2gether: A Série (2020)

"If you keep staring at me, I'm gonna kiss you so hard you'll drop"

There's no more iconic line when meting someone for the first time than "If you keep staring at me, I'm gonna kiss you so hard you'll drop"... Only if they could have kept that feeling all the way.

I've been watching LB for as long as I can remember and because we don't have that many live actions takes on it you kind of learn to appreciate everything its thrown to you, so I don't care much about the acting (not expecting an oscar's perfomance) nor the plot (I'm a sucker for LB cliches), and also have learn not to be SO put off by harmful stereotypes or toxic relationships. Saying all this, by episode 10 I was so done with this that I hated myself for watching it. The catch here's that is not so easy to just say that I hated it, because I absolutely loved the first 5 episodes, I can watch them everyday all day. So what, in the name of hell, went wrong? The story got drag so much it was painful to watch, the characters went from adorable dummy to insufferable stupid, there's no stop to the level of stupidity in some of this people!
The relationship went downhill just when it was beginning, it was perfect when they weren't dating but suddenly everyone was too afraid to show some feelings? some chemistry?? anything other than toxicity traits??? gosh, you realize those two were dating because they kept saying it, but girl it was not shown; my god! that pat in the head killed something inside of me!! The side stories were just rubbish, not worth a single minute of my life. ALSO, I get that in most of boy love stories the women either do not exist or are just used as plot device, but this is made for a larger audience of FEMALES they should, at least!, not used women as background figurines that can help your shitty couple to fight and made up one more time.
But the music was great, the actors were all really handsome and not half-bad at acting... and yes, that's all the good I can say. The first episodes were so good but I don't know if its worth the trouble.

Leia Mais

I was promised the "fake relationship" trope, but I just got "jealousy" as the main plot device.

Let's talk about the first half of the series:
Sarawat is supposed to act as Tine's fake boyfriend, which btw is dropped in favour of "flirting" ("wooing" would be a better translation) -- but where are the sweet gestures of love?

Until the second half of episode six, Sarawat only looks either bored or annoyed. He never looks as if he's interested in Tine, faked or not. If I were Green I wouldn't buy it either.
I only knew he would be the main love interest because the synopsis told me so. Where are the feelings? Where's the pining? Sarawat's side of the story is only told in episode 10 or 11, which is too little, too late.

Tine, the self-proclaimed "Mr Chic-Chic" is (almost aggressively) heterosexual -- his only interests are girls and songs from one band. Even when he tried to dissuade Green from pursuing him, he starts to flirt with girls in front of him and Sarawat. If he's so certain of his sexuality, there should have been more of a struggle or at least emotional imbalance until he accepts his own feelings toward Sarawat.
I had hoped the "gay for you" trope had died a silent death some twenty years ago but it seems it's still alive and kicking.
Also: Even though he's supposed to be a good cheerleader, we only see him standing around in one pose (and even that plot point is dropped in the latter half otf the series).

Jealousy is not only the main catalyst for Tine to discover his own feelings, but also the main plot device for conflict in the following episodes, which gets old very fast.

Even when Sarawat and Tine are "together", the only strong emotion they show towards each other is jealousy. No besotted smiles, no casual touches, no hugs, nothing. Where's the giddiness of new love?
They touch each other less then they touch their friends. I'm not talking about anything above a PG level of intimacy, several other BL dramas I love have only one kiss or not even that.

Tine's continued denial of Sarawat's advances make it seem as if he's not actually in love -- except if it's supposed romantic but asexual. (Which would actually be a novel and exciting concept for a romance drama, if done right!) But as the series has established Tine as somone strongly interested in (het) relationships, that can't be it.

I feel that conflicts during the series were never satisfyingly resolved, but just ended with some kind of deus ex machina device. Best examples: How Green stopped pursuing Tine; and the question if Tine's brother would accept their relationship.

Another thing that made me really frustrated with this drama is that boundaries are often disregarded. It starts with Green who gets told repeatedly his advances are not welcome -- and continues anyways. It goes on with Tine, who doesn't stop bothering Sawrawat (doesn't matter if Sarawat actually likes it or not -- what counts is what Tine knows, and Sarawat clearly tells him to go away). It doesn't stop with the side couples -- neither Sarawat's brother nor Man stop their pursuit, even after being told to leave. I can't enjoy a relationship if it feels as if one pertner just gave in to harrassment.

