Ton Hon Chon Tee (2020)

That was..........BAD

Okay, I am usually generous when reviewing stuff but this was outstandingly so BAD that there is no way to go around saying it. Gosh, I cant believe i was able to seat through this disastrous show till the very end. The plot was so horrible that I wish I could tell the writer not to write such nonsense again.

Tonhon has got to be one of the WORST BL male leads I have ever stumbled across. I have no idea how chonlatee was still able to have a crush on him even after knowing how horrible of a personality he has. I honestly cant even REMEMBER the story because was there REALLY ANY STORY/PLOT to this. Complete garbage.

Leia Mais

It has some serious problems, but I liked&enjoyed it

Before I start:
1/ I don’t speak nor understand Thai, so I relied entirely on subtitles provided on GMMTV’s YouTube channel;
2/ all my comments and remarks below are about the GMMTV series – I didn’t read the book which inspired the series; for me the series is a completely independent work, not connected with the book, and it needs to stand on its own.

What I like about the series
1/ On-screen chemistry. Toptap and Mike work so well together that I’d be surprised to learn that off-screen they are anything less than good friends. But what I enjoyed even more was the chemistry between Pod and Khaotung; they sold me on Ton and Chon having genuine affection and feelings for one another. It was more than the absence of awkwardness; both actors seemed confident and relaxed in each other’s presence (for most of the time), hence their interactions (including the goofy ones) were believable. We deserved to see more of those two together; we got loads of cuteness and emotions, what we should have gotten more of was boyfriend banter (we got some of that, but more would be nice – Khaotung showed that his Chon can be shy, confident, loving, stubborn and angry, but also very sassy).
2/ Less non-problems than I feared. My prime example is Chon’s reaction to the kiss video in episode 9. Initially I was disappointed and thought Chon reacted according to BL-silliness (by which I mean that characters usually suspect and assume the worst, act without real reason, judge the situation without actual proof, tend to overreact and/or react to things no real person would bother reacting to; also, they don’t talk to each other). Then I watched episode 10 and saw that Chon’s reaction was much more grounded and relatable. Chon recognized Ton as a show-off prone to dumb stunts and actions which would give Chon constant heartache. Suddenly it made sense and the BL-silliness was gone; there was no fake problem – there was a real one and Chon was reacting to it.
3/ Showing homophobia’s still a real thing. We see LGBTQ characters fearful of how their friends and other people would react to their coming out/revealing they are in a same-sex relationship and we see homophobic characters with their stereotypes, prejudice and aggression. Pretending we live in a world were nothing stops LGBTQ persons from having a happy life would be bad. Glad the show writers didn’t do that. That being said:
- the way a gay character was presented in episode 1 (guy who followed Ton and Chon after they had lunch) was appalling and homophobic,
- Ton never apologizing nor even addressing his homophobia was a huge mistake of the writers,
- Chareon getting his wish fulfilled instead of being denied and ignored was an even bigger mistake of the writers – c’mon, guys! if you want to show everyone that homophobia is bad you can’t reward a homophobe!
4/ Very limited side plots. Compare “Tonhon Chonlatee” to, let’s say, “2gether”, where we got 4 couples: Tine&Sarawat, Type&Man, Dim&Green and Mil& Phukong (5 if we include Pear&Boss). Were they all necessary to tell the story of Tine&Sarawat? Did we learn more about the main characters because of these additional characters and their relationships? What purpose in the story did they serve? In “Tonhon Chonlatee” the side characters are acutely aware of their purpose; Ai explaining to Ni, that they are the protagonist’s sidekicks was on point and almost breaking the 4th wall.
5/ Miriam. Once she shows up she does a lot to push the plot forward – which the story needed after the slow-paced first few episodes. The character itself is likeable and a much needed voice of reason.

What I don’t mind about the series
1/ How character development of Ton was handled. The writing is rather basic and often clumsy, with a difficult-to-believe revelation in episode 10, but we also get a clear character arc for Ton. BTW: I liked that the show didn’t immediately explain why and how Ton got the idea of having Chon stay at his place and them two spending so much time together. Ton felt something for Chon and acted on what we were initially led to believe was instinct - I'm fine with that.
2/ Clumsy writing. (i) People condemning Amp after her rant in episode 8 - apparently students carry paper balls with them at all times (ii) The shoehorned beach scene at the end of episode 8 (I guess we needed that to illustrate that Ton made a decision, that from now on – instead of being a homophobe – he’ll fight homophobia, that he’s no longer afraid and so on).
3/ Unanswered questions. (i) How come Ton didn’t recognize Chon in episode 1 and what purpose did it serve? From a story point of view it would be better for Ton to recognize Chon right away, saying something like “Just the person I wanted to see. I’ve missed you so much. Let’s have lunch”. (ii) Who leaked the picture of Ton sleeping in episode 8? Was it Chon (he took the picture)? Was it Pang (she saw the picture and held Chon’s phone long enough to send the picture to herself)? We know why it happened (drama), but how? (iii) Is everyone allowed to see other people’s kites that hang if front of the Sam Muk temple? And to tamper with them? (iv) Don’t Ton’s parents have any social media accounts? Don’t they follow their son?
I can live without knowing these things.

