Tonhon Chonlatee

Friends to lovers + forced proximity (cohabitation)

Whether I liked Tohnon Chonlatee or not, I can’t deny that it gave us a number of things we hadn’t seen in Thai BL before:

* Queer found family and support network.
* Out gay side couple who could function as healthy role models, advisors, foils, and comic relief for the main couple.
* Actually decent female representation.
* A truly charming cast of characters that included Na’s sunglasses.

Will it live on in the zeitgeist as a top Thai BLs? Unlikely, but it’s probably the first honest gay rom com out of Thailand with passingly adequate queer rep. So for that it will live in my heart forever.

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Started out good!

This is a show that starts out with a few good episodes and quickly goes downhill from there.

The script is a mess, the stereotypes are mixed up, the premise is not believable, and the side actors are mostly annoying.

I watched this all the way through, but it was really a waste of time after the first few episodes. I have seen worse, the only thing this show had going for it was there were no screeching, hysterical side characters. I think if the script had been better written, perhaps the actors could have had something to work with, but the script is bad, nothing else works.

I don't recommend a first watch of this one, let alone a rewatch. So sad.

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Bad Direction supported by an equally bad Script

Coming to the story, it's nothing that we haven't seen before but at the same time it was presented badly.
There are so many flaws and plot holes in the series that you just plan to drop it.
The best character I liked in the series and at the same time the best acting in the series is "Na".
Before the last few episodes, there was no homosexual backstory to support the lead which puts on a lot of weight on the series and crashes it.
They have tried to make it comedy by showing dumbness but it goes to the point that it's overbearing.
The Main Leads acting is just okish, I blame direction for it. The scenes in the club, the dance, and the facial expressions are a bit too much for this fantasy series.
Multiple times it felt like the leads were harassing each other, which makes it a bit toxic which at the same time doesn't matches with the series.
Most of the side stories are not completed which creates more plot holes.
Overall this series is just over the top.

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when Humor is controversial

This post ISN'T telling you what you can or can not like, what you should or should not find humorous, or that you should or shouldn't watch this series. also its a long one.

Actually I'm taking a college course in Humor and Laughter right now and just like what y'all pointed out, humor can be used to shame or humiliate someone. But on the other hand, it could also be used as a tool to gain acceptance and agreeance. Say, a speaker says something funny and you laughed, in order words, you subconsciously agree with the speaker even though you don't vocalize it or if asked if you agree, you may not acknowledge it. (give it a sec for that to sink in, it makes sense right?)

Humor can also be used as a tool to gain attention. But what does this show do with the attention we've given it? well nothing meaningful that's for sure. For example, ep1 when Chon was molested, the scene after he had a talk with Ton. About how, NOT ALL GAYS are bad people etc. That is meaningful even though Chon was testing Ton rather than coming from a place that wants to educate him. So i was expecting ep 3 for Ton to apologize or have Chon point out how it wasn't cool to force your friend to do something they have not given consent to. But what did we get? more "humorous" jokes from Ton imitating Chon after creepily eavesdropping. What we don't get is the meaningful conversation that comes after the audience gives them the attention.

i get it's supposed to be funny. I get it's satiric and ironic and what not. But that doesn't mean I have to laugh at it or find it funny. If Ton were to start spewing nonsense like how he thinks rapists and murderers should be praised and his friends look at him like "uhmmm" but smiling as if they agree just as how they do when he spews homophobic and toxic masculinity lines, will you find that funny?

So don't tell us the obvious, we know its "humor and supposed to be funny". But we're just addressing it because it's not funny to us so you don't have to act as if we're stupid that we don't realize its humor and finding the need to point it out. We point it out because, again, there were not any meaningful conversations between the characters. Below are 3 examples, one from each episode I found disturbing and not funny.