I'm not sure if it's just the plot or also the acting, but directing has definitely a large part in why I could not get into the series. I disliked all of the characters, there was never a moment when I rooted for any of the couples to get together. Small changes in how lovers-to-be interacted with each other would have made it a bit better, at least.

There are other points, I would have liked to talk about the female characters for example or to wonder how they manage to establish top/bottom-dynamics in all four couples without even a bit of handholding, but this review is already long enough.

All in all, I had to stop and do something else every few minutes, since the plot and the acting had me so frustrated. I just finished it because I knew I'd never pick it up again if I stopped. I'm glad it's over.

Leia Mais

I really liked this drama at the start but after a while, It got a little boring for me. I don't like how they made drama at the very end. The drama Tine and Sarawat had wasn't that big of a deal. If Tine decided to talk to Sarawat there wouldn't have been any drama. Apparently Pam was a good and supportive character in the novel. Why did they change her in the series?
Also, I wish we could've seen more of Pear. She was only used at the start of the show and disappeared for almost the rest of the show. I hate when shows only use females at the start and get rid of them. Connecting to that could they of said anything other than "hot girls" or "big boobs" like, really? That's creepy when they just stare at the girls for that. If I had boys looking at me like that I would not like that at all... I get that some people do that but it really creeped me out when Tines friends were using those things (idk what they're called) to look at the girls. Then when they said that Tine could look at hot girls to kind of get over Sarawat. Like, what? If I had boys doing that to me I would totally freak the heck out! and then when Tine's friends invited a girl over to his place and he wasn't in his place. What was that for? That really didn't make a difference for me.
About Mil and Phukong. I shipped them but Phukong was like a second choice for Mil after Tine. I didn't like that because Phukong deserves to be someone's number 1. Not just like a backup.
Also just randomly throwing in that Sarawat and Tine had brothers weren't that good. After they were introduced I completely forgot they even had brothers. That could use a little work on to make it seem like they are siblings.
But other than that I enjoyed this series

Leia Mais

If anyone of you is planning on watching this series , I don’t suggest you read my review But if you feel like you don’t want to waste your time watching a bad series , I still don’t suggest reading them?, I don’t want my opinion to have impact on people who are planning to watch this, So skip this if you can ?

Tbh I start watching this series because of the actor visual and drama popularity, I hope I am not the only one , but aside from that, this is my first bL series and I guess many of you, are also starting to watch bls because of 2gether the series, at first I really don’t have enough knowledge or any idea of how the bls world works, after spending plenty of time during quarantine, I manage to watch many Thai bls series, when I first started watching 2gether I thought it was the best bls series , but oh boy I was wrong , hahaha I bet many of u can relate to this .

?? So straight to the point , the story started off a bit ridiculous like how tine and his friend would set up stupid plan to get rid of green, although it was cliche but it was really good and interesting of how the fake relationship start, i personally love the characters sarawat, his character was just fresh and interesting, i love how the series involves an actual band and great ost, tine character was really energetic and interesting, I love how Sarawat turn this poor child gay ?, the chemistry growth between them was great, it was very cheesy involving many cringe pickup line, which make the series even more better.

But as the story possesses I started to get very disappointed and annoyed, the storyline was a bit draggy in the middle and rushy at end, like how they rush things to end on the last ep, I cannot express how disappointed I am on the last ep , yes it has a happy ending , but for me personally, it left me unsatisfied and hanging, I feel like the actor was having a bit of awkwardness on the last couples of ep, we know that the actor are straight, but I wish they could pick actor that can fulfill the series and fully committed to any character they played in, moreover the part where Pam came back, it was just stupid how tine end up crying without asking a proper question, Sarawat did not have a chance to explain the situation, both the character chemistry was such a mess , their love did not involve understanding and trusting one another, it was just a mess how the fake date is better than the real date, many people also talked about the kiss scene, let me point that up , yes I respect the actor consent about skin ship , but the director could have done a better job instead of having Sarawat to forcefully kiss tine twice , they could have gave one real kiss scene between the actors, and yes I don’t consider that a kiss scene , as a matter of fact I wish they ended the last ep with a real kiss where tine can finally express his feelings instead of waiting for Sarawat to do it .


