TharnType (2019)

Now that it's finished I'm rewriting this review so what you read now will be a little different than what you read before. This is because TharnType has flaws, man, serious flaws. And every attempt the writer made to overcome its flaws was hamstrung by either the source text or the dictates of Thai BL generally.

At its core, the latest addition to Thai BL had a surprisingly intelligent script with nuanced characterisation. Tharn is ostensibly a confident and comfortably gay man while Type is traumatised by sexual abuse when he was young. They find themselves sharing a room where Tharn's overt sexuality clashes with Type's apparent homophobia.

Unfortunately, the script was given the full Thai BL treatment, especially in its first few episodes. Type tries to bully Tharn out of their shared dormitory, Tharn responds by aggressively sexually harassing and even assaulting the younger man. It's impossible to see either of these things as desirable or romantic behaviour, yet the producers seem determined for us to be titillated by the sexual violence and amused by the bullying. I had neither response and nearly dropped it, since the normalisation of sexual violence is a problem I have with Thai BL generally and Type is at all times a rude and bigoted asshole - a fact that Tharn himself acknowledges at one point.

it seemed weird at the time and even weirder in retrospect that Tharn would respond to a roommate who openly sees him as a sexual threat by sexual assaulting him. I cannot reconcile this behaviour either with the character as we come to know him or with simple logic. Both Type and Tharn's behaviour is wrong and unfortunately the time constraints of the series meant we leapt through necessary relationship progression and decisions to get to where we ended up. Show should have devoted this entire season to the two navigating their way into a relationship. Maybe then viewers wouldn't have needed to do all the cognitive work in explaining it.

One thing TharnType definitely has going for it is its acting. Mew is an excellent actor who portrayed Tharn with a natural subtlety that gives his character a lot of layers. While Gulf (Type) isn't quite as good, he is elevated by working off the more experienced actor and as a consequence this has some of the best acting I've seen in a BL. The acting is possibly one of the reasons I kept watching it when I would otherwise have dropped it. That and how the show began to develop as it moved past its first few episodes.

Once the show begins to settle into itself, it tries to break free of the dictates of the genre the script has unfortunately been forced into. Tharn is a lonely man, disappointed by love and terrified of rejection following the manipulative abuse of an older man when he was young, and Type is a very confused, very damaged one who has a long road to walk in terms of coming to terms with his identity. I take issue with the idea it's Tharn's job to fix Type but thankfully the script moves away from that sharply, dealing as much with the complexity of Tharn's psychological trauma as with the obvious trauma of Type's. Or at least that's what it seemed to be doing.

It would be unreasonable to expect a Thai BL to adequately grapple with the intersection of identity, social gender constructs, trauma and bigotry. And I certainly didn't. But I wanted to give the show credit for at least trying. Some of the show's decisions around portraying trauma and assault seemed nuanced and interesting, others seemed trite and tone deaf. But even while TharnType did a better job than expected, it dropped all these themes entirely at the end and went straight for full-bore Lakorn nonsense.

I'll be blunt - I don't care about Lhong. I don't care about his character, I don't care why he became a total psycho and I also didn't need a Machiavellian villain mastermind to pop his head up at the last minute. This couple has real issues to deal with and instead we get some second-female-lead garbage ripped from a soap opera. The fact this is a gay male instead of a woman doesn't make this whole thing better, it makes it worse. For a show with an actual real openly gay character, this show's representation of the gay community got worse and worse.

I get it, I get it THE NOVEL but the novel is clearly stupid because this is ripped straight out of a bad Thai Lakorn. Worse than that, by shifting to an external issue to solve, the show refused to solve this couple's real problems - Type's trauma and refusal to accept his homosexuality and Tharn's inability to be honest due to a fear of rejection. None of these issues were dealt with (what about poor Kom, still convinced his childhood best friend hates him for being gay?). And it's not as though the finale didn't have time, devoting screentime to an endless showdown with Lhong that I personally couldn't give a fig about.

