Fahlanruk (2022)

Toxic relationships? more like obsession

I have read a lot of review about Fahlanruk and I thought I should probably leave mine so that people have an other point of view. I watch bl not for the actor more for the story itself. A lot of people are saying that Sher is wrong in a lot of thing but have you seen how Fah was obsessed and didn't leave any room for Sher to do anything else? Since the start Sher made it clear. This is a one night stand and nothing more. He didn't like Fah at all and wanted only sex. Fah, on the other hand, was and is obsesse with Sher. He force Sher to kiss him more than once and didn't listen at all when he said he didn't want to be with him. He, more than once, made Sher feel bad about things he didn't do. He forced himself in Sher life and make sure there was no way anyone could enter and he couldn't leave without make Sher feel bad. The acting was really well done at multiple moment and the story was something big that could have been hard to understand for many. I had a hard time understanding it the first time I saw it but the second time I understood better that Fah is obsesse with Sher while Sher didn't want shit to do with him and when he realized it, it was too late to push him away.

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Little BL lost....

I wanted to drop it but I did not: it was strangely addictive in the beginning and since the episodes are short, I finished it. But I can see why it has such a bad rating: it does not know what it wants to be: 2gether or Bed Friend! So it tries to be both but it is eventually neither!

>It is a story of two university students, promiscuous men, notorious for their one night stands who bump into each other and it is love at first sight though neither is aware of it! But everithing takes place at the university so we are served the complete list of tropes: fujoshi friend posting about them on line, trans busybodies, screaming fans, stupid misunderstandings, nosy best friends etc. etc.

The first few episodes they navigated between the interesting plot with unusual characters and cringy uni scenes. Unfortunately, they continued like this till the end when they sunk into the depths of cringy dialogue of two people in love... The main characters went from cheeky, arrogant Fah and prickly charming Sher to soft sickly sweet marshmallows: it the last episode, Sher scratches his ankle, Fah carries him in his arms (not piggyback!) and then Sher walks around with a crutch. This was the ultimate scratch wound. Sher who was confident and cocky turned into a damsel in distress! And Fah turns from a popularity king into a jealous shrew!

Everything was like this is this drama: every originality was abandoned along the way for the usual university fare! There were two side couples. One of them, best friends to lovers: when they realized they had feelings for each other, they slept together. Few days later, they are sitting in the bed, one kisses the cheek of the other who screams like a virgin! Ridiculous! All the characters had zero development, if not for the worst: they all seemed to become wimps when they fell in love!

I don't know how accurate the translation is, but the vocabulary they used was really vulgar very often when they talked to each other. The bed scenes were frequent, especially during the first few episodes. What surprised me was the choice of music: drums, only drums and it was hot and new. But that happened only once and afterwards they went with the usual soft song etc....boring!

It definitely does not deserve such bad rating, it is watchable, James is excellent in a double role but, all in all, this is kind of missed opportunity!

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Not sure why all the hate.

I thought it was an OK series, nothing special, but not deserving of the outright hate I see on here. It was a bit messy, both in story and execution, it could have used a little bit better writing and/or editing. I do think there was excessive drinking, and the amount of slapping/hitting is over the top for this situation. So if you are sensitive to those, this might not be something you want to watch.

I do think it is worth watching, but it isn't a light and fluffy series if that is what you are looking for. I don't think I would rewatch this, but I rarely rewatch a series, so for me that isn't a good indication of quality. It certainly isn't the worst thing I have watched, but not a top-tier series by any means.

The characters were deeply flawed, and that is the cause of the relationship issues in this story. Fahlan is a playboy who sleeps around and never keeps a boyfriend for more than a night. Sherbet isn't really any different than Fah, but he also has trust issues from how he was raised. The two together form a somewhat toxic relationship. Throw in a bit of jealousy on everyone's part, and the fireworks fly.

The side characters are cute, I wish we could get more of Tap and Ping, who were not sure they were gay for each other, and couldn't express their feelings. I have a feeling they would in real life stick together forever. Prince and Gear are a little better in that they are more open about their feelings for each other. However, Prince is a bit too touchy-feely with Sherbet, he should have toned that down way back when he started dating Gear. So Fah and Gear both think Prince is going too far, maybe that should have been the clue that Prince was Maybe these couples can get their own series, and have Fah and Sher play a more minor role.