I really want to say that this series could have done so much better, but I guess the writer and script writers decided that they’ll rather sleep after the first couples ep, what makes it more disappointing is the side couple, man and type were doing great but aside from them, I see no chemistry from the others , I feel like the director just put them there , just so they have gay couple hanging in the series , which is absolutely ridiculous, because this make the series very rushy toward the end since they have to create something out of nothing, the main couple did not have as much screen time, and If they do it would always come with the couples facing problems each time, I have to say that their chemistry suck , they’re love wasn’t as interesting as it should be, the novel was so much better , I wish the director spend more time reading then slacking off , tbh I didn’t really have the feeling to watch the last ep , it was very boring and stupid, it was sort of like filler to the series which just ruin everything from the start.


Lastly I hope there will be a season 2 where the actors are comfortable enough to do skin ship, by that I mean an actual kiss, and more chemistry between them, I wish they can be more mature to fixed their relationship problem instead of having others to get involved.

Leia Mais

Story.
The first 8 episodes had me in my feelings for both Tine and Sarawat and some of the other characters too. The series started off so great and had great potential to be even more great but the last 3 episodes ruined it for me even though they started to go downhill before that.
Jealousy?? Even though Tine and Sarawat were officially dating at this point they had begun falling for each other, or should I say Tine was falling for Sarawat. We saw the whole jealousy scene with Earn and Sarawat, So for the writers to use Pam as a plot device to make Tine jealous was just lazy and irrelevant for me because we had already seen that with Earn and Sarawat.
I don't know what happened along the way with some characters, this minute they are apart of the series and other time they completely vanish, this happened sometimes with both Tine and Sarawat's friends they only seems to be used only when needed and I wish the producer and director had used them better, I was happy to see that Tines friends were there for him when he needed them, especially Frong and same for Man and Sarawat.
Green ~ I really appreciated Green's character because as a bl fan, we don't ever get good femmie gay representation so it was refreshing to see his character, but that's about it. His character had its flaws from being stalker-ish to being just used as a tool by the writers to help Tine and Sarawat get together, silly but I guess it worked well for the first couple of episodes.
Communication ~ The communication in general is very inconsistent between the two main leads, they seem to have communicated better when they were faking their relationship, but once they became a couple the communication between the two just became non-existent. I'm not sure how the filming went prior to the release of the series airing but the main leads look slightly uncomfortable in the last few episodes compared to the earlier episodes and I found it really awkward to watch, and to even sit through that crappy end.
Oh my gosh, again where do I even start with the writers??? Sarawat character was first introduced as a confident guy who says what he feels and goes after the one he loves and will also protect that person he cares about. We see this multiple times throughout the series where he confesses to Tine, etc., yet the writers still manager to ruin his character in the end and sadly, they did the same to Tine character as well. The writer of this series is just sloppy.

Acting
In terms of acting all the actors played their roles well but I must admit I wasn't expecting much from the acting I was more interested in the story which was a huge let down. Metawin proves that he's really a hidden gem, I was very impressed by his acting after watching him, it's hard to believe that this was his first series. Bright a brilliant actor as well, don't get me wrong but I wish he had shown some more emotions in his face in this series.

Music
I loved the OSTs for this series a lot more than I thought I would have and that's a great thing, I never skipped the into or the outro of the series ever. The music again seems to have played a major role in the entire story, from being to end seeing that couple meet at a Scubbs concert and main characters favorite band is the Scrubbs, etc.

Overall, this isn't a terrible series at all but watching while it was being aired and having to wait every week for a new episode the ending came as a disappointment seeing that it had shown so much potential in the beginning. It feels a little bit more like a betrayal to fans honestly. I am not one for overally excessive sexy scenes or a lot of intamacy in bl but Tine and Sarawat should have just stayed fake dating because after they became official the two felt more like they've been in a relationship long enough and is just sticking around without any real love (if you know what I mean), sorry to say but in the last few episode I was slightly rooting for Mil his character seem to have been a better pick for Tine.

