Enchanté (2022)

Enchante Was Enchanting

This series was adorable. It gave me an unproblematic BL couple with a really interesting plot and side stories. I'm not sure what a lot of BL fans were expecting going into this? But it doesn't deserve some of the hate I've seen.

First of all, a Thai/French BL sounded interesting right off the bat. I know quite a bit of French myself being French Canadian and I've been binging A LOT of "Emily in Paris" lol. So I delved right into this. Hearing French dialogue was cool, they got a few people who were clearly French speakers to show up in this. Also Book who plays Theo actually sounded pretty good speaking French as well. Though I really wish they could've somehow had scenes actually set in France. Or at least make it look realistic instead of green screened at the end. It wasn't the worst, but there just could've been more convincing ways of doing it. However, this was made up mostly by the gorgeous filming locations they found in Thailand. That campus they used was stunning! As well as the music in this had French flair to it so it's fine.

I really liked the leads Force and Book's back-and-forth. It was really sweet and made Akk and Theo feel more real. It wasn't crazy chemistry like TharnType level, but I could rebinge this series just for the frosting on this sweet relationship. Also that first kiss had solid emotion in it so I believed it! The plot overall was interesting. Not super drawn out. I liked that even though I thought it was going to be Akk all along who was Enchante I was wrong. The series said, hey we're gonna flip it so it's actually Theo doing it to himself all along! Good job for that twist. I also liked that the fake suitors weren't just "villains" or depthless. They were fleshed out and had interesting side stories going on. The one (Natee) even got an implicated romantic interest so that was cute!

Theo's parents divorce plot was actually well done too and engaging. It's understandable he's upset at Akk for not telling him, thereby going to his friend for help and try to get his parents back together. Which is obviously not how it works, but I understand the thought/emotional response behind it. I wish though that this kind of drama wasn't always saved until the very end of a series. At least there was no stupid misunderstanding cheating scandal fight. Akk and Theo reconcile pretty quickly and even though Theo moves back to France, Akk follows him. There's a proposal and it made me think of a Disney movie in the best way! One that we all want, free the gay!

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A Tale Of a Spoiled Little Prince and His Caregiver I mean Lover...

This is the story about Saint Akk and The Spoiled Little Prince Theo... Who Go on an adventure to find Enchanté a mysterious creature who lives inside a book... ok not inside a book but a guy everybody wants to be so they can get close the The Little Spoiled Prince... If they only knew how much of a spoiled little brat he is they may change their mind...

The story itself is kind of new and pretty interesting ,the side characters and Enchanté wannabes are mostly skippable, except for Saint Akk´s family who is so sweet, fun, lovable and the icing for this drama . Especially Akk's little sister she is a just so cute, fun and bad ass, unlike her scary cat brother...

Spoiled Little Prince Theo start off pretty ok, but as the story progresses it becomes more and more obvious that we are dealing with a spoiled and insecure little prince in need of a lesson or ten in communication.... (both may need that lesson come to think of it).

The chemistry between the leads is good, there are A LOT of playful fluffy scenes... Akk is truly a fun character to watch 90% cool, fun, the type of guy who all people regardless of gender can dram of as he is both caring and entertaining giving us such lovely scenes as dancing in the shower or caring for the ill... He is also the most forgiving guy on the planet thus named Saint Akk...

In numbers:
Frustration: 9
Bingeabilaty: 10
Cuteness: 9
Annoying elements: 8
Lovable family members: 9

Deffenetly a drama I recommend, but you can probably skip all the scenes with the Enchanté wannabes and focus on the leads and their family.

