We Are (2024)

A Truly Lovely BL Among College Friends

This is a BL that emphasizes romantic love equally with the love that comes with great friends. There is little plot to speak of, but each episode is just a feel-good time. At the end of each episode, I kept wishing my college experience was similar to these kids and had romantic entanglements that were as healthy and nice as theirs were on screen. They had 4 BL couples, a record as far as I am aware. The show heavily focused on 2 of them, a 3rd one getting some good air time but honestly not enough, and the 4th one didn't come together until the last episode.

The couples? Phum & Peem (actors: Pond & Phuwin), Q & Toey (Winny & Satang), Fang and Tan (Boom and Aou), and the last one is Chain & Pun (Marc & Poon).

For me, this show's real stand-out actor and character was Toey, played by Satang. He played the energetic underclassman to perfection. He was so adorable, kind of innocent, and mischievous at the same time. I loved every minute of him on screen. When Toey and Q finally get together, it is truly adorable. Winny & Satang were good in My School President, but they were even better in We Are. The series spent a lot of time on Toey trying to get Q to admit his feelings through a series of hair-brained schemes of getting Q jealous so he'd finally do something.

Tan was just....he was over the top with golden retriever energy. Fang was a reserved statue. BUT this is a great example of opposites attracting and balancing each other out. While Fang doesn't express his love for Tan frequently, the camera always shows us how Fang takes notice of Tan, of his actions and behaviors, and shows his affection through smaller acts of kindness. There is one scene in particular that shows Fang talking to Tan because he feels upset and isolated. Fang just needs to unload, and Tan goes from being a goofball to being a serious supporter and confidant. It is a small but truly beautiful scene.

Then there is the arguable main couple with the two most prominent lead actors. Phum and Peem were less interesting to me than Q & Toey or even Fang and Tan. But again, I couldn't stop smiling and laughing at Peem and Phum. Phum has this hard exterior, but he is often holding a stuffed animal when he's alone at home. Phum has a strained relationship with his father and felt abandoned when he was younger, so he has this harder exterior. But in the end, Phum is very soft on the inside. Peem doesn't want to fall for this "buffalo" but can't help it. I kind of wish they would get together sooner, but there really wasn't much of a barrier between the two of them. Peem was just reluctant to admit his feelings and get romantic with Phum for unknown reasons.

Now, the friend group of all of them, plus Toey's friend Matthew (played by JJ Jutamas, one of the twins at GMMTV) and Beer (Phum's best friend), was also really something to watch. Halfway through the series, Peem says how grateful he is to have them as his friends and that he loves them. When Peem is having a hard time or is disappointed, his friends show up at his bedroom door to hang out and watch a movie. Peem has a wonderful aunt and two loving parents, but he has his own chosen family that loves him like they would a brother. What I appreciated about this element the most is that BLs often take any emotional connection between characters and build it into a romantic plot. This is a BL that greatly emphasizes platonic love between friends just as much as the romantic and sexual love that comes with one's special someone.

Did the series need 16 episodes? Probably not, but I loved each one. I am sad to see the series over, even though it is longer than many BL series. It lacked the drama and breakups that come with your typical BL. This was a light-hearted good time from start to finish.

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A Very Comforting and Fun Watch!

Every Wednesday since this starting airing, I constantly looked forward to a new episode to come out.

This series may have had quite a few flaws in the story as well as screen time and moments among each of the couples being quite unbalanced with each others, but even though I really loved watching this and what we got from the finished series!

This series gave me so much comfort and it’s definitely a more easier watch when you don’t really want much drama and lots more fluff and comedy! I laughed a lot throughout the whole series and rewatched scenes/episodes several times because of how much I loved them.

The fact that this series ended has really got me feeling down since the cast and the friendship displayed in the series gave me so much happiness… I hope another one can get me feeling this way soon!

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We are forever

I actually really liked we are the whole cast was absolutely amazing. Before I watched it and when it was on the Up and Above line up I was a little bit concerned with the 4 couples because not a whole bunch of shows can do multiple couples and do them justice, but we are actually had each couple actually get together. I also really want their friend group because that the definition of real friends I will write about each couple and who were my favorites, but be aware that there might be spoilers.