Having a feminine gay Molest someone then later saying "IM JUST A GIRL DON'T HURT ME" is NOT funny. That is problematic on multiple layers; first molesting someone is not humorous in any way, 2nd thai BL have a tendency to portray darker skinned folks as the "villain" so to speak, and lastly it feeds into the "gay people are predators" stereotype. This is a issue of misrepresentation. (ep1)

Pushing your friend (chon) into a room with a stranger you (ton) picked out even tho the friend (chon) is EXPLICITLY saying "NO" IS NOT funny. Then later making fun of it by imitating it is NOT funny. This is an issue of consent. (ep2)

finding the need to "BUY" a fake girlfriend just to prove to your over the top masculine friend that you're 100% most definitely straight is NOT funny. That is a toxic relationship. (ep3)

I'll give you your "its satire" when Ton spews his problematic lines and it's supposed to be ironic. But the three that stood out to me (and I'm sure theres more) that I find problematic about this show is not just THAT SIMPLE. BUT the stuff I listed above shouldn't even be humorous, PERIOD.

We have identified that Humor is a tool that is used in writing, BUT it should never overshadow the plot to the point where it hurts the actual story. That is the issue we're pointing out. Not just because we have no sense of humor.

EDIT: also, as we have established, Humor can be used to SHAME. That is the point of this show. This show doesn't aim to EDUCATE but rather to SHAME (at least thats the vibe I'm getting) which is why it's toxic.

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Once again I'm here because so many people say that isn't good...

I don't see a reason why so many here is saying such a bad things about this series. I think that wasn't the best but I liked it. Na, Ai and Ni were so sweet and my heart was melting... <3 Chon and Ton were so realistic characters especially Ton. They faced the real life issues and went through them quite well. Ton was an idiot time by time but it is like that when we're talking about life. I liked the ending even the story wasn't my favorite. Toptap's smile made my day and Ton's "I'm so in love" -face. I really recommend this series to you, at least if you have nothing better to do <3 Give it a chance and maybe you will like it. There were also some sweet moments these were so cheesy that they made me feel so single. Good watching hours ♡


(I didn't ever mean to start writing reviews, but it seems that I have to do it, bc so much criticism here)

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has beed waiting for this long ago but sadly this series pushed me down to the ground

im not going to compare this with any other series so calm down.
looking back to the official trailer, i can see that this series is going to be a romance comedy one, and i really expect that much.
from the first episode, i keep pausing and skipping because of the level of cringy they put in here, really? a gay feminine act out of line bugging people out can make a bad stereotype for lgbt community.
again, silly fujoshi that act nothing but ship the main couple (but im looking forward for her speech/advice for both couple to solve problem.)
for Ton, no solid character, i know this is some kind of romcom comedy but his character is bugging me, he didnt have a clue about this person chon that he called friend or brother, but i think it's just that the writer wants the story goes like.
i keep skipping because somewhat boring, not all, but some. for those who find this series funny, you're lucky. i also hope i can enjoy this series like everyone else, i love the actors but no no, i think this is just dedicated to fujoshi being satisfied seeing two gay couple without even a proper story and explanation nor even solid character. i love bl, but if there is just two guys finally being together without proper story but just bad impression and conflict, its a big no no.

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Dissapointed.

This drama was so promising at the beginning, I saw the cast and I saw Toptap and Mike and they are one of my fav side couples obviously from 2gether the series and I was excited that they would be featured in another series together but honestly I got my hopes up too much.
Very typical plot of 'I like only you' and the homophobia is very prominent in the series. Only characters I love are Ai, Ni , Miriam and Chonlatee's mum. It's probably not worth the watch if you want a deeper plot line, however there is character development for Tonhon's character.
The story ended way too quickly and it was paced very weirdly. If you are hoping for any affectionate Ai, Ni scenes don't bother because they always pan the camera away from them which got me so annoyed and honestly both of them deserve their own series.

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No. Just... No

After watching this I can confidently say... I have finally found it. I have found a series that made me want to blow my brains out more than 2gether the series. It took me almost 2 weeks to get through this dumpster fire because I had to keep pausing and contemplating all the life choices that had led me to this very moment in time. It was cringy, repetitive, and just overall so cliche in the worst possible ways

STORY

The story itself was really cute- or it would've been if the writers and producers knew their heads from their asses. Tonhon, from the very beginning, is a self-obsessed jerk who has so much internalized homophobia he can't even realize his closest friends who he has known for years are gay themselves. This wouldn't be such an issue, however, if he didn't treat being gay like it was the plague.

