Plot-wise, it isn't something that will "WOW" you, but you'll find it easy to watch and binge. In acting, they aren't the best but they portrayed the character so well, and I think that the casting are perfect for the characters personality. In chemistry I'll give them a 10, you'll know what I mean if you're going to watch this series. Honestly, I've watched this series 3 times now because of the on-point chemistry of Tharn and Type.
Want something new, watch this
Want love-hate relationship, watch this
Want good kissing scene, watch this
Want a nice OST, watch this
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TharnType Is the Thorn in My Side
TharnType is a first BL for so. many. watchers. Right now, it is sitting at a 7.7 MDL rating with 58,013 viewers and the TikTok hashtag for it has accumulated 2.4 billion views. It is a widely known drama and it is an introduction to the BL industry for many drama-watchers (unfortunately so, might I add, but I’ll get into that later).Important note: I have not read the manhwa, so I will not consider it in the grand scheme of this review. The rest of this review contains mentions of assault and homophobia. If you are not comfortable with that topic, I do not recommend proceeding.
Buckle up, BL babes. Let’s dive into this mess of a drama.
Prologue: History
TharnType is actually the child story of another BL named “Love by Chance,” released in August of 2018. I watched the first few episodes, but quickly got bored and decided to drop it. From my research, Tharn is not present in this story, and Type is a very minor character (not important to the plot, but Type is played by actor Earth instead of Gulf). Fourteen months later, we were given “TharnType,” the drama that created a massive fanbase for this drama family tree.
Chapter I: Plot
Personally, I think 2% of the plot had potential, but the writers just decided to go about it in the worst of ways. Let me give you why I think it could have been something better: The plot of a homophobic person (sadly still a very real possibility of encounter today) gaining a new perspective by befriending an openly gay person is interesting. Together, they could navigate the why’s and how’s of this conversation, and it could have started a really interesting dialogue on the roots of homophobia, the history of the LGBTQ+ community in Thailand, the lack of support and/or rights, and how to respectfully discuss these topics and initiate change (in legislation, mindsets, etc.). But that’s just it…they COULD HAVE done this, and they didn’t.
I have a lot of problems with TharnType and it’s fans, and one of them is this: the foundation of TharnType’s plot is s*x. So much of this story’s plot revolves around s*x. For narratives, plot refers to the physical world while story pertains to emotional points. The story of Tharntype is so lacking in creating a substantial message that it relies completely on plot, and not a good one at that. Plot and story should work together like a seesaw: one gets the spotlight and then they switch. But Tharntype’s narrative structure is like such: homophobic comments (plot), s*x to fix a problem (plot), homophobia (plot), s*x to appease Tharn (plot), more homophobia (plot), s*x because they become a couple (plot), misunderstanding/fight (plot), make-up and more s*x (plot), the end.
This is why I tend to lean away from those who rate this anything larger than a 2 as it just feels like an excuse to watch two boys have intimate and nsfw moments. People can say they love this because of the characters being endearing or the narrative exciting, but it just feels like an excuse to hide behind because the characters are…problematic and the plot is…something to be erased from one’s search history.
Chapter II: Story
Sort of previously touched on, I cannot even tell you what I think the message of this story is. Be kind? Like, really?? Is that the best we can do?? At times, it even seems like they want to instill empathy for homophobic individuals. Type’s assault is certainly not something to be taken lightly, but I also do not condone him projecting this trauma onto others through homophobic remarks. One’s trauma is not an excuse to create trauma for others. THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE MESSAGE! But no, it’s more so “trauma because of reason, reason deserves understanding, forgive the past, push your roommate into having s*x with you.” Wow. What a message we want an impressionable audience to learn from. It may be awful but yay, queer representation (/j)!
