Cutie Pie (2022)

If you watch this with your eyes and ears closed and your brain turned off, then it's fine

Decided to watch after reading a lot of good reviews and recommendations, but honestly it was my biggest dissapointment among all bl dramas i've ever watched.
First of all, the plot is such a mess. Why was arranged marriage necessary in the first place? And why the parents never even thought that their kids' might be hetero? (For real, how did they guess their orientation?)
Secondly, did the scriptwriters forget about character development? In the first episode we can see how differently Kuea acts around friends and Lian. It would have been great to whitness how Kuea opens up with time to Lian. But instead, we got Kuea's constant fear of not living up to Lian's expectations and plenty of lies from both sides.
Lian and Yi act like control freaks. It was very uncomfortable to watch how they treat Kuea and Khondiao. At first Lian tells Kuea how he hates him and then makes him move to a new house with cameras all over the place. That is not love.
Also, i hate how authors presents relationship of both couples as very cute. Is it cute to completely control your partner? Is it cute when your partner is literally scared of you?
Side characters like Syn and Nuer are fine. Except for the Kuea's mother. God, i hate this woman. Why in the world does she trust Lian more than her own son? Why she never asks about Kuea's point of view? Everyone treats him as a dumb child. That's actually the main problem of the series. Romantic relatioship is about equality and consent. What a surprise, we see none of this in the relationship of the main characters.
Just a waste of time. This show shouldn't have got so much recognition.

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Sound Message with An Awful Story

Just because the story was awful does not equate it with bad acting. It was a very sell acted and tight production. What was awful about it was its justification of emotional abuse to get its point across. This was one of the most abusive stories I have ever witnessed. Sure, you can euphemistically claim it was for their 'own good'. This is the reasoning for abuse and the excuse for using it. Worse yet, is the abusers think they deserve this. This was a hard series to watch and I wanted to dropped it several times but stuck with it because of its quintessence.

See my full review of this series at BLBliss.com

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Part Cutie and Part Manipulation Pie

Overall: I was really excited after seeing the trailers and the plot premise. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the lack of agency, manipulation, lying and stupidity. I wish we had seen Kuea telling the truth much earlier and spending the rest of the series learning about the other person's real personality. It did have some fun, cute and advocacy moments. Watched on YouTube.

Content Warnings: non con kiss (very drunk), manipulation, stalking

What I Liked
- the original premise
- the consent displayed in episode 8 part 1, and some other parts as well
- the moments that made me laugh (like Kuea rocking out in ep 1)
- the 3rd couple, although they didn't get much screentime
- talking about marriage equality in the bath tub and later in the series
- great that Hia Lian rejected the terrible pitch using stereotypes*
- the overall aesthetic of the music, editing, etc
- Lian's assistant character was hilarious
- the intimate moments

Room For Improvement
- the main issue I have is that Kuea (and Diao to a lesser degree) don't have agency. Their love interests make decisions for them as if they are the parent and Kuea and Diao are the child instead of them being equal partners. For example Lian saying "I hope that my plan to straighten him out will work." There is a lot of lying (mostly by omission but it's still lying) and manipulation throughout the series. Kuea's mom also outright lies to him. We finally get communication in the last episode! That should have happened around episode 4. Lian even manipulated Kuea until the very end. They had agreed that Kuea would propose and Lian would not let him do it and kept sabotaging him.
- the non con drunk kiss was unnecessary, Kuea didn't even recognize Lian. I've been very drunk before and I still recognized friends so this was non con in my opinion.
- stupidity/non logic, several characters make stupid decisions. Why would Kuea think that Lian didn't know he was Kirin when Kuea publicly announced it at a show at Lian's rival business (so he likely keeps close tabs on it). And then Lian just happens to have a music room with Kuea's favorite instrument??? I really wanted (preferably Kuea) to do some huge reveal around ep 5, break off the engagement and then they needed to learn about the real personalities of the other person and fall in love
- the side couple felt abusive. Having to report his schedule, having to check in every night at midnight etc. They never had an explicit conversation about a consensual dom/sub relationship. Also I was very confused especially in the beginning with what relationship they had and why. We gained insight into their history but, too late in my opinion.
- *colorism, the grandma says she's happy her grandson is "good looking and fair, just like his noble family"