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not as bad as folks said it was, but not great either

boy, howdy, was this a rollercoaster.

first, the plot wasn't as terrible as folks said it was and sher is more okay than folks say he is. my main problem, when it comes to plot/characters was just the sheer number of them that were just... there. the brothers? literally only there to have somebody practically narrate the show to us. pink? another narrator, this time a fujoshi interfering with her ship. tar? could've been replaced with a fucking purse and the effect would've been the same. pai n pie? the evil, predatory femme gays. anna, em, the rest of the cast? just... there. most of the characters felt like cardboard cut-outs to spruce up sher n fah's romance.

keeping with the theme of romance, ping and tar? favorite couple, easily. the way they were basically married and the only person who even knew of their feelings was ping? unmatched. just the best written part of the whole show, and the guy who played tap really sold the "i'm secretly in love with you, but so secret i didn't even know" thing. the way fah seemed to just know and accept that tap always knows where ping is at all times, that tar gets worried about him, just good, good shit. tap dragging ping out on the date with him? how can it get worse! and then the final episode slapped me in the face with a pile of wet bricks with them. where's the ping just indulging because he can? where's the nicknames? where's the actual married couple behavior? ping just stopped acting like he was intereted in tap at all. i'd assumed that this was the couple that figured out they liked each other and jumped ship straight to marriage. but, no.

gear and prince, cute as shit, did find them a little boring though. it was a good break from seeing ping pine and fah n sher's... issues.

speaking of fah n sher, sher is actually my favorite character of the two. i liked the way he was portrayed, i liked his characterization — but there was no substance to it. he didn't really have a backstory that made his actions justifiable. i'd assumed that his commitment adversion was trauma-based, and that was why he always lashed out at fah with violence. but of course, it was something dumb, like our dad's been poisoning you against love! which is all well and good and whatever, but that really dosn't explain his other behaviors. the alcoholism could've been due to trauma too, but whatever. fah, on the other hand, was really insufferable. he really did have an entitled and privaleged attitude to th whole relationship. like, just because you aren't that touchy with your pals doesn't mean that sherbet can't. he was really forceful with sher, and i hated that.

it is very obvious that this show was made by a straight woman.

the acting isn't the best, and fahlan was the worst on. tap n sher? mvps.

the kisses? dead fish asf. the s*x scenes? weird as hell. fahlan n sher were good until they had to kiss or do the nasty.

last episode? worst one. it reads like a compilation, and no strings are tied up.

overall? i'd say its eeeh. if you want something cute but kinda gritty n sexy? go watch love in the air. this isn't a show i'd reccomend, but i don't think i'ts abhorrent. serviceable, at the best.

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Toxicity with self-awareness

I already know this review is going to sound like a b*tchfest but I need to get it off my chest.

First and foremost, it really is a shame that people have badmouthed this series so much. I highly doubt the writers, directors or actors would ever see all the negativity verbatim but an overall reception of a series could make it hard for them to find more work or even the motivation to try again. And, really, if you can't give "constructive" criticism, then just don't say anything at all.

That being said, this series certainly wasn't the best I've ever seen nor was the plot anything out of the standard drama of university students navigating adult life for the first time. I think a lot of people who were badmouthing this series forget that these characters are young adults who have never been in romantic relationships before. All they know is friendships and sex with no bridge in-between. Having feelings other than that is foreign to them and so of course they are going to botch it up royally.

Seriously, I'm getting so sick of people saying relationships in dramas are "toxic." It's a DRAMA, not a romantic comedy or an action or any other genre where you should expect anything else. But at least this drama recognizes and addresses the "toxic" traits. How many times did a character point out that jealousy is the driving factor and you should just ask the other party about the events instead of overthinking the worst? How many times did Sher remind Fah that their AGREEMENT was a friends with benefits situation? Sher was right to keep getting aggravated and fed up with Fah whenever he got jealous because there is no room for those feelings in a FWB dynamic. Them finding love through all the hurt and struggles is still believable because, again, they do not know why they acted the way they did since they never felt this way before. When they took some time to themselves to really think about it, that's when they realized the feelings involved were deeper than just physical intimacy.

It's also a shame that for such a heavy drama, pretty much every actor was brand new to the scene. This was a first role for 90% of the cast and yes, it shows. Would the series have been better or well received with a more seasoned cast? Honestly, I don't think so. In a way, their amateurism added to the fact that these characters were experiencing life lessons/feelings for the first time. In that regard, I think they handled it fairly well though there was certainly room for improvement which I hope they get the opportunity to try again.

