Love Sea

Hurt/Comfort BL

An all-round well done series, it is enjoyable and an easy watch. Acting, plot and directing are all decent and worthwhile.

It had the potential to be one of my top series of 2024, but in the end got a 8/10 overall rating. It is definitivly a great watch and re-watch value for those warm and fussy feelings that I sometimes crave. And it doesnt hurt that the main and support characters look good too, a well casted lineup. Plot could have been a little more developed in my opinion, with a tad more fleshed out storylines in couple of the episodes.

The start is particularly strong and ep 1-4 are my personal favourites. The chemistry between Fort and Peat really shines. Then we get into the more drama packed plots of the series that gives you the feels before it rounds off with the romances.

Fort and Peat has great chemistry and they manage to bounce energy off eachother so that it translates through the screen and to the viewers. The acting of the GL couple is also good, but Mame should probably put a little more effort in writing more well-developed female characters.

You should definitivly give it a shot, and I bet its even better now that its finished so you can binge it :)

Read More

Pretty nice to kill the time

I'll start first by saying that I watched this after Love in the air, which I hated, and that I'm pretty new to thai BLs.
I liked it overall and was surprised in a good way by many aspects, first because I've disliked almost all the thai BLs i've watched so far and second because it was written by Mame which, even if I'm still new, I have already identified as being a red flag itself. There is a looot to say so I guess I'm just going to list all the things I liked and disliked.

What I liked:
-Mahasamut. He was sweet, determined, a bit naive but not stupid, sensitive and overall his characterization made sense. I liked how he gave his all for Tongrak while staying human and getting actually hurt and angry with him. So many dramas (not just thai but japanese and Korean too) have completely unrealistic love interests who stay put whatever happens to them, but Mahasamut actually breaks down when he gets rejected and resents Tongrak. The scene where he cries in front of Meena and her mom is my favorite.
-The side characters. Almost none of them were ignored or felt out of place. Meena was very well written and the actress did an amazing job, Vie was a great best friend and her storyline was also interesting, Tongrak's father was a very good villain because he used manipulation rather than actual violence which is pretty realistic when it comes to family relationships, his mom, although never seen on screen, was always omnipresent which kept her mysterious while very important and I enjoyed this choice of the director. Also a big plus which you might undersand if you watch a lot of Thai BL: WOMEN. I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate how most of the Bls i've watched act as if women don't exist. I don't need them to be the center of attention, they're not the reason I watch BLs, but still I find it so ridiculous how writers go out of their way to have close to 0 female character appear on screen. Here, there's not only a lesbian couple, but all the women have a significant role.
-The scenario ovreall was pretty nice. It wasn't revolutionary, it lacked a few things that I'm gonna develop more below, but most of it had an easy and enjoyable flow that kept me hooked all the way to the end.
-I feel like the main couple had more chemistry than in LITA. The se*ual tension between the two was on point, and there were many moments where I found their proximity endearing, such as when Tongrak hugs Mut after he got beaten up, or the few times they cuddle in bed.
-No communication problem. Loved it. I hate when miscommunication is the center of the issue.

