Enchanté

Honestly, Force and Book deserve better

I worry about Force and Book's careers if they don't get better scripts than this. It had SO much potential, it seems like it was either written poorly or it was butchered in the editing room. The hidden identity story went on wayyyyy too long and was boring. Theo's family stuff didn't come up until the end and was much more interesting and had way more potential. The side characters get story backgrounds and story resolutions, but they skipped the actual stories.
That said, Force and Book are stellar together, they carried this mess on their own two backs. Without their charm and chemistry it would have utterly tanked. I will say that I really liked the theme song though.

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A mystery reveal so nonsensical it ruined the series for me

This series began at such a good note that it had me hooked and then there was the final unravelling of the mystery and you realise this is such a mish-mash of all the cliches that a good series was completely ruined.

Let me start the rant by first summarizing the story. After a long stay in France, Theo returns to Thailand and meets with his childhood friend Akk. Theo decides to resume his studies and enrols in the university where is father is the dean. Out of boredom on his first day at the university, Theo writes about it in a book and puts it back in the library. On the next day, to his surprise someone has responded on his note and signed as “Enchanté”. Theo now desperately is searching for “Enchanté” with the help of Akk only to find 4 potential candidates.

This is a great story as it holds mystery about the true identity of “Enchanté” and Theo’s desperation to know who the writer is. Also, there is the friendship between Theo and Akk that is trying to develop into something more. The story has a right formula of being something memorable. We have mystery, angst, friendship to romance, multiple guys fighting over the main character with their own subplots.

But the series does nothing with these plot threads. Instead, it takes the route of being the same old. 2 boys who were separated at such a young age instantly have feelings for each other after their first reunion as adults. The teasing and staring in to each other’s eyes at every moment of them getting close to each other only to retract later and make light of the situation. Emotions soaring after a couple of drinks. Breaking up almost immediately after being in a relationship because hell with trying to talk to each other. Getting back together quickly without resolving the underlying issues. And an unnecessary misunderstanding of having a rival.

I won’t speak about what the reveal was lest I spoil this for others who genuinely want to give it a watch but I was frustrated when they revealed who “Enchanté” really was because in light of his identity a lot of the scenes prior do not make any sense.

Also, although the actors did a good job in the series, I felt they lacked chemistry.

In conclusion, a potentially great story with a nice mystery and motivations of all the characters involved was ruined in the last 2 episodes in order to settle for same old plots making this one a mediocre series.

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Not the magical fairytale it thought it was...

My rating would have been much higher if this show's plotline had ended where it was at episode 8 or had episodes 9-10 explored the character's relationship now that they were finally together rather than going the direction it did.

I didn't mind the guessing game of Enchanté as it kept me engaged and interested to keep watching. I didn't even mind who it was revealed to be and found the reveal quite interesting because it was not who I had expected.

However, what I disliked the most about this show, especially in the last two episodes, was the main character, Theo. He was unbearably selfish the entire way through and seemed to make absolutely everything about himself, even things that shouldn't have been about him like his parent's relationship. He was extremely hypocritical with Akk, as he had been lying and playing with Akk's emotions through the Enchanté ordeal and then is upset that Akk had not told him something that was not his secret to tell.

I would have been happier with a more bittersweet ending where Theo left and Akk realised his own self-worth and how much better he deserved and Theo had more time to mature and learn that the world doesn't revolve around him.

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Exceeded my expectations

I am not quite sure why I see such negative reviews for this series. Admittedly, I had rather low expectations for it and even considered not watching it at all; but one week before the finale I got curious and watched it. My expectations were definitely exceeded! I will explain why I felt like this was an above-average GMMTV production.

First, aspects I didn’t like:
- Even though it only had 10 episodes, the series felt lengthy throughout. Fewer or at least shorter episodes could have helped to avoid some repetitive and just overly slow moments. I like moments of calm, but the story should not get boring because of them. In contrast, the last part of the finale in Paris went way too quick and should have been extended significantly, to make the ending more believable.
- The supposed main plot, the search for Enchanté, didn’t manage to pique my curiosity. I must say that I was surprised by the revelation and did think it was quite a clever twist, but the build-up to that moment just didn’t work the way it should have.
- The main character remained a bit too shallow. While I do not agree that Theo was being overly manipulative and therefore didn’t deserve a happy ending, he should have been given more depth. His character shone through in some rare actually emotional moments, but overall he didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Still, I find it somewhat believable that a rich and overprotected boy like him would be as naive and awkward and make use of unconventional methods, while also relying on others a lot.

