Welcome to my weekly blog post where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching but not recapping.
This week I recapped episodes 5-6 of Until We Meet Again, in which Dean and Pharm use Thailand’s bus system and go to an aquarium. I also recapped episodes 9-10 of The Sign, in which Tharn cries a whole lot and Phaya doubts the supernatural.
This week I have an initial review of:
Perfect Propose – パーフェクトプロポーズ – 2024
Currently airing Japanese BL, I’m at 3 out of 6 episodes.
A salaryman who is overworked and exhausted is rescued by a childhood friend who reminds him they once promised to get married.
Perfect Propose falls into a niche genre of BL that seems to be a Japanese specialty: The domestic BL. Two other titles that I’ve reviewed that fall into that category are Our Dining Table and My Personal Weatherman. The story takes place in the home and revolves around cooking and supporting each other.
I like this genre.
In this case we have Hirokuni as our overworked salaryman. He’s beaten down by a horrible boss while his coworkers watch with pity. One day Kai shows up. Kai can cook but has no place to live because his surrogate father figure is sick. Kai reminds Hirokuni of their childhood promise to marry, but this is more a joke than anything serious.
Oh, and Kai gives Hirokuni a hand-job in the first episode. So there’s that.
That’s it as far as set-up and plot, at least for now. Hirokuni gets some much needed support and care from someone, finally. Now he just needs to get away from his toxic work situation. Kai is making food for someone he’s been in love with forever but is apathetic about everything else. There’s growth to be had there.
The show is simple and soothing, with a lot of sweet moments between our pair. It’s only going to be 6 episodes so I don’t expect too much drama, just a lot of time in the kitchen and eating food.
This drama is based on a manga which is available in English. So far it seems to be following it pretty closely.
This week I finished the epic:
Pit Babe – พิษเบ๊บ – 2023
Recently aired Thai omegaverse BL with 13 episodes.
A really awesome racer named Pit Babe gets suddenly deeply involved with a wanna-be racer named Charlie, who may be more than he seems.
All good things must come to an end. And all messy things must come to an end too.
I loved Pit Babe, but it’s definitely not for everyone. The plot is all over the place, the characters are all over the place and the internal logic is all over the place. But it’s also fun and enthusiastic and sincere. I put it in a bucket with Laws of Attraction or Love In The Air (both shows worthy of my recapping).
The main difference between Pit Babe and those shows is Pit Babe is less about the main couple’s romance, and more an men-only omegaverse soap opera. Their romance wasn’t the most compelling and there were entire episodes where our main couple faded into the background. We also get backstories on characters that never go anywhere and subplots that don’t resolve.
So what is the plot?
Well, it involves racing, an evil adoptive father, alphas with super powers (it’s an omegeverse thing), secret plots, human trafficking, (male) pregnancy (it’s an omegaverse thing), betrayals, organ harvesting, toothpaste, childhood love, rich investors, kidnappings, hilariously failed rescues, instant noodles…
It gets a lot of points from me for being ambitious, even if it turned into a mess. It’s basically the complete opposite of the type of show I reviewed above.
The actors here also get full points for giving their all to this bunch of silliness
I saw a lot of criticism of Charlie’s actor online, but I think the character was pretty flatly written. He’s blindly devoted to Pit Babe, who is extremely self-absorbed and insecure. Probably a stronger actor could have done better, but I think there’s only so much they could do.
The Pit Babe actor was great as he went through a series of emotional hardships. So was his long-suffering friend Way, who maybe had the most inner turmoil of any of the characters. Most of the side characters did well with what they had, which in some cases was very little. Shout out to the Kenta actor/character, who is the frequently beaten right-hand-man of our evil father figure. He was both awful and sympathetic at the same time.
I’ll admit I was into our secondary couple, no-touch-Jeff and played-by-an-actor-too-young-to-be-an-Uncle Alan. Like most everything in Pit Babe their relationship wasn’t too deep, but they were pretty cute.
So yeah, if you like your dramas to make a lot of sense and have a strong romance, this is probably not your thing. If you like your dramas soapy and messy and ridiculous, I suggest you give this a try.
You can always read my recaps (the final episode recaps will be posted next week), with or without watching the show. I’m honestly sad it’s over.