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Great Chemistry Burdened by Filters-Gone-Wild

The Pros:
- Force and Book have natural chemistry. I'm excited to see them in more work together and separately.
- I'm especially enamored by Force. Visually, he's one of the most attractive Thai (and BL) actors I've seen. He's just got...stunning visuals and very expressive eyes. He's a natural-born actor and I'm really excited to follow his work.
- Lots of cute moments between the two actors as it leads into their confession.
-OST is good.
-The university is stunning.
-I like the concept of the plot
- The kiss scenes. <3

The Cons:
- The plot is too overwrought with unnecessary drama and typical BL tropes to an infuriating degree. ESPECIALLY after watching the GMMTV masterpiece, Not Me, and *knowing* they're fully capable of elevating their content.
- If I have to hear, "I'm your Enchante" one more dang time, Imma throw hands.
- Book is not Brad Pitt, nor is he even more visually appealing (IMO) than Force, so it's hard for me to grasp that a total of 5 men (and evidently the whole school) are immediately pining after him within the first day of school and not a single person acknowledges the absolute stunner that is Akk standing beside him. I literally couldn't take my eyes off Akk the whole time.
- The filter on everyone's face, *especially* Book was incredibly distracting. Book didn't even look real sometimes.
- Too much live singing. Just a personal preference not to take away from the already short episodes with multiple musical numbers. I don't feel like it adds anything to the plot, excluding maybe the final performance of the song Saifa wrote to Theo since it has parallels to Theo's relationship to Akk.
- I felt like the OST dumbed down its viewers a bit. I didn't need pauses in music and heartbeat sounds to know a moment was meant to be sexually or romantically charged. I can easily see it for myself. It didn't really add to the scene, it just eroded my suspension of disbelief because I could just hear the editors saying, "Okay..now this is the part you should get excited about."
- Egg and Im were so cute. I liked the levity they added to their scenes.

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Maybe the ONLY BL THAT DOESN'T DESERVE A HAPPY ENDING!

I was hoping to see more character development for Theo at the end, but unfortunately it was once again Akk who had to chase after the man he loves. Theo's major character flaw is his passive nature, where he simply lets life happen to himself. The way the story goes, it was Theo who needed to sacrifice something to be together with Akk. The story made it out that Akk did get his dream by studying in France and being with Theo at the same time, but Akk still had to leave his home country and his family and friends behind to do so. Love is often more than anything about compromise, especially when you live in different countries. I feel like only Akk had to compromise for Theo's sake, and it makes me doubt that their happy ending would actually survive outside of the fairytale-esque world of Enchanté.

The ending is not at all satisfactory for me....they made Theo look extremely selfish and insensitive towards Akk in a way giving us the feeling that it's actually Theo who doesn't deserve Akk..

(Dropped halfway Ep.9)

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Selfish Rebel Without a Cause

I gave the series some slack, knowing they were fighting against the pandemic, and because the leads are not the top GMM stars that it wouldn't be like a Bright/ Win production. I'm usually very open to flawed characters, because all people have flaws, but this has to be one of the weakest endings I've seen in quite a while.

Theo is one of the least likable protagonists, who isn't evil. He is self-absorbed, and selfish at times. He is also a rebel without a cause. He fights for Enchante while knowing he is Enchante the whole time. He fights for the Literature major to not be abolished, but after finding out his parents broke up, promptly drops out of the uni. Fights for Akk, then dumps Akk to move to France with his mom, because his mom bought a house there. Theo inappropriately gets mad at Akk for not telling him about his parents, although he deceived Akk about Enchante. In the end, Akk chose to run to Paris to be with Theo. I wish that Akk had just stayed in Thailand and let Theo go. A member on MDL spoiled the novel's ending where Theo did not move to France, but ended up dancing together at the end. They should have just stuck to the novel.

I do not plan to rewatch this show, not even for Saifa's singing.

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Disappointing

I was really excited about watching this show. The whole concept of a mysterious friend and feelings among friends interested me a lot, so I'm a bit upset about giving such a rating for this show. It had a few great moments and many disappointing moments.
PROS
1. Many cute moments with all the actors.

2. Akk's little sister - Her character was so sassy and fun to watch.

3. Brings in some realistic messages in the beginning (such as don't criticize how a girl dresses, instead teach people not to stare or harass) (not all relationships are like fairy tales that end happily) (people aren't perfect even if they look like it)

4. Akk - Akk's character was so funny and relatable. I was able sympathize with his character and root for him.

5. Music - I really like the show's music. It's so beautiful!

CONS
1. Awkward acting - The acting felt really stiff. The chemistry between the main leads was okay in the beginning, but it was completely missing in the later episodes. The moments that needed great reactions, instead had a wierdly calm reaction; however, it's understandable since they're new actors.

