This review may contain spoilers
This was a popular series, and deservedly so! As you can see, my ratings are all over the place, so I will explain why.I loved the music. For me, Mew (Tharn) carried this show, with brilliant acting = A+. Mild (Techno) was great = A+. Gulf (Type) was really good, too = A. Kaownah (Lhong) was a great singer and a decent actor (although, with all the crying, some real tears would have been welcome) = A-.
The chemistry between Mew and Gulf was off the charts! (That ice cube kissing scene in the last episode was epic.)
Now, for my issues with the series (hence, some of my lower ratings):
Despite some great performances, THE STORY WAS SO BAD I nearly dropped it after about four episodes. Here's why:
1) THARN'S MOLESTATION OF TYPE, WHILE TYPE WAS SLEEPING (And yes, that's what it was.)
For someone who was supposed to be the "good guy," this was not cool, not funny, not appropriate. Can something like this be portrayed in a drama? Yes, of course it can. But it should be presented as what it is, a molestation. Not as something cute, that can just be dismissed as "oh well."
2) THE WAY TYPE'S CHILDHOOD RAPE STORY WAS HANDLED.
At first I was intrigued, because Type was obviously scarred, and his intense hatred of gays made sense. All good. Then, without any buildup, Type has no issue with getting a blow job from his hated gay roommate. Then, in the next episode, he comes out and asks Tharn for anal sex (with Type as receiver), just one time, to "get it over with, once and for all." Are you kidding me? This was a childhood rape victim? And, Tharn's going along with it was almost as incredulous.
I seriously think (and wish) that the author would have had a better story, had she simply made Type a bigoted homophobe who eventually came around. That in itself would have been dramatic enough. As written, the "rape victim suddenly turned gay" storyline was not only unbelievable, but incredibly insensitive and offensive to actual victims of childhood rape.
3) THE TIMELINE.
I was confused (and still am) about what the timeline was for this story. There was no "six months later" that I could see. So, even if we allow for some time lapses here and there, we saw absolutely zero development of Type's character. He went from understandably hating gays, to suddenly having sex with Tharn. So, how exactly did this happen? We got no explanation.
4) THE ACTUAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THARN/TYPE.
Not talking about the sexy hotness. That was there in spades, no question! But, it was never explained why Tharn was so taken with Type. Let's face it, Type was a hot mess on many levels. Did Tharn just think Type was hot? What in Type's personality attracted Tharn?
5) LHONG'S ENDING.
Why on Earth didn't Lhong end up in prison, or committed to a psych ward?????
The following were not dealbreakers, but I found them a little hard to swallow:
a) MEW PLAYING A 19 YEAR OLD. Sorry, not buying it. Mew is 28, and he looks 28. Don't get me wrong, 28 isn't exactly old, but it's nowhere near 19. Mew looks like a hot, sexy 28 year old. He looks like he should be a teacher in the college. (That said, I had no problem with Mew/Gulf. Gulf is 21 but could easily pass for 24-25. They look fine together.)
b) TAR LOOKED 14. (Apparently he's 25 or something, a few years older than Gulf. But that's not the point.) Tar looked completely juvenile and the idea of Tharn falling for him -- to the point of being destroyed when Tar left him -- was almost laughable to me. To go along with that...
c) THE BED SCENE WITH TAR/THARN WAS SILLY. Tharn was there begging for Tar to let him up when, in real life, I'm sure Mew could have thrown him off with almost no effort!
d) TYPE HITS THARN IN THE BALLS IN THE BAR BATHROOM. Why? Totally uncalled for.
e) LHONG/TYPE IN THE LAST EPISODE. Type looks like he could easily kick Lhong's ass, but he sat there being strangled, without fighting back even a little.
f) LHONG DROPPING THE GLASS. Really? It was dumb when Pete did it in LBC (especially since he and Ae had already slept together, but I digress... ) and it was dumb here. And then, Lhong uncomfortably makes an excuse and practically runs out of the room. Tharn and Type just shrug it off. Seriously? Was there anyone who didn't know right then and there that Lhong was hopelessly in love with Tharn?? Without the glass drop, Lhong's devious behavior would have been even more of a surprise.
g) THORN, THARN'S OLDER BROTHER. Not only does the actor who plays Thorn NOT look older than Mew, but he is actually younger in real life.
With all that said, I can't say I didn't enjoy the series. I did. There were really great moments. But, despite all the good, it had some real flaws.
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First and for the love of god, why is Type's character written like the biggest asshole in town. If ever id meet someone like Type in real life id definitely run the other way. Yes there was a traumatic experience but its not an excuse to be an arse.
My advise to my fellow LGBTQ memebers here, dont ever date someone like Type in real life. He will make your life a living hell, this guy is so toxic and you deserve better. And also when your roommate tells you he hates gays like you, you go away as fast as you can, not secretly touch him when he is sleeping. That's called sexual harassment. And all the more reason for him to hate gay guys. And also, when somebody sexually harasses you, you dont open the cave to let them in, you go to police. The show is just not sending the right message.
One of the most annoying character ever is Tar. He was annoying in Love by Chance and he was as equally annoying here. (i dont hate the actors just the character). He was introduced so early in the show only to really matter in the last 2 or 3 episodes - and a bit creepy almost incestious onesided relationship with the stepbrother.
When i reviewed SOTUS, i said there was almost no intimate moments - this one is the exact opposite.
