Enchanté

Not the BL harem drama I had hoped for. Classic vanilla, PG, Thai BL- A simple easy but boring watch

Story: The 2021 trailer promised a lot more mystery, intrigue and angst than what was delivered. I find Theo immature, selfish and sheltered (which is fine), but he never develops past that or barely learns anything from his actions. Akk is sweet and delightful, but that wasn’t enough for me to stay invested in the story. I feel like if I hadn’t watched the 2021 trailer so many times, maybe I wouldn’t have been so disappointed though. I can see others enjoying it for its simplicity and lack of negative vibes.

The whole Enchante concept, build up and payoff was extremely lacklustre and disappointing. Like first of all, maybe social dynamics in Thailand are really this way- But I couldn’t suspend my belief enough to think several dudes would fake being in love with Theo just bc his dad was a university CEO (and that’d be enough to get a lot user value from him??). Since there were barely any interactions between the potential Enchantes and Theo prior to their reveal, there was pretty much no real believability that any of them could organically have liked him and have been the real Enchante because of that. Basically how the Enchante concept was set up, it really didn’t deliver on anything and fell flat. You don’t really care about the Enchantes at all all bc their characters are mostly unsympathetic and one-dimensional. It’s pretty clear throughout that they pose no real threat to Akk and Theo getting together. Although I will say the actor for Wayo is freaking smoking and I hope to see him in more dramas lol.

The whole parent’s divorce storyline is incredibly boring as well. It feels like filler that was added to drag the last couple of episodes out as the Enchante was already revealed pretty early and the arc was realistically finished way before ep 10. It was just a storyline that showed how immature and selfish Theo was yet again.

Acting/Cast: The actor for Theo was pretty flat imo. His acting was fine, but I wonder if it was just because the character was so dull that I wasn’t that interested in him. Akk on the other hand is beautiful and charismatic- I really hope we see him in other works soon. Honestly if he wasn’t one of the male leads in this series, I may have just dropped it- it was that boring.

Music: Fine but nothing special, the French style vibes aren’t really my thing.

Rewatch Value: None lol. I can’t even think of a scene I would want to rewatch.

Read More

There are better Thai BL dramas out there than this.

STORY: Theo, who spent most of his growing up years in Paris, comes back to Thailand. He has a childhood friend Akk who lives opposite of him and also attends the same university as him.

While waiting for Akk in the library one day, he found a book named Enchanté and out of boredom, he casually wrote something in French in one of the blank pages at the back of the book. Surprisingly, when he looked at the same book again after a few days, someone else has written something in response to his comment and signed off as ‘Enchanté, this got him curious and as this replying became back and fro, it made him determined to find out who ‘Enchanté’ was.

Akk helped him to paste notices around the university and eventually 4 persons came up to him claiming to be the one who wrote the messages in the book.

Personally, I found the first 4 episodes quite slow and thought the story to be a little silly and meaningless that is, finding out who Enchanté was, was that really important? However, things started to pick up from episode 6. I think some reviewers have already revealed who Enchanté was, so I shall not say anything here, but it was unexpected to me, and that made me see that the storyline did have some depth after all but only that moment.

When I watched this drama, many a time I questioned the existence of the 4 guys who claimed to be Enchanté but all actually had ulterior motives for getting close to Theo because he was the son of the owner of the university. The drama’s title Enchanté in French means enchanted, delighted, overjoyed, smitten, or bewitched, but I wonder how this is related to the story, or to the 4 guys, they did not look smitten with Theo in the show and definitely not Akk, smitten with Theo wasn’t quite the right word although yes, Theo and Akk did like each other, lots of ‘close-up staring at each other’ scenes until I found them a little too many.

The 4 guys were uninteresting, most of them had their own secrets which of course were not properly developed given only 10 episodes, but they were also unimportant because the focus was on the relationship between Theo and Akk, which to me was not properly developed either because half of the time in the drama was focused on finding Enchanté.

ACTING: I find the ML Theo expressionless, or should I say always had the same expression, as a model he has good looks, but as an actor, it shows inexperience. And his character was self-centred. When he decided to return to Paris, he did not consult Akk in his decision-making process although they were already a couple, only informing him of his decision and simply left Thailand. He was only concerned about his own sorrow because of his parents’ divorce and did not put himself in Akk’s shoes.

Actually, I thought he might hesitate and not leave after all and eventually appear in front of Akk’s house or something or Akk might tell him not to leave or rush to the airport, but nothing of this happened, and next I know, Akk was in Paris on a scholarship, met Theo on coincidence (seems like) under the Eiffel Tower and then proposed to him. P.S. not Paris, it was just a studio with a Eiffel Tower picture...

