Cutie Pie (2022)

Perverts, Manipulators and the mentally challenged

It starts with the perverted old Grandfather deciding that he will arrange a marriage between his preteen Grandson and his little best friend, not the best start.
His daughter and son in law don't seem to mind and the poor friends were happy to sell their preteen son into some kind of prostitution, they were rich by the end so it worked out for them.
We then jump into the future, the children have grown and are dating, Kuea ( pervert Grandfather) is now 20 yo and mentally challenged. He lives a secret life of motorcycles and club singing while being a cutie pie innocent boy for his boyfriend Lian.
Lian knows about Kuea's secret life and wants him to come out, so he tells him he doesn't love him ( Maybe that made sense to the writer but not to me ).
Kuea cries and calls of the relationship and this is where it could have got interesting, instead it just plodded along with Lian the manipulator lying all the time and Kuea the mentally challenged lying all the time.
Every episode we get Kuea saying he his going to be strong and independent but then acting like a battered wife, Lian just played along while talking to Kuea like a 5yo child and manipulating him at every opportunity.
They finally sort everything out and start dating ( never any explanation on why Lian told him he didn't love him at the beginning ) , Lian even asked Kuea if he had been drinking before they had sex.
In this Thai BL they decide they didn't want to drunk rape anyone, shocking I know, but they didn't mind Lian having sex with someone with the mental capacity of a goldfish.
Kuea finally grew a spine and a brain ( not for long ) and dumps Lian at the most inconvenient time, only to get back with him a hour later, THE END.

I think the drama would have been better if Lian had not known that Kuea had a secret life and was acting innocent, he then tells him he doesn't love him and Kuea calls of the relationship.
Keau is heartbroken because he as been trying to please Lian by being cutie pie and all innocent. Jump a few months and Kuea as moved on and is being his real self.
Lian could have then fell in love with the real Keau and the story would have ended happy with a moral twist about loving yourself and being honest in a relationship.

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WOULD IT KILL YOU BOTH TO COMMUNICATE JUST ONCE?

No.

This was not good. At all. How anyone can get behind this is unimaginable to me. Kuea and Lian had no chemistry and just lied to each other the whole time. Chuck a couple of NC scenes in there and you think I’ll forget about it? No.

The plot was even more of mess and the characters were unlikable. Never once did I feel like they “fell in love.” Literally just 12 episodes of pure lies and conflicts that weren’t resolved by the end. Communication does not exist in the Cutie Pie universe!

Yi and Diao were cute but they need to learn to communicate too. They at least showed some feelings for each other.

The only thing stopping this from being a total train wreck was the third couple: Syn and Nuer. I loved them so much! But even so, they hardly got any screen time and were not given the opportunity to shine like the healthy and cute couple that they were! The soundtrack also slapped, I’ll give it that.

But I literally lost my sanity watching this series. I don’t recommend it at all. Someone get BounPrem out of there, they don’t deserve this.

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Utter Toxic Waste of Time!

Unless you want a "How to" for conducting your relationship with controlling, toxic, manipulative, threatening, evasive, lying, abusive techniques, then this drama has nothing to offer. There isn't even a consistent plot to fall back on. It's full of holes, boring in long stretches and it never really deals with the problems at hand. It just waves them away.

Some people liked it in spite of that because of the music. Which was nice but can't fix what's wrong with the writing.
Some people liked it in spite of that because of the hot men. Let's be honest, Max, Zee, Tutor and Perth being hot did not make up for the awful writing
Some people just wanted to ignore the problems and fangirl over it because of the sex scenes. But not me. I signed on for to experience a good story and this just can't deliver that.

Skip this and watch literally almost anything else. My suggestion at the moment would be KinnPorsche, La Cuisine and Where Your Eyes Linger.

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Snogging? – TICK! (10/10) Plot? – not so much.

First impression:
This series has had lots of money spent on it. The locations, the clothes, the superbikes – everything is expensive - and it is shot beautifully. I found the arranged marriage that Kuea and Kilen were so openly told about as children to be a strange and interesting starting point. I actually thought that this was setting the show up to exist in a fantasy version of modern day Thailand where it was accepted as the norm, but it wasn't. Their early interactions (as adults) were intriguingly dramatic and the first couple of episodes totally sucked me in. They don’t communicate well (understatement) and hide a lot from each other. Kuea’s misunderstanding, hurt and subsequent withdrawal seem totally legitimate reactions at the beginning. The ins-and-outs of their trusting each other and then not, and getting together romantically (so convincingly), to then fall into a state of unease again all become a bit confusing / frustrating – but it turns out that’s basically the plot! Once that became clear it felt a little bit limp, but I went in without any particular expectations so it was all good.

