Enchanté

DISENCHANTED

The moment it was revealed who the mysterious Enchante guy is, the show started going down the drain.

Quick recap. Theo's granny died so he went back to Thailand to be with his family and continue his study. Hoeever, he found life is too boring, it is in fact too boring that while at the library, he decided to write on a French book in the hopes that someone will write him back because, why not? He is the star and people still go to the library nowadays, right? If you ask what are the chances that a Thai guy will read a French book in a library? It is very high, very high indeed. It was so high, that 4 most gorgeous campus guys took credit of writing him back as Enchante. The end.

Oh, wait.

The show started out ok, the first few episodes were engaging, and the connection between Akk and Theo is just full of goody cuteness. And then they had to go there - what was promoted as the selling point of the series was actually its weakest point. 3 of the 4 campus heartthrobs are shown as creepy stalkers, and were later revealed to be up-to-no-good delinquents and opportunists. Whats worse, in what the makers thought was the best twist of the series, they revealed that Enchante was in fact Theo himself! its as if, at that point, he isnt too self-absorbed enough. I could understand (a little bit) that he wanted Akk to be jealous, but to let the lie go on for that long is just downright egomaniac and borderline sociopath.

Ill be honest, by episode 4, i got tired of the story and even forget there are new episodes still to come. The Enchante reveal left a really bad taste in my mouth and unfortunately things got even worse after that.

I also dont understand how the show managed to lose what little chemistry Theo and Akk have at the beginning, and how almost all the characters become un-lovable by the end. Even the proposal scene at the finale was shot so poorly behind that too-obvious fake Paris background, and I just cannot feel anything from the actors by that point as any trace of their little chemistry is gone.

When the credits rolled i was just glad that its over, and hopefully the next Friday GMMTV series can live up to their better brothers.

Will i recommend? No. Was it worth the watch? Not really, it felt like a waste of time. The only consolation is Force, cause he reminds me so much of Tay Tawan, and i think he deserves to get another shot. And please, by the love of god, give Fluke Gawin a main role.

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All the puns on the series title are already taken, so I'll just say it's awful.

I'll start with the good:

There's a scene where Gawin is almost naked.

End of the good.

OK, not quite, although that's why I gave this a rewatch score of "3". I will rewatch that scene. Many times. Although there's a better Gawin disrobed scene in Not Me (and even without the Gawin nudity, one of the best scenes ever, period. But that's not important right now.)

Force does his best as a noob playing Akk, and has some real charm, although he leaned heavily on his sad-puppy-dog face, which is cute but gets tiresome by the end. To be fair, there are some cute scenes between the main pair - the scene at the LOL fake Eiffel Tower was a rare well-written moment - not fairytale perfect, but just right for people that have been best friends their whole lives.

On to the problems:

The writing is terrible. The entire plot (except for the last 2 eps which fling a series of non sequitur plot devices in the way of our heroes) hinges on Theo's hunt for Enchante, a mystery suitor who defaces a library book to leave one single message for Theo, which makes him obsessed with finding the guy. If they had several back-and-forths that were beautiful and meaningful, we could have invested in the idea of Enchante - but because this did not happen, it was completely mystifying why he cared about this, and since it's clear by watching the opening credits who Theo will end up with, it's doubly pointless, which makes the entire rickety plot unable to support the leaden weight of this series. (To be fair, they do give a solid explanation near the end why he cared, but it will make you hate him.)

This could have been at least partially salvaged by casting somene who can act as Theo. I hate to criticize actors, but Book is terrible. I will mitigate this by suggesting this series had poor direction and he was playing a truly awful character, so only the most charismatic actor could have made him remotely sympathetic. But I noticed that really talented actors like Gawin and Fluke weren't great in this series, so a lot of it is probably poor direction.

Which brings us to the character of Theo. Having a spolied-brat malignant narcissist as your main character is not a great idea. Theo is the most self-absorbed and selfish person I've ever seen as a protagonist in a drama. I can't think of a single thing he did for anyone in the entire course of the series. EVERYTHING is about him. His parents' marriage (the actors who play his parents are sexcellent - needed to throw that out there), saving the literature department, Enchante, it's all about him. He never once asks a friend how they're doing (even though his supposed best friend Akk looks tortured all the way through this) - he just seems to expect the entire world to revolve around him.

