FreshKicks

I'm a fairly regular anti-2gether on here (my proof of membership is that I rated it 3/10 lol) and you're actually a new name to me, so I don't know what that other person is talking about.

Welcome! :)

For people like me, who couldn't wait for the series to start and had about a dozen pics of Bright saved on my phone before the first episode even aired, I think it is a matter of being tremendously disappointed. I mean: really, really disappointed. I thought this would be the best BL series in history.

GMMTV promoted the bejesus out of it and I think as a result the standard it's been held to is higher. They had a big budget, gorgeous actors, and an experienced director, and they even made a great start of it, but then they basically blew it. To add insult to injury they've *continued* to promote the bejesus out of it, with excruciating side projects like 'Play 2gether' and the upcoming 'Still 2gether', which I now expect will be just as disappointing so I'm keeping expectations low this time.

I got so tired of seeing Bright on my Twitter feed that I've had to mute a couple dozen accounts. (Unfortunately this included Win since he is always posting stuff of himself with Bright.) Bright's cute, but he wasn't talented enough to hide how uncomfortable he was being in a BL, and the series itself ended terribly. For GMMTV to continue promoting him and it so heavily was starting to feel absurd.

A few days ago I rediscovered all those old pics of Bright that I'd saved on my phone and recoiled in horror. As I deleted them I realized how my attitude on the series had done a 180. I'm not saying I'm representative of a majority of the 'haters' but my dislike is from the perspective of a jilted lover. The feeling is much stronger than if I'd just stumbled on the series, watched a few episodes, then dropped it. I was ready to get married and it left me at the altar lol.

Maybe by now you've already seen how that little plot thread turns out. Nobody ever tells her nuttin'.

I was disappointed that Kanata even went into the hospital room to see her. If it was me I would have donated the blood and gotten the hell out of there. I would also have told the "sister" to go pound sand.

(The fact that she's later writing him letters to tell him how the mother is doing was the most absurd thing about the finale montage. Nobody cares about that selfish woman! Nobody!)

Right. Even the way they cast it gives away the ending. They wouldn't put Krist in this drama unless he gets the girl in the end.

Just imagine what a sensation this would be if they didn't follow the original. I bet it would get even more views.

I guess you don't believe that they purposely held back on any hand-holding, cuddling, or post-confession kissing when they made the series. I think they did -- probably for the precise reason that it would find acceptance in countries that don't typically welcome BL content. We'll have to agree to disagree on whether that is a good thing.

Censorship implies that a third party went into a finished work and made their own changes in order to suppress the content. I don't think that happened here. Everything in 2gether was committed with intent.

Still, even if 2gether wasn't censored I do think that on the scale of bromance to BL, it is more at the bromance end of the spectrum. And there's no reason that a bromance-heavy BL can't have meaning for its audience.

I'm glad that 2gether appeals to Pinoy, Japanese, and Indonesian men and affirms who they are. Anyone who has grown up gay has had experiences like that with TV and movies that validate them in a special way, myself included. (Not every part of the west is tolerant, btw. I have gay cousins in South Carolina and they live a very different life than I do in Boston.)

This all makes me wonder if a series like Love Sick would be accessible in those countries, since it too avoided m/m kissing but the cuddling and horseplay in that series has a undeniable gay edge to it. Early on the two boys are washing a scooter and they get into a soapy wrestling match. That one scene is gayer than anything in 2gether.

What I fear most about 2gether is that its success will influence future BLs and make them just as bland and non-committal.

He's great. Big future ahead.

Thanks for awarding it with a good score. I think COVID-19 forced them to stage the group conversations as social media dialog and the result was pretty awkward. They clearly wanted to avoid dropping the story entirely and this was the compromise, and although it was sometimes difficult to follow I do appreciate that they tried.

I think all the social media conversations are what they did as a compromise in dealing with COVID-19. As the conversations played out on the screen I could imagine that they started as scenes where the cast was actually together and talking.

Unfortunately, when there's not a visual element the dialog has to be snappy and engaging enough to hold interest. In this case it wasn't, and so this part of EN of Love suffers for it.

I really feel for the cast and producers. It must be so frustrating. They clearly wanted to come through for us. I am going to grade this series on a steep curve because I appreciate their efforts and hope they'll get back in business with another series when conditions allow.

Good point. I guess the big question will be whether Kim has always had feelings for Way and suppressed them. Kim doesn’t have a girlfriend (I suspect that nothing intimate ever really happened between him and the teacher) and before the body swap he was very devoted. The poster for the series seems to signal something too. Anyway, I’m definitely more optimistic than I was before now. :)

We need a companion piece on violin/cello/piano-playing characters who don't even try to make it look like they're really playing.

'Meteor Garden' comes to mind immediately, but extra points get deducted if the character is supposed to be a world-class instrumentalist like in 'I Hear You'.

I'm guessing that the additional statement was due to blowback on the teacher-student affair.

Very interesting perspective! And one I would never have been able to consider on my own. Much appreciated.

Exactly!

Yes! I think you are 100% right. Both will be fantastic pairings and now I'm so glad I didn't listen to everybody who dismissed this as non-BL. This might be one of the cleverest ones ever.

I knew there'd be a BL payoff if I stuck with this! That final shot in this week's episode blew me away!

I had faith that the writers would somehow find a clever way to make "the" couple happen, but I was still doubtful. I'm less doubtful now. If it unfolds the way I'm hoping, this could become one of the most clever BL dramas ever. (And have one of the hottest pairings in Thai BL!)

Gosh I can't tell you how happy I am that somebody agrees with me. On Twitter it's all 'Pearl 24x7'. I was wondering if we'd watched the same series haha.

That's a good insight about wanting to avoid conflict. He might feel compelled to always please people and so he works extra hard to make everyone happy.

I was glad he addressed the 'Babe' thing too.

I love an "enemies to lovers" trope as much as anybody, but wow Katana's got to be the meanest, rudest, cruelest ML I've ever seen in a drama.

The FL has her moments of flaring up to confront him over his behavior but she always seems to end up backing down. I'm four episodes in and I hope there will be a scene where they finally have it out for real.

The guy is cute but at what cost? He's a complete and utter ass!

I imagine I will be the only commenter who isn't bonkers for Pearl.

It seems to me her constant presence is preventing the two guys from getting to know each other in the ways that matter. A new relationship needs that kind of 1:1 time. It's like she is always finding another way to be part of what is happening between Gav and Cai, and if you ask me her happy personality seems to be turned up just a little too high.

Since the time her character was introduced in the series she's been a constant presence, and now with another character being brought in to possibly stir the pot I'm wondering if we'll see even more group chats crowding out the Gav-Cai chats.

None of this might have been an issue if the story had given the boys enough time to establish a decent bond before parading out the exes who only fill Cai with more doubt and anxiety. I feel pretty bad for Cai.

Yes, I saw there is now another ex on the scene. If Terrence thinks that he and Gav still have something going on, this will get interesting.

I think the context of any other series Gav would be perceived as a player. He flirts relentlessly (probably because that's a go-to strategy for him) but he needs to focus more on building a real connection to Cai.

When somebody flirts too much it starts to look like a defense mechanism that ironically is used to keep people at a distance.