TharnType (2019)

what did i just watch?

Trigger Warnings for sexual assault/r*pe, physical abuse, emotional abuse, mental abuse, homophobia/transphobia

This show was just all kinds of messed up; and not in a good way. I enjoy a good dark, twisted, maybe even a little questionable drama as much as the next person, but I was almost without words with this one. I honestly do not know how I managed to watch the full thing. People questioned why I was doing it to myself, and all I can say is I honestly do not know. I think I just wanted to see how bad the show could get.

It’s not even the plot that’s bad, really, but the characters themselves. First we have Type, a guy who seems to think the reason he was sexually assaulted as a child is because of the gays. Not because a man was a paedophile, but because of the gays. (It’s never even stated that the man who molested him was gay.) Next up we have his friends who aren’t homophobic, yet defend Type when he says slurs and insults lgbtq+ folk, saying ‘he must have his reasons’ (they know nothing about his traumatic incident). Then we have Tharn, the roommate and love interest, who is out and proud gay and more or less because a sexual-harassment-case-waiting-to-happen as soon as Type begins his bullshit. The dude literally kisses and touches Type IN HIS SLEEP. He more or less forces Type to accept oral sex in the shower. (Yes, I know the scene is meant to seem as if Type gets into it, but let’s be honest, that was assault.) Tharn continues to be a very uncomfortable character with his refusal to give up on a man who claims to be straight, defends said man’s homophobia, and puts up with physical and emotional abuse from stated man. It would be pitiful if it wasn’t so uncomfortable.

Moving on to the inevitable falling-in-love-with-the-gay-roomie and as much as we all love this trope (I mean, that why we watched the show, right?) we find that not only is Type still a raging homophobe, but a vocal one…using the ‘f’ slur, alienating his childhood best friend, before going home to TALK TO HIS BIG GAY BOYFRIEND. This man ‘hates gays’ but CHOSE to be a bottom, and seems to really love gay sex…but hates the gays. I mean, I know we’re supposed to be watching him grow and accept himself and the community BUT COME ON. It was like whiplash.

We also have Tar and Tum, who are a complete mystery for 80% of this show. I eventually got fed up of random scenes with these characters who apparently had nothing to actually do with the show, and I spoiled that part of the storyline for myself. Really, they should have been tied into the plot better if we were supposed to have any emotion towards them. By the time they were involved I’d already grown bored and unsympathetic. (Then again, there are few characters you can be sympathetic to in this series.)

It’s absolutely HORRIBLE what happened to Tar, but it was still so difficult to feel bad for him. Like, I know most of his behaviour was because he was being blackmailed, but it was still

Tum could have been likeable, but really there was nothing there but an older boy lusting after his step brother. It had so much potential! Alas, it was wasted.

We also have Thorn, Tharn’s brother who…well, I actually liked him, but I have questions about why he was okay with his best friend banging his 14 year old brother. I mean, he punched the dude, but personally, I think continuing the friendship is a weird vibe. I know that if one of my mates came to be and confessed to having sex with my under age brother I’d be burying their body in a shallow grave. Thanya, the little sister, was a queen though.

Then (YES, THERE IS MORE), we have Technic, the younger brother of Techno, who swaps illicit photos of his older brother with his friend for movie tickets. Yup, kid is taking sneaky photos for his obsessed pal without the consent of his brother. I’ll be honest, though, Techno was probably my favourite character in the whole show.

Lastly, we have Lhong, who was the surprise for me. When I discovered he was the antagonist all along I did have to give props for that because I did not expect that from him. What he did to everyone was just despicable; especially Tar, who was a literal child. However, I feel like the character’s real self was hidden really well for the better part of the show, and it’s the one thing I didn’t expect - the jealous-in-love-with-main-character-best-friend, and I appreciated that little shake up. He really was a master manipulator, right under our noses. The ‘I wasn’t loved as a child’ motivation is tired and overdone, but you know what? I’m gonna let it slide because of how impressed I was with them sneaking Lhong in as the bad guy. (I’m genuinely shocked I managed to say something positive about this show.)

I admit, shamefully, that I did enjoy Type when he informed Lhong that he knew about what he’d been doing; there’s just something in me that gets giddy when a guy somehow protects his boyfriend’s ex? I know that makes no sense, but when Type shows how disgusted he is at what happened to Tar, I liked him for just that one second; he knew Tar’s pain, somewhat, and found common ground. Finding out that Type had known for so long what was going on and was biding his time…that was a nice touch. I also gotta say, Champ is a champ; he had no idea what was going on and stepped up to help his friends, going as far as to get up in the face of a man he’d just discovered had had young boy gang raped. Kudos to him wanting to bash heads.