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Biggest disappointment BL ever (from someone who has watched over 50)

STORY
I am a professional author and I have never seen a bigger trash non-sensical 0/10 story than this. Were they out of their minds when they approved of the script? You could pick a random person from the street and they would have written something better. Let me start by stating that the 2 main couples are extremely abusive relationships romanticized as ''true love''. Lian manipulates Kuea to live in his house, isolates him from his friends, doesn't take no for an answer and has a ton of very serious secrets (including owning all of the family fortune of his fiancé). If you have ever been in an abusive romantic relationship, you will be VERY triggered. Kuea feels that he cannot be himself around Lian and practically hides everything about himself, from what he really studies to the fact that he sings at a bar (another sign that the relationship is toxic). Kuea decides to break off the engagement and Lian doesn't take no for an answer. Excuse me? It takes 2 people to start an engagement and one person to end it, unless you are trapped with a controlling abuser. Extremely damaging concept for young, inexperienced audience. I expected to at least address the problematic aspects at some point of the story, but nope, nothing was really resolved.

The sexual dynamic reminds me a lot of a dead bedroom with one person (Lian) having a much higher sex drive than Kuea and constantly pressuring him for sex. At some point, Kuea asks him why does he have so much desire and Lian says ''because I have been waiting for so many years'' (according to the show, Lian (27) and Kuea (idk 19-20?) are both virgins). That is another sexually abusive mindset. Lian CHOSE to wait and that doesn't make him entitled to making sexual advances to Kuea every night because he has been waiting for too long. If your partner isn't ready/doesn't want to have sex, you either accept their wishes or you find a more suitable relationship in terms of libido. By far the most dangerous aspect is planting the idea to young minds that if someone says no, they don't really mean it and if you insist, they will eventually say yes and like it.

The other couple (Hia and Diao) is basically Lian-Kuea 2.0, with Diao often being terrified of Hia, who is controlling and also hiding that he works as a martial arts teacher. Kuea and Diao spend time worrying at Kuea's secret house because they don't know what to do with their terrible fiancés. The tiger concept is the most absurd nonsense I have ever seen in a BL and I won't analyze it, it exists for the sake of existing to unsuccessfully cover a plot hole.

Kuea has endless free time as an engineering student (we don't see him studying not even once) and Lian's business activities consist of tragic supposedly comical sketches with his secretary where he basically dumps all the work to the secretary or instantly decides on a very important topic. Poorly written is an understatement. Shows like Love By Chance depict student life much better.

The relationship between Lian and Kuea gives off strong, disturbing sugar daddy-sugar baby dynamics, with Lian always buying the most expensive, extravagant items for Kuea to impress him. They appear to have nothing in common and always seem to have to go eat somewhere or buy something because they need money to cover their incompatibility.

There were pornographic level sex scenes out of nowhere that aimed to create a shock factor or satisfy the audience with the over the top fan service and distract from the horrendous story. Unlike WRU where there was a built up in the feelings of Fighter and Tutor that lead to (modest compared to this show) scenes, in CutiePie they come off randomly. At some point Kuea directly and clearly touches Lian's genitals over his pants more than once (!). If I wanted to watch porn, I would go to the appropriate channels, BL is about romance and many of the viewers watching it are very young, it was excessive and did not match Kueas previous shy personality.

ACTING
Zee, who was outstanding at WRU, acts like a statue in a suit and fails to deliver the calm, collected, businessman persona. NuNew is.. well new and he tries his best but his expressions often fall flat and there is no convincing chemistry between them (the real life 10 year age gap doesn't help either). There are other actors in the show, but their interactions are so typical and boring that I won't write about them, you watch and forget in less than 24 hours. The secondary couple isn't much better.