Even if I personally don't think it has much of a rewatch value, I do think it is worth a shot. If nothing else, it was highly entertaining which is all I can hope for as well as the main purpose of these shows. The way some people criticize them with comments like "that is so unrealistic" or "that is such a bad way to handle that" make me think that those people thought they were watching a how-to video instead of a work of fiction meant to entertain.

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Beyond bad

Falhanruk is the story of two college-age boywhores who have drunk random sex with one another in the bathroom of a bar. They go back and forth in a toxic relationship where one of them constantly slaps the other in the face. At the end, the slapee confesses that he likes it and the two of them turn into Walt Disney characters as they ride off into the sunset on the Bangkok Transit System. The End. Here are my pros and cons:

PROS

MUSIC. The theme song perhaps the best thing about the series.

REALISM. Well... the truth is that most young gay boys ARE horndogs and indulge in lots of meaningless sex. That part of the series was believable.

PING CRYING. Although it got really old watching Ping in tears, I will say that he was good at turning on the waterworks. I got the feeling that the producers/directors had the actor cry as much as possible... only because he COULD.

CONS

STORY. There was a story. It was bad.

SHER THE SLAPPER. I wanted to bust through the screen and slap him myself. You know you did, too.

PINK. You're annoying, honey. And far too old to be buying into the whole "shipping" thing. Find a lover or, at least, buy a vibrator.

This was just really terrible. I'm giving it a 3.0, and the only reason it's that high is because of Ping's real tears.

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ok.

-Neg:

1. Kissing of the Maincouple wasn´t good.
2. After the beginning of the episodes it didn't get so good anymore
3. Few kissing of the Maincouple.
4. That Ping always interfered with the maincouple on dates.
5. Ping
6. Have seen far too little of the remaining Couples. I would have liked to see more.
7. This constant love-hate relationship between the main couple became very annoying in the long run. (Fahlan,Sherbet) without the constant love-hate relationship, the series would have been so good.


+Pos:

1. The Maincouple
2. Music
3. The Beginning of the Episodes was very good.
4. The Lovescenes of Fahlan and Sherbet in the first episodes killed me...omg. I have never seen such a lovescene like that.

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There was a lot of potential here so i hate the scriptwriter

I thought i would hate this considering all the bad reviews but it was surprisingly 'watchable' (I've seen worse) so i had to go back to the novel to understand why the movie came out the way it did.
I 100% blame the scriptwriter.
Fahlanruk story in the novel seems more well rounded than what we were presented, i mean it was toxic but it didn't have a rinse and repeat situation. There was even a part where this couple stopped drinking and having sex and enjoyed intimacy with each other more than lust. The growth that happened in the novel failed to reflect on screen. I'm glad they didn't include the sexual assault but that was the only thing i was thankful that didn't make it from the novel to the screen.
The editor seems to have disappeared. There is no editor for this drama series. He is a ghost so there is no substantial editing done. It was a mess. I was confused from the first episode.
Why didn't they just let Sherbet sing? They could have made us like him more by showing us his passion. I barely remember any song from this.
Too many characters for a production that only needed a few. There were too many unnecessary people. Like the last villain wasn't needed, the guy who kept falling for the wrong people 'fahlan and ping', we only needed a few scenes for pink...etc
The acting was okay, i mean it wasn't wooden and that is a relief. They didn't 'beautify' the characters too much... I really hate it when too much filter is used(i see you enchanté)

Is it watchable? I'm not sure. It depends on what you are looking for.
Is it rewatchable? Maybe for an analysis??

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wasted potential

I was really hyped in the beginning , cause I thought that finally two tops will fall in love (that’s really a topic I would enjoy to watch ) but it didn’t turn out that way. The overacting of Sherbet gives me chills now and then to be honest. Best part of the show was actually the story of Ping and Tap. There is also kind of no chemistry between Fahlan and Sherbet, when they kiss it always transport a feeling of anger or disgust. My high rate mainly refers to Tap, Ping and Pink.
Also, the main characters are not thought well trough, thy used the „say this and meaning the opposit” method way to often. What I liked was the moral of the story , that love is about trust, but it wasn’t written in a good way. So all in all: Good cast, good acting , good music but leak of screenplay

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I think this drama is interesting