Cast:
Apart from a little bit of Zee and a tiny bit of Perth (playing Jay), I hadn’t seen the cast in anything before. I wasn’t aware of the Zee/Saint - CP/SCOY showdown (obvs I am now cos I’m showing off my acronyms) and I hadn’t even come across Boun and Prem. So it’s been educational for me ^^.
I wasn’t keen on the 2nd couple (Yi and Diao), but they didn’t have much to work with. I found it difficult to swallow all that Diao going to “teach” his judo class in secret (alongside the actual teacher XD), to a group of bemused looking kids. That sports centre though! I want a go on the climbing wall.
Zee - I love this man. I'd be happy to watch Zee in flirt mode (permanently activated?) all day, every day. I think the main draw of the series is the chemistry between him and NuNew and their pairing is as good as it gets. Apart from kissing, all Kilen really does for the second half of the show is try and reassure Kuea but I liked it - found it v comforting.

NuNew: blew me away - he's so talented he deserves his own paragraph (really needs to get some sort of BL newcomer award). He looked and acted the part – could not have been cuter - add to that his voice – he was bang on perfect for the role. His stage performances = zero cringe – he was simply a joy to watch - how is that even possible given the set up? Also give him credit for being a convincing crier – though I could have done with less of that towards the end.

Off the boil:
I lost watch-momentum midway through and it went from something I really looked forward to, to something I wanted to feel excited about but just didn’t. I had been watching the episodes as soon as they came out for the first 7 or so, but there a break in the schedule for Songkran/Thai New Year and I never got back into the swing again after that. There were a few things at the beginning that I liked and thought would feature throughout, but just vanished - like Keua’s parental home and housekeeper (she was a cutie!) and Kilen’s workplace. I’m glad Foei was a permanent fixture - he was a highlight - his side-eye in the car – hehehe!! It was the 3rd couple, Syn and Nuer, who saved it for me - arg, I loved them so much: the eye contact, the accidental falling-on-the-face-kiss ^o^. They brought life back to the series when it was flagging.

Slight agitations:
Everything in CP is exaggerated – it’s totally fantasy BL land - but despite taking it all with a pinch of salt I did find the infantilising of Kuea and Diao in some scenes (more with Diao) a bit.… gross. Other than that I didn’t have a problem with the dynamics between the couples. I don’t mind a bit of toxicity! -Especially not when it’s clearly depicted as being “wrong” and they try to right it.
Also mildly agitated (/amused) by Kuea’s interior decor – those massive pics of supercars, him on his bike and the Kilen shrine! XD

Overall:
Wouldn't watch the whole thing again, but I would do certain episodes. Best things about it for me were Zee and NuNew's partnership, and the music.

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Zee Deserves Better

I decided not to watch this series as it was running and just binge watch after the series ended, Im so glad I did! My FF button worked overtime every episode. My main reaction, Zee deserves a better series than this, NuNew is not a bad actor but there was zilch chemistry between the two, Zee was working extra hard in the intimate scenes but NuNew did not hold his own (a few kissing scenes he had an “ugly face look” outshining the kiss) Im dumbfounded that I couldn't stay focus, my mind wandered from boredom and I began to watch the 2nd couple more even though there wasn't much between them. If there was chemistry between any of the cast it was between NuNew and his best friend, I found myself wanting a twist in the plot where they became a couple. The ending.. WTH just.. WTF was that?? Smh. We can do better for Zee!

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Tutoryim saved it for me imo

I mean everyone has their own opinion and if you loved this show good for you! However for me I just wasn’t feeling this show at all but I loved Tutor and Yim’s scenes. I wish to see more of Neur and Syn’s story or a whole show with Tutor and Yim as mains. Maybe it was the whole arrange marriage thing I didn’t like and that was like the whole plot. Also the lack of communication between the two leads and side couple infuriated me throughout the show. Some scenes felt very cringe to watch for me. There was like no substance and felt gimmicky at times. The locations look gorgeous though. Again you should just watch this yourself to figure out if you like it or not as I see zee and new like everywhere so just watch a little and decide for yourself weather you like it or not.

