Enchanté (2022)

Exceeded my expectations

I am not quite sure why I see such negative reviews for this series. Admittedly, I had rather low expectations for it and even considered not watching it at all; but one week before the finale I got curious and watched it. My expectations were definitely exceeded! I will explain why I felt like this was an above-average GMMTV production.

First, aspects I didn’t like:
- Even though it only had 10 episodes, the series felt lengthy throughout. Fewer or at least shorter episodes could have helped to avoid some repetitive and just overly slow moments. I like moments of calm, but the story should not get boring because of them. In contrast, the last part of the finale in Paris went way too quick and should have been extended significantly, to make the ending more believable.
- The supposed main plot, the search for Enchanté, didn’t manage to pique my curiosity. I must say that I was surprised by the revelation and did think it was quite a clever twist, but the build-up to that moment just didn’t work the way it should have.
- The main character remained a bit too shallow. While I do not agree that Theo was being overly manipulative and therefore didn’t deserve a happy ending, he should have been given more depth. His character shone through in some rare actually emotional moments, but overall he didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Still, I find it somewhat believable that a rich and overprotected boy like him would be as naive and awkward and make use of unconventional methods, while also relying on others a lot.

But the positive aspects to me were much more prominent:
- The French theme was taken seriously. I imagined they would use the French connection as a mere gimmick to give an otherwise bland story a hint of originality. But they successfully integrated French elements into the soundtrack, some essential dialogues and central symbols (the fox and the rose), and even went for a finish in front of the Eiffel Tower. Sure, this is all pretty cliché, but it worked very well.
- The locations were beautiful. The campus of Assumption University looks stunning, and the scenes in France made up for the lack of the usual mandatory beach scenes. The shots at the democracy monument at night and Theo’s home also contributed to a coherent visual concept.
- The storytelling was surprisingly clever with its use of short flashbacks and changes of perspective, significantly upgrading an otherwise often boring story. The revelation of Enchanté and the background stories of the four admirers were clearly enhanced through the skillful storytelling. The good cinematography played its part as well, the colours and camera angles always fit very well with the story.
- Whenever the series got into emotional territory, it hit all the right notes. Acting-wise, it was Force who carried those moments. For the rest, music, symbols (rose and fox) and several moments of unspoken, but very noticeable thought processes contributed to some truly touching and even tear-jerking moments.

Therefore, all things considered, I will admit that this is not an outstanding and flawless series, not at all. But visual excellence, clever storytelling and a good use of the main theme made up for an unexciting story and some weak characters. Especially for its emotional moments, I will definitely keep a fond memory of Enchanté!

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Décevant

Les + :
- les acteurs, je suis vraiment surprise par le jeu de ForceBook, c'est leur premier drama ensemble, et ils sont étonnants de naturel et de complicité (ce qui s'entend quand on sait qu'ils se sont connus à la maternelle et sont amis depuis de longues années). Leur couple est convaincant, sympathique et beau. Les seconds couteaux sont également mignons comme tout, et c'est délicieux de voir Aou, Boom, Fluke et Gawin. Et Aun et Jimmy. Tant mieux, car le drama repose uniquement sur eux.
- L'OST est vraiment sympa. Chantée notamment par Tay et Gawin, il y a un petit côté jazzy, mélancolique et français qui colle bien à la série.
- Ça m'a plu qu'un livre soit l'un des personnages centraux de l'histoire. Le drama a une atmosphère agréable et douce, renforcée par l'utilisation de mots français souvent assez charmants, notamment dans la bouche de Book.

Les - :
- Le scénario. Très faible, il n'est qu'un prétexte aux échanges entre les différents garçons. Si ça peut se tenir grâce au "mystère" du personnage Enchanté, sa résolution est un plouf monumental. Et à partir de là, ça va de mal en pis...
- Le déroulé et développement de l'histoire : je me suis ennuyée par moments, ce qui pose la question du montage et de son dynamisme.
- La fin : j'avais lu quelques critiques négatives quand la série était sortie, que je n'ai pas particulièrement comprises au visionnage du drama, il n'est pas particulièrement intéressant mais c'est mignon alors pourquoi bouder son plaisir... et puis la fin est arrivée. C'est bien un happy ending, mais j'ai tendance à bloquer sur certains détails et à attendre une ou deux choses des personnages de BL, or l'un des personnages d'Enchanté n'a pas répondu à mes attentes, donc la fin m'a vraiment refroidie et déplu.