**SPOILERS**

[Phum and Peem]
I felt they had a whole lot of chemistry throughout the whole show and of course because it’s Pond and Phuwin. Their story started from Phum kicking a soccer ball into Peems painting which landed on the floor and got destroyed when it was made for their schools gallery which Peem spent a whole lot of time painting. Then their whole enemies to lovers storyline started with Phum making Peem be his slave instead of paying for his injury where he got kicked in the ❌. While being his slave he started to have feelings for him to the point that it was hard for him to hide which was shown at the event where he got him a matching doll with his teddy bear and sharing the boat to make a wish and when his newest enemy (Kleun) came to get with Peem, but we all know in the end Phum had already stolen his heart even though they weren’t officially dating they did kiss multiple times and when they were dating I’ll just say that Phum was hungry.
[Q and Toey]
I love Winny and Satang since School Pres era and they had the best chemistry that I still can’t get over so I was really excited to see them. Their storyline is the senior and junior and I’ll say they pulled it off really well they even had some moments in the very beginning that showed that Toey had liked Q and then it was revealed so Peems friend group + Matt had helped Toey win over Q buy making Chain be his “crush/hitting on him” and it worked even if Chain really hated it. They got “together” in a haunted house because no one else wanted to go in so Q confessed and kissed Toey and of course Toey was stunned. Later it was revealed that they already knew each other from a cafe that they both went to when they were in high school and met from Toey finding his pencil case that his grandpa gave him so they started cheating on sticky notes behind Q’s canvases, and became known as “Pencil Senior and Milk Frappe Boy”. They did have a misunderstanding between them once Q heard Toey saying that story and got mad, but they overcame it and finally got together and they are super duper cute when their together.
[Tan and Fang]
I have to say now I’m super obsessed with Aou and Boom I already was in hidden agenda, but they took me over. Their story doesn’t have much to talk about since they aren’t the two main couples, rather they were the first couple to get together. Tan had already started to make a move on Fang in the very beginning of the show so their story had already started to lead when the others were at the starting line, but turns out that they had knew each other prior which was in high school, Tan and Fang were rivals and even beat each other up at their first meeting, at their second Tan was helping Fang and Phum while they were getting beaten up and ran away with them and even held Fangs hand while running away, but it didn’t seem that Fang remembered Tan and even help address his wounds. How the couple got together was when they were celebrating an event and Tan had wanted to sail a boat with him and confess his feelings to Fang and surprisingly Fang immediately said yes and of course Tan was on top of the moon. I also feel that Toey is secretly their child especially when they were in the aquarium. I have to say that they were one of my favorite couples from their show because all of their sweet moments, one intense scene and those hidden moments when the camera wasn’t focused on them literally made me smile so hard that my lip was quivering from trying to stop making it smile.
[Chain and Pun]
Our last couple from the series, I have never seen Poon in a dram and I have to say he’s the cutest and funniest person I’ve seen and I swear I act like Pun it’s insane. I have always shipped them two from the start because in that first episode when they were drinking in the bar and Pun came in his pjs and wanted steak Chain had to break the news that theirs no steak at the bear and he started to sulk it was the cutest thing and once they arrived to Peems place and he slept hugging Chain and bitting his ear I was screaming. When Pun had found a fallen bird he immediately went to Chain because he thought he was a veterinarian and Chain literally told him that he’s a dentist and how Pun already told him what the birds name is which was guin short for penguin and how they both raised guin together and freed him together and Chain looked at Pun multiple times to say he loves Pun, but Pun always says I love you back the proceeds to say I love penguin or penguins. That even Tan got tired of it and told Pun about Chains feelings will always be rejected because his crush only loves penguins. I was happy that the last scene of we are went to them finally getting together with two whole long kisses that Toey literally couldn’t watch and one he could finally see clearly. Also those 5 minutes in each episode were worth it and I wish to see more of them in future BL dramas.
I really enjoyed We are if you can’t tell from my review already being this long, but I really recommend this series because each 16 episodes were worth watching.

