Hometown's Embrace (2021)

Good intention

Before I start nagging about the many flaws of this series, let me say I liked it, for more than one reason. I'll keep this short, because I think everybody have to make up their mind about the show themselves. I only want to give you some clues.

The message
This series, unlike most other Thai BL-series, addresses the social and political situation in the country, like corruption, killings of non-corrupt politicians, or the threat of gang crime. The message behind it is to encourage people to not accept these circumstances, to stand together and fight against crime and injustice. In this sense, the series can be called patriotic, especially in the last episodes. Given the overall situation in Thailand, it seems brave to produce a show like this. So the intention is good.

The plot
I won't spoil any details here. A young man returns to his home village in the North of Thailand where a local gang blackmails and kills residents. He teams up with some other young men to fight the gangsters.

The script
Here's the first big problem. Many scenes are unintentionally comic with a high level of ridiculousness. You get a rough idea what the writer intended, but the execution is often unrealistic if not illogical. One example among many others is the acceptance of boys' love by the villagers, with parents encouraging their son to have sex with his boyfriend. And in real life it would be nothing short of suicide, if a bunch of inexperienced, if not naive young men stand up against gangsters who have killed average citizens as well as politicians. Fortunately, the gangsters are mere caricatures who don't recognize their enemies although they have seen them several times before. They even don't wonder why a guy they think they have killed is suddenly alive again.

The cast / acting
This is the second problem. I have given 8 stars, but this is a compromise: a 10 for the cast, but a 6 for acting at best. There are some very attractive young men, like Kawaii (Din) or Andew (the teacher). But: after some of the boys showed their amazing physique in bathing scenes in the first few episodes, this promise is not fulfilled, as they stay completely dressed in the later episodes which is a pity. More importantly, and unfortunately, most of them have no acting skills at all, making dramatic scenes unintentionally comic.

The setting / cinematography / soundtrack
The story is set in a rural surrounding in Northern Thailand. Cinematography and production are surprisingly good, and the ost is beautiful.

Product placement
I understand you need a lot of money to produce a series like this, and most Thai BLs have more or less product placement. It's nice to have the boys praise a brand of soap while they are taking a shower, but I wonder if it has to be a bleaching soap. When it's about painkillers or sauce, just regard it as a comic intermezzo, and it doesn't hurt too much.

Rewatch value
Whether you will want to rewatch the series or not obviously depends on how much you liked (or hated) it. As I liked it, and as the title song keeps hanging in my ear all the time, I may rewatch it some day, when there's no other BL series to watch. I also guess one may discover some hidden messages at a second glance only.

There have been better series than this, but it's definitely not the worst. All in all, despite the flaws mentioned before, in my opinion watching this series is no waste of time.

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Watched for the Messages

I loved this series. Many of us (including me) do not understand rural life, especially in the countryside of Thailand. In Northern Thailand they have tours where tourists visit people in villages to see their lifestyle tp bring in some money. I did not go because as with the elephant industry, I had no idea who is getting the money. So I cannot judge a series that like this that needs to raise capital, even with intrusive product placements. The series is trying to send a message, even if the execution is not flashy, preachy with other the top drama.

Watching the scene where Mongkon's parents are welcoming Mek into the family, was so touching. I looked at the bed that was resting on wood blocks, so different from the luxury condos and villas we see in Bangkok-based series, yet showing that even people who do not have much can be very happy. Hometown's Embrace also shows that even in rural areas, LGBT people can be accepted, and are part of the community. The heroes were a bunch of gay men and a trans-woman!

The casting was well done. The young actors from the the province so maybe they do not have the polish of the Bangkok-based actors, but they did a fine job.

I'm hoping to see more from this team and the actors. I look forward to future projects from this team.

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