The trope of him being violently, disgustingly, vomit-inducingly homophobic to telling his childhood best friend he was in love with him would have been kind of cute if they hadn't made him SO homophobic to the point he refused to even acknowledge it wasn't a disease. This just added to my confusion when one second he was punching a dude for flirting with chonlatee and the next he was kissing him. It just didn't make sense.

Chonlatee was such a sweet character and he deserved way better. By episode 6 I was rooting for the second lead to end up with him. I knew it wouldn't happen but I just needed some motivation to keep watching. The fact that Chonlatee said being in a relationship with Ton was tiring just solidified my opinion that just because you love someone is not reason enough to stay together. They were borderline toxic and I will die on that hill.

Ai and Ni made me more interested in their story than the main couple did and they only had like 10 mins of screen time in each episode if that. I would've loved it if they had gotten just a bit more time cuz they were so cute together. Also, fuck the directors for not giving us the AiNi kiss scene we deserved. We were robbed.

As episode 10 rolled around the corner I liked exactly 2 characters- Itt and Miriam. I would say pang too but she didn't get enough screen time for me to get to know her character.

STORY

Boring and so cliche. The crazy ex-girlfriend trope can be pretty interesting if implemented in the right context. As you may have guessed whoever decided how they should include the trope in this series did not do a great job of it. Not even a half-decent job at that. They didn't just include the trope- no they instead made the whole storyline around the girl.

Every. Single. Episode. There she was. Oh, the main characters are having a cute moment. How cute! Oh, wait Amp is right around the corner about to throw water on the poor dude. Damn. Oh, how adorable they're going on a date! Oh wait never mind she's there and now all three characters are in a bad mood.

There was not a single cute moment that wasn't ruined by her presence. I can't remember most of what I watched, but you know what I do remember? Amp was there.

ACTING

Overall the acting was pretty good. The actors did the best they could with what they were given. While most people probably don't like the antagonist the actress who played Amp did a wonderful job of making us hate her.

All in all, would I ever watch this again? I would rather willingly jump into a pit of lava. I do however want the intro played at my funeral.

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i have never wanted to kms more (tw: mention of r*pe)

here are some things in each episode that made me laugh in pain, cry in fear, and scream in disbelief:
ep 1- the way it started out with the untamed reference, that grubby kids booger had me passing away
ep 2- that bozo (na) walking backwards, the end part of 4/4, chon dancing made me depressed
ep 3- ton randomly checking chon's muscles, overall very much suffered watching this episode
ep 4- the elephant covering ton's pp and ton's pp reveal in general, ton is a weirdo bc he keeps being sus but then also homophobic and it's cringe af, ton went from brother to "should i make him my wife" i will kill him, the mom dancing and singing
ep 5- the way the music started when ton took chon's wrist inside the house
ep 6- the dude (nueng) ab to r*pe chon deserves no rights bc why would he do smth so disgusting just cuz it happened to him in the past smh, also why is chon giving ton a smooch after he got assaulted what's wrong with him and the way he said "ily" immediately after, not them censoring ai and ni smooch also it was random af im screaming with the s, when ton passed by chon and then chon got sad and left but then ton came back and he looked stupid bc it was sped up
ep 7- the random cut from ai and ni to chon and na spinning sent, the you say "be straight" i say "taste the rainbow flag thing zoom, the judge wig makes miriam look like ten and i hate it
ep 8- the random kiss wtfreak and then the shirt removal and then the untamed reference immediately after, the "i will make you scream louder than last night" made my skin crawl and so did the nose rub after
ep 9- ton sitting outside in broad daylight with some stationary writing chon notes lmaoaooao
ep 10- NOT THE MOM APPROVING OF THE WIFE AND HUBBY TERMINOLOGY IM K WORDING MSYEFL, THE WAY THE KID CHON FELL OFF THE BRIDGE IM CRYING ADN CSCREAMING I CANT ITS TOO FUNNY

overall, this show is caca poo and i hat u gmmtv for ruining the story by adding irrelevant plot lines. also i hate every character except na. ai and ni were ok in the beginning but they got annoying also the censoring was cringe. i wish i could take back all the hours i wasted watching this show. the music was random and cringe, the sound effects even more. i am brocken thanks a lot gmmtv u stinky baffoons
if i were u i would never even watch the trailer for it. if u even THINK about watching it, watch it on the fastest speed there is.