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If you're looking for an objective review, this isn't the one.

As I put in the headline, this won't be very objective.

The series wasn't perfect, didn't have a central plot, there were some scenes that were awkward to watch, but for me, there were things that saved that.

First of all, one of the main things the series focus on, the friend group and friendship, we got to see what a healthy friendship is like, how all of them loved each other and were always there to help and support the rest.

Then we have QToey, I wish the director made them have more skinship in scenes where they were at the back, but the scenes that focus completely on them were completely perfect to me, I saw an amazing chemistry and I believe WinnySatang have a long career ahead of them and they deserve their own series.

TanFang? They were so perfect for each other, I wish we got more scene of them because everytime they were on screen I just couldn't help but smile, Tan might be too clingy and cheesy, but I didn't find him annoying at all. AouBoom deserve to be an official couple and have their own series too.

And our new discovery, MarcPoon. After their scenes in the last two episodes, I believe the director and the whole team got scared of their power because how come they didn't use all that potential in every episode and not on the lastest ones? They did ChainPun dirty. I can't wait to see more of these two as a couple, they were amazing.

Lastly, I want to praise Pond's acting too, he was incredible, I wish I could say the same about Phuwin, but the Phuwin I saw here wasn't the same I saw in Never Let Me Go, I don't know why I feel him so awkward here.

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We Are Unequal the Series

I'm sorry this will be lengthy, but I'll get down to business. For anyone interested in watching this series for a certain pairing, let me start off by saying: only 2 pairings took the forefront in We Are while the rest got little to no screentime. It's even more painfully obvious when you omit all the friend group scenes where everyone was together. For couple screentime only, the ratio is similar to the following:

Phum/Peem: 45%
Q/Toey: 45%
Tan/Fang: 7%
Chain/Pun: 3%

STORY:

Enemies to lovers. Also, art students got to take the spotlight for a change and as an artist myself I was greatly entertained. I took it personal seeing the painting that started it all get ruined lol.. The friendship group was portrayed very well and was the focus of this series. I say this is where much of the cast shined as a whole. You can laugh and find enjoyment seeing all these boys spend time and be silly together despite their different personalities. This is not a dramatic series at all, it leans more towards a slice of life genre so there's nothing to really stress about. Ironically, the couples that they greatly ignored and didn't give much screentime to (Chain/Pun and Tan/Fang) were the ones who kept me interested in continuing the series to the end.

The negatives:

You can tell that the creators wanted to keep this story light-hearted and full of comedy. There's a slew of slapstick comedy scenes complete with sound effects at every turn to remind you that they won't ever give you a serious storyline. The first 2 episodes were difficult to watch mainly because of the overuse of sound effects, the gmmtv guitar riff bgms that they put in every bl series kept playing, and it was coming off a bit childish. Thankfully they changed things somewhat as the episodes continued but it was still disappointing that they never really gave us storylines for some of the pairings in the series. Tan/Fang and Chain/Pun storylines were practically non-existent since they were constantly robbed of screentime while Phum/Peem and Q/Toey had so much time and too many scenes that weren't needed and could've been used for the other pairings.

I read several excerpts of the novel along the way because there were scenes in the series that felt disjointed, or just moved on without addressing certain issues ever again. At times a character's behavior was confusing and there was no context. The parts I read cleared some of this, but made me question why such important details were omitted entirely from the drama itself. With 16 episodes, they had more than enough time to expand on everyone's stories or give more background to the characters that the novel clearly provided, but it never came. 16 episodes and yet we got only surface-level knowledge about the characters. An example of this: In episode 15, Tan tells Phum he can store all his cars at his garage. We never even knew that Tan owned a garage, we don't even know anything about his family, financial status, etc. 15 episodes and only learned about a garage.

So many things about these characters could've been explored and explained had they included the family conflicts, traumatic incidents, etc from the novel. Why call it an adaptation when you're only including the characters in name but little to nothing else about them? You don't need to follow the novel entirely, but add at least some details so we can know these characters and understand their thoughts/behavior. You can still make a light-hearted series while also giving proper depth to your characters. They poorly attemped to include the father-son conflict with Phum, but then seemed to just drop it and gave us nothing in the end. Too little and too late.