Chapter III: Characters
The first character we are introduced to is Type. He is a soccer player, a rich kid, a popular student, and best (/j) of all, homophobic. He is the definition of your douchey young adult boy: he is insensitive, brazen, and petulant. In his first inner monologue, he says, “I bet he [Tharn] and I could help each other get laid within the first year” (ep 1). Like?? HUH?? Reference 1 for my comments about the plot above. But, after Type learns about Tharn’s sexuality, their friendship takes a sharp nose dive into the ocean of homophobia, and we stay stranded there for many episodes — where we have to hear him say, “I hate gays” roughly 500 times. We later come to learn that Type was sadly abducted and assaulted as a child, and that is the reason behind his aversion for gay people, but everything he spoke was either homophobic or annoying — a really hard character to have total empathy for.
Tharn. I HATE this character. Aside from Prapai, Rain, and Payu from Love in the Air — characters who have no depth, no personality other than s*x as well, and are shallower than the sea below the cliff I wanted to jump off of after watching Bed Friend — Tharn is the worst of worst of love interests. He is manipulative, intrusive, and very simply put, weird.
Techno. *sighs* What can I say other than what. the. fawk kind of a friend is he? Homie to the homophobe. Techno seems to be there to carry the plot to the next step, but he feels like nothing other than that. He is also there for comedic relief, but by the time his jokes came around, I was already too annoyed by Thorn or too appalled by Type.
After the many, many instances where I wanted to bleach my eyes from seeing Tharn do anything on screen, I did not think we could go any lower on the character bar. But then, we were punished by the presence of his best friend: Lhong. What a curveball he was. The drama would have been way more impactful if the message was, as I stated again, your trauma is not an excuse to be harmful to others. But we were cursed with an abuse-saturated plot thanks to Lhong. I honestly cannot get into how insane he was from his betrayal (lies to Tharn), craziness (stalking), and abuse (gang r*ping Tharn's past lover). I am deeply concerned by whoever was able to come up with this character.
Chapter IV: Production + BTS
I am happy to see that the director, Tee Bundit Sintanaparadee, seems to have grown a lot since his TharnType days. I believe as his repertoire grew, his positive storytelling of Queer representation has increased as well. He went on to make “Lovely Writer” in 2021, “Something In My Room” in 2022, and later this year, GMMTV will release JoongDunk’s newest project, “Hidden Agenda.” I am glad his projects seem to support a growth of mindset, but it is also hard to look past the unrecognized damage TharnType has done.
Though this isn’t about TharnType, I still think it is important to mention. In 2021, Art Pakpoom Juanchainat who played Mew’s love interest on the drama, “What The Duck,” posted a video sharing that Mew had nonconsensually kissed him off-screen. The hashtag #MewSexualHarassment was trending on Twitter. Many of Mew’s fans came to his defense saying it was fan-service, resulting in the other side of watchers claiming this was normalizing sexual harassment. (I got all of this information from an article published by the Thai Enquirer.) I believe earlier this year, Art and Mew made up (whatever that means??) and it was all put to bed, but this continues to prove me right in the distaste I have for fans of Mew and the production's he's worked on.
Chapter V: Conclusion
In the beginning of this review, I brought up that it is unfortunate how this drama is the first BL for so many people. Why I say so is this: TharnType depicts a toxic relationship, one built upon a wrongly placed sexual desire, and it furthers the wrong and harmful view that those who are gay are such because of predatory reasons or as a result of sexual assault. You may feel inclined to give this story the benefit of the doubt, but this wasn’t made in the early 2010s, this was released in 2019. Only four years ago…I mean, come on now. TharnType isn’t like SOTUS (another first BL for many) where I saw the flaws, but could accept/move past them because of the time and the impact it made on including BL couples in the film industry of Thailand. TharnType shows this toxic dynamic and poor portrayal of a relationship not for the better of the Queer community, and I can’t try to rationalize it because they should have known better. I should mention that I know this drama is based on a manhwa (“TharnType Story”) written in 2014 and published in 2016; but, even so, the time gap between the manhwa and the production is large enough for lots of progression in acceptance. And because of that, this story should have never been adapted to the screen. We should have just left it in the past, let the dust collect and accept what it was for its time.