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Winning Story Idea ... Goes Nowhere

I was really looking forward to this drama as I'm a big fan of Zee and the idea of an arranged same-gender marriage sounded like a winner, but I had to read other reviews to see if I was missing something. It seems like one dysfunctional scene after another. The actors do their best with a script that looks like it was made by a committee -- or a computer randomly sorting every cliche BL stereotype together in a chaotic order. I liked the scenes with Kirin (NuNew) and Khondiao (Nat) the best. Having watched quite a few of these BL dramas now, I have to say that if the source material is more than about 5 years old, the screenplay writers need to bring the story up-to-date. I'm so sick of seeing a kiss taken like a threat of violence. If the writers think that's the appropriate response then let the characters shake hands instead ... until a kiss can be accepted for what it is. Sorry, Zee. I'll look forward to your next performance in a show with a better script.

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Beautiful production, passable acting, and lots of steamy scenes...but romanticized abuse and a weak plot.

(Tw: child grooming/pedophilia discussed in next paragraph)

Let's hope the people who had the idea to combine child betrothal with an age gap just didn't think it through, because if not we've got people totally fine with child grooming and pedophilia on our hands. And even though this issue is STARING us in the face (the leads are literally shown meeting when one is an infant and the other is like...seven), it's just absolutely never addressed. Instead, we have the older ML saying things like "I've never not loved you" and "I've been waiting [to have sex with you]" to a brand-new adult to whom he has been a family friend since the guy was born. (Yes, this show made me google the age of adulthood in Thailand. Yes, I know that the age of consent is younger. That doesn't matter to me.) So these statements imply that this man who has been an adult for about seven years longer than his partner has been sexualizing him for...how long? This isn't 1815, when Jane Austen's Mr. Knightley could get away with telling Emma he fell in love with her when she was fourteen and he was twenty-something. This is 2022, when we know that sexualizing minors when you're an adult is wrong. This could have been easily avoided if the creators had just made the leads closer in age or clarified that the older ML only started to see the younger in a romantic light once he became an adult, but for some reason they just... didn't do that.

And that's not even touching on how controlling and stalker-y the older ML is, which plenty of other reviews go into detail about. The writers took the most regressive parts of heteronormativity and pasted them onto this gay relationship, with the younger ML playing the part of the naive, submissive woman who needs a man to make all her decisions for her because she can't think for herself. Then the writers tried to combine that with pro-LGBTQ advocacy messages here and there, and the result was jarring. It's nice that they care about rights for LGBTQ people, but it would have been nicer if they had actually cared to like...meet actual gay people and find out what their relationships are like before writing gay people as committed to replicating unhealthy heteronormative standards.
 
The writers liked the abusive dynamics in the first couple so much that they just recreated them for the second couple, with even less explanation as to why that couple has that power imbalance. And in both relationships, it's all romanticized and not challenged at all. (Commenters need to understand that Dom/sub relationships require CONSENT. Someone who's trying to control their partner and his life without his consent isn't a Dom; they're an abuser.)

Outside of the ethical issues, the plot of the show was pretty weak. It hinges entirely on the leads' lack of communication - only the younger ML discovers pretty early on that the older ML actually knows everything he's been trying to hide, but he just... decides to forget it? Like truly, if that revelation had followed out to its logical conclusion, the lack of communication could have been solved fairly quickly. Then the leads could have worked on being better, more honest partners to each other. But nonsensically, we didn't get that.

The two younger best friends had more rapport, real affection, honest communication, and (dare I say) chemistry with each other than with their older partners. Their friendship was a bright spot in this drama.

I only finished for the third couple. I was really interested in the idea of a super religious guy who sees no conflict between his religion and his sexuality, but sadly, they got little screen time. 

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Give it a go for yourself

I know theres mixed reviews but personally I really loved this show. Cinematography was BEAUTIFUL as was the cast! Its storyline wasn't the most riveting thing in the world but it also really doesnt deserve the hate in my opinion. Personally i adored this and found it to be comforting to watch so give it a go before being put off by the negativity! Im not saying its faultless and people can have their own opinions but i really think this page has an uneven view of how this drama actually was like to watch. Personally one of my faves this year tbh i loved waiting for its weekly comfort . Also, it brings up some really important topics especially around gay marriage and love in general. Also a lot of the problems it could have are addressed in the last few episodes so, it really has some lovely moments.

