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BoysLove: Side couples in 'My Engineer' [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-25
I’d like a couple of sides, please: coleslaw and baked beans. Oh wait, my bad, I’m supposed to talk about side couples in Boys’ Love series, not order a fast food meal.
So, what are side couples? Before we can define that, we need to define another type: the main couple.
Boys’ Love tells us what it is about right there in the name: romance. So every BL has at least one couple of boys (young men) who have a romance, usually after quite a few misadventures and challenges. Sometimes there are two or more couples, each of which receives equal screen time and attention, but usually there is one principal couple whose relationship is the primary focus and gets more scenes. That is the main couple, often referred to as the MC or the CP (couple) in comments and reviews.
We all know this formula from classic sitcoms, like I Love Lucy. Lucy and Ricky got many more couple scenes than Fred and Ethel; it was clear who the main couple was.
What are side couples?
BL series tend to be quite long compared to a standard movie (typically 8-12 episodes of about one hour each) and that’s enough time to tell more complex stories. So we often get one or more additional couples on the side (in other words, side couples). They get lots of screen time so we get to know them and watch their characters and their newfound relationships grow. Their stories are told alongside the main story, usually interleaved with it as scenes with all or sundry characters together as well as scenes of just the couples.
Side couples often contrast with the main couple in significant ways:
A side couple might be heterosexual although the main couple is two guys
A side couple might already be an established couple at the beginning of the series, unlike the as yet unrealized relationship of the MC
In a serious BL drama, the side couple might be quirky and funny, providing some time for viewers to chill and smile when the main couple is involved in highly charged events
Conversely, a side couple may provide a more serious note and explore important issues even in a rom-com where the main couple is mostly fluffy and entertaining
Side couples also let a studio hedge its bets. If the MC doesn’t float everyone’s boat and they are the sole story, a series could sink. With one or two side couples, viewers who don’t care for the MC may stick around because they very much like the sides. In fact, this is a known curse in the BL realm: some side couples are far, far more popular than the MC in their series.
Now let’s take a look at the BL series My Engineer. It conveniently illustrates many of these aspects of side coupling in BLs.
My Engineer
The series Series name My Engineer Release year 2020 Number of episodes 14 Country Thailand Studio/Network WeTV Link to view Youtube playlist
Dramatis Personae Character Name Actor Bohn Cooper Patpasit Duen Poy Kritsanapong Ram Perth Nakhun King Talay Sanguandiku Mek Ryan Peng Boss Inntouch Naphat Frong Shane Nutchapol Dr. Thara MD Nutthapong
I have a love/hate relationship with My Engineer. Well, perhaps that is too strong. It’s closer to a love/dislike relationship.
There are parts of the series that are absolutely charming, funny, or inspiring. But there are other parts that wallow in toxicity. And then there is the enigmatic middle; puzzling, at times annoying, but also intriguing.
And all of that is encapsulated in the three couples of this BL. Technically, there is a friend-zoned fourth couple — Frong and Dr. Thara — but clearly the producers intended to develop that relationship in a planned, but never realized, sequel; in the lingo of BL, we say “that [relation] ship never sailed.”
This story, like quite a few BLs, takes place on a university campus. That is a classic venue because university is the first time that many young persons begin a serious, long-term romance. They meet many new people at university, of different backgrounds and characteristics, so we see them not just alone in a new relationship but also dealing with new experiences, social settings, and friendships. It makes possible a wide variety of plot and character developments.
As a lighthearted rom-com, this series isn’t going to tax you emotionally or force you to re-watch parts to figure out some element of a crime or mystery. You can just sit back, relax, laugh at times and, at other times, cheer on budding romances or groan over their misunderstandings.
Let’s look at the stories of each couple.
Bohn and Duen: main couple
Their story is the classic “enemies to lovers” trope, where two boys get off to a bad start with each other but, forced to spend time with each, they eventually grow closer and fall in love. So far, so good … it’s a story that most of us know not only from BLs but as viewers of a good number of romantic comedies from Hollywood.
Bohn, a handsome engineering senior, is accidentally punched in the nose by Duen, a first-year medical student. As is totally common with straight guys [eye roll], he tells Duen that the way to make up for it is to bring Bohn a rose every morning for a month. Bohn has a reputation as a playboy with the girls at the university but apparently even straight players enjoy being wooed by another supposedly straight guy under duress. Who knew?
Bohn and Duen
Both Bohn and Duen have their own small groups of friends, who at first are clueless about what is going on, then become suspicious that there is more than meets the eye between Bohn and Duen. In time it becomes known that the two are officially dating and their friends become cheerleaders for them, offering advice, support, and congratulations, as appropriate. This is one of the really nice, positive things about the series and this relationship.