I finished watching this drama, i enjoyed it initially, i liked all 3 couples, however in later epis it felt like they're just repeating the same story, same misunderstandings and stuff, it's kinda irritating
Initially i enjoyed watching this show atleast till 7th epi or so, but later i just pushed myself to finish it
Chemistry and acting is alright in some scenes while sometimes it isn't upto the mark, they should've made it a little better since the plot has some potential
Nevertheless anyone can give it a try as one time watch without much expectations
Music is kinda pleasant, cinematography is also fine
Overall it's not bad but it isn't good either

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Huh... what a mess so far

Not that I HATE it, I like some scenes, it is just a bit under-average story-wise.
The acting is all right, sometimes it feels very awkward though.

The chemistry between the main characters is weak, which I think they tried to overplay with the sex scenes (which mind you aren't amazing either). Having okay-ish sex scenes will not save your characters from not having any chemistry!

Prince and Gear’s story is flat-out boring. I don't care about them in the slightest, mostly because their argument about the forehead kiss is so damn stupid. They could’ve talked it out but didn’t, resulting in Prince crying. Which I could’ve felt sad about if it wasn’t Prince’s fault that the argument happened in the first place. Like dude obviously the guy that is trying to court you (and whom you like back!!!) will be upset if you share a forehead kiss with another person (who is also kind of dating someone at that moment)!!!
Sherbet keeps on sabotaging not only his own but also his best friend's relationship. I’m 100% taking Fah’s and Gear’s side on this.

Then EP 9 (episode right after the fight, where Fah is at the beach with Pink) happened and now I think this is a lost case for Fah and Gear. Both came back crawling to Sher and Prince, which they shouldn’t have done. Sher and Prince both do not deserve such easy forgiveness, they both never considered the feelings of the person they liked, acted like little children and still got away with it! How?! It was a skip-through EP for me, at the end I was mad at Fah and Gear. And come on… happy music during the “steamy” shower scene?

Ping and Tap are ok, their story is a little more heartfelt, which I like. It just seems more relatable, so I am able to understand their struggle a lot more.

Was it necessary to give Sherbet a twin brother? No, not really. It doesn't contribute to the story; he is just there to be boring filler.

Did I think of dropping this series more than once? Yes, 3 times.

To keep this short, this series isn’t a masterpiece by any means. But I also don’t think it's a dumpsterfire. It has its moments, though they aren’t very rememberable either.

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If this was a university project...

If this series was a movie-length, or a four-episode short series made as a university project, this could have been acceptable. However, as a full-length series, this fell quite short.

I see things through to the end, but this was a struggle. I could see so much potential, in not only the story, but in the actors as well, but it didn't meet expectations. The story really isn't bad. You get two people who just live day to day, and don't put too much thought or feeling into anything other than their own physical needs. Fah has a boyfriend, but sleeps around, and Sher is a habitual one-night-stander. They meet, physical sparks ignite, and each feels a tiny magnet pull to the other.

Where this series landed on it's face, for me, was the script... The constant cat/mouse games, followed by things going well, only to completely derail at the drop of a hat? The utter lack of communication (which, let's be honest, it on par with other BL series), was maddening. Fah needed a wake up call, and Sher needed a (non-kinky) spanking. Yes, I realize these are college-aged men learning the ways of the world, but jeesus... I'm a hopeless romantic and will always believe that love conquers all, but even I didn't want Fah and Sher to end up together. The last episode was the best of the series, but I'm not sure if that's due to content or if it's because it was the end of this whole mess.

And where the $#&% did Sher being an internationally known musician come from??? Make it make sense.

Gear and Prince was a cute and fluffy distraction. Tap and Ping took way longer than they should have to admit their feelings to one another. Neither of the side couples grabbed on to the spotlight, but I'm sure some of us only held on to watch the rest of the series because of them.

I will give it this: at least I wasn't bored. It's like watching a trainwreck, or an episode of Maury.

James could go far, with a better script. I see a lot of potential in him. Tonkhao needs an intimacy coach, bc I would have preferred no NC/kissing scenes to what we were given. First and foremost, I want a series with a good story and script. I do not need the couples to be all over each other and hella NC scenes to enjoy a series, but Tonkhao and James looked stiff and uncomfortable kissing each other. James looked like he was trying to put in more effort, but Tonkhao... meh.

Overall, with a better script and more acting workshops, I do think this series could have been better. As is, it's a 5.5 for me...

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