This review may contain spoilers
Romance or Bromance? That is the question!
Where do I even begin?
The start of the drama was really strong, with Tine and Sarawat's interactions being the highlight of every episode. The premise of the story (faking dating trope) from the plot synopsis sounded so interesting and I found myself getting excited to see how the relationship between Tine and Sarawat would develop overtime however, like many other people, I found that the execution fell horribly flat.
Now I don't know about you guys but I have read and watched countless stuff involving the fake-dating trope and I would have to say that 2gether incorporated the trope in their show in the worst way. A huge part of the fake-dating trope is the actual fake-DATING but they didn't even seem like they were even trying with the dating part. The only times they would pretend to be a couple (which they didn't even try to make believable) was when Green would appear which were only like 4 times. I don't even know how Green fell for it at all.
There were cute moments here and there but overall, I found myself questioning what direction the show is taking with the couple. It seemed like the show were just half-arsing everything and weren't actually putting any effort in the relationship especially from Tine's side of things. In the first half of the show, Sarawat seemed to be putting all the effort with all the flirting and banter which I'm not even going to deny, was the only thing keeping me watching the show. Overall, the first half of the show was solid, a little lackluster in certain areas, but that is why I was getting so excited for the second half because that would be when Tine and Sarawat become an established couple..........oh how naïve I was!
The second half of the show was so disappointing. Although before I go deep into the criticisms, I should say that there some scenes that I really did enjoy watching. The scene where Sarawat and Tine are in that abandoned bus, waiting for the rain to stop and Sarawat shows him the video of his past self singing a song he wrote about Tine from their first Scrubb concert. I thought that scene was so cute and it was one of the only times where I thought to myself "wow, them liking eachother actually seems believable here".
My fave moments (the scenes that actually made me believe that Tine and Sarawat were in a relationship:
(In no particular order)
1. The bus scene I just mentioned above
2. The 2 scenes where they are sleeping on the coach together (1. when Tine refuses to sleep in the bed with Sarawat so Sarawat joins him on the coach and 2. when Type is sleeping over and Tine joins Sarawat over at the coach so they can sleep together)
3. After they moved in together and Sarawat pulled Tine in from his waist (a small moment but sweet moment)
This show lacked so many small moments like the one I mentioned in bullet point three above and its usually the small moments between couples that honestly MAKE the romance. And yes the big moments like singing to your boyfriend or saying I like you are great but the small moments like shy smiles, physical touches, stolen glances, holding hands or soft embraces (just intimate moments that make you think that the only people that exist in this world are you two) are things that were either missing or so rare to see in this show. The most that this couple did to show affection was patting on the head -_-
Now onto the second half criticisms! Like many others have stated in their own reviews, the second half of the show literally seemed to give up on the couple and where in the first half I stated that the highlight of the show was Sarawat's flirty banter, even that was compromised in the second half. There were moments in the second half where I thought to myself "that character would've never reacted that way/ done that thing". It was kinda shocking how different the first and second half of the show felt but what was more shocking was when I remembered that the show was supposed to be a BL drama. I honestly wouldn't have minded all the flaws with show if the one thing that was great was Tine and Sarawat's relationship, but that was not the case unfortunately.
In the title of the review, I named it 'Romance or Bromance? That is the question!' and for good reason. Sarawat and Tine from the very beginning felt so off for some reason but in the beginning of the show I gave the show the benefit of the doubt, hoping for better relationship development as the show went on. As I stated earlier on in the review, I was quite naïve. As the episodes went on I was trying to figure out what could be the cause of this: was it the writing, the chemistry between Sarawat and Tine, the direction of the show? but I think it could have been a mix of all of these things. I don't know what direction the actors were told to go with for their characters but whatever it was ruined the romance of the show (which is 100% the reason for people watching the show at all). I felt like the characters were more like close friends than an actual couple and a lot of the time we were being told by both the main and supporting characters that Tine and Sarawat liked each other but we weren't shown that at all. The writing of the show was so weak in the romance aspect which makes no sense because this is literally a BL drama!
The show relied heavily on showing that the couple liked each other by using the jealousy trope constantly. Now don't get me wrong, I like when shows use jealousy because it can be fun....but to use it as the only thing showing the viewers that the couple care for each other than theres a problem here. There are so many ways this could've been done, like having the couple go on dates or just anything else (As I'm writing this I'm questioning whether they even held hands at all!). From the completely unnecessary Mil liking Tine plot line that made literal ZERO sense, I was thinking that the jealousy plot line has been overdone and the show would stop but oh my did they milk this trope even worse than they did before in the last 2 episodes of the season.
In the last 2 episodes of the show, the writers decided to throw in the "ex-girlfriend wants to get back together" trope. Now I like angst in relationships when it makes sense and isn't just thrown in as a last minute thought but this?? was not it. The whole thing stemmed from misunderstanding and had to be resolved by the ex-girlfriend (technically never dated Sarawat but still) telling Tine that Sarawat only likes him not her.
The finale of the show was the worst part of the entire show which makes me really upset because this show had so much potential to be so much more than it turned out to be.
I will be watching 'Still 2gether' though because I've seen people say that it seemed like writers took into consideration all the criticisms fans had with this season and fixed a lot of it in Still 2gether.