2. Many illogical moments ( such as how does Akk get convinced that Theo somehow seems to love Enchante just after exchanging a couple of lines?)

3. Theo's character - While the reasons above aren't big enough to warrant such a rating from me, the worst part about this show is Theo. This show completely butchered Theo's character and made him a selfish and ungrateful bitch by the end of the show. There was not character growth whatsoever. He started of as self-absorbed and still is selfish and self-absorbed by the end of the show. The last two episodes made me drop the rating from a 7.5 or 8 to a 6.5. I hated how Theo always forced Akk to make the first moves and sacrifices (such as leaving his family, feeling not good enough). It seemed like Theo really didn't care about Akk even though Akk did so much for him. This made me wish that show had followed more of the book's version.

Overall, would I recommend this to people? No, however, it's watchable if you have nothing else to watch and if you're completely bored.

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The most meh series I have watched

To be honest, this drama had a good start. The premise was nice. It was like cindrella but it failed to execute it. It failed to make the characters and the series interesting. Some of the episodes weren't needed and it was dragged so much. The middle episodes were really boring and I almost dropped it(wish I had). They didn't handle the character Theo properly. From episode 1 till the last episode he had no character development or anything and stayed the same as he was. And tbh he didn't deserve Akk. He never spoke his mind to Akk, never appreciated him, and was a kinda a bad boyfriend and friend. And the most sad thing about this was that Akk just took it. He was never really mad at Theo for his actions. Like even when Theo referred to Akk as his friend infront of his friend. He just took it and took care of him. Sure, Akk shouldn't be mad at the moment since Theo was sick and was sad about his parents divorce but Theo should have apologized!! Theo is literally a selfish brat. And the ending is the most stupid ending ever lol. Going to france again? seriously? That is the most meh ending in the history of endings. Also the way they patched things up with Theo and Akk relationsip was also the meh thing i have ever scene. Everyone gets back together, happiness, rainbow and other shit.

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"Disenchanted" is a great review title and I'm so mad I didn't come up with it first.

For real though: WOW. This story! How disappointing!

Right from the get go, the audience knows *exactly* what type of story they're getting into: I don't mean they know the genre, I mean the fact that we already know the ending. It's extremely obvious that AkkTheo are endgame. The production could not make this any more clearer with how blunt the trailer was and how blunt the first three episodes were.

The reason why I'm pointing this out because this is one of those stories where we don't care about how it ends because we know they'll get together. So when this happens, the most important thing about your story should be the journey. *How* do we get to the two of them finally hooking up?

And boy howdy did they fall completely flat on their faces with storytelling on this one! Enchante did not need a (TERRIBLY done) plot twist, it didn't even really need mystery. What it needed was to grow these characters and have them slowly fall in love and realize that this whole Enchante mystery isn't actually needed at all. If they went this route, then damn this would've been a great show.

If they explored details that were later dropped and forgotten, then we would've had a better story- hell, we would've loved Theo more. But NO. They chose to butcher the hell out of the main character and expect us to love him and his dumb plight to getting Akk to admit he loves him.

CHARACTERS/PLOT:

Yes, you read that correctly! The character who doesn't want people treating him different, doesn't want people to look at him like he's a spoiled kid does exactly what a spoiled, selfish rich kid would do. See, we all know that Theo and Akk like each other. And come to find out, Theo also knew. From the very beginning. But for SOME reason, he thought that Akk should be the one to get a clue and confess to *him*, not the other way around. So he decides to keep up the charade of not knowing who Enchante is and allow it to blow out of proportion, even though it was him *the whole time*. He allowed Akk to get heartaches and stressed out the entire time and never batted an eyelid. He sat there and let everyone look stupid as hell all because he couldn't be the one to confess first.

The entire time, Akk is the one following Theo around, making sure he's okay, apologizing to him left and right- does Theo do any of this for Akk? *Barely*. There's a scene where Theo, who is Akk's ride to school, drives off in his expensive car and watches in the rear view mirror as Akk runs down the street desperately chasing after his car. This is a great visual that represents their relationship. Speaking of...