When I decided to write this review, I started with the hope that I could open the eyes of some of the insanely obsessive fans of this series. I still hope for this, and not that I steered your mind to agree with *my* thoughts, but to make you think about the content you are consuming. I use dramas as an escape, something I believe many of us have in common. But I also look to them for storytelling. For creative plots, captivating performances, and positive representation. If these things are lacking in a production, what are we doing? I get that we sometimes need to take our mind off of the hardships of our personal life, but at the cost of supporting a flawed drama is a hefty price — one that birthed the problematic trinity: TharnType (and it’s three sequels— oml, who asked for that), Don’t Say No, and Love in The Air.
Just like all my reviews, I would like to thank you if you made it this far, and I hope I gave you another perspective on this drama. Whether you agree or disagree with my thoughts and points, I am glad there is this place for a respectful conversation.
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The only thing I have with this drama is its lack of coverage on sexual harassment at the beginning of the show, so if you absolutely don't want to watch a show with that in it, I wouldn't watch it.
But, at the same time, it goes over sexual harassment in different situations...
Either way, I definitely like this show a lot.
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Just why bro
Whoever rated this above 5 stars I hope your wifi stops working for the next weekWords can’t describe the hatred I have for this bl. I normally start w what I like about it but all I can say is that the main cast did a good job and the cinematography was good, but other than that this bl was terrible.
Okay so, wtf was up w that enemies to lovers transition bro lmfao like they didn’t even become lovers they became like enemies w benefits not even at the very least friends
I also hate the whole type pulling pranks w like literal bad intentions and not tryna be playful just because tharn is gay, like he’s a full grown ass man I’m pretty sure any other homophobic grown man wouldn’t do the same things he did lmfao it was so immature
And that one scene too in I think ep 4 or 5 somewhere around there when tharn was like kissing type’s neck and basically sexually harassing him while he’s sleeping was completely unnecessary and fetishy honestly
That only scratches the surface, the thing that really irked me was type’s backstory.
For those who haven’t watched this and are reading this, this is Type’s backstory:
When Type was maybe 5 or 6, he was walking to his school by himself when a grown man approaches him and asks him to follow him into an alleyway which he does. In the alleyway, the grown man sexually assaults Type.
It’s not necessarily the backstory as a whole I have a problem with, it’s mostly just the way they used it. The way they used it is like they’re using it as an excuse for him being homophobic, which disgusts me because such a serious topic like that shouldn’t be used as an excuse for someone being homophobic. The backstory pretty much came out of nowhere too, no foreshadowing or anything. And what annoys me even more that shows how little care the writers had for the topic is that they only mentioned his backstory just a few times. One time in depth, and a couple more very briefly. If you’re going to talk about a topic that serious and show that little care for it, might as well not talk about it at all.
Anyways lmao I really don’t suggest this bl at all as you can see from me completely shitting on it but if u do wanna watch it so you can shit on it too bc that’s fun it’s on YouTube so you don’t have to go on an illegal website B)
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DISCLAIMER:- first of all: yes, i haven't finished it yet, but i also don't have high hopes that any points that i criticize will be improved upon in the next 7 episodes, i just needed to get these thoughts out of my head for now
- also: i didn't read the novel and i won't read it. and it doesn't matter anyways, the show and the novel should be able to be looked at separately and if something is "better explained" in the novel then the show just did a bad job and that should always factor into a review too
- and finally: yes of course, this is a bl drama, my expectations aren't that high and i don't expect a masterpiece with perfect societal commentary. but when you decide to tell a story about sexual abuse/other heavy topics then you also have to realize that people WILL criticize you if you don't handle those topics properly or with respect.
