BLISS RATING: ★★★★★
“Do you want to try? Get to know each other. You don’t have to like me very much, just open your heart to me.” – Quote from 2GETHER
This is a venerable love story between Sarawat (Bright Vachirawit) and Tine (Win Metawin). A simple story portrayed beautifully by these two. (I understand this was Win’s first real acting job). Never overacted and because of that, there might be some criticism of it being underacted. But that is a false narrative. It needed to be underplayed because of the characters they are representing and Sarawat’s perception of who Tine was.
I found it to be mellow but effective. I took this series from the point of view of immersion. Have we not all been there? Now looking back, it seemed obvious but at the time, not registering at all? Of course, we have. I found that to be charming aspect of this series and made it dynamic and fun to watch.
The role of Sarawat was more of a challenge for me in understanding the second time I reviewed this series. Bright plays this part with such a low energy flat affect that it becomes almost imperceptible to see the subtle changes in his emotions. And for some, that had to be a turnoff. But watching it again, I now understand why he played it that way. He was trying with all his might to win over Tine. Sarawat was in love with Tine from the moment he saw him and that is how he reflected his course of action. Although his personality never changed, you could see the intensity in his face and actions when anyone even dared to mess with his Tine. Tine was his and he was going to make sure his love for him won him over without scaring him away.
Tine was in the beginning a bit naïve and clueless as to what was happening. But as time went on, you could see him become enamored by Sarawat and then full blown in love with him. There is no ‘ah’ moment here or hosanna scene; it just slowly, effectively becomes a story about love between them. It was destined for them to be together.
My favorite together moment scene, however, is their first ‘pretzel kiss’ (my wording and you will understand when you watch it). It is one of the most sensuous and sultry kissing scenes I have ever seen (in any genre of film) and one that I believe sparked the romance between the two of them. I totally believed them. Their looks at each other; their stares into each other eyes are not only intense but palpable and obvious. THIS is what makes it so good.
Their screen presence is simply magical and superb. They make this work! Their intense chemistry together (especially in ‘STILL 2GETHER’) would have melted the iceberg that sank the Titanic. Their eyes became a window into their souls. It was that magical for me. That kissing scene is so full of chemistry and connection that anyone who could not see their relationship together missed the subtlety of romance.
It was obvious. Honestly, I have never seen two people connect so beautifully together on screen than in that brief scene and in fact throughout the series. Their relationship seemed so natural and sincere to me that I believed that they were a couple for real.
One criticism I also have read is that there is not a lot of physical contact between them. Yep. That is true and is a valid point. If they love each other should they not be more demonstrative? Perhaps. But we react differently and certainly in their culture too much of anything might not be acceptable. But I would agree that more touching, caressing would have been a very nice touch to this series.
Some of the negatives that I did not notice or maybe had my rose-colored glasses on when I watched it the first time are now obvious. I disliked the side stories to this series. This should have been a one couple series and in essence it was. The rest of it simply became noise. But I think they decided on greater variety and so other side stories were added.
I did not like the relationship between Man, (Mike Chinnarat) and Tine’s brother, Type (Toptap Jirikit). I did not dislike the actors, but this relationship seems superfluous and just not very believable. They became caricatures. While the premise was cute and Man’s pursuit of him was endearing, it just did not work and was over the top.
