This review may contain spoilers
DISCLAIMER:
- first of all: yes, i haven't finished it yet, but i also don't have high hopes that any points that i criticize will be improved upon in the next 7 episodes, i just needed to get these thoughts out of my head for now
- also: i didn't read the novel and i won't read it. and it doesn't matter anyways, the show and the novel should be able to be looked at separately and if something is "better explained" in the novel then the show just did a bad job and that should always factor into a review too
- and finally: yes of course, this is a bl drama, my expectations aren't that high and i don't expect a masterpiece with perfect societal commentary. but when you decide to tell a story about sexual abuse/other heavy topics then you also have to realize that people WILL criticize you if you don't handle those topics properly or with respect.
MY REVIEW (so far):
the acting is good, it definitely rarely felt awkward and i liked the chemistry between the main charas.
the writing is not good. as i said, the dialogues don't feel natural, there are weird timeskips without any indication that more than a day passed, and the development of the main relationship is shaky at best. the transitions between the "main" story (aka tharntype) and other side stories are also very clunky.
type's characterization is kind of weird, i THINK the author was going for a tsun character but didn't really know how to properly write one so,,, she just made type a big asshole in one scene and then a super nice guy in the next scene.
why does tharn fall for type?? he is just a huge assh*le to him and throws slurs at him and says "i hate you", there is honestly zero development on tharn's side, he just suddenly likes him??
tharn pls love yourself
and type, pls get therapy
why the f*ck is tharn not respecting type's boundaries?? what is up with the non-consensual touching at the beginning?? that's just extremely creepy and i would want to change rooms too if my roommate did that
also the hickey thing as revenge was extremely inappropriate and pretty much sexual abuse. but they tried to make it look like it is okay by making the unconscious type react to it by clutching tharn's back and they shot it in a way where it was supposed to be "sexy", i guess. guys, this is still not consensual, nothing about that is sexy or hot and type should have called the police lol
and what makes it worse is that type obviously has trauma related to sexual abuse so idk why the author would do this to him. i also can't imagine someone falling in love with someone who doesn't respect their boundaries - especially if they are already traumatized in that regard
and even before tharn knows about this... he should have at least realized that something isn't right because type was obviously extremly upset at this (or let's be real, tharn should have known that you can't just. stroke your roommates hair and kiss his face while he is already asleep aka defenseless and unable to consent.)
whenever type sets up a new boundary, tharn just pushes right past it and that's just disrespectful and not the start of a healthy relationship (and if you think that tharn's behaviour so far is romantic then,, i can't help you)
and all of this also just feeds into the predatory gay stereotype.
in general it seems like tharn does a lot of. emotional manipulation? when type says no to something tharn doesn't really accept it, he just disappears for a bit/doesn't talk to type, until type feels guilty or smth and apologizes to tharn???
type's childhood trauma is also not handled well at all. i'm not against these kind of topics in a story, but one should treat them respectfully. why would type suddenly be super into sleeping with tharn?? the middle part where he deals with his trauma is just. missing. i guess the slightly non consensual shower bj must have been magic, it healed him!!
the treatment of queer charas in comparison to flat out homophobic charas is also kind of. not okay. the show tries to make the viewer sympathize and empathize with type and his homophobic behaviour. and make it look like there are two valid sides of this 'conflict'. "he's a nice guy, it's not his fault that he hates gay people!!" of course type has trauma, but that is simply an explanation for his reactions, not an excuse. sometimes he gets called out but especially tharn tends to defend him for his bullsh*t?? but its okay, because tharn likes him uwu !!!
techno also says some questionable things about gay people
in general it seems to be a trend in many BL dramas where the "straight" charas seem to think that gay men will just r*pe any guy that they can get their hands on. it goes without saying that this is extremely bad
idk why but the author seems to be obsessed with sexual abuse storylines??? (not just in tharntype but in lbc too) whats up with that and what does it say about her views of queer men,, im just very *squints eyes* at her at the moment
CONCLUSION
i will probably finish this show at some point, because i want to see what else happens,, and if it gets worse.
