2gether: The Series is a 2020 Thai romantic-comedy television series under TV network GMMTV. It is the Live-Action Adaptation of the Yaoi Genre novel 2gether by writer Jittirain, and stars Thai actors Vachirawit "Bright" Chivaaree (who plays Sarawat) and Metawin "Win" Opas-iamkajorn (who plays Tine). Set in college, it tells the story of an outgoing music fanatic who pursues an introverted band guitarist to become his fake boyfriend, in order to evade a consistent admirer.
2gether: The Series aired on GMM 25 from February 2020 until May 2020, spanning for a total of 13 episodes, with one aired per week. It is available worldwide with english subtitles for free on GMMTV'S official Youtube channel, on Netflix Asia, and on LINE TV Thailand.
In August 2020, its special sequel Still 2gether started airing with a total of 5 episodes, set after the events of 2gether: The Series.
The series became the most-viewed Boys' Love series from Thailand, breaking the record in a span of 3 months after its last episode aired. As of December 2020, it has garnered over 540 million views on Youtube and LINE TV. The series also brought actors Vachirawit "Bright" Chivaaree and Metawin "Win" Opas-iamkajorn, better known by their couple name Bright-Win, to being Household Names in Southeast Asia.
Not to be confused with 2gether
, the 2000s-era MTV television movie and series about a fictional boy band.
2gether: The Series contains examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Pervert: In Episode 2, Sarawat sends a porn site link to Tine, who at that time is using his laptop that is connected through the projector of their class. Forgetting his laptop's screen is projected to his professor and his classmates, Tine clicks the porn site link and continues to stay in the page and play the video, until he realizes that everyone is seeing his screen.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the novel, it was Sarawat who used to be in love with his girl best friend. In the series, it was his girl best friend who is in love with him, and this has caused drama between Sarawat and Tine, who at that time are already in a real relationship.
- Adapted Out: There are several scenes from the book that are taken out in the series, including the explicit chapters.
- All Gays are Promiscuous: Toned down. Most Yaoi / boys' love stories feature gay couples who seem to have sex at every moment they can. In this series, there are implicit suggestions about Sarawat and Tine having sex or at least being intimate, but it is always shown off-screen. There are even barely any kissing scene, and only at least three pecks are seen between Sarawat and Tine, but not until in the special sequel Still 2gether.
- Arc Number: The number 12 in Sarawat and Tine's jerseys are always shown with back shots when they wear them, although it holds no significant meaning to the plot. It was adapted from the novel it is based on, with the author simply using the number 12 as it is incorporated to her favorite K-pop group, EXO.
- Bash Brothers:
- Sarawat with Man and Boss.
- Tine with Fong, Phuak, and Ohm.
- The Body Parts That Must Not Be Named: Sarawat refers to his private part as "Sarawat's Expo".
- Book Ends: Not exactly the beginning, but Sarawat and Tine's first few moments in the music club are somewhat similar to the Time Skip. When Tine first entered the music club, he is taught by Sarawat on how to do basic chords. The former finds difficulties in grasping the chords, in which the latter has made comments. A similar scene happens one year later, when Sarawat and Tine welcome the new members of the music club, and the latter does a demonstration on how to do basic chords.
- Call-Back: During Tine and Sarawat's first real meeting in Episode 1, the latter told the former, "If you keep on looking at me like that, I will kiss you till you drop". In Episode 9, Tine repeated the same lines to Sarawat.
- Cannot Spit It Out:
- It takes a lot of time before Sarawat and Tine admit their real feelings for each other. Sarawat has this worse due to his one-year infatuation with Tine who he has been looking for since high school.
- Phukong finds it so difficult to confess his real feelings for Mil, that the series ended with their romantic plot being unresolved. However, their story continues in the sequel Still 2gether.
- Cast Full of Gay: Most male characters are in homosexual relationships, or at least in love with other men.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Just like most Yaoi / Boys' Love stories, most of the cast are men, with only very few women. This series, at least, features boys who are extremely good-looking. Most of the cast are also of Chinese descent with more prominent East Asian features than Southeast Asian, including the leads Vachirawit "Bright" Chivaaree and Metawin "Win" Opas-iamkajorn. This makes them appealing to fans of East Asian entertainment (K-pop, C-pop, etc.). Chivaaree being a Luk khrueng for his multi-ethnic background of half Thai, quarter American, and quarter Chinese also puts his good-looks in front, as Thailand's beauty standards include Thais with Western, mainly White, ethnicity and race.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Sarawat's girl best friend appears in the later episodes and embodies this trope.
- College Is "High School, Part 2": Although the series is set in college, the characters are rarely seen studying or attending classes. They seem to focus more on extra-curricular activities such as music clubs, cheerleading, sports, and concerts, which are activities that fit more in the high school setting.