Hard to rewatch. I give it an overall rating of 6.
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OVERRATED and TOXIC
First of all, when I first started watching this bl I immediately loved and adored it. This was due to my idiotic self for not realizing the many flaws and problems this drama has that is hidden under many unnecessary steamy scenes and way too cheesy lines.I know that a lot of people love this show because of the actors, and because of their chemistry on-screen and off-screen, but that does not excuse the fact that this drama has a ton of glaring problems.
1. ROMANTICIZING SEXUAL ASSAULT
This is very clearly shown in the first few episodes if the drama. When Type was asleep, Tharn would always kiss him. There was even one time when Type got drunk, then Tharn gave him HICKEYS. How do people not see that behavior disgusting? Keep in mind that at the time both of them were not friends, and Type clearly did not like Tharn at all. Tharn kissed and gave hickeys to Type WITHOUT HIS CONSENT. This us borderline sexual assault/molestation. What's worse is, they didn't even address this issue in the following episodes, like its a "cute" or normal thing to do to someone.
2. TYPE'S TOXIC BEHAVIOR
People like to defend Type's toxic actions because he has "anger issues" or because he had a traumatic experience in the past. While I agree that Type's trauma and issues should not be overlooked, it does not excuse the fact that he slapped, hit, punch, and kick Tharn many, many times, and he did not even bother to apologize to him after. Another thing that people overlooked is how horribly he treated the girl he "dated". Just because you love someone else, does not excuse the fact that she deserved an explanation as to why he led her on, and why he ghosted her.
3. HORRIBLE CHARACTERS/ CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Both of the main characters are extremely one dimensional, and do not have proper character development at all. Are you saying that Type, a man who was sexually assaulted by a man in the past, and who is struggling with trauma, can just ask another man that he doesn't know or like that much for sex to "get it over with"? I don't think so. Trauma CANNOT be solved in just one day, and it cannot just disappear just because a person is in love. The way the show dealt with his trauma is AWFUL and DISGUSTING. The show just basically swept his trauma under the rug, and they did not show Type battling and conquering his trauma and issues. The message that they are basically saying is that your deep-rooted trauma and issues can just be solved in a day, and will just disappear once you find a person to date.
For Tharn, I already talked about his DISGUSTING sexual assault that was never addressed by the show, so I'm not gonna repeat myself again. I might just be nit piking by saying this but I absolutely despise how everything he says to Type is so incredibly cheesy and unrealistic that it makes me die inside from cringe. Its not cute. Its unrealistic, and nobody in their right minds would ever talk like that all the time. Another one of my problems about his character is that it was never shown hoe he fell so deeply in love with Type. All that we were told is that Tharn finds him attractive. That's all. How did he fall in love with him? Why did he fall in love him even though Type was a complete asshole to him? It's a complete mystery to the viewers. After the first time they slept together, they were immediately so lovey-dovey.
4. HORRIBLE ANTAGONIST
Another thing about the show that fans love so much is the antagonist. I totally agree that the actor who played Lhong is decent, but his character, obviously, is not. I don't understand why the show wants us to empathize or feel sorry for him. Did they forget that he singlehandedly destroyed his best friend's relationships? Did they forget that he paid men to RAPE a boy? Did they forget that he tried to MURDER Type? But because he was a victim of unrequited love, I supposed his actions were justifiable, right? Right? As if.
In summary, this show is bad because it romanticizes and normalizes sexual assault/molestation and toxic behavior in relationships, it handles mental issues and trauma horribly, has underdeveloped and one-dimensional characters, has borderline cringe-worthy dialogue, and has a confusing, lackluster, horrendous plot.
Just because this show is popular, does not mean that it is good. This show has so many glaring problems that fans choose to ignore, and I absolutely hate it. I absolutely despise the normalization of certain toxic attitudes prevalent in bl shows, and I really hope it changes.
My favorite thing about this show is the music. I love the OST and I think Mew is a talented singer.
My favorite character in this show is Type's soccer ball, because I felt the same way while watching the show. Kicked around and played with.
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I stuck with this series because of the acting. Gulf did an amazing job with Type and Mew, when his character wasn't creepy or crying, was pretty fun. Mild's Techno was wonderful, I much preferred his interpretation of the character than the one in Love By Chance.Having watched now both T/T and LBC, and read a bit here and there about the other storylines of the novels, it seems that virtually every storyline in this story universe has some element of sexual assault in the backstory or conflict (even Ae/Pete, which is a wholly consensual relationship, is triggered by a sexual assault and blackmail that Pete is trying to deal with). These plot device assaults are not dealt with well, the effects on the characters come and go as suits the storyline, and there are no consequences for rapists. When characters we are supposed to like commit assaults, it's treated as part of the romantic development rather than called out for what it is.
This is particularly badly done in T/T. Type has a traumatic, really major sexual assault in his history. In the entire series, the only scene in which this history was used in a way that felt realistic and important is when he recognizes Tar's trauma, which occurs in the last episode.