Now onto what I didn't like:
-Tongrak. Basically Sky 2.0, I know everyone is saying this but it's true. Except that Sky had that sassy attitude which I liked a lot. Rak is just a spoiled brat. Also, his characterization was all over the place. From the beginning, even on the Island, he keeps contradicting himself. He is introduced as this bratty rich guy who wants to hate Mut just because, but the second Mut gets close to him he flirts back, then he has this lovey dovey moment where he wants to stay with Mut but when they go to Bangkok he's back to pretending he doesn't care about him, etc.... He had a few badass moments (with Prin in the vip room for example) which were nice, but otherwise he's just a big baby and even if his trauma made sense, it felt too close to Sky's so nothing too exciting. Also a small detail that doesn't even matter but still: They keep saying how he has so much booze and keeps drinking. Never saw him drunk or even just drink once. Rookie writer mistake of telling but not showing.
-Mahasamut being pictured as the ultimate island lover, then going to Bangkok and never mention it again, not even showing once a bit of homesickness, then go back and all the sudden he cannot live without his island.
-Vie and Mook's relationship getting mostly skipped over. At some point Mook is desperate and completly avoiding Vie, then next thing you know they're dating. And that was in the special episode, in the official ending we never hear from their relationship again. I would have loved to see how they got close again, to see Mook finally accept that Vie is not just playing with her, to have Vie appologize and explain that she treated Mook badly just cuz she thought it was the only way to keep her close. And they were pictured as the second couple, not just some random side characters, so that was pretty disappointing.
-I swear to god all these guys had to do was call the police on the father, it was so frustrating to see everything go down without them even mentionning it once (actually they did mention it once, but it was after everything was over already)

As a last point, because we cannot escape it when talking about Mame's stories, let's talk about the toxicity.
Some people seem to think that it was super toxic. I don't share this opinion, and I'm not saying that just because there were no sexual assault like in other dramas, but because everyone stays in control all the time. Yes, paying for someone's company and treating them like a toy is pretty toxic. But Mahasamut is not in a weak position, he is never cornered, he knows exactly what he wants and has willingly signed the contract. Same for Tongrak, he can back up from the contract whenever he wants, and even if Mahasamut is very assertive most of the time, the few times where he actually is serious about needing space, Mut respects it.
What I find the most toxic in a lot of dramas is how one of the main (usually the Top/ more masculine figure) is always in control of everything. It'd be too long to explain but I'm sure some people know what I'm talking about. Here, it's not the case. Mahasamut is just some simple guy who goes along with the situation, and Tongrak tries to be in control but in the end they're always on the same level. So for me, it was not toxic, and that's very refreshing. Still, I found it weird how everyone (Rak, his mother, Connor, Prin) had a relationship with someone they initially paid for. Not sure that paying for love is such a common thing in Thailand, yet they treated it as if it was super normal.

I'll finish by saying that I was surprised that most people didn't like this drama, cuz out of all the thai dramas I've watched this is the only one I would recommend to someone even if it was not perfect. I'll keep watching new ones in hope to find gold.

Read More

Surprising tearjerker

I don’t submit reviews often and this is only the 2nd Thai BL I’ve written about. I think Love Sea deserves a watch. I found it a very pleasant watch and in fact, have rewatched it a number of times. The male actors totally carried the drama but I think the women did a good job as well. Initially, I found the assistant Mook very annoying and whiny. She became tolerable towards the end. With Vivi, one would wonder who would chase after someone by giving them more work and inconveniences? But she sees clearly what Mahasamut meant to Tongrak from the start and was pivotal in talking sense into a stubborn Tongrak at the end. So the ladies were important to the story but it didn’t require them to be a couple, in my humble opinion. My favorite character must be Mahasamut. He is so sweet and endearing. I really enjoyed the scenes on the island when he was teasing Tongrak. I was moved to tears when his love confession was met with rejection and again when he learned from Kwan the significance behind the number 8 for Tongrak. I love Meena, Tongrak’s niece. The actress who played her did a fantastic job. Island scenes were a refreshing change. Story has a happy ending. Appreciate the Special Episode.

Read More

LOVESEA? MORE LIKE LOVESNOOZE, TBH.

Listen, FortPeat is my ultimate ride-or-die duo. Like, Love in the Air? ICONIC. The drama, the pain, the absolute fireworks. So naturally, when I heard they’d be serving us main couple realness in LoveSea, I was like, “YES, FINALLY, RAIN ON ME.” Instead, I got a drizzle. A freaking drizzle, girl.

