Was it worth waiting 2 years for?

As someone who instantly fell in love with LBC (It was my first BL and remains my favorite to this day) I kept myself updated with all of the controversies regarding the continuation of LBC for the past 2 years. After they officially announced they would film season 2, to say I was excited was an understatement. I had high hopes for this season, I even counted the days until I could watch it and deleted social media apps to avoid any potential spoilers.

While I was watching it, I enjoyed it very much. I don't know if it was because I'm a huge fan of the first season, or if it was just due to the fact that I waited for what seemed like forever to watch this show, but I had a lot of fun viewing it for the first time. Now that I've completed this series and I look back at it...I was definitely being a biased LBC fan. This season was mediocre at best.

Firstly, the decision to re-write TinCan's story: I admit, I was hugely disappointed that they decided to do this instead of just continuing it from where they had left off, and frankly I don't understand their decision as to why this idea was thought of as plausible. However, if you change your mindset and watch this season not as a continuation of season 1, but as a whole new drama, then it's easier to look past. As a whole, TinCan’s story itself remained practically the same with mild improvements here and there but the character development really suffered. Tin's character went from arrogant and must I say hot, to… well... bland. Can's character development probably suffered the most; he went from cute and bouncy, to whiny. I’m sorry but the original TinCan we knew and loved was just gone, meaning we never technically had closure on ‘their’ story.

Another one of my biggest issues with this show was screentime distribution. Of course this was a show focusing on Tin and Can’s relationship so naturally they would get the majority of the screen time, but other BLs have established the focus on the main couple, while still giving other couples an equal amount of time. It’s not that their story was rewritten which had them take up most of the screen time because that only took up 6 episodes, and we had another 7 episodes of new content. Meaning if they had decided to continue TinCan’s story from season 1 then 6 episodes would have been saved, which would have left more room for other couples. Most of Ae’s scenes were unnecessary, after the first 2 episodes, a 5 minute scene of him doing nothing but crying and being a prick to his friends started to get old. Much like Tin and Can, his character was developed poorly.

The couples who in my opinion got the most unfair amount of screen time were KlaNo and TumTar/Keen. With KlaNo it seems to me like these two, much like Ae had several scenes that were repetitive and simply weren’t needed. For almost every episode, their scenes were basically: Kengkla being a stalker and Techno being confused about his feelings (towards the guy who raped him, must I add). To me, they already had little screen time and what they DID get, could’ve been used much more effectively.

It was nice to see Tum’s character development was going more smoothly than many of the other characters. I liked how they decided to add the character Keen, as a potential love interest, and their story seemed to be getting along well. It’s a shame they got the least screen time of every other couple, with Keen being a new character it would have been nicer to see more of him. The tiny amount of screen time they were given didn’t really give the viewers a chance to build a proper connection with them. Earth’s time schedule was probably very busy, as we only saw him towards the end of the show. New viewers who haven’t watched the first season would probably feel a little confused as to who this person was, and why he only appeared once.

I know sometimes BLs use the side characters as a way to include product placement and advertising, but they really uh- outdid themselves this time. Almost every time the friend group/squad appeared on screen, it was for advertising. I get the show had sponsors but it was just too much and unnecessary- I don’t know that’s just my opinion. It just kind of left me a little salty that the side characters in the friend group didn’t do much for the actual story of the show, not even much for the comedic aspect either like they had done in the first season.

I admit, I really loved Tul and Hin’s story. The thing is, Tul was made to seem like such a bad person for so long. After seeing how hurt Tin was, I thought there was no way in hell I would be able to forgive Tul. I would have enjoyed this couple more if there was a larger window of time for the viewers to get to know and understand Tul, so that the end result wasn’t… bittersweet. But overall, I really liked these two, you could sense the chemistry and even though they’re relatively new, their acting was very good.

On the topic of acting, I think the original cast of the first season all improved tremendously and if it weren’t for the awful character development, they would be able to really show their full potential (especially Perth who was done dirty by having to do nothing but cry for 7 episodes). I see some people talking about how Mean didn’t ‘fully immerse himself into his character’ or other things like that, but to me the majority of his acting was really great. You could really tell a lot about his character from the way he acted in some scenes, particularly those involving Tul, some of them really moved me.

BUT...the love scenes. Oh dear the love scenes- I waited 2 years for those and while yes, the small pecks were adorable, I couldn’t help but feel slightly robbed. I think the two lead actors were slightly uncomfortable, but I know they can do well in those, they did a fantastic job at the end of season 1. Maybe it's the fact that Mean decided not to do BL dramas anymore? I don’t want to assume. The first bed scene… the lighting was amazing and the way Tin spoke to Can so softly and the dialogue exchanged between the two gave me butterflies, but when it came to the actual ‘love’ part the first thing I said: “Was that it?”. They provided us with all the sweet romantic build up for that? I think the only time we were actually given proper ‘fanservice’ (if that’s what you can call it) was in the end.

Tul and Hin got a love scene together after being apart for the vast majority of the and it was already better than many of Tin and Can’s. You could feel the emotion and longing through the screen. It was really good. And now, KlaNo, what was that? It’s not like it was their first time having to do something like that, so why did they cover it? If it was because they were in a public area then the directors could have easily avoided that by placing them in another location.

Of course it wasn’t all negative. I think some of the TinCan scenes they decided to re-do were better than the original, like the couch scene in season 1 that they changed. Obviously the season 1 scene was more iconic, but the overall atmosphere in the retake seemed to fit the given circumstance more. The acting and pacing wasn’t as well blocked out as the first season but the emotions and setting were much better in my opinion. I liked the decision to show a bit more of Tin’s softness and vulnerability and more of Can’s ‘roughness’ (I’m not sure how to explain it without giving away direct spoilers hehe) I think it gave both characters more dimension, which saved them from the other aspects of awful character development I mentioned earlier. The decision to show more of Tin’s backstory this time was a good one. It answered many of the questions I had when I finished the first season, and overall helped us understand his character a little more.

To wrap things up: Was this a good show? Yes. Were there any improvements from the first season? Yes. Would I watch it again? Hmm- maybe? But not as enthusiastically as I did the first time. Could the show have been saved by the reappearance of Saint? Probably not, as much as I would’ve loved to see him back.

Overall, I realize it really did not live up to everyone’s expectations. It wasn’t BAD (I’ve seen other shows that were just painful to watch) but it was definitely disappointing. While some questions I had left after watching season 1 were answered in this season, there was a lot left to be desired even after ACTL. It seems to me like the directors and writers just quickly threw together a season 2 in an attempt to satisfy and silence fans, without as much thought and attention to detail as they did in LBC which was what drove it to its initial success. Again, as a huge fan of LBC the original essence of what made TinCan loveable was different in ACTL. If I tried my best to watch with an open mind and thought of it as a completely different series it was cute, but nonetheless indifferent. I’ll give this show a rating as it is, and not as a biased LBC fan.

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