Love in Translation: Uncut

Destiny... or something.

Love in Translation has a lot of adorable traits to it. The two mains are very cute together and their chemistry isn't terrible, though also not the best I've seen. There was a lot of silliness, which I enjoyed, and for a large part there was a light-hearted nature. The two start off on the wrong foot, find common ground, and then one is star-obsessed while the other develops a crush. It's sweet and endearing.

Where the drama lost me was in the last couple episodes. I have a huge pet peeve for drama being thrown in just for the sake of having some kind of stressor in the storyline. I wish that they had just let this be a cute, fluff piece instead of adding in that extra layer -- which I say add in, but it didn't actually add anything. It felt silly, but not in the sweet way.

I would watch the actors again, but the drama is one I feel like I'll forget within a matter of days or weeks, unfortunately. Sweet, but forgettable.

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The chemistry between two MLs are very cute!

After quitting BL dramas for years, I was drawn back by OuRoad's chemistry, which I find them really cute together, so I decided to give their first drama a try.

At first, I found some scenes a bit cringe, especially how Phumjai obsessively fanboys over P'Tammy in front of his parents like that?? I felt second-hand embarrassed😔 Aside from that, the story was cute and had a good pace in the beginning. But sadly, the ending felt kind of rushed to me. Like, how can you just solve everything in one episode? And how did they manage to gather 5 million baht in just three months from a minimart? That felt way too easy and unrealistic.

Some plot points also lacked depth in storytelling and character development. For example, why is Phojai constantly checking up on his brother? Doesn’t he have a job or something? He even goes to help at Phumjai’s minimart — it was a bit much. I totally understand that Phojai was worrying about his brother's life, but come on bro, he's not a 10 years old kid😮‍💨

Lastly, I wish it ended with them officially becoming a couple and gave us a bit more of their cute story. The final episode didn’t add much to the story and, as I said, felt really rushed.

Overall, I think it had potential to be better, both story-wise and character-wise. And the acting was great — in my opinion, every actor did a good job👏 And the songs? Loved them!

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A bit undercooked

Ya’ll had me scared when you said the last two episodes ruined the whole story but like, I’ve seen much worse.


Acting:

Offroad, Bright, and Jam were lovely. They did a great job in their roles and made me happy and sad when they were supposed to. Everyone was just kind of there tbh. Maybe it’s because their characters were either meh or not fleshed out well enough, but I don’t even feel the need to note anything about the rest of the cast.

Writing:

Not the greatest story overall, but it had it’s moments. I think they could have done a lot more with this concept. My main issues were that there needed to be more time given to the whole loan shark situation before episode 6, we needed more from the side characters, and the side couple should have never existed as they were annoying and added nothing to the story. Obviously the whole kidnapping-debt thing was wild and poorly executed, but I wouldn’t say it was as bad as some of the plots I’ve seen thus far. It just needed a bit more. Loved the development of Yang and Phumjai’s relationship though, it was very cute. Love a good bi-awakening/panic situation. Love a matching pretty necklaces. Love a good Daou side profile shot. Love a good Offroad smile.

Chemistry/Romance/Kissing:

Pretty good chemistry, they performed very well together. This definitely works as a romance. Not the romance of the century or anything, but a lovely little love story. Kissing was good and pretty realistic. Does have that little issue of odd looking cheek kisses I see in a lot of dramas but I can get over that if the actual kisses are well performed.

NC Scene:

Honestly, took me a bit by surprise here. Did not expect some convenience store hanky panky in this series. The aggressive slamming against metal shelves hurt my back a little. But it was pretty solid stuff overall. Love a good passionate “I need you right now” moment.

Music/SFX:

A couple emotional scenes with weird music choices. Overall, it was good though. SFX were fine, nothing too jarring.

This was a cute little watch. Nothing blew me away, but I enjoyed watching it.

