TharnType

Tan x Tai (or How To Serve You All That Straight Already Discarded On "New" BL Plate)

I call this show 'Tan x Tai' rather than TharnType and I call the two boys Tan and Tai, because that's what all the people really pronounce and because they are asian and I find the english spelled names idiotic.
After this first episode, I was not sure whether I should finish watching this: reading some other reviews, I was even afraid to. But it proved needless, there wasn't anything really shocking in this, even though it touched significantly grave themes. It firmly remained shallow and childish in using them. My detailed experience follows...

Episode 1: The base for this story seemed silly as I didn't believe the homophobic boy would not find a single person who also did not like their roommate in the whole building. If he tried a bit longer, he would definitely find someone to switch with. And that's not mentioning his friend who knew about the whole situation or some other friend. But no: instead, he starts some kind of silly war against his gay roommate, and his friends won't prove very helping...

I didn't have a problem with the main character not liking gay people. Not everyone does. But he started to act too childish. There's a scene right in episode 1 where the homophobic boy gets drunk and falls asleep on the gay guy's bed. The gay guy, instead of simply going to sleep in homophobic boy's bed for that night (which was clean, as the homophobic boy did soil the gay boy's bed on a purpose), or dropping the unconscious homophobic boy into his bed with a help of his friend (who is there, too) openly says he'll "teach him a lesson". The homophobic's best friend not only hears this, he leaves saying things like the gay guy should go easy on his friend, not cause any noticeable hickeys, as the homophobic's boy has class next morning, etc. After such conversation, and because the gay guy stated he "won't do drunk people", I expected he was just kidding and he'll just prank the homophobic boy and let him believe something did happen. Instead, we can see the gay guy really starts touching and kissing the homophobic boy, who is in drunk stupor. If this is a love story, shouldn't he be a better person than that? Granted the real kiss is nice. But I'd appreciated it more if I could see such kiss in 'Love By Chance 2', with which this is supposed to be a related show. I can't tell, because I watched only Phit&Ae and Tin&Can couples, I skipped and ignored all the other characters. Sadly, I can't find real kiss real exciting, when it is this creepy...

Second episode offers completely different narrative. Though Tan caused some serious hickeys to Tai, he is mostly shown teasing him in the morning about them waking up in the same bed, but just teasing. Tai looks annoyed but not really worried (that something more has happened). Plus, solution to the roommate situation offers itself, but Tai decides to stay in the room with Tan, saying he's got some unfinished bussiness with him. The rest of the episode are mostly scenes with Tai crying and Tan comforting him, tending to him when he's sick, etc... I suddenly remembered that right in the beginning, before Tai learned about his roommate being gay, they seemed to be getting along pretty well. Now. We were shown that Tan was definitely sexually attracted to Tai, else he would not pick kissing him as "revenge" in episode 1. Then we were shown he was definitely affected by Tai crying, being upset or hugging him while scared in episode 2. There is a scene with Tan washing his face and staring in a mirror, classic scene of a character facing themselves in a mirror which portrays them facing their feelings. He definitely started caring. So we now have attraction + care. Usually, that equals love...

If so, we're actually presented with love-angst situation with Tan falling in love with someone who hates him. It's a desperate position to be in, so in last pride salvage attempt Tan lies that it was his friend No who stayed by Tai's sickbed. Tai believes it because he wants to believe it, though it doesn't make much sense, because it's not No who's LIVING with Tai (and therefore is able to make short visits, but definitely not stay overnight). Anyways No says the truth as soon as Tai gets well. Tai then heads off to face his "hateful" rommate...

Episode 3: Wow, there is definite proof that this is not just one-sided story. Tai starts unwillingly showing signs of being attracted to Tan!