Another plus of Bohn is that once he decides he likes a boy, he is totally fine with that, tells his friends about it, doesn’t “gay panic” at all. He immediately self-normalizes it, not concerned that anyone, including his friends, will jeer about his newly discovered sexual orientation.
Other than that, this couple is a disaster.
Duen is nothing but panic, and only part of it is about possibly being gay; he seems panicked about love and sex in general, with anyone. He’s never had a girlfriend nor a boyfriend and seems as clued in about romance and sex as your average 3-year old. Rather than being curious or interested, he plays the role of horrified schoolmarm about even a peck on the cheek from a guy that he has accepted as his boyfriend [more eye rolls].
Bohn quickly becomes dangerously possessive about Duen, flying into jealous rages if Duen has contact with almost any guy other than his longtime school friends. Seriously, if someone stopped Duen on the street to ask for directions, and Bohn saw it, he’d immediately assume they were arranging a hookup and go berserk.
Now Duen doesn’t help any with that. Instead of showing a bit of spine, he enables Bohn’s bullying behavior. In the scenario above, he would run after the furious Bohn and beg forgiveness, apologizing … but for what? He didn’t do anything wrong but he’d say he had been wrong in some undefined way.
Then it gets worse. We would see Bohn smirking where Duen can’t see it. Bohn feels happy that Duen has been groveling … but he still acts angry so that Duen will suffer more.
Bohn provokes a scene so he can react jealously (1:03 to 5:31)
This happens in almost every scene they have together. Bohn gets jealous or angry, Duen whines and pleads, rinse and repeat.
They are both walking, breathing red flags.
At one point, Bohn suggests that they move in together. I can’t imagine it lasting more than two weeks before one of them heads to the kitchen to get the meat cleaver.
Wisely (for once!), Duen says they should date for a year and then see how it goes. He should have gone way beyond that and said “Let’s wait a year. In the meantime, you begin anger management classes and I will do some workshops on building self-esteem and overcoming enabling behavior. Love ya!”
By the later episodes, i was cheering for Team MeatCleaver.
Ram and King: side couple
This couple became a true “ship” among fans (that is, an adored relationship between the characters, not the actors). You will find fans all over the internet who practically swoon if they read “RamKing.” They weren’t my own favorite couple but I liked them and understand their popularity.
Ram and King are the very epitome of the “opposites attract” scenario.
Ram is part of Duen’s friendship group and King is part of Bohn’s group as well as being a fellow student of engineery. So the two become acquainted due to Bohn and Duen becoming involved, giving the overall story crossover connections.
King is devoted to his many house plants. He gives them tender loving care, sweetly talking to them although they never respond, of course. He is patient, intently observing them to see what they need, cheerfully nurturing those that are particularly difficult to grow, and happy when they silently thrive.
With his friends, King is outgoing, helpful, and always thoughtful.
King and Ram
Ram, by contrast, is very much an introvert. He loves dogs and talks to them but not to people much, even his friends. Ram doesn’t trust easily so King must tend him as carefully as one of his delicate plants, observing what he needs before interacting with him. So, when King needs a pencil for an exam, there is King with one ready for him; when Ram is having trouble in a math class, King not only helps him but shows Ram that he is trustworthy.
Ram treats King like a dog … in a good way! He sees the same beautiful qualities in King that he does in his beloved dogs: loyalty, enthusiasm, devotion, curiosity about him, and attention to his chosen human. So he treats King like a dog … in a good way! He makes sure King is well fed, bringing him treats to enjoy. Since he speaks very, very little, he tugs King around like he would a dog, pulling on King’s arm to urge him to “come this way with me.”
Each of them found the other to be the counterpart that feels familiar, understandable, and comfortable, albeit their original counterparts were different species.
Ram and King respond to each other, each in his unique way (9:35 to 11:37)
*** BEGIN SPOILER ***
Near the end of the series, King and Ram do indeed become quite close, culminating in a rather passionate kiss. But then King suddenly backs off, despite having subtly but earnestly pursued Ram for ages. It’s not clear why. Is he worried that it might just be a fling and that Ram will want to drop him even as a friend later? Or does he think Ram regrets their kissing the night before?
Most likely, the writers had plans to address that and explore their romance further in the sequel, which, after almost five years, seems unlikely to ever be filmed.
*** END SPOILER ***
Mek and Boss: side couple
Most fans are wild about Team RamKing but I am 100% on board the Team MekBoss train. I love these guys!
Mek and Boss are best friends. They not only are studying the same major (engineering, with Bohn) and attending the same classes, they spend all of their free time together as well.
Boss is a goofball, frequently getting himself into jams. Mek is the quieter type, patiently helping Boss out when he needs it, always by his side when he needs him. But it isn’t one-directional; for example, Mek teaches Boss how to ride a bicycle but Boss teaches Mek how to ballroom dance.