The other relationship that had promise but did not make a whole lot of sense was between Mil, (Drake Sattabut) and Sarawat’s brother Phukong, (Frank Thanatsaran). Again, not because of the actors or their acting, it just seemed disjointed. Their acting was actually pretty good and convincing. It just seemed that the story was forced and contrived. I thought Mil was after Tine but was willing to string along Phukong? It also seemed just a little too convenient that both brothers of Win and Bright were gay and developing gay relationships. But as brothers, they never talked about any of this with each other? It would have been way more interesting to see real brotherly relationships develop rather than what appears to be thrown-in relationships.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? The obvious answer is both Win and Bright. But they have received enough accolades, all of which are deserved. But the greatest impact for me was for a soft quiet role in which he excels. KhaotungThanawat who played Tine’s friend, Fong. There is something so endearing about the way he portrayed his part with sincerity, evenness, and fairness. He delivers his lines with a soft-spoken affect that comes across with a great deal of genuineness. He is the Socrates of this series — parsing out snippets of advice like pearls of wisdom but with a youthful overtone to it. For example, when he senses Tine’s hesitancy in developing a relationship with Wat, he says to Tine, “If you really wanted it, why didn’t you hold onto it firmly? It’s up to you If you don’t want to regret it later, try to keep what you want. Try while you still can. You can pick it up after you drop it. But it may not be the same.” This is wise advice from someone so young. He has this ability to draw people to him for advice and give it in such a fashion to make it believable and logical. His demeanor and character were his to create and he did it masterfully. While this part may be small and perhaps not noticed a lot, his presence is keenly felt, and he made the whole story flow to where it needed to go. He could see the outcome. I found this role remarkable and Thanawat made it memorable with his demure manner, the softness to his voice, and his absolute physical charm and good looks. Kudos!
Overall, I still loved this series! Plain and simple. There was such warmth and sensitivity to it that you really do not find in a lot of U.S. series. I see this not as two guys falling in love but two people falling in love. There is something about the chemistry of Bright and Win that not just make it watchable but memorable. There are scenes where it is so touching and sincere, I cried. You want them to succeed! There is, dare I say, a magical connection between them that is not measured by any type of theatrical standard. It is exclusive to them. You can see it in their eyes. You can feel it when they are together, and you sense it even when they are not together but talk about being together. It is a rare gift that these two have brought to the screen. They give new meaning to the term screen chemistry.
There are still issues with the production. I noticed them even more so the second time I watched this series. Yes, there are some questionable translation issues, but the dialogue is sincere and very touching at times. Not every episode is great. But this series has great appeal. Just immerse yourself in it and try not to let culture, customs, or translations (if you are not Thai) bother you. Editing of some of the episodes did leave me perplexed at times. A word about the music. I found it distracting and honestly not very good. Some of the ballads were passible, but the music is not my cup of tea, nor was it meant for me. All the strumming of the guitars and drum pounding was simply cringeworthy. This might have sounded bad to me perhaps because of the recording of the actual music itself. Therefore, I would never hold that against what they did on this series.
Since re-watching this series and reading a lot of the criticisms of this series, I am still amazed as to how much I deeply still appreciate this series. In fact, I think I enjoyed it more the second time around than the first. When I initially watched it, I was not familiar with BL (this was my first vivre into this genre) and I thought the translations were confusing. But now, I have a further appreciation of this story and its characters. Yes, Bright is a bit wooden in acting and seems at time disinterested and emotionless. But that was his nature. When Tine was threatened or needed help, you can see in his body language how he reacted. It was subtle but so consistent with his characterization of Sarawat. Tine went from a naïve kid to becoming a man in love with another man with all the pangs and insecurities and fears that go with it. For me, it was a clear representation of ‘First Love’. It was still endearing. I am not trying to change other opinions of this series. I just wanted to see and show if what I felt the first time I watched this, I would feel again. Honestly, I did. Not through rose-colored glasses as the first time. But as a gay man relating to what they were feeling and experiencing. I understood.
I LOVED ‘Still 2Gether’ (which came out a few months after the original) more than the first series. I am so glad they followed up with this as I wanted to see more of them and their story. This was much better produced, and the story line was tightened up a lot. What I further liked about this series, despite all the bumps, hiccups, and misunderstandings, they only had eyes for each other. I saw that and I believed it! ‘STILL 2GETHER’ is a gem and I am so sad that this is the end of the story.
This is still one of my favorite BLfranchises, perhaps because it was the first BL I had ever watched. They were so handsome to look at that it almost takes your breath away. Win and Bright captured my heart. Besides being the handsomest men on the planet, they did not play to that. That is why I enjoyed it so much. In every sense of the word, the set the standards for virtually all other BLs from then on to live up to to match their screen presence and chemistry. They did so IN SPITE OF them being so handsome; not BECAUSE of it. Both showed a vulnerability, sincerity, and yes great passion and made it look ordinary.
Still great and will always have a special place in my heart!
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