---

CHARACTERS THAT DESERVED BETTER:
Tongrak (Peat) is supposed to be that cold, sassy, sleeps-around-for-inspiration baddie, and while he’s giving sass, he’s also giving... confusion? Like, what’s the deal with his backstory? One second, he’s in the city. Next, he’s on an island trying to vibe and write his novel. Where’s the “how” and “why”? And don’t even get me started on his first meeting with Mahasamut. The build-up? Non-existent. BLINK, and they’re already bickering.

Mahasamut (Fort) is another story. He’s supposed to be laid-back and charming (with a bite, we love a man who bites), but he feels like Prapai’s low-energy cousin. Fort’s acting skills are wasted on this basic enemies-to-lovers trope. GIVE HIM SOMETHING JUICY. GIVE HIM COMPLEXITY. WE KNOW HE CAN HANDLE IT.

---

THE SIDE PAIRING THAT SHOULD’VE BEEN A BACKGROUND EXTRA:
Vivi and Khaimuk. Sigh. Okay, I’m all for girlxgirl pairings when they’re done right ( Last Twilight, I SEE YOU). But ViviKhaimuk? It’s a big fat no for me. Vivi is borderline obsessive, and Khaimuk is just… there. The whole dynamic screams cringe, with cutesy PDA overload and zero storyline. Like, sis, we deserve better lesbian rep than this.

---

A PLOT THAT GOT LOST AT SEA:
The concept had potential: hot enemies-to-lovers on a tropical island? YES, PLEASE. But the execution? A mess. Mahasamut’s whole mission to make Tongrak fall in love with him was cute in theory, but the lack of depth killed it. The trauma? Unfolded in the most lazy, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it way possible. I wanted tension. I wanted heartbreak. Instead, I got half-baked drama and a sprinkle of spice to keep me awake.

And let’s talk about the spicy scenes. They’re good, don’t get me wrong, but compared to Love in the Air? Meh. I wanted hurricanes, not soft drizzle kisses and awkward pauses. GIVE ME PASSION.

---

REDEEMING QUALITIES (AKA WHAT SAVED THIS TRAINWRECK):
The OST is fire. Period. It’s giving tropical beach vibes and made me want to book a one-way ticket to Krabi. And the acting? Fort and Peat carried this series on their backs. Even with a subpar script, they gave it their all. We don’t deserve them, honestly.

---

FINAL THOUGHTS:
This series is like that one friend who shows up late to the party and doesn’t bring any snacks. You love them, but you’re also annoyed. FortPeat deserved a better plot and better characters because their talent is TOO GOOD for this basic fluff.

8.5/10. The .5 is for Fort’s jawline and Peat’s sass. Will I rewatch? Probably not. Will I still ride or die for FortPeat? Always. But MeMindY, girl, we need to talk. Do better. 💀

Read More

An Emotional Romance with a Beautiful Casting

This series is exceptional, surprisingly. I was not expecting it to affect me as deeply as it did, but one had to frankly get through a lot of cacophony to get to the story. But once you did, and evaluated that, it was much deeper than most viewers, I think, realized. It honestly left me emotionally drained. This series, I felt.

It starts out as your typical Thai BL series with a character who seems superficial, spoiled pampered, and arrogant with a ginormous ego. A successful and well-off writer, Tongrak [Rak] (Peat Wasuthorn), seemingly coming to a remote island to clear his head, acts pensive and appears obviously troubled. Good-looking to be sure, but aloof and evidently wants to be left alone. The person who is paid to take care of him while on the island is Mahasamut [Mut] (Fort Thitipong), a bit of a celebrity on the island. He is dropped-dead gorgeous himself and plays with Rak like he is playing a musical instrument. In other words, he is unimpressed with Rak’s status and money. Throughout their stormy exchanges, Mut develops strong feelings for Rak. Rak pretends desperately not to be enamored with Mut but becomes captivated by Mut’s sincerity and utter charm. It does not take long for sparks to fly and fly they do.

