Drama Digest
Hometown Embrace is a Thai BL set in a village in Thailand. After a tragic loss, the male lead (Than) returns to his hometown. He believes that he may relieve his pain by being in a different environment. This Thai drama revolves around six guys and their life ventures. These six men join forces with their friends to fight the criminals who have overrun the village as the story unfolds through some frightening occurrences in their town.
The Feel Good Part
The drama encounters three separate love stories. The drama shows how unity gives strength to fight any evil. It ended happily with the defeat of the gang members, and the three couples ended up together like any other cliché happy ending.
The Disappointing Part
Many BL fans found this drama somewhat disappointing given the high interest in numerous BL programs in previous years. The romantic spark fans expect from a BL was noticeably lacking in this drama. Furthermore, there is just too much unnecessary cruelty and violence shown for a BL drama.
In-Depth Analysis
The story starts with Than, who lives with his mother in a small village. For higher studies, he leaves his home and moves to a city. Meanwhile, in the town, Than’s mother strives hard every day to support her son financially so he can pursue his studies. One day, she meets in a car accident and loses her life. In the grief of his mother’s death, he decides to come back to the village. One day, he finds some gangsters messing with some neighbors. The morally conscious Than tries to calm down the situation by interfering. That’s when he meets one of the gangsters named Din. He feels something special about Din and follows him to find that he lives with his grandmother, who doesn’t know the truth about Din’s deeds. Slowly, they both start getting to know each other. Eventually, Din realizes that Than’s personality is changing him for the better. Now the story moves to Than’s friend Mek who works at a school. His love interest is Kon. Kon is a new teacher in the school. Since Kon had spent most of his life in the city lights, he found it difficult to adjust to the new place, the village. From Mek, the story’s focus reaches out to another friend of Than named Dan. Dan is the son of a politician. Due to some political enmity, his parents get killed. Khet, a stranger, saved him, whose mother gets killed by the same group of gangsters.
Star Power
The casting could have been better. Although all were very charming for a BL drama, they lacked in letting out their emotions as their characters.
Overall Opinion
If you are a BL fan, you might give it a chance. But it’s better not to expect much from this drama.