Les +/- :
- Le Paris de carton-pâte : bon, évidemment comme dans 75% des BL thaï, l'un des protagonistes est super riche. Donc on a droit à l'hôtel particulier, et à tout ce qui fait Paris dans l'imaginaire populaire, particulièrement étranger, la nourriture, l'art, les livres, la tour Eiffel, le Louvre etc. Paris est recréé en studio version années 1950. Pour quelqu'un qui a vécu de longues années à Paris, et ce depuis sa plus tendre enfance, Theo a vraiment un accent et un débit du français peu vraisemblables, sans compter les personnages "français" qui ont un accent. Mais la langue française est utilisée à bon escient et sans erreur grammaticale ou de vocabulaire ce qui est vraiment louable. En gros, le Paris d'Enchanté n'est absolument pas crédible, mais ça a un côté drôle et attendrissant de naïveté.

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I Enjoyed Watching This!

I'm not sure what's with the shade thrown by the audience into this drama :p I enjoyed watching the series. And I had to rewatch it because the-characters-acting-a-certain-way made more sense the second time around! I actually find the story quite unique. It's not the typical "commercial" plot. I had to take a pause in some of the episodes to fully digest what was going on because, in hindsight, I was also making some analogies with The Little Prince :p. The unlocking of who Enchante is kept me glued to the screen. I enjoyed looking for clues and taking guesses while analyzing each character's personality and thought process. Lastly, I REALLY appreciate the cast here. This includes the side characters. They actually did a good job portraying their roles. So I really hope to see them all together in another show. This is my first ForceBook series, and I must say, I can't help but ask for more of them cus I'm telling you, they're amazing! Segue: Good thing there's "A Boss & A Babe" airing right now, which left an impression on me because ForceBook's characters are quite the opposite of their characters in Enchante.

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Amazingly cute, but a lot of missed potential

A story about a mysterious love interest found in a book, who is Enchanté? Side note; the actual identity of Enchanté completely surprised me tbh. Anyway here are my thoughts.

The cast of Akk and Theo is brilliant, Force and Book did an amazing job and their chemistry is beautiful, they are friends since childhood after all. The characters are well-acted and believable. However, I did massively dislike that most of the love interests were liars and opportunists. It's a realistic scenario, but it's not super fun to watch and you just feel bad for Theo and Akk.

Akk is lovely and perfect. The series tells you he isn't but like... look at him! Always ready to help, super handsome, funny, serious, like there is literally no flaw. Theo is likable, but he is naive. There are times that I am surprised by his wariness however lol, he doesn't let someone take advantage of him so easily. Besides this, Theo makes some questionable decisions, especially in episodes 9 and 10, but he is a cutie at the end. Still should have treated Akk better throughout though.

The music is absolutely gorgeous, both "Je t'aime à la folie" as well as "Enchanté" are beautiful songs, some of the best I have heard in a BL ever. The music helps to bring the mood together and to feel invested.

I enjoyed this BL but compared to other GMM TV BLs such as Bad Buddy, 2gether, Fish upon the sky, 1000 stars etcetera, this one feels inferior. Perhaps because of the story and annoying plot points, as the scenes that focus on Akk and Theo are lovely. The parts involving the four Enchanté's are curious at times and boring or annoying at others. It would have been a better series if there was less Enchanté's and there was more of Akk and Theo. Not that there are few moments of theirs, but it feels too long until they take each other seriously. I am excited to see more of ForceBook, and hope that their next series is only great.

