Tonhon Chonlatee vs Theory of Love -Ep 1-4 Ton’s mindset
Tonhon Chonlatee is like theory of love where people don’t get the character like Khai or Ton where there’s a reason for why they act cruel or blocked from their love interests. I remember how much hate Khai got but he actually was just a flawed three dimensional character that was scared of getting hurt when it comes to love so he blocked it all out and prevented him self from never getting with friends because love to him led to hurt and loss. With Tonhon it’s difficult he’s not cruel or mean purposely like is he’s just homophobic and problematic because of what he says. Thing is his actions are screaming opposite it’s like he’s struggling excessively with internalised homophobia why?
Because he has grown up in a toxic environment it’s like he knows he’s attracted to Chon, he wants to stay with Chon in a non official thing where he can touch, spend time and just be with him with no labels no meaning no explanation and this is because he has so much on his plate because of his homophobic father who is traditional, close minded and sexist and more his father just screams so much pressure and force to be following what is deemed normal in society. And Ton has grown up with that mindset probably has been having thoughts, fears and hints that he has feelings for Chon. I think he realised it and now he’s just acting dumb to make sure their relationship never changes, he finds stupid reasons to ensure they’re close, touching and no one else is near Chon romantically. He’s avidly against it and I think he knows why.
Which just breaks my heart because internalised homophobia sucks and it must be horrible for Ton in his mind but yeh it’s what’s making him so problematic it’s a reflex, something he was taught to say and do, and think there’s a lot of people like Ton who go through IH and do the same thing he does. But like theory of love even if it’s understandable why these characters are the way they are it doesn’t make it okay for people like Third and Chon who have to be hurt because they are in love and meant to be with these two, it hurts and they go through a lot of self doubt, self hate and even more and lose their voices and confidence (if you notice both of them are wanted by many people constantly praised for their looks) and they end up tired and broken because of loving someone li k Khai and Ton. And it sucks but you can see why they belong to each other though, and you see how it flips later on soon Ton will lose everything even his friends because of his avoidance and mistakes like Khai did. Most importantly he’ll lose Chon he won’t be able to deal with it same as Khai. So I know people hated Khai at the beginning but it was worth sticking to theory of love to see his self realisations and growth and love for Third. That will happen with Ton. Episode 4 showed me this show isn’t just jokes there’s moments when it’s trying to show you how wrong the mindset of Ton and his father is, how hurtful and not okay for that to happen, for example the weird atmosphere when watching people mock the trans people by laughing at them with what the father said about their worth as a romantic option to Ton.
This is episode wasn’t meant to be funny and fluffy far from it it was heartbreaking and painful and a bit angsty to watch our couple has a massive obstacle to overcome its internal, psychological and it won’t be easy when things get revealed. Ton like Khai will make more mistakes but it’ll get better and he’ll grow from it he’s meant to be the one who changes the one who grows the one who learns but I also hope we soon see like with Third Chon start realising it’s not okay to hide who he is and his identity it’s not okay to have to go through all this to please someone, it’s not okay to be having hopes and to sacrifice his self for it for something toxic and painful. He needs to know his worth and pull away from Chon soon same as Ai and Ni Ton is understandable but it’s not cool he is this way. Stop coddling him and get him to see how flawed he is. But like them, I understand Ton as well and I pity him.