Cutie Pie (2022)

A SERIES THAT SUCCESFUL TURNED OUT HOW IT SELLS ITSELF TO BE.

I started this series not expecting much from it, but I ended up being hooked since the first part of the first episode. Now, my only issue with this is finding a way to cope up with the void it will leave within two weeks. My Sunday mornings will never be the same again.

Disclaimer: When I began watching this series, I didn't know Zee, Domundi and Aoftionz, so it's safe to say that I began watching this with brand new eyes and with no prejudice.

Cutie Pie is exactly what it advertised itself to be, so if you're looking for something much more complex, dramatic, or mind-boggling, and heavy, THIS ISN'T THE SERIES FOR YOU. But if you want something different from the usual conflict of the main couples being broken up by a third party or another force outside the relationship, then Cutie Pie is a breath of fresh air.

SPOILERS:

We often joke about the dreaded episode eleven curse (or the second to the last episode curse), where the main characters break up before the eventual happy ending. In Cutie Pie, the break up happens on the very first episode, when Kuea, upon hearing from Lian that the latter doesn't love him, asked to break off their engagement. Yes, we have heartbreak at the very beginning. But we were also introduced to the nature of their relationship prior to this. Basically, they were engaged. Kuea love his fiance so much but is afraid that Lian, someone he views as perfectionist, could never accept him for who he really is (he likes superbike, singing and playing drum, and he's studying automotive engineering). In order to please his fiance, Kuea created a facade of a prim and proper version of himself. In contrast, we have Lian, who doesn't seem to care about his fiance much, or even at all, and yet, in the second episode, he seemed upset that Kuea, for the first time, didn't answer and return his call.

The writers did a good job into making us feel more about Kuea in the first couple of episodes, and at the same time, showing just tiny bits and glimpses of Lian's background and personality to keep us intrigued about him. His conversations with his bestfriend Yi, that flashback conversation with his father kept me from thinking that he was just an asshole who had a change of heart and suddenly fell mutually in love with his fiance. Lian turned out to be far from how Kuea and and the audience initially saw him to be. Instead of the confident and perfectionist CEO, he is also a person who hides behind a facade because he was scared that Kuea, who came from old money, wouldn't be proud of him, a former ice delivery boy, as his fiance.

This is what I mean when I said that's it's a breathe of fresh air. This time, we don't have ex-relationships, parents, new girl or new boy, trying to break couples up. We just have our main leads who need to figure out that they didn't even need another version of themselves.

Some highlights that are worth mentioning.

THE FIRST KISS: I want to start by acknowledging this scene as what it is. It's DubCon because Kuea was drunk. The series tried it's best to change a lot of aspects in the novel that cross that bridge, but I guess, it wasn't really that easy to remove, or change this scene. While it did made me a bit uncomfortable, the events leading up to that scene made it bearable to me. Prior to that, we have a heartbroken Kuea who broke off the engagement, performed a song in a bar about how he was moving on to find someone who will love him for who he is. And yet, that very same Kuea drunkenly confessed that he doesn't really want to break off the engagement because he really loves Lian. And then there's Lian, finally realizing that he made a mistake by saying something that he didn't mean. The kiss, I believe, is his effort to comfort Kuea and apologize as well, although it was pointless, considering that Kuea wasn't even sure it was him because well, he was drunk. The most important thing we got from this scene is the confirmation of Kuea's real feelings.

MOVING IN TOGETHER: I see a lot of comments about how Lian was controlling Kuea's behavior and preventing him from enjoying his hobbies when he worked to get Kuea to move in with him, but honestly, that was the opposite of what he wanted to do. Lian doesn't want him stop being himself. Rather, he wanted Kuea to be himself in front of him as well. The thing I appreciate about this is that Lian could have easily confronted Kuea about those secrets, but instead, he acknowledged that he also wasn't showing his real self to Kuea. Instead of forcing Kuea, Lian decided to reveal himself, bit by bit, until Kuea feels comfortable enough to reveal who he really is as well. This is the point in the story when I grow to appreciate Lian more.

THE FIRST TIME: THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST BEAUTIFULLY SHOT LOVE SCENE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN A BL SERIES (And it is shares it's top spot with YiDiao from ep 10), but that isn't really the best part. First, I am happy with the change that the made from the novel where their first time together involves a really drunk Kuea. Consent was made clear, and Lian made sure to ask about it more than once. I also love that prior to the actual love scene, they were finally able to talk about previous conflict such as the drunken night kiss and the truth about the "I don't love you" conflict. I just love how, instead of excusing what happened, Lian admitted and acknowledged that that was a wrong move and actually showed remorse.

Now, this series may not be perfect. At ep 10, I admit that I am a bit disappointed that Kuea is still not over his "Hia doesn't love me" phase. This is something that I wish had already been over at episode 8.

Some other minor things worth mentioning:

YiDiao/The secondary ship: the bestfriend of the main lead is also engaged to the bestfriend of the other main lead. While this might seem repetitive, The YiDiao and LianKuea is both similar and different at the same time. Similar because it both follows the formula where the older guy in the relationship was presented as cold and uncaring at the beginning. I remember starting the show being put off by Yi's demanding nature of knowing Diao's whereabouts, but I'm glad that I am able to power through and not skip their scenes. Again, like Lian, his true character wasn't how he was presented in the beginning. Diao as well. He seems like the type to allow people to walk all over him but as the story progresses, I learned that he's actually one of the strongest character in this show. He's that person who's the least afraid to say what he wants and what's on his mind. I get that the resolution for their relationship isn't perfect, but a part of me is glad that it's not, as I am hoping for their own series. I hope it will happen.

The Kuea/Diao and Lian/Yi friendship: I just love how sweet the relationship is between Kuea and Diao, with them always ready to drop everything with one SOS message. Meanwhile, we have Lian/Yi, their banters on who's doing worse un their relationship, and their brutally frank way of telling the others that they're doing wrong.

The tackling of some issues: as early as the first episode, we got to hear one of the main characters talk about how outdated it is for media to still be using LGBTQ members only for comic relief. That wasn't the last of it the show also talked about issues such as marriage equality and establishing boundaries between friends. Maybe, my expectations weren't that high but I just didn't expect to see much about this in Cutie Pie. I'm impress.

Over all, this show is entertaining for me, and I can already see myself going back to this once it's done.

Edit: I finished watching. The ending exceeded my expectation. One of tje best and most satisfying ending I have seen.

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