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Offensive to the LGBTQ community & adult children of narcissistic parents

Finally a series with a story that had GREAT potential to discuss many important matters for society (coming out, parenthood, personality disorders, infidelity, surrogacy etc), but instead the producers and writers chose the most heteronormative, safe, poorly executed approach possible, that is actually OFFENSIVE and perpetuates several damaging stereotypes. Let's analyze this one by one (spoilers ahead).

First of all, Chon in the beginning acts like a mentally unhealthy fanboy and stalker and exhibits several disturbing behaviors that are being romanticized as ''star crossed lovers''. Stalking a guy who has been no contact with you for 5 years all the time in social media? Going to his family's empty house to clean it like it's some kind of museum and fantasize? Choosing a university not based on what will give you the best education or what you want to study but because Ton goes there? Are you serious? This behavior is ''cute'' and ''funny''? This is codependency, love addiction and maladaptive daydreaming (feel free to google those terms if you don't know what they mean). Chon doesn't need to date Ton, he needs mental help from a psychiatrist.

Ton's character is an immature loser and has multiple personalities during the series. At first he is very homophobic and I thought that they will use that to discuss how some people who grow up in homophobic families end up suppressing being gay. Nope, after that Ton has said several times that ''he loved only Chon'' meaning he is not gay and just ''happened to be in love with this specific man''. The ''I am straight but became gay for you'' trope is an extremely damaging concept and should not be perpetuated. As if this wasn't enough, he ends up triangulating Chon with his toxic ex gf (episode where she challenges him with her manipulation and he ends up kissing her in the classmate reunion breaking Chon's heart). It is clear that he still hasn't gotten over the infidelity/break up or isn't ready to deal with the challenges that comes from being out as dating another man and he shouldn't be dating anyone until he works on those issues first. He does apologize, but then toxic behaviors continue and nothing gets resolved. He should have gone to the police for his stalker ex gf instead of tolerating her harassment.

Ton's narcissistic father in the show was actually a very well portrayed character and the actor did a good job portraying a self-obsessed old narcissist using everything he has to control his family. His heart condition is weaponized (don't go against me or I will have an episode and end up in hospital), his monetary support is weaponized (stop dating Chon or I will stop paying your rent and kick the gay people out of the rental house) and he feels entitled to dictate the life of his grown up children, not based on their own best interest, but on what serves HIM (I want a grand child and you will stop being gay).

Here is the true disaster that made a series that could have been a 10/10 into a 1/10 in my opinion:

After the narcissist father found out and all hell broke loose, the healthy solution would be to have a civilized (as possible) conversation with him and Ton to assert healthy boundaries as GROWN ADULT MAN. To say to his father ''I love and respect you and I am grateful for what you did for me, but this is who I am and the choice of the partner I have made, if you don't agree with that, I will respect it and we will move out of the rental house and get jobs to not burden you. If in the future we feel ready to be parents, we will examine carefully all the available options. We will give you the time and space to think things through, but we will not put up with abuse/harassment and insults. You will not insult or harass Chon, my friends or anyone else''. Then his father would have to be toxic (because that's how narcissists are, they don't accept your boundaries) and there would have to be a period of no contact.

The surrogacy idea was atrociously executed. Children are not instruments to please a parent with outdated ideas so that you can bypass parental homophobia. It would have been much more proper if they showed Ton and Chon years later, financially independent and choosing a surrogate because THEY want to become parents, not because Ton's out of control narcissistic father acts like an overgrown toddler (I WANT A GRANDCHILD NOW, NOW, NOW GIVE IT TO ME OR ELSE I WILL ABUSE YOU!).