Because of this the happy ending feels shallow, a common problem with Thai BL. It reminds us that for all its pretensions, this is just another BL. A quick flash forward to a timeline after its sequel and companion piece, Love By Chance*, shows us they have no intention of ever dealing with these issues. We'll never see Type being brave enough to come out to his school friends or his parents, among many other important character moments we needed.

To say that I'm disappointed in TharnType is to imply that I expected more of it. I didn't. But I did have hope and that hope was obviously not fulfilled.

*This show is a prequel and companion piece to Love By Chance, both being based on source novels by the same author and set in the same universe. It's a universe with a great deal of sexual violence and, while the show is grappling with these issues in the main OTP, it doesn't have as much success with other plotlines across both shows. Having seen Love By Chance it is difficult to watch, for example, Techno being a loving and supportive friend throughout the show knowing that his brother's friend is going to rape him. In fact, Techno's brother being complicit in the rape is mirrored in Thorn (Tharn's brother) being fine with his brother's abuser still being in his life too. It's a dynamic that's hard to watch in both shows and, I guess, that won't be resolved unless there's a second season of Love By Chance. I can only hope that when all plotlines are resolved, the show can come down heavily against sexual violence in whatever form it takes.

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*lots of spoilers*

I am pleasantly surprised. Judging from the reviews and comment and my own judgement of the first three episodes (after which I dropped it), I came to the conclusion that it would be bad and horrible. But guess who was lucky enough to get three-point-five stars?

I had expected lots of toxicity but surprisingly it wasn't nearly what my convoluted imagination had made up. I mean sure I zoned out every ten minutes and wondered what I was going to eat for dinner but 'boring' is actually a good adjective for tharntype in comparison to some other words I have for it.

Ps. Please excuse incorrect grammar. I just rewatched a few scenes of Tharntype to refresh my memory and singed my gray cells in the process.

1. Dialogue
Tharntype has some of the most impassionate dialogues I have ever seen.

“Hey, do you want to eat breakfast."
"Why? Are you worried about me?"
"Do you want a piece of me?"

The dialogues were just pathetic and 80% of this was dialogue. This *should* tell you more about tharntype than anything else.

When 90% of the dialogue which forms 80% of a drama is the main characters’ confabulating about what breakfast they are going to have and what birds they saw today then (do the math people) it makes 72% of the series a shitty elocution. Tharntype's dialogue basically comprises of a. Boring dialogue that has nothing to do with the story b. Boring dialogue tht has everything to do with the story c. Cheesy dialogue that made me want to scratch my eyes out d. Confrontations.

And what's funny is that despite the dialogue snoozefest, there wasn't much "communication" happening here. Two parts particularly stand out to me:
Firstly, Type talking about his rape and childhood trauma. The dialogue delivery was so feeble my left eye was twitching. And get this, I don't want Type to be over drmatic or traumatised about his rape. I just don't want him to talk like he's angry about the ice cream he ate yesterday.
“The chocolate was so bad. There were no choco chips at all. I was suffocating.”

Secondly were the parts where Tharn kept reassuring Type that he wasn't treating him like a woman. That he loved him like a man. And then cue the melodrama:
“I want you to be mine.”
“It's you who are mine.”
OR!
“I'm already yours.”

The parts where they talked about the goodness of people regardless of sexual orientation were particularly enlightening.
“All gay men aren't bad you know.”
I mean that's some good woke shit right there.

And then there were the parts where I was wondering whether the Thai had been lost in translation.
“You are my bitch.”

Lastly those monologues where the characters started talking to themselves out loud...

0/10 for dialogue and –10/10 for effort (there must have been lots of effort going into writing pages upon pages of that shit)

2. Acting
You know what's the main reason why many users who acknowledge that Tharntype has a shitty plot (more on this in a bit <3) justify giving Tharntype a 7/10 or 8/10 rating ?

Acting.

And you know what? They weren't totally wrong. I could not get enough of Gulf acting constipated, as if he had eaten too many durians for lunch. Same goes for Mew's bed eyes.

The side characters didn't have to do much acting anyway. Tar was going around being morose and acting like he had a bad stomach ache while Tum kept rushing into his room in a mad frenzy simple because he didn't answer his call. At least he made me laugh because every time he did thay, I thought of Jack Torrance from The Shining (splendid performance from Jack Nicholson btw).

