Tonhon Chonlatee (2020)

Lets Pretend the last Episode Didn't Happen

I really did actually like this show. It's rare, but becoming more common, for one of the characters to already be out or know that he is gay. The sexual tension and the puns I felt were quite out there for some Thai dramas, I feel like its the first time seing "awkward boner" issues etc which made it fun to watch.

Chonlatee's support from his mom and friend are wonderful, and Ai and Ni are hilarious side characters. Everyone has issues with Ton being homophobic/misogynistic, which he IS, but I think then people underplay his struggle of coming to terms with himself and the people around him later on. There are homophobic and misogynistic people in the world. For Ton, it was a learned behavior from his father. When he realized it affected the important people around him, he changed for the better, and I loved his clear crisis of conscious versus just "easily" switching from one side to the other.

I think the show had a real chance at showing that these kinds of changes aren't easy or clean. It brought up issues of consent, manipulation, and toxic relationships.

And then the last episode just killed it all, and was a huge disappointment, seeming to backtrack on so much of the potential.

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Take the worst out of Tharntype and Theory of Love and you get this

So, first of all the only reason I gave it so many stars is because of the characters(the friendgroup) and the comedy. And because it says something against homophobia.
But there were tooo many problematic things, like Ton forcing his friends to get prostitutes and that was never resolved. At the end it got a little bit better, Chon even got a backbone. I have to say that I skipped most TonChon scenes because I didn't care about them, like at all so that's probably why I didn´t hate it too much. The story was meh, the typical "evil ex" story line paired with a worse version of Tharntype and Theory of love. There were plot holes and Tons actions didn't make sense, it wanted you to throw your head against the wall because of his stupidity.
But if you don't take it seriously and just watch it for the funny scenes, then it was a fun watch at times. But just don't. Just don't watch this.

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Somewhat likable, but not a strong BL offering

To be really honest, this BL series isn't great. But it is still a couple of notches above some of the most uninteresting series in the same genre.

The story isn't at all original: gay man falls for a straight man who will somehow reciprocate. But even generic stuff, if properly executed, can still be rather good. Unfortunately the writing in this series is rather weak. The climax and denouement are rather disappointing and illogical. Chonlatee's reaction to Tonhon being provoked into kissing his ex-girlfriend seems like an overreaction that is out of character. The twists in the final episode, like the revelation of when Tonhon starts falling in love with Chonlatee, are also rather unconvincing. The theme song is actually rather nice, but the use of sound effects and music during the episodes is a tad repetitive. The same music is played when the scene is supposed to be tense regardless of the level of tension. This doesn't help with the story-telling.

The characters also often change according to the requirements of the plot or exist simply to advance the plot in a somewhat clumsy way. The best example is Tonhon's father who suddenly switches from a rather bigoted homophobe to someone who can actually accept that his son is in a gay relationship as long as he has an heir. (The solution to the heir problem isn't ingenious and could have been offered years ago.) Another character, Amp, exists solely to be the typical awful woman in BLs whereas Miriam is the complimentary fujoshi. Na changes from an annoying narcissist to a rather sweet guy when the story requires it.

On the other hand, there are some likable aspects of the series. Chonlatee's mother is a delight to watch throughout, and I wish there were more of her besides Ton and Chon. Ai and Ni totally outshine the main couple--their characterization lacks depth, but the actors pull of their roles in a really endearing way.

One controversial thing in this series is the portrayal of Tonhon's father (and Tonhon himself to some extent). Yet, it could also turn out to be the series' (possibly unintended) redeeming quality. Tonhon and his father are guilty of quite a bit of bigoted behavior, but they are basically not blamed much for it. I have seen comments on YouTube pointing out how the terrible behavior gets glossed over. On the other hand, I find that there is something realistic about the whole thing. It is unfortunate, but gay people do struggle with their identity because some homophobes are actually people they care about.

Often enough, a gay person may discover that his friend or family member is homophobic. Does this discovery decisively end the friendship or family ties? A gay person may love his parents for so many reasons, but this love won't simply be erased just because they are homophobic. I think this is what Ai and Ni go through as they hide their sexual orientation from Tonhon, their best friend. They do not like his homophobia one bit, but, as they point out, they value him as a friend for his other qualities.

This series is by no means a must-watch for BL fans. But if you want something fairly light-hearted and easy to follow, it isn't as terrible as some have made it out to be.

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I have some mixed feelings about this series. At the beginning I was kinda obsessed with it and I used to laugh so hard that I thought Tonhoncholatee would become one of my fav BLs. Well it didn't. But I'm not that mad with the series overall.
First things first: Tonhon is not that homophobic on the novel (i didn't read the novel, but I watched a YouTube video from a girl who had and pointed out the differences between the novel and the series) and I don't know why they made him that way if in the end they also threw the "i was in love with you since ever" bs. I actually didn't buy the "one-sided love since we were child" story tonhon told Chon at the end. I didn't also understand what this story has anything to do with the fact Ton kissed Amp just to prove a pointless point. I still don't understand why Chon suddenly was able to forgive Ton because of this story lol. I guess he was able to forgive Ton because 1) they are fictional characters and 2) they were on the last episode.