I need to ask if there was any point in bringing Tin/Can/Pete into the last 3 minutes of the show; I had to googled who they were! I think there’s gonna have been a lot of people that perhaps have not seen Love By Chance, and since almost all the characters were recast before being included in TharnType, not many are gonna connect the two.

I feel like there was a real issue with tying up loose ends in this. Suddenly, there's no more homophobia from Lil Type, like he just accepts who he is (which is great!) but there's no mention of it. No mention of the friend he pushed away or all the horrible things he'd said about his lover and 'his kind'. There's nothing about how his parents are (though upon my silly searching on MDL, I understand this gets covered in the Special). Also, did no one report Lhong? The boy literally had a child raped, tried to kill a guy, and they're all just like, "okay"?!

What I really hate most is that despite everything I have said here, and the fact I literally rated this a 4.5 (the lowest I've ever rated anything), I know for a fact I'll watch the Specials and the damn sequel, because despite how much this show bugged me, I want to know how it ends (and if it can get any better). Apparently, I am a glutton for punishment. (I'm also hoping for more Khlui/Seo content because they were ROBBED of screen time.)

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Problematic, but.........

Never have I gone from so much hate to something almost like love before seeing this series.

First of all, if you only watch 6 episodes or less, you will hate it. There is no doubt about it. The beginning of the series is revolting. I had read the reviews and knew what I was getting into, and I was still disgusted by the rape "jokes," the homophobia (both blatant and ironically unintentional), the stereotyping of sexual assault victims, and the romanticized sexual assaults.

But morbid curiosity and my endeavor to watch all Thai BL dramas overcame everything and I finished the series. I fully expected to hate the entire thing.

But then, something strange happened.

By episode 7, I started to think that it was kinda not that bad anymore... and I weirdly started to ship TT together, even though two episodes ago I absolutely hated them both and would have rather watched them die slowly and painfully.

By episode 11 or 12, whenever it was that Type admitted to being in love with Tharn, I practically squealed with joy. How did this change come about? Well, I don't know exactly, but I will say this.

There will be people who watch all 12 episodes and still hate it. There are some potentially unforgivable issues (with Tharn's character in particular) that some may never be able to get past.

But, in my opinion, Type's character development, from beginning to end, was what really won me over. It was really awesome to watch him open up, learn to empathize, come to terms with being not-exactly-straight, and eventually become proud and confident about his love for Tharn. Almost more importantly though, was how thoughtful and selfless he became. How he puts himself and his relationship on the line to help bring justice for another childhood sexual assault victim, was like... damn. That really hit me. His character had come full circle, and I was so glad he got his happy ending.

I want to remind people to be careful about how they critique authors who write about sexual assault. My issue lies with Tharn not taking no for an answer and touching Type while he was asleep, and how Tharn never had to face any repercussions for it, and never realized he was doing something wrong. That's icky.

What's not icky, or wrong, or "annoying," or anything else negative, is to write about sexual assault and how it affects the rest of a character's life, or wanting to seek justice for what happened, or even wanting a knight in shining armor to save them from it.

I'm saying this because I saw someone on Twitter bash MAME for using gang rape as a cheap trick in all of her stories.

Some people use writing as a coping mechanism for dealing with trauma that might have happened to them or someone they love. They can write about it however they want.

If all stories only had perfect, flawless characters, there would be no story. Characters, like people, are going to make mistakes. It's about coming to terms with the difficult aspects of life, or overcoming them all together, that make a story good.

This story won me over in the end. I thought when I started the series that my review would end with "Do anything necessary to not watch this show," but instead, I will say, consider giving it a watch, as long as you make the time to watch it through until the end.

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It feels nothing like a romance.

So i watched this show like 3 years ago and im just now writing a review cause i remembered how much i hate this show. I mean in episode 3 tharn just fully sexually assaulted type in the bathroom. This show romanticizes rape and homophobia.

What i mean't by it feels nothing like a romance is that it feels more like a show about someone going into a manipulative relationship started by sexual assault and homophobia.

I really recommend to not watch this show especially LGBTQIA+ people because I seriously felt like crap after watching this. It makes a comedy out of peoples actual experiences with rape, SA and homophobia.

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OMG don't know where to start with this one. So many wrong thing happen in this drama, but also cute at the same time.... Hahaha...

This drama mostly about how your environment can shape you. We often hear how bad environment bad for you and good environment good for you. Well one thing for sure this drama really tell you story how your friendship really can shape who you are....

Let's talk about the good stuff first...
+ Like many many that already write here... I also really like the action between our boys. They're cute when nothing happen & all peaceful time. And that steamy scene also good...
+ Like Kate, I also like Techno. Agreed with her: 'He was one of the best written and most realistic ones.' And yeah that's probably because he is the only important role that have no trauma and mental health issues here. He is really one good friend.
+ The way Type own his mistake to his childhood friend, Khom
+ The very open minded of Tharn family. Especially the little princess, she's really like a baby doll, so pretty...