One aspect that they never touched on was the fact that Akk is poorer than Theo. Akk lost his job because of Theo (who I don't believe actually does anything about it) and it's very understandably a big deal. They show us that when they played soccer as kids, Akk wore worn out sandals while Theo wore appropriate shoes. Present day Theo states and shows a couple of times that he hates being treated differently because he's rich. Which I thought was interesting about Theo. I saw this as great potential to stir up drama between the two.

Nothing comes of it. But the reason why I'm pointing it out is because in the last tow (VERY pointless) episodes, they have a fight because Akk did something that, in my opinion, was alright for him to do, and threw a hissy fit. And then Theo reveals that this ENTIRE TIME he had plans to move back to France, something he failed to tell Akk, and that he's going to move back in two weeks. The whole time he expect Akk to ONCE AGAIN crawl on his hands and knees expressing how sorry he is. Akk doesn't do it. Theo gets mad, and flies off to France.
And to top it all off? Some time later, Akk shows up in France and says he came for Theo. What. That he's moving here because he wants to be with Theo. *What.* With what fucking money?? Theo legit had this broke kid scramble up money he didn't have just so that he can go follow Theo like a lost dumb puppy.

They do state that Akk somehow in the span of like 2 weeks he managed to get a scholarship, but scholarships don't cover everything.

Unbelievable. Truly.

Now, I have seen people try to explain that Theo is doing all of this because he's lonely. First off, they do a bad job at showing us how the loneliness affects him. It comes off as Theo being on of those people who choose to be alone and don't mind it. Also being lonely can make some people mean, but to this level of manipulation? Crazy. Might be possible, but oh man it's not a good look at all.

Now notice how I haven't mentioned The Four Dudes who acted like they were Enchante? That's because Theo being Enchante ruined that whole part of the story. None of that matters at all whatsoever. But I'll point out a couple of issues I had with these four:

1) Saifa's character was pointless. He does basically nothing the whole time. His role is revealed after we learn about the other 3 and WOW it just made his character and motives uninteresting.

2) Phupha's mom. We find out that Phupha lied because he very desperately needed money to get away from his very abusive mother. I will say, I thought his subplot was great and added some intrigue to everything. Once his jig is up, he tries to reveal that Natee is also a fraud and that was cool too seeing them butt heads. But guess what? In the end, Phupha stays with his terrible mom. Yes. Yep. Mmhmm. You read that right. I was mad when they revealed the end to his subplot and I'm still mad about it.

3) Wayo. Theo is the most gross character on the show, but Wayo is #2. The difference is however that Wayo has an addiction, so that's hard to control. Theo's just sucks. But anyway, Wayo needed money from Theo because he stole a bunch of money from the soccer club. He even went as far as trying to get Theo alone and wasted so that he can steal money. It comes to light to the soccer club, and does he suffer any consequences? NO. Do they handle the whole drunk thing appropriately? NO.

We also have the very poorly used red herring character: Sun. This character should not have existed. They tried to throw us off and make us think that Theo would end up with him, but once again, we already know that he's going to end up with Akk.

The story starts off pretty well! But then episode 8 comes along and gives you a good smack in the face. I'm still suffering from the whiplash.

PRODUCTION:

Now going back to the whole "VERY pointless last two episodes": this show did not need 10 episodes. If you want to watch the show, do yourself a favor and actually don't watch it. But if you *really* want to, do yourself a favor and stop at episode 8. They get together in the end of that, and it should've stopped there.

Another glaring problem with this show is the pacing. Now, I'll give them a bit of slack because they don't control how many episodes they get. However, they couldn't have figured out another way to end the show?? They did what Don't Say No did where the story ended early, but they needed to fill in the rest of the time. So they added very useless drama for last 2-3 episodes that made no sense and gave me a headache.

And just like with DSN, the drama at the end was very random and made no sense. Drama for the sake of drama. Awful.

In terms of set, I liked a lot of the locations they used: that university is pretty! As well as the library and even some of the shots that were shot "in France". Nicely done for what they had to work with.

