Pit Stop: A Review of "Pit Babe: the Series"

SPOILER ALERT: This article is made for the purpose of breaking down and discussing the Thai BL Drama "Pit Babe: The Series" seasons 1 and 2. If you have not watched this show up to its current season 2 episode 7 (at the time of writing this), and wish to view this with context or without spoilers, I recommend watching the show before reading this. If spoilers do not bother you, you are free to continue!

In the world of BL (Boys Love), dramas do not always get renewed for second seasons, and while this is normally the bane of many existences when it comes to TV series watchers, this makes sense for this genre of shows. The writers of these dramas walk into that room and sit down with one goal — to wrap up their story in a nice little bow within one season that typically spans somewhere around 12 episodes, and they deliver every time. This is something all writers and screenwriters are capable of. Even if you are writing your first novel, and have no plans of bringing it to screen, you have probably thought about how you would tell that story when you have a completely different format and timing allowances.

One of these series, Pit Babe the series, did this fantastically. So, as a writer, I have been on the edge of my seat watching how they do everything in Pit Babe 2. Season 1 did what all of these dramas tend to do extremely well, and that is wrap up all of its main storylines relatively nicely. Tony’s gone, Babe and Charlie are free to be happy, all is well. We lost Way along the way (pun intended), but that’s just part of the story, right?

Except, this is a drama, and drama we shall have. What’s a perfect recipe for new drama? Bad guys coming back from the dead, doppelgangers of dead friends, new bad guys, and good ol’ slow burn romance!

One of the big plot lines of season 2 that audiences were shown in the trailer — aside from all the regular big plot lines that were a surprise to no one, such as Tony Chen doing what Tony Chen does best, making everyone’s lives miserable — is the “relationship” between Willy and Babe. I use the term relationship loosely because knowing anything about the overall plot line of Pit Babe (not just the plot line from season 2 without the context of season 1), then you would clearly see that there is no Babe/Willy relationship. Babe does not like Willy, and Willy doesn’t even really like Babe in that regard. However, the second it appears like Charlie is hurt by Babe “cheating”, many “fans” of the show have been jumping down Babe’s throat and making claims about his character without seemingly understanding the show or his character at all, and apparently forgetting Charlie’s character entirely.

So, let’s talk about it.

Yes, at the beginning of season 1, Pit Babe — king of the racing track with his all-powerful super-heightened senses — was depicted as the ultimate playboy. Even his friends joked about how much he played around, how no boy ever lasted more than a few days, made bets about how long Charlie would last, and so on. However, let’s not forget who Charlie was in the beginning, sneaking into the X-Hunter garage with these claims that he would do whatever it took to convince Babe to let him get close to the team and borrow one of his cool cars. Eventually, we are introduced to the big bad of the season, Tony Chen, who takes Alpha and Enigma children with abilities and uses them for monetary gain. We find out in episode 2 that Babe is one of these children and, later on via Babe happening upon Charlie having a meeting with Tony, learn that Charlie and his brother Jeff are also adopted children of Tony. Charlie did not tell Babe this until Babe found it out himself. Charlie didn’t tell Babe that he and Jeff were brothers, Way did.

For those familiar with the trope “A fell first, but B fell harder”, in this case, Babe fell first, and Babe fell harder!

In episode 7 of season 1, when Babe finds out about Charlie being adopted by Tony, he seeks out Way for comfort, telling him about how much he had given Charlie, how much he actually loved Charlie, which given Babe’s characterization up to that point, is huge. He let Charlie drive his car, he took him to the little restaurant Babe shared with only Way before Charlie came along, he convinced Alan to let Charlie replace him on the team, he took Charlie to his dad’s old place and opened up to him about it in episode 6. These are minor things that may not seem like someone is in love with someone else, but for a character written to behave as Babe is, they are very much out of the ordinary for him and show him growing closer to someone he is fond of. This change in his behavior is the indicator of his falling for Charlie.

Now that’s not to say Charlie didn’t also fall for Babe around the same time as Babe fell for Charlie. However, Charlie very clearly took time to grow into the fact that he had genuine feelings for Babe. Given Charlie’s character, though, those feelings have always been on the backburner to other things. Of course, that’s not his fault, but that’s what we’re here to discuss.