The plot itself was nothing new and I won't explain myself here because a lot of other users did it already, so I wasn't expecting much regarding plot (if you want something different go for Manner of Death) but I was kinda interested because the series's teaser was very good and Chon seemed to be a different main character (specially because he didn't lower his head for Amp). I still think Chon is a good character. Actually I think every character is somewhat good because they have good stuff going on and they also have flaws. I think they could do a better job with Tonhoncholatee if they had more episodes but they spend a lot of time also with some unnecessary bs, but I'm not an expert on recording series nor editing them.

I can understand Ton's dad issues even tho I don't agree with them. But the way things were dealt at the end was ???¿¿????¿. I can see that point on the plot working out if Ton's dad had really some time to think. But I give him kudos for one of the best lines in the series: accepting someone is also a way to show them love. There's a transgender youtuber i follow (she's from my country - brazil) that once said that she understood when her parents got shocked when she came out. When a woman gets pregnant the parents tend to dream about that child and build a lot of dreams for themselves. We know that this is not healthy at all but it is reality. And she said that she understand she killed that dream and they needed time to deal with that. I think this is somewhat what was happening to Ton's dad.
The solution for TonChon relationship was also very ???. Of course they could try "renting" a womb (this is illegal in my country lol) but this should be their decision also. They could do even better and adopt a child that needs parents.

Contrasting with Ton's dad, we have Chon's mom. I love her and there's nothing we can discuss about this queen that stick with her son.

Ton's sister and brother-in-law had one of the most interesting plots on the series and it's a shame we didn't see them as much as I wished to. Na is our true hero and I wish him the best, i still can't believe people were so heartless with his feelings and asked him to help chon and ton get together.

Miriam is not in the novel but I'm happy she was in the series. Toptap and Mike were there to give us some fanservice let's be honest lol. Although, i still enjoyed them a lot and I think the characters suited them well.

But now I want to talk about Amp. Ok she was there to be the bad character and we understand that. BUT the way she was treated at the end? Please, let's grow up. We WON'T do a thing to the world while we fight intolerance with intolerance and I won't get tired of saying that.  I wish they do better in the future with characters like that.

The OST was great, the plot was not revolutionary, the actors did their job well (it's not their fault what they had to portray) and I had some good time watching it.  I was mad, i laughed, i questioned myself and the plot's taste a lot also. I'm glad GMMTV is at least trying to do something without relying on our holy trinity (now + brightwin lol) and I'm also glad Pod and Khao were paired as the main couple.

I won't say I'm gonna watch this series again but I also won't say that watching tonhoncholatee was a waste of time. Not for me at least. If you are unsure on watching it or not just give it a try and drop it if you don't like. Simple as that.

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A good laugh

I watch this one with an open mind and I like it!!! There were some problems like how the dad is homophobic, and the OTP has to give in to the dad's demand; by giving him a baby so the dad can approve their relationship, etc. That was not good because the OTP could have made the dad accept them or not. I guess??

I like how Ton already likes Chon first when they were young, and it wasn't something like, "Oh, he is my friend and he likes me, so I will like him back......" not that thing where only he's the kind of man that I like, so I will only like him thing.

There were some good laughs among the friends; like Miriam and Chon's girlfriend. AiNi were delightful to watch as they bring light laughter and joyful moments to the series.

Overall, I would not re-watched, but I like it!!!!

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Whatever you do, DONT watch this

Literally so bad that im afraid i wont be able to put it into words. I was looking forward to this so much bc of Podd/khao/mike/toptap and the story looked promising so i watched it as it came out every week on gmmtv's youtube. (i rarely do this! I usually wait until its all aired unless im really looking forward to it.) I was extremely disappointed by the end, i was flabbergasted, left SPEECHLESS. I cannot believe gmmtv wasted Podd and Khaotung's talent down THE DRAIN like that, its just disrespectful. Compared to countless of other shows khao has been in and Podd's astounding performance in dbk, it was really hard to believe these were the same people. I cant believe gmmtv put some of their most talented actors in this dumbassery of a show. I want to cry and bleach my eyeballs, someone pls make me forget this ever existed. "Lord please forgive me for beating this bitch's ass today, lord"

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Nice Climax in the end ......

Ohoo the story is kind of common where main cast Don't know his feelings and then the story plot which brings them closer. It was light and fun to watch. The whole series was okay okay but in the end of the series there was perfect climax (funny and turning series into positive ending) and good ending. The acting was good enough (one must know acting is not joke ,it's really hard ) therefore I appreciate their acting.
The song I heard after I was done with series and I found it touching ( Even though I don't understand lyrics but ae we know music is beyond any limitations) you should watch this series and see the climax was really nice (unexpected for me). And ending was happy ending which I like really.

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Lovestory Journey

I like the cast and the 1st episode. Hope to see more exciting scenes in this series. I am very much excited to watch the succeeding episodes on how their love story be like. I can't imagine how their story will flow. I hope there would be an intense love triangle scenes. Something like lots of hindrances on their relationships and then in the end, they will have a happy ending story which we cannot forget. Hope to see more scenes also to Top and Mike. I like their tandem. Looking forward too for a more realistic intense scenes. I'm really looking forward on this series. More power!