Tharn is gross. Just awful. He has zero respect for Type's boundaries. He sexually assaults him multiple times: in the shower; while he's sleeping; tells Type to "watch his ass" after they become friends again and after Tharn knows about Type having been kidnapped and raped; pushes him into a wall and threatens him when he thinks Type is flirting at a bar... just horrible. He agrees to have sex with Type even when Type explains that he is offering because a) he feels like he owes Tharn and b) he's afraid Tharn is going to do it at some point anyway so he wants to get it over with. When someone tells you they don't think they can say no to having sex with you because of factors that don't have to do with their immense desire to have sex with you, going ahead and having sex with them is rape. The writing completely ignores the coercive element of their first time. No, in fact, afterwards, Tharn tells Type that even though he said they could do it just once, it wasn't going to be just once, and then proceeds to continue to pester him until Type gives in again, which basically marks the start of their "romantic" relationship.
These constant assaults are not treated by the writer or director AS assaults, never problematized or called out. They are also really confusingly shot and plotted, to the point where at the beginning I thought we were seeing Type's fearful dreams/worries playing out (which would have been MUCH better, in that we would have understood more Type's reaction while being able to continue respecting/liking Tarn)
On top of the outright assaults, Tharn is horribly emotionally manipulative. We can, of course, dislike Type's homophobia. But given that it's routed in trauma, and that Tharn knows this, a realistic and compelling storyline would have Type moving through his fears and overcoming his prejudices while Tharn gives him some emotional space to process these changes and reconsider his worldview.
What we get instead is that every time Type concedes something, Tharn pushes the next boundary without asking and then gets mad/withdraws affection when Type is upset. On the very day that Type admits they are something more than friends, Tharn convinces him to go out into public and then kisses him IN PUBLIC without asking. On what planet would you expect the traumatised, recently severely homophobic guy who is struggling with his sexuality and only hours ago was willing to admit that maybe, just maybe, there's something more going on between you than being fuck buddies is suddenly ready to be outed at a bar? None. Actual people who understand relationships would not make that move and if they did, they would understand that THEY were the ones who did something wrong.
What does Tharn do? He gets mad, sulks, leaves for days and doesn't come back until Type apologizes.
The Tar storyline is also terrible, but I'm going to leave it here. I can't honestly recommend the show, although I can understand if you just want to kind of close your eyes/mind to the flaws and try to enjoy the fluffy parts, because that's clearly what I did. The characters are so inconsistent that when they are not being awful, they are pretty cute and likeable, so the fun fluffy scenes are there. Still, I'm not sure if it's worth it. I feel sort of gross for having watched it to the end.
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This review may contain spoilers
Disclaimer: I did not like this drama. It will be a harsh rant review so if you don't think you can handle it, don't read it. If you do read it, don't write to me that I'm hurting people's feelings with it.What’s more: I do NOT care about the novel. I do not care how well everything was explained and shown in the novel. I’m reviewing the drama. If the show cannot be consumed without my prior knowledge about the plot of the novel, it speaks volumes about the quality of the drama itself.
At first I refused to rate this drama. I had truly no idea what rating would do it justice. For how they handled certain topics it should get -100, but the acting was decent, at times even good, the set design, audio editing, lighting and other technical aspects were good too, and these definitely do not deserve such a low rating. That said, since MDL forces me to state my stars, I will go with my feelings, be as subjective as possible and give it “well deserved” 2.5 stars.
DIRECTING/WRITING
Sadly, the lack of experience in directing is quite obvious. While there was a lot of thought put into „steamy” scenes and how to show them in the most attractive, sensual way, not the same amount of work had been put into directing and showing the overall plot. The biggest problem I had was the confusing time progression and weird time jumps without proper explanation.
Another aspect of directing that caught me off guard was a random and rushed beginning. Why we did not see how the friendship of Type and Tharn was established? All we've got was one line of Type saying Tharn is good looking, nice and most likely will help him get a girl and exactly 1 minute and 17 seconds of them meeting for the first time three weeks ago.
The fact we did not see these two establishing the relationship and spending time together as friends was one of the reasons Tharn's big love seemed so out of place. After seeing the whole drama, it's safe to assume he fell for Type before Type found out he is gay. But we did not see that, so with how badly Type was treating him, it was given I would question Tharn's sanity and reasons behind his feelings. When did he fall for Type? That's the question the drama does not really answer.
Unanswered questions, scenes that seem to have no reason for existing, loose ends - all of them happened at some point. I kept seeing people asking questions about certain plot points and plotlines and the only way to understand the reasoning behind them was to hear from someone who read the novel which was usually followed by continuous excuses of time restriction.
If you know you cannot possibly fit all the plotlines in the time framework set for your drama, you should rewrite it. As much as I liked the “Korean” guy and his roommate, they should not be part of the plot. Not only were their characters not developed, they brought close to nothing to the show, but instead have taken away the precious time that could be used to develop the main plot and explain all the unanswered questions. You need to be smart with how you write and be realistic about it. If you know you only have 12 episodes and a lot of work to be done on the main characters and their relationship, don't waste your time on side characters and plotlines.
THARN'S CHARACTER
I know he has a lot of supporters and many people were extremely protective over him and hated Type quite a lot with how he treated Tharn. That said, while Tharn was quite a nice and sweet guy in the second half of the drama, the first few episodes showed him as a creep who disregards any type of personal space and is willing to sexually harass someone just to get back for the name calling.
Many people may claim that giving someone hickeys without a consent or rather being fully aware the person would not agree to it, is not a big deal, but it is. They were not friends back then, not a couple. Type was asleep after getting drunk. Imagine that you woke up one day and it turned out that some guy you knew, but did not have a good relationship with, gave you hickeys all over your neck and upper torso. Do you find it cute? Romantic? Innocent? I would either call the police or inform my professors about it.