At one point, it's revealed that Akk knew about something that he was aware would upset Theo, but it was absolutely not his place to reveal it, and if he had, Theo would have rejected it and reacted even worse than he did. Theo is extremely upset that Akk didn't tell him about it and won't speak to him. The problem is that just before this, it is revealed that Theo had orchestrated a colossal, monstrous lie designed to manipulate Akk and which caused him an immense amount of pain over a prolonged period, so the hypocrisy is so mind-boggling that it's LOL funny, after you first stare numbly at the screen until it sinks in that you did just see what you saw. Also, what Theo is upset about and how he reacts to it is how a pre-teen child would process this, not a 20-something, where it's so immature and self-centered that you wish he were an actual baby so that you could shake him.

At this point you actively hate Theo and hope he dies (or is murdered by Akk) so Akk can get someone way better (like Saifa. Or one of the hot football extras). This is made even worse by the lack of chemistry between the main pair, which is curious because they have it in BTS and other promotional material. Some of that is also directing. For example, there's a key cuddling scene where there's a huge stuffed animal between them so their bodies aren't actually touching.

Some of these problems, as well as a possible reason for the weak acting by Book, is almost certainly that a soft-fliter is used throughout the series that is so strong that I thought I had glaucoma. I think a lot of shadings of facial expressions are blurred away by the soft-focus. Note to Thai BL productions: We don't care if an actor's complexion isn't perfect. Nobody's is. We don't love actors for their perfect skin, we love them for their six-pack abs and chisled pecs. And their acting ability. And their muscled thighs. And gorgeous faces. Pert butts. But mostly their acting and the character they're portraying.

I can't recommend this. There really aren't enough redeeming characteristics to be worth slogging through the terrible writing and enduring Theo. I hope to see Force in a better production than this, so we can see what he can do.

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Ennuyeux

Overall: I would call this a traditional Thai university BL (many tropes, poor communication, cute moments). However, with the evolution of BL, this felt boring to me and I didn't like the character Theo. Watched on YouTube

Content Warnings: manipulation, manhandling, vomiting, dub con kiss (half asleep?), punches, student/teacher relationship?

What I Liked
- Akk's mom & sister were great
- the side characters' French was good (likely native speakers)
- Akk was pretty adorable, especially quickly cleaning up his room and being the Flash
- cute moments like the kitchen spoon fight
- the consent before their kiss in ep 8
- that they were physically affectionate with one another after ep 8

Room For Improvement
- the main issue I have is Theo is pretty unlikable. He gets angry at others for treating him like a child but he has the maturity of a child (which was even shown in the last episode with his parents, there was zero character growth).
- the lead actors have a similar look, they should have styled/colored their hair more differently. I was confused when the story shifted location/perspective because I thought it was Theo at first. And the other leads also need more differentiation (i.e glasses, jewelry, hair color, etc).
- do not write in library books, especially "I'm bored", replacing a book also is a bad idea because it isn't processed and can't be checked out (ie no barcode, spine label, etc)
- Theo spoke Thai until 6th grade likely spoke it for the 7 years when he was abroad (with his parents/grandmother) but the one word he couldn't remember was "lost", this just seems odd
- Theo's French was bad for someone who lived 7 years in the country
- the blur filter on Theo was too much, some shaky camerawork and night scenes were too dim especially in ep 10

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It was kind of nice to meet you?

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

This has a cute storyline, but there are elements of the script that are weak. See the spoiler alert at the bottom if you want more info. I will say they introduced way too many side stories for a 10-episode series. It also had some weird scene elements that seem out of place. However, the ending was charming. The acting was good, but it was not outstanding. It was cute that they had a scene in the café from Baker Boys involving two of the characters from the same series (Punn and Krating).

