This review may contain spoilers
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.
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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