koreandramagirl
Great One
After the fiasco of "2gether", I'm really happy with the development of "My Engineer".The story starts like your typical BL with the confident gay-panicked gay relationship. However, just like "UWMA", it changes the game and gives you something different (not saying the plot is like UWMA, not at all. I mean that there are no crazy ex-girlfriends, love triangles, parents against the relationship, etc).
The drama follows the story of 4 different couples. Sometimes when there are a lot of couples the development is bad because it feels like none of them have enough screen time and everything is rushed. However, they were able to show all the couples at a good pace and it didn't seem rushed at all.
The main leads, Bohn and Duen, portray a relationship of the confident and panicked gay (as mentioned before). Bohn is confident about his feelings and doesn't mind showing it to everyone, while Duen is way more innocent and shy. The biggest downside of this couple is the lack of communication, however they are able to overcome that little by little.
Ram and King seem to be everyone's favorite (in general). In my case I liked all the couples, but it's true that Ram and King have a really good chemistry usually found in all the second lead BL couples (Tin and Can (LBC), Team and Win (UWMA), Jack & Zhao Li An (HIS3), etc). I'm looking forward to their development in the second season. Their relationship is so pure and understanding, that I believe no one can dislike them. They portray the confused gay roles, where they are starting to find out about their sexual orientation.
Mek and Boss seemed a really side couple, yet they stole some of the cutest scenes in the show. Their relationship is the most "advanced" one, since both of them are confident about their sexual orientation and where their heart belongs. Despite of the first denial due to being afraid of rejection, their development is worth the watch.
Thara and Frong are the couple that had less screen time, but that makes sense if you look at their story. Frong starts liking Duen, but that's until he meets Thara (something that happens after the first half of the show). It's quite obvious for the viewer that both guys are gay and aren't confused about their sexual orientation, however the first season ends with no real development on their relationship. So I can't say much about them, other than I am excited for the second season and I can't wait to see how this love story starts.
The only thing I didn't like is how they dubbed Mek's voice. I understand that he is chinese and not thai, however the audio is awful. They could have tried to hide a little bit the dubbing. But you can also see it as one of the comical sides of the drama.
Overall, this drama gives you more heartwarming moments than sad ones. It became one of my favorites. The whole cast did a good job. Each character was beautifully portrayed. Don't expect villains since there are really none (that influence the relationships).
I always like to watch the cast reacting to episodes in order to see their chemistry off screen, and the actors seem to be close with each other which explains why it's a good drama.
I will definitely rewatch it before the second season starts.
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The plot was a cliché, but still promising. The first episodes were good but then it stopped there. In mid-way there was no further development.
I believe both actors are straight and new to BL acting (not sure though). They seemed to have chemistry at first when they were faking the relationship (and didn't really have to act as couples do), but once they were dating for real it felt as if the actors had some type of problem with showing affection as a couple.
I'm not talking about kisses or sex like "TharnType", that's not necessary to show two characters in love. But what they did here is plain bromance, not BL.
I compare "2gether" with "My Engineer" which is still ongoing. In "My Engineer" the main couple didn't kiss (yet) after 12 episodes, not sure if the series will even have a kiss scene between the leads. However their actions and the emotions that the actors put on the characters are enough to make you belive that they are in a love relationship. The same goes for the other couples on the show, having their right amount of screen time despite not being the leads.
Those are things that are missing in "2gether".
I've read on some comments that this is Win's first BL drama and it shows. I watched a video of Win and Bright reacting to one of the episodes and Win seemed to be more focused on making clear that Tine is not him than to watch it, while Bright looked way more relaxed and chill. What makes me wonder if Win is ashamed of being on a BL drama...
The acting, excluding the lack of chemistry to make the audience belive that there is love, is not bad. I've seen worse.
The music is nice too. Maybe they pushed Scrubb too much but it was okay.
Worth to watch again? Not really. It goes on the bottom part of my list. Not the last spot but almost.
Looking forward to the whole cast's next project and see if they improve.
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~When I wrote this review in 2020, I was hoping for a longer remake of the series. I'm happy to know that they are doing it. And recently I've decided to read th novel that this series is based on. PLEASE, I recommend to read it before watching this 4 episodes drama. Due to the series being so short, there is a lot of stuff lost in between and now that I've read the whole story, I understand way better what happened and I'm planning on rewatching it again~
I found out about this drama through Instagram and before giving it a try, I wanted to check out some reviews and comments. I'm not a big fan of the girlfriend cliché, but since it's only 4 episodes I decided to ignore it. However, the "sexual assault" thing I've read worried me.
I ended up watching it and I don't regret my decision.
You can't call that scene rape nor sexual assault. As someone who truly suffered something like that, I realized the writers let it clear that it was consensual. Yes, Mark was drunk while Vee was sober. BUT the next morning reaction was a way to let the audience know that Mark was aware all the time of what was going on and he was willing. Otherwise he would have freaked out the next morning.
While being drunk, Mark was aware that he was kissing Vee. While being drunk, Mark was aware that he was having sex with Vee. And the next morning Mark was calm and okay with it because he was aware of his actions despite being drunk at that time. It would be better if they showed us more of the scene to make it all clear, but I believe the morning scene was their way to clear up any confusion about it.
So, once we have that clarified, the story is too short. I haven't watched TOSSARA but I believe this is similar since it's a sequel. They need more episodes for the audience to truly connect with the story and understand everything. I don't know if it was the same situation with TOSSARA (when it comes to the timeline), but they should consider the lenght for their future projects if they do more.