MY REVIEW (so far):
the acting is good, it definitely rarely felt awkward and i liked the chemistry between the main charas.
the writing is not good. as i said, the dialogues don't feel natural, there are weird timeskips without any indication that more than a day passed, and the development of the main relationship is shaky at best. the transitions between the "main" story (aka tharntype) and other side stories are also very clunky.
type's characterization is kind of weird, i THINK the author was going for a tsun character but didn't really know how to properly write one so,,, she just made type a big asshole in one scene and then a super nice guy in the next scene.
why does tharn fall for type?? he is just a huge assh*le to him and throws slurs at him and says "i hate you", there is honestly zero development on tharn's side, he just suddenly likes him??
tharn pls love yourself
and type, pls get therapy
why the f*ck is tharn not respecting type's boundaries?? what is up with the non-consensual touching at the beginning?? that's just extremely creepy and i would want to change rooms too if my roommate did that
also the hickey thing as revenge was extremely inappropriate and pretty much sexual abuse. but they tried to make it look like it is okay by making the unconscious type react to it by clutching tharn's back and they shot it in a way where it was supposed to be "sexy", i guess. guys, this is still not consensual, nothing about that is sexy or hot and type should have called the police lol
and what makes it worse is that type obviously has trauma related to sexual abuse so idk why the author would do this to him. i also can't imagine someone falling in love with someone who doesn't respect their boundaries - especially if they are already traumatized in that regard
and even before tharn knows about this... he should have at least realized that something isn't right because type was obviously extremly upset at this (or let's be real, tharn should have known that you can't just. stroke your roommates hair and kiss his face while he is already asleep aka defenseless and unable to consent.)
whenever type sets up a new boundary, tharn just pushes right past it and that's just disrespectful and not the start of a healthy relationship (and if you think that tharn's behaviour so far is romantic then,, i can't help you)
and all of this also just feeds into the predatory gay stereotype.
in general it seems like tharn does a lot of. emotional manipulation? when type says no to something tharn doesn't really accept it, he just disappears for a bit/doesn't talk to type, until type feels guilty or smth and apologizes to tharn???
type's childhood trauma is also not handled well at all. i'm not against these kind of topics in a story, but one should treat them respectfully. why would type suddenly be super into sleeping with tharn?? the middle part where he deals with his trauma is just. missing. i guess the slightly non consensual shower bj must have been magic, it healed him!!
the treatment of queer charas in comparison to flat out homophobic charas is also kind of. not okay. the show tries to make the viewer sympathize and empathize with type and his homophobic behaviour. and make it look like there are two valid sides of this 'conflict'. "he's a nice guy, it's not his fault that he hates gay people!!" of course type has trauma, but that is simply an explanation for his reactions, not an excuse. sometimes he gets called out but especially tharn tends to defend him for his bullsh*t?? but its okay, because tharn likes him uwu !!!
techno also says some questionable things about gay people
in general it seems to be a trend in many BL dramas where the "straight" charas seem to think that gay men will just r*pe any guy that they can get their hands on. it goes without saying that this is extremely bad
idk why but the author seems to be obsessed with sexual abuse storylines??? (not just in tharntype but in lbc too) whats up with that and what does it say about her views of queer men,, im just very *squints eyes* at her at the moment
CONCLUSION
i will probably finish this show at some point, because i want to see what else happens,, and if it gets worse.
but i wouldn't recommend this show for now
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Basically, an abusive couple gets together and people romanticize them.
Does this series entertain you? Yes.Does this mean it's good? Hell, no.
I feel like everyone in this series is a HUGE red flag (except my baby Techno), but the two mains just concur for the most toxic title.
Let's start with Tharn. Between the two of them, Tharn appears like the most normal and he's literally the one who abuses the roommate three times in two episodes. Not only he tricks drunk-Type into thinking they had sex, leaving bruises on him, not only he caresses sleeping-Type at night knowing all-full well how absolutely Type wouldn't want him to; but he also accept Type thinking he owes him sex. He forces Type to sleep with him, even after they get together. Yet, he's not as bad as Type.
Type is the most toxic character I've ever witnessed in a Thai series (and for the love of God, I'm watching Only Friend!). Type shows his least toxic traits in the first episodes: the homophobia and bullying is NOTHING comparing what comes into the further episodes. He is abusive, he HIT Tharn whenever he feel like he's not "scared" enough of him (somewhen between episode 8 and 9), he is manipulative and controlling in a way that's just too toxic. He doesn't show his love to Tharn, trying to cover up his sexuality and his feelings under the macho mask he wears. I mean, we got it, he has trauma, but I swear this doesn't even justify how he acts - not even a bit. And I hate that people do justify him with his trauma. This is concerning.