Would I rewatch this season? probably not but I would rewatch the clips that I did really like.
The start of the drama was really strong, with Tine and Sarawat's interactions being the highlight of every episode. The premise of the story (faking dating trope) from the plot synopsis sounded so interesting and I found myself getting excited to see how the relationship between Tine and Sarawat would develop overtime however, like many other people, I found that the execution fell horribly flat.
Now I don't know about you guys but I have read and watched countless stuff involving the fake-dating trope and I would have to say that 2gether incorporated the trope in their show in the worst way. A huge part of the fake-dating trope is the actual fake-DATING but they didn't even seem like they were even trying with the dating part. The only times they would pretend to be a couple (which they didn't even try to make believable) was when Green would appear which were only like 4 times. I don't even know how Green fell for it at all.
There were cute moments here and there but overall, I found myself questioning what direction the show is taking with the couple. It seemed like the show were just half-arsing everything and weren't actually putting any effort in the relationship especially from Tine's side of things. In the first half of the show, Sarawat seemed to be putting all the effort with all the flirting and banter which I'm not even going to deny, was the only thing keeping me watching the show. Overall, the first half of the show was solid, a little lackluster in certain areas, but that is why I was getting so excited for the second half because that would be when Tine and Sarawat become an established couple..........oh how naïve I was!
The second half of the show was so disappointing. Although before I go deep into the criticisms, I should say that there some scenes that I really did enjoy watching. The scene where Sarawat and Tine are in that abandoned bus, waiting for the rain to stop and Sarawat shows him the video of his past self singing a song he wrote about Tine from their first Scrubb concert. I thought that scene was so cute and it was one of the only times where I thought to myself "wow, them liking eachother actually seems believable here".
My fave moments (the scenes that actually made me believe that Tine and Sarawat were in a relationship:
(In no particular order)
1. The bus scene I just mentioned above
2. The 2 scenes where they are sleeping on the coach together (1. when Tine refuses to sleep in the bed with Sarawat so Sarawat joins him on the coach and 2. when Type is sleeping over and Tine joins Sarawat over at the coach so they can sleep together)
3. After they moved in together and Sarawat pulled Tine in from his waist (a small moment but sweet moment)
This show lacked so many small moments like the one I mentioned in bullet point three above and its usually the small moments between couples that honestly MAKE the romance. And yes the big moments like singing to your boyfriend or saying I like you are great but the small moments like shy smiles, physical touches, stolen glances, holding hands or soft embraces (just intimate moments that make you think that the only people that exist in this world are you two) are things that were either missing or so rare to see in this show. The most that this couple did to show affection was patting on the head -_-
Now onto the second half criticisms! Like many others have stated in their own reviews, the second half of the show literally seemed to give up on the couple and where in the first half I stated that the highlight of the show was Sarawat's flirty banter, even that was compromised in the second half. There were moments in the second half where I thought to myself "that character would've never reacted that way/ done that thing". It was kinda shocking how different the first and second half of the show felt but what was more shocking was when I remembered that the show was supposed to be a BL drama. I honestly wouldn't have minded all the flaws with show if the one thing that was great was Tine and Sarawat's relationship, but that was not the case unfortunately.
In the title of the review, I named it 'Romance or Bromance? That is the question!' and for good reason. Sarawat and Tine from the very beginning felt so off for some reason but in the beginning of the show I gave the show the benefit of the doubt, hoping for better relationship development as the show went on. As I stated earlier on in the review, I was quite naïve. As the episodes went on I was trying to figure out what could be the cause of this: was it the writing, the chemistry between Sarawat and Tine, the direction of the show? but I think it could have been a mix of all of these things. I don't know what direction the actors were told to go with for their characters but whatever it was ruined the romance of the show (which is 100% the reason for people watching the show at all). I felt like the characters were more like close friends than an actual couple and a lot of the time we were being told by both the main and supporting characters that Tine and Sarawat liked each other but we weren't shown that at all. The writing of the show was so weak in the romance aspect which makes no sense because this is literally a BL drama!
The show relied heavily on showing that the couple liked each other by using the jealousy trope constantly. Now don't get me wrong, I like when shows use jealousy because it can be fun....but to use it as the only thing showing the viewers that the couple care for each other than theres a problem here. There are so many ways this could've been done, like having the couple go on dates or just anything else (As I'm writing this I'm questioning whether they even held hands at all!). From the completely unnecessary Mil liking Tine plot line that made literal ZERO sense, I was thinking that the jealousy plot line has been overdone and the show would stop but oh my did they milk this trope even worse than they did before in the last 2 episodes of the season.
In the last 2 episodes of the show, the writers decided to throw in the "ex-girlfriend wants to get back together" trope. Now I like angst in relationships when it makes sense and isn't just thrown in as a last minute thought but this?? was not it. The whole thing stemmed from misunderstanding and had to be resolved by the ex-girlfriend (technically never dated Sarawat but still) telling Tine that Sarawat only likes him not her.
The finale of the show was the worst part of the entire show which makes me really upset because this show had so much potential to be so much more than it turned out to be.
I will be watching 'Still 2gether' though because I've seen people say that it seemed like writers took into consideration all the criticisms fans had with this season and fixed a lot of it in Still 2gether.
Would I rewatch this season? probably not but I would rewatch the clips that I did really like.
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