Over the course of the series, Babe: has been led into a relationship entirely based on a lie, been lied to during that relationship’s early stages about other things (oh the wicked webs of lies we weave), has been lied to and brainwashed by his best friend constantly, has been constantly tormented by an abusive adoptive father who sought only the super-powered child that Babe could produce, has been nearly assaulted by the aforementioned best friend, has gotten into two car accidents (not a single one of which were accidents!), had been made to believe that the first boy he ever really loved was dead, had a vital part of him in the form of his senses taken from him, was technically assured of his boyfriend’s death in the fact that Charlie told him that the only way his senses would come back to him were in the event of Charlie’s death and became overstimulated by their return partially due to said knowledge, watched his best friend take a bullet meant for him and die, found out that his abusive adoptive father was not actually dead, had the man who tried to kill him in the first car accident brought back into his life, had the man who caused the second accident stalking him for said adoptive father, had a man who looked exactly like his dead best friend come back into his life, all while having his boyfriend pulling overtime risking his health and wellbeing in a research lab.

This is a good time to introduce Willy, our mini-bad of season 2 (the big bad being, of course, Tony Chen back from the dead!). Willy is introduced when he comes out on top in the first race of season 2, setting Babe and the X-Hunters in a bad mood right off the bat. Babe is already suspicious of how Willy could beat him, but grows more and more suspicious of his intentions the more he follows him around. There are several instances where Babe’s feelings on Willy are made clear not just to the audience, but to other characters in the show. Aside from Babe telling people he is supposed to be able to trust point blank that he does not like Willy and does not trust him, he also treats him coldly in front of Charlie when Willy comes to see Babe in the hospital after the accident. In season 2 episode 3, Babe tells Charlie that he thinks Willy is the one who hit him with the car. At the end of the same episode, Charlie gets dizzy and spins his car out during a race due to a reaction from the lab trials for a new drug that gets rid of special abilities. During these trials, Charlie has essentially been the only participant, working hours and hours with Pete and Chris (the best friend doppelganger mentioned before) and risking his own health, which Babe very visibly does not like. However, he lets Charlie do this because he sees how important it is to him.

Babe downplays his suspicions of Willy in episode 5 as he sees his interacting with Willy is upsetting Charlie more, going from “I think he tried to injure or kill me in a hit and run and there’s evidence that it could be him” to “I just want to know if he threw the race”, which is accurate to Babe’s character. He does not like the “easy win” and he never has. Despite Babe telling Charlie he truly believed and could reasonably prove that Willy hit him enough that someone else besides Babe should have been looking into whether or not it was true a little harder, not a single other person even looks into it or brings it to the police, including Charlie. In episode 5, Charlie asks why Babe took a picture with Willy, and he tells him that Willy pulled him in. Babe even suspects Willy is up to something to the point where he suggests in conversation with North that he should just hire a private investigator, which is ironic in the fact that at this point, Babe is well aware of his boyfriend’s “espionage” skills. Charlie, however skilled he may be, is too busy focusing on the big-bad threat to pay any attention to the fact that a smaller threat may even be tied to the big threat.

Willy is serving his written-purpose as a Red Herring. A Red Herring is a technique in writing where the author misleads the audience, or sometimes even characters in the story, by using certain events or characters to distract them from the bigger elements of the story. What is fascinating about the writing in Pit Babe is that while Willy is a Red Herring for Tony, Tony is simultaneously acting the same for Willy. We learn before the characters do, as is often the case, that Willy and Tony are tied together. Yes, Tony is the big bad, but he is using Willy to get what he wants, ultimately making them two sides of the same problem-coin. Both of these characters acting as a Red Herring at the same time serve two major roles when it comes to the characterization of Babe and Charlie. Charlie’s bigger picture mission has always been taking down Tony Chen. It is a major part of the entire reason he got close to Babe in the first place, kind of loosely the reason their relationship started in a way. Tony is the reason Charlie fakes his death in season 1, and the reason he is working so intensely on the skill-erasing drug in season 2. Yes, one could say a part of this is because at some point Tony targeted Babe and Charlie loves Babe so he wants to protect him. However, the argument is weak in the sense that Tony came first in Charlie’s life. Charlie caught on very early on to the fact that Tony was committing horrible wrongdoings and even lied for his entire childhood about the fact that he had any ability at all, getting Tony’s eyes off of him, which greatly allowed for him to essentially do all of his espionage. Charlie does not consider any threat to their safety besides Tony, and the team, who realistically has every reason to at least look into whether or not Willy was the one who hit Babe, practically ignores the fact that someone tried to harm Babe entirely after episode 4, and the fact that the one Babe suspects — which he told Charlie with reasonable evidence — is following him around on and off the track and clearly trying to get under his skin. The team has every reason to look into Willy and nobody, including Babe’s super-spy boyfriend, does so, because Tony is drawing their attention away from Willy.