This is just a random observation, but I notice that Theo’s house was used in the Baker Boys Series and Akk’s house was used in the Something in My Room Series. I don’t know why but I get a kick when I see a familiar location used in different series.


********Spoiler Alert********
The weak elements of the script: There really is no explanation as to why Theo had to move to France in the first place. Theo’s justification for initiating the mysteries enchanté persona is very weak. This is one of the reasons that decreased the likability of Theo for me. Akk forgives Theo for the enchanté situation, way to quickly in my opinion, but then Theo gets upset with Akk for knowing about his parents. Theo then holds a grudge and takes a long time to forgive Akk. This is another reason that decreased the likability of Theo. What happen to the literature major that Theo was trying to save? What was the point of introducing this storyline if Theo was not going to stay at the university?

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Great but the ending is rushed

If you’re looking for lots of skin from a BL then this one is not for you. If you’re looking for great chemistry and plot then this is probably right up your street.

The story follows two young neighbours who hold each other in high esteem who get separated by circumstance when Theo is shipped off to live with his grandmother in Paris leaving his best friend Akk behind.

They meet again years later when Theo’s grandmother dies and they immediately strike up a friendship with unrequited undertones of desire and love.

Theo selects a book that he’s read and makes a comment in one of the blank back pages and over time the two investigate who responds to the comment that he wrote. We meet 4 other main support characters who all profess to be Enchante, the person who responded to the comment that he left. We also find out the reasoning behind them lying and telling Theo that they are the person he is looking for.

The ending was a very frustrating as it is very rushed- we don’t really get closure for the 4 pretenders nor is the reason why Theo decides to break Akk’s heart particularly believable either (but they are reunited).

The production values excellent even though the now famous home from Cutie Pie (as well as a couple of other BLs I have watched) appears yet again!

The chemistry between Theo and Akk is so believable and had me smiling like a loon in some of the scenes where they’re rough housing.

The other actors are also very good (and rather pleasing on the eye which is a bonus) and add depth and substance to this drama.

Would I watch again? Probably not but that doesn’t stop this from being a great little drama and one worth a higher rating than given on this platform.

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Some scene are just unnecessary but story itself and main cp were amazing.

It was really memorable and beautiful story to watch. Type of series that you can easily tell someone as bed time story. One thing I find unnecessary is that Theo went back to French. I think it would be more suitable for last episode if Theo didn't go back to French, or , if directing team was planning to make that scene, they should add more episodes to show how many months or years Theo spent in French. 12 episode will more than enough to show their long distance time and make more sense for Theo staying in overseas also akk trying his best to get scholarship. Other than Ep 10, I was enjoyed watching Enchanté. Another thing I personally doesn't enjoy was side characters having unnecessary pairing. I am kinda person who doesn't enjoy watching side CP so this sentence is personal. Also, last but not least, Force and Book acting are so good and they totally deserve more dramatic series. Looking forward for them.

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fairytale and mystery

Great plot, split in two parts: before and after Enchanté.

From episode one to eight there’s the fairytale, the searching of Enchanté. Well, great work. I like the mystery and the continue flirting. The ‘Enchanté’ thing is captivating, I’m genuinely curious about who they are, why, when, how. It’s handled fabulously. Different side stories are also well linked together, led to the right ending. The background parable is also amusing to see, the literature major problem.

The main couple is good. The ‘friends to lovers’ trope is in my top three. They flirt every single episode, a lot of times, in every possible situation. Their faces are always so near to each other, the physical contact is crazy. It’s clear from the beginning that they like each other, everything is so much credible it seems real. They kiss a correct number of times (for me), the kisses are well done and are another proof of the great chemistry of the main characters (this is their first series together but they have known each other since childhood, so I’m not surprised).

In the last two episodes we’re back to reality. There’s the usual ending rush: the big news, the ‘breaking up’ of the main couple after few days of relationship, the arriving of another character, Theo’s decision, Akk isn’t doing anything. Only God knows what is happening. The big news is ‘in the air’ since the first episode so Theo could have known and it could have happened before the end, to leave some space in the last episode. I’m talking about early episode nine, not so far behind. We could have just skipped the ‘popularity problem’ that came out as nothing in the end.

