This review may contain spoilers
I WANT to LOVE Cutie Pie
So to start, I'm going to give a review without spoilers (this will be short): Decent story, interesting characters and wonderful actors who literally make the series ADORABLE. The music is delicious and nearly every song is amazing. The plot has some problems, but overall, the story is still worthwhile. The message at the end is enough to negate a lot of stupidity. Character arc for Kuea and Lian is limited and as far as relationships go, this one is not a keeper. The two side relationships are okay. Yi and Diao's relationship is controlling but their character's seem to try to work through it, though it isn't given as much screen time as it deserves. The Nuea and Syn relationship is the only one that doesn't appear to start out in a negative way, although up until Kuea definitely decides to stay with Lian, it is unclear if Nuea will choose him or is falling for Syn. It's funny that they only relationship in the tv series that was not in the book is also the only one that doesn't have toxic control issues and an imbalance of power. BUT if you can ignore the toxicity and focus on how incredible the actors are and how much screen chemistry they have as well as the wonderful soundtrack, you'll be okay. Bottom line, I really did want to love this series. The actors are great, the soundtrack is amazing, and the story is so cute, but is problematic.
So now with spoilers (if you don't want them, stop reading now): Everything I said above was true, and here is the WHY to the negative side of this story. The love story between Lian and Kuea is toxic and has a huge imbalance of power. Lian is controlling to the point of insanity. Examples: Lian supposedly loves Kuea but calls him Annabelle for no other reason than to hurt him. Some people will say this was to force Kuea to admit openly about his true feelings, but telling someone that you don't love them and don't want to marry them, and saying they are like a doll from a horror movie, is not exactly a great way to help Kuea feel loved and accepted enough to open up about himself. Lian forces Kuea to move in with him, knowing that it will make him sad and with the intent of taking away his freedom. They both are hiding secrets from each other, but neither one of them is willing to tell the truth, even after they have both confessed their supposed love. There is no reason for Lian to keep information regarding the Keerati family finances to himself, especially since he knows it could negatively affect his relationship with Kuea if he does, and yet he continues to stall telling Kuea until Kuea finds out for himself. Kuea's family also lies and doesn't tell their son the truth, leaving it for Lian to decide what is best, when Lian's attitude is to do what he wants and beg for forgiveness later, hoping that Kuea will TRUST him. Trust, however, is earned and when exactly did Lian earn that trust from Kuea? Cause two sexy bedroom scenes do not a trusting relationship make. Also, Kuea is certain that if Lian knows all his secrets that Lian will not love him anymore. Could this be because Lian ignored him and hurt his feelings on purpose, telling him that he didn't want to marry him because he is an Annabelle doll? I don't know, but I'm guessing that was a contributing factor. If you want someone to trust you with their secrets, denying them a sense of security is not the way to go. Lian proposes to Kuea at his big family celebration which puts a lot of pressure on Kuea to accept even if he didn't want to. I've heard other people say Kuea should have handled that better, but Lian shouldn't have put him in that situation, especially after his only response to the problem they had earlier was to say, I know I lied to you but trust me. How could Lian have not guessed that Kuea had doubts at that point? The power is entirely on Lian's side and Kuea is left with so many doubts. Even his own parents do nothing to help him realize that he is a person who can learn to take care of himself and doesn't need Lian to take care of him. They go so far as to let Lian make huge decisions for him without even informing him. That to me, seems like they don't trust or have any faith in their own son. Lian seems to agree with this and treats Kuea as though he's just supposed to do what Lian says and be adorable (which seems like that was what he said he didn't want in the beginning of the story, but his behavior encourages this later). No relationship can survive such a huge power imbalance. Also, their characters never changed.. Lian wanted control, he took control. Even when he could have told Kuea the whole truth, he didn't. When the end came, all he did was apologize and then go right back to taking control (which is evident in how he refused to allow Kuea to propose to him, he dodged it until he could propose to Kuea again). He couldn't even give up a tiny bit of the control in this relationship, but we're supposed to believe it was a happy ending. Kuea wanted someone to love him for who he was, yet he was afraid to show the real him, that never changed. He never learned to rely on himself or trust in himself, he simply learned that Lian loved him and was content with that. They never actually dealt with any of the relationship problems.
