Wasted Potential All Around

2gether was like a breath of fresh air for me during a very challenging time—it brought me immense joy every single Friday. If I didn’t have such a personal connection with this drama I doubt I would give it a high rating because let’s be honest...it was not the best. If you were to ask me when it first stopped airing what I thought I would say “it’s the best bl made that had an okay ending” but after waiting a few months my opinions changed drastically. While I have seen worse it’s definitely not a masterpiece but that’s okay. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece for me to enjoy it. I’ll get more into the details on where it succeeds and lacks but for now I’ll just give you a spoiler free and general explanation of this drama.

2gether the Series is an okay drama that was sadly the victim of bad writing and editing. It lost its stream halfway through and seemed to almost give up on its characters. Does that mean it’s the horrible? No. Does that mean that you shouldn’t watch it? Absolutely not. This series will always have a special place in my heart and critiquing it won’t change that. Sometimes as viewers we have to accept that our favorite shows has flaws and unfortunately this show had plenty. Still, if you are looking for a cute romcom where the leads has chemistry I say go for it.

Now onto a more in-depth review that only has a few minor spoilers. Nothing major though.

PLOT/WRITING:
Oh boy the plot. It really delivered when it came to giving us every single cliche trope out there. Tine is being pursued by Green, a fellow student, and scratches his brain for a solution. Fate somehow leads him to asking the universities resident Mr. Popular, Sarawat, to be his fake boyfriend. In true fake dating fashion feelings are caught.

On paper the plot is not unique nor is it interesting but as someone who adores those tropes (and who will automatically love something if you make it gay) I ate it up. Every week I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens. It was very low stakes but I was drawn in. If you are looking for a intricate plot in this drama look away: it literally feels like one of those fanfics for your favorite otp. It has the fake dating trope, enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, pining, yearning, etc. What more could a person what? I realize that not everyone will like how boring the plot is but I didn’t mind it.

For the most part we followed Sarawat and Tine throughout their life in university and how they bond over music, which is a significant part of their relationship for reasons I shall not say because I don’t want to spoil the fun. We also follow their friend groups that all share one single brain cells and three other pairings. In my personal opinion the writers really butchered the plot in the last 3 episodes. It feels like they realized it was almost done and panicked so they just threw in things they should of introduced earlier in the game.

To sum the plot and writing up: More consistent writing and plot development would of made this okay show better. I don’t understand why writers insist on ruining everything in the final few episodes. It happens in bl’s (we thought we escaped the cursed episode 11 only to be devastated in the 12th and 13th episodes), it happens in kdramas, it happens in nearly ever drama out there. I was hoping 2gether would break the mold but they never did.

CHARACTERS:
If you asked me how much the characters influenced my rating I would say “they were the only reason I scored it that high.” Seriously. The characters are the best and worst part of this whole entire drama. Let me explain.

Our main protagonist, Tine, is such a lovable and relatable person right from the start but as the show progressed I found myself rooting for him even more. On the outside he’s loud, outgoing, and friendly but that is just a mask he puts on. In reality he’s been severely hurt by his past relationship that he’s overly cautious and insecure. He refuses to believe that Sarawat likes him even when the signs are pretty clear. I have never related to a character more than I ever did with Tine. I predicted early on that he was pushing a Sarawat away because he was scared and when it came true I was so happy that they went in that direction. I also want to say that even if this is a bl sexuality is not a HUGE aspect. It’s very normalized which is wonderful. After watching heavy bl’s that struggle with homophobia I was glad to get a break from it. Tine’s struggle/journey is less about “am I attracted to this man” and more so “can I open my heart to love another person again?”

It’s never explicitly confirmed but the audience can assume that Tine is bisexual, he’s very much into girls but fell in love with Sarawat. I’m only mentioning this because so many bl’s do that whole “I don’t like other men I only like you.” Let characters be explicitly gay or bisexual. People can fall in love without caring about gender but sometimes it’s okay to let the characters put a label on it. His characters is written consistently from start to end which is why I adore him.

