My Engineer (2020)

Surprisingly good

Am I 4 years late to the hype? Yes.
Do I care? No.

This was a drama I wasn't actually planning on watching when I first read the synopsis because it felt a little too familiar to other series I was watching at the time, like Semantic Error, 2gether, YRU?, between us etc. and I was honestly so done with college romances with potential that went nowhere.

Then a month or so ago I watched Perth's video about his experience with working on my engineer and the way he spoke so passionately about the project made me want to give it a try, because I love ma boi Perth and I thought that maybe I judged it too quickly at first.

And I did, but I also didn't!

Obviously bohnduen are the cliché couple but at the same time it is refreshing to see how forward and open bohn is about his feelings (most of the time) when most of the times this is kept intentionally ambiguous to keep the sunshine character on their toes (see 2gether, between us etc.).

I also adore how Duen also allows for Bohn to open up his heart - like they said they would do at the beginning :))) so i like that part as of now.

And of course,,,RAMKING <333 Goddamn theyre both so handsome i cannot,,,,like it is so unfair. Every time King does a hairflip I clutch my pearls. I think that the acting could've been a bit better and realistic, but it was fun to watch King yap and Ram just basically panic and black out not knwoing what to say most of the time becuase he's shy.

Overall the acting of the ensemble cast is nice, not too much, not too little and pleasant to watch. the friend groups were eqully funny to me, but i liked duen's chaotic tight knit group of freshman's a bit more.

I like the production and especially when they were at the floating market. However, idk who did the sound mixing and the sound design,,,,esp for my boy ryan'sdubs...they need to be fired bc wth happened there??? oh well, you can't have everything.
and the OST was just too overused and annoying.

I do have to be honest and say that although there are a lot of positive things to be said about my engineer, I did watch all of itin at least 1.25x speed because i otherwise just couldn't bear it. some scenes really dragged on and there was often just not a lot of interesting thing happening making me skip through episodes and only watch RAMKING scenes. And I think that is the thing about this series: it drags. And as the series progresses there were more and more scenes that made me cringe...

I think that this series could've done without the whole top/bottom shenanigans and instead give us a bit more slow burn + conflict with mr. smiley (and always more ramking!!!)

All in all, it's a seres that you can watch, and if you're doubting whether you should or should not, just give it a shot! But do it in 1.25x speed

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The story was a bit too fast at first but what do we expect from a series that's based on a novel, right? But the most important part was the screen time, each couple have fair screen time and they managed to balance all four blooming relationships.

I salute each and every cast and crew of the series including the producer and the director. This is one of the best. It may look a bit too cliché but it's more than just that. The ost used were the best! The actors were good at acting and everyone seemed to have a good chemistry. I watched the casts interview and all I can say is they are really close. I love them all fairly and equally and I thank the production team and Tricreation for choosing all the actors so well. They are all perfect for their role and it makes me love them even more! I cant wait to see the season 2! This series is my favorite so far! It's fluff and funny and not so much problematic, I love it so much, I cried at the last episode. I'm so touch, they look so real! I've been rewatching the series every free time I have.

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Cute and Fluffly!

Light-hearted and fluffy. At first, I thought that this series was slow and dull. I felt bored halfway through episode 2 as there was no momention, no story progression at all. I thought that the story was a bit ridiculous with plot points that don't make much sense. At times, it worked. At other times, it didn't. However, over time, I got interested in the characters, their relationships and their stories. I didn't want the series to end and hoped for a second season so that I could spend more time with the characters. I'm glad that I didn't give up on the series in the beginning.

However, there are several flaws. The acting is mediocre as none of the actors were able to emote properly. Those scenes where Duen 'cries' were so cringey. BohnDuen's relationship was too quick. They immediately liked one another a lot upon their initial encounter and are already heartbroken and 'broken up' by episode 4 and reconciled. Pretty simple. No obstacles or major conflicts in their relationship. Nothing to progress towards. And if there were obstacles, they didn't make any sense. BohnDuen lacked sweet moments as Bohn is always jealous and angry with Duen profusely apologizing for unintentionally flirting with others. Whenever they are on good terms, they just tease one another. They get annoying with their childish antics and I am so over them. Like towards the end, Bohn could have easily said that Mild kissed him and everything could have been solved, but for some weird reason, he didn't. Boss and Mek's story is decent where the gay person lusts after his 'straight' best friend and the straight best friend had always had feelings for his friend. I do hope that they will continue to be together and that Fon can't break them up. RamKing's story is pretty good as their relationship has time to grow. Their story can progress. And there is the appeal of opposites attracting, the extrovert and the introvert. However, I was actually most interested in Dr. Thara and Frong's story to be honest, I like the friction, the animosity between them. And I absolutely LOVE Thara! He's SOOOOOO CUTE and kind!!!! He literally deserves the world!!! In my opinion, the best BL relationships are born from animosity: SOTUS, Addicted and PeteKao.

