One of the best portrayals of childhood friends to lovers I've seen

And trust me, I'm an avid romance reader and watcher.

I rarely feel the need to write a review here, but this time I had to because it's very unfair what people have been doing with this show. First of all, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I respect that, but this is just pettiness at this point.

Enchanté has had a love story premise from the beginning - you can rewatch the mock trailer and the official trailer, it has never passed as something else. And that's exactly what it is. From episode 1 we can catch glimpses of this love being built. We catch a hint of Theo's (the main character) personality and how that makes him a romantic and how his relationship with the main lead (Akk) is going to grow and their dynamics. I personally enjoyed the show from the first episode, but I can understand that it would take some time for other people. What I can't understand is why some of you would come here and complain with assumptions after watching one single episode, that is 1/10 of the story.

Moving forward, comes one of the reasons I came to like the show so much: it builds up perfectly. Once you reach the latest eps you can notice how hints were dropped in the first eps, how they've been foreshadowing a lot of stuff; the kind of show you know it'll hit different on a rewatch, because now you know where to look and see what it has always been there! I know a lot of people have been claiming that the plot is flat, but I can't not disagree with that when the story is being told so well and the knots are being tied when they're supposed to. This year only I have watched different shows with supposedly better plots that weren't able to do that.

Force and Book are doing a great job of telling AkkTheo's story, but saying they're the only reason why fans are watching the show is not only ridiculous but disrespectful to the rest of the cast and everyone involved in it. We had the 4 ambassadors who claimed to be the Enchanté trying to court Theo and the writers made a good choice of pace in telling each of their stories in a different episode. We had the time to get to know all of them without losing track of the main leads' story, because Akk was always there and Theo has always only had eyes for him. And that's plot wise great. Their relationship is indeed the must of the show, but isn't that the whole point of a love story? I can't get why anyone would be mad at this.

I think when it comes to the childhood friends to lovers trope, it's really hard to make it perfect, and that's ok. Friendship is something very intricate and you have to be careful to make it believable that the feeling changed for the characters, to show how/when/why that feeling changed; to show the desperation of wanting to take a step forward and the fear of messing everything up and losing the person that means so much to you. It's not easy to put that on paper and probably even harder to show that on television, but they actually did that perfectly. As Taylor Swift once said, "you can hear it in the silence/you can feel it on the way home/you can see it with the light's out" and that's what the writers and specially ForceBook brought us, and maybe that's why they got a hold on these fans because they got a loved trope and portrayed perfectly.

"But who's the Enchanté?" Of course that is the biggest call of the show and like I mentioned before, they worked with this for several eps: getting to know the boys and their reasons, and one by one, why none was The Enchanté. The revelation (in ep 8, to be more specific) wasn't a shock for some and it was "disappointing" for others, but you can't say it was a plot failure or something in this line of thought because the hints were always there. It wasn't something out of pocket to shock the audience - it was carefully worked on from episode 1. So yeah I think it's fine if you expected to be someone else, but that's on you and your expectations, it wasn't written in any other direction than what it was meant to. So maybe stop being petty about this lol.

Last but not least, there's a lot of parallels with THE LITTLE PRINCE Can you believe that? The first time I saw the leads as kids reading the book it melted my heart, but I thought it'd be that. Gladly, I was wrong! Their story is almost a retelling of the book we've known and loved for years. They barely quote the story, but it's all there and you can see it if you know it. It's just amazing what they made out of it and I love this so so much. The AkkTheo relationship is the unraveling of "It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."

In conclusion (because this is getting too long ain't no one reading all that) I think it's obvious now how I love this show. It became a comfort for me and I do believe it could be a comfort show for a lot of people as well. Enchanté had the "disadvantage" of airing right after a hyped and loved show, but comparing to it and criticizing over and over again just because "it's not that show" is simply childish and unfair to them. Of course it's not that show and it'll never be - never tried to. They're telling a different story and believe me: you can enjoy both! Why would you try to make a rivalry out of this when you can appreciate two good shows instead. Shows end and it's not their fault that the previous one did and they got the tv time... Come on. Also, why would you come to mdl and rate/write a review to the show after watching less than half of it? It doesn't make sense - you don't know the full story. Of course you're not obligated to watch the whole thing if you dislike it, but then just drop it and move on, it's pretty unfair to $hit about it and drop the ratings considerably just because you personally got fed up with 2 eps. And the reason why I'm writing this with still one episode to go is because I'm pretty tired of the free hate the show is receiving on this site.

And now, FINALLY, if you enjoy romance I think you'll love this. If you want to watch best friends slowly and MUTUALLY falling for each other to the point they can't take it anymore and lose themselves to it, I think you'll love it! If you want SLOWBURN and MUTUAL PINING you'll LOVE THIS! So please, try not to give up before even trying because of some bad reviews you saw about it. Give it a chance and have your own opinion on it.

"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

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