What annoys me about the series
1/ How Ton’s attraction to Chon is explained in episodes 9 and 10. On reviewer (deetsy) addressed this nicely today, so let me quote: “In the end what we got was a homophobic story of "I'm not gay, I just love you". It worked well 5 years ago in SOTUS, but now I think LGBT community moved on past this narrative and deserves something better”. In short: why can’t Ton just be gay or bisexual or pansexual? Why the additional “explanation” that he’s attracted to Chon because they have had a special bond as children? Why the emphasis on Ton not being gay, on Ton “still liking women” and not feeling anything for other men? Maybe there’s something I don’t get about some BL series, but this wasn’t the first time I saw something like this. Did you notice the emphasis on past girlfriends, who don’t even have to appear in the show nor become villains (like Amp), but are casually mentioned? As if the writers wanted to establish that gay characters don’t exist and if two guys get together they are bisexual or pansexual at best. In “Tonhon Chonlatee” this applies not just to Ton, but also to Na, and you can see the same pattern in other series: a boy dating girls until he meets that one special boy he’s attracted to (see both Tine and Sarawat in “2gether”, see Tee in “Cause You're My Boy”, see Knock in “Together with me” and see many others examples).
2/ Chareon’s homophobia and “the baby solution”. Chareon is a homophobe and a domestic tyrant. Everyone is trying to make him realize he can’t separate Chon and Ton nor impose his wish to have grandchildren, but at the same time everyone tries to satisfy that wish: enter Nam and the surrogate mother idea. Why is this even in the show? Why did the writers decide to fulfil Chareon’s wish and disregard basically everything done up untill that point? Chareon was told he can’t force his kids to do his bidding and then he got exactly what he wanted. As much as I enjoyed the first part of episode 10, I was facepalming for most of the rest of it.
3/ Nueng facing almost no consequences for his assault on Chon. Nueng is a would-be rapist and almost nothing happened to him. Ton kicked him once, dragged him out of the toilet and punched him once – that was all, that was the whole “punishment” for what Nueng attempted. I’m not saying we needed a scene of Ton and Chon testifying at a police station, but something should have happened, e.g. Ai or Ni doing their sidekick job and telling Ton (e.g. a day after the assault) that the university announced Nueng was suspended and facing a police investigation. Instead we got Nueng on best-buddy terms with Amp, supporting her lies (I didn’t know would-be rapists hold the moral high ground to lecture junior students on splashing seniors with water) until she was revealed as a homophobe. The guy shouldn’t even be in the series at that point! BTW: remember how Chon was reprimanded for kissing Ton while Ton was asleep? If the writers (correctly) wanted to tell us that any form of sexual activity, even a kiss, needs to be consensual, they shouldn’t send conflicting signals like that.

Leia Mais

Never. Been. So. Disappointed

The show was pretty good, but the ending ruined everything. There was so much wrong with it I'm just in so much disbelief of how GMMTv could really fuck up a show like that.

The writers or whoever really tried to make us feel like this was another praise worthy dad who learned to accept his son. The thing is, the father didn't accept shit. He got his way and that's why he was happy in the end.
I know a lot of gay couples do surrogate, it's not uncommon. But the reason they ended up with this option just doesn't sit right with me. Ton's dad literally decided how, who and when they were gonna have a baby. It honestly feels like Ton and Chon were forced to have a child. And I thought I liked Chon's mom too, but she let us down. Like why is it that instead of putting the dad in his place, and letting him know it ain't his life, everyone's tryna please him? Ton and Chon weren't involve in any of the planning and it doesn't even seem like something they even wanted. At least not that early in their life. Seriously, Ton is still in school 3 years later.
And though I still like Miriam, it felt like she was forced to be the surrogate mom. In the scene that we saw, she didn't even say yes, she was just like "YOU WANT ME TO BE THE SURROGATE?", and then "No I don't have a problem with it?" ANd what the fuck if she did have a problem with it sir? I mean she hasn't even had sex yet and already thinking of having someone else's baby? Plus, she was given like a mil for doing it, and a mil is a lot of money, so it feel like she was backed into a wall.
I honestly should've known that they were gonna do some stupid shit like this because they made it very clear that "the dad isn't homophobic, he just wants grand kids." If GMMTV don't fuck outta here with tha bs, he's homophobic and he probably would've disowned Ton, if he hadn't said yes to having kids.
Anyways there was so much wrong with this show but this was the worst for me. I don't recommend it.