Then there was Techno. His only job was to inquire into Type's romantic debacles at every new stage in Tharntype's relationship through on-the-nose dialogues. Oh and he's a shitty football captain.

Point is, that Type's constipated acting was on point, sadly this wasn't a Doc McStuffins series about stomachache or I would have given him 10 stars. Mew carried it well, I don't have many complaints about him.

3. Plot
Tharntype is the story of Type, a 19 year old college student who had been raped as a child and had to subsequently face lots of stigma for it and had to run from media who were oh so interested in the story of the boy who got raped. He gets assigned to a room with Type who is openly gay and has had multiple boyfriends (and exes) in the past. Also 19. Also an engineering student.

Their relationship begins when Type discovers that Tharn is gay from his friend Techno and starts a war against Tharn to drive him out of the room. Tharn being the god of patience that he is (but actually just a masochist), bears all of Type’s idiosyncrasies which include Type littering his bed, destroying his books and disrupting his affairs. Tharn however continues to be caring and takes it in stride.

In fact, Tharn may already be in love with Type because guess what he does? He rapes Type by leaving hickeys on his body.

Their relationship continues to grow. Type and Tharn go from casual roommates to haters, to friends with benefits but that's a far stretch because they still hate each other. When Type wants to get into a relationship with a girl, he is quick to set rules for this fuckbuddies relationship, that they are allowed to date whoever they want without interrupting in each other's affairs.

Tharn just accepts it with the patience of a mute dog and Type never asks him if he is okay with it. Hurray! Power to Type for being an asshole.

Once Type realises that his libido is only set off by Tharn, he is quick to dump the girl and get back to Tharn. More power to man who knows what he wants and gets it too, regardless of who is hurt in the process!

There are lots more problems of course but I'm afraid I won't be able to stop once I start. So lets skip to the main part of the story.

One of the major reasons I was intrigued about Tharntype was the plot twist. Everybody kept talking about a huge mysterious plot twist. Around episode 9, Tharn and Type mutually decide that they have had enough of this boyfriends bullcrap and they go back to square one. Type starts hitting on women, Tharn starts talking to his exes.

Tar, one of Tharn’s exes, makes an appearance and starts pursuing Tharn actively. This causes a rift in the relationship. On the other hand, Lhong, a side character you probably NEVER noticed because he totally hasn’t been hanging around Tharn with that crazy look AT ALL, starts whispering into Type’s ear. He makes Type feel insecure and Type breaks up with Tharn as is expected.

In the last episode it is revealed that Lhong was the villain all along. That Lhong was the one who had got Tar gang raped. That Tar had started pursuing Tharn because Lhong had forced him to do so. That Lhong got them to break up.

Totally did not see that plot twist coming from a mile away.

And then we get a glimpse of Tharn and Type three years later where they are happy.

Why Techno is the real MVP:
The plot is literally moving ahead because of Techno.
He was the one who told Type that Tharn was gay. He was the one who asks Type to make up with Tharn. He keeps asking Type about Tharn. He comes in at the key moments right after their breakups to keep the dialogue going. More love for this dude who can't play ball to save his life but is a good friend and the one behind Tharntype. An unappreciated character.

4. Characterisation
Another reason I was intrigued about TharnType was how people were blown away by the realistic portrayals.

And to be fair, Type’s progression from being a hater of gay people to a gay man is great. Sure he was an asshole once in a while, sure he used derogatory language. And so what? Nobody is perfect. We must also give some leeway to him because he is a rape survivor and has a good reason to denigrate gay people and does so even after he and Tharn start dating.

Very realistic and wonderful portrayal from the showmakers.

And Tharn. He was just badly written. So basically we are lead to believe that he is a good guy. The epitome of patience. And he really is, the amount of patience he showed even after Lhong all but confessed to getting Tar gang raped is awespiring. We must all learn how to maintain a calm and cool facade from Tharn. The only point I was majorly irked was when he kept telling Type to be open about their relationship.