Also, what kind of sane person instead of punching a homophobic asshole says they will screw him? What's in the brain of that man? I would not want to touch a guy like Type with a stick. Kissing him as revenge, giving him hickeys. It's so amazingly illogical I cannot even try to grasp what was going on. All the touching of Type's face and giving him forehead kisses when he was asleep (before they were a couple, back at the beginning when Type hated Tharn) were not romantic. It was gross and weird and inappropriate.
What also amazes me about Tharn, is how not observant and ignorant he is about the feelings of people around him. How he failed to see Lhong was sabotaging all of his relationships? How could he not see the frantic behaviour of Tar when he came to see him, which obviously would lead to the conclusion something is not right? How he ignored Type’s mental struggles and instead of educating himself about the symptoms of his mental health issues, he ignored them.
TYPE'S CHARACTER
Since I'm planning to write in more detail later on about all the mental health issues, I'll just focus on how his character was written. From the beginning there was not much thought put into developing the characters and showing their gradual change and how it happened - as a result, Type’s character is extremely inconsistent. They bring up his trauma and homophobia when it fits the storyline, forget about it when they want to progress the sexy scenes and at the end of the day, nothing makes sense. Even not taking into consideration his hatred for gays, he was not a nice, lovely and a good guy that I would root for. He was an asshole, way too impulsive and had close to zero redeeming qualities. I failed to see why I should cheer for him and his happiness when I simply did not like him as a human being.
MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
Total disregard of any mental health topics in this drama frustrates me so bad it's exhausting to watch. Let's start with Type being sexually assaulted as a child by a pedophile, in the present times, having phobia and generalized hatred towards gays and PTSD that was miraculously cured by the power of love and blowjobs. No mention of him going to a psychologist or psychiatrist. No previous treatments as a child.
This leads to Tharn's inappropriate behaviour towards Type when he had panic attacks. If you are the clear reason for someone's panic attack and they tell you to let them go in a hysterical manner, you don't hug them closer to you, you let them go and bring help. There is a reason why rape victims are treated by medical staff of the opposite gender than the person who attacked them, why the police officer are not of the same sex as the attacker. The scenes with Tharn being the cause for the panic attack AND the one that calms Type’s down (sometimes with quite sensual touches) just shows how not willing to do any type of research on the topic the writer was.
Episode two, the scene where Tharn almost sits on top of Type, being angry about Type insulting his father - first Tharn is trying to annoy and make Type angry, when Type starts to have panic attack and begs him to let him go, Tharn says “I just want to help you relax. Calm down” as he caresses his face and tight in a clearly sensual manner, Type gets even more anxious still begging for Tharn to let him go and not hurt him. At some point, finally Type is able to move and he kicks Tharn away from himself to which Tharn says “What the hell is wrong with you, Type?” and I want to ask: What the hell is wrong with the person who wrote this scene? If you fail to see how disturbing and wrong and weirdly written this scene is, I have nothing to tell you.
That said, not all of Tharn’s reactions to Type’s attacks were wrong. When Type woke up in the middle of the night and he himself grabbed Tharn and hugged him, it was a good decision to hug him back and with a calm voice make him feel more at ease. This was one of the instances when I was nodding my head thinking - the boy is slowly learning what is appropriate and what is not. The joy was usually short lived though.
The whole PTSD, panic attacks and all the mental health related issues Type had are gone by the time he and Tharn are together. Why? Because they have no purpose to the main romantic plot anymore. They were just tools to make the romance more angsty, be a good excuse for Type’s hatred towards gays and make “steamy scenes” more “steamy”. After all that, without any professional help, by some random miracle, Type was cured. Why exactly do we need mental health professionals when you can just cure your problems with one good blowjob?
The writers also make Tharn look like an extremely self centered person who is not willing to learn and research about the serious topic concerning the person he claims to love. While his lack of proper reaction could be partially an excuse before he knew about Type’s past, after he found out, the fact there was not even one proper serious talk about it amazes me. Not even once Tharn asked if Type often has the panic attacks, how he should act when it happens, if he tried to get professional help. Nothing. The topic is gone and not mentioned again.
Tar’s depression, suicide thoughts and how the heck no one noticed it for so long? I refuse to believe that his brother did not even once come to his room before that one accidental time in the middle of the drama. It’s close to impossible for him not to know how bad his brother’s mental health is, seeing how he wasn’t truly trying to hide it well. Tar was also the only character that was mentioned to receive mental health help from a psychiatrist, how good the help was is a totally different issue. His character is still better “treated” by the writers than Type. They at least tried to show different symptoms of depression and all the more realistic implications it might have.
Lhong’s story is another way of explaining bad behavior by giving a character a tragic past. While I kind of appreciate the additional episode and the background info on Lhong, I’d say it was an amazing waste of time. Good 70% of the time in the episode was just flashbacks to what happened in the previous episode and just a few new scenes showing Lhong’s past. Why not use that time to truly develop and dive deep into this character’s motivation? He obviously had huge mental health issues, yet again, they are not being addressed by anyone.
Both Lhong and Tar should be in observation in the hospital for some time, since they are either a danger to themselves or to others. I guess, mental health help is a concept that does not exist in the universe created by the writer.