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Not in front of my salad
Though I thought the acting was good and the story line was decent, this show sends a bad message. I did not like that Type was such a jerk to gay people as a whole because he was molested by a man. While it makes sense, it just shows that Type lacked awareness of his own feelings. He should have seen a therapist and learned to deal with his traumatic past rather than taking out his anger on an entire community of people who have no blame for what happened to him.There were other faults too. A boy who was molested as a child is not going to fall in love with someone else who molests him, even if he is gay. Type would not have given in to Tharn and if he did, it would be because he thinks he is worthless and does not deserve to be happy so it's good enough to be with someone who hurts and degrades him. That is not exactly the kind of love relationship I want to see. The hate to love trope in this is strong and definitely not worthwhile. Type never trusts Tharn and doesn't ever treat him well. Actually, the entire relationship makes no sense.
Also, Tharn has a deep-seated fear of being left. At least, that is what we see from his behavior. This apparently comes from the fact that Lhong keeps making sure he gets dumped by every past lover. In the end, rather than let Tharn in on the plan to out Lhong, they had Type treat him horribly and then come back later and explain. What would have changed if they had told Tharn from the beginning? Tharn would not have cried and begged. They could have worked it out together. However it seems the writer wanted to perpetuate the bad to worse relationship tropes in this series.
The couple do not grow and face things together. They face things separately and purposefully hurt each other. Type is controlling and abusive: and by abusive I mean emotionally because he treats Tharn like a sex toy who is only worthwhile as long as he does what Type wants and he actually slaps Tharn when Tharn is kissed by someone else. Tharn doesn't initiate it and doesn't perpetuate it, but Type slaps him rather than the guy who tried to kiss him without his consent. How does that make sense? It doesn't, but nothing in this series makes sense.
As much as I love the effort that the actors gave and the great chemistry they had on screen, the entire series is offensive from the first episode to the last. There are actually so many things wrong in this series that it's hard to name them all. I really appreciate the actors, and I'd love to see them in another series, but could we please get a better writer this time?
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The characters aren't supposed to be role models
Wow, after reading the reviews I was skeptical, but I actually loved it. Maybe other people are used to nice perfect characters that they can't enjoy a drama with more complex personalities. Were they toxic? A bit, but that was the point. They aren't supposed to be role models, it's a drama, it shows various characteristics, it's a form of art.I too was annoyed at Type for being so mean, but what would the plot be if he wasn't? It's nice to see him slowly break down his walls while still staying himself (I've seen way too many characters lose all their personality to become cute pets to their "daddies"...) and I think that's what Tharn loved about him, as you can see him smiling every time Type snarks at him.
You won't get a pompous speech where he admits his mistakes or speaks about homophobia, but you can see it all clearly through his actions.
I just wish they'd communicate better with each other!
My 2 issues:
1. I hoped Type would make things clear with his hometown friend, but it never happened.
2. There were many side characters, all with very little screen time, and for a long time I was confused who was who, since I didn't see them enough to remember their names and faces lol.
All in all, I binged this drama and was never bored, it's not another fluffy cute story, it gets heavy at times, so I understand others might not like it. For me however? It's one of my favourites now.
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Best BL ever
I really liked the series , especially the character of Tharn. It was fun as well as romantic. The intimacy of mew and gulf can't be substituted. The character development of everyone is so excellent. Acting of everyone is so good. Special credits to their costume designer and stylist.The novel TharnType Story เกลียดนักมาเป็นที่รักกันซะดีๆ was first released online on December 2, 2014 via Dek-D.com's platform for writers. Even though the story is a spinoff of MAME's previous novel My Accidental Love is You, the event of TharnType Story takes place three years prior to the latter. The novel was published as a physical copy in 2016, compiling 62 chapters into two books. A sequel story consists of 22 chapters about Tharn and Type's life as a couple in their seventh year was published as one physical book following the first two books. As of 2020, TharnType Story has 216% ratings on its Dek-D official page with over 3.8 million total views.