Now, for some highlights from my notes:

- Offroad too cute to handle
- Lmao that Brillo pads shirt
- Hold on… Are we just making slut shaming a plotpoint or… Like let a girle live, damn
- Daou got MAD side profile 10/10
- What page was bro on that the kiss blindsided him?
- Genuine question, is every character except Yang and Tammy fucking stupid?
- Tag and big bro need to be deleted from this series, they are annoying and add nothing
- Okay things are taking a bit of a turn here
- What is this attitude from Mr Stay Away From My Brother?
- Ouch lol why are we slamming into those metal shelves like that
- Yang’s little smirk after taking off Phumjai’s shirt got me giggling teehee
- They gonna get him forklift certified or…
- “You’re gonna work for us in the dirty business of inefficient warehouse management”
- T-t-tape? Who are these monsters?
- I did some calculations and in order to pay back a 1,000,000 Yuan loan (with a monthly interest rate of 2.2%) in the seemingly very short amount of time (let’s say 2 years) the evil guy is asking, you would have to be making monthly payments of like 200,000 THB to pay it off… That’s wild. Also all of my estimates and math may be suuper wrong… I’m not a finance major…
- Who just has $6,200 in cash ready to go like that?
- Girlies need to chill fr like ya’ll saw the aftermath of them passionately fucking in the store you work in like everyday lmao a tender kissing moment should not have you screaming
- Okay, maybe a bit more than tender
- How are we able to open another store? Please, explain it to me. You are not in the place to be doing all that rn
- Girly wrote their story? Lmao

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Rindo, suspirando e reclamando no processo

Essa série deixou meio dividida. Eu achei que seria algo fofinho e previsível, mas conforme fui assistindo, percebi que ela tinha muito mais a dizer do que parecia, mas se atrapalha tentando infelizmente. A ideia no geral é fofa: um romance que nasce em meio a barreiras de idioma, cultura e, claro, aquela boa e velha enrolação emocional típica dos BLs. O problema é que, às vezes, a execução não acompanha o potencial. Tem momentos que fluem, mas também tem partes que parecem se arrastar como se os episódios quisessem render mais do que realmente tinham pra mostrar.

O casal principal têm uma química natural (Daou e Offroad entregam tudo sempre né meus amores) e eu adorei como até nas briguinhas bobas ou nos desencontros você consegue sentir a conexão entre eles. Tem uma leveza no jeito que eles se olham e uma intensidade quando as coisas apertam, é aquela combinação que faz a gente rir num momento e suspirar no outro. Só que, sendo bem sincera, teve horas em que eu fiquei irritada. Eles ficam presos em algumas repetições, como se estivessem patinando no mesmo conflito (e isso nem é culpa dos atores, o roteiro não ajuda infelizmente) e isso me fez pensar: “ok, já entendi, pode andar pra frente agora?”. Mas ainda assim, quando o romance engrena, compensa cada enrolação, porque o que não falta ali é química.

Sobre os personagens secundários… alguns são verdadeiros tesouros. Eles entram em cena e dão um tempero especial, seja trazendo humor, leveza ou até uma malícia gostosa que deixa a trama menos reta. Outros, infelizmente, parecem ter ficado pela metade. A série apresenta, dá uma pincelada, mas não aprofunda, e eu fiquei naquela vontade de conhecer mais, de ver essas histórias paralelas ganhando o mesmo carinho que o casal principal recebeu.

Agora, não dá pra ignorar que o BL tem sérios problemas de ritmo. Alguns episódios são mais longos do que precisavam ser, e eu senti que certos diálogos foram esticados sem necessidade. Não é algo que destrua a experiência, mas sim algo que cansa de vez em quando, principalmente quando você está imersa na expectativa de ver a relação dos protagonistas evoluir.

No geral, essa série mistura momentos genuinamente fofos com outros que testam a paciência. Não é perfeito, mas tem seu charme, principalmente se você gosta de acompanhar histórias que brincam com diferenças culturais e barreiras de comunicação. Eu terminei a série com um sorriso no rosto, mesmo tendo reclamado no caminho. Recomendo assistir sem grandes expectativas, não vá esperando uma obra impecável, mas vá aberto para se emocionar, se irritar muito e, no fim, se apegar aos personagens.

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