BLISS RATING: ★+
“Love that is fed by jealous dies hard.” – Ovid
This story, I am so sorry to say, was a mess. Plainly, it was awful except perhaps for the last episode which sort of reclaimed its old glory. This is the first BL series that I almost gave up on because of how chaotic and incoherent this story was. This story is supposedly 7 years after Tharn (Mew Suppasit) and Type (Gulf Kanawut) are together. Unquestionably, they are so adorable as a couple. They are out of school and are now living together and working. Type is a sport medicine therapist and Tharn is a musician/producer.
There are a number of other characters that float in and out of their lives from the first THARNTYPE series which do add comic relief and help the story flow. Since they are so much more secure in their roles, the acting by all of them from the previous series is good. Mew and Gulf are very good actors and try their best to make this awful screenplay work, but it just does not. Even they throughout the series looked lackluster and I honestly did not even buy their connection except for the last episode.
They looked like they were ‘acting’ in their romance scenes and playing it for the camera and for me it honestly did not work. I bought their relationship only in the last episode where they showed some real and genuine chemistry which was surprising since they were so good in the first series. They have talent and can act but the screenplay was disjointed and contrived. There are endless examples of how contrived this screenplay was.
One of the biggest blunders was the whole story between Type and his work supervisor. All of that was incredibly contrived and unnecessary and rather boring and predictable and added NOTHING to the story or their relationship. The second contrived story is between Phugun (Title Tanatorn) and his boyfriend Cirrus (Haii Sarunsathorn). Phu is an old friend of Type but that does not stop Cir from becoming jealous for whatever contrived reason. The third is the usual family drama specifically between conflicts with Type and his father with Tharn’s family being overly saintly and very supportive of his relationship with Type.
They even consider Type as another son which is very noble. The only real connection that I liked was between Doc (Jame Phat) and Champ (Boat Napat), which is the fourth contrived setup. Doc is a doctor with an infectious smile and such a warm pleasant disposition that would charm the most distraught patient and Champ is a restaurateur with a heart of gold but almost mind-numbingly density.
I wish they would have developed their relationship to a greater extend because it was new and refreshing and they had real commitment to their roles and because I really wanted them to be a couple. I could watch these two in anything because I found them interesting characters. I want to see a whole series based just on these two. Besides being so cute, adorable, and handsome, these two really steal the series because I became disinterested in the relationship between Tharn and Type because it was going nowhere.
The fifth, and perhaps the most egregious contrived setup, is the one that pushed me over the top into disliking this series with gusto. It is the relationship or connection (or whatever you want to call it) between Fiat (First Chalongrat) and his ‘companion’ Leo (Ja Phachara Phachara). The writer and/or director insulted the audience by deliberately making their relationship obtuse and unnecessarily confusing. I sensed that from the very beginning that they were ‘stepbrothers’ although the story did not make that clear until the end. Utterly silly and stupid and made the whole story about them seemed perverted somehow. Totally unnecessary to do that. Do not play with the audience like that. It just cheapens the whole series. In addition, it was clear from the beginning that Fiat was an emotionally unstable character, and NOBODY seems to notice that!
Honestly, Helen Keller would have been able to recognize that this poor kid was not stable. Somehow, he manages to manipulate Type into doing things that he knows would set Tharn off. Fiat also does terrible things to irritate Leo. He is irrationally angry. He is almost sociopathically manipulative. His demeanor is fragile. He needed help and the fact that no one seems to be able to recognize that was incredibly chilling. Fiat is able to create a rift between Tharn and Type which causes Type’s temper and need for revenge to surface. So, he kidnaps Fiat and literally forces him (really assaults him by wanting to hurt his knee) to confess his love for Leo. I found this whole scene not just cringeworthy but abusive.
Fiat is emotionally unstable and to do this could have pushed him over the edge in which he might never have been able to recover from. It is obvious to anyone involved in this horrible scene that it should have stopped and another way to get Leo and Fiat together without kidnapping or forcing (assaulting) him to confess. While the aim was ‘good’, it came with a very big price.
I felt so incredibly sad for this character, and I found that so hard to watch and should not have been part of the story. This really crossed the line of acceptable storytelling. It is a real testament to the actor, First, that his part could illicit so much emotion from me including sadness, pity, and simply wanting to hold him and tell him his life will get better. I have a significant issue with any series which takes the inherent weakness of some of its characters and turns them into weapons of righteousness, even if the reason to do so seems on the surface to serve a greater purpose. This is an awful scene and simple brought down the character and integrity of this series to an almost unacceptable level.
Look, this is a series that is supposedly promoting and enhancing gay love stories and therefore gay acceptance. Yet, they use forms of abuse that are subjected to gay people (and certainly other minority groups) all the time and call it justified.
There were also other contrived situations that were just hard to wrap my head around. Tharn’s possessiveness of Type borders on obsession and is smothering throughout this series. While I know how deeply and I do mean deeply in love with him he is, you cannot smother or obsess about keeping someone close to you. That is not healthy and eventually could lead to the other person feeling that they are not their own person.