Again, one of his friends offers he'll switch rooms with him. Again, he refuses? I kinda agreed it would be a good solution. In this particular respect, Tai was a jerk. He has suffered in his childhood, so now any guy who'd fall in love with him shall suffer. Going away from Tan's life would be a way to end suffering. Doesn't he hate being close to a gay? Unless...?:)

Tan starts getting happy. He's looking forward to returning to his room each day and rejects other offers how to spend his evening. He starts flirting with Tai softly, not really doing much but leaving it on Tai to get excited on his own. He's actually just teasing him, which befits Tai's harsh way of speaking to him and plain telling him that he hates him. But when Tan teases him, it DOES work on Tai. Hmmmm...!:)

Then exactly 1 scene later all that turns wrong. There is a bathroom scene where Tan goes too far with Tai. Any second I expected him to stop and just say he's only kidding. That would be what Tai deserved and probably even helped possible growth of their (troubled, but still a) romance in the future. What Tai didn't deserve was being forced AGAIN. That was precisely what Tan should avoid. It's true that Tai was pushing Tan away only some moments, there were some moments when he was responding to Tan. THE MORE Tan needed to apply the moment where he would STOP. Let Tai make the next move or go away, because if he wanted to get away then that's what Tan had to let him do. Else he would not be better than his childhood villain guy. Luckilly, things did not go all the way in episode 3, it was good Tai had to face that he WAS responding to Tan on physical level and then the rest of the story could be him slowly sorting out his emotions. But it was bad it wasn't Tan who withdrew himself first. He really should have been just teasing Tai, that would have worked better. If you never cease to chase someone, you never find out whether they'd be chasing you back. I mean WHEN are they ever supposed to stop panic and realize they actually miss you chasing them?;)

I was afraid if this show's writers don't realize this, this show is going downhill. And with the thai shows being notorious for their tendencies to portray rather forceful and toxic relationships, I really was afraid...

Luckilly, next scene Tai doesn't seem to be very traumatized by the bathroom incident. He also still didn't move out the room and away from Tan, which would NOW be understandable. He is not in a good mood, though. And what follows is a bizarre scene where Tai bumps into an openly gay boy and his mother. They both talk lot of uncomfortable sex talk, even though he is complete stranger. They want to photograph Tai and put a cute post with his info on their page. He is not responsive to that. Instead of letting it go, they keep at it and push him to make a "couple photo" and the boy hugs Tai and touches his chest. That moment Tai gets angry and plain says he despises gays and that they can't just grope whoever they want. In revenge, they publish Tai's photo along with a post describing him as a guy who is hateful towards whole LGBTQ community... I must say I kinda pitied Tai. Just as LGBTQ people have their rights, so do straight people have rights for their privacy. Tai didn't ask to be photographed and posted on some web page in one way or the other. Even the fact he doesn't like gays is his right for his private opinion. Instead, he now faces public backlash...

Episode 4: Tai opens to Tan and tells him about his bad experience. That of course makes them closer than with anyone and also Tan now knows he must never be violent with Tai. Tai still says to Tan that he hates all gays, that he hates him. Tan says it's okay. I agreed he responded very well. Yes, it's okay. Then Tan resolves the internet backlash situation for Tai. It's more and more clear he's in love with Tai. He says to Tai straight (lol) that he's into him. Then Tai has to listen to No's hilarious summary of the whole affair. I was really glad for the general mood to turn more into rom-com. I still thought now was the time for the boys to - peacefully - exchange rooms. Still, they keep living together, and for the 1st time (besides the very early beginning) I liked their dynamics. Tan openly flirts with Tai but in a gentle, friendly way. They already both know each other's dark spot, but are more or less okay with it... But, of course! Exactly 1 scene later that has to crumble, yet again. Tai makes a really weird suggestion...

First, Tan's reaction is hilarious. But same like episode 1, I didn't wish him to really go through with it. He should feel rather insulted by Tai's proposition. So I hoped he would do some kind of prank on Tai only, but reading other reviews, that probably won't happen so I was getting afraid, again. Which way is this show going to turn? It can't be a rom-com AND twisted sex-thing in the same time. Hopefully some poor writer won't attempt it...? Yeah, we know that thai tv was never short of poor writers. So, we do get the bed scene with these two. I would say Tan should still have problem to progress this fast with someone whom he knows is a rape victim. No matter if he wants to just sleep with him or eventually date him. Tai's motivation makes even less sense. But yes, the very next scene we listen to their conversation with light music like from romantic comedy. Tai's funny friends come as the comic relief again... So yes, the writer DID attempt this. I can now understand reviews bashing this as a great disservice to actual rape victims. Or criticizing it as a romance, because that shouldn't use such dark themes in it. In reality, this is just poorly written. Which isn't uncommon thing with thai tv. Straight lakorns are exactly the same. You watch big romantic action adventure of main pra'ek & nang'ek, and just casually you see some side-villains doing human trafficking. They always deal with stupid naivety with such grave a theme. Not to mention the classic lakorns, where pra'ek rapes nang'ek always. THAT is the oldschool thai tv comes from.