Willy, on the other hand, is Babe’s Red Herring. And perhaps his love for Charlie, but that’s a different can of worms. Babe doesn’t really focus too heavily on the bigger-picture threats, and that’s primarily because, as described before, the man has simply been through enough. Given everything Babe has dealt with, I personally would not have the bandwidth to try to take down someone as crazy and cruel as Tony Chen is in this universe. Racing is an important part of Babe’s character — it’s essentially who he is, and right now, right in front of him, is a person that is threatening that. Someone who is not even a seasoned racer that Babe has heard of and perhaps just gained some real skill over the summer. Babe’s never heard of this guy, and then he just pops up, beats him, and then follows him around because he’s “such a big fan”.

What happened the last time Babe let someone close to him because they were a “big fan”? He ended up dating him. And that boy turned out to be a spy who got close to him to keep an eye on the big bad who eventually forced his best friend to assault him, killed his best friend, and all that to not actually be dead when everyone thought he was.

Yeah, I would be wary of anyone who followed me around claiming to be a “fan”.

And all in all, Charlie’s reaction to catching Babe and Willy “together” in the sauna (reminder: it was assault, since some people seem to ignore that)? To take that as proof that Babe’s been in love with Willy and cheating on him all along!

I am going to need us to be so for real for a minute.

Babe loves Charlie. When he caught Charlie with Tony in season 1, he cried with Way about how much he had given Charlie, how much he had opened up to him. Do I need to remind some of these “fans” of this show about his reaction to Charlie’s “death”. The man lost it! Alan found him lying on the floor of his garage trying to figure out how it happened because he refused to believe it was an accident, and it was not even on purpose by someone else! Tony did not cause that accident, and Tony had nothing to do with it. It was entirely Charlie’s idea!

So, to be sure we’re on the same page, Charlie can: get close to someone because he is a huge fan of his and because he wants something from him (that something being primarily to take down Tony and also to become a race car driver as he explains in the earlier episodes of season 1), steal a vital part of that man’s person (his senses), constantly make Babe believe he is playing around with someone else while he’s supposed to be “his” (Jeff) instead of just being open about the fact that they are brothers and Jeff didn’t want anyone else to know because he wanted to work in the garage on his own merit, fake his own death and not tell Babe his reasons for doing so, ignore the fact that someone tried to harm Babe, ignore the fact that Babe reasonably suspects Willy and refuse to trust Babe in dealing with one threat towards them on his own while Charlie deals with Tony via his drug trials, risk his life in said drug trials, and accuse Babe of cheating on him because…? Because Babe saw a threat in Willy that he’s seen in his own boyfriend and his best friend and decided to try and nip it in the bud on his own after nobody around him seemed eager to help him?

And all of this is not to say that Babe is not also at fault. Should he have sought out Willy on his own when he suspected that he had some kind of power and didn’t know what it was? No, probably not. Bad idea. If he loved Charlie, should he have respected the fact that him being around Willy made Charlie uncomfortable and backed off? Yes. Let’s think for a moment why Willy makes Charlie uncomfortable…

Because Charlie is insecure in himself.