San’s love for Tharn when they were younger was quite disturbing too. The idea that he wanted to take Tharn’s virginity because he was young, cute and innocent just sounds wrong for me. Those are the adjectives you use to describe a child. I have no idea how old Sad was when their relationship happened, but it did sound alarming to me.
WHAT I LIKED
I must say, I kind of enjoyed some fluffy scenes of Tharn and Type. I had to force myself to ignore and try not to remember all the stuff that happened in the first half of the show, but when I was able to do that, the scenes were quite cute. I liked the domestic scenes when Type was playing with Tharn hair. I guess I enjoyed their interactions the most in episode 10. Truth to be told, I would not mind this drama that much, or even like it, if the writer did not introduce the topic of sexual assault on the minor and mental health issues that follow. It was just so poorly written, I cannot ignore it.
My favorite character was for sure Techno. He was one of the best written and most realistic ones. Also, probably the only one without huge trauma and mental health issues. I enjoyed most of his scenes and Mild acting was quite good.
One scene that stood out for me was when Type was confronted by his friend after that friend confessed he is gay. It was a well written and well filmed scene. I just wished there was a follow up, since it was an amazing opportunity for Type’s character growth.
It’s important to add: the last episode was a MESS. Like… “how is Lhong not in prison” was the only thing on my mind when I was watching it. I could not focus on anything else.
Overall, the quality of the production was not bad, the acting was good, the chemistry between characters was nice, the music was fine, the technical aspects were well thought through… The writing… was tragic. Did I over-analyze it? Probably. Some might say I should not try to dig deep into this drama since it’s just a romance BL and they are not supposed to be taken this seriously. I would like to say though, the author themselves introduced those deep, tragic and thought provoking themes in it, so I cannot be blamed for taking it too seriously. I cannot ignore such a bad representation. It would make me feel guilty.
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I won't condone this type of behavior.
How did a drama that started so strong ended up being a total mess?Let me begin by saying that I'm a gay man and as part of the LGBTQ+ community, I can't support the way this story showcases gay relationships. There were a few things about this show that pulled out the red flags from me, and all of them relate to how toxic, forced, and abusive the relationship between the lead characters and their supports were managed. I'll list my problems with it below:
This review contains SPOILERS, so please be warned if you haven't watch it yet. Actually, you should not watch it for the sake of not giving it more attention.
~ The sexual assault is a big issue in this drama. Originally, I thought that having a traumatized lead character (Type) who suffered of sexual assault when he was younger was a good thing for the plot and his character development; however, things took a weird turn when the writers decided to romanticize Tharn sexually assaulting him as well. What kinda audacity is this? It was not once, it was not twice, but SEVERAL times. Type clearly despised Tharn, but that didn't stop the later from kissing his cheek, kissing his lips and naked torso when he's PASSED OUT DRUNK, forcing himself on top of his body several times (which was not good for Type's mental state at the moment), and blowing him in the bathroom. By the way, NONE OF THIS WAS CONSENTED BY TYPE AT ANY MOMENT.
The character Tar is also one who needs to be called out due to his attempt of sexually assaulting Tharn in the hotel room. It doesn't matter what your situation was, it is UNFORGIVABLE.
~ Type is the most toxic, petty, and unreasonable character. When I began watching the drama I gave him the benefit of the doubt because he was clearly not a mentally stable guy, but I don't think that's the only problem here. Type would constantly bring up the excuse of hating gays to physically and verbally abuse others (Tharn in specific). I do agree Tharn deserved a couple of punches because of what I wrote above, but there were plenty of occasions in which he was unfairly assaulted due to Type's anger problems. Was this unhealthy level of violence categorized as "love" by the writers? It sure was! And it was NOT okay. Even people with mental problems get punished by law because of the consequences of their actions, so I am disappointed that Type was able to do as he pleased with his violence. This felt like Eminem and Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie" music video.
~ What the hell is going on with Tharn? First of all, he's definitely NOT one of my favorite characters, but seeing him being such a passive man was aggravating. This is a character that also had his own traumas due to love and break ups, but I could not stand him seeing him taking such weak role. Where is that confidence that you showed on the first episodes when you would stand up and defend yourself from Type's aggression? All this violence was not worth it.
~ Possible incest relationship? It is not confirmed in the drama story, but Tum looked like he was having more than just brotherly feels towards Tar. I'm not going to comment too much on this because nothing happened, but it's still kinda sus.
Some of you may not know this, but sexual assault is a very big problem for LGBTQ+ in media. I don't know where the author got inspiration from, but it kinda seems like he or she read a couple yaoi manga before writing this novel. Yaoi and Shounen Ai manga in Japan are know for portraying gay relationships and quite a bit of sexual assault as "romance," so I would not be surprised if this was their inspiration. You guys, it is NOT okay to support these kind of stories in media, because many of you are just straight girls who happen to be obsessed with gays, but for LGBTQ+ and specially gay people, portraying us in sexual assault scenes actually bring us a lot of backlash. You may think is just media, but A LOT of people get influenced by media and use it as an excuse to hate on us. So please do not support these shows.
Lastly, I would like to point out that I have nothing against these actors because, after all, they were just doing their job. I think some of them were actually very good at acting and I enjoyed their performances, but this is just not the right story to work with.
