It needed more time to tell this many stories well
Overall I liked it and I was invested in the characters. But there were some ham handed elements and places where it felt rushed. All drama is setup, tension, resolution (repeat). But there were so many story lines and so little time. It got garbled up.One of the highlights for me was anytime the family came together to support or just enjoy each other.
The main couple is good, but I wanted them to grow more. Theres a lot of trauma, which they lay out but then dont exactly work through. (Honestly, they might want a trigger warning because as someone who is NOT an SA survivor I still felt some kinda way about seeing all that pain.) Sailom stays a little more doe eyed than I wanted. Pi Doc is the greenest green flag and I loved that.
Tawan and Dindin are my babies. And in a lot of ways thats the story I enjoyed the most. But there were a few ridiculous plot lines that I could have done without. I really could have watched a lot more content with the two of them. I liked the actors' chemistry the best of all the couples (with the mains as a very close second).
Sky and Nava had a somewhat tortured story arc. I like them a lot too, but some weird unearned moments happened with their story.
The daughter and the mom! Yes please! Loved them both. More substance from them would have made me happy. I really like kids and family storylines in bl. It changes the dynamic.
Thanks for dealing with the mental health issue even if not entirely to my satisfaction. And thanks for making this about grown men! (Anyone who reads my reviews knows I appreciate seeing mature adults in bl series.)
Overall it needed more depth and finesse. The writing could have been better, and some of the director decisions were questionable to me. There was a lot to work with and they missed some opportunities and blew others. That said I'm not mad I watched it. I'd even say I enjoyed it!
But there's a lot of bl out there, especially in Thailand. And, again, Khemjira is making y'all work for it!
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This review may contain spoilers
Better than i expected
This drama have so many stories and heavy topics, what i loved the most was phi doc and sailom, the center story of this drama, sailom who have aphenphosmphobia, who dealt with a lot of bad things during his childhood due his creep piece of shit stepdad fell in love with doc, i loved how their progress, they respected work ethics by not making doc his therapist, instead he was there for him as friend.Their story was well written, sailom healing journey wasn't easy, it took him tipe to accept therapy, than open up slowly, and gradually he was be able to play with his friends and doc and touch them, and finally he was be able to touch his therapist and lett her touch him, it was heartwarming, i loved that they didn't make his healing be only related to doc or be dependent only on him, instead it was friends and his cicke of people. Than they took step to be boyfriends and be together.
The mom who comeback pmo omg, she was definitely something, doc choose to save his sister bcz he was nice, he didn't hate innocent sick girl but the mom womdn stay uncomfortable.
Tawan and dindin annoyed hell out of me ngl
I didn't care a lot about nawa and his boyfriend.
Overall this drama have a lot going on but cebter story was nice to watch and follow.
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Lots of trauma's and problems.
There are several stories within this drama and i like all of them, but it would have been nice if there was a bit more depth in the stories. The visuals and music were very good.The acting was good, and i loved all the couples, they all had good chemistry and kisses. To be honest, though i liked all the couples, the main couple was my least favorite couple.
I don't think i will watch this again.
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I’m honestly not sure if I liked this series or not.
There were moments that worked for me, but overall I felt a bit unsure the whole time.
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Love Like On A Three-Wheeler
Summarily, this series intrigued me for its content and subject matter. There were several dynamic and powerful relevances going on all at once. Thus, this series tackled way too much with way too many for it to be efficacious. Its major significancy was deeply scarring and wounding. My issue with series that tackle such emotionally charged and psychologically damaging or traumatizing issues is that they never go far enough. Simply ‘glossing’ over the issues or only gingerly handling the sensitivity of the subject matter is really not doing it justice. And it tried too hard to take a cavalier and too lighthearted approach to three themes that are quite serious and daunting. So, I was not sure what it was trying to actually be. Each of these love sonnets could be a series and was a premise for a stand-alone story. For me as well, it was the secondary couple, in this case two others, that outshined the primary couple, yet again.Was this review helpful to you?
Three stories, three ways to love
It stands out more for its structure than for its plot, following three different couples with very distinct dynamics, all tied together by this strong found family bond between the three male leads. I really liked that sense of connection between them, it adds warmth and makes the whole story feel more complete rather than just separate romances. Each storyline has its own tone, from the softer and more emotional one, to the more playful or guarded relationships, and that variety keeps things interesting even when some parts feel lighter than others. I appreciated how the characters all come with their own emotional baggage, especially when it comes to love, and how that shapes the way they approach relationships. At times I did wish for a bit more depth or stronger development in certain arcs, because some dynamics had more potential than what we actually got, but overall it’s an enjoyable watch that works because of its characters and the balance between the three stories.Was this review helpful to you?
coulda been but wasn't
So great visuals, cast not bad, story could have been intriguing but the damn writer(s) kept lifting plots and story lines from so many other BL's. What hacks. Was akin to a low budget GMMTV offering which is pretty common these days.When in the 6th episode they "lifted" a core plot of Ai Long Nhai I just had to stop. Just saying. I will continue to watch just to see how many other plots they can "lift". Not just common BL tropes but plots. And a doctor whose only advice is breathe deeply and let it out..... Sheesh. But they are an attractive cast.