Leia Mais

What does Chon see in Ton?

I really feel bad for Chon. It’s clear he loves Ton, though I’m starting to wonder why. I genuinely don’t see anything in Ton, except for his good looks.
Also, i don’t like how Ton was using Chon, trying to find out if he has feelings for him. I get it, but I feel mostly bad about Chon.

This show is more comedy than drama, and the background characters (especially Ai and Ni) really carry most of it.

If you want to get drunk, here's a drinking game: Take a shot every time...
- Ton labels Chon as a brother
- Ton flirts with Chon
- Ton says MxM ain't possible
You'll be drunk before getting through the first half.

The background characters are mostly nice though. Chon's mom and best friend, totally supportive and have Chon's back all the time. Ai & Ni are goof-heads, in a positive way, helping Chon getting together with Ton. And Miriam, a character who's introduced in the 2nd half, also plays a big role in TonChon's relationship.

Other than that, it's mostly just cringe. It starts cringe and doesn't stop being cringe throughout the whole series. The way Ton obviously flirts with Chon, yet keeps repeating that mlm relationships aren't possible and that Chon is a brother to him, is just way too much. And when he does figure himself out, realizing that gay people actually exist, he completely neglects Chon's feelings, only uses it for his own benefit.
The amount of times Chon cried... bet it was just the director being a fan of the actor's ability to cry, nothing more. IT was really unnecessary. Going through so much shit, what's the point?

If you just see it as a comedy, it's fine I guess, but it's really nothing serious... at least for me, they're just a joke.

Leia Mais

FUNNY AND SWEET !

I really wanted to say I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT I HAVE READ FROM THE REVIEWS!! IM HAPPY that I decided to watch it!! Fot those who said this is trash or another ugly description, their brain is trash!
This was SO FUNNY , I really had a good time watching it ! It changed my mood in a very positive way.
This was very funny and very sweet! I have watched more than 150 BL and trust me this BL WAS SO CUTE !
Some cliche and cringe here and there, but overall was so GOOD!
PLEASE WATCH it and decide for yourself.
Dont let the bad reviews be of any influence!

Leia Mais

Last episode kinda ruined it for me

So i just wanna give an overall review. You know i'm a simple person. I watch series to be entertained and i was. I know the plot was nothing unique even kinda basic but i still liked it.

The acting was alright and the characters were okay too. I still feel sorry for Na tho that he was treated like that.
The music was nothing special but catchy.

Now the part that ruined it for me. The last episode.
Like Ton's father obssesion with an heir and being totally homophobic and then he is suddenly fine with it as he hears about the surrogate idea.
And Miriam is suddenly pregnant and eughh...

All in all i think the story could have been better with a more thought out plot and characters. And maybe Gmm should have followed the novel more instead of creating non sensical ideas.

I'm not mad for watching it but i won't rewatch it.

Leia Mais

Solid BL

I'm really confused while looking through all the reviews and seeing many are rating this so low. What's even funnier is I recognize some of the accounts on here and the reviews they leave on other series that are absolutely trash but rate them very high simply because they have a cast that is attractive. Of course they won't ever say that or probably won't ever recognize their bias, but the bias is there. Many will deem a series or film worthy of their attention only if the cast is hot enough for them, which is sad.

Anyway with all that aside I will say that Tonhon Chonlatee has its flaws but overall it's a solid series. Both male leads performed very well, and tbh their acting skills were a lot stronger than many of these other BL couples out here. The closeted gay boy that falls in love with his "straight" best friend plot has been done many times before but they did a good job at reworking this plot. The writers were able to create something that feels different and a little more unique even though fundamentally it isn't anything new. I also really enjoyed the comedy aspect of this show which gave it a very light-hearted feel good type of vibe all while tackling deeper topics like self acceptance, homophobia and coming out.

While this series did have it's corny moments and started to lose itself half way through, it still was a pleasant surprise that entertained me up until the end.

Leia Mais

Worth a watch

I was originally put off watching this series by the bad reviews but after seeing clips apear on youtube i thought id give it a go and im really glad i did.

