Love Storm (2022)

MAME delivers a fantastic first half and a troubling second half revolving yet again around assault

It wouldn't be a MAME series without sexual harassment or assault, and isn't that an absolutely terrible line to write. It's at the point now where you have to consider that she is using her writing to gain catharsis for herself or someone she knows, having incredibly intimate knowledge and insisting on having it feature prominently in her work - to the detriment and discomfort of those watching her art when it is inevitably handled poorly.

Love In The Air, at a glance, is an interesting concept - two main couples splitting the series in half to dedicate equal airtime and development for their stories, each half based on books by MAME, a prolific Thai writer and CEO of Me Mind Y, a production company famous for adaptions of her works TharnType and Don't Say No. The first 7 episodes cover Love Storm, revolving around first year architecture student Rain, a 19-year-old who is incredibly headstrong, naïve and determined. His car breaks down on the road one stormy evening and he chances an encounter with 20-something Phayu (Thai for 'Storm'), a famous graduate architect from the same university, co-owner of a mechanic workshop with his twin brother Saifah, and personal mechanic to gangster P'Pakin. The last 6 episodes cover Love Sky, which follows Sky, Rain's best friend and fellow architecture student, and Prapai (Thai for 'Wind'), best friend to Phayu, business executive, and skilled motorbike racer. The show explores the development of their relationships and the tribulations each couple go through. Their stories interweave at times, but mostly each half focus on the couple, with little interference from the supporting cast.

PRO's:
- Rain and Phayu's story is a sweet and relatively non-turbulent view into two young men establishing a romantic relationship. As a result, it has been viewed as boring by some fans, because of the lack of drama or 'interesting' elements to their story. Getting into the relationship sees MAME's touch come out, with a slightly consent-dubious scene in the first episode, but Rain and Phayu come together quickly and the rest of the season is spent developing their romance. Their communication and care for each other once established is absolutely breathtaking, setting the standard (in this very narrow lens) for what a good couple looks like
- The NC scenes are absolutely the best I've seen in any series, BL or otherwise. MAME is without a doubt the best at casting some of the best couples, and teasing out the kind of emotional and sexual connection some people can only dream of. Boss and Noeul's scenes will become part of BL history, and Fort and Peat do an excellent job as well, going all in and convincing the viewers that they are physically and emotionally invested in their roles
- The length of each arc suited their stories, and it didn't feel like it dragged or had unnecessary filler at any point
- The soundtrack is excellent, with several songs becoming part of my regular playlist rotation, and the cast can all sing and have 3 songs featured in the story that they all are involved in
- The directing and cinematography was outstanding, with beautiful scenes, fantastic location shots, and working the rain and storms perfectly into the story development; the interweaving of weather reports a great touch as well
- There's nary a guitar to be seen; however there is a kitchen serenade if that's a hard no for you, but Boss Chaikamon can sing very well, and Noeul plays a lovestruck Rain listening to his boyfriend with the right balance of entrancement and 'blushing'
- Peat's acting as Sky. He is given an incredibly tough story to pull off, especially as a rookie actor, and he portrays a broken young man incredibly well, who has worked hard to compartmentalise his trauma and push forward with his life. Fort's acting as Prapai is also good, for the youngest of the cast, and although it shows in some parts, his age serves him the ability to throw himself into his role, with a cheeky smile and charisma that oozes from every pore
- Me Mind Y provides a great amount of behind the scenes footage, releasing after each episode on their Youtube, and they also had the cast sit down for Reaction videos of each episode, several uploaded on iQiyi uncut showing longer reactions to the NC scenes
- Product placement is minimal and to be honest, I can't even recall any of it, so if there is any, it was done very low key and unnoticeable
- MAME is excellent at certain themes, such as bisexuality (non-existent in most other BL's, either being gay or the 'just gay for you' trope), protection (condoms), and supportive family units

CON's:
- Consent is a major issue that hits both couples, much more heavily on the Love Sky arc than the Love Storm, but is present none the less. The first episode sees Phayu misreading Rain's intentions and somewhat forcing himself on Rain, which continues into the second episode, but he does back off at several firm 'no's, so there's that at least. There's also an element of situational manipulation revealed at the end, but Rain seems somewhat alright about it when it's admitted to him. However, the consent issues are so much worse in Love Sky. Sky has undergone intense trauma from an ex-boyfriend, and is very reluctant to open himself up to Prapai, fearing another abusive partner. As a result, his boundaries are consistently blasted through by Prapai, who is a "good guy" and "not the same"-- in some instances I can get behind that, but other ones just had me shaking my head and disengaging from this pair more and more. I don't want to get into specifics, again for the root cause of ruining their half of the story, but be aware if you go into this arc that you will see some situations that will make you uncomfortable, but are painted in a rosy lens by MAME and her directing team, explained away as Sky needing to experience a healthy and loving relationship, of which Prapai can and will provide
- Sky's trauma and story is handled relatively poorly, mostly around Prapai's interactions with him. It's obvious that Sky is not ready for love, and if she was insistent on pushing the narrative, having him as a friend first that blossomed into love under Sky's direction could have seen this go much more positively
- It was nice having each half of the season dedicated to each couple, but I think I would've liked their stories being told together, like it is in a lot of other series. I struggled a lot once Rain and Phayu's story was over, especially since I was seeing situations I didn't like with Sky and Prapai, to stay engaged. I found myself skipping scenes and speeding past parts. Perhaps if the sweetness of Rain and Phayu was being told together with the darkness of Sky and Prapai, it maybe might have been easier to digest
- There is a lot of 'wifey' language with Rain and Phayu once they're established, so if that bothers you, be aware - but this is typical of Thai BL and doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon

Overall, I found myself absolutely exhausted by episode 11 with Sky and Prapai, and my experience watching the Love Sky arc was markedly different than the Love Storm one. Rewatchability and the story's rating is based primarily off Love Storm, and BossNoeul's electric chemistry and undeniable connection carried the show as a whole, with the couple comfortable with each other in appearances, interviews and engagements. I found Peat excellent as Sky, but his storyline was too sad and too filled with MAME's heavy hand and consent issues for me to properly enjoy. I also struggled with Peat and Fort's off-screen connection, seemingly improving the further into their half of the season it progressed, but definitely adding to my inability to truly 'get behind' this couple and their story.

I would recommend to definitely watch Love Storm; if viewers felt they could handle the subject matter of Love Sky, to proceed with knowledge of what was coming.

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