdown", for example) then change the scenes. While we all wanted them to kiss, it was a bit awkward to see those very bad kisses.
5) What was the point of the Tul-Hin saga? I think the chemistry between Meen and Est was very good (especially in the last 2 episodes when they actually had scenes together) so, there was potential to develop the story way more than what we got. We wasted time with Tul acting like a jerk towards Tin but never actually doing anything too bad to him like a true drama villain might do. Then Tul will soften up around Phupha and turn to mush when he thought about or someone mentioned Hin. I get Tul and Hin have a dominant-submissive type relationship that turns into some BDSM in the book, so that would not have been very appropriate for the TV series, but for many episodes Tul was just hating Tin, secretly hoping for Hin to come back and being a good father to Phupha. I wished they developed more of their characters instead.
6) What was the point of the Kengkla-Techno story? We know Kengkla took advantage of Techno in S1 and now tries to be forgiven by doing nice things. But the storyline gets boring and annoying quickly with Kengkla stalking Techno, giving him gifts or trying to talk to him and Techno falling into a mental battle of "oh he is so cute and I like him" vs. "he took advantage of me and he lied to me" every single time. This couple could have been avoided in my opinion to focus on the potential Tum-Keen relationship that seemed to be developing but only saw glimpses of it by the final episode.
Overall the long awaited second season ended up being quite a disappointment. I saw myself just skipping through many scenes that were so predictable and/or boring. I even preferred to watch other BL series that were far less promoted (see for example "Gaya sa Pelikula", translated as "Like in the Movies" in English or "I Told Sunset About You") but that were complete surprises by how well acted, well scripted and well planned those series were compared to the mess that "LBC 2: A Chance to Love" ended up being. I love the actors and the writer but I think this was a failure.
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