Alright I have now finished and adjusted score slightly. The last two episodes got pretty mawkish/sentimental and all the difficult stuff got tied up in an easy bright bow in about 2 minutes. But the actors overcame the bad writing and ended on a grace note.
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It was okay
A series far from perfect with writing and execution issues, but with its own charm that manages to keep you interested. I expected it to be just a light-hearted drama, but I was actually surprised to see some heavier themes being addressed. The let down was that they didn't fully commit on exploring them and instead sacrificed the limited length of the eight episodes, by introducing sub-plots, while rushing the existing storylines. For me, it had the potential to be a great bl series, had they stayed loyal to the main plot and developed more the characters and their dynamics.The acting was good overall and I generally enjoyed the chemistry of each pairing, but I will give a little more credit to Tee for delivering some very difficult emotional scenes.
I recommend the series to people who look for a lighter show with some depth. Despite any flaws, it was still fun and easy to watch.
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This review may contain spoilers
Love Like a Bike presents a story rooted in trauma
Love Like a Bike presents a story rooted in trauma with a side plot about running from debt, but the pacing feels dragging and familiar. These themes have appeared many times in BL already, so it doesn’t feel very fresh.The concept itself had potential and really stood out at first, which made me hope it would develop into something stronger. Unfortunately, the execution became too predictable and obvious as the story went on.
The actors did a great job with what they were given, and the mood-setting and production were decent overall.
I genuinely thought this would be better based on the premise, but it didn’t fully deliver on its promise.
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This review may contain spoilers
This is an easy pass
Unfortunately with this series there were more negatives than positives. On paper the show's location and plot could have made this a decent easy to watch BL with focus on the relationship development of the couples with a simplistic plot. Unfortunately the potential was lost.First big issue with the show is the pacing. The first 2-4 episodes are really slow, even if there is three main couples that the show focuses on. The slow start combined with only having 8 eps made especially the last two episodes to feel comical in terms of amount of things happening; there are several serious hospital related illness that get treated, one character reconnects with their mother (this is covered in a couple of scenes), there is a dept issue with a gang involved that gets resolved, a distance relationship that both start and end in the final episode, one the character leaves to his old work back to Bangkok without telling his love interest, then as quickly gets back and the relationship continue as if nothing happened. In a very odd way the show made me feel that they simultaneously didn't have enough plot for three main couples, but also that the relationship archs had to be rushed trough in the end.
The second big issue for me relates to one the couple in particular and I feel bad for the actors, bc a lot of ppl had been hoping to see them in a show together again. Dindin's and Tawan's relationship was a blast from the BL past that I wish we would just not see anymore unless the series is meant to describe a toxic dynamic and environment. Considering the general vibe of the show, having a couple showing their "love" by constantly throwing punches at each other just looked and felt unpleasant as a viewer. With the other two couples there is at least an attempt trough dialogue scenes to build believable relationship, but with Dindin and Tawan the hostility is present to the very end of the show, which really made me question the choice of them still ending up together.
In conclusion:
- I would not recommend this one, everything ends up feeling off.
- After all 8 episodes you will most likely be left with two conflicting feelings; finally it's over and the couples needed more on screen time to feel genuine.
- There is a decent effort to showcase a survivor story of someone dealing with childhood abuse trauma, how this can affect adult relationships and how to work past such trauma, but it's not enough to save the series.
- Let's please not promote punching someone as a sign of showing love, this trope needs to be left to the BL history and stay there.
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A warm, innocent story, I hope the other episodes will go in the same direction....
From this series, many directors, screenwriters, producers and others could learn how to run a series, which is not offensive, where the actors are not conceited, but act.
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This review may contain spoilers
heart was in a good place
Overall: this series had a good heart, but there were way too many couples, characters and plots to do them justice. Note, this series and my review have some potentially very triggering words/themes. 8 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala (not in Japan or Thailand) https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/6294/love-like-a-bike-2026Content Warnings: past death, past child abuse/molestation/rape implied, past fights/blood, trauma, illness, threatened violence, punches, kidnapping
Watch Suggestions (to take out most of the content warnings, though there might be flashbacks that I missed)
- watch episodes 1 & 2 (there might be flashbacks in here)
- episode 3 skip 32-37:30
- start episode 4 at 4:30
- episode 5 skip 26:45-31:10
- episode 6 watch 14:30 to the end
- episode 7 watch 6:10-23 and 34-42:25
- episode 8 skip 20-23 and 26:30-29
What I Liked
- seeing several actors I haven't seen in awhile
- oceanside setting of Pattaya
- showed therapy and group therapy*
- supportive brothers & mom
- P'Man
- a character said "I can stop" and waited for the other person to say "no don't stop" before continuing, also morning check in
- stuck with the bike theme
Room For Improvement
- way too many couples (3 m/m and 1 f/f) and plot threads for 8 episodes
- there were several nonsense plot things i.e. how two people flew that far in episode 1 for an accidental kiss, how his friends don't know that about him, a stranger who was angry becomes suddenly nice after seeing a news story, going from punches to kisses and doing it on what appeared to be a public beach
- *appreciated he wasn't his therapist (though the therapist shouldn't have talked to him at all about her patient) and he recognized the ethics of it, it was a love heals trauma trope imo
- why weren't the police called in episode 7
- wish a terrible character had had consequences in a different way as the way it's presented could lead to viewers victim blaming
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