So, is the silly-comedy background music playing along with all this actually wrong? The whole thing IS a silly thing.

Episode 5: Suddenly a standard romance series (?).
After the two "roommates" had (weird, if you ask me) sex a few times, they decide that taking the "sex" out of the word "sexfriends", they are simply friends. Therefore, suddenly they are taken aback by a simple kiss. Makes NO sense for two people who already slept together, then again, what does in this series. As this is one whole episode completely free of ANYTHING twisted, but still you get to watch real kissing, it's actually enjoyable.

Episode 6: To prevent just being hung on Tan only, Tai starts dating a girl. He keeps texting her non-stop and then meets up with her one evening. It looks pretty conventional, bordering on boring... I found this interesting. It's well known guys are capable to withstand plenty of boring conversation & keep showering average person with compliments just because they are attracted to girls. But with Tai, we already know that's not his only option, lol. So I thought Tan would just sit back and let Tai "enjoy" this experience. After listening to a good dose of silly girl talk, Tai would crawl back to Tan, won't he? But instead, Tan makes a jealous scene like an old wifey...

Unsurprisingly, that's not a very smart move to make himself desirable to Tai. Tai gets annoyed and Tan behaves completely like a woman in that scene. I don't know whether this had male or female writer, but I did not find it believable. Tan's aggressive swagger is suddenly gone completely, too. Like he is different character. The next scene he changes his behavior a bit but it only seems like Tan's pretending something or the scriptwriter's manipulating things. Either way, I felt the writer does not really understand boy & boy relationships, and only presents us with their imagination of those.

We watch Tai's other date with the girl. It looks natural, Tai looks convincing that he likes the girl. Maybe more convincing than with Tan, lol. Then he returns to his room and starts telling Tan how he kept thinking of him the whole time he was with her but it's strange, because that's not what we watched. Either way, after this confession, the two boys are now "together". If it's like that, then there actually wasn't much to their story. (And we weren't successful in making even such banal story believable.) We're not at the end, though. We're at the half...

Episode 7: The couple - meaning Tan & Tai couple (I'm not really watching any other characters in here, actually) - moves in together. I mean they were living together already but they decided to change it from the dorm to their own place. So that they'd have more privacy. Or, in the words of their common friend No: So that their classmatess won't be able to hear their loud sex:) I wondered which direction the show is heading NOW. This couple had seriously rocky start, then weirdly fast progress. And it keeps being weird... Tai is still bothered in situations like when a random guy tries to pick him up at a bar. He loudly cusses at length how he finds that creepy, until his old friend confesses to him that he is gay, too. That he is actually afraid to tell him for years. And that hearing him swear against all gays hurts him. And that he's afraid he won't now be able to stay friends with him. Tai listens to all this and doesn't correct his friend, doesn't tell him he doesn't hate him and will still be his friend. Then Tai heads off home, where he jumps straight into bed with Tan. I must say that I like these two have good kiss scenes and I like that Tan just loves Tai no matter what. Still, it's all a bit ridiculous. Either way, Tan's main goal now seems to make Tai go out public as his boyfriend...

Epi 8: I am kinda bored and almost a half of the series is still ahead. Thank goodness for the distraction provided by the crazy friend No.

Epi 9: Tai gets properly jealous. Tan is happy and uses this to push Tai go public as his boyfriend. After all, if you want to be possesive, you show to everyone that your chosen one has an owner... Tai is a bit nasty in return, nevertheless I would still count it in a couple-bickering. Also apparently, Tan is in a band... They perform in a small bar, just a couple of boys, and the song which we hear has a piano, while we can clearly see none of the boys is playing a piano/keyboard. It's funny, but other than that I keep skipping the side characters. Unless they have Tai/Tan in their scene, too.

