“Live in Love” follows the story of Kla (Hearth Chindanai Dechewajeekul) and Cake (Junior Chokkorn Deotrakul), two occasional streamers, who meet online by chance, and Kla falls in love at first sight with Cake, who also begins to develop feelings for him. The show is set during a pandemic, which might be to justify the online nature of the relationship (and title), however, all the pandemic related precautions are quickly disregarded. The setting of the show is quite confusing, and the online relationship could have been justified in much simpler ways, that did not need to drag in the over-played pandemic tropes that people would much rather move past. The show has a lot of redeeming qualities and started out simple and grounded, however, by episode 3, it seems to want to be more than it’s supposed to be, which is a fluffy comfort BL.

The series starts out quite endearing, with Kla, who seems to be emotionally closed off to the extent that he cannot accept gifts (particularly sweet treats, and more particularly cake) from anyone due to the fear of them misconstruing his intentions with them. However, when Kla meets Cake during a live stream, he is immediately enamored with him, to the point that their fans immediately start shipping them. The two realize that they like each other and begin talking to each other without meeting yet due to the restrictions caused by the pandemic they are going through. When they finally meet, they quickly turn their “talking stage” into a relationship, to avoid any confusion with their friends.

Kla and Cake’s relationship is unfortunately not without its problems. Cake’s friend AF (Haii Sarunsathorn Tanawatcharawat) tries to confess his feelings for Cake, but Cake rejects him, which seemingly turns him into a psycho-stalker. Nothing about AF’s character prior to this had even suggested that he would turn out this way. Kla’s friends Khing (Nina Pichayanin Pichayadechakarn) and Gina (Mimi Ruethaiphat Phatthananapaphangkorn) also feel slighted by this new relationship, because Khing has had a crush on Kla for a long time but is constantly rejected. The two try and sabotage the relationship, with Gina taking things way too personal despite Khing being the one in love with Kla. Khing doesn’t even seem to be that into Kla without Gina’s push. There is also just no way that these two bad bitches would be doing all that for Kla. The actor who plays Kla is credited as a screenwriter, which might be why they went with this ridiculous premise, to the detriment of the series, which would have held up had they focused on the courtship and developing love of the leads. The storyline that tries to portray AF and the girls as vindictive does not make sense and doesn’t gel well with the first 2 episodes of the show. The series is better off focusing on the love stories, and developing something between Gina and Khing, than going on this tangent that is just senseless and played out.

The second leads, Poon (Boat Napat Srinakluan) and Gam (Tiger Tanawat Hudchaleelaha) are also involved in a “ship” that is endorsed by people online, however, Gam quickly realizes that he has feelings for Poon but doesn’t think that Poon seems him as anything more than a friend, despite everyone else thinking they are dating. Poon however is able to confront his own feelings when he realizes that he is jealous of Gam’s relationship with their other friends, and this allows him to act quickly and declare his feelings for Gam. Instead of rushing this storyline, the show would have benefited more from drawing it out a bit more and layering on it, instead of the direction that season 3 chose to take.

While I did not have high hopes for the show, the direction it took in episode 3 made an average show almost irredeemable, and I hope that they are able to surprise the audience somehow and move past the unnecessary plot lines. Considering that this show is only 5 episodes long, they simply did not have the time or range to delve into anything other than a direct and simple romantic story. None of the conflict and vindictiveness was necessary, and it takes away from the story. While the 3rd episode threw me for a loop, I trust that the story can be concluded satisfactorily.

Rating- 3 out of 5

Streaming on- Gagaoolala