Tonhon Chonlatee (Thai Series)

Tonhon Chonlatee is such a silly series with whacky surreal humor and guess what, I loved it. I am trying to think so hard, what was it about this show that connected with me. I mean the story was basic, done to death many times, the production values are no different from many other Thai BL shows that we have seen in the past; I think its the cast who are very enthusiastic and realistic, to an extent, which made this show a good watch. ALso the show doesn't take itself very seriously until maybe last two episodes. It's a fun filled, playful  and goofy yet charming take on trying to ship two men together, one of whom is straight as they come and the other is madly in love with him.

Ton and Chon have been childhood friends and neighbors, but Ton's family moved to Bangkok years ago. Chon is very much in love with Ton even after all these years and his mother and his best friend know about this. He does understand this is one sided love since Ton is straight and has a girlfriend. One day when Ton visits his village, the two friends reconnect and Chon finds out that he has broken up with his girlfriend Amp. Interestingly Ton wants to spend all his time with Chon giving him mixed signals but there are plenty of time he makes it clear to everyone that Chon is just his brother. Chon decides to get admission in same university as Ton and Ton invites him to stay with him and his two friends in their apartment. What Ton does know is that his two roommates Ni & Ai are actually gay and are together. But since Ton makes homophobic jokes and comments all the time, they haven't been able to come out. Ni and Ai have themselves been using a girl Miriam as their pretend girlfriend who lives with them. The couple eventually figures out that Chon is gay and secretly in love with Ton. Struggling with conflicting emotions, one night Chon kisses Ton who completely freaks out confused. This makes relationship awkward because in his mind Ton is very straight, but he can't get over the feeling that he likes Chon and misses his company. Together with help of Ni, Ai, Miriam and few other folks, Ton realizes that he truly loves Chon. Its not about sexuality but being about in love with a person. The duo will have to fight it out with Ton's parents beliefs about same sex couples, but eventually love will win everything.

As I mentioned before, I actually quite enjoyed this series and found myself laughing and smiling in a lot of places. Every time Miriam would overact to get Ton and Chon together was very funny. I also enjoyed every single time that Chon would give it back to Ton's ex-girlfriend Amp who is trying to reconcile. In past series, I have noticed that the shy 'wife' guy would be tortured to no avail by mean vamp ex-girlfriend, but here he gives it back. I loved it when he throws water back on her. Having said that, the whole super mean ex-girlfriend trying to win the guy back and go to any extent to crossing ethical boundaries is getting old now. We need some new story arcs here. Ni and Ai'c chemistry was also heartwarming. They were a loving couple who stood by their best friend. Other characters of the rich boy falling for Chon, Chon's best friend Peng all added immense charm to the story. At any point, surprisingly, I didn't feel that the story is being stretched for no reason. And that is mostly because of the zany humor and the charming cast. Ton might be the only character who was a little stuck up, but other than that everyone else was amazing. Ton and Chon's chemistry was not the best to be honest, and given that this is supposed to be romantic, that would have helped, but I am willing to forgive that. What I can't accept though is that why such laziness when it comes to kissing between two lovers. You wanna show it but also not really show confuses me all the time. Just putting your lips on other lips and passing the moments for 5 seconds is not a show of passion or love. People really need to get more realistic around this.

The plot has a lot of loop holes, which I ignored because I was just enjoying the ride. Stuff like attempted rape, mandatory ex girlfriend drama was so not necessary. It was after a while I was getting to see a light hearted and fun romantic comedy and I was not gonna let anything else spoil that fun for me. If you’re looking for a realistic BL drama, you won’t find it here. If you don’t mind a lot of zany humour, then Tonhon Chonlatee might resonate with you. The series never takes itself too seriously and in a few places it also makes a commentary about such silliness. The show is about love, longing, friendship and heartfelt connections (like Miriam has with Ai, Ni and Chon), staying true to yourself, and moving on from heartbreak. Miriam is undoubtedly the scene stealer of this whole series. Chon, supporting mom and Ton's grandchild obsessed father complete the family picture in a climax that goes three years later to show the couple having a kid. I think that was completely unnecessary. I wish the story had just ended when the father accepts them. 

Overall, this is a silly and stupidly endearing BL drama that just had the right amounts of laughter, drama, and romance for me, and after a long time I really enjoyed a show for its comic relief and timing in addition to of course getting an endearing BL couple. (7.5/10)