And i think that's probably are some of the good point that this drama have. The other is very very problematic....

The most problematic point already describe by Synchonicity & kate. But I gonna write again with my words....
- How the heck one traumatized boy fall in love & let himself be groped & have s*x with another man when the source of traumatic is a man... Yeah the writer take the issue of PTSD & rape victim too lightly till the point they don't care & still need to make this 2 boy fall in love with each other deeply...
- The missing friendship. Maybe just like Kate wrote, the writer need more than 12 ep to established our lead relationship first. We missing it badly. We need to know how tharn fall in love with type & the friendship begin at first...
- The MOLESTATION. How crazy the writer take the molestation easy & just make it into fluffy or even worse, romantic scene... What Tharn did to Type while he was sleeping is indeed MOLESTATION & it's never been ok all the time. Especially with the traumatized & PTSD man like Type...
- How can Type sleep peacefully...? If I'm Type, I have PTSD toward gay, & I know my roommate is gay, I'll not be able to sleep at all let alone sleep peacefully. I'll gonna be afraid what my Roommate will do to me while I'm sleeping, more over when I already know what he did to me while I'm sleeping, I gonna run as far & as fast I can. I'll gonna phone my dad the next morning to tell him that I NEED to move to outside dorm....
- Thorn is just too good. Until the end Thorn is just too good of a man. How can he easily forgive Lhong after what he did to his brother, yet alone face him calmly & still think he is his brother. And also with San, after what he did to his brother, Thorn can easily think him as a friend. It's all beyond makes sense for me.
- The ending. Or you can say LHONG'S ENDING. Yeah like Synchonicity, I also can't take the ending of Lhong that easily. He got away too easily & no consequences at all...
- The under age 'couple'. If this America drama, I think they already be charge with under age rape. The age when Tharn had sex with San or Tar with Tharn, I think you can say all still underage & the other partner already adult age. Yeah I know they make the age quite blurry, but when you do the math yeah I think you can say they're under age 'couple'.
- The jealous & ownship. Sometimes the writer make the jealousy part of the drama become something normal, like it part of the relationship that every couple must endure. But between jealousy and no trust is really basicly have no line.
- The childish & foul mouth of Type. Yeah even Type himself admit he has foul mouth. But the way he over & over hurt Thorn feeling is not OK.

Overall this one steamy drama with a lot of problematic issues .....

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VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED!! Only watch this show with a friend

I'm not gonna waste words on this show so I'm only going to say four things:
1. THIS SHOW IS REPETATIVE AS FUCKKKKK!!! EVERY EPISODE HAS THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENING!! They're mad at each other, they make up, they get made again.
2. Never have I been happier to seen two people breakup. My smile was bigger than the amount of hate MAME should get. One of the only positives in this show is that I feel really bad for Tar, but his scenes before episode 10 are skippable. He needs therapy though.
3. Another positive and reason why this show higher than a 2 is cause if Techno. Only person that was good, kind hearted, and funny.
4. The Llhong twist ate only cause I lowkey liked him at first. Another reason this show higher than a 2 actually. Llhong need jail time. Save your tears for another day!! I did love him punching Type though cause Type needed a taste of his own medicine, but he can't choke someone to save his life.
*There's this song that plays at the end of the episode when something happens and ot lowkey eats. I dance to it all the time. One of the few things I enjoyed.*

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My best BL series ever.

OMG, what can I say. Tharn&Type were chemistry goals. Their make out sesh-es never felt boring or contrived. It was hawt, steamy and everything you hope for. They both fell hard. Tharn was just more vocal while Type was more demonstrative (jealous). There were some questionable scenes to start but I forgive them for that because I ended up absolutely loving their relationship.
I have rewatched so many times and will keep rewatching.
PS. I have seen all the recent MewGulf fan service shenanigans/situations come out so I’m not bothered about that nor will I stop rewatching because of it, as I’m not watching them as MewGulf instead I am watching them as TharnType. I suggest a lot of BL fans follow this mindset to avoid feeling disappointed about there favorite BL couple who seem real due to fan service.

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I have some complaints, but overall I loved this show!