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Whack AF--Don't Waste Your Time

I got into this because user BadPennyGirl was watching it and wow. She owes me. (Though she suffered too)

Bros, this was a hot mess. Like it's a flat out crime.

Acting: The writing was so bad that it's legit a little hard to really say 100% of the time. But the overall acting was below average. It was either actors overacting their roles or it was the exact opposite, with wooden or flat performances.

Zee--Cardboard flat interspersed with comic book villain sneers early on. And then later it was flat interspersed with bizarre puppy eyed crap. C'mon Zee. You can do so much better than this. It was like the director ordered him to pretend he was a robot.

New--Like his name suggests, man his inexperience was key in how bad his performances were. Yo, it was hella awkward a lot of the time, and the rest of the time New overacted to maximum cringe. The only time his character looked natural was on stage. Or asleep.

Max--Max acted pretty well, he just wasn't given much to work with.

Nat--Nat was about as bad as Zee. Like Nat, bro, I know you can act. But your face did this weird shit all the time this series.

Production: The music was well arranged, even if most of it was cover music. The set design and other shit was woah, good! The editing was fine. The costuming was weird in a dated way but it felt like it was on purpose, so good on them.

Plot: Oh, this is where this shit-fest should get hammered. Themes of underage grooming. Colorism presented like being pale was "noble". That so not cute at all lame ass use of "lack of communication" as the main driving plot point. Except whenever it was convenient to facillitate some good ole fashioned sexing, then suddenly the communication problems got ignored. The way manipulative and abusive behaviors were made to seem cute was also fucked up. There was also a lot of the younger characters being represented as infantile. Especially as relationships deepened and sex was suddenly on the table.

The overall plot was that Kuea lied to Lian about his hobbies and his college major. And he pretended to be a docile bae. And this somehow made him a bad boy that Lian had to break down until he confessed he was lying. Which lian did by using super shady tactics including lying and manipulation and forcing Kuea into corners to make him confess that he liked music, fast bikes and automotive engineering. Sounds cracked AF, right? It was.

Plus it wasn't written in a way that was consistent, coherent or even thrilling, bros. I mean, it was also dead AF boring. There were huge gaps were nothing happened and the plot didn't move anywhere until the very end of the next to last episode. All season there is no build up, just the same shit all over, except with sex thrown in. And then at the last second a hand wavy conversation and suddenly everything is resolved.

The second couple was just as badly written. Yi comes off as a bully and an abuser at times. And Diao was dressed and written to seem like he was a child. Which made the sex scenes between Yi and Diao super uncomfortable.

It was a wreck that didn't go anywhere. Most lazy, crazy plot ever. It made no sense.

If I hadn't have forged some friendships on MDL of people who were also watching this shit, I'd have dropped it 4 episodes in. The comments section of the MDL page for Cutie Pie was way more coherent and interesting than the drama.

There was a third couple but there was so little of them in the whole series that they just didn't even matter.

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Goes nowhere with it's set up except to romanticize toxic relationships

The writers don't ever bother developing the parts that need to go between A and B, they just suddenly change things with zero development to earn them and even those moments are rare because they just keep the troubling status quo throughout the whole series. They never deal with the ramifications of the protagonists being groomed by their families, where Kuea is so controlled that he partitioned his self from neurotic man child when he's with Hia Lian and their family to being a relaxed functioning adult with interests when he's away from them. Hia Lian who has been conditioned to dedicate his life to the child of this rich family since he himself was a child, is emotionally abusive, controlling, manipulative, and he can't deal with Kuea having his own agency when actually confronted with that side of him which is something that should have been something the characters had dealt with, to see Kuea reconciling the two sides of himself and changing up their dynamic earlier in the series to bring them to heal individually and develop a healthier relationship, but this is never addressed either. The second couple is a mirror to this suffocating dynamic where the younger men are kept both dependent and in fear of their older partners. The only breath of fresh air is Syn and Nuea who develops their relationship organically through bits of screen time here and there. The show has a nice budget, decent music, a mix of actors of varying capabilities, and characters that could have been interestingly complex, but aside from couple three, there is no potential the show doesn't squander or fizzle to nowhere.

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