I finished this series in about three days on the weekend, and I have mixed feelings about it. Hear me out:

I agree with what the general consensus is in terms of the acting, I think it's relatively well acted. The two main actors do a great job with the roles they're given. And if I can be completely honest, I think the actor who played Lhong was actually the most talented. But that's not what I want to talk about.

I've yet to see a review on this series pointing out a few obvious (to me, at least) problems that the series highlights. I'll just come right out and say it: Type is a terrible person and in no way deserves Tharn, so although I knew they would end up together (how could they not?) I was still hoping in the back of my heart that they didn't.

There will be SPOILERS so read at your own discretion:

Type displayed some of the most abusive, problematic, and downright evil treatment towards not only Tharn but also to the people in his life aside from his parents. This is not acceptable and should not be overlooked. I got extremely tired of their relationship by halfway through the series. He offered nothing to Tharn but skirted by on his looks and the trope that everyone wants what they can't - it was unmemorable and annoying a lot of the times.

Type physically attacked Tharn on a number of occasions, punching him in the face twice, pushing him down, kicking him, choking him, holding him by the collar, kneeing him in the groin (the most fucked up thing in my opinion) and countless others. It is NEVER okay, or cute, or charming, or understandable when someone does this sort of thing. Doesn't matter how cute, handsome or sexy someone is. Doesn't matter if that person has gone through traumas of their own. It's not acceptable and Tharn should've had him charged or at the very least reported him to the school.

Then there's the issue of the constant, brutal emotional abusive, manipulation, gaslighting, and downright cruel treatment from Type when it comes to his relationship with Tharn. He practices so many toxic monogamous traits, the main one being the fact that Type seems to use jealousy as a tactic to maintain interest from Tharn. He uses making Tharn jealous as an indicator of love for himself, and openly admits it in the episode where he flirts with women in front of Tharn. Tharn says "Do you enjoy seeing me upset and hurt?" and Type straight up says "Yes, I do!" with a smile. That's fucked up and not acceptable! That's. emotional. abuse. He constantly accepts Tharn's love and affection and sex in secret meanwhile actively living his life as a vehement homophobe.

To a certain extent, Tharn can be blamed for allowing the treatment to continue, because remember he was given many opportunities to move out, and Type did make it clear at the start that he wasn't interested in a friendship and especially not a romance. So knowing all the signs, Tharn pursued Type anyway, and I think he pursued Type based solely on the fact that he's gorgeous (they had really no other basis for a friendship much less a relationship besides the couple weeks of being roommates before Type found out he was gay.) So in a way, Tharn saw all the warning signs straight up and even tasted a lot of Type's wrath and continued to actively pursue him and defend him to everyone around them, which is unfortunate because he's a sweetheart and really let himself get trampled on emotionally and physically.

Another point I'd like to make is that his friends receive similar things from Type: he is constantly threatening to beat them up (and yes, I understand that it's all in fun so don't get me wrong, friends joke, I know) but you can tell that they're scared of him because they will legitimately stop when they know he's upset. And often they will say "He's hotheaded, high strung, and blunt. That's just how he is." as if they're just accepting and excusing the fact that he's always treating people like shit around him. He calls people faggots, tells everyone he meets that he hates gay people, is rash, angry, and immature anytime someone brings up something to do with his behaviour. And honestly near the end of the series just before the climax of the show I was starting to get really really tired of Type. He was starting to lose whatever special place he had in my heart just because he was handsome. It started to become not enough to excuse his shitty personality and behaviour.

Anyway, that's all I'll say about that. I think as a Westerner I might have a really biased view about how relationships work in Thailand or the differences between values and what's acceptable. I see those things happen in the show and I have a much different reaction, but it seems to be a common theme in most BL dramas: abuse, cheating, manipulation, violence, etc. So I guess I'm not totally surprised. I just wish for once the main character (Tharn in this example, who is such a sweetheart) would recognize all of those toxic warning signs and run away instead of running headfirst into it and getting hurt over and over just because the guy he's pursuing is good looking.

And I didn't want to get into it, but I will talk about it briefly before I finish: Type's sexual assault does not, in any way, give him a free pass to treat everyone around him terribly. Especially to the extent that he treats Tharn. Type needs to seek professional, serious help. His unresolved traumas do no deserve to manifest themselves into poor treatment towards his loved ones. I am not saying that it's not terrible he had to go through what he did, I am also a sexual assault survivor and because of that I have deep empathy for Type. Nobody deserves that - but instead of getting into relationships and using that trauma to fuel dangerous and violent behaviours - you need to get assessed and receive proper help. You're an adult and responsible for that, not other people. Not Tharn, who was such a sweetheart to you and was your emotional and physical punching bag.

So I'll say it one last time: they were adorable together behind closed doors every now and again, but they did not deserve each other and I would've preferred it end with Type pushing away Tharn for good and Tharn moving on, and realizing how shitty their rship was in the long run, and Type eventually healing his own self before trying to explore his "gay" side.

I won't rewatch this and probably won't recommend it to others but if you want to see what it's about it's not insufferable.