*This may contain spoilers, even though I don't consider them spoilers at all*
In one same episode we see a scene, then the next one is a year after (without giving us this information until one of the characters mentioned it), and the next one is over 2 months later. They basically skipped half of the drama just to show you the moment they got together, the moment they break up (after 1 year), and the moment they got back together (after over 2 months since the break up). No information about what happened in between. For me that's one of the negative points.
The acting was okay. Nothing extraordinary but with 4 episodes (actually 3 and a half), you can't really see much. The chemistry was better than many other dramas.
I don't have a big problem with Vee's character. I've seen worse characters on others BLs. Actually I think he was sweet towards Ploy and Mark while dating them. Obviously we can't deny how he fucked up on that scene at the bar, but it seemed too innocent if we compare it with other dramas. I think I would have had a problem if he was still with Ploy in secret and basically two-timing, but that was not the case. Yes, what he did was a bad decision but I believe it's something you can have a serious talk about instead of making a big deal out of it.
Gotta say that Ploy, despite cheating on Vee, doesn't seem a bad girl. Once she knew about Mark and Vee, she was okay about it and felt sorry because she had no idea so I can't be mad at her character at all.
If you get involved with someone who you think is single to find out later that this person was dating someone else while being with you, you are just another victim. If you knew all along that this person wasn't single, then you are to blame as well.
I don't know if I will rewatch it in the future. If they decide to make a longer drama out of the same story then, despite knowing the ending, I would watch it. But this is too short, and everything is showed in a rush, for me to truly enjoy it again.
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Good start but a little draggy mid-end
First off I wanna start this review saying that I don't understand the main reviews from this drama. Why are they so bad?I feel like these people started watching it and then when KP started, they kinda left it to the side and weren't as focused on Cutie Pie no more tbh.
For me it started really good, to the point that I ranked it on my top 3 BLs ever. But towards the end it has unfortunately fallen down. Now that it's over, I don't think it can make it to the top 5.
PS: I loved the ending (not the drama itself, but the extra things that they gave us). I love how BL series lately are addressing Thailand's nonsensical relationship with the LGBTQA+ community. And then there are like 2 little plot twists, and some behind the scenes in between. I'm glad that they ended the series this way instead of straight to the credits.
STORY
The story isn't something spectacular. It does have some different vibes from the usual, since the premise is two rich guys engaged to each other while one of them keeps his real personality secret from his fiancé. You have to always keep this premise in your mind. If you don't, then you won't enjoy it as much.
It started really good. I liked the fact that Kuea was hiding his "secret life" to Lian. I mean... it's not like he was cheating on him with someone else, it was a pretty innocent white lie. But yeah, I liked that contrast of the character. I would have preferred Lian finding out later on the series, but anyway it still worked. Then the story progressed with a push and pull, and we can see the doubts that Kluen has in regards to the relationship. Mainly because he isn't truly being himself in front of Lian, and because Lian has never really told him that he loves him back so he is doubting about his feelings.
I must be honest, it started to get draggy from episode 8-9. The dynamic of Kluen and Lian was the same all the time. Their interactions were copy paste, so it felt a little boring towards the end. Some lack of communication and stupid assumptions didn't help, but the chemistry was on fire.
We also have two other couples in the show. The second couple was portrayed by Nat and Max who "debuted" as a short lived couple in Why R U. Unfortunately due to covid it wasn't possible to enjoy them as BL partners. Then they had a couple other projects but Cutie Pie is definitely their best one to date. They have improved so much! And they seem to be way more comfortable around each other which helps a lot when acting. I feel like their story needed a little bit more of explaining.
How did they meet? What's the accident that Yi mentions all the time? What's the relationship between Yi and Diao's fater?
I liked them as a couple but I'm still missing more background story to be able to fully enjoy them.
The third and last couple is my favorite, and probably the most popular one. Unfortunately they don't have much screentime. Their story starts late in the drama, but it has so much potential! The actors have good chemistry, they look cute together, and I want to see more of their relationship as Syn and Nuea. They gave us too little, and I would be pleased to watch a spin-off or a special episode only about them. Definitely the hidden gem of this drama.
ACTING
The acting in general was good. Zee never disappoints with chemistry and steamy scenes, he really knows what he is doing.
This is NuNew's first drama and I'm surprised. He was so good on his debut. He was able to make me feel for him, even if sometimes I couldn't understand his reasoning.
As I've mentioned before, Max and Nat improved a lot from their previous works and their chemistry is great. I think Nat shines better playing characters like Diao and Blue (WRU?), instead of the sassy/power bottom Nuea (Y-Destiny).
And what to say about Tutor and Yim? Although I couldn't see much of them due to the little screentime, I can't wait for their next project. And hopefully they will partner again. Cutie Pie was their first drama too and they did good based on the fact that they had no experience. I will repeat myself: I want more of them!
MUSIC
I like the main song. I was singing it every time the episode was over. It's catchy. However unless the song gets into my head, I barely pay attention to it. I tend to focus on the acting/scene and the dialogues. So although the drama has many musical moments I can't say much about them. But I've been getting notifications from YouTube of music videos by the cast singing the OST, so maybe I will take a look soon out of curiosity.
REWATCH VALUE
I don't think I will rewatch the whole series. But I will definitely rewatch NueaSyn scenes, and probably some specific LianKuea and YiDiao scenes. But a whole rewatch? I doubt it.
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