Even though they could have had a perfectly happy relationship, Tharn wants Type to openly accept being Type’s boyfriend. I found this was conflicting with Tharn’s reputation as a patient boyfriend because lowkey coercing someone to come out is not what understanding lgbt people do to other lgbt people, let alone their partners, let alone partners with a traumatic past.

The other side characters didn’t have much progression. Techno is still a shitty player three years later. Tar is still traumatised by his rape and goes abroad to deal with his breakup with Tharn (not his rape mind you, the breakup with Tharn is obviously the greater problem here).

As for their relationship, it started with hatred, was built on attraction, fuelled by hate sex and fraught with misunderstanding, lack of communication and causing mutual pain. Goals.

5. Rape as a plot device
It bothers me. It bothers me a lot that when I talk about rape in fiction being romanticised or as a mere plot device and no, it is not "just fiction after all."

Tharntype shows two characters who have been shown as rape survivors. Type who was assaulted as a child and Tar who was assaulted as a minor in 10th grade by a group of men. In Type’s case, nobody thought it was his fault but the media hounded hum for a long time. In case of Tar, the incident is later revealed to have been arranged by Lhong to blackmail Tar and breakup his relationship with Tharn.

I don’t want to say much about Type. We are talking about the dude who even after getting raped once, doesn’t confront Tharn for leaving hickeys on him.

Let's talk about Tar for a bit. Tar who is clearly still messed up about his past. Tar who doesn’t have anybody to go to except Tharn and even that doorway is shut because Tar is scared that the rape looks like real consensual sex (it was recorded by Lhong. Messed up right? I know.) Tar is again coerced by Lhong to break up Tharn and Type and he does so unwillingly because Lhong threatens to expose his tape.

Lets talk about what happens after Type physically attacks Tar for getting between him and Tharn. Tar breaks down. He breaksdown so bad that he shows Type (and Techno) the video of his assault (Lhong must have sent it to him and Tar has kept it). A video that he hasn’t shown anybody. Now he shows it to two strangers.

When all this is exposed to Tharn, guess what he does? he punches Lhong. He gets together with Type, he professes that he never wants to see Lhong again and then asks Type to apologise to Tar because he believes that Tar's assult is his fault. And guess what Type does?

He texts him.

Get this. Type texts Tar that Tharn is sorry for his past rape.

Also, Type asks Tharn for sex as a favor to get over his fear of gayness.

Let that sink in.

I wonder how much people think is okay. Whether people think it is actually okay for them to turn a blind eye to somebody who got raped and to not offer support. You can’t (shouldn’t) force anybody to report but yes, you are required to show support.

The story writers’ efforts to make Tharn look like a saint pretty much failed. If he truly felt that it was his fault, why didn’t he do more about it? Just an apology maybe?

As for Lhong, he gets a redemption arc too. He loved Tharn too much. He also has negligence issues at his house. Boo hoo. 19 yo rick kid with family problems and lack of attention gets a kid gang raped and it's all justified. They even brought in Lhong’s sister to reassure him.

Lastly, if Tharn was so much in love with Tar and id Tum, Tar's brother, truly loves Tar so much, why didn’t he have people to go too? How did this show deal with rape in any way, except write it off once it's purpose had been served. So yes, I dock a lot off points from Tharntype for bad usage of rape as a plot device; once to justify Type’s hatred for Tharn and once to provide conflict.

And lets not throw just Tharn under the bus for this one, Type has physically hit Tharn on multiple occassions. And somehow it was okay when he did it, which brings me to my next point:

6. Playing into Bl tropes
Tharntype isn't playing into bl tropes. It probably established those Bl tropes.

The biggest trope which sets me off is how one is marked as the 'seme' or top and the other is the 'uke'. The idea is that the seme takes the position of the 'man' in the relationship and the uke takes the role of the 'girl' in the relationship.

Despite the number of times Type protests to Tharn that he is "not a girl" and won't accept being treated as one, I could not overlook how Tharntype were cast into the same roles. Tharn has claimed the seme role for himself, saying that he is "always the top." These dialogues would make me cringe out of existence if I wasn't otherwise engaged in adding it to my list of unhealthy bl tropes in Tharntype.

