Welcome to my weekly blog post where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching but not recapping.
This week I recapped the 6th and 7th episodes of My Personal Weatherman. These episodes remind me of My Beautiful Man and I compare them a bit and talk a little about angry outsiders. Next week I’ll wrap it up!
This week I decided to try the first ever drama based on an omegaverse story and watched the first two episodes of:
Pit Babe – พิษเบ๊บ – 2023
Currently airing Thai omegaverse BL, I’m at 2 out of 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.
This is an unusual review for me, as I go into greater detail about the first two episodes of this show than I usually do in my weekend reviews.
So you may be wondering, what IS the omegaverse?
From comments online, a lot of people giving Pit Babe a try aren’t familiar with the sex-based-fantasy-genre. Interestingly enough, the show doesn’t explain anything either, dropping the viewer into a world where Pit Babe has super senses and finds other alphas smelly. This is a bold and fascinating move.
Because omegaverse often features male pregnancy and I don’t care for any kind of pregnancy in my romances, I usually avoid the genre and am not an expert. What I know is basically: The genre revolves around three sexualities/dominance types: Alphas, betas, and omegas. These different types of people interacting and the complications and stereotypes and prejudices around their natures makes for interesting fiction.
The good news is that since the concept was birthed on the internet it’s easy to find more information all over the place. But you may not need to click those links, because so far the omegaverse stuff barely matters to the show.
Pit Babe is an alpha and Charlie is an alpha and Pit Babe’s super senses don’t mind Charlie’s smell. That’s it. Betas and omegas haven’t even come up yet.
So what is going on in the show then?
Pit Babe is an awesome racer who knows he’s awesome and refers to himself in the third person. He has a chorus who follows him around and talks both about how awesome he is and commenting on his sex life. They have names but I don’t really know how many of them there are or who is who or what their personalities are, they mostly clutter up the screen attractively.
Pit Babe meets Charlie, who wants to race using Pit Babe’s car. Pit Babe exchanges some kind of sex for something. We fade to black so I’m not sure the specifics of the exchange, but now Pit Babe is wearing a large silver cross. He wears this cross a lot and I am easily distracted into pondering the intersection of Christianity and omegaverse and how that works, not to mention if Pit Babe goes to church after blackmailing someone for sex.
Anyway, now Charlie is Pit Babe’s Babe and they go to a 50s style diner. Still wearing his cross, Pit Babe bets his new Babe in some kind of race. Don’t worry, Pit Babe is awesome and would never lose his new boy whose pheromones he likes, so he wins.
Who is Pit Babe’s Babe?
Charlie is a muscled, glasses wearing wanna-be racer. He’s really into Pit Babe even though Pit Babe treats him like an object and uses him in a bet. Thankfully, he doesn’t take Pit Babe too seriously, which helps with Pit Babe’s insufferableness.
Alas, Charlie may have ulterior motives for becoming Pit Babe’s Babe. In the second episode we learn that Pit Babe’s adopted dad Tony is getting into the racing industry. The subtitles use the word ‘penetrate’ a lot and it feels both uncomfortable and deliberate. Is Charlie some kind of secret agent for Pit Babe’s penetrating father?
Charlie has a super secret meeting with a man drinking a large pink shake who later turns out to be Jeff. Jeff is super good with car and gets hired as a mechanic at Pit Babe’s car place. I don’t know anything about car or racing.
One of Pit Babes’ chorus, Alan, who is an important part of car place, takes an immediate interest in Jeff. Jeff doesn’t want anyone to touch him, which is both very relatable and difficult in this pheromone-smell-laden world.
Charlie and Jeff keep having secret convos in front of everyone which makes Pit Babe more jealous than suspicious. But Pit Babe’s buddy Way is more suspicious than jealous.
And I’ll have to watch episode 3 to learn more!
So what do I actually think of this show?
If you’ve read any of my thoughts on dramas you know I have a taste for a certain kind of absurd, and this show is hitting the sweet spot.
I’m fascinated by the strange direction they’ve gone with the half-there-half-not omegaverse stuff. I’m fascinated that they even made an omegaverse story. The show is taking itself seriously, and I’m impressed with how actors are able to say these lines like they mean them.
Which means it’s not a show that’s engaging my romantic emotions. I’m not terribly invested in Pit Babe or Charlie. I’m not worried about Charlie’s secret.
But on the flip side, that makes this an easy, fun watch with little emotional risk. Charlie is cute. Maybe something interesting will happen to Pit Babe and he’ll chill a bit. I’m a smidge invested in relatable-no-touch-Jeff and over-interested Alan.
Ultimately, I’m watching to see what they do with the omegaverse stuff and how over the top it gets. I may get bored and drop it (I mean, 13 episodes!), but for now I’m curious enough to watch at least the next episode. Maybe I’ll learn something about car too.