CAST/ACTING:

Everyone did well, but especially Force who played Akk. A lot of people say that Force carried the show, and to an extent, I do agree.
The acting for The Four Dudes actually wasn't bad; the best one was Phupha's actor. I feel like they all executed their characters well: Natee's actor did a great job at making Natee look and feel creepy as hell. Same with Wayo's actor. Even Saifa who, honestly, didn't have much personality to begin with. He was hot as hell though.

As for Book/Theo...I have mixed feelings. In hindsight, the odd at times stiff acting actually works out very well for Theo. Initially, prior to realizing how awful Theo really is, his acting felt off. I don't think it's the actor's fault, however. I think most of it is due to the directing. However, knowing what I know now about Theo? It all makes sense. It just sucks that you have to wait all the way to episode 8 to fully appreciate it.

I would love to see Akk's sisters' actresses in another show! Egg's actress was SO cute and she killed it.

CONCLUSIONS:

Don't watch this is you want a cute story about a healthy relationship. If anything, watch it to learn how not to write a story.

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Interesting start for a downfall

The story on paper really peaked my interest at first and as it was going I was not disappointed, it's a short and sweet love story about 2 best friends at the beginning...I was expecting a lot of sweet moments from when they became a couple just like they had in the past but by episode 8 it went downhill. By that point Theo's prince-like spoiled attitude starts to show and it doesn't get better by the end, for once I, as many others, was hoping that they wouldn't get together or that Theo would have an awakening after being separated from Akk and show atleast some character development, which needless to say that didn't happen.

The ending felt rushed and just disappointing, it's almost a waste of chemistry that the main actors had going for them, if it wasn't for Akk i would've dropped the show close to the end. Still I finished it and watched the last episode at 1.5 speed and was still dissapointed. Also the marriage proposal was so out of nowhere?? and why was Akk the one that had to go looking after little lost boy Theo who didn't show interest in the relationship at all??

If you're looking for a story about a spoiled prince that keeps showing his selfishness and immaturity along with his best friend that deserved better this is the story for you.

Akk deserves better, but I think we all know that.

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The things I would do for ForceBook...

The story was actually really interesting in the beginning, I wasn't sure why people were hating on this series. In episode 3, Theo started to be a little bit annoying, but I gave him another chance. Oh, come on, he's not a lying manipulator. Right? Right?! Who am I kidding, he is. I was writing notes while watching and one literally says, "Everyone is blaming themselves, except for Theo. If this isn't a manipulation, I don't know what is." Couldn't agree more, past Yumi.

THE PLOT: But let's start at the beginning, where we are in beautiful CGI Paris. Thank God they hired French speaking actors. Theo is starting a new college, a literature major. His dad runs the school, so he's immediately recognized by everyone. Attending with him is his childhood best friend, Akk. I love Akk. Everyone loves Akk. Couldn't say the same thing for Theo, though (no, I won't stop hating on him). Theo, being the spoiled brat he is, is bored in a library, so he writes something in French in a book called "Enchanté". Then he received an answer, written in Thai. Oh my God, who could that be? Akk doesn't wait and prints out papers where he asks the person who wrote in the book to reveal themselves. So Akk and Theo wait in the library, and then four guys appear. They all claim to be the mysterious Enchanté...

It was so interesting. I was trying not to hate Theo, but after episode 10, I couldn't help it! The reveal was... weird. Um, okay, I need to say that I knew who Enchanté was because I read spoilers. I knew it was Theo himself, but I was curious how they were going to handle the reveal. Nah, it was so and so. I mean, it was a plot twist, I guess.

CHARACTERS: I hate Theo. Poor Akk, WHY would he marry him?! Akk was a sweetheart; I kinda feel bad for Theo's parents, the scene where he was trying to get them back together was so CRINGE that I took off my headphones; Wayo was really weird, he looked like he was high (on love HAHAHA), also, was he in love with his teacher??!!!; I felt so sorry for Phupha, Theo was like, "I mean, yeah, I have money, but would I help this dude whose mother is sick and he doesn't have any money left? NAHHH."; Fluke Gawin's acting as Saifa wasn't the best, but at least he could sing.