MUSIC
NuNew's back must be hurting from carrying the entire show away from the terminal disaster with his singing. Very promising singer with a lot of potential.

REWATCH VALUE
If you have one day left to live, you can rewatch it and feel like you exist in that parallel poorly made universe for 40 years.

OVERALL
WHAT AN UTTER FIASKO! I give a 2/10 because I want to honor the effort of everyone involved, both in front and behind the camera. The trailer showed so much potential, it would have been great to see Kuea rebelling and embarking on a singing career, dating a classmate/someone close to his own age instead of being chained to an arranged marriage all of his life or sending Lian to therapy to address his childhood traumas that led to his controlling and insecure behaviors. The show pretends to care for the LGBTQ people by including hypocritical one-two line dialogues (an example is the fact that same sex marriage is not allowed in the country), while depicting ONLY TOXIC, ABUSIVE, POWERED IMBALANCED same sex relationships the entire time. Consent was also very blurry more often than not, but I won't write a novel here, if you have managed to read this far, you have my thanks.

MY CONCLUSION
I wasted my time. I am so triggered that I am going to start my own BL about vampires and elves. I am serious. If you are from Domundi reading this, please, for the love of God, FIRE THOSE TALENTLESS SCRIPT WRITERS AND FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN DO YOUR ACTORS JUSTICE!

Thanks for reading.

D.D.

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First Timer

I'm not type of person who likes watching BL series, But i do familiar with Thai actors, i bumped into BL clips few times and know who's who because my friend is BL fan but I've never intentionally watching BL by myself.
Including this one, i found this series a week before final eps was aired (kinda late but it's okay). I found this series bcs I was searching for unbreakable love cover, and found nunew cover it "oh he has such good voice" that's my first impression. Then my YouTube keep auto playing cutie pie ost after that "oh such good song what song is this" the lyrics kinda fit with my relationship so i can't ignore it.
After that My YouTube played one of the cutie pie eps I'm not pay attention to it but sometimes i Peep to see what's going on bcs I'm in middle of working, when i look at my monitor Hia Yi and lian appear, Yi said "is that funny to played with your fiance like this" (I wasn't fully remembered but yeah that's kinda dialogue)
I suddenly oh what's story is this who's fiance and why - from there i binge watching 1 ep till ep 11 after my work finished
This is my first ever series that i watch completely from eps 1 to the final
Later i know new is rookie actor, for rookie actor for me he's acting already good but ofc need to be improved here and there

After the series finished i decided to read the novel version and see how it goes with my thoughts
They did put twist in the series, bcs the climax point a little bit different, there's still a little bit plot hole but i hope they could put it on special episode bcs for me it's still reasonable

People might think few scene won't happen in real life, like the proposal scene (you'll know what happened if you watch)
But me myself actually bumped into these kinda story few times whether it's my friends or my own relationship with few people, that's why i attached to the OST lyrics somehow it's just something that i want to say.

Honesty & communication not just big part of the story but it's actually also about inner thoughts, overthinking, denial, protective, trust, sacrifices, maturity.
"It takes two to tango"
People who's already matured won't create more drama but want to reconciled asap, you know how to handle problems.

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Where toxic fumes and fluff create HOT steam...

This drama may not have a lot of story to it, as it practically is two guys in an arranged engagemnet keeping secrets from each other creating lots, and lots of trust issues and playing games instead of communicating with each other... Lots of cliches not much plot, highly entertaining and defiantly fun to watch for all us cliche fluff lovers out there... a feast for the eyes a fest for the ears... Toxic goo everywhere... However having parents not only support but encourage a gay marriage is kind of sweet and not very common in Dramaland... And I dare say it is really well done, not completely ignoring the society we still live in while trying to make the idea of an arranged gay marriage no less strange the idea of an arranged hereto marriage, with all their +s and -ses.