Leia Mais

This was cute and light- that's it. There are some folks who thought this was hyped too much and guess what- YALL ARE RIGHT! But for the fluff this was providing me, I appreciated it and will stand with my slightly high score of 7/10.
I started this because I need to feed my fujoshi spirit every once in a while. I thought this would provide sustenance after watching TharnType and being fully wrecked by that- this doesn't even come close lol But I found myself waiting every week for the new episode because Tine and Sarawat were just so adorable. Unfortunately the side characters didn't get too much shine and I ended up not really caring for them as time went on which NEVER happens for me. Anyways, would I recommend this? Sure. It's kiddie pool deep and the actors are good looking with a light story.

Leia Mais

Lets start off by saying this show is awesome and please watch it, just for some of the actors in it who were really good.

The story -
Average run of the mill trope (Main couple meets accidentally and guy falls in love and later tries to get said love) Then they added the fake boyfriend trope (very BL) and smushed it 2gether to make a good story that started fantastic and ended up well... lets just say that if you watch this backwards it'll be more rewarding lol.

The Acting - Characters -
Bright - Sarawat - Great voice, his acting is ok Sarawat as a character really isnt that interesting until the end and that was only in one episode. There were plenty of times that his face didnt match the mood i kept thinking in parts"is he angry? wait is he happy?" and it looked like he always was smirking it was weird.. he still hot lol
Win Metawin - Tine- The star in my opinion i had no expectations from him because I've never really heard of him but damn i enjoyed watching him develop and the way he used his expressions to add to the scene omg i love him lol
guy is gonna skyrocket in anything he does. If he does more BLs he'll rank up there with the other BL legends. Lets hope he gets a better role or if they get bright and him to do another show that they allow them more freedom to express especially Bright
Gun - Green - Played a flamboyant character to the fullest very tropey but he did a fantastic job at it and i have a soft spot for him lol kinda left out after the main get together. Loved his interactions with Dim the very little amount they got
Drake - Mil - I love Drake but i don't what happened to this role it was kinda all over the place. Is he bad, is he good, is he nice? He likes tine but then they kinda shows affection to Phukong (btw tragic character but thats later) lots of mixed signals and at the end had a bit more chemistry with Tine then Saraway did lol Either way Drake did good.
Frank - Phukong - Jesus talk about the raw end of the deal this character is tragic as all hell the whole show he pines for Mil and gets spit on and trampled lol with a very lazy ending for them wtf was that hes the second "option" and hes ok with >.> Frank needs a better role dammit anyways was a good effort for Frank he did his best with a character that really didn't do much besides being desperate for a guy that just doesn't want him.
Mike - Man - Actually quite enjoyed man, Mike did a great job especially his first BL role (i think its his first i could be mistaken), His interactions with Type were albeit a little disturbing at some points stalkerish lol but he redeems himself by bot doing the tropey kiss and or touch a drunk Type (you get a thumbs up writers! but that doesnt excuse that ending)...
Toptap - Type - I liked what i saw of the character what very little we got he actually got to act in the end half of the series which wasn't the best half lol he played him as the hard doting older brother (which is hilarious when you put the gigantic Win next to the smaller Toptap, I actually liked that)
Guy - Dim - played the club president wasn't super impactful (The GOOD he showed us hes a true friend to sarawat the BAD he hurts Green? did they skip over that idk maybe im just overthinking or did they interpret the words incorrectly.) Anyways Guy is lovely and its good that he got another role i wish he had more screen time with Gun.
Gunsmile - playing Gunsmile lol its Gunsmile cmon he awesome just being funny lol he plays Boss which is pretty much just him
Nene - Air - I loved he interaction with everyone, especially Tine & Dim, she didn't get much screen time but when she did she was fantastic!
Khaotung - Fong - This took me by surprise i thought he was just going to be a background character like the rest of Tines gang but he actually provides character development to both Tine and Sarawat. More roles for Khaotung please!
The rest of the cast were pretty much background characters, they show up do some parts, either never show up again and/or have no meaningful impact in the story lol sorry

The Music-
Holy bonkers the music is great Bright is a good singer (hes not a technical super gifted vocalist but he has a really nice sound) Also this show has gifted us the music of Scrubb a new generation has found appreciation for this band that alone gives this show at least half its rating.