Additionally, it is a bad message to convey that this kind of deep love for another is a ‘good’ thing. It is not — either for gay relationships or straight relationships — and it does not need to be enhanced. Yes, love is wanting and indeed needing to be with another but not be possessive of that person. It is simply not healthy. Yet this whole issue with Type’s obsessiveness in not dealt with and to some degree became a pillar of the entire premise of this series. I must also comment on one of the biggest manipulative issues in this whole series. Tharn sees Type being kissed by Fiat and he goes nuts with accusations and mistrust like they were only new into their relationship. If he saw them kiss, then he also had to have seen Type push Fiat away hard and scream at him. How can you misinterpret that? Seriously? (I know the screenwriters tried to, but that explanation was tepid and weak). I completely understand why Type walked away. One more utterly stupid manipulative scene is when Type calls Tharn and tells him he misses him and Tharn dismisses him and says he has to go. WHAT? Totally ridiculous and contrived and yet again diminishes this series into trying to create artificial conflict issues.
The final episode was strange but wonderful at the same time. Type becomes a monk. (Here again, I do not understand this action but accept it as is). He shaves his head and no matter what he does to himself, he is still amazingly good-looking. Tharn and Type tried to tie up the loose ends in the last episode by both committing themselves to getting married, but it all felt so rushed. There is going to be another episode soon with their wedding. Even if they wrap this up with a nice wedding, it will not make up for the major flaws of this series.
I am so sorry to state that I think this series is a disaster. It is so contrived with artificial and unnecessary conflict, inane insecurities, and downright stupidly placed mistrust. The last episode does have an intense and passionate and beautiful love sequence between Tharn and Type that was believable (finally). This is the only episode that I felt there was any type of connection between them, and their chemistry finally showed.
Their caressing and holding and kissing made it seem real and beautiful and genuine. I bought it for the ONLY time in this series. My concept or perhaps wish is that this series had STARTED with this last episode and made it a truly epic love story. Let us see how their love can grow without major conflict or resolve mistrust with more adult methods rather than kidnapping and assault. Let us see that they recognized that Fiat needed help and advocate for him to get the help he needed. Let us see that there are jobs were there does not need to be conflicts with supervisors and the only way to solve the problem is by physical assault. Let them lead by example so that a relationship between Doc and Champ could have blossomed and developed. There is not a problem with acting at all in this series. Mew/Gulf are a phenomenon, and that is not going to be diminished even with this lousy series, but they deserved better. Jame and Boat as Doc and Champ, in my humble opinion, steal this series and should have their own series or at the very least should have been able to develop that relationship. They simply are adorable, and I wanted more of them. First and Ja as Fiat and Leo could easily have had a series by themselves as well so that his mental illness could be dealt with in a loving, compassionate, and professional method. So much more could have and should have been done in this series. Simply put, I did not like this series at all. Sorry.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? For me, this distinction belongs to Phat Prayuniviwat (Jame) as Doc and Napat Srinakluan (Boat) as Champ. They are the only two that I was remotely interested in watching and following. I know the hordes of fans for Mew and Gulf, but the ones who carried this series with any type of emotional connection was Doc/Champ, even if their connection was limited by the short screen time together. They deserve more, honestly.
THARNTYPE WEDDING DAY SPECIAL – 2021 -Thailand
Droll, drab, with a few good moments. Honestly, there is nothing special about this except that it does have some very touching scenes and intense kissing and love making sequences. Sometimes a bit overdone because they brought in old footage of previous kissing scenes and repeated them frequently. It is so obvious that these two have a total connection to each other and have very good screen chemistry. They did appear way more relaxed in this little excerpt of their story. They acted way more genuine and sincere in this brief chapter in their lives. I wish they would have been like this in the last series. There is no serious drama here and none was expected. But it kind of droned on with the same familiar supporting cast that adding nothing really to the story. Even my absolute two favorite characters — Champ and Doc — seemed disinteresting and had only very superfluous parts. Really, I would have appreciated a deeper development of Tharn and Type’s characters as they face marriage. There is indeed so much to explore here. Of course, everything is beautiful on your wedding day, and it should be! My wedding to my husband was simply beautiful. But reality sets in afterwards. I would have focused more on who they think they will be as a married couple and what that means, and what happens afterwards. I am not wanting to take away from their beautiful wedding. (One question though — who has empty seats at a wedding? I thought that was odd).
It would have been a way more impactful chapter if they had explored themselves more, talked about their futures, their dreams, wishes, and challenges that may face them, rather than making it cutsey and, well, boring.
I know I have been harsh on this chapter and also the last series, but the opportunity was missed to really tell their story in a more mature and realistic fashion. Instead, they made these characters more shells of people than real people. The first series was so genuine, raw, and honest. This was just too sanitized for me to appreciate. It is not necessarily a ‘bad’ series as much as it is not my ‘cup of tea’ so to speak. Yes, they make love beautifully, sensuously, and with commitment. But sometimes that is just not enough when I cannot get an awareness of who they are. Those of you who love ‘Mew/Golf’, and there are legions of you, I get it. Sometimes when you create a huge impact, it is really, really hard to do it over again. I missed its je ne sais quoi.
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