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KAVO

So Cal USA

KAVO

So Cal USA
TharnType thai drama review
Completed
TharnType
6 people found this review helpful
by KAVO
Feb 10, 2021
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 4.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 4.0
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 2.0
This review may contain spoilers

Gives a Good First Impression But Has Major Story Problems

I was looking forward to TharnType given its consistently high viewer ratings, so maybe my expectations were too high. Many other reviewers have noted the problems with the lead characters, so I'll try to add a fresh perspective here. Like so many BL dramas, the writing seems to be a bit two-faced, on one hand being a champion of same-gender romance while backstabbing the genre with horrible stereotypes. Leaving the childhood abuse of Type aside, a man of 19 years old should have figured his sexual orientation out soon after puberty. The suggestion that he's straight but suddenly becomes gay -- and gay only for Tharn -- is absolutely absurd. I accepted the explanation for Type's homophobia based on the childhood rape, but, in reality, it would probably scar a person for life and preempt any kind of romantic connection. I can think of several better backstories for homophobia. Other's have noted that the Tharn character comes off as a bit of a creepy predator in the first few episodes, another horrible gay myth. This undermines the audience fully embracing his character. And, of course, Type is so consistently homophobic and obnoxious, he's hard to like too. The romance is better than the formulaic BL dramas that never go beyond bromance with benefits, but TharnType has been eclipsed by newer dramas like WhyRU? where the main characters -- Tutor and Fighter -- set a new benchmark for steamy romantic and gut-wrenching breakup scenes. The camera work is not as good as other productions I've seen -- with some very poor framing. I should mention the sound was well above average for Thai productions which seem to have a lot of audio mistakes like off-mic dialogue, distortion and clothes rustling. I only observed a few mistakes in the music mix, but that's the fault of the editor. One final though to aspiring BL drama writers: if you want the audience to connect with your main characters, violence (rape) and sex do not mix.. Avoid the genre stereotypes. They're cliches that rarely reflect real life. And no matter how many hours your drama runs, your main characters better not utter "I'm Sorry" more than about 3 times. That phrase loses its impact really fast.
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