eden
Delusions
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.
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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