Raindrops and Illusions of Love

If you're coming into this show expecting a simple soulmate story, then this show might not be right for you. This show challenges the romance trope of "soulmates" and the notion that being soulmates is sufficient for any relationship to survive. So let me reiterate, if you're looking for a fluffy, one-true love type of story, you're going to be sorely disappointed.

La Pluie lets you know that the soulmate idea is going to be challenged since the very first time that we meet the protagonist, Saengtai. We learn that his own view on 'soulmates' has been broken since the divorce of his parents; he's become jaded. This caused him to have no intention in meeting his soulmate, so he becomes a recluse when it rains, he shuns him out for years. Like any good romance show, he does finally meet him. His opinion and world-view is challenged multiple times throughout this show, and his character growth can sometimes be equivalent to that of the speed of a turtle. La Pluie lets him be messy, and immature at times, purposefully, because even with this magical disability, he's still human! He can be unlikeable at times. He's self-absorbed. He's nice, but he's not necessarily kind. He generally sucks at communicating because he's scared of getting hurt. The show lets us key in on this by showing how he interacts with his brother (Saengtien), the rest of his family, his soulmate (Patts), and even with his co-workers.

If you engage with his storyline knowing this, the eventual conflict that arises with Patts and him is not surprising. Instead, it's expected and you're just waiting for it to happen. The show drops hints of this occurring since episode 6 (peek at the Nora Roberts book Tai is reading). This conflict has been set up since episode 1, it's not out of nowhere. Patts and Tai have conflicting personality traits, and as anyone who has had a relationship is well aware, this can make or break a relationship. La Pluie is showing that no matter whether a couple are "soulmates" or not, a relationship takes effort.

The four main characters of this show are at different stages in their belief of the 'soulmate' effect and are at different levels of understanding on how to make a relationship survive. Out of the three, Saengtien, the one without the soulmate bond, is the only one that truly believes in that soulmate bond. La Pluie is playing with the irony of their circumstances and beliefs. It's challenging the beliefs of every single character in the show. Much like in our own world, beliefs shape who we are as people and how we present ourselves. Sometimes we act in ways that may be considered "out-of-character" when our beliefs are challenged. Again, for a show that brings in a fictional disease, it makes the characters very, very, very human. Humans make mistakes and may act terribly; this show sets up this idea for each one of the characters. Their beliefs play a direct role in how they each interact with love.

This theme carries out throughout every relationship you see in this show, Tai's parents and their soulmate bond, Saengtien and Lomfon... Everyone of them have soulmates, minus Saengtien, but that's not enough to make a relationship or even enough to let it survive. Love isn't simply eros, the parents are an example of that. Love is a choice. Making a relationship work is a choice. La Pluie explores the underutilized idea in romance dramas that you have to choose to love and who you love. You have to work for that love to survive. No flimsy notion of 'soulmates' is going to be enough.

La Pluie is more than a 'soulmate' BL, as the story unfolds, we're witness to every single characters' journey with self-discovery and understanding what love is and means. It's not a high stakes drama, it's not even a particularly fluffy drama. It's a BL that subverts an incredible amount of common tropes, that brings these characters alive in a world with a mythical disability, but it grounds them in very human conflicts that we experience in our own.

Engage with this drama, engage with the visual imagery in each scene, the show conveys much more than just dialogue to let you understand where the characters are in their own journey. If you do so, I'm sure you'll have a greater appreciation for La Pluie.

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