By the way, Type's blatant sexism where he tells Tharn that he won't let Tharn pay for him because "he isn't a girl," did not improve my perception of his character at all.

Apart from all these points which I absolutely hated about Tharntype, I also hated the music tracks. The OST itself was upbeat but the sound placement was triggering my audio proc disorder a lot (had to put it on mute). I think I would have enjoyed the show more if the subtitles had been in Spanish. I can't read Spanish.


Right after the 'Did the egg come first or the chicken' question is the second biggest question about our existence. Why does Tharntype have a 8.1 rating on MDL. This show gets a wholesome, well earned 3.5 from me. Would not recommend to anybody.

(Also, they legit couldn't think of a different title? Just glue the main characters’ names together and voila! It does not get less creative than that).

The only good thing was Pete's cameo in the end. Saint's smile can still brighten up my day but even that was sort of ruined by Tin's comment.

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Overrated and VERY unethical!

TW THIS SHOWS HAS: rape, sexual abuse, harassment, incest

Don't get me wrong, I love the relationship between the actors in real life, but oh no, this is entirely different. I think I know why this series is extremely popular; it feeds people who fetishize gay relationships and enjoy watching commercialized fan service (the overuse of sex scenes). There were so many borderline rapes and non-consensual sex scenes that I almost felt highly disturbed. In this series, the main character had childhood trauma where he was raped as a child by a man and therefore grew hatred towards gay men. This is a character justification, but the way the Thran kept forcing himself on Type (evident as Type is always uncomfortable); made it so disrespectful to the people who might've had such experience in real life. For a "good guy" like Tharn, he molested Type during his sleep? Lord! At first, you can see that Type was scared. Then, the next day, Type had no issue with getting a blow job from his hated gay roommate (Tharn) (?); later, TYPE comes out and asks Tharn for anal sex (with Type as receiver), and said "get it over with, once and for all." We are talking about a childhood rape victim? is this not disrespectful? Additionally, Tharn going along with this was almost as unbelieving!! It was so unethical and plain right horrible.
I skipped so many parts of this series. Relationship wise? Fights. Fights. and more fights! Their entire relationship revolves around yelling and lack of communication, which became highly toxic over time. They almost make up for their arguments by having sexual interactions. You can not tell me this series is NOT for a specific target audience because it is. There is almost NO character development between characters. The reason why I am voting for this series as a 1/10 is that I do not support the unethical and inhumane ideology in this series. I can't believe this series is voted as an 8/10. Compared to "Bad buddy,"? Such a disgrace.

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As a someone who has watched so many BL series the only thing I can say tonight is: Bravo!!! I guess there will be people who won't like the series, plot or music but I don't think anyone can dispute the brilliant acting of the two main characters. What Mew Suppasit and Gulf Kanawut displayed in the TharnType series is real talent. It is evident that they have done their best and that they have invested weeks and weeks of work. Whoever writes the opposite, I will only say that the person is lying or that he has some evil intention when he writes falsehoods. As for the scenario of this series I will say - it can always be better. As for the music - it fits perfectly and Mew's voice is a cure for the soul. The director and other technical things- I just repeat that they can always do better. But this is not a Hollywood production, here they worked with what they had and how they knew best. In terms of acting, they were simply perfect. Both the lead actors and the supporting cast. I'm not going to recap the series and look for the hair in the egg. My recommendation is to look at the series, without prejudice, without reading the comments and comparing it to other series ... Be open minded and give this wonderful team a chance.
Mulffins forever!

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I will this review short, sweet, and to the point. As far as the quality of the BL series, I thought it was pretty good. The acting was good, the flow of the series was good, and the use of stereotypical tropes was kept to a minimum (which was especially good). I kind of wished they had used the actor from LBC to play Type, instead of recasting that position with a new person, especially when they had cross-over actors from LBC to do cameo appearances in TharnType the Series. But, there may be a legitimate reason for that.

