Despite grouses about the finale, fans of popular Thai BL 2gether The Series kept asking for a second season, so that the leads, Bright and Win can reprise their roles as Sarawat and Tine for a second time. It is like leaving a boyfriend who would rather high five you when he’s happy, and hoping that the next one would be like him.
And then GMMTV, the mastermind behind 2gether The Series, dropped the news hours before the start of Pride Month: BL fans are going to get 5 more episodes of high five SarawaTine. *Fans rejoice!*
Reactions From BL Fans
Called “Still 2gether” #ยังคั่นกู, the teaser promised the special episodes would come before the end of 2020.
Update: Still 2gether has been confirmed to air on 14 Aug 2020, making it the first of the most anticipated Thai BL series to meet fans in the second half of 2020!
This was great news for those pining for a second season. In a society that screams for instant gratification, GMMTV had already started a short variety show based on the cast of 2gether The Series, called “#Play2gether”, because fujoshi just can’t get enough of BrightWin on screen.
I mean, when you have to force Win, a good actor, to sing for fan service, you know just how desperate GMMTV is popular the series was.
Really… We shouldn’t let Win’s acting talent go to waste. Give him more acting jobs!
However, there was a group of fans, identified as OffGun stans, who cried foul. The OffGun BL couple they shipped only had 1 series under their mast – 1 full series from Theory of Love, which ended its run 1 year ago.
Somehow, their stints as side couples in Puppy Honey and Puppy Honey Season 2 (so considered half a series each) didn’t count, even though they were GMMTV’s first BL power couple because of Puppy Honey.
Before this, I thought all fans of 2gether The Series were “BL Fans”. Now I realise that there are actually factions among this group of audience. I guess I was too naive in the past.
2gether The Series Dethroned GMMTV’s #1 BL Power Couple
2gether The Series was by far the most popular BL series, even within GMMTV’s stable. Someone even gathered the stats that were circulated on the net:
Let me replicate the most significant chart below (source as indicated in the picture), titled “Top 15 Most Viewed BL Series on LineTV Thailand”:
Barely half a year ago, GMMTV’s #1 power BL couple was KristSingto, no thanks to their success in SOTUS The Series, which spun off SOTUS S. Like I mentioned in my other post, SOTUS The Series set the formula for success for GMMTV’s BL franchise. BL series started to depart from the stereotypical sad endings with SOTUS’ succes.
Back to the topic, 2gether The Series not only became popular – it even performed better than the 2 seasons of SOTUS, which held the record for being the most popular series for a few years until it was replaced by Love By Chance.
There’s no reason why GMMTV would not capitalise on the success of 2gether and come up with a spin off.
Except that they should not.
There Should Not Be A Second Season for 2gether The Series
Fans had found the series “became boring” after Ep10. I also noted the reason why: Viewers watched 2gether The Series because they were curious whether Tine would eventually be “bent” by Sarawat. This literal conflict was gone when Tine agreed to be with Sarawat in Ep10.
In other words, there was no longer a purpose for 2gether The Series after Ep10.
If anything, GMMTV should learn from its experience of trying to create second seasons from series that already fulfilled their dramatic purpose.
The Curse of Season 2
SOTUS was like 2gether’s twin older brother. Kongpob’s pursuit of Arthit was the main focus of the series and viewers wanted to see Kongpob’s persistence pay off – which he did, at the end of the series. SOTUS S was created to satisfy the fandom and it became a run of the mill Thai family drama. The series talked about life after Arthit and Kongpob got together, and the various (standard) obstacles they had to overcome (I had previously compared 2gether’s success with the story structure of typical, contemporary BL series). As expected, SOTUS S didn’t perform better than the first season.
Another monumental Season 2 flop was Together With Me from GMMTV’s competitor, ThunderTV. The main characters, Korn and Knock, were side couples in another BG series Bad Romance. They outshone the main BG leads so much that a spin off was made with them as the main characters. Together With Me was Bad Romance’s prequel, which talked about how Korn and Knock came together (notice the similarity?). It was so popular (it was just behind SOTUS in the ratings) that a second season, Together With Me: The Next Chapter, was made, which was sort of like the sequel to Bad Romance. It suffered an even worse fate that SOTUS S, I observed.
And let’s not talk about GMMTV’s other power BL couple TayNew , whose rise to fame followed the exact same trajectory as MaxTul/KornKnock from Together With Me. TayNew’s PeteKao started off as a side couple in BG series Kiss, and they got their main roles in prequel Kiss Me Again (pardon me for thinking about Sammi Cheng’s Mi-series concerts – Love Mi, Love Mi Again…), which was followed by a second season Dark Blue Kiss that focused entirely on them. I can’t really comment much about these 3 series, because I was dozing off pretty much most of the time watching the series just for Mild.
Therefore, given that 2gether The Series had already fulfilled its literal purpose, and there were precedents where sequels of similar popular BL series flopped, the best thing to happen for 2gether fans would simply be: no 2gether Season 2.