Epi 10: Jealous games. But somehow I thought the third person being depressed to the point they've been attempting suicide a bigger problem...?

Episode 11: Teary break-up. So annoying... One of Tan's friends is behind the break-up, wanting to be more than his friend. He used yet another boy named Tar for the whole thing: while this side-character was the one only one suffering with actual problems and would deserve the most concern (he's the one mentioned in epi 10) I didn't follow his line as I was not interested in side-characters of this show.

Epi 12: It's revealed that Tan's longtime friend is a total psycho obsessed with Tan. It's so far fetched it's actually not different from the classical lakorn psycho nan'rai lol. Nevertheless, it serves as "action climax" after which our main couple reunites. Looks like we made it on the end of their journey... I mean, I know there are two specials, one is 'Lhong's Story' (I was bored once enough), then there's 'Our Final Love' which is supposed to be about them being 4 years together already but it looks like they are still at the same school and nothing much changed... I dropped watching after several minutes. I'm not into this couple that much so I would care to watch their "7 years of love". As I didn't get even their first couple of months lol. I'm going to suffice with this one series.

Overall, this felt like rushed and unconvincing lovestory (I still don't really get when they fell in love, especially Tai) which used potentially grave themes in shallow and childish way. The result is average at best. Had they omitted both Tai/Tar traumatic experiences, had they made Tai just homophobic for no reason (such people exist), had they use any kind of mediocre cause for the last episode break-up/reunion apart from yet another psycho attack, the result might ironically be better. "Simple" relationship problems are more romantic than situations where you could rather imagine police involved. Which is actually a long time problem I criticized for years about classic STRAIGHT lakorns. So, again I ask: Who was is actually that made a BL series like this? This very ironically uses all the "iconic" straight themes. More precisely the most obsolete ones they try to get rid of by 2019 this was filmed.
On this note, I'll leave you ponder.....

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O primeiro BL que assisti

Tharntype foi o primeiro BL que assisti (isso lá em 2020, no seu auge). Eu reassiti recentemente e percebi muitas coisas que me incomodaram nessa segunda ou terceira vez. A cena do que o Tharn fez com o Type BÊBADO no primeiro episódio me chateou bastante, e a demora na evolução do pensamento do Type me dava nos nervos, além do fato de todas as coisas ruins que o Lhong fez e não recebeu nenhuma punição legal pelos seus atos. Sei que ele perdeu a amizade de Tharn, mas ele é um criminoso, e Tar não fez nada para prendê-lo!

Enfim, de resto, é uma série muito boa, eu me diverti acompanhando o romance do casal se desenvolver e no final os dois ficarem muito bobinhos um pelo outro. Apesar da demora, é bom ver como Type mudou seu pensamento, pois ele é clara representação de muitos homofóbicos por aí, mas até aquele que diz odiar gays, pode mudar completamente o seu pensamento. Tharn é um personagem muito carismático, e a atuação do Mew só potencializou isso. Assim como a atuação do Gulf, que deu muitas camadas interessantes para seu personagem. Amo a comédia presente no enredo, alivia muito o clima de tensão que os episódios carregam. É uma boa comédia romântica com enemies to lovers e muito drama, que perde um pouco a mão na hora de abordar assuntos sensíveis, no mais, é muito boa! Um BL que dá aula no quesito "química" entre o casal. 👏🏻

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Great Actors with a Problematic Story feat. Good Music

I decided to start watching TharnType because I really like Mew Suppasit. I didn't really know what the story was really about or anything that happened so I was pretty much going in blind. The first few episodes were okay besides the fact that Type openly hates gay people, calls Tharn slurs and ruins his things (😬)

In the episode where Type gets drunk and sleeps in Tharn's bed, Techno tells Tharn not to do anything to him and Tharn says he won't. This is where the series started to make me feel iffy about it. Tharn goes back on his word and kisses/leave hickeys on Type. The way Type reacted as well was weird because he was more mad about the fact that a guy kissed him than the fact that he was kissed without his consent/while he was drunk/sleeping.