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Entertaining watch

I honestly don't understand all the hate this series gets. It was highly entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery aspect of it in the search for Enchanté's identity. It filled the time of the series really well (especially since we already know who Theo is going to end up with anyway) by creating the drama somewhere else rather than constantly throwing things at the MC like other dramas do. Yes there was a little bit of potential crushes looking to get with Theo but I personally liked how all the 4 Enchanté's had different reasons for claiming to be him.

The fact that Akk was willing to help, despite his surfacing feelings for Theo, also made us wonder if perhaps Akk was in fact Enchanté and hoping to prove to Theo that he was there all along. It helps showcase the care and investment Theo and Akk have in each other while teaming up to solve the mystery while also realizing their feelings along the way. And, personally, I didn't see a hint of it coming when they finally revealed who the real Enchanté was. I was even going so far as to guess it could be his father trying to anonymously befriend him to sway his feelings on trying to keep the literature program going. (Spoiler alert: it's not the father.)

I thought the acting was well done, especially by the supporting cast. I felt like everyone bounced off each other really well and all the clashes of personalities and motives made for an entertaining watch. In truth, I think they probably could have gone on with the different stories from all 4 Enchanté's a little longer, which is rare for me. Normally, I'm thinking a series could have been a lot shorter because most of the "filler" is unnecessary or boring or repetitive or a combination thereof. But here, I was so curious in all of their reasons and would have been just as happy to see more of it explained. I feel like out of the 4, Saifa got the least amount of explanation but it kind of makes sense once you find out his involvement.

(Can you tell I'm trying really hard not to say who Enchanté is?)

Speaking of which, I would suggest, if possible, watch the series without finding out who Enchanté beforehand. I admit, normally I am one to check spoilers and such but with this series, I managed to hold myself off and I think that really lent itself to the enjoyment of the watch. That being said, I'm actually looking forward to watching this series again in the near future to see if I can spot extra hints, now knowing what I know.

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This series is actually really good if you’d ask me. People don’t talk enough about Enchanté The Series…

I am slightly sad that many watchers find this series a waste of time.
But of course, people have their own opinions and I respect it so I’m not gonna argue.

For me, this series is wonderful and underrated.
The story was not interesting at first but it kept getting more better in each episode.

The actors did very well and I admit that their performance is great!
They acted out their character very well and worked hard.

Everyone did a good job filming the series.

Enchanté might be my new favorite.

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Adorable... mas no la mas memorable...

Esta es la historia de dos mejores amigos de la infancia, uno que se fue a vivir a Francia y el otro quedo en Tailandia y su reencuentro. La historia gira en el regreso de a Tailandia de Theo y de encontrar un "admirador" secreto con el que esta compartiendo mensajes mediante un libro, y deberá averiguar quien es el verdadero entre 4 chicos que dicen ser Enchante. Junto a su amigo Akk, buscara quien es realmente el verdadero entre ellos.

Me acabo de ver esta serie, en su momento cuando se estaba emitiendo no la vi, pero en estos días me dio ganas de verla.

La verdad es que la historia es simple, pero adorable, fue el primer trabajo de Fort y Book como ship, y yo que conozco su trabajo actual, debo decir que han mejorado muchísimo su actuación en los últimos años, ojo, no quiere decir que actuaron mal aquí, pero si se compara con otros trabajos de ellos, puedo decir que han mejorado.

La historia en si es simple, y en cierto punto pensé que era total mente predecible, no se si fui la única, que no espero quien era en realidad Enchante que tanto busca, al inicio pensé que sabia quien era, y pues me equivoque . Me reí a momentos y la verdad es una historia tierna que te la puedes tirar en un solo fin de semana (como hice yo) es linda y la musica me encanta, me enamore de este OST desde que lo escuche en el 2022, sin ver la serie, y ahora que la vi, la seguiré amando porque es muy buena.

Es una serie para ver si no quieres grandes dramas y la quieres pasar bien y relajarte un momento, al menos para mi fue adictiva, porque la verdad, me puse a verla un sábado y ya la había terminado el domingo. No creo que sea la serie mas memorable, pero solo el tiempo me dirá, si lo fue o no, ya que las series con las que no conecto se terminan olvidando, asi que solo el tiempo me dirá si fue memorable para mi.