On a side note, RamKing gets more attention from fans than the main couple BohnDuen, which is interesting. Usually the main couple gets the most attention and side couples also get attention too, but not as much as the main couple. I understood why though when watching the series. King immediately caught my eyes with his striking looks and beautiful hair. I can also see why Ram gets so much hype with his 'foreign' looks and his tattoos though he gives me serial killer vibes and looks like 10 years older than he actually is. And he seems out of place in his friend group, like he doesn't even interact with them or smile with them. RamKing's story is cute though, I must admit, and they do have a lot of sweet moments. I can see why people say that they are the best BL couple in the series. It's kinda weird how everyone is so obsessed and praised the fact that Ram is 'mixed-blood.' I wonder if RamKing would get this much attention if Perth (Ram) isn't part white. I don't think so to be honest. I've seen several people mention that they are among the best BL couples ever. I scoff. They are good, but definitely no where near the best.

On another side note, it sounds like Mek's voice is dubbed (if my ears are correct). At first, I thought that he had a weird voice, but only realized that it was dubbed when I saw that his lip movements didn't correspond with the voice in Episode 4. The voice doesn't seem to be coming from him as the rich, deep voice that plays sounds like someone voicing an audiobook. Searched up about this. He is dubbed because apparently his Thai isn't good. That makes no sense! Why even cast him if you're going to dub him anyways? He always sounds so weird and it takes you out of the series because it's so jarring.

Not a fan of the fat jokes and the fat-shaming though, especially how the girl was able to get the guy after losing weight at the recommendation of the guy. Ugh. Also, not a fan of the obsession with labelling a wife and a husband in a gay relationship and the femme/bottom-shaming though. I do like that they address that the top and bottom has nothing to do with appearance or personality though. Also, I didn't like that another flamboyant gay is predatory who bothers the main character, just like in 2gether. Can we have a fat and/or femme character be part of a BL couple, instead of just comic relief? That would be pretty cool!

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This gave me confusing feelings

honestly, im only giving it 7/10 because of ramking and frongthara (who are obviously really cute). the main couple - duen and bohn just really didnt make much sense to me.. in terms of pretty much anything. i didnt feel like they were cute or that they had much chemistry. i get that some bl series might portray shy couples, but to the extend where even the kissing was so mild and rare, it just didnt make me squeal (like i did for other bl series). also, the drama between them was so repetitive that i just went "again??" when it happened. the trust issues were uncomfortable cause it just wasnt natural to have same issues happening over and over in a 14 ep series.

lets talk about the side couples. i loved loved LOVED the chemistry between ram and king. they started so subtly that just made it even cuter. the progression between these two were also appropriate, from the gradual attitude adjustment of ram, to the way king went from "im curious cause i think he's weird", to showing genuine concern for ram. it was so nice to see that the relationship wasnt rushed and was natural without weird slow-mos and "imaginations" that bl series often like to include. i honestly cant wait to watch more of them.

frong and thara were pretty good but not as cute as ramking yet (which im sure will change in s2). they left lots of space for character progression as well, which was okay, as we will get to see many more fresh sides of them in the next season. the way they met was a little abrupt to me though, so i got confused for a moment about what was happening. it was probably due to the way scenes were changed from one to another, and how a chunk of frong and thara scenes were inserted suddenly, so it was a little unnatural at the start. the other parts of it were fine though, and im also looking forward to them in s2, so its good enough for me as of now.

for mek and boss.. tbh they should be cute, but i just couldnt feel anything with that dubbing, so i wont be commenting on them cause it might be just my own issue lmao.

anyway, when s2 comes out i'll (TRY TO) watch and review it as well. hopefully we will see them tackling more bl stereotypes (like the top-bottom issue) which is, unfortunately, not recognised enough by people yet.

so, is this worth glueing your eyes to?
good for passing time (and watching cute boys), but if youre looking for a quality series targetting serious topics, this might not be for you.

thanks for reading!
love, peach

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fetishizers

I love the characters, everyone is very funny, there’s a lot of couples.
I like the side couples maybe even more than BohnDuen.
I’ve rewatched it a few times too.

I dislike the series a little bit because of some characters. There are a lot of straight girls who fetishize and even follow and secretly take pictures of the gay couple. It is offending too.

And I also dislike it because of the way the director made one of the characters.
One character is full of asian homophobic stereotypes, and is made to be the butt of jokes.
But that is usual in BLs and if you’re a MLM fetishizer this series is perfect for you

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This series is so hard to watch. The first episode of the series was good. When Ramking came into play, they immediately became my favorite couple bc they had more chemistry than the main couple. However, I couldn't force myself to watch this anymore after ep 7 bc the acting is inconsistent and unnatural. Some scenes were really awkward and cringy; such as when Ram began to cry or when the main couple (Duen and Bon) acted "lovey-dovey". Despite the bad acting, the storyline was even worse.
Everything about this series was lacking, and that's sad bc it could have turned out to become a decent BL series. Therefore, I do understand why this series is "underrated" however, I think perhaps it should remain so. At least people won't have high expectations before watching this series just for it to be crushed. I did not have any high expectations for this series which is why I overlooked many things that made this series cringy and awful. Despite having low expectations I was still disappointed and dropped it.

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