The best thing about this show was the music. When I was listening to the main theme song, I felt like I was watching a good show. Unfortunately, I wasn't.

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I was, like many others, intrigued and invested by the concept of this drama. Yes it still manages to take place at a school/university but it manages to introduce a unique plot point. Finding out the identity of a secret admirer, but this was also the dramas downfall. Looking back at this show now I am so surprised how I thought this show was actually somewhat good, like I was viewing with rose-colored glasses.

I sort of ruined it for myself by reading through the comments of one of the episodes only to discover that in fact none of the guys or Akk were enchanté, but rather it was Theo. I'm honestly not too sure whether or not I would have eventually figured this out, but that's besides the point. So, at that point, I was now just waiting for the reveal and Akk's reaction.

I did to some extent appreciate how this show actually made the 4 suitors not actually like Theo but rather have alterior motives, of course it was downright wrong of all of them to do but it made them more fleshed out characters who arent just 4 guys who are all in love with Theo, with no personality and are going to get rejected by the end of the show anyways. I'm sorry but I just don't think it's realistic for 4 people to suddenly be in love with a person who literally just joined the school, and it's cliche. So a bit of props to them for that in a way.

Bit of a critique of love-triangle, squares, whatever. Almost always you know what love interest is going to end up with the main character, and what gives that away is literally the COVER. Enchanté is no different from that, they literally didnt even put the other 4 guys in the cover.. I'm not going to dogpile on this show specifically and say its bad solely for that when literally every form of media does this, but its just a pet peeve im now realizing. If anything it wouldve been unique to have all 4 guys that Theo's "suitors" and maybe just not even have Akk in the cover to create a bit of suspense, I know to a certain extent we are supposed to right away root for him, but as soon as he's introduced you get a good idea that he's obviously gonna be the one Theo ends up with.

I dislike Theo. His whole premise for pretending there was a secret admirer was just for Akk to admit his feelings, and he clearly put Akk through a lot of strain as a result. Does it not seem cynical that he treated this whole thing as well as a game?? He's actually insane to be able to pretend for so long, did he like seeing Akk suffer?? Especially when he could have just confronted Akk.

Akk hands down was my favorite though. Supportive through and through when Theo didn't deserve it, but realize your own self worth too please. Although I had higher opinions of this show back when I was watching I think I really only kept watching it for him. I wish that Theo would have been the one to run after Akk, however that would have worked. Akk's done so much for Theo, and hasnt gotten the same in return.

It's sad I have to say this, but at least this show doesnt romanticize dub con or non con, i mean it doesnt include any to begin with but you get what i mean hopefully.

The proposal scene with the fake Paris background made me laugh though.. its so odd, but so funny.
The theme song was stuck in my head for so long, as well.

I can't say I would even recommend this show as a mindless watch as it would be infuriating to sit through around 8 episodes of going back and forth trying to find out who enchanté was. It has even less rewatch value (to me personally) when the whole premise of the plot (aka who enchante is) is revealed the first time around.

Akk and Theo, in my opinion, had great chemistry at the beginning of thes series, playful childhood friends. But then that just disappeared for some reason I can't even explain it the two weren't envoking the same feelings out of me as they did in the beginning.

If there's any drama that we should all collectively agree should have had less episodes, than it should be this one. 8, even 6 maybe... The question of who enchanté is was dragged out throughout like 8 whole episodes and each episodes left with a cliffhanger that teased you into thinking enchanté was gonna be revealed only for the episode to end and for you to wait and wait and wait... And once enchante was revealed and that whole arc was over they decided to throw in Theo's parents divorce for some reason, I mean it this could've been an 8 episode series.

But overall the show did entertainment me every friday after i got home from school, and i even looked foward to it so ill give it that. Then again school makes me look foward to anything that is not school related.
As much as I like to criticize bl for its toxic traits and lack of logic, i can appreciate a show like this that is bad, but not in the aspect that it glorifies abuse, non con, etc, but that it just has poor writing but can be entertaining to clown on a bit.

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