Its an easy watch romance series with some extremely cringey moments at beginning, especially when they talk about girls and sex. It is confusing that the main lead doesnt seem to be jealous of the other lead when it comes to women, and goes over the top about it but becomes enraged when he talks to other men but after a few eposides the cringe parts are toned down.

It is easy to binge watch with a happy ending so id definitely rewatch when im not in the mood for anything to emotional.

Dont be put off by the bad reviews watch it and decide yourself ?

Leia Mais

It’s so bad.

I went into this knowing a lot of people said it’s bad. I just wanted to see if it was really that bad and omg it’s so bad. From the very beginning Tonhon is a homophobic a**hole. I really couldn’t believe his roommates/ best friends kept their relationship a secret from him for years because of it. As time went on I couldn’t understand why Chonlatee liked Tonhon so much. I understand the childhood best friend trope, but Tonhon turing into this person and Chonlatee completely ignoring Tonhons faults was so weird. Chonlatee and the roommates hiding who they are so they don’t disappoint Tonhon was so uncomfortable to watch sometimes. Despite all the characters having faults, the hatred I had for Tonhon was immense. DONT WATCH IT.

Leia Mais

Gross. げろげろ. 역겨운. ปฏิกูล.

How many languages should I use to describe the disgusting plot of this show?
I feel like this show was written in 1950; homophobia 'solved' by finding a loophole around having a baby, pressuring a young gay man into sleeping with a woman because of homophobia, blatant misogyny never being fixed or even really called out., etc.
The man straight up brainwashed his son and never apologized or seemed to repent.
I legit am questioning if GMMTV are even truly allies after making the choice to pick up this novel and turn it into a show. Who greenlit this??
The only reason I can justify even giving it one star (other than the website making it necessary to leave one for the review) is that I love Khaotung with my whole entire heart. I feel genuinely bad that he was involved in this show.

Leia Mais

its honestly not as bad as what people say

*WARNING THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION PLS DONT COME AT ME ;-; *

i went into this show blind and i thought that overall the cast did a pretty good job - especially the side couple and their wifey hehehe i'm just gonna list down some points abt this show and whether anot you want to watch is up to you !

the good points :

- the story is relatively easy to follow ,, nothing new nothing spectacular but not terrible either

- the SIDE COUPLE OMIGOSH srsly gmmtv gotta put toptap and mike in their own drama,,, their chemistry is just really good in this show !!

- OUR QUEENS : chonlatee's mom , pang and my wifey miriam !!

the bad points :

-

Leia Mais

The plot is barely moving.

This review was given before I have finished watching the show, so this is subject to change.

Note: I do enjoy watching this but this doesn't mean it's even relatively good.

Rewatching the GMM releases from 2019, I just realized how disappointing this year was. The only show I would consider "amazing" from their lineup from this year would be 3 Will be Free and Friendzone 2 Dangerous Area, and the one I would consider as "good" would be The Gifted Graduation. I don't think it is because of the condensation since Theory of Love from last year was already unique by itself. This year we had the slowest-paced shows ever, like My Gear and Your Gown and Tonhon Chonlatee is no different. Each episode is not that important, in which you can skip an episode an still be able to catch up. I Told Sunset About You showed such respect to each episode that basically skipping 20 minutes of an episode will throw you off the storyline. I am quite disappointed with this one as much as how I am disappointed with the upcoming shows (basing off from their trailers) and the only ones I had shown interest in were Bad Buddy and 51:15.


Now, let's talk about the issues about the storyline.

1 and 2. Sickeningly Sweet and Poor Two-Dimensional Characters
I get it, it's fluffy, but it's trying too hard. I know that SERIES-Ys are usually fluffy, but isn't this too fluffy. Even 2gether wasn't this fluffy, and I wasn't even a big fan of that one (especially considering the ending). The characters are too two-dimensional. It needs depth. Is Chonlatee capable of thinking literally anything else except for Tonhon? Is Tonhon just that plainly stupid? Is Chonlatee's friend (Pang) nothing more than a supporter? Doesn't she have a life? Does Tonhon's ex-girlfriend have literally anything else to do except for trying to make Tonhon crawl back to her? Is Neo (Na) that uninteresting that all his scenes are basically him tailing Chonlatee? I don't get it. The character here with the most depth is probably Miriam and she isn't even that amazing of a character.

3. That Damn Pacing
I've said this earlier and I'm going to say it again. Give respect to each episode! Each episode must have some sort of mini-arcs just like I Told Sunset About You. Take notes from Director Boss!

Update: I just realized how we're already halfway through the series and no character development has arose. They basically abandoned story structure for this one.

Leia Mais