I was hoping to feel more of their chemistry, but seemed lacking… I had wanted to see more development between the two, but also seemed lacking here. The story somehow lacked substance.

OST: It was forgettable.

REWATCH: For the romance and chemistry, there are better Thai BL dramas out there than this even if the story is somewhat different from most Thai BLs, but I wouldn’t go for the story.

Overall, something positive would be it was a very light, very easy to watch drama. I had watched many dramas where I just couldn’t seem to get past the first 2 or 3 episodes, but this one, I was already in episode 6 when I realized it. I guess there was not much emotions or angst in this drama, and probably the only two things that pushed me forward was wanting to know who Enchanté was and when Akk and Theo were going to confess their feelings to each other.

I do not think I will recommend this as a good Thai BL or BL drama to anyone, definitely not for first-timers and for seasoned watchers, I do not think so.

Read More

Too much teenage drama for me to handle, slow pace

The story is just too much, quite literally too much teenage drama for me to handle.
The series is too slow, many unnecessary scenes were not removed during editing, and the ending felt incomplete, including for the side story.
The side stories are too detailed all of a sudden and they just vanish after their part is done of increasing confusion and not having a proper ending before the series end.
The story is just too immature, both the base story and the additional script.
Another thing to notice here is the structure or order of the scenes, it could have been a bit better if the order of the scenes were changed to better present their story.

Acting:
One thing I noticed about Theo's character is too many hand gestures, especially during the start of the series.

Read More

A good premise with a disappointing execution.

The synopsis of the show really drew me in. I like pieces of romance media where the love interest isn't actually set in stone. The idea of there being multiple possible love interests and watching the main character trying to find out which one he's looking for sounded really interesting. But they seriously fumbled it. It was obvious from the start who it was. I don't want to spoil too much but they literally could not have shoved it further down our throats. The ending was extremely anti-climactic. I feel like if they actually used the element of mystery that they hinted at it would be a good show, but it's hard to rank a show high on my list when they didn't meat the expectations that they set.

Read More

A drama that got lost in it own story

I felt the need to write this review after seeing a lot of good reviews and I wondered if I had seen the same drama...

The basic plot and the trailer promised an interesting drama packed with romance, mystery and conflicts aaaand... It didn't deliver.

First, the premise of the drama is Theo looking for "Enchanté" but whenever one of the potential Enchantés approaches him and tries to get closer to him he either looks annoyed or puzzled, consequently, we know close to nothing about the four guys because we have no connection to them, no real wish to know them and wonder if they are the real Enchanté.
Moreover, Theo starts looking for Enchanté after three boring sentences written in the book, there's no connection between him and the mystery person, why would he begin to look for them with such little connection? It's explained later in the drama but still... it doesn't make sense at the moment where we see it in the drama.

Second, a majority of the characters are not pleasant, including the main character!! Theo is self-absorbed, selfish, rather cold, stubborn.... Natee, Phupa and Wayo are manipulative, creepy and opportunistic. We don't want to follow their story! the way they try to act as if they are Enchanté/ flirting with Theo is painful to watch (they're either stalker-ish or cringy)
I hated that Akk is always there for Theo but Theo is not there for Akk and takes him for granted....

Third, the pace is problematic: everything goes too fast or too slow. At the beginning, we are introduced to all these characters but we have no time to get to know them, some of them are already "out" of the story because they are revealed not to be Enchanté and we don't care because we know nothing about them.
And later in the drama, it got so slow! I really didn't care about Theo's parents' divorce and that part of the story dragged on for too long and it did nothing to make the whole story move forward.

So to those who liked this drama, I'm glad you did because I didn't and though I decided to finish what I had started, it sure was painful!

Read More

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!

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

If you're craving something sweet!

Enchante is the kind of drama you could watch without giving much of a thought. It doesn't have a 'strong' plot and is quite of the cliche side. It is indeed filled with a lot of fluff and I would recommend this as some sort of filler drama you watch when you are too stressed, craving for something sweet like I've mentioned in the title.

What I liked:
-The fluff, it has an adequate amount of really nice scenes between the leads.
-The friendship between the two.
-There was not much of any serious misunderstandings or stuff.

What I didn't like:
-The plot line is very basic... it's something like receiving a mysterious note and finding out who wrote it.
-The characters were a little too bland or not that deep as I wished they could've been.
-Acting...it wasn't bad tbh but not the best either.

Overall if you have nothing else to watch go ahead. I watched this right after a thriller so this was kinda refreshing for me. Liking this drama purely depends upon how you approach it. Do not expect much you'll not be disappointed. You'd be able to finish it in one night 🌃.

Read More

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.

Read More