With Yi and Diao, there was so much more in the books, but I'm going to say that they resolved most of their problems in the series because they were both able to talk it out and learn to give and take. Nuea and Syn just started, so there isn't much to say, but at least it seems that Nuea settled down to choosing Syn rather than crushing on Kuea and going out with Syn because Kuea was taken. Overall, I wished that the main couple (Lian and Kuea) could learn to love and respect and be equal partners, but instead, the show just ended with them going right back to being who they started as and we are expected to believe it will be happily ever after. I was disappointed, however, there were so many things to love. The message at the end, about supporting marriage equality, was beautiful and loving. That made me want to support the series. Also, the actors were so adorable and did so well at playing their parts (I do mean all of them), that I want to like the series, even if it has a lot of faults. Overall, I would definitely watch it again. I'm gonna watch all the kissing scenes and the end scene and the funny scenes (like Lian dancing in the locker room) and I'm gonna listen to the soundtrack over and over again. I will turn off my better sense and just enjoy the lighthearted and sexy parts. If you can't do that, maybe this series isn't for you.
So now with spoilers (if you don't want them, stop reading now): Everything I said above was true, and here is the WHY to the negative side of this story. The love story between Lian and Kuea is toxic and has a huge imbalance of power. Lian is controlling to the point of insanity. Examples: Lian supposedly loves Kuea but calls him Annabelle for no other reason than to hurt him. Some people will say this was to force Kuea to admit openly about his true feelings, but telling someone that you don't love them and don't want to marry them, and saying they are like a doll from a horror movie, is not exactly a great way to help Kuea feel loved and accepted enough to open up about himself. Lian forces Kuea to move in with him, knowing that it will make him sad and with the intent of taking away his freedom. They both are hiding secrets from each other, but neither one of them is willing to tell the truth, even after they have both confessed their supposed love. There is no reason for Lian to keep information regarding the Keerati family finances to himself, especially since he knows it could negatively affect his relationship with Kuea if he does, and yet he continues to stall telling Kuea until Kuea finds out for himself. Kuea's family also lies and doesn't tell their son the truth, leaving it for Lian to decide what is best, when Lian's attitude is to do what he wants and beg for forgiveness later, hoping that Kuea will TRUST him. Trust, however, is earned and when exactly did Lian earn that trust from Kuea? Cause two sexy bedroom scenes do not a trusting relationship make. Also, Kuea is certain that if Lian knows all his secrets that Lian will not love him anymore. Could this be because Lian ignored him and hurt his feelings on purpose, telling him that he didn't want to marry him because he is an Annabelle doll? I don't know, but I'm guessing that was a contributing factor. If you want someone to trust you with their secrets, denying them a sense of security is not the way to go. Lian proposes to Kuea at his big family celebration which puts a lot of pressure on Kuea to accept even if he didn't want to. I've heard other people say Kuea should have handled that better, but Lian shouldn't have put him in that situation, especially after his only response to the problem they had earlier was to say, I know I lied to you but trust me. How could Lian have not guessed that Kuea had doubts at that point? The power is entirely on Lian's side and Kuea is left with so many doubts. Even his own parents do nothing to help him realize that he is a person who can learn to take care of himself and doesn't need Lian to take care of him. They go so far as to let Lian make huge decisions for him without even informing him. That to me, seems like they don't trust or have any faith in their own son. Lian seems to agree with this and treats Kuea as though he's just supposed to do what Lian says and be adorable (which seems like that was what he said he didn't want in the beginning of the story, but his behavior encourages this later). No relationship can survive such a huge power imbalance. Also, their characters never changed.. Lian wanted control, he took control. Even when he could have told Kuea the whole truth, he didn't. When the end came, all he did was apologize and then go right back to taking control (which is evident in how he refused to allow Kuea to propose to him, he dodged it until he could propose to Kuea again). He couldn't even give up a tiny bit of the control in this relationship, but we're supposed to believe it was a happy ending. Kuea wanted someone to love him for who he was, yet he was afraid to show the real him, that never changed. He never learned to rely on himself or trust in himself, he simply learned that Lian loved him and was content with that. They never actually dealt with any of the relationship problems.
With Yi and Diao, there was so much more in the books, but I'm going to say that they resolved most of their problems in the series because they were both able to talk it out and learn to give and take. Nuea and Syn just started, so there isn't much to say, but at least it seems that Nuea settled down to choosing Syn rather than crushing on Kuea and going out with Syn because Kuea was taken. Overall, I wished that the main couple (Lian and Kuea) could learn to love and respect and be equal partners, but instead, the show just ended with them going right back to being who they started as and we are expected to believe it will be happily ever after. I was disappointed, however, there were so many things to love. The message at the end, about supporting marriage equality, was beautiful and loving. That made me want to support the series. Also, the actors were so adorable and did so well at playing their parts (I do mean all of them), that I want to like the series, even if it has a lot of faults. Overall, I would definitely watch it again. I'm gonna watch all the kissing scenes and the end scene and the funny scenes (like Lian dancing in the locker room) and I'm gonna listen to the soundtrack over and over again. I will turn off my better sense and just enjoy the lighthearted and sexy parts. If you can't do that, maybe this series isn't for you.
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