The only problem I have with this series is that the relationship started between Tharn and Type based on an old stereotypic trope (a person who is the victim of a sexual assault falling in love with their attacker). I realize that some of the young BL fans may think that there is somehow romance associated with being assaulted! BUT, IT IS NOT! Remember, Tharn assaulted Type while he was sleep, even after finding out that he had issues with gay people! His actions were planned and intenioned! Now, we're not sure that Tharn actually had sex with Type (although we're led to believe that possibly not). However, what he did to him WAS NOT COOL! And, anyone wishing a person who does that to another person who's vulnerable (asleep) is not a good person. I hope that one day the BL fans, BL novel writers, and series' directors can get get passed using this AWFUL trope to start the beginning of an LGBT+ relationship.

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I’ve never in my life wanted to be a guy until I heard Mew (as Tharn) say “I don’t sleep with women.” This series is just about the greatest thing I’ve ever watched in the BL world. Season 1 and 2 and the specials had me staying up late and going into work the next day tired. The chemistry between MewGulf is incredible and this is the first BL I watched that had such passionate scenes. The actors portrayed their roles perfectly, including the ones you are meant to love to hate. Watching love grow from hatred is always a fun plot, but the story behind this hatred drew you in and gave you a heart for Type and his struggle. I love this screenwriter and the director. I have re-watched both seasons and the specials more than once.

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ONE OF THE BEST ASIAN DRAMAS EVER MADE AND A MASTERPIECE

TharnType The Series is not only THE BEST BL DRAMA I've ever seen but also one of the best and unforgettable stories ever, be it a TV series, a movie or a book.

I've been watching Asian dramas for 14 years now and lately, each year, it has become increasingly difficult for me to find something which would make me addicted and engage me emotionally. And then TharnType came out of nowhere and it has become my favourite TV series/movie of all time.

The writing, acting, chemistry, directing, editing and music are out of this world. But most importanly, the story and the characters are complex, relatable, realistic and authentic. Something you rarely encounter in Asian dramas. There is so much nuance to be found.

What sets TharnType The Series apart from other Thai BL dramas is it’s willingness to address uncomfortable and negative aspects of relationships, be it Tharn kissing Type without his permission or Type’s hateful harrassment of him. Portraying them doesn’t diminish the quality of the drama, on the contrary, it elevates it above the rest of the genre.

Tharn and Type are hurting each other and there is a huge conflict between them, with a misunderstanding and emotional baggage at the center of it. They are not perfect, they both make mistakes and that's what makes them human because real people and their relationships are flawed, imperfect, messy and problematic with many misunderstandings. However, they can also admit to their mistakes, learn from them, apologize and forgive each other. You can imagine a person reacting in real life like Type did and you can also see another person react like Tharn if treated the same way because even the most patient and tolerant people have their limits. Yet, neither of them did something truly unforgivable, moreover forgiveness is not an equal exchange or something you receive only when you deserve it.

Some people are judging the characters by some impossible standards of human perfection that don’t even exist in the real world. The characters and relationships in TharnType The Series are not picture-perfect, just like they are not picture-perfect in the real world.

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Mame please stop

Absolute horse shit, i will never understand ANYONE who says they love this series. I went into this excited and thinking i would love it because it was popular but It romanticizes abuse from both ends (type hitting tharn/tharn sexually assaulting type) and its just so lazy and gross. What type needs is THERAPY for his childhood sexual abuse, not a guy who rapes him until he starts to like it. Not worth the hype, dont watch. The acting was decent, dont have much to say about it. Ost is catchy. I just dont understand why people keep enabling mame and her stuff, her stories always include sexual assault that is seen as hot and an endearing trait. Its a shame that big studios are wasting talent and high quality production to make subpar shows.

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This is, hands down, one of the best BL dramas I’ve ever seen. It’s not a coffee shop fanfic. It deals with ugly stuff. Type’s PTSD is not at all pretty and it takes a lot of time and care for him to change and start making amends. Tharn himself is more than a little affected, personality-wise, by what happened to him, both at 14 and then by what one of the people he trusted most kept doing behind his back, again and again, ruining his life like that in the name of “love”. But all that makes the story and the relationship between Tharn and Type so interesting and worth following from start to finish.