But the positive aspects to me were much more prominent:
- The French theme was taken seriously. I imagined they would use the French connection as a mere gimmick to give an otherwise bland story a hint of originality. But they successfully integrated French elements into the soundtrack, some essential dialogues and central symbols (the fox and the rose), and even went for a finish in front of the Eiffel Tower. Sure, this is all pretty cliché, but it worked very well.
- The locations were beautiful. The campus of Assumption University looks stunning, and the scenes in France made up for the lack of the usual mandatory beach scenes. The shots at the democracy monument at night and Theo’s home also contributed to a coherent visual concept.
- The storytelling was surprisingly clever with its use of short flashbacks and changes of perspective, significantly upgrading an otherwise often boring story. The revelation of Enchanté and the background stories of the four admirers were clearly enhanced through the skillful storytelling. The good cinematography played its part as well, the colours and camera angles always fit very well with the story.
- Whenever the series got into emotional territory, it hit all the right notes. Acting-wise, it was Force who carried those moments. For the rest, music, symbols (rose and fox) and several moments of unspoken, but very noticeable thought processes contributed to some truly touching and even tear-jerking moments.

Therefore, all things considered, I will admit that this is not an outstanding and flawless series, not at all. But visual excellence, clever storytelling and a good use of the main theme made up for an unexciting story and some weak characters. Especially for its emotional moments, I will definitely keep a fond memory of Enchanté!

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I Enjoyed Watching This!

I'm not sure what's with the shade thrown by the audience into this drama :p I enjoyed watching the series. And I had to rewatch it because the-characters-acting-a-certain-way made more sense the second time around! I actually find the story quite unique. It's not the typical "commercial" plot. I had to take a pause in some of the episodes to fully digest what was going on because, in hindsight, I was also making some analogies with The Little Prince :p. The unlocking of who Enchante is kept me glued to the screen. I enjoyed looking for clues and taking guesses while analyzing each character's personality and thought process. Lastly, I REALLY appreciate the cast here. This includes the side characters. They actually did a good job portraying their roles. So I really hope to see them all together in another show. This is my first ForceBook series, and I must say, I can't help but ask for more of them cus I'm telling you, they're amazing! Segue: Good thing there's "A Boss & A Babe" airing right now, which left an impression on me because ForceBook's characters are quite the opposite of their characters in Enchante.

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Amazingly cute, but a lot of missed potential

A story about a mysterious love interest found in a book, who is Enchanté? Side note; the actual identity of Enchanté completely surprised me tbh. Anyway here are my thoughts.

The cast of Akk and Theo is brilliant, Force and Book did an amazing job and their chemistry is beautiful, they are friends since childhood after all. The characters are well-acted and believable. However, I did massively dislike that most of the love interests were liars and opportunists. It's a realistic scenario, but it's not super fun to watch and you just feel bad for Theo and Akk.

Akk is lovely and perfect. The series tells you he isn't but like... look at him! Always ready to help, super handsome, funny, serious, like there is literally no flaw. Theo is likable, but he is naive. There are times that I am surprised by his wariness however lol, he doesn't let someone take advantage of him so easily. Besides this, Theo makes some questionable decisions, especially in episodes 9 and 10, but he is a cutie at the end. Still should have treated Akk better throughout though.

The music is absolutely gorgeous, both "Je t'aime à la folie" as well as "Enchanté" are beautiful songs, some of the best I have heard in a BL ever. The music helps to bring the mood together and to feel invested.