Our love interest, Sarawat, is still a character I really care about but less so than Tine. I had trouble connecting with him on a personal level but that’s not a bad thing. My favorite thing about his character is that we all thought he was this confident/cocky/cold guy but he’s really just a huge dork who panic flirts with his crush. I can’t get into his character too much because I would like to not spoil a big revelation about Sarawat. It’s a good one but when you watch the earlier scenes after finding it out it’s a whole new experience. Like Tine he’s dynamic and lovable. The only fault I had is that in the last two episodes he did a complete 180. It felt so jarring because up until that point he has been swoon worthy but to see him act distant with Tine is so weird. The writers should of introduced that aspect of his personality earlier or allowed him to learn but they didn’t. If you are anything like me the last three episodes will really test your patience on if you like his character.

As for the side characters/couples they were all endearing but there should of been equal screen time. One of the side pairings, Sarawat’s best friend (Man) and Tine’s older brother (Type) are cute but has some weird dynamics that are common in bl’s (stalking is not cute) but they were nothing compared to the other side pairing. Sarawat’s younger brother (Phukong) is a high school student who develops a crush on the SL for Tine (Mil). The actors for Phukong and Mil were done so dirty. They deserved way better than what they got. Mil always made Phukong feel like second best to Tine and it always made me mad. Especially when Tine never showed any indication that he liked Mil in that way. Mil could not take a hint at all yet Phukong still liked him. The side pairings are not the highlight of this drama but the characters themselves are fun!

EDITING/ACTING/OST:
The editing was all over the play and always jumped to weird scenes before they even felt finished but it wasn’t that annoying. Occasionally the cinematography was pretty but if you are picky of editing be aware that it’s not that good. The OST was cute except they practically only played songs from one band, Scrubb, throughout. I could excuse it since they were catchy and a vital part of Sarawat’s/Tine’s relationship. The second reason I’m rating this so high is the acting. The actors who played Tine and Sarawat (Win and Bright respectively) improved as the drama went on. Even the side characters were really good.

TREATMENT OF THE FEMALE CHARACTERS:
I created a whole section just for this because I have to mention it. The treatment of the female characters is bad but typical for BL. It’s common for girls to just be used as props to bring the leads together and this is no different. They usually don’t have a personality and are set up as villains. 2gether kind of does this but also doesn’t. During the last half a character from Sarawat’s past, Pam, comes back and causes drama. She has zero personality except for “evil and manipulative” which is a true waste of the actress’s potential. There are three other girls (Pear, Earn, and Air) who are given similar treatment. Early on Pear and Earn is set up to block the relationship between the boys but they never do. Yes it causes misunderstandings but they were not as bad as Pam. Actually many people started to ship Earn and Pear together but I don’t blame them. There were hints and interesting camera work that gave us all the vibe that there is something going on. Once again that plot line was not explored. The audience was left feeling like we made it all up (perhaps we did read into it) but despite their minimal screen time we were writing fics, head canons, and even full length songs dedicated to them. One of these days I hope that wlw/gl gets the same hype as bl but maybe not since I’m afraid it will be overly sexualized. Even if Earn/Pear are not canon I think it’s clear that everyone will ignore it, myself included. They also could of wrote them as supportive friends for the boys but that was dropped too. They only showed up when things needed to move along which makes me sad. Why can’t bl’s let girls exist without being villains? Why can’t they have personalities and not just be stereotypical? But this is a universal thing in bl so yeah. Why was I surprised that it turned out this way?

SUMMARY:
I tried my best not to spoil but I think you can tell that both adore and dislike this show at times. The characters and cast outweighed by dislike for the bad parts of this drama. Because it was like the one thing that brought me excitement when I was knee deep in work and stuck inside I will always love it. As I said before you can criticize something you love. This drama is not perfect and as I keep on saying it falls victim the common bl tropes. Our leads lack communication but they eventually overcome (not until the special still2gether unfortunately). Strong female characters don’t exist in this drama. But for every bad thing there is five more good things that I found. I know that some people found the ending and lack of physical intimacy weird—as someone who is queer I understand the frustration at that. I didn’t want any Tharntype level intimacy but it would of been nice if the show pushed it’s boundaries a little more. It feels like a bromance. I know it seems like I want a bed scene but I actually just want them to do the most PG stuff around like holding hands or hugging. Physical intimacy should be normalized too.

I’d say even if you know the bad things about this drama give it a try. Who knows? You might fall in love with the characters enough to overlook those things like I did.

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