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its bollocks, save yourself and do not watch it
i only started this because i was a fan of mew's music before i watched it, i already liked one of the songs from the soundtrack i i gave the show a shot. i wish i hadn't. i wish i hadn't have wasted all my time on this, i wish i could go back to a time where i hadn't subjected myself to it.first tharn's character, he awful representation for gay people. he is disgusting, horrible and creepy. he starts out the series as a predator, forcing himself into type's personal space multiple time and assaulting him more than once. the hickies he give's type are treated as a "haha funny revenge on the homophobe" moment, not what it actually was, assaulting someone while they were asleep. the blowjob in the shower again, type showed no form of consent and yet again was not treated like the blatant SA it was. not to mention the multiple times he kisses type while he's asleep. tharn's multiple assaults on type are never treated as such and are never even mentioned again. tharn triggers type and while type is having a panic attack and rejecting any form of touch or contact, tharn just pulls him closer into him ???? yeah cause that's exactly what you do when you trigger a flashback to someones trauma. this isn't necessarily a him problem but san his ex is equally a disgusting person. during the later episodes in thier "sweeter" moments it was just so hard to ignore how a SA was the catalyst for this relationship to start and took most of the "sweetness" out of it. even after they get together tharn is still awful, when they fight rather than acting like the adult he's meant to be he sulks, cries and fucks off until he makes type come crawling back.
type is anything but an angel himself, as a gay person i would not touch a guy like type with a 10 foot barge pole. at least he sort of had his reasons for being so vile but type in the middle of the show is honestly so insufferable, when they are in that "are we dating , are we not? we just fuck sometimes" stage he is so possessive and weird despite not even being in a relationship tharn. i cannot see how being in relationship with someone like type would ever be in any way fulfilling and enjoyable enough to stay in it for a week, never mind get married to him. even taking his violent homophobia out of it (which is one of his only, if not THE only defining trait he had for so much of the early series) type just seems like a dick and an awful person. he is extremely hard to root for and absolutely does not deserve his two closest friends, No and Champ. every time type had any sort of character growth and i got hopeful, by the end of the episode im left disappointed. i got annoyed by his character so fast, it was just so unnecessary how he acted most of the time to people.
their relationship is baseline abusive and has been since it started. type hits, kicks and punches tharn multiple times and tharn forces himself onto type making him uncomfortable and makes absolutely no attempt to rectify his behaviour when he finds out about type's past. neither of them apologise for these things and their relationship seems to be a chore and a pain to be in. their relationship is so inconsistent, theyre hot or cold, together or at eachother's throats punching and kicking eachother. it's not an enjoyable relationship to watch play out.
the writing is just so bad omg. type's trauma is only ever brought up to be convenient for plot. when he and tharn end up together it just seems go away at the click of a finger ???? CSA isn't something that goes away just like that, it's serious and usually effects people way way into their adult life and subsequently their relationships in the future. if the writers would've just cared about making the plot seem any sort of realistic and coherent instead of just trying to throw in sex scenes whenever they could, type could've been a good character with a good character arc but no. that's just too much effort. it's left in the dust when it can't be used to further how much tharn and type have sex. one of the only parts where i could see hints of something good was when type was contemplating how to help tar, other than that it was such an awful way to add a storyline that serious in the show. lots of the dialogue felt juvenile and cringy. they have never heard of smooth transitions between plots. it seems like those movies adapted from wattpad fanfiction. their relationship felt so forced, even though i watched it happen. it didn't feel realistic like thats how two people like them would actually act, a high strung open gay and a violent homophobe.
not only is constant shitty handling of SA a problem but they decide to go the extra mile and add incest !!!! oh joy !!!!! i would like to hope i don't need to elaborate on the whole tum and tar front other than it being oh so disgusting.
lhong is a god awful antagonist, his whole story just unnecessary ???? it's pretty obvious to see he likes tharn from the start but that doesn't justify him hiring people to rape a highschooler and try to kill someone and then they were like "oh he has trauma as well so it's okay" this show just paints an awful picture of trauma victims and addresses it in such an awful way that i have to laugh bc if i don't i'll cry.
it is so obviously marketed to your stereotypical bl fan, a cis straight women. it's full of sex and all the glaring issues are just glossed over or ignored by fans. it could be better if they'd have not watered all these serious topics down into piss. in what world does a CSA survivor get over it in a few days because he had sex with his creepy roommate a few times, these aren't things that just disappear with the power of love, these are things that take people years and years to heal from with professional help, not some random ass gay musician.
this show incorporates absolutely everything bad in bl and just takes it to another level. at no point do i find myself wishing i was in a relationship like tharn and type, i find myself thankful im not. i left so many episodes feeling icky and just wrong, like "what the fuck am i watching". so much of it is just disgusting and highlights everything bad in bl. it has absolutely no rewatch value i wish i could just leave that blank
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This review may contain spoilers
No.
I'll be very honest with this review because I have a lot to say about this series.Many people overlooked the toxic, abusive and just plainly ridiculous plot lines this series had just because of Mew and Gulf, which is very sickening to me. I can't actually believe this series got so much love with all of these aspects that shouldn't be a part of a healthy relationship. I watched this series in hopes of them correcting the mistakes made earlier in the series (sexual assault, serious bullying etc) but they just made it worse. Not only did they not do anything to show that what Tharn did to Type in the beginning of the series (rape) is not okay, they also showed physical abuse and manipulative behavior between the characters (Type mainly being the toxic one). The toxic behavior from Type was explained as him being overly jealous and apparently easily agitated but that is not a reason to punch your s/o.