I watched this series because I really love the actors. Mew, Gulf and Mild really did an amazing job acting out these characters. The rest of the cast is fantastic too- Tharn's family, Type's family, P'Jeed, Lhong, Tar, etc. The music is fantastic as well. Be Mine is an AMAZING song as well as Hold Me Tight. This series does have some redeeming qualities, but mostly I feel like it can be problematic at points and the story doesn't lead anywhere. Continuity can be kind of a miss at some points too (Tharn told Type he dated his band member's brother and that his first time was with a senior and Type was completely dumbfounded to find out about either of them LOL).

But, I mean I /did/ watch it all the way through and even decided to stick it out to season 2. The actors really do make the series and I think thats why it is so popular. The storyline itself isn't what made the show and sometimes you just stick it out because of the actors you like.

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I hate it but I love it.

"They're so toxic together," I say as I click on another episode.

Let's start with the things I did not like.
Seriously. How can I watch a series where the couple is so awful yet enjoy it?
First, I don't care what anyone says, Tharn literally molests Type. Multiple times he goes in on Type while the boy is actively saying no. Second, Type is a homophobic shithead. We know this. Yet he's begging for dick by the fourth episode. Make it make sense please. Also, Type is so emotionally abusive. Yet Tharn is such a glutton for punishment, like Type insults him and he's like "uwu that's my baby" Plus Tharn defends Type's homophobia multiple times, which is gross.
Lastly there were many many plotholes that were not filled. Like what happened to San? What happens to Tum? What happened to Type's friend that came out to him? How is Type so okay with PDA by the last episode? What about his family? Why was Lhong's ending so...neutral?

Okay. Anyway, lets go into the things I did like.
The lead actors had amazing chemistry. The actor for Type was great at pretending to be homophobic. Actually the actors for Tharn and Lhong in particular stood out to me with their acting. They were really good at portraying strong emotions.
The trauma was handled in a careful, sensitive way. Type's actor did great with that, as did Tar's. The steamy scenes were super sexy. That's what I might come back to, actually, the steamy scenes. Lol. The breakup made me sob like a baby. This drama did a great job at showing the sensitive sides of men. There was a lot of crying and I think that is super healthy especially in societies that like to put people into boxes. I know that despite having so many criticisms, I've rated it relatively high, but that's because overall I did enjoy it. I was hooked in the first twenty minutes. It kept me watching. I was worried about the characters and their problems. So I grudgingly give it these high-ish scores. That said, please don't make tv shows or stories like these that have consent issues. It sucks.

Edit: okay I realized there's a second season and some specials, all of which I have now watched. Most of my questions above got answered. But it was honestly more stressful. These boys don't know how to communicate. And they fight about such meaningless bullshit. Literally every other day they're fighting about something stupid. Type is super aggressive. He can't speak kindly to most people at all, not even Tharn. Most people are nice to their partners. Type is not. He's a sarcastic asshole like 73% of the time. I don't care if you've had a shitty day at work, do not take it out on your partner. These two are the same as most toxic relationships: "When it's bad, it's really bad. But when it's good, it's really good." That's probably the only reason I could keep watching. The cute parts between the two of them were really cute.
In terms of character development, the second season was much improved from the first. I found the character of Champ very interesting because I couldn't really figure out what his sexual orientation was. Not that it has to be specified. Type's never was either. Just because he likes one man doesn't mean he likes men in general. (I just can't imagine this character sucking dick. I can't.) But Champ appears to have no interest in romance or sex. He states that being single is easiest, that he doesn't understand love. He may be ace, I dunno. That'd be some really cool representation. But he does like Doc, and their story was a nice wholesome distraction from the craziness of the main story. So that's why I liked Champ. He was a unique person and I haven't seen many characters like him who don't really worry about love.