Seguiré ansiando ver mas trabajo de este ship.

Leia Mais

Maybe the ONLY BL that doesn't deserve a happy ending.

I went into this with low expectations and I'm glad I did. Because seriously, what the fuck was this? It started out so great with the whole who is Enchante plot, then the reveal and episodes 8-10 ruined the entire drama for me,

What I loved:

Akk.
NO ONE deserves this man. He was loyal, loving, cute, looked like he carried the entire weight of the world on his shoulders but still had time to be the best boyfriend in BL history. Just too bad he had to suffer with ending up with a terrible partner.
The funny moments.
I'll give this show a pass because its funny moments were great thanks to Akk. (see how it always circled back to him?)

And this is the end of what was likable about this drama.

What I hated:

That fucking soft toned filter.

Theo.
He's possibly the worse character. He never apologized to Akk. He blamed him for not telling him about his parents' divorce (which wasn't for him to tell), and then for ghosting him, then to freaking up and LEAVE him and then lastly not even introducing Akk as his boyfriend to Sun. And just overall treating him like shit even though he did nothing wrong. Then there's also him acting like a literal child and trying to force his parents back together. Akk told him to respect their decision and he didn't.
The Plot.
The entire premise of this drama was stupid. It's basically a story about a man who returned to Thailand, did the most elaborate plot to basically get a love confession out of his best friend, to then UP AND LEAVE HIM. Who does that??
The Harem
This was quite possibly the worst harem that had ever "harem-ed". Three out of the four guys were problematic as hell and only one, which was the singer, who had no ill intentions, got roped into joining forces with Theo to deceive Akk.
The Reveal
I mean, if you think about it, Natee told us who Enchante was from the very beginning with all the portraits he painted. What they SHOULD'VE done, was just make Akk as the reveal, even though we know it would be the obvious choice. Kinda like how Fish Upon A Sky went and scratch the entire lying thing OR just showed Theo coming back and courting the guy.
The Ending
Ain't no FUCKING WAY, the writers should've made Akk be the one to make the trip and apologize. THEO should have done that. Akk did NOTHING wrong but love this dumbass. Maybe the one time I wanted a sad ending for this drama.

In conclusion, this could've been better, but they ruined it by giving us a TERRIBLE male lead.

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I don´t really understand the "hate" this series gets :/

I mean like was it the best BL? Deffinitely NOT. Was it the worst? NO.

Actually overall it´s pretty nice, cute series but there were some parts when i wanted it to end. Like seriously after around 6th episode I wanted to skip some parts but I still was really into it. I did skip something but just a few moments and nothing important.

The story was okay i guess..?
It was just quiet weird to see 5 men "liking" the same man (I am not saying it´s impossible) and just doing what they were doing.
I also didn´t really like the thing that they mentioned France and Enchanté like 1000 times lmao. Ofc nothing against France, it was just cringe and weird for me to hear it all the time. Yes i get it, the main character basically grew up there but still...

Acting was the best thing about this series ngl. It wasn´t perfct but it was good enough for me to feel something towards the characters. But one thing that i´m not sure about is, if we were supposed to hate the other 4 guys or not. Well if we were supposed to kinda like hate them, then I failed cuz I actually kidna liked the one who likes drawing ( ops :> ) .

Agh the music... Usually I don´t really pay much attention to music so I also didn´t do it here but after a few episodes it felt like they just play the same music over and over again and it was pretty annoying. It´s not such a big deal tho

Rewatch value is 4 because I think if I was really bored, I would watch it just for fun and good looking men and the one teacher ( she was gorgeous! ) lol. What I want to say is that I would still rather rewatch this than Kissable Lips ( thats was killing my braincells lol sorry if anyone geniouly likes it )

So yeah, like I said before, overall pretty decent series ( bonus: good looking people :> )

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la gente credo voglia tropo dalla vita.