What else was wrong with this series? The representation of mental illness. The total ignorance towards Type's mental illness was terrible. The way everything was displayed made me feel disgusted. I don't even have any words about that.
There is so much media that discriminates and shows only negative sides of gay relationships and ignorance of mental illnesses. It's literally 2020 so it's time to show healthy representation of gay people and mental illnesses. Tharn type is not that.
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This review may contain spoilers
Now that it's finished I'm rewriting this review so what you read now will be a little different than what you read before. This is because TharnType has flaws, man, serious flaws. And every attempt the writer made to overcome its flaws was hamstrung by either the source text or the dictates of Thai BL generally.At its core, the latest addition to Thai BL had a surprisingly intelligent script with nuanced characterisation. Tharn is ostensibly a confident and comfortably gay man while Type is traumatised by sexual abuse when he was young. They find themselves sharing a room where Tharn's overt sexuality clashes with Type's apparent homophobia.
Unfortunately, the script was given the full Thai BL treatment, especially in its first few episodes. Type tries to bully Tharn out of their shared dormitory, Tharn responds by aggressively sexually harassing and even assaulting the younger man. It's impossible to see either of these things as desirable or romantic behaviour, yet the producers seem determined for us to be titillated by the sexual violence and amused by the bullying. I had neither response and nearly dropped it, since the normalisation of sexual violence is a problem I have with Thai BL generally and Type is at all times a rude and bigoted asshole - a fact that Tharn himself acknowledges at one point.
it seemed weird at the time and even weirder in retrospect that Tharn would respond to a roommate who openly sees him as a sexual threat by sexual assaulting him. I cannot reconcile this behaviour either with the character as we come to know him or with simple logic. Both Type and Tharn's behaviour is wrong and unfortunately the time constraints of the series meant we leapt through necessary relationship progression and decisions to get to where we ended up. Show should have devoted this entire season to the two navigating their way into a relationship. Maybe then viewers wouldn't have needed to do all the cognitive work in explaining it.
One thing TharnType definitely has going for it is its acting. Mew is an excellent actor who portrayed Tharn with a natural subtlety that gives his character a lot of layers. While Gulf (Type) isn't quite as good, he is elevated by working off the more experienced actor and as a consequence this has some of the best acting I've seen in a BL. The acting is possibly one of the reasons I kept watching it when I would otherwise have dropped it. That and how the show began to develop as it moved past its first few episodes.
Once the show begins to settle into itself, it tries to break free of the dictates of the genre the script has unfortunately been forced into. Tharn is a lonely man, disappointed by love and terrified of rejection following the manipulative abuse of an older man when he was young, and Type is a very confused, very damaged one who has a long road to walk in terms of coming to terms with his identity. I take issue with the idea it's Tharn's job to fix Type but thankfully the script moves away from that sharply, dealing as much with the complexity of Tharn's psychological trauma as with the obvious trauma of Type's. Or at least that's what it seemed to be doing.
It would be unreasonable to expect a Thai BL to adequately grapple with the intersection of identity, social gender constructs, trauma and bigotry. And I certainly didn't. But I wanted to give the show credit for at least trying. Some of the show's decisions around portraying trauma and assault seemed nuanced and interesting, others seemed trite and tone deaf. But even while TharnType did a better job than expected, it dropped all these themes entirely at the end and went straight for full-bore Lakorn nonsense.
I'll be blunt - I don't care about Lhong. I don't care about his character, I don't care why he became a total psycho and I also didn't need a Machiavellian villain mastermind to pop his head up at the last minute. This couple has real issues to deal with and instead we get some second-female-lead garbage ripped from a soap opera. The fact this is a gay male instead of a woman doesn't make this whole thing better, it makes it worse. For a show with an actual real openly gay character, this show's representation of the gay community got worse and worse.
I get it, I get it THE NOVEL but the novel is clearly stupid because this is ripped straight out of a bad Thai Lakorn. Worse than that, by shifting to an external issue to solve, the show refused to solve this couple's real problems - Type's trauma and refusal to accept his homosexuality and Tharn's inability to be honest due to a fear of rejection. None of these issues were dealt with (what about poor Kom, still convinced his childhood best friend hates him for being gay?). And it's not as though the finale didn't have time, devoting screentime to an endless showdown with Lhong that I personally couldn't give a fig about.
Because of this the happy ending feels shallow, a common problem with Thai BL. It reminds us that for all its pretensions, this is just another BL. A quick flash forward to a timeline after its sequel and companion piece, Love By Chance*, shows us they have no intention of ever dealing with these issues. We'll never see Type being brave enough to come out to his school friends or his parents, among many other important character moments we needed.
To say that I'm disappointed in TharnType is to imply that I expected more of it. I didn't. But I did have hope and that hope was obviously not fulfilled.
*This show is a prequel and companion piece to Love By Chance, both being based on source novels by the same author and set in the same universe. It's a universe with a great deal of sexual violence and, while the show is grappling with these issues in the main OTP, it doesn't have as much success with other plotlines across both shows. Having seen Love By Chance it is difficult to watch, for example, Techno being a loving and supportive friend throughout the show knowing that his brother's friend is going to rape him. In fact, Techno's brother being complicit in the rape is mirrored in Thorn (Tharn's brother) being fine with his brother's abuser still being in his life too. It's a dynamic that's hard to watch in both shows and, I guess, that won't be resolved unless there's a second season of Love By Chance. I can only hope that when all plotlines are resolved, the show can come down heavily against sexual violence in whatever form it takes.