Rewatch Value -
Watch the first half until they become a couple then stop you'll thank me later lol

Lets talk about that ending.. who in their right mind thought "hey you know what a romantic comedy should end on? A kiss? A hug? A warm and deep Embrace? No even better! A Fucking High Five :D" WHAT?! it left everyone deflated and scratching their heads thinking were they actually a couple? or were really good friends that lived together and "accidentally" kissed once or twice. It lacked a lovers spark after they got "2gether" idk what happened its like they got married after 40 years and now they are at the friend phase of relationship, they aren't physical with each other but they do still love each other >.>What started out with a bang ended with a clap.. of two hands.
It was a great ride, air conditioning, great music, good snacks.. then they hit a road bump.. and then they get a flat and at the end they drove very close to the cliff and then proceeded to drive off it, but hey the trip was great along the way before we fell of the cliff :D

7/10!

Leia Mais

Never 2gether

I was very surprised by all the negative reviews here as I have always heard 2gether praised as a wonderful BL drama and, of course, Bright/Win is a major ship. Having finally watched it, I can confidently say...I don't get it. Any of it. The story after the first couple of episodes is god awful. The level of miscommunication and lack of character devolvement is just astounding. As for Bright and Win, like the vast majority of BL actors, they're attractive, but unlike a number of other BL actors I could name, they're not overly talented so I don't understand the hype. So as far as I'm concerned, 2gether is severely overrated.

The story starts out promising and relatively cute. It was fun, I liked the characters and progression, and then suddenly, Tine and Sarawat make the move to an actual relationship and everything just folds. The chemistry they had during their fake relationship is gone, the character development is gone, the entertainment is mostly gone and suddenly we're dealing with a lot of angst and paranoia and just general BS. But what it lacks, and it lacks it in spades, is communication. There is constant miscommunication between the two because they simply will not open their mouths to talk. Rather than sitting down to have an actual conversation, Tine resorts to stupid methods like flipping a coin to ask Sarawat questions or going through Sarawat's phone. And Sarawat knows what's up, but rather than getting a handle on things before they get out of hand, he just ignores it. Tine's also constantly suspicious of Sarawat's actions which Sarawat doesn't help by doing an excellent impression of a clam. They just sabotage themselves and each other at every turn and it's utterly ridiculous to watch.

Their characters also just devolve. Tine starts out as this sassy, confident young man and by the end he's practically a shadow of his former self. He's constantly paranoid and uncertain of where he stands with Sarawat, he lacks confidence, and in that end scene, he's almost simpering. Like, please bring back the bad ass who went head to head with Sarawat at the beginning. And Sarawat just became progressively more and more wishy-washy. When they were fake dating, he was ready to go head to head with people, but when they're actually dating, he lets the likes of Pam get between them. Which don't even get me started on that whole trope of bringing back the ex-girlfriend to stir up drama. It was just so disappointing to see.

The side relationships were thrown in far too late and/or given far too little attention to add anything meaningful. Man and Type's relationship was severely rushed especially there towards the end and both theirs and Phukong and Mil's felt very shallow. I never got a good impression of why Man and Phukong were so obsessively attracted to Type and Mil respectively aside from they were attractive and had a generic moment of kindness. I really couldn't care much about whether they got together or not because they just weren't believable to me as couples.

I know I've seen a lot of complaints about the lack of physical intimacy between Tine and Sarawat. Personally, that didn't bother me. We have so many dramas these days with heavy make out scenes or downright NSFW scenes, that it was kind of refreshing to have a distinct lack of that. Not every relationship is going to be defined by one or both people wanting to jump the other's bones. Intimacy can be shown in a variety of different ways. The problem here is that Tine and Sarawat are supposed to be boyfriends and there is almost no intimacy of any kind. Again, I'm not talking about physical intimacy like kissing or hugging or even hand holding. I'm talking about things like little touches, eye contact, doing things for one another, spending time with each other one on one, etc. Those kinds of things can convey a level of intimacy as well. Instead, they just seemed uncomfortable whenever they had to be in too close of proximity to each other after that transition to boyfriends and I really don't understand it.