Personally I would have preferred it if they ADOPTED a child or chose to be childfree all together instead of making a random greedy gold digger girl the surrogate because they needed a bio-child, but I respect that some people want bio-kids and surrogacy done ethically is one of the choices. Still, choosing surrogacy should have been something the couple wants, not something done in a ''here is your grand child, we can go have our forbidden gay romance in peace now''.

Overall the show relied on cheap sentimentality and enabled/perpetuated several damaging ideas in society.

Biggest waste of potential. Would not rewatch.

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First love never dies

First that catch my attention is opening of this series, in my opinion is the BL version of Stephen Chow's Royal Tramp part2 there is scene when Brigette Lin character poisoning by her enemy and the cure is she must having sex with a men. The opening also lead me to another hint, this series could be related with Chinese.
Thonhon is the only male child in his family and he is Chinese Descents. Like most Chinese and Chinese descents, having male child means continuing family name.
Thonhon is very masculine men. There is no hint that he is gay. Many people thought that Thonhon is homophobic but in my opinion he is not homophobia and he confused with his situation. With his look, I guess a lot of gay men seducing him. When Thon eat noodle with Chon, there is gay men willing to pay them to have 3 way sex. Thon mindset all gay men is feminine and seducing other men even though he doesn't know very well about the person for having sex. But on the other side, his mind is raging because he like Chon. It mean he is gay. But gay on Thonhon mind portray as feminine and (apologize) slut.
The final episode scene of Chon mom scold Thon father remain me another Stephen Chow movie, Hail The Judge and Flirting Scholar
It is clear that Chonlatee is like Thonhon. But my biggest question mark for me is, what makes Thon brave enough to broke all detention to be with Chon. He get jealous when Na start to moved with Chon but for me that isn't reason to sacrifice everything to be with Chon. Also I didn't see any Chon action to prove that he love Thon. It was Thon all the time to protect Chon while Chon almost doesn't do anything except he wash all Thon cloth including Thon underwear.
For me, Thon and Amp kissing scene is not cheat. Thon here proving that he doesn't have a heart again to Amp and kiss is doesn't matter for him. He dump Amp because she is not good for him not because he broken heart and make him traumatic in relationship again with women. This kiss was in public place with a lot of their friends can confirm that there is nothing between them. In my opinion, that not cheat at all. Chon is too rush to make conclusion and move from Thon. But...yeah, this is drama. And when this scene make you angry it mean their acting and the director are successful to deliver that scene.
One character that stealing our attention at this series is Miriam. I am glad not found any comments mention GMM romanticizing prostitution. At first they met Miriam, she stand out than other girls. Miriam was lucky enough Ai and Ni helping her out from call-house. And she prove that she is good person despite her job.
So, it is clear enough why Miriam accept the offer become surrogate mother for Thon and Chon. She need money. We don't have any solid background about Miriam but one thing for sure she became call girl because she need money. Is Miriam clever? Yes, Miriam is smart and clever, she still virgin and she is call girl meaning she use her brain to trick client so the client not touch her but the client not complain about it.
Don't confuse with surrogacy storyline. According to Thailand law, surrogate mother can be the legal guardian for the baby. That why, Chon say he chose become godfather for the baby, it has same level as parent but not strong as father or mother. I guess Chon still not comfortable to call as mom or Thon and Chon need to have discussion about who is the father and the mother on birth certificate. This is the first series that come to talk about surrogacy and adoption for gay couple after Thailand house of representatives pass the law to allow same sex couple register their union. With that law, same sex couple be able to adopt children, claim inheritance rights and jointly manage assets such as property.
This series is not perfect or great, even this series is not my favorite. Some aspects aren't developing well. There is scenes is new at BL series like the opening scenes also storyline like Miriam, surrogacy and adoption. While Thon action is questionable and Amp storyline is boring for me. This series is not perfect nor bad either.

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