Was I Just Bamboozled??

So I just finished watching the series. And I have a distinct feeling that I was just bamboozled. Some people might not be familiar with that word. Basically to be tricked, fooled, deceived, lied to, to be led to believe one thing while the truth is another.... and it kind of makes me feel empty. Let me explain.

From the get-go the series has been straightforward about its meta-ness and the BL industry. At times quite a harsh eye-opening reality for us BL lovers. Of the sacrifices to integrity and artistic expression that a writer may feel, the lie that actors may live in order to appease demanding fans, the overall sacrifice that people in the entertainment industry have to make when it comes to their family or relationships. The veil of fantasy and reality of the industry was constantly being lifted. So it’s not like that wasn’t always there in the back of my mind.

However, as I got more invested into each episode of the series I think I was slowly losing cognition of that fact. There was the realistic portrayal of facing your fears, facing the disapproval of your family, having the courage to defend a love that you believe in, and even going outside your own comfort zone. All of the scenes that the lead, Gene, went through started to feel very real. A testament to the actor’s skills, for sure. But it made me forget about the story that was within the story. This is where the bamboozled part comes in.

Up until the end of episode 11 and the beginning of the final episode 12, I would’ve said that this is probably one of the best BL‘s that I ever watched. Heck, I would go even further to say one of the best Thai love stories that I’ve ever watched. And then the writer, producers, director, whomever was in charge, ruined it. They ruined the whole drama for me.

They took all the real feelings that I had from these characters, and their story, and they reduced it down to one big meta-moment. The “gotcha!” moment. The wink-wink, tongue-in-cheek...bamboozled moment.
You ruined it for me Wizard. You shouldn’t have pulled back the curtain.

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If Dreams were only this Good...

Some have criticized the tropes in this drama, but I think they are missing the point—there are tropes for a reason: it serves the storyline, which is about a trope filled romance that the heroine falls into! Duh! I think it was very nicely done how they tied in stereotypes that we see in other romantic dramas, Kdramas of note, and then they would turn some of the tropes on their head. For instance the heroine of this drama had to be a second female lead before she could work her way up to the main female/lead. She even had to overcome the stereotype villainess role. And I did see growth with the main male lead. He was a product of the stereotype in the beginning, by loving someone without really even knowing why or even questioning what his role was. But throughout this drama I think we learned more about his character and some of his motivations and how he could fall in love with our female lead. Some may question if he just fell in love with her because it was part of the storyline that was dictated to him. And I think in the beginning that was why he did it, because she changed from second female lead to main female lead. But I think Her personality is what won him over and he really loved her for herself. But I also liked about this drama is they weren’t squeamish about showing kisses and showing the physical interaction between our two leads. Taiwanese dramas do this the best, they are not prudish like Korean dramas and Chinese dramas. But I have to say that this one surpassed any other Taiwanese dramas I have seen before. It wasn’t graphic, by any means! But it was nice to see them kiss and show genuine affection to each other that usually you don’t get to see an Asian dramas. I really loved everything about this drama. It’s not perfect, no drama is. I don’t think I’ve ever given a Drama 10 out of 10. But this one is a very solid 9 in my books. No pun intended ;)

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So if I learned nothing else from this lakorn, is that revenge is just not worth it! The revenge in this drama is so over the top, it outdoes any Korean revenge drama I’ve ever seen. While the tit for tat between the male protagonist and the female antagonist gets just ridiculous, it was so compelling that I couldn’t stop watching! This is one of the few modern Lakorns that I finished the whole series. Pros: The acting is some of the better I’ve seen in a Thai series, the music was appropriate (for once!), compelling characters, attractive people, revenge and redemption, love and hate. Some good male characters for once: the female leads dad was a sweetheart, as well as Bak the bodyguard, and the best male friend of the female lead. Cons: Literally the worst (and most) evil women characters I’ve seen in awhile. Ugh. I only liked Min and Mam. The rest were either stupid or evil bitches. Some unrealistic plot holes and hi-jinx towards the end also aggravated me.

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Stand alone in the Mame Universe

Whatever you think… Like or dislike about Tharntype… I feel like the way this was produced made it a standalone in the BL universe or more importantly in the Mame universe. I think it gave the viewer a chance to get to know Fiat apart from that slightly detestable character that we got to know in Tharntype “part two”.

I think what can be appreciated here was the fact that Fiat and Leo were friends for a very long time before they became boyfriends. It was well-established that they had a long-standing relationship and Fiat really depended on Leo, which you had a glimpse of in Tharntype but you could see why depended on him so much after the very abusive relationship with his mother. It also explained his slightly promiscuous lifestyle. I think it was his way of seeking love, because his mom basically taught him that nobody could love him except for her. And when she left he didn’t think there was anybody that would be able to love him. Warped for sure.

I definitely noticed an improvement in the acting this time around. The chemistry was definitely there between the actors playing Fiat and Leo. Especially in the love scenes and the kissing. Was there room for improvement? Yes, for sure. But definitely more chemistry than most BL‘s that I see. I didn’t feel that with the second couple, Leon and Pob. I felt they were a waste of time, frankly.

Overall the true treasures in this whole drama were Leo’s mom and the girl friends. His mom, and even his dad, were so accepting of the relationship. The mom was awesome! She really loved Fiat like a son, even more than her actual sons. LOL …and the girl friends of Leo and Fiat (I can’t recall their names now!) were super supportive and didn’t run to stupid stereotypes.

For the haters of Mame out there… I really don’t know what to say… I feel like she has a certain audience within this genre and if you don’t like her style of writing and this style of BL, then don’t read it and don’t watch it. It’s not going to be your type of thing and it’s not going to interest you. So stop criticizing it or stop watching it. Is not going to make you happy and you are just going to find things to nitpick about it. Yes there are going to be controversial things about it. There are going to be politically incorrect things about it. There are going to be things that are going to be raw and things that are going to trigger you. Not everything is going to be safe and rainbows and roses all the time. There will even be toxic crap. But that is life and that is part of the reading and TV watching experience. The key is if there is a message or something learned from it at the end. And I think that usually there is with her writing. It’s not always perfectly done, true. But some of that is probably lost in translation. Literally.

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I Needed Oxygen to Stay Awake

Well this was a very big, boring disappointment. I actually read the novel that this BL was based on. While the novel itself wasn’t hugely exciting, it was cute and heartwarming. You saw why Solo was attracted to someone like Guitar. He brought light and smile to his life. They really needed each other. I don’t think that the drama conveyed the novel in the same way. It was just very boring and hard for me to even finish. The acting was stilted and the actors did not fit the characters from the novel. They didn’t fit them looks or even in characteristics. And how they portrayed them in the drama was not how they were in the book. They just ended up being very unremarkable, like how did this even get made?! Whether you read the novel or not, going into this you have some expectations of what a BL drama should and can be. Sometimes you can give up a little bit of the acting for newcomers if the story is interesting or the actor has charisma to lend to their character. But none of this was the case with this drama. I will very much forget it after today and I will probably never think about it again. I might read the novel sometime in the future if I have nothing else to read.

Also, can I just say that Thai dramas have some of the worst music of any BLs out there. I know it’s a preference, but I really don’t care for Thai pop music at all. I don’t like the sound of it and I don’t like the singing, it just really sounds terrible to me. But to make things worse this drama had weird moments where you just had harp music. And this wasn’t as a joke, it was serious. But it was a very odd choice and really would ruin the mood for me many times throughout the series

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