Edit2: returned once again to score the rewatch value and music higher because I literally just watched it all again after a week trying to keep it out of my head lol and also the music gets better the more I hear it. I'm starting to think I like this show more than I'm willing to admit 😑

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Recently start watching this and am seeing everyone bashing tharn but omg type attitude sucked. I understand you went through a horrible ordeal but didn't give him the right to treat tharn in that matter. What had me literally cussing was when type had a girlfriend and he slapped tharn and said am not gay ooooh blood pressure went up 🤣😂. What I will never understand in this series he hated gays but he stayed in the same room with the individual 🤔😒 had sex . I only finished this because of tharn. Type ooooh he made me wanted to sin my fireball soul. Gay or straight ain't nobody taking that crap what Type was doing

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TOXICITY IS EVERYWHERE

How can a drama with all the characters being toxic??? I would be dead by poison if I was also a part of that drama. The story is quite catchy and full of different types of emotion but I would never want to be with someone with the traits of all the characters (excluding Techno because he's a true friend and the funniest one). I hope they should've made a better story for Tar because this is the reason I rated the story with 6/10. That was one of the worst storylines I've seen so far in Drama World.

How could I forget the kissing scenes??? I can't remember how many kissing/sex scenes are in this drama. That was too much. It even beats KinnPorsche and Love In The Air.

The acting is really good in this drama. What I like about their acting is how well the actors portray their character. I guess there is some backlash regarding the toxicity of most characters here. But it is how the script is given to them. The main characters have good chemistry. The romantic scenes here are actually enticing though but why would they always cut it and finish with kissing? hahaha

If only this series has good storyline, I would give this a rewatch.

Anyways, this is watchable but I would not recommend this to someone who wants a healthy BL drama.

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Flawed Characters, Toxic Love – Still, I Watched It All

Okay, I know I’m super late to the party with TharnType, but I finally watched it and I’ve got thoughts. 😅

First off, this show is definitely a rollercoaster. The concept itself is interesting: a homophobic guy who eventually falls in love with an openly gay. That’s a bold direction, and honestly, it made the series compelling right from the start. Watching Type slowly break down his walls and question his own beliefs and feelings was both frustrating and fascinating.

That said… this series is toxic, no sugarcoating it. It deals with some seriously heavy topics like rape, pedophilia, and sexual harassment, and it's not always handled in the best or most responsible way. I can totally understand why it stirred up a lot of mixed reactions.

In the beginning, I found Tharn’s character super likable, especially the way he stood up for himself. But as the episodes went on, he started to frustrate me. Like… why are you suddenly backing down so much with Type? It felt like his strength kinda disappeared at times. But maybe that’s exactly what the writers were going for, showing how messy and complicated love can get, especially when one partner has deep-rooted trauma.

Type’s behavior was annoying, I won’t lie, but I also get where it’s coming from. His childhood trauma clearly shaped his fear and prejudice, and even though I didn’t always agree with how he acted, it added depth to his character. He also seems to confuse pedophilia with homosexuality, which is a harmful mindset but sadly still exists in real life, so it’s an uncomfortable but realistic layer.

Despite all that, I was engaged all the way through. It’s rare to see a BL that dives into such dark, complicated issues, and for that alone, it stands out. It’s messy, it’s flawed, but it definitely got me thinking and feeling.

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Dropped

Well, the beginning was interesting and I got curious about the plot but it ended way too fast. They acted like Tom and Jerry for first four episodes and then were all over each other. I have to say I thought I'm gonna sympathize with Type after his traumatic past but he ruined my image of him in sixth ep. I get why he hated LGBTQ community but that doesn't mean he could hurt Tharn in the way he did. Tharn was also at fault for molesting him in the first eps even though he knew he hated gays and he did it in his sleep without consent which is a crime. He kept pouncing on him until he agreed to let him his way. Their whole relationship was toxic from the beginning. Also Tharn shouldn't agree to being bed buddies when he loved him, he knew very well what it meant but in the end it helped him to get closer to him. Now Type. I did not get why Type offered Tharn to sleep with him for some favors he did for him like some prostitute. He doesn't like to owe anyone and thought this was the only thing that Tharn wanted but taking him out on a date would be just more better and respectful. The whole time he was annoyed having sex with him so how could this repay anything? But Tharn got his hopes high he got more closet to him. Then after they turned to bed buddies, he went to see girl behind Tharn's back and now he's a complete asshole. He lied to Tharn but then told him it's none of his business and they are just f buddies even though he knew Tharn's feelings for him and what's more he knew the girl he's seeing has a crush on him. He slept with Tharn while chatting to her how he likes her. Then he wanted to sleep with her on their very first date. Well, she shouldn't invite him to her house which makes her look like a hoe but still. In the end he couldn't sleep with her as he somehow realized his feelings for Tharn and ran back to his d. Jeez, they both are way toxic and when I read they'll break up more than two times I gave up. It's just relationship that doesn't work and in the end they keep hurting each other.