I enjoyed this BL but compared to other GMM TV BLs such as Bad Buddy, 2gether, Fish upon the sky, 1000 stars etcetera, this one feels inferior. Perhaps because of the story and annoying plot points, as the scenes that focus on Akk and Theo are lovely. The parts involving the four Enchanté's are curious at times and boring or annoying at others. It would have been a better series if there was less Enchanté's and there was more of Akk and Theo. Not that there are few moments of theirs, but it feels too long until they take each other seriously. I am excited to see more of ForceBook, and hope that their next series is only great.

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Maybe the ONLY BL that doesn't deserve a happy ending.

I went into this with low expectations and I'm glad I did. Because seriously, what the fuck was this? It started out so great with the whole who is Enchante plot, then the reveal and episodes 8-10 ruined the entire drama for me,

What I loved:

Akk.
NO ONE deserves this man. He was loyal, loving, cute, looked like he carried the entire weight of the world on his shoulders but still had time to be the best boyfriend in BL history. Just too bad he had to suffer with ending up with a terrible partner.
The funny moments.
I'll give this show a pass because its funny moments were great thanks to Akk. (see how it always circled back to him?)

And this is the end of what was likable about this drama.

What I hated:

That fucking soft toned filter.

Theo.
He's possibly the worse character. He never apologized to Akk. He blamed him for not telling him about his parents' divorce (which wasn't for him to tell), and then for ghosting him, then to freaking up and LEAVE him and then lastly not even introducing Akk as his boyfriend to Sun. And just overall treating him like shit even though he did nothing wrong. Then there's also him acting like a literal child and trying to force his parents back together. Akk told him to respect their decision and he didn't.
The Plot.
The entire premise of this drama was stupid. It's basically a story about a man who returned to Thailand, did the most elaborate plot to basically get a love confession out of his best friend, to then UP AND LEAVE HIM. Who does that??
The Harem
This was quite possibly the worst harem that had ever "harem-ed". Three out of the four guys were problematic as hell and only one, which was the singer, who had no ill intentions, got roped into joining forces with Theo to deceive Akk.
The Reveal
I mean, if you think about it, Natee told us who Enchante was from the very beginning with all the portraits he painted. What they SHOULD'VE done, was just make Akk as the reveal, even though we know it would be the obvious choice. Kinda like how Fish Upon A Sky went and scratch the entire lying thing OR just showed Theo coming back and courting the guy.
The Ending
Ain't no FUCKING WAY, the writers should've made Akk be the one to make the trip and apologize. THEO should have done that. Akk did NOTHING wrong but love this dumbass. Maybe the one time I wanted a sad ending for this drama.

In conclusion, this could've been better, but they ruined it by giving us a TERRIBLE male lead.

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I don´t really understand the "hate" this series gets :/

I mean like was it the best BL? Deffinitely NOT. Was it the worst? NO.

Actually overall it´s pretty nice, cute series but there were some parts when i wanted it to end. Like seriously after around 6th episode I wanted to skip some parts but I still was really into it. I did skip something but just a few moments and nothing important.

The story was okay i guess..?
It was just quiet weird to see 5 men "liking" the same man (I am not saying it´s impossible) and just doing what they were doing.
I also didn´t really like the thing that they mentioned France and Enchanté like 1000 times lmao. Ofc nothing against France, it was just cringe and weird for me to hear it all the time. Yes i get it, the main character basically grew up there but still...

Acting was the best thing about this series ngl. It wasn´t perfct but it was good enough for me to feel something towards the characters. But one thing that i´m not sure about is, if we were supposed to hate the other 4 guys or not. Well if we were supposed to kinda like hate them, then I failed cuz I actually kidna liked the one who likes drawing ( ops :> ) .

Agh the music... Usually I don´t really pay much attention to music so I also didn´t do it here but after a few episodes it felt like they just play the same music over and over again and it was pretty annoying. It´s not such a big deal tho

Rewatch value is 4 because I think if I was really bored, I would watch it just for fun and good looking men and the one teacher ( she was gorgeous! ) lol. What I want to say is that I would still rather rewatch this than Kissable Lips ( thats was killing my braincells lol sorry if anyone geniouly likes it )

So yeah, like I said before, overall pretty decent series ( bonus: good looking people :> )

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la gente credo voglia tropo dalla vita.