Read the complete article here-

https://the-bl-xpress.com/2024/08/29/love-sea-series-review-ep-1-to-10/

Read More

Simple yet kept me hooked

The story is very simple and linear, with little to no plot twists. It is more of a character driven story. I was quite skeptical about watching it based on the reviews in MDL but decided to give it a shot. I enjoyed watching it. It is a show that will give you butterfly in the stomach. A perfect show to just relax and enjoy. That's it.
The improvement in FortPeat's acting is worth mentioning. Fort as Mahasamut showcased his emotions so well compared to Fort as Prapai. Peat has been great always but he made me forget Sky completely with his turnover and made Tongrak a real person. I was watching the behind the scenes and kudos to the team for all the under water scenes they did. FortPeat did all the scenes by themselves and that alone made me love every scenes.
The character development in this story was good but it never felt like the highlight, which in my opinion should have been the case. Worth mentioning, Tongrak's character was very relatable to me, as someone who has went through something similar. His author self and the words that he spoke about being an author, as an author myself I could relate to them well.
The cinematography is beautiful. I loved all the scenes around the sea. I am glad I gave it a try.

Read More

Uninteresting and undecided

This BL lacks basically everything a BL should – at least for me – have: an engaging story, relatable and/or interesting characters, decent performances and chemistry between the main couple.
The story doesn’t have to be painfully plausible nor super realistic, it can contain a reasonable number of plot holes etc. etc. – but it has to be engaging, it needs to pull me in. The “Love Sea” story (there was one, you can take my word for that), was so uninteresting that I had to force myself to follow it. I also got the feeling that MAME couldn’t decide whether to focus on the relationship of Tongrak and Mahasamut or their personal issues (like self-doubt, trauma or inability to connect) or something else. The result, predictably, was poor: a story about a little of everything – eventually a story about nothing in particular. It was so unengaging that I couldn’t care less about its development or the characters involved.
Since I mentioned characters: I try to set the bar low – don’t be annoying, have something I will like you for and let me understand where you come from. Again, this was where “Love Sea” blew it, mainly because both main characters as well as the secondary couple are annoying like hell. This stems from both the script as well as from performances of Fort, Peat, Chanya and Aya (and Forth). Redeeming qualities? Hardly any and – in any case – far too few to balance it out. Sure, the story tried to explain why the characters are so unlikeable, but – at least for me – it didn’t change anything, I didn’t have a single “oh, now I get why X is like this – I’m gonna like X from now on” moment. If anything, I liked the characters even less.
I was wondering whether “Love Sea” would be any different – better perhaps – with a different cast. I still do not know that; what I know for a fact is that this cast made it worse. I used to think – having watched “Love In The Air” – that Fort and Peat had a decent chemistry; now I doubt that. There’s no chemistry between them here and the script is not helping it either; both Fort and Peat have exactly two poses each (Fort: smug and fake-caring; Peat: smug and whiny) and they switch between them, trying to produce something interesting – to no avail.

Read More

Meh

Rated= 3~ 13/50 ~ 2.6
RPG Scene // Goblin's Swamp with only a rusty dagger. Forget it. Just Run.

I was swinging between boredom and wondering if this slightly racist.

Wealthy 'pale' Bangkok writer is tricked into going to a southern island as inspiration for his novel and conveniently doesn't believe in love because of family trauma, but continues to try and convince himself that the islander he's sleeping with is just a sugar baby.

The first 3 episodes reminded me of those tacky holiday romance novels I used to read as a teen and think that's what romance was. Then by ep 4 we switch to a contractual agreement because Rak doesn't believe in love, despite agreeing to stay on the island previously. There's also a lesbian side plot trying to happen but the assistant is just too much of a nerve grating character for me to feel anything for. The whole 'he needs to be tested for std's but I shouldn't be hearing about my boss sex life' may have made me wince like I had stubbed a toe.

Half way through 5 I realised that I don't care about any of the characters and I just wanted to join in on the chat in the BL thread.

Meh. I'll move on. It's not my kind of plot and none of the characters are appealing.