And yes, Babe does not really help this in his joking about the matter of getting bored and running off to find someone cooler. However, looking at the first incidence of these kinds of quips in episode 2 of season 2, it is very clear Babe’s not talking about Charlie as a person, he’s talking about him as a racer. Willy is almost as good as Babe, and Babe has proven to be a stronger racer than Charlie. That’s not an insult to Charlie, especially that Babe has been racing a lot longer and trained Charlie himself. If Willy is almost as good as Babe, and Babe recognizes his skill enough to make such a claim, then it is simply a fact that Charlie has some improving to do to be seen as a strong racer in Babe’s eyes. Also, it’s clear Charlie is not taking these seriously and they are just jokes to him as well, at least in episode 2. However, this line of conversation switches up in episode 3 to a more serious tone, and Babe can tell that Charlie really is insecure about how Babe views him compared to Charlie. He assures him that he does not like Willy, and this is where we get into a reminder about how to deal with people/characters with trauma: YOUR PERSONAL TRAUMA IS NOT SOMEONE ELSE’S RESPONSIBILITY TO MANAGE.

At least not your boyfriend's. Perhaps a therapist (yes, yes, we know. All of these characters would have hefty bills if they actually went to therapy).

Could Babe have been more understanding since he knew Willy made him insecure and not gone after him alone so often? Absolutely. Does Babe owe Charlie an apology for doing so? I would argue not really. Because at the end of the day, Babe did tell them that he was suspicious of Willy over and over again, he did tell Charlie that he had a feeling Willy was the one who ran him over, he did tell Charlie that there was nothing between him and Willy, and he very clearly showed that he did not like Willy on multiple occasions.

Charlie not believing him is a manifestation of Charlie’s character, and clearly, some viewers of this show have entirely forgotten Charlie’s character.

Charlie is the protector, the guardian. As we said before, Charlie grew into his love for Babe, but compared to Babe’s love for Charlie, that love is not really prevalent. Especially if you consider Babe’s trauma and assume that he really needs to be shown that he is loved — not desired, as Charlie does more often than not. Babe knows he is sought after, but at the same time, at least two people have sought after him for his body. Babe needs to be shown that he is loved, that his feelings matter. And Charlie simply does not do that — between constantly lying to Babe, taking his senses, faking his death to stop Tony practically alone, and all of his time spent at the lab. Really, if you watch the episodes thus far of season 2 closely enough, the majority of the times Babe and Charlie spend together are spent: in bed, in the lab with Charlie hooked up to a bunch of wires (or unconscious at one point), or racing. And neither the time that Babe spends on the racetrack nor the time Charlie spends at the lab is either of their faults — that is simply the way it is. Racing is important to Babe, and to other people given that Babe is a top racer in a garage that employs other people based on money brought in primarily by racing. The lab and the skill-nullifying drug is important to Charlie and to other people as well. These are both just things they have to do and yes, it is not as fair for Babe to use that against Charlie, but that’s not necessarily what Babe is doing. He finally cracks down and tells Charlie how he is feeling neglected only after Charlie gets mad and accuses him of cheating with Willy (when, mind you, what Charlie walked in on after following Babe was not consensual and is not Babe’s fault even if he sought out Willy! We are not about to start with this “he asked for it” narrative!). Meaning Babe knew all along how important the lab was and, even though he had protests primarily for the sake of Charlie’s safety, he let him do it.

Anyway, back to Charlie’s character. Do not get me wrong, I love Charlie’s character and I love Pooh as an actor. Pooh does a very good job acting as a character who was written to be so deeply stuck in this mindset of being a protector that at times it gets really toxic. And this is what I mean when I say that Charlie does not love Babe. I would argue that compared to Babe, he never really has. Yes, he wants Babe, and he loves what Babe gives him. I would say that he more so loves the fact that Babe wants him, because the second Babe gives an ounce of attention to someone that Charlie feels is cooler and better than him, even for the reason that Babe is seeking out Willy, he loses it and accuses Babe of not loving him and cheating on him. Now, I’m not going to be super harsh here. Charlie loves Babe on some fundamental level. However, it is buried deep within his own traumas and his own — often-times self-imposed — responsibilities, and Charlie absolutely needs to take some time to quit being such a martyr and unpack all of that.

“But Lizzy? Didn’t he tell Babe after he caught him with Willy that he wanted some space from Babe? And Babe didn’t even respect that!”