allora, io mi chiedo, perché la gente vuole troppo da alcuni drama? (questa sarà una recensione trasversale, nel senso che essendo un comportamento che ho notato anche per altri drama citerò anche quelli) questa storia non si presuppone nulla di complesso: due amici di lunga data si rincontrano dopo che uno dei due per varie (e un po’ vaghe) ragioni si trasferisce in Francia e da questo incontro nascono sentimenti, si scoprono le vere ragioni dietro ad alcuni comportamenti e alla fine tutto finisce bene (con Kudos alla comparsa del mio dottore preferito Jummy). fine, non è la trama più ricercata del mondo, ma non pone i presupposti per esserlo, un po’ come Star in my Mind e Hidden Agenda, non vogliono definirsi le nuove pietre miliari della storia del BL tailandese, quindi non comprendo perché la gente debba lamentarsi quando una serie non fa più di quello che aveva anticipato. ovviamente non tutte le serie possono essere come Not Me o Never Let Me Go o The Eclipse (o chi più ne ha più ne metta) quindi perché cercare in altre serie le caratteristiche di altre? sopratutto quando nessuno ha detto che queste serie le devono avere. perché ci può essere la serie più easy, come la serie più impegnata, la serie più spinta e quella meno, i gusti delle persone sono differenti e come credo sia giusto che ci debbano essere cose che possono appagarli tutti. ripeto, non a tutti possono piacere storie ambientate nel mondo della mafia, come non a tutti possono piacere quelle universitarie, e va bene perché siamo persone differenti. bene finita la mia tirata andiamo a vedere un po’ la storia: allora, come ho detto la trama non è nulla di troppo speciale, devo dire che ho apprezzato molto la “ricerca di Enchanté” proprio perché si sviluppa attorno a 4 persone che di facciata sembrano perfetti, ma che in realtà non lo sono. l’unica cosa che non mi è piaciuta della trama è la parte sul divorzio, io capisco che Theo sia un personaggio naive e che vive in un mondo di libri però devo dire non sono fan delle scene cringe dove si cerca di far rimettere assieme i genitori, ma questa sono sempre io. avrei preferito che la fine della serie coincidesse con la graduation di Theo e lui che decide, per una ragione o per l’altra di andare in Francia. Theo non è un personaggio perfetto e va bene perché noi non siamo perfetti e come veniamo cresciuti credo influisca sul nostro modo di vedere le cose. poi quel cucciolo di Akk, partendo dal presuppposto che si va ad aggiungere al pullman di green flag che ho visto in questi ultimi BL, come puoi stupirti se Theo si arrabbia se tu non gli hai detto che i suoi stanno divorziando? ecco questa è l’unica cosa che ho da ridire su di lui perché per il resto è la tipica green flag, carina e bellina e che nel finale decide di trasferirsi in Francia per il suo Theo, ma non solo (e questa è una delle cose che ho più apprezzato di lui). lui va in Francia sia per stare con Theo sia per il suo master, per avere più opportunità nel futuro, un po’ come Palm che decide di seguire il suo “one and only”, non solo per stargli vicino, ma anche perché vuole migliorarsi e migliorare le sue prospettive future, per meritarsi di stare accanto a una persona “importante” come Theo o Nueng. poi praise a tutti gli attori, tra cui Force e Book che sono fra i pochi pair di attori che vedo molto validi anche come amici. e uno direbbe “grazie al cocomero”, infatti. però molte volte nei friends to lovers la parte friends non è sottolineata per avere sostanzialmente due persone che si orbitano intorno e che si mandano sex eyes ogni dieci minuti. ecco Force e Book, forti molto probabilmente del fatto che sono amici da 16 anni rendono valida anche la parte iniziale dove sono amici (perché si Theo sapeva dei suoi sentimenti per Akk, ma non il contrario). poi il colpo di scena, checché ne dicano i più è vero che è abbastanza palese, ma è fatto bene e viene rivelato all’unica persona che doveva scoprirlo.
overall quindi una serie carina, leggera (con un Fluke quasi nudo che esce da una pesca e un Jimmy sporadico nelle ultime due puntate) che merita di avere una possibilità.

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