but i wouldn't recommend this show for now
- first of all: yes, i haven't finished it yet, but i also don't have high hopes that any points that i criticize will be improved upon in the next 7 episodes, i just needed to get these thoughts out of my head for now
- also: i didn't read the novel and i won't read it. and it doesn't matter anyways, the show and the novel should be able to be looked at separately and if something is "better explained" in the novel then the show just did a bad job and that should always factor into a review too
- and finally: yes of course, this is a bl drama, my expectations aren't that high and i don't expect a masterpiece with perfect societal commentary. but when you decide to tell a story about sexual abuse/other heavy topics then you also have to realize that people WILL criticize you if you don't handle those topics properly or with respect.
MY REVIEW (so far):
the acting is good, it definitely rarely felt awkward and i liked the chemistry between the main charas.
the writing is not good. as i said, the dialogues don't feel natural, there are weird timeskips without any indication that more than a day passed, and the development of the main relationship is shaky at best. the transitions between the "main" story (aka tharntype) and other side stories are also very clunky.
type's characterization is kind of weird, i THINK the author was going for a tsun character but didn't really know how to properly write one so,,, she just made type a big asshole in one scene and then a super nice guy in the next scene.
why does tharn fall for type?? he is just a huge assh*le to him and throws slurs at him and says "i hate you", there is honestly zero development on tharn's side, he just suddenly likes him??
tharn pls love yourself
and type, pls get therapy
why the f*ck is tharn not respecting type's boundaries?? what is up with the non-consensual touching at the beginning?? that's just extremely creepy and i would want to change rooms too if my roommate did that
also the hickey thing as revenge was extremely inappropriate and pretty much sexual abuse. but they tried to make it look like it is okay by making the unconscious type react to it by clutching tharn's back and they shot it in a way where it was supposed to be "sexy", i guess. guys, this is still not consensual, nothing about that is sexy or hot and type should have called the police lol
and what makes it worse is that type obviously has trauma related to sexual abuse so idk why the author would do this to him. i also can't imagine someone falling in love with someone who doesn't respect their boundaries - especially if they are already traumatized in that regard
and even before tharn knows about this... he should have at least realized that something isn't right because type was obviously extremly upset at this (or let's be real, tharn should have known that you can't just. stroke your roommates hair and kiss his face while he is already asleep aka defenseless and unable to consent.)
whenever type sets up a new boundary, tharn just pushes right past it and that's just disrespectful and not the start of a healthy relationship (and if you think that tharn's behaviour so far is romantic then,, i can't help you)
and all of this also just feeds into the predatory gay stereotype.
in general it seems like tharn does a lot of. emotional manipulation? when type says no to something tharn doesn't really accept it, he just disappears for a bit/doesn't talk to type, until type feels guilty or smth and apologizes to tharn???
type's childhood trauma is also not handled well at all. i'm not against these kind of topics in a story, but one should treat them respectfully. why would type suddenly be super into sleeping with tharn?? the middle part where he deals with his trauma is just. missing. i guess the slightly non consensual shower bj must have been magic, it healed him!!
the treatment of queer charas in comparison to flat out homophobic charas is also kind of. not okay. the show tries to make the viewer sympathize and empathize with type and his homophobic behaviour. and make it look like there are two valid sides of this 'conflict'. "he's a nice guy, it's not his fault that he hates gay people!!" of course type has trauma, but that is simply an explanation for his reactions, not an excuse. sometimes he gets called out but especially tharn tends to defend him for his bullsh*t?? but its okay, because tharn likes him uwu !!!
techno also says some questionable things about gay people
in general it seems to be a trend in many BL dramas where the "straight" charas seem to think that gay men will just r*pe any guy that they can get their hands on. it goes without saying that this is extremely bad
idk why but the author seems to be obsessed with sexual abuse storylines??? (not just in tharntype but in lbc too) whats up with that and what does it say about her views of queer men,, im just very *squints eyes* at her at the moment
CONCLUSION
i will probably finish this show at some point, because i want to see what else happens,, and if it gets worse.
but i wouldn't recommend this show for now
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