allora, io mi chiedo, perché la gente vuole troppo da alcuni drama? (questa sarà una recensione trasversale, nel senso che essendo un comportamento che ho notato anche per altri drama citerò anche quelli) questa storia non si presuppone nulla di complesso: due amici di lunga data si rincontrano dopo che uno dei due per varie (e un po’ vaghe) ragioni si trasferisce in Francia e da questo incontro nascono sentimenti, si scoprono le vere ragioni dietro ad alcuni comportamenti e alla fine tutto finisce bene (con Kudos alla comparsa del mio dottore preferito Jummy). fine, non è la trama più ricercata del mondo, ma non pone i presupposti per esserlo, un po’ come Star in my Mind e Hidden Agenda, non vogliono definirsi le nuove pietre miliari della storia del BL tailandese, quindi non comprendo perché la gente debba lamentarsi quando una serie non fa più di quello che aveva anticipato. ovviamente non tutte le serie possono essere come Not Me o Never Let Me Go o The Eclipse (o chi più ne ha più ne metta) quindi perché cercare in altre serie le caratteristiche di altre? sopratutto quando nessuno ha detto che queste serie le devono avere. perché ci può essere la serie più easy, come la serie più impegnata, la serie più spinta e quella meno, i gusti delle persone sono differenti e come credo sia giusto che ci debbano essere cose che possono appagarli tutti. ripeto, non a tutti possono piacere storie ambientate nel mondo della mafia, come non a tutti possono piacere quelle universitarie, e va bene perché siamo persone differenti. bene finita la mia tirata andiamo a vedere un po’ la storia: allora, come ho detto la trama non è nulla di troppo speciale, devo dire che ho apprezzato molto la “ricerca di Enchanté” proprio perché si sviluppa attorno a 4 persone che di facciata sembrano perfetti, ma che in realtà non lo sono. l’unica cosa che non mi è piaciuta della trama è la parte sul divorzio, io capisco che Theo sia un personaggio naive e che vive in un mondo di libri però devo dire non sono fan delle scene cringe dove si cerca di far rimettere assieme i genitori, ma questa sono sempre io. avrei preferito che la fine della serie coincidesse con la graduation di Theo e lui che decide, per una ragione o per l’altra di andare in Francia. Theo non è un personaggio perfetto e va bene perché noi non siamo perfetti e come veniamo cresciuti credo influisca sul nostro modo di vedere le cose. poi quel cucciolo di Akk, partendo dal presuppposto che si va ad aggiungere al pullman di green flag che ho visto in questi ultimi BL, come puoi stupirti se Theo si arrabbia se tu non gli hai detto che i suoi stanno divorziando? ecco questa è l’unica cosa che ho da ridire su di lui perché per il resto è la tipica green flag, carina e bellina e che nel finale decide di trasferirsi in Francia per il suo Theo, ma non solo (e questa è una delle cose che ho più apprezzato di lui). lui va in Francia sia per stare con Theo sia per il suo master, per avere più opportunità nel futuro, un po’ come Palm che decide di seguire il suo “one and only”, non solo per stargli vicino, ma anche perché vuole migliorarsi e migliorare le sue prospettive future, per meritarsi di stare accanto a una persona “importante” come Theo o Nueng. poi praise a tutti gli attori, tra cui Force e Book che sono fra i pochi pair di attori che vedo molto validi anche come amici. e uno direbbe “grazie al cocomero”, infatti. però molte volte nei friends to lovers la parte friends non è sottolineata per avere sostanzialmente due persone che si orbitano intorno e che si mandano sex eyes ogni dieci minuti. ecco Force e Book, forti molto probabilmente del fatto che sono amici da 16 anni rendono valida anche la parte iniziale dove sono amici (perché si Theo sapeva dei suoi sentimenti per Akk, ma non il contrario). poi il colpo di scena, checché ne dicano i più è vero che è abbastanza palese, ma è fatto bene e viene rivelato all’unica persona che doveva scoprirlo.
overall quindi una serie carina, leggera (con un Fluke quasi nudo che esce da una pesca e un Jimmy sporadico nelle ultime due puntate) che merita di avere una possibilità.

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