The acting is generally good. Except for the main couple, I know and appreciate, in particular, Gawin, Force, Fluke, Aou, Boom and JJ’s abilities and also Theo’s parents’. Book’s acting left some doubts. I don’t know if it’s him or his character (so, the script) but Theo seems lost and dumb. Feeling amplified by the fact that his face is constantly flooded with a beauty effect. It matches the ‘fairytale’ environment but idk.

Let’s talk about music and production. There were just few mistakes in the editing, for example some cuts and the ‘fake Paris background’ in the last episode, the Eiffel Tower and the sun are so unreal that I can’t stay silent about it. The music fits the show: the opening is nice, nothing I’d download but it is well merged with the general vibe. Saifa’s song is so gentile and romantic.

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Not NEARLY as bad as I had been prepared for

Ya’ll had my expectations underground going into this, but it wasn’t bad.

Acting:

Pretty solid, we love a Force and a Book. They did their thing here. Not their best performances, but I still think they did a good job with the characters they were given to portray. There were a couple of scenes where I didn’t get as much from Book as I would have liked, though. The supporting cast was pretty good, all around. We ADORE a Jimmy moment. What a guy, 10/10 character and actor.

Writing:

So… I don’t like harem situations, but even I didn’t hate how they did it here. It was done pretty well, keeping you just frustrated enough to keep you on edge while offering plenty of interaction between the main couple to keep the frustration at bay, while also keeping you frustrated about the main couple. The whole mystery plot was truly horrendous, but I saw a spoiler on who it was before starting the show, so watching it was more funny and embarrassing than anything. The last couple of episodes definitely felt like a different show, but I still enjoyed them. The final conflict needed to be dragged out muuuch longer, though. I needed yearning, I needed longing, I needed “are you somewhere out there looking at the same moon” to make me enjoy the reunion. It was a fun little mindless watch in my opinion. Nothing big to say, but still entertaining as a story.

Chemistry/Romance/Kissing:

These boyysss of course they can play childhood friends they lived it. Love them forever and always. Childhood friends to lovers is a tried and true trope, so at its core, this works well as a romance. Now… there was a whole lot more than just that trope here so I can’t say everything worked great. But overall, it was an alrigh romance. The kissing was cute and loving, nothing was off. Thumbs up to the boys.

Music/SFX:

Music was good. I liked the song they wrote for it too. SFX were fine, didn’t notice anything off.

I’m glad I didn’t listen to all those super negative reviews and watched this for myself.

Now, for some highlights from my notes:

- I’ve heard nothing but TERRIBLE things, let’s get into it lmao
- BOOK MY LOVE
- Moms and grandmas everywhere hate to see a Thai drama coming fr
- FORCE MY LOVE
- Marriage, 2 cats, 1 dog, house by the water, condo in the city, talk of adoption
- My film student heart goes out to my film student
- Ugh, here comes the harem. I hate a harem frfr but here we gooo
- I’m already mad for no reason
- Everybody wants a piece of that Theo
- Phupha got some audacity to him I don’t like it
- I was spoiled on who it is so now I’m just more mad lmao
- This is gonna be an hours-long lesson in frustration when bro could have just told Akk he’s interested in him
- I would’ve run far away after this guy told me he knew everything about me but okay
- Akk and fam so cute
- I hate it here
- I’m pissed knowing who Enchante is shit is dumb don’t piss me off, little Theo
- JIIIMMYYYYYYYY THE LOVE OF MY LIFE THE LIGHT IN MY DARKEST DAYS
- All these boys embarrassing themselves left and right
- EEE was that REAL?? Did they KISS???
- So art boy knows the capital T TRUTH and he’s just enjoying the show here
- Sorry, bro. Didn’t mean for our lips to touch when we munched on that bread together. On a completely different note, what are we?
- NOT THE SAUSAGE POCKY GAME RIGHT AFTER THE BREAD INCIDENT
- It WASN’T a dream EEEEEE
- What if we held hands in the cooler teehee
- Playing your divorced parents’ their wedding video is WILD
- Sun 100000/10 best boy around
- I needed a longer period of separation shown before the reunion
- Is this the proposal that leads to the vice versa wedding cameo teehee

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I am [a bit] ENCHANTÉ [D]!