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I get it

I have such a LOVE LOVE/hate relationship with this drama.
I have watched it seven times at this point. And I will definitely watch it so many more times.

Is it a good drama? Meh.
Am I completely obsessed with it? HELL yeah.

Here is the thing - this drama had a great idea, but extremely poor execution. They threw away the one plot point that could've explained a lot of Type's actions even if it didn't excuse them. His abuse should've been the catalyst to explain and form a frame for his development but unfortunately they forgot about it after the fourth episode. This is beyond tragic because by including the trauma as a central "set piece", so to speak, it could've been not just referenced by Type, it could be used for him to explore and later accept the part of himself that hates his abuser but loves Tharn, who has nothing in common with that man. They could've made a clear distinction between his pedophilic abuser and gay Tharn, who only loves him and doesn't want to hurt him - unfortunately that was not the way the show went and it suffered a lot for it. The next time Type's abuse gets brought up is literally at the end of season 2 and that's just such poor execution for something that could've elevated the show greately. Can we as the audience still infer a lot from Type's behaviour? Sure, but it's never stated as such in the show so he could be traumatized and deeply confused and questioning himself - or he could just be a dick.

Plot? What plot? The relationship is the plot, if you are expecting anything else ... well, we get a semblance of a plot near the end of the show but honestly, how Tharn and Type become a couple and how they develop as a couple - that's the plot of this show, more or less. Again, is that really plot? I personally don't think so but some other people might.

Many of the things that don't make sense in this drama are due to the lack of time indicators - you thought Type first extremely refused, then propositioned Tharn the next day? Naynay, there's actually a gap of several weeks here that the audience just isn't privy to because the production made no indication of how much time passes in between scenes. It makes many things horribly confusing because it seems like Type is just flip-flopping all over the place.

Now onto the problematic stuff. It's there, it's unavoidable - Type is a loudmouthed ass and his development is first super slow, then even seems to go backwards in places, then just doesn't develop in a normal way. Who punches their SO when they are being kissed by someone else? Type's emotions are all over the place and again - if they had EXPLAINED THIS BETTER it could've made sense without excusing his behaviour.
However the production clearly was out to progress the relationship as fast as possible and so a lot was left on the cutting-room floor unfortunately.
Tharn is no angel either, they both honestly deserve each other with how toxic and combative they are.
Coming unto a guy who is so clearly averse to you? Uncool. Assaulting Type in the shower, no matter how much you "know" he wants it? Absolutely unforgivable.
The show also equates gay = pedo which is obviously completely unexcusable.

However - when they are sweet, they are unbearably, teeth-rottingly adorable and this is were Mew's and Gulf's chemisty is just out of this world. There is a reason this drama stays in people's mind: not just the chemistry but the absolute physical comfort they have with each other. When they kiss, you absolutely believing not just that they love each other, but that they are super sexually attracted to each other too - you buy them as sex friends, as a couple. There's a reason there were so many rumors about the actors at the time. It's the sort of dynamic that had been, until that point, completely unseen in the BL landscape. And they honestly sell it almost too well: they are intimate and lovely to look at. Which makes the scenes when they are tearing each other apart even worse because you SEE, you BELIEVE, how much they love each other, so the scenes when they are vicious are so heartbreaking.