Also, the cinematography is excellent. And the music, wow, the music, they sure knew how to use it to hype up the tension of the more suspenseful scenes - that deep bassy thu-thu-thu-thu just hit me really deep. Just amazing.

For me, the characters of Tharn and Type, their chemistry both in dramatic and in love scenes, really stood out. Their kisses, their lovemaking was hot but also very sweet and tender. I believed that these two were in love. Another character that clicked with me was Techno. Gosh, the actor just hit all the right notes!

Overall, I think the drama is really worth the hype and I’m so glad that it turned Mew & Gulf into big stars and that it made all that Mame had to do to make the series happen worth it. Kudos to everyone involved!

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the series brings up important topics that provoke discussion

Story - The overall story was interesting, but I think the biggest takeaway from it is that it makes people discuss things that I don't think get talked about enough. As you can tell by the comment section that exploded (esp in the first few eps), we, as the audience, explored and discussed issues of sexual assault, consent/gray areas, PTSD, anxiety, depression, trauma, different avenues of healing (or not healing), internalized & externalized homophobia, obsession, and more. I think these are important discussions to have, esp with a young (not like children, but like teen and up) audience to have as they are going through similar issues as they also explore their sexuality. But yes, this is taken from a novel & you can tell because there's gaps in the series when they cut scenes or don't include the characters' thoughts that might've helped the audience understand the story, but the major gist was there & I think it was pretty solid overall... albeit with a few loose ends that I wish were tied up (like Type's best friend, etc.) & some plot holes.

Acting/Cast - I think this cast did a phenomenal job. You can really feel the chemistry b/w Mew and Gulf (bringing up the fact that Mew was the only one who could make Gulf blush at auditions since that's relevant & apparent). We also get Mild playing a comedic-but-serious-when-he-needs-to-be Techno (I didn't think someone could replace Gun, but Mild did really well). Kaownah also did a phenomenal job of feeling off but not being able to pinpoint why. I also give props to all the actors they had to recast for roles given how popular the old LBC cast was & so they had to fill their shoes, which I think they did. My only real qualm is how old everyone is. It makes it easier to forget that they're young (they're only supposed to be like what 17? 18? They're freshmen, so...) because that makes the audience think that they should act/behave in a more mature manner.

Music: I mentioned this in a comment before, but the music really adds to the scenes. It's nothing memorable per se, but it really adds to each moment during the show (e.g., when they kiss and the music crescendos, etc.). There's also the main song, that was also great.

Rewatch: I never really rewatch shows, but I've rewatched episodes multiple times already. The fluff is sweet, the drama was dramatic, and again, it provoked thoughts about serious topics, which I think was great.

Overall: This was a solid watch! I anticipated every new episode coming out each week, and I'm sad it's over now, but it had a lot of strong points. However, I would like to give a content warning for those watching it, just in case it triggers the viewer.

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[Before reading this review please note that when I originally posted it I wasn't aware of the novel. While I stand by this review of the series, I don't think it is reflective of the novel if talking to other people is anything to go by. So maybe read the novel yourself before watching?]

Before we start this review, let's meet the cast. To your left you have Tharn 'I'm only a top when I'm being creepy but I'll bottom if I'm in love with you' and to your right you have Type 'I really hate gays, except this one. This is the gay man I'm dating but that doesn't make me gay.'

The relationship in this drama is beyond unhealthy. It glorifies manipulation and confrontation instead of trust, understanding and communication. If either one of the leads were female, everyone would be dropping this drama like there is no tomorrow. I will admit the two leads have an amazing amount of chemistry and much like a car crash about to happen, you can't stop watching them. However, the sheer amount of chemistry doesn't make up for the terrible story telling.

[Redacted as it contained some pretty sizable spoilers.]

I watched it after reading rave reviews about how this is the most groundbreaking BL drama ever with amazing chemistry. I gravitate towards dramas with cohabitation and great chemistry regardless of gender so it seemed like a no brainer to pick this up but I have to go against the grain and say this was a terrible story who got lucky with the cast.

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