Have you dropped this title? If the answer is yes, you´re missing out.
If you dropped it because it was too slow-paced and boring,
I understand, but you´re still missing out.
If you ask me why I didn’t drop this title, I will answer you:
I didn´t want to miss out and I felt it had a lot of potentials.
Why? Read below.


Production / Music 9.5 >> 10 >> 9.0
One of the main reasons why I fell in love with this series is its outrageous cinematography. Love the use of candles and the colouring of each scene, especially at the night, I cherished each one of these moments. Some of the scenes are so beautiful, that I want to capture each one of them and hang them in my room. The cinematographer really knew what they were doing. The music fit the overall vibes of the series. The storytelling was a bit slow-paced in the beginning, I agree, but if you stopped at Episodes 2 or 3, you missed the rhythm change in Episodes 4 and 5. Beginning from there, the time that seemed unrewarding started to pay off at its best. The story finally got the chance to flourish and with it, the actors did too. Those who were not admirable at all became even less admirable and those who were appealing became even more appealing. Everything starts to unfold and flourish if you just give it a fair chance. However, the story/ plot twists is a bit what they lacked in.


Plot / Story 8.5 >> 7
If you want the portrayal of realistic love in an unrealistic scenario, Enchanté is exactly what you´re looking for. I have already reduced the rating because of the slow-paced start, I am not ignoring important factors of a series like how catchy it is and if it can keep the viewers. However, once the story unfolded, as well as their characters Theo and Akk, I was convinced that it will only get better. Why? They did not simply convert into the “perfect main leads”, they started to show their weaknesses and imperfections to the audience. Natural trades even made them less attractive but more human. I could emphasize more with each one of them more because their humanity was shown. The entire harem of Theo convinced me as well, even though it was a cliché scenario. The delivery was fresh and exciting. Love started to unfold… I just wish they had not made some predictable decisions, then I would have enjoyed it even more and could have given them a better rating.

Cast 8.5 >> 10 >> 9
Outstanding performance by Force and Fluke. Especially Force´s portrayal of Akk was on point, every facial expression was so relatable and well-fitting. His eyes were the most magnificent actors in the series. I know he also received a lot of criticism because of his “over the top” / exaggerating portrayal of Akk. I disagree here, I think his delivery of Akk´s personality trades were not unfitting at all. On the contrary, if his character would be missed on them, “Enchanté” wouldn’t have been this catching for me. Theo and the harem had solid acting and they all fitted into their roles, with everyone having their individual touch to them. However, Force (Akk) is still my personal highlight of this series, I wish I had as friends as reliable as him!

Overall, I will give it a 9.0 >> 8.5 >> 8.0

because it fits my taste, meet my expectations and the portrayal was on point. They turned a harem cliché romance story, which I usually despise, into something I want to cherish and therefore convince people of its worth. My time does not feel as if it was wasted at all. In contrary, I’ve found a new actor I want to support throughout his career. :D

This show is mostly enjoyable.

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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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A flawed debut that grew on me thanks to ForceBook

Story: weak plot, pacing issues, and editing felt messy. story didn’t leave much impact.

Cast: average acting at the time, but charming in hindsight after getting into ForceBook.

Music: OST didn't really stand out or leave an impression. Just... there.

Rewatch value: not something I'd rewatch for the story, but maybe for nostalgia and ForceBook.

When I first watched Enchanté, I didn’t enjoy it much. The story was weak, the editing felt off, and the acting didn’t impress me at the time.
I originally rated it 6.5. But after watching A Boss and a Babe, I became a huge ForceBook fan. That emotional connection completely changed how I viewed this series. I rewatched some clips, smiled at their early moments, and felt a nostalgic softness toward it.
Objectively, the flaws are still there. But personally? I now rate it 8 because it’s part of my journey with these two. Not a great series, but it became special to me.

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