Love in the Air Ep.8 Review

Love Sky: Or Stalking Glorified as Love

Love in the Air is adapted from Thailand’s most popular BL author, Mame’s, two novels; Love Storm and Love Sky. The story of Love Sky starts half way through the seventh episode. But episode eight can be considered the real beginning of their story. So, here are my thoughts on episode eight or the beginning of part 2 of Love in the Air starring Fort Thitipong Sengngai as Prapai and Peat Wasuthorn Chaijinda as sky.

What’s not Right

I was not a fan of the storyline of the first part which involved the love story of Rain and Payu. The character of Payu was so toxic and this toxicity was glorified as love. He was authoritative, manipulative and was more like a sexual predator. But Rain falls for him nevertheless. So, I was kind of hoping for a better, non-toxic second part. But, I was wrong. Clearly, Mame’s understanding of love and consent is thwarted. And it raises concern, since she has a huge following.

Episode 8 or the second part of the series starts with a major blow to a person’s consent. If Payu never cared for consent at all, Prapai catches Sky off guard on a most vulnerable situation and what happens later is the aftermath of a blackmail. If Rain was naive, Sky is heartbroken and an emotional wreck inside. We cannot help but feel sorry for him.

The only thing that makes Prapai may be a little better than Payu is that he is not aggressive. He actually is very soft-hearted or a sweet guy. This makes his actions self-contradictory. The characterization does not make any sense at all. It is a simple story which could have avoided the toxic elements if the makers wanted. But they opted for the ‘love’ born out of toxicity and made Prapai a classic stalker.

What’s Good

The series obviously is made on a huge scale. The cinematography and execution is praiseworthy. But unfortunately the writing is not up to the mark. It ranges from cringe worthy at its best to toxic at its worst. There are some moments which awe you, which comes solely from good direction, camera work and background score. The actors are also good. But Peat Wasuthorn Chaijinda stood out in the eighth episode.

Read more, https://mydramalist.com/56933-love-storm

It is quite appalling that this series and Mame’s novels have a massive following. This is a huge issue in the BL works and it needs to be addressed. I can go on and on about the toxic element in the series. But I think this is enough. People will watch the series anyway considering the dangerous amount of fan following.