What is slightly troublesome in most of the show is the way two of the couples younger half are treated like kids with curfews, withholding of information, lies, lies and more lies... And well control and disipline ,.. more like they were their younger siblings or their kids but with steamy kisses and well made steamy sex scenes... People you should not have to control or discipline your other half.... However this does make for a starting point for character development and I did manage to separate the acting like parents and the steam but for those who find that stuff hard to separate and/or are sensitive to this type of stuff MOVE ON there are plenty other titles to watch you do not have to watch this one. It is entertaining but not that entertaining that it would make it worth it for those who get triggered by this type of stuff.

Kirin the young half of the main couple is such a talented sweetheart, hiding his true self 8for good reason), does a pretty good job jumping between personalities and conveying conflicting emotions, fear and desire to be loved. He has some pretty awesome friends (especially Syn )who are sweet, supportive, interesting and make for some pretty fun couples of their own.

Hia /Kilen is a typical cold CEO type with a fun and warm side waiting to be discovered... making for a whole lot of fun humour and some pretty fun scenes. Also not every time but many of the times they say Hia it sound more like they are saying sheeeea, kind of entertaining for those used to hearing that word as something else than a name...

Both guys very 2 different personalities (each) that are a blast to watch especially watch them swith between them.

The other side characters are pretty decent and this is the biggest revolution of them all the parents here seem to be the voice of reason. the other Hia Yi (Hias best friend and older half of the second couple) bothers me for some reason, could be the lack of reason...

But the overall message seems to be pretty decent, once you get past some of those other issues...

Bingabilaty High
toxic levels: medium high
Healthy relationships: none
Fluff: 9
Steam: 10
Entertainment value: 9
Quality: 7
Chemistry: fireworks
Kisses: A LOT, no dead fish in sight

Defiantly worth a watch for those who can stand the heat and separate fiction from relationship goals.

P.S. There are 2 cute dogs and some pretty heallereos PPL also make sure to stick around pasta the credits of the last episode.

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Such a waste of time and budget for something SOOO BORING and VAGUE (EDITED)

The series started great with huge potential for plot development but after 10 episodes I feel like most of the episodes are a filler episodes and there is no actual plot. It started strong but after 5-6 episode it lost momentum and we are going in circles...

Honestly there is no point in watching the whole episode, just skip from here to there and you'll understand what is going on( which shows that the story is easy to follow but boring af). The whole hiding personality is actually getting boring at this point .

The main couple was interesting the first few episodes but then they bored me so much omg... I actually like the development of the second couple more than the lead. Hm, honestly it's a easy forgetful drama ngl.

The whole story could've been better with 6-8 episodes, less filler scenes and more plot development.
The chemistry is great between the couples and side characters, but that's about it.
There is no point of re-watching this and waste your time again. You can live without this for sure.

~EDIT~
Last episode is airing in less than and half an hour, and my thoughts are still the same. The side couples were more interesting than the main one, due to the lack of communication, no character development and honestly not so great acting. The hidden personality "Kirin" was I guess the highlight of the drama...
This show could've been such a great hit in the BL world if the story development was better, if it had more substance to it.
Like I stated before, great start, weak finish. The only good thing about this show is the budget put into it. Other than that it's pretty boring,especially the main couple.
i do not care if you want to watch this, but take my advice and save your time. It's really not worth it.

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until when is cutie enough??????

