TharnType (BL) (T)

TharnType

Honestly, this show is so popular and recommended but it took me several tries and many many months to finally get my way through it..... That being said, I think I liked it?

CW/TW: mentions of child sexual abuse, rape, toxic/abusive relationships.

TharnType. Wow. What a show. 

The first time I tried to get through this show, I was not into it. The second time, I was not into it. The third time, still not quite feeling it. I was feeling like a frog being boiled in the sense that I felt myself being lured and trapped into feeling okay with their relationship, which started off giving me the yucks.

The fourth time around, I mainly skipped through the first several episodes, because I had already seen them and just needed reminders of the basic plot. I mostly paused to take in the specific scenes building their relationship. This time around, I actually finished the series, and as I watched their relationship build, I enjoyed their relationship much more and really liked their chemistry. Maybe I finally succeeded in brainwashing myself, who knows. 

Before I condemn them (which I'm not trying to do, honestly, because it's fiction) let's get into some of this muck.

So Tharn (Mew Suppasit Jongcheveevat) is hella gay and a bit of a playboy, which, no slut-shaming here. Type (Gulf Kanawut Traipipattanapong) is VERY homophobic. You find out that he was abused by a man when he was young and it definitely left a bad impression and lots of trauma. He associates all gay men with the pedophile who abused him, and has an understandable hatred. They are roommates. Tough situation.

Tharn is attracted to Type, and wants to be seen in a positive light by him, so he tries his best. He even defends his homophobic attitude when he is condemned by others at their school, never bashing Type for saying the things he said, but instead apologizing in a way. That, I wasn't quite a fan of, but whatever. 

Type (I'm skipping a lot) feels indebted to Tharn and they have already been doing some flirting/a little hanky panky business, so Type asks Tharn to have sex with him. Just once. 

They do, and it's pretty nice, so one time turns into a second time, and that turns into whenever they are in the mood. But Type definitely is not his boyfriend. Tharn tries to separate his feelings, but of course that's not really possible, and Type starts talking with a woman. He plans on trying to date her, but in the meantime has still agreed to be sex friends with Tharn. Cue my sad emo feels. 

Type tries to sleep with said woman, but when he's with her, he is always thinking about Tharn, so he goes back crying and apologizing and telling Tharn that he only wants to sleep with him. Tharn is like cool, but I really like you.... So he agrees to be boyfriends. 

They both grow immensely as the show progresses, especially Type, and that was really nice to see. I like how they bring up issues around safe sex, even having the two of them get tested for STIs together. I don't think I've seen that in many BL series. Type grows more and more comfortable being with Tharn, and I liked that once Type was in he was IN. Like, he was very caring and affectionate, even with his "fuck off" personality. He wasn't continuing to be homophobic towards his boyfriend at all, which was nice. 

Then the green monster rears its ugly head and this is where they get toxic for me. It's the raging jealousy and the occasional slapping that I am not a fan of. Tharn's ex Tar (Kokliang Parinya Angsanan) (who is still in HS, also not a fan of that really) shows back up and this kid is severely mentally unstable and really needs help. He tries to drive a wedge between Type and Tharn and eventually succeeds, breaking them up. Tharn is devastated, but then we find out that Type broke up with him to save their relationship. It comes to light that the young ex was gang-raped by some men that Tharn's best friend Lhong (Kaownah Kittipat Kaecharoen) paid, and it wrecked their relationship. Lhong then blackmailed Tar to break up Type and Tharn because Lhong has been in love with Tharn for like 4 years and has just been wrecking all of his relationships. Luckily, Type is smart and several episodes back he pretended to get super drunk with Lhong to gauge his reaction about things, quickly sussing out that Lhong wanted to be more than friends with Tharn. Everything comes to light and Tharn realizes that Lhong, who he trusted the most, is actually the spawn of Satan and everything gets fixed. Tharn and Type live happily ever after (I still have to watch the sequel). 

This show was super dramatic and pretty dark and twisted, so if you like that kind of thing, go for it!

I did actually finally enjoy their relationship and found it to be much more lovely the last time around. Like I said, I think I just had to shake off the yuck I felt at the beginning. They were both actually very kind and loving to each other throughout the series. 

I will say that it had one of the most precious cinnamon roll best friends I have ever seen and that is Type's best friend Techno (Mild Jinna Pichit-o-Pakun). I didn't mention him above because there is just so much and I want to say that he is so wonderful and pretty much the only person on the planet that can be Type's best friend, being the asshole he generally is. Techno rolls with the punches but also calls Type out on his asshole behavior, and we all need friends like that. Techno also is the one that learns of Tharn and Type's relationship early on and he is a massive supporter. Techno deserves all the love in the world. 

With that, I guess I need to go watch TharnType 2!