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This review may contain spoilers
No concept of consent and a wasted storyline opportunity Type's character
English isn't my first language but I hope you can understand.This show has no idea what consent is, seriously.
The only reason it's popular it's because the main leads are handsome and there's more than 1 sex scene.
The way they treated Type's character is really sad, his relationship with Tharn is SOOOO toxic and the plot should have never been about them getting together.
Spoiler warning:
1- Type being raped when young is used as an excuse to make this an 'enemies to lovers' and only taken 'seriously' in 2 scenes.
2- Tharn abuses his position as roomate to touch Type, every night, while asleep. Even after he knows about Type's reasoning to being homophobic (him being raped as an 11 yrs old)
3- There's honestly no reason for them liking each other, other than sexual appeal. They just have a crush on each other out of nowhere.
4- They start their sexual relationship with Tharn sexually abusing Type. That bj scene, Tharn was NEVER given consent; and they had sex because Type owed Tharn. There's also other scenes where Tharn uses force against Type (him forcing himself after Type fllirted with some girls)
5- Tar being gang raped is also used as a side story to make TharnType relationship a bit harder (although it was treated in a better way than Type's)
6- For some reason they tried to excuse Lhongs (Tharns best friend) actions.
They should of used Type's, and Tar's, stories to actually talk about male rape survivors. How the media doesn't care about victims but only sees them as income (it was briefly mentioned by Type but it should of have been WAY MORE IMPORTANT). How Type was raped by a man, but latter discovers he likes men, and how that affects him.
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1This review may contain spoilers
Not My Type
I tried my best to write this review so pardon me if it's not the best. I'm not gonna entertain people who want to defend this show.First of all, I would like to apologize to those who love this series. This series isn't made for me and it is a chore for me to finish sadly. I tried to like it but I didn't like it from the beginning till the end. While the show has some problematic issues with disrespecting and misuse of mental health topics as well as the sexual abuse portrayed there, I don't wanna address it as many helpful reviews on Tharntype's review page has already done it anyways and mine is gonna be similar, if not the same as well. While I appreciate the writers for trying to go complex in this BL with all those mental health issues, I just think they have done it wrong and no proper research is made on it.
I wanna talk more about the storyline because I do have my problems with it. The show tried to do so much in those 12 episodes by adding more storylines and it became over complicated. Instead of having unnecessary antagonist, pointless characters like the guy who tried to be Korean and Tar's story, I would rather focus more on Tharn and Type's relationship progress. Those times spent on them could have been spent on those two. How they met, see their ups and downs in their relationship, and slowly let it develop. I also want to dive in more in Tharn and Type's character even if I dislike them both. What's the point of adding more storylines if their relationship is not fully developed in the first place?
I'm personally not a fan of their relationship. Let's start from the beginning. I find it rushed especially with how the relationship of Tharn and Type is like starting. As I have recalled, they are only roommates and I am not sure if they are even friends in the first place since it's not established there. I remember questioning Tharn on when he fell in love with Type. Did he fell in love at first sight? Moving on to journey with their relationship seeing them having sex and all those crazy tragedies and that's where I conclude that I just don't like their relationship at all. I mean, yes it's realistic for couples to fight all the time and jealousy is normal, but to add in those physical abuses is such a turn off for me. That is not a healthy relationship for sure. If you're asking which one I'm talking about, it's in episode 9 (The part where Type slapped Tharn because Type misunderstood the situation going on there) To be honest, both of them need help and are not ready to be in one yet.
All in all, I feel like the series has potential, but it's just wasted in the end. I do love the fluff moments between them and Mew and Gulf have amazing chemistry together that I can't help but squeal as well as a normal fangirl LOL. You know what I'm talking about for those who completed the series. I just couldn't bring myself to ignore what happened earlier. I don't want to go in detail with this review as my review is more of a rant haha. I don't want to rewatch it again. Instead, I'll just watch those crazy MewGulf videos together because what's not better than seeing two hot men being so cute together? UwU
As I've said earlier, everyone has a different opinion for this show. Some may love it, some may not. Sadly, my opinions went in the opposite direction of not loving it. That's all I can say about this show.
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Story - 10/10
The story line is well done and well written. It will invoke a lot of emotions out of you. The writers will make you angry and laugh and be sad. The romance is one of the best. It's different from a lot of other bl dramas because they tackle really hard topics and when I was watching I wanted them not too but it is written so well that it made the show even better.
Acting/Cast - 10/10
Can I rate this 12/10 because the actors were all amazing. Chemistry was so brilliant that I was like whoever cast these actors did God's work. It was so beautiful to watch actors so natural with each other.
Music- 10/10
Just perfect, the right songs and instrumentals were used to fit the mood of the scenes.
Rewatch Value - 10/10
I enjoyed this so much that I had already re-watched it as I waited for the finale episode to air and I can say it was even better the second time round. So,yes the rewatch is on a 1000
Overall - 10/10
Overall, I enjoyed this show a lot, it was fun to watch, I replayed a lot of scenes and I can see myself re-watching this over and over again because it was so good.
Do I recommend this, hells yes, it's worth it. You will not regret giving this a go.
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