I loved this show! I binged it in only a couple days because I couldn't stop watching. I only have a couple complaints. First, I hate how quickly they became sex friends. Literally all in the same episode scenes back to back. Type asks Tharn to have sex only one time as repayment, they have a little moment with Tharn confiding about his past, and then the literal next scene is them getting tested and now their are sex friends. I really felt like their should have been at least an episode between. Like Type can't stop thinking about it and caves. It just made it feel like scenes were missing when I watched it. Another complaint is how the writers tried to make me sympathize with Lhong. I'm sorry I dont care how fucking lonely he was, he literally paid 3 guys to gang-rape a 10th grader, tried to pass it off as if Tar wanted it, and then almost killed Type. Nothing he can do or say will ever make any of that ohkay. There is nothing the writers can put in, that will make my sympathize with someone who would do that. I also was kinda disappointed that they teased other couples, but it never went anywhere. I'm just holding out hope that maybe they are in season 2.
Despite all my complaint this series was amazing and I loved it despite its flaws. Definitely one I will probably rewatch.

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ah yes, tharntype. the bl fan favorite.

! TRIGGER WARNING ! SEXUAL ASSAULT !


now i myself can't always be as hard on it as i ought, because there's many things they did with the couple that i'd wanna see more of in bl, but there's no way i'll tolerate people downplaying the many issues with this drama. just because they did some things right, doesn't mean this series can be excused, as the mistakes they have made are of the awfullest kind.
type's homophobia is explained to be rooted in trauma of sexual assault, which is a very serious and tragic topic that needs to be talked about more. i wish this would've been an opportunity to do exactly that, but instead they downplayed the extent of it and had tharn FORCE HIMSELF ON HIM MULTIPLE TIMES and MOLEST HIM IN HIS SLEEP which was portrayed as 'harmless teasing'. just seeing this written down like this is making me uncomfortable, but the writers apparently thought it was completely okay and made it happen on screen, resulting in a weird relationship and never addressing it again. type's trauma was also treated like being with a man could suddenly erase it. that is not how it works and just utterly wrong. to this day, i can't believe they got away with things this severe, just because they got pretty people with great chemistry to act it out.
their relationship later is, like i mentioned, also pretty toxic on both sides, although i have to admit that the amount of it was only realistic for those circumstances and it improves a bit throughout the show. take that as you will. it doesn't make up for anything, they never became a healthy couple.
so what made this drama so popular despite it being pretty much unacceptable?
easy - mew and gulf, romantic and sexual tension, one partner seemingly devoted and the other savage and bratty and lots of looks of love made people look past those 'flaws'. tonhon chonlatee got rightfully dragged, but barely anyone has that same energy for tharntype, because the force behind it knew what people wish to see more of and put it in there along with their wrongdoing.
please open your eyes. you can like what's good about this drama, i can't fully hate it either, but matter of fact is: it is very, very, very problematic.

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It's not a good show, but man is it funny.

As a serious show? It's not good. They could have totally done more with the internalized homophobia bit but they just didn't. Instead, Type never really seems to get over his homophobia, and claims to hate all gays except for Tharn which doesn't really solve the issue here.

As a comedy? It's kind of great. The acting isn't the best, the writing is much worse. The sound effects went crazy for no reason. Questionable consent throughout the first season but MAN did they mic them up for those make out scenes. Why? I don't know. But I did have a good laugh at it. The conflicts are repetitive and unnecessary. We get it, you're homophobic.

I can't really recommend anyone to watch this seriously. It's not good. But man, it's fun to make fun of.

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Hot, Steamy and Toxic Love & Hate Relationship which may or may not annoy you

There are Pros and Cons for this series and I'm going to mention first the Cons for this BL Thai drama. I'm also going to make this review 'short and simple' in order to not spoil the series.

The CONS...
1. The No consent at the beginning of the show.
2. Tharn's attitude (He's homophobic but he has his reasons for this although there were some moments in the series in which he was really selfish and arrogant)
3. The whole homophobic guy x gay guy trope which is overly being used in most BL shows, novels, webtoons, mangas, manhwas etc.
4. The toxic relationships in the show
5. The excessive fanservice
6. There's nothing unique about the plot because it's the typical university setting / theme
7. There are some scenes that I find to be unecessary

The PROS...
1. The actors are not holding back especially with the hot and steamy scenes and it doesn't look awkward or stiff
2. The acting
3. The pacing of the story is good
4. The balance between the comedic scenes and the dramatic / angst scenes are good
5. It's good that the story wasn't dragged because it will only bore the audience or viewers

P.S. : I actually prefer the special episode for this series and it's better if you'll end up only watching that special episode after season 1 because season 2 will only disappoint you and it will ruin your ship here. Personally, it would've been better if the producers or writers only ended up with the special episode rather than making a season 2 of this because season 2 basically ruined the ending of the special episode or rather the whole point of the series.

In conclusion, it's still a fun watch even if there were scenes that may or may not disappoint you. There are CONS but if you like to see the progress of the main couple's relationship, feel free to watch. This show is an average for me but what really caught my attention was the acting. It's good and it will not disappoint you. This is a must watch for those who are looking for a hot, comedic and dramatic BL drama... :)

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