Still 2gether Will Join A Fight of “Season 2s”
While there were precedents for special episodes for Thai BL series, I don’t remember any Thai BL series having multiple special episodes. In fact, Still 2gether seemed like a mini season.
However, fans sarcastically noted that the unusual number of episodes – 5 – coincided with the (now notorious) high five in 2gether’s finale. Perhaps this was GMMTV’s way of self-ridicule.
Perhaps this idea was concocted based on practical reasons – in order to churn out a full season, with entirely new plots, a promised second season can only be aired 2 years later. Special episodes will be able to meet fans in a shorter time – or in GMMTV’s words, “very soon”.
Or perhaps GMMTV wanted to know if the flops of second season I mentioned earlier was due to the enthusiasm of fans dying down after waiting for 2 years (instead of the factors I mentioned – dead story plots).
My take is that: the end of 2020 will be dominated by sequels of popular Thai BL series of the past 2 years. Although GMMTV will have its own Friend Zone 2: Dangerous Area to fend off the likes of TharnType 2: 7 Years of Love and My Bromance 2: 5 Years Later, the real threat comes from Love By Chance 2, which the Friend Zone franchise is not expected to beat.
Still 2gether is GMMTV’s innovative answer to the burly brawl of “Season 2s” come end of the year.
I mean, looking at the synopsis of LBC2, TT2 and MB2, they are falling into the Season 2 curse. GMMTV has a very strong card to play – PLEASE don’t screw it up!
Still 2gether To Plug Holes?
There was no other official news from GMMTV, though on MyDramaList, Still 2gether was described as retelling the the series from Sarawat’s perspective.
You know, like #คั่นกูEP11 Part 4/4, but with 5 episodes.
I am more afraid that, in order to churn out a special season in such a short time, they would use footage left out from the original series to make up the episodes.
Remember the production team re-filmed the series? The worst case scenario is that, in order to present “Sarawat’s perspective”, they might use those footage before the re-filming. From a business view point, this actually makes sense.
After all, GMMTV already received a lot of flak from the high five scene. They have nothing to lose.
Looking on the bright side, GMMTV may use the 5 episodes to redeem themselves. Other than joining a ratings/Twitter war and staving the intense craving of fujoshi, a special 5 episodes will also plug some of the disappointments plot holes left by 2gether’s season finale.
You know, like a celebration sex (for goodness sake, we are talking about a PG13 show. Please stop thinking about sex scenes!) kiss on the night after Sarawat won the music contest. If a kissing scene is too much for PG13, I think 2gether fans have been trained well enough to even accept a non-kissing shower scene.
Or answer questions like, did Man really bring Type to eat BBQ pork after the scene at the lecture hall? Or did they go straight back to Type’s room like he requested, to… you know… rest?
And will Sarawat finally meet his kid brother again (fans pointed out that the last time they interacted in a scene was in Ep4, even though they were supposed to be staying together from Ep5 to Ep9) and find out, in horror, that his rival in love is now with his freaking brother?
I personally would like to see Sarawat’s lao chio mother again. Can we have a scene where Sarawat is jealous of his own mother showering her love on Tine? Well, EVERYONE is in love with snowball Tine.
Of course, there was also this popular fan theory going around saying that Fong was actually secretly in love with Tine. Will the Director try to bust (or actualise) this myth? I mean, a revelation like this will spark a re-watch of the entire 2gether The Series by fans, which is actually good for future sponsorship deals. I think GMMTV understands this dynamics. Don’t we fans all love seeing Est-Cola appearing at the start of Part 3 of 4?
Parting Words
2gether The Series already bucked trends. Having a weird ball of a special 5 episodes just extends this trend. I’m more curious what fans are looking forward to? Will fans want new and developing storylines? Or would they just want x5 of first 20 minutes of Ep10?
My fingers are crossed. I really hope GMMTV don’t screw Still 2gether up.
If you are new to 2gether The Series, or simply could not get over this phenomenal Thai BL, here’s the quick link to watch the series from the start!
Based on the title, I guess the story will be in the future (they’re still together after x years). Perhaps to compete with other BL series, which take place in the future. But if they do make a 5-episodes flashback, I would seriously ban GMMTV from my watchlist 🙂
Oh yes! The title suggests “future”. I guess I got thrown off by the synopsis om My Drama List, which well, I don’t know how credible it is 😅 I would boycott GMMTV is Still 2gether ends up as a flashback, but then again, its competitors are meh~
Based on the title, I guess the story will be in the future (they’re still together after x years). Perhaps to compete with other BL series, which take place in the future. But if they do make a 5-episodes flashback, I would seriously ban GMMTV from my watchlist 🙂
Oh yes! The title suggests “future”. I guess I got thrown off by the synopsis om My Drama List, which well, I don’t know how credible it is 😅 I would boycott GMMTV is Still 2gether ends up as a flashback, but then again, its competitors are meh~
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