5.5 You really thought. This show really tried to but failed miserably. I hope to see them in a different show, written better. So, anyways. I am really tired of bls romanticizing all these toxic behaviors, and the guys just putting up with it. The writing is nice at times but most of it is just, fan service, toxic guys, and crying babies. Aren´t we tired of this yet? I don't like how a lot of the characters are written, in fact, the only characters that I kinda like Kuea, Syn, and Nuea. Everybody else is wrong. Diao is such a character, lol. I don't understand why we are still making these types of characters that can't even breathe, and yall keep calling this love. Oh, no babes that HARASSMENT. Anyway, Diao is a cry baby, there's one scene where he starts crying in front of Yi, and I was just like "Sir, he hasn't said a single word what's going on here?" like yall call that love???, he is crying because he is scared of this man god damn it. Yi, well, his character did his part you know, the toxic guy who wants to dominate and acts all macho. It is not that bad until you see Diao, that's when you know this writing is wrong. Hia, the same thing, he is just a toxic man, and there is nothing wrong with having these types of characters as long as you don't romanticize them, and guess what this series does? yeah, that. Even the parents are toxic and are allowed to be.

Read my whole review visiting my blog in the link:

https://souvenirmyshyyange.wixsite.com/website/post/review-cutie-pie-until-when-is-cutie-enough

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Had the potential

I didn't hate this series. The storyline was interesting enough and had so much potential. This potential however was wasted with zero development in the characters. You can't deny ZeeNuNew's chemistry but love scenes are not enough to keep the viewers engaged. If you are looking for a hot series then this BL is perfect for you but in my case, I also like a well-established plot which was non-existent in this series. The beginning had me intrigued but in the end, I was left with a lot of unanswered questions.

Overall the acting was not bad but for the main role, I feel like NuNew could have delivered more especially for his crying scenes. I'm in love with his voice though and I'm excited to see how his future acting roles and his promising career as a singer will unfold. Zee is an experienced actor so he portrayed his role as Lian quite well. Then we have Nat who I adore so much but unfortunately, his acting wasn't impressive either. He too has the potential as well as his partner Max whose portrayal of Hia Yi could also have been better.
My favourite couple has to be Nuer and Syn! I was more interested in their love story and I'm looking forward to their own series.

Even though this series has some intense and hot love scenes from Kuea and Lian, every other aspect of their relationship was a mess. Firstly there was no communication whatsoever and they both didn't seem to know or understand each other. Healthy communication is an important foundation for any relationship.
With Khondiao and Hia Yi what exactly was their narrative?
The ending was especially illogical. So not only do they barely know anything about each other but instead of actually spending time talking and resolving their issues they prioritise sex. A lot of aspects of this BL are a little immature and distasteful, it could have been written better.

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Story/plot is lacking, but...

I am glad I read the reviews before watching. I really didn't expect much going into it, and wasn't disappointed.
Bad - The story or plot leaves much to be desired, yes there were questions left unanswered, and the "trauma" between Hia Yi and Khondiao was not what I would call enough to be an issue. Things were left for far too long, and it really could have been scripted much better.

Chemistry - The chemistry between Kuea and Hia Lian was very good, believable, but the story line kind of messed with it, imo. When they were on though, it was HOT! Same with Hia Yi and Diao. Great chemistry once they went for it, but story line was just off. Syn & Nuer were the best! Both were so cute and funny and sweet.

Good - The side stories and friendships were extremely funny and really good. Kuea's friends at school were hysterical, they made the show so much more watchable. I loved how they just went along with Syn's prayers and helped Kuea keep up appearances with Hia Lian by dressing like computer nerds! Also, the "Jelly Gang" was very cute. Kuea and Diao supported each other so well.
My most favorite character was the scene-stealing Foei. He was THE BEST! Every scene he was in was perfect, I really wish he had more screen time.

Music - I must say the music, for me, was amazing. NuNew has a beautiful voice, as does Nat. Their songs were so good I keep looking NN up on youtube for more.

Overall, not as bad as I thought it would be after reading the reviews, but could have been so much better.

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Forget plot. Watch it for hot men kissing.