The acting is for the most part, quite good. Gulf sells the trauma incredibly well, he's magnificent in all scenes where strong emotions are to be portrayed. His confusion towards his own feelings come across really well and you can tell he's an emotionally stunted young man who's sharp with his words but not a dumb brute.
Mew I found a little flat in some scenes, but he too sell high emotion really well, and he's fantastic when Tharn is being cheeky or forelorn.
Personally, I found that Tharn obviously looks quite a bit older than Type (Mew was 28 when this was shot) but when it comes to those two, I think that didn't stand out much. However, when it comes to the past relationship between Tharn and Tar, I was swallowing my disgust because Tar literally looks 13, no matter how old the actor was. It left a really bad taste in my mouth, especially because Tharn so nonplused talked about his own sexual experience at 14 with a 19 year old ... seriously, so messed up. There are quite a few of these aspects randomly thrown into the show that I found to be highly disturbing but that the drama absolutely did not acknowledge (see above). What happened to Tar and the fact that Lhong got no punishment for it is a big one here.

I HATE EVERYTHING RELATING TO THE MUSIC IN THIS WITH A PASSION! I want to rip whoever was responsible for the audio production in this drama a whole new gaping hole because - wow, does it suck. The mics were either too sensitive or someone had no idea what they were doing, because they pickes up sounds from the staff, background noise from filming, small bits like russling papers, people coughing even. Not to mention that the music so often overshadows dialogue in really unfortunate moments and IS JUST PLAIN TOO LOUD. I'm going to commit a serious crime againt the guitar player in episode 5 (or was it 6) who was way too loud over one of the most intimate scenes in the show.

The secondary character I found all to be lovely, they all added something or brought a new aspect or conflict to the show, some were hilarious, some were just nice, others were hugly annoying - but they all had their place.

Now the finale - was it dumb? Yes. Was it worth destroying Tharn's entire being over a really not-thought-out plan that nearly killed Type? Nope, not in the least. Did the Long get what he deserved? He's not in jail, so no.

I can readily admit that this show is not that good, okay. But I still can't stop loving it.

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The plot is amazing. The chemistry and love between Tharn and Type is definitely my favourite no matter how many shows I've watch. HOWEVER, the relationship did started out in a very toxix way, the whole relationship basically built from the foundation of rape. And the way rape is celebrate is just scary for me sometime.

I do love each and every song is this show there the only "perfect" thing in this show.

As much as I love Gulf; I would still say the acting in this show is still very much quite awkward either Gulf or New. The crying scene are soooooo bad. If they didn't narrate their thought I probably wouldn't know he's crying.

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Lots of potential, decent progress but didn't quite make it

Tons of potential that was not fully met. Had lots of things that I expect, but never see in most bl dramas for eg std testing scene or like realistic depictions of college kids. Story had so much potential but really fell off halfway. Don't like the borderline non con bits. I like how the relationship became less toxic as time went by (only to become bad again in S2 lol). Chemistry b/w actors is great, most bls feels like 2 str8 guys trying to be gay for me haha but this was believable. I also really like Type's character (love the mean ones). Overall I think, story had tonnes of potential to explore themes of homosexuality, r*pe and trauma but fell into pandering to fanservice type of things before fully exploring those themes. But still felt like a more realistic depiction of gay relationships than most bls. (I rly hate the lhong's story or wtv though)

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This was a lot to take in.

Good lord okay. When I was watching this I almost dropped in twice. I honestly hate the "homophobe and gay" trope. Type was so absolutely mean to Tharn, and he kept up with it. Even (at least the English subtitles) Type called Tharn and two others derogatory terms, and yet Tharn and no stood up for him and in the end he wasnt the bad guy. I jsut couldnt look over the chemistry both acters didnt have, All the kisses looked very fake. Overall the acting was really good to the point I thought the "Homophobic character" seemed to real. Both of there characters were always battling with eavh other and would hurt Tharn in the end. I thought all of there arguments were ones that didnt need to be started. The amount of times I dropped my jaw from the show is insane. The way Type was sleeping with Tharn and going ona date with that girl at the same time then coming back to Tharn and just saying "Well i didnt do it for you. Sorry" I was literally waiting fro Tharn to kick him out of the apartment, but Im not here to hate on this show overall. The show wasnt the horrible. I thought the music was pretty and the acting was super real. I didnt give the show up and honestly some scenes were super nerve racking and exciting to watch, but would I really recommended this to someone? Probually not.

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