MUSIC:

The cast participated in creating the osts which were all great songs, I recommend them all. My only gripe with this series is that they had a habit of constantly using those few osts for EVERYTHING, to the point that it felt like overkill. Anytime a certain couple would come on their ost would start to play. Whenever they decided to do a slow-mo friendship moment montage, which there were a ton, they used the main ost. Then someone would perform a song in a scene and guess what they sang? the ost. They kept throwing them in every scene even when it didn't match. A good example of this was during an intimate scene in the final episode. Because it was a certain couple, they threw their ost in there but the upbeat song didn't even match the moment. It was very reminiscent to excessive product placement in some dramas.

ACTING/CAST:

My personal ranking for natural chemistry in this series:

Aou/Boom >> Pond/Phuwin > Marc/Poon (the dark horse) > Winny/Satang

[Aou/Boom]: Aou/Boom have been carrying in the chemistry department and deserve to have their own series at this point. You can tell they are comfortable working together, no awkwardness at any moment. Their improvised spaghetti kiss scene showed more character and chemistry than some others with scripted kisses. Neither of them ever looked uncomfortable and were always in character even when they were way in the back and cameras weren't focused on them. Being that Tan was the 'glue' that joined the two friend groups and was also the moodmaker, he was very important to the story as a whole. The way Aou portrayed Tan showed just how witty and talented he is as an actor. There were various scenes where he said a line that was likely ad-libbed and you could see Pond, Winny, Satang, and Boom either trying to hold in their laughter to keep themselves in character or actually genuinely laughing. MVP of the series.

[Pond/Phuwin]: I've been a fan since FUTS, but the one thing this series did show me throughout 16 episodes was the disparity between Pond and Phuwin's acting. While they have both made improvements over time, I felt like in this series Phuwin went a step backwards. There were several times where he looked uncomfortable during kissing or other intimate scenes which unfortunately takes viewers out of the story. If we are being told that two people are in love but then see one person looking like he really doesn't want to be close or even kiss the person then it's not convincing. It won't keep viewers invested in their story. What didn't help and made these special moments even more underwhelming was the constant back and forth between Phum and Peem for the majority of the series. All that waiting just to finally see a moment that looks like one person isn't feeling the same is disappointing. It felt like Pond was hard carrying these particular scenes and it's a shame because I was looking forward to seeing both of their growth in this series.

[Marc/Poon]: Having to reshoot everything and become close with a new partner isn't easy but these two pulled it off. I never saw Marc with Pawin, but even then I feel like they surely surpassed whatever that pairing gave. Their stares alone showed great chemistry and without spoiling, a certain moment really sold it. I hope they can work together again as a pairing because they clearly have the talent and seem to work very well together.

[Winny Satang]: While they can definitely pull off friendship roles or enemies, I am personally not seeing or feeling much in their scenes as Q/Toey. I think I'd have to see them in another series to fully make an opinion on their chemistry, but for now, it's giving stiff and awkward. Weirdly enough, I felt like I saw more between them in MSP than in this series. I feel they seem more comfortable together when romance is not involved and they're just bickering. I do applaud Satang for switching up roles though and not playing the same character over again in a series.

REWATCH VALUE:

This is not a series that needed to be 16 episodes and I wouldn't watch it entirely again as it seemed to drag over time. If anything, I would just rewatch some favorite scenes of my favorite characters. But I do think others might be happy to rewatch as it does show a nice friendship and many viewers are fans of the cast. Overall a decent series, great cast, just poor decisions and missed opportunities from the production team.

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Great Cast. Simple Story. University Life. Falling in Love

I've read and heard many disparaging remarks about Phuwin and Pond's acting ability or lack thereof, so I want to briefly touch on that. Bullsh*t. They are both great actors at least by Thai standards. Acting is craft open to interpretation so I am definitely not pushing my opinions down anyone's throat.