I went in expecting to love this, but it really just a 'meh' for me.
Likes:
1. Good looking. Zee was so fine
2. Steamy scenes. The kisses were real...with tongue...and there were many
3. Music. NuNew has a nice voice
4. 3rd couple was so cute
5. The supportive relationship between MC and is bff
6. High production value
Dislikes:
1. Nonsensical plot-What was up with the gay grandpa setting up his grandson with another boy before knowing either of their sexual orientation? How unrealistic was it that not a single person in either families batted an eye and questioned "Is it a good idea? They're still children!"
2. Controlling older lovers who treat their younger lovers like children. Must know their daily schedules and giving them curfews. If the older called, the younger must drop everything to go to the older.
3. So many unnecessary secrets and lies: Why the hell did the MC have to lie about all his ordinary hobbies and university degree? Why pretend to be a bland doll when the ML aka his fiance has known him since birth?
And the ML with his own lies ,once again treating MC like a child who couldn't handle the truth. And the list goes on...to many to write
4. Relationship developments: They did not show how the characters fall in love or what they love about eachother. "I love you since you were born" isn't cutting it. It's nonsense. Throughout the series, you just see the older lovers thirsting for the younger. There was no deep and meaningful love shown. The younger sort of just went along it. They were quite passive in the relationship.
5. Non-con and dub-con: A full fledge respectable adult would not kiss a blind-drunk person. The kiss in the car was not consensual. To make it worse the ML didn't tell the MC that it was him resulting in the MC guiltily thought that he kissed some random stranger. Subsequent kissing and other intimate scenes felt pushy.
6. The pacing: so slow. So many unnecessary scenes that added nothing to the story. So many drawn out scenes. The singing was nice, but we didn't need to see the whole song sung in the series. We can listen to the OST after if we want to. My thumb hit the skip button so often.
7. For a show that preaches marriage equality, it did not show anything compelling to support the ideal. The main couple mentioned a couple of times and thats it. It didn't even show the couple married at the end!
You know what would've been compelling? If they show a heartbreaking backstory of the gay grandpas. Of how the 2 couldn't be together when they were young. That they were force separate and marry women. And they only managed to be together after all their obligations were fulfilled, ie raising their children to be independent adults that can take over the family business. And even then, they still couldn't get married and that is sad. But that does not mean that that gave them the rights to arrange a gay marriage when they didn't know whether their grandsons were going to be gay or not

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An immature wattpad story!!

I am a fan of BL and I support the LGBTQ community. Now the review...

The 1st thing missing when you start the drama is logic and common sense. Set those aside, but can you SERIOUSLY!! put your brain out!!!
That's too much of imagination, your reasoning brain opposes it every single time...

The story goes like; 1st couple, Lian Kilen Wang and Kuea “Kirin” Keerati

Writers: Both of the main leads are engaged by their grandpa.
Me: Okay!

Writers: The ML is the Rich hire...
Me: Okay!

Writers: His grandpa is also gay...
Me: Cool!

My brain/Logic: BUT how does he know his 7-year-old grandchild is gay? and the guy he is going to engage is also gay? ?

Even tho Grandpa has a son... so probably he married a woman and has his son then his grandchild (Kuea) who is the only hire of their family & business... So, Even though his grandpa is gay and cool with the "gay marriage" how does/will he engage his 7-year-old grandkid to a guy?

Writers: But the Main Lead LOVE his fiancé (as a kid)
Me: wouldn't it make them friends? or more like a big brother?

Logic: The main lead goes for higher studies abroad BUT they literally spend their childhood together... so, how come they don't know each other...

It sooo forced and makes no sense... even the actors have no chemistry! There is a lot of kissing but aside from that they don't have an actual story...

About 2nd couple... "Khondiao" Thacha and Yi Phayak Chatdecha

The Male lead (Diao) is scared of the person(Yi) and also loves him??
My brain/Logic: Excuse me?
Writers: There is a dialogue in the drama "Love come with Pain"
Me: Yes, It gave me a headache!

Writers: So, they are not in a relationship but they live together...
Me: okay! Here we go again, No chemistry!

So, the question is it worth watching?
And the answer is NOOOO!! Absolutely No!

I can't give the 0 for rewatching but it is not worth watching just once.

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