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A problematic masterpiece
Oh boy i mean where to start lol.The actors who are now complete and rightfully earned legends took this series and ran with it. They had a spark from the first episode and you had no choice but to want more.
But my God they played into every negative BL trope you could imagine.
+ Actors are incredible every last one + story was so well thought out
- Whyyyyy so rapey whyyyy - rape wasn't enough? Try some gang rape!
+ secondary stories were on point + great twists + no bad episodes
- toxic manipulation - non consensual/unwanted sexy times
There was so many diverse dynamics in the secondary storytelling that you couldn't help but fall in love with so many of the characters. They really told their stories so well.
This story has everything going for it and i really couldn't wait to start the next episode every time. I just wish they'd got away from the physical abuse as a storytelling crutch to create some intense emotions. The caliber of the actors could have seen too that.
Please if you don't have easy triggers watch this series!
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I understand why this is one of BL's most popular dramas, but I don't understand why the show's creators thought that a boy who is homophobic - his past aside - would get together with a gay man who crosses his boundaries in such a bad way.
The series is not good, it's not tragic, but the plot leaves a lot to be desired in many ways, technically the series may hold some level, it has nice actors, but that's not all, because by the plot it's just uncomfortable and unpleasant.
In the middle of this I actually liked Tharn, in no way to the endI could convince myself to Type. I still have in my mind what his past was like, but I can't translate that into his behavior, which at some points was downright exaggerated. He himself didn't know what he wanted, changing rooms was really not that difficult, and he stayed there! ALL THE TIME, I KEPT ASKING MYSELF 'WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!!!'. I did not get an answer, and the plot continued.
The thread of Tharn's friend, was strange and scary. The boy was unstable and no one had seen it before, or what was the point? Beating him up was certainly not the way out, his thread in general was dropped after that, we got a few, I emphasize SOME scenes at the end of the series with him that were supposed to explain what happened, but we didn't really get that answer.
I personally think that this BL is nothing new or good. It is severely mediocre and very toxic, which is overused in bxb/gxg plots as storylines or simply depictions of relationships.
PL
Rozumiem dlaczego jest to jedna z popularniejszych dram BL, ale nie rozumiem dlaczego twórcy serialu pomyśleli, że chłopak który jest homofobem - pomijając jego przeszłość - zejdzie się z gejem, który przekracza jego granice w tak zły sposób.
Serial nie jest dobry, nie jest tragiczny, ale fabuła pozostawia wiele do życzenia pod wieloma względami, technicznie może i serial trzyma jakiś poziom, ma ładnych aktorów, ale to nie wszystko, bo przez fabułę to po prostu niekomfortowe i nieprzyjemne.
I tak jak gdzieś w tym wszystkim faktycznie polubiłam Tharna, w żaden sposób do końca nie mogłam przekonać się do Type. Ciągle mam w głowie to, jak wyglądała jego przeszłość, ale nie mogę tego przełożyć na jego zachowanie, które w niektórych momentach było wręcz przerysowane. Sam nie wiedział czego chce, zmiana pokoju była naprawdę nie taka trudna, a on tam został! PRZEZ CAŁY CZAS, ZADAWAŁAM SOBIE PYTANIE 'DLACZEGO TO ROBISZ?! CO Z TOBĄ NIE TAK!!!'. Odpowiedzi nie uzyskałam, a fabuła toczyła się dalej.
Wątek przyjaciela Tharna, był dziwny i przerażający. Chłopak był niestabilny i nikt tego wcześniej nie widział, czy o co chodzi? Pobicie go na pewno nie było wyjściem, jego wątek w ogóle został po tym został porzucony, dostaliśmy kilka, podkreślam KILKA scen pod koniec serialu z nim, które miały wyjaśnić, co się stało, ale tak naprawdę nie dostaliśmy tej odpowiedzi.
Uważam osobiście, że to BL nie jest niczym nowym, ani dobrym. Jest mocno przeciętne i bardzo toksyczne, co w wątkach bxb/gxg jest nadmiernie używane jako fabuły czy po prostu przedstawienia relacji.
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