You are correct, he did. And Babe did not respect that, but let’s unpack that a little. Charlie did not make it clear to Babe that he wanted to take the space to work on why he so outwardly and immediately accused Babe of cheating at the first sign of him getting close to Willy (because remember, Charlie suspected Babe all along, and the reason he saw Babe and Willy together was because he had those suspicions and was following Babe). His anger was directed at Babe, and he took his ring off before he stormed off and left Babe all alone. The rings that he also bought Babe as promise rings, which clearly disappointed Babe because that man was ready to be married, because he “wanted the best for him”, when Babe completely did not care. Charlie could have given him a ring made out of twine tied around his finger and Babe would have said yes! Babe chasing after Charlie comes from being made to feel like he’s done something wrong (I could write an entirely separate article like this on Alan’s conversation with Babe after Charlie caught him alone), when if you think about it, what he did is not any different from what Charlie does all the time, on an arguably worse scale. Charlie pushing Babe away comes from his reaction to his own insecurities, which are not Babe’s responsibility to heal. Mental health does not give us an excuse to hurt people. It can be a reason, as it is for Charlie, but he hurt Babe because of his mental health, and that is his responsibility to account for.

Now, as we know a little more about Charlie’s character and have learned more about what we’re up against in the upcoming episode 8, Charlie is not going to get the time to unpack that. All I can hope for is after this little bout with Tony that they are inevitably going to face — the big end-all as you might say — the writers allow Charlie the grace to realize that, realistically if you remove the trauma, he and Babe complement each other beautifully, and they both simply need to work on themselves a bit. Whether that means some time is taken apart where there’s not still huge threats to their lives looming overhead, sure, so as long Charlie can also take the time to realize that he needs to do so to benefit himself as well as any relationship he clearly desires to have with Babe or any other person. If Babe wants to be there to support him through that and Charlie is comfortable with that, then that’s all the better.

This article was written in response to social media commentary that fired up specifically after Charlie “caught” Babe in episode 5, and commentary that continued to go in the wrong direction throughout episodes 6 and 7. Some of this commentary went as far as, as mentioned previously, victim-blaming Babe for what Willy did to him. Some went as far as demonizing Babe for not apologizing to Charlie for what he “did”, when if you think about it, either both of them have things to apologize for or neither of them do. Either we recognize that the way their characters are as well as everything they have been through make it so they have done wrongs that need to be apologized for, or we admit that they are victims of immense traumas that they are not given the grace or time to work through. Either of these are fine and both can be true at the same time! However, we must respect these choices in the manner of both Babe and Charlie. We cannot allow ourselves to demonize Babe for doing essentially the same thing as Charlie, when nobody ever says that Charlie has to apologize when he does it. This is probably because when Charlie does it, it is viewed as him protecting others, and when Babe does it, our first thought is that he’s selfish and protecting himself.

1. Babe has every single right to protect himself, and that is quite literally his characterization. He’s independent, nobody messes with him, and that’s gotten worse as people have managed to get close and hurt him. 2. Charlie is also protecting himself via his actions as well as others, and Babe investigating his suspicions of Willy (who we as the audience know is fair because we know Willy is working for Tony) does serve a purpose of self-preservation, but it also protects others, because if he does find out he was right and Willy was working with Tony? Others are in danger because of Tony being alive in the first place!

Pit Babe as a series overall has been a masterpiece to watch from a critical viewpoint and simply for entertainment, and I look forward to the remainder of the season. I feel like this world could be explored so much more in-depth that it could span at least another season and I would like to see more, but it may be difficult without repeating the same kinds of storylines. I am sure it could be done, but it would take some work. Speaking of work, however, let us as the audience allow the characters we have come to learn more about throughout this season and a half the grace that the writers have yet not been able to, and enjoy the work that Pavel, Pooh, and the rest of the cast put into these characters, storylines, and relationships. Remember to use your context and characterization from the series overall and not just what’s been happening in season 2, because season 2 Charlie and Babe are still unpacking issues from season 1. Also, remember that Charlie is not a bad boyfriend, and Babe is not a bad boyfriend, and neither are bad people!