Read More

why finish? it didn't impress me past the first few episodes

this series unfortunately fell into a ditch after leaving the island. at least on the island, there was actual desire, exploration, and character development. Rak actually opened his heart to not only the island, but the people in it. it wasn't the best change-of-heart moment, but at least it was something.

the second these characters get to the city - i have no idea what i'm supposed to think. Rak puts an agreement forbidding love - sure...?
Mahasamut states his undying love for Rak - okay...?so, what's the agreement for then?

i had really high hopes for this couple from love in the air. i was obsessed with it, and when i saw the trailer for this series drop, i was pretty stoked.

unfortunately, good acting can't outshine a bad plot, and even in this case, Rak as a character just annoyed the shit out of me. he's super cold-hearted, but he's warming up to Mahasamut! oh wait, but now Rak won't talk to him... but then they have sex! now they're inseparable!

they portray the addiction of sex and the desire to be lusted after really poorly. i understand Rak's upbringing was bad, but i don't actually understand why he falls into the exact same trap, and the series never tries to explain it.

also, what even was the side couple? the impression that Vivi's flirting is explicit to Muk was really poor, and suddenly, after bullying the shit out of her, Vivi assumes they can live happily ever after. it was forced, and i never actually found myself rooting for them.

if this series was entirely set up around the island, i think i could get behind it. i continued my high hopes for a while, until i couldn't even stand to finish
it. unfortunately, nothing is motivating me to go back, and i definitely won't anytime soon.

Read More

Disappointed

Honestly I'm disappointed but not shocked, I didn't love the "Love In The Air" plot, honestly I never understood the hype for it, yes the NC scenes were good for both "Love In The Air" and "Love Sea" but both also lack plot imo, "Love In The Air" has a bit of a better plot than this one but God this one got boring fast, it took me a while to finish and honestly I just couldn't go through with it all and skipped the last 2 episodes and the special episode, all seemed boring as hell. After episode 1-2 everything goes downhill, I hate when characters have these backstories that are so annoying and the story just never goes well with it, it was just so so so so so so boring. The NC can't save this one. I'm rating it a 7 cause honestly even after episode 2 I was kind of hooked with the idea we would get something from the WLW story, but even that one was boring and weird. Also the quality was good, and other aspects of it were good so I'll make my rating higher but if it was just according to the plot, I would rate this a solid 6-6.5. Hoping for better, shorter BL series from them in the future.

Read More

10/10 for the couple!

Oh my god, Tongrak Mahasamut is my new favorite couple now! Their chemistry is so chemistry-ing, I love them from the moment they meet! I really love the island episodes until they change to BKK.

What I don't like:

- The family drama is unnecessarily dramatic. It feels like watching Lakorn when I'm here for the BOYS LOVE part, literally
- Side GL storyline is quite frustrating to watch as it's wishy washy
- I mainly skipped those parts above

What I like

-Couple chemistry, island setting, and ending

I love how they make a reference of meaning of number 0f 8 towards the end. Boy, I didn't expect it to get emotional but it's so beautifully touching towards the end.

While it's dramatic, but at least the situation is resolved. I like how Tongrak actually sees how he has been deceived by his father and he reunited with his mother- putting a solution to the messy family dynamic. This is important, otherwise we just end up with dramatic show for sake of drama.

While the couple story doesn't start as what most would call "healthy", it definitely ends up healthy which is again, important point. In fact, Rak story is very relatable and common IRL- people who shut down their heart but Mame did beautiful job in breaking down why and putting a solution to it. Very well done in wrapping up all these- probably one of her best story- I can see the storyline matures too

What I super like

The super touching and beautiful last episode as well as all our NC scenes!

Our boys KNOW how to kiss and eat each other up. One of the best NC in BLs- one that's hot yet you can feel the love- I love it. It's not a trashy kind of NC, it's just 2 men truly loving and going crazy over each other

I'm gonna miss the couple already!!!

Read More