I did read one review that said Phuwin relies on acting tricks. I've taken acting classes and I've seen many a series or a movie where even the finest actors awarded with high acting awards use tricks. Its part of the business and its also something directors direct actors to do to get their vision across. Is it murky. Depends on your own take.

Unless a person is aware of foreign acting classes and what and how they teach or what they are expected to convey via workshops and director notes or writer input one can not actually judge. But again it is only opinions.

About We Are. This is a simple story and even the simplest of story have complexity. Each couple here have a certain dynamic.
PhumPheem: They are not in a relationship yet. But their attraction is evident. It's simple. With the appearance of Title as Kluen we will see.
QToey: A seret backstory where their love started without even meeting with one having more information than the other even if it's not a wealth of information. WINNYSATANG are delivering a great chemistry and their acting improve with each episode.
TanFang: This one for me is the worse because one seems less than caring and the other cares too much. They are a good ship so I hope their on screen coupling becomes more than one sided. Tan is so over the top. He's hilarious. While Fang is very aloof.
ChainPun: Nothing much just a couple of intense stares and ear nibbling. Cute but they are not getting enough screen time.

These are my opinions and mine alone. I shall not argue about them with anyone. It's an enjoyable series. But it is GMMTV I wouldn't expect Shakespeare or something more deep. It is Thai BL so it is what it is.

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Perfect show is perfect

I can’t say enough good things about We Are. So to try to organize my gushing and fangirling over this ultimate comfort show that is honestly perfect in every way, I’m breaking this review down into categories.

Casting:
While Phuwin, Pond, Aou, Boom, Winny, and Satang were all familiar names and faces to me at GMMTV, I was never a full-blown fan of theirs. I’ve watched every PondPhuwin show and loved it, and WinnySatang in My School President were adorable, as were AouBoom in Vice Verse and Hidden Agenda. But I didn’t really follow their socials, know much about them, or cheer them on in their current and future projects. THAT CHANGES NOW, and I’m adding Marc and Poon into the mix as well. This cast works effortlessly well together. Their comedic timing, their chemistry, their dynamic… I wish I could bow down and Wai to the casting director of this show, because their vision was perfection. I will happily support and cheer on this cast in all of their future endeavors and hope for GMMTV to continue to give them more and more projects. I have to especially commend PondPhuwin’s growth in this series. Their maturity and chemistry in their dynamic has grown so much from Fish Upon The Sky.

The tropes:
We have friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, enemies to friends to lovers, secret pen pals falling in love, falling in love with you best friend’s brother, and slow burn after slow burn. There is something in this show for everyone, and every single storyline and relationships gets great screentime and backstory!

The pacing:
SIXTEEN episodes!!! We were truly blessed with this one. Because there are more episodes, we are able to really build strong connections to the characters, learn about them in real time as their friends on the show, allow slow burns to take their time, deep dive into all the character’s stories, never leave room for plot holes, and we have officially spanned a whole year in this show without any major time jumps. Every week feels like coming home to your best friends and snuggling up in a warm blanket while laughing at their jokes, crying at their struggles, and smiling at their joy. I love the detail, pacing, and direction of all the incredible storylines in this show. Massive kudos to the director, writers, and editors.

The music:
We love it when actors who can sing well are featured on shows. I’ve loved Winny’s songs, as well as the OST featuring LITERALLY EVERYONE. Did I mention the TALENT of this cast? Great soundtrack that fits the vibe of the show. Comforting and uplifting.

No angst:
You guys. I know we all have our angsty comfort shows that we find ourselves rewatching over and over. But there’s something to be said for a happy and hopeful show that isn’t just fluff. I can’t remember the last time I saw a BL with these vibes- minimal angst that is quickly resolved, happiness and laughs, and deep storylines and character development. This coming-of-age show reminds me just how beautiful our youth can be and the precious memories we’ll carry with us all our lives. I have already rewatched multiple times and I know I’ll rewatch more in the future whenever I want to feel at home. I can not recommend this show enough.

GMMTV- more of this, please! Congratulations to the entire team of We Are, in front of the camera and behind the scenes, on a masterful production. 10/10 stars

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