- Concert Climax: The series' climax is a campus concert, in the same place where Sarawat first meet Tine. This time, however, Sarawat is trying to win back Tine after their break-up.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Sarawat gets easily jealous when Tine is flirting with other women, most often to their fellow music club member, Pear, who Tine has a crush on.
- Dreadful Musician: To get closer with Sarawat, Tine entered his music club without knowing how to play any instrument. He would try to learn how to play the guitar, but it would always end up sounding terrible.
- Fainting: Due to tiredness from practices for cheerleading, Tine ended up fainting during Sarawat's football match.
- Fake Relationship: Tine and Sarawat enter a fake relationship to evade the former's consistent admirer. They would do things such as sharing food and dropping the other to his house to fulfill their pretend relationship.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Tine, Ohm, Fong, and Phuak.
- Freudian Trio: Sarawat, Man, and Boss.
- Girls Like Musicians: Aside from being handsome, Sarawat is popular among girls in his university due to his exposure as a guitarist of their music club's band.
- G-Rated Sex: Played with, if the characters have had sex in the first place. It happens off-screen, and it is barely confirmed whether Did They or Didn't They?.
- Green-Eyed Epiphany: Tine consistently tells himself that he likes girls, ignoring his developing feelings for Sarawat. However, it is obvious that he gets jealous of others for flirting with Sarawat, whether it is a man or a woman.
- Held Gaze: When Tine first encounters Sarawat in Episode 1, he is about to ask him to be his fake boyfriend. Tine does Held Gaze to Sarawat as he couldn't spit out the words "will you be my fake boyfriend?". The former ends up saying, "If you keep on looking at me like that, I will kiss you till you drop."
- I Will Find You:
- After Sarawat fell in love with Tine at first sight during Scrubb's concert in high school, he consistently searched for the boy whose name he has no idea of. All he knows is that he is a massive Scrubb fan, and so Sarawat looked for him in every Scrubb concert near their campus.
- Man looks for Type by attending mental seminars, just like for the one when they first encounter and Man falls in Love at First Sight. This is, in no doubt, exactly what Sarawat did for Tine by attending every Scrubb concert.
- Love at First Sight:
- In Episode 6, it was revealed that Sarawat has been searching for Tine for a year before the latter asks him to be his fake boyfriend. He fell in love Tine at first sight during a campus concert of Tine's favorite band, Scrubb, when they were still in high school. Tine was jumping while jamming to Scrubb, and ended up bumping on Sarawat, who was behind him also watching the concert. Sarawat also explained that this infatuation is because he has never seen anyone so happy because of music.
- Man and Type's love story starts with the former falling in love at first sight with the former during a seminar.
- Master Actor: Everyone knows Sarawat is a stoic and an introvert. He is able to keep up this image of him when he encounters Tine for the first time since his Love at First Sight moment during a high school concert. Sarawat remains this way to Tine, but is the complete opposite when he talks about him with his friends. In Episode 11, Sarawat's point-of-view is finally revealed, during and after his first real meeting with Tine. This is expanded and further explained in the special sequel of the series, Still 2gether, where they showed his point-of-view before encountering his long lost love.
- Once More, with Clarity:
- The opening scene of Episode 1 shows Tine and Sarawat's first encounter, where Tine is seem to be chased by girls. By the middle of the same episode, this scene is repeated but it is revealed that the girls and Tine are actually running to see Sarawat.
- As the series is initially told in Tine's point-of-view, Sarawat's perspective of many scenes are kept hidden until Episode 7, and furthermore in Episode 11. Scenes from the earlier episodes are repeated, but now in the eyes of Sarawat for more clarity.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The opposite. It is common for Thais to only be known by their nicknames, due to their full names being extremely long. However, in Sarawat and Phukong's case, they are only called by their real given names instead of nicknames. Both have Guntithanon as their surnames.
- Opposites Attract: Tine is a very outgoing person who self-proclaims as a playboy; Sarawat is an introvert who does not enjoy the attention he gets from girls.
- Overly Long Name: Thais tend to have very long given names and surnames, and the characters of this series are not safe from it. This includes Tine, whose full name is Tine Teepakorn Aekaranwong.
- Product Placement: This series has more than one for every episode. These are only limited to the sponsors of the series, however.
- School Idol: Sarawat embodies this trope due to his good looks, talent in music, and athletic background.
- Secret Relationship: Sarawat and Tine keep their real relationship a secret to everyone else, but it does not exactly last long.
- Time Skip: The ending of the series does a time skip, where Sarawat and Tine welcome new members to the music club.
- Yaoi Genre: The series is of Yaoi/boys' love genre, featuring 2 college boys being in a fake romantic relationship. Additionally, the series also has side boy-to-boy couples, who also embody this trope.