The acting of the leads wasn't anything impressive. However, since this was Win's first main acting role, he did a serviceable job. He definitely has room to grow though. Considering the number of roles he's had since, I'm hoping he's improved. I would have expected a lot more from Bright with his experience but he was just very wooden throughout. Maybe that was deliberate, but even if you're playing a wooden character, there needs to be some flexibility and expression and he just really lacked that. Mike, Drake, and Khaotung were the standouts. Mike is always good at bringing in the laughs and this time was no different. His character was a little more forced this go around, but I still thought he did a good job though I preferred him when he wasn't pursuing Type. Drake is such a versatile actor, he deserves more main roles. He always brings his A game though and this time was no different. And I love Khaotung. He plays the sympathetic characters so well and I really loved how he portrayed Fong here. He balanced the teasing and softness really well.

The music was superb. I had never heard of Scrubb before, but I am now a fan as I'm sure many who've watched this drama are. If nothing else, this drama wasn't a total waste of time since I found some new music.

I am going to be very frank and say that 2gether was still pretty much a waste of time. I can generally find something redeemable about most dramas I watch, but this is a tough one. I think the fact that it was so hyped makes it harder for me to reconcile how truly disappointing it was. If you're looking for a good story, skip it. If you're looking for NSFW scenes, this is definitely not for you. If you're simply looking for attractive actors and good music, then you might enjoy this. Basically anything else, it's really not worth your time.

Leia Mais

As I’ve a couple of the reviews, some were quite harsh and some gave reviews that were almost too good to apply to the story.

Just to cover this up. This is a personal Preference but usually I’m someone who would most likely skip side stories, sometimes side stories seem like just a way to distract you from the main storyline and take up space. However, If there were maybe only one side story, it would be a lot more bearable. With just two storylines it would provide more room for chemistry and screen time for both couples and since you would learn more and spend more time with those characters who are deeply involved, you would then be more interested in the story.

Ok, My first Impression of this was that past bl’s that i’ve watched have never really been like this bl before. It was just somehow different. I literally binge watched it all through the night, however when It got around the end is when my expectations started running low and i get disappointed all over again. By past Bl’s what i meant was when they fully rush into a relationship without the much needed chemistry for it and they add way too much fluff, to the point where it’s unrealistic and there’s alway a fight between the two characters (Ehem Tharntype) I get the cute little lesson that ‘not all relationships are perfect‘ and ‘little things always happens to relationships and ones that over come them will last long’. But those go to a certain length to build a relationship up, at the point they were going they might’ve actually just broken up, realistically speaking. With all the paranoia and distrust.

To my last point, I read another reviewer beautiful put. There was no chemistry between the two and they seemed like more of a friendship than a romantic relationship. I suppose it was how his character was or some sort but “Tine” was a little too reserved to be open to a gay relationship, I get that he was one straight and somehow thrown into his feelings for Sarawat but they could have at least made it believe able that he was able to love a man. Both the characters showed limited amounts of skin ships, Which was how it was in towards the end, It should be different for a show, Even if a show is not looking well in the beginning it should be able to turn up at the end However this show was just not that. After hearing that It was Both of their first Bl’s, I was a lot less upset at the actors and rather look towards the directors or crew, They should be able to direct them on how to actually make them look like a couple. The exact scene where After Tine was lost in the woods and then they came back to the bust, Sarawat sharing the past should’ve been something that made them even closer, however after they had finished speaking, Sarawat finished the conversation with none other than the old brotherly pat on the shoulder.. That was honestly an awkward scene and parts of their relationship became even more awkward at the end, Also the guy who was making attempts at stealing Tine, The guy with the eyebrows, was absolutely frustrating.

Also, I hope I’m not the only one who skips side stories.. don’t criticize me one it lmao.

Leia Mais

"With greater popularity comes greater love & criticism. Let's high five to this" - Bright & Win

Even though this drama failed to meet my expectations in the end, I will say I'm still happy that I had something to look forward to each week during this long quarantine time. Also, I have not read the 2gether novel so my opinions will be based on the drama itself and my personal judgement is not clouded by how handsome both Bright and Win are as individuals, what matters to me is the story and how it's presented by the cast and production staff.

STORY:

We start off with a silly concept: Please be my fake boyfriend so my gay admirer will give up on pursuing me. The concept calls for comedy as Tine gets caught up in various situations as his admirer Green tries to win his heart. After much persuasion, Tine gets popular heartthrob Sarawat to become his fake boyfriend all while slowly falling for him himself and as their relationship grows, we begin to learn that Green may not be the only one trying to win Tine's heart.