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Would not ever put myself through this again

This drama has to be by far the worst I've seen. It was so hard to watch I was taking breaks between each part of the episode and even throughout the part.
At first I was really excited to watch it because it looked genuinely good but that was not the case at all quiet far from reality, honestly disappointed .
I did plan on forcing myself to finish the series but couldn't bring myself to my brain just wouldn't commit to it seeing how it was so cringy, had a weird concept for the drama, misogynistic and many more problematic things.
I would not recommend this to my worst enemy! Do yourselves a favour and add this to your 'Not interested' list.
Overall: Terrible series, would never watch again, it does not get better as the series goes on.
*if theres any spelling or grammar mistakes please ignore them* 😅

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Honestly Fine

I was hesitant to watch after seeing the reviews for the BL but they were mostly wrong. The story is sweet and the cast is amazing. Each of the side characters gets a pretty good amount of screen time and each story is wrapped up at the end. Yes the dad sucks but his actions weren’t out of the norm. Lots of light casual conversations with believable actions.

Leads: Ton was a normal douchey guy but his actions showed he really cared about Chon. Chon was liked by everyone and was sweet/approachable.

Final Thoughts: Fave series, no, but a solid entry. Soundtrack wasn’t as memorable but this wasn’t a music heavy drama. The cast was the highlight for this series and I would recommend.

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i got nothing

I honestly don't know what to say or where to start with this.

From the synopsis, I thought this was going to be about two childhood best friends who separate as children (kind of like Korn and Knock in TWM) and then reunite at university, only one's been in love with the other since they were kids and the other is apparently straight and has a girlfriend (also like Korn and Knock in TWM) only with more emphasis on the ocean and pretty scenery.

Chon has been in love with his childhood best friend Ton since they were small. They lived literally next door to each other, and when Ton and his family moved away, Chon was devastated. Fast forward several years and Chon, who has taken it upon himself to clean Ton's old house regularly (because the family never sold it and it's been sitting vacant for years) hears someone moving around in the house and goes to confront what he thinks is a burglar.

Turns out it's Ton, running away from uni and his girlfriend who dumped him for a richer bloke. Let's not get into how so many female characters in Thai BL are golddiggers - it won't end well.

Chon is going to Ton's uni, so Ton offers to let Chon live it his house with his two best friends, Ai and Ni. Ai and Ni are a couple, but haven't told Ton because his father is uber homophobic (kind of) and they don't want to lose his friendship.

All this, in and of itself, would be fine. Chon struggles to keep his feelings for Ton a secret, because he doesn't want to lose Ton's friendship, and then it all comes out and Ton has to figure out his own feelings for Chon. Fine. All standard in BL. Not a problem.

But then things do this weird 180 in the last episode, and it turns out Ton was also in love with Chon when they were kids and always has been and everything that happened up to then has been some kind of, I dunno, weird scheme to get Chon to fall in love with him?

This makes absolutely no sense at all. It's like the writers were going one way with this series, and then decided, 'fuck it.' And all the supposed foreshadowing for this isn't very foreshadow-ey even when they try to make it that in flashbacks.

Another thing that puzzled me was Ai and Ni. They're supposed to be a couple in a loving relationship, but we never see them kiss. They lean into towards each other, and then the camera just pans away. What is that about? If the actors aren't comfortable kissing, why cast them in the first place?

Lastly, the odd plot twist led to the reveal that Ton's father knew he loved Chon and the reason he was against it wasn't because he was homophobic, but rather that he was wanting grandchildren to carry on his family name and legacy. Now I know this is a big, big thing in most Asian cultures, but in 2020, and admittedly from my perspective, this just comes off as really stupid. Really, really stupid.

This problem is solved when Miriam, a recent friend, agrees to be a surrogate. Which also weirded me out. Because that happens at the end, which is apparently three years later, so what took so long? And Ton and Chon are both still in uni - was it to give them time to graduate before Ton becomes a father? Is Ton going to *be* the father? Or is the child/ren going to be raised by Ton's parents? What's Chon's role in all of this? what's Miriam's? Is she going to give birth and then give the baby/babies up?

Children are people - not balls to be bounced around, or commodities to bargain with. You should never bring a child/ren into the world if you aren't prepared to put 100% effort into being a parent. They are seriously bringing a child/ren into the world just so there's an heir for Ton's dad? To carry on the family name? What happens if the child is a girl? Did she get pregnant three times and then abort the other two because they were girls? The whole thing is never explained well and comes off as skeevy as fuck.

The first nine episodes of this show were fine. Mostly. I'm not going to touch of how much a himbo Ton comes off as, because that's something you need to see and laugh about for yourself (and episode 10 retcons it all anyway) . Even precluding that, they were fine.

The the curse of episode 10 struck and everything went weird and I think, if I was watching this again, I'd stop after the scene on the pier in episode 10 and pretend the other half of the ep doesn't exist, because it doesn't do anything for the show as a whole and, to repeat myself, is skeevy as all get out.

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