Boss and Mek
These guys are true friends. They have occasional squabbles, lots of adventures and silliness, and, if push comes to shove, will do anything for each other. That includes Mek helping Boss when he gets crushes on girls and wants to meet them or ask them out.
The two boys call each other “husband” and “wifey,” part of a hazing prank by their seniors when they entered university. They were given signs to hang around their necks with those terms and jokingly kept using them ever since.
But Mek has a secret: he’s head over heels in love with Boss … and anguished about it but terrified to tell Boss in case he loses his best friend. So he aids Boss in pursuit of girls because he loves Boss and wants him to be happy … even though he longs to be the one whom Boss loves.
That sounds pretty awful to watch and it is difficult at times. But they have so much fun together and are so good for each other that we totally understand Mek: we don’t want him to lose Boss either.
*** BEGIN SPOILER ***
In the end, Mek finally confesses to Boss in a dramatic way. As Boss is having a meltdown (as usual, he’s been rejected), feeling unloved and worthless, Mek can’t take it anymore and shouts at him that he, Mek, loves and cherishes Boss and plants a liplock on him.
Boss finally gets it. That devotion has always been there, beyond friendship. He tells Mek that he, too, had romantic feelings before but thought Mek would reject him, so he decided to ignore it and go chasing after girls.
But once Boss thinks it over (literally about five seconds), he realizes that the love of his life is also his best friend who has always been there with him and for him.
Once he commits, Boss is 100% Mek’s lover, for better or worse, amen. That ship has sailed, baby, and there is a fair wind and a clear horizon!
Near the end, the whole cast is at a volunteer camp in the woods. Everyone was used to Boss and Mek joking about being “husband and wifey” so most people thought they were just kidding around about this new phase of their relationship.
Even Mek wasn’t certain of Boss’s commitment to him (Boss’s ex-girlfriend had shown up and wanted to get back together and Mek didn’t yet know that Boss had told her Mek is his true love). So Boss grabs a nearby megaphone the camp organizers had been using and shouts to everyone, telling them that they are a real couple and telling Mek that he loves him. It’s funny and it’s also one of the sweetest moments you’ll ever see.
Boss proclaims his love for Mek (1:54 to 4:18)
We just know these boys will always be both best friends and lovers. Go Team MekBoss!
*** END SPOILER ***
It’s a wrap
My Engineer is a textbook example of a main couple being the least interesting and least appreciated couple in a BL series. Both of the active side couples are way more popular and one of them, RamKing, is iconic in the BL world.
It’s hard to understand how the writers, producers, and director could so badly miscalculate the appeal of their various couples. Yet it did happen so I guess they should be glad they had the sides to keep the public engaged … and maybe they worked harder on their next projects to ensure their new main couples would be the stars.
But the side couples served their purposes … and, in the process, saved the series from being a disappointment. We saw how side couples added scenarios and themes to the overall story and resolved issues:
Bohn & Duen: enemies to lovers; they gave a master class in what to avoid in relationships!
Ram & King: opposites not only attract, they build real understanding; their complex relationship taught us about trust, the very thing that the main couple was never able to achieve
Boss & Mek: friends to lovers; they also added a lot of comic relief from the unending drama of Bohn & Duen and showed us a love based on deep friendship and truly valuing the other person
Bohn & Duen spent most of episode 9 in a panicked struggle over who would be the “husband” (top) and who would be the “wife” (bottom), a dubious argument given that Duen can’t even handle a kiss on the cheek. Mek (with Boss’s support) neatly knocks their argument apart, essentially saying it doesn’t really matter and roles aren’t fixed by anyone’s appearance (studly versus boyish) or personality (macho vs nurturing). The side couple delivered the important message that the main couple could not resolve
[Sidebar] BLs too often have an obsession about sexual roles of the couples. It goes way back to its origin as yaoi, Japanese manga and anime largely created by and consumed by straight women. It’s odd that anal sex is such a compelling interest when it’s seldom an issue among actual gay men, for whom it doesn’t rank even in the top three most frequent sexual activities.
Side couples are part of the joy of BL. In any series, you can probably find a pair of boys to fall in love with and, even if they aren’t the main stars of the show, they will shine brightly for you.
Coming up
Next month I will be reviewing Until We Meet Again. Look in the calendar section below for links to watch it. I have a couple of warnings for you:
The first scene, approximately six minutes long, has shocking violence and is hard to watch. However, it is absolutely necessary as it is the foundational event that affects three generations of people over the following three+ decades. There is a lot of cuteness and sweetness in the series too so tough it out through this brutal opening segment (peek through your fingers, if you must)
Yes, sweetness is all over UWMA … but it is also the tearjerker of all tearjerkers, of any genre. I am not kidding when I tell you that you will cry buckets of tears throughout the 17 episodes. It will be a powerful experience that you will never forget. So just watch it, with lots of boxes of tissues at hand
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