The first 7-8 episodes seemed to be the strongest even though our main leads were not even in a real relationship. Chemistry, tension, entertainment factor, etc.. It was all superior to the second half and that's that the affection they showed was minimal. But I rewatched these episodes the most because as the series progressed, the direction of the series started to plummet. The relationships between side characters were seriously underdeveloped, especially Mil and Phukong's story, making their final outcomes in the last episode seem very forced and unrealistic.

Certain conflicts between Tine and Sarawat fell flat or weren't given the proper direction, with the most prominent being the issue regarding Sarawat's first love Pam in the final episodes. Tine and Sarawat never got an actual scene by themselves to openly talk to get a better understanding of each other and closure to their feelings on the situation. Instead we got a round-about way of explaining things through interactions with other people and a ton of flashbacks. Poor direction lead to out-of-character moments from Sarawat. There were barely any scenes with the main leads actually together then suddenly we were rushed into the band competition which didn't show much of a competition at all aside from Sarawat's song to Tine with questionable lyrics, a quick and oddly distant "ok we're back together" moment, and then the series ended. And don't even get me started with that high five.

The final episode of the series was like a gift someone wrapped with no real care or thought: Sure they wrapped it up, but there are many holes and when you open the gift to see the final result, you're left speechless because there's literally nothing inside.

ACTING:

Here's where I found much of my criticism if I ignore the directing. Bright and Win are great, but not great as a couple. An couple in love should be able to show their feelings whether they kiss or not, but this was something they couldn't pull off together onscreen. Actors should be able to portray their characters feelings, but it seemed that the actors themselves were outside of their comfort zone when it came to being romantically close and it transferred to the drama itself. While viewers could somewhat sense some distance as the drama progressed, the second half showed just how awkward it really was because their characters now required them to show affection and feelings of love towards each other. Once Sarawat and Tine were in an actual relationship, the little chemistry Bright and Win had started to visibly fall apart at a fast rate. You could tell they weren't comfortable being too close: we were given distant hugs, distant head pats, and the worst of all that high five from hell in the finale (lmao I'm sorry, but I still can't get over it). They were literally in a "long-distance" relationship.

Various climatic scenes that could've been perfect had their been a kiss or hug to highlight their love for each other were poorly executed and fell short because they did nothing but keep their distance. Another distant head pat. Another lets just smile at each other at a distance, or I love you, but let's keep a gap between us. Even the little scenes of Man and Type's speedy relationship in the final episode displayed more closeness and chemistry than Sarawat and Tine. There's nothing wrong with hugs or head pats and regardless of the tv rating, it's the way these gestures were executed that was very distant and lifeless for these two characters who are supposed to be in a romantic relationship.

On a somewhat positive side, I was pleasantly surprised by Win's acting since this is his first drama and I personally feel his performance outmatched Bright's by far, especially when it came to any emotional scenes. Crying? He can do it. Sadness? He can do it. When Tine is happy, he can easily show it. Bright on the other hand, not so much. Any scene that required deep emotions from Sarawat didn't work well which made it difficult to figure out his thoughts or feelings, at least for me. Sarawat has a more serious demeanor than Tine and Bright did well in those scenes, but anything emotionally complex such as sadness seemed difficult for him to portray. There's a scene in the final episode where it seems like he should be crying or looking deeply saddened while he stands in the middle of the road after Tine's departure, but they had him covering his face and even turning his back to the camera to cover up his inability to shed a tear and pull off those emotions.

REWATCH VALUE:

This is not a perfect BL drama, it's lacking in many ways but it's also not as terrible as others are making it seem. I know people are angry, their expecations were really high for a drama so widely watched and talked about. I myself was left bitter and underwhelmed at the end. But it's still a good watch. There's still comedy, handsome characters, sweet scenes of Sarawat serenading Tine with his voice and guitar, and is overall a very light show of romance. Almost invisible even lol If I watched this again, I would ignore most of the 2nd half because those episodes were poorly done. I really like Bright and Win, they made a visually stunning couple, but sadly they couldn't pull off a believable couple in love like I hoped they would. Hopefully they can improve if they ever decide to be in another BL drama, but this drama showed clear proof that they both aren't ready to portray a gay relationship.

Leia Mais