Bad Buddy (2021)

MY FIRST BL SERIES! I REWATCHED IT LIKE 5 TIMES ALREADY! (Please don't mind the grammar)

I am writing this review a month after I finished my 5th re-watch of the series. This is my the first BL show that I watched, and damn it raised my whole standards on rating and watching other shows.

The Characters
Nanon and Ohm is the best for me! They already have the closeness and you can see it in every scenes.
Nanon's acting is superb, I mean, his facial expressions and his movements really did it for me. He can convey a message as well as the feeling of the character just by moving his eyes, mouth and even hands. I was really into it the whole show.
Ohm's acting is awesome too. You can really feel already the sadness in his face whenever he just do a blank expression and even just staring in a specific part of the room. like damn, I really can see the sadness in his eyes when he does that. His facial expressions too, damn these facial expression making me feel a lot of things.
The supporting characters are very chaotic and fun. Jimmy and Drake! I started to love them just by watching them in this series. They are so chaotic, funny and energetic. That goes with the character they are portraying too. I absolutely love them as supporting bestfriend characters. Milk and Love! I was so obsessed with them after seeing them here. They are as chaotic as the bestfriends supporting characters, but more like toned down, and I loved it!

The Plot
I don't think the plot is that common, but I don't think that it is that unique too. Its more like a Romeo and Juliet plot without the deaths, portrayed in a simple modern BL show. I loved the whole plot, even if, theres a lot of context clues in the show about how the family despised each other, I think there should be more scenes of their parents fighting as the show goes by. but overall that arc was good already.

The Music
The music is really great. I believe Nanon is the one who sang the 2 ost right? It is very catchy, and it immediately hits you whenever you hear it.

The Conflict /The Resolution
Theres an episode, I think its Episode 11, where the main couple just ran away, I think that episode was unnecessary. I prefer if that episode will be just like them getting together with their friends and talking it out. Formulating a solution to their problem, rather than running away from home and from everything. But we got an intimate moment though, so that balanced it out hahhahaha. The last episode is showed how they solve their problem. I honestly didn't expect that they would do that though, that's why the first 10 minutes I think of the last episode, is just me crying and sad about what's happening. Then they showed the twist, which gave me pure joy and bliss. My heart almost exploded hahhahahaha.

Overall
This show is really superb and great! This is the first BL show that I watched and it took me 5 re-watch and watch 5 other BL shows just to recover and move on from this one. It definitely raised my standards on watching other BL shows. I watch 2gether series after watching this, and I kinda didn't enjoyed it fully, maybe because I am still hanged up on Bad buddy that time. Every time I watch a BL show that time, I immediately compare it to this series, and end up not enjoying the series much. I'm just glad that I already moved on and recovered from this show hahaha.

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The best bl

I dont know if anyone believe me if I say that I finished the whole series within a day... Its just addictive. The acting was so natural with no cringyness or unneccessary plot twist.

The actors portrayed the characters too well. The ending was the most satisfying one I watched in recent times. The skinship shown are too realistic. Especially the chemistry between the leads is just on line.

This is a whole package of entertainment. It has emotions, it has fun, it has romance, a healthy relationship. The script was so well written one can not see any logical error in this.

I am not someone who usually write reviews but this one deserves one.

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Fun, cute couple, missing something

I like the idea behind this, enemies to lovers, Romeo and Juliet type. I liked the chemistry between our characters a lot. The friend groups felt real and both were very supportive and caring for each other. I loved that they lived across from each other and how cheeky Pat was. Pran was also super adorable!!

I did get stuck at episode 10, for some reason I just decided to stop watching and walk away for like two weeks. I guess since I knew they were together and their parents problems bored me.

I guess I just wanted more conflict and secret moments between the two. I really didn't like how the friends just accepted it right away pretty much. Even one friend put up a little stubborn fight but not much. Why was it SUCH a dilemma if it actually wasn't going to be a problem at all?

The last episode is such a cheap trick, it made no sense. And why pretend to breakup? Tell them all to F off and live your own life. I'm just going to pretend this ended differently because that was so dumb. I can see pretending with their families but their friends? That's just too much work. It kind of made this whole show pointless, the whole telling everyone just to hide it again. Gah really this last episode is just so disappointing.

Overall a fun watch, I'm glad I watched it but it was missing something I can't quite put my finger on.

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One of My Favorites!

This was one of the first Thai bl I was introduced to, and I did not regret watching it! Before Bad Buddy, I had only seen a few bl on Viki like 'Love By Chance' and 'Mr. Heart', both of which were a bit disappointing. When I came across this series from a random recommendation, I was surprised by how different it was from the others I had watched. I never thought I would see actual chemistry between bl actors. Certain scenes felt real rather than awkward smiles and kisses that would break immersion as you realized how fake, non-attractive, and boring it was. Bad Buddy made me look at bl series in a new light. The actors did a great job portraying a bl relationship with worries, doubts, and romance. Although the story isn't insanely creative, it's still worth a watch!

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Not only the best bl but one of the best asian dramas ever

The story of this BL is not the most original one ever, it's a Romeo and Juliet based story, but it still has to be the best bl I've ever seen. The chemistry between the two characters is no joke, the development of the relationship feels so natural and all of the actors of this show (especially Nanon) are just soooo good. Nanon is usually not a bl actor and Ohm even decided to not act in a bl anymore because he wanted to try a new style but still accepted to play Pat because Nanon was gonna be Pran (yes it's a true story). The music is really good too, the song written by Nanon are sooooo nice that i still listen to them.

And let me tell you that among the many things this tvshow is known for, there's this one : Bad Buddy is known for having the best first kiss scene EVER for a bl drama, if not for a tvshow in general. For real, i haven't been rewatching a scene that much in my entire life before this one, to the point i know every sentence by heart.

Also this bl series is finally far away from all of the clichés and toxic aspects of the bl industry (the typical "i'M nOt GaY iT'S oNLy YoU"), the relationship is built on mutual love and consent, they understand and support each other, try their best to make the other feel comfortable and happy, it's honestly the most sane bl show I've ever seen, on top of being one of the series that made me smile the most in the world.

I liked it so much and the ending is so perfect that I don't even want a season 2 (anyway the show is complete and they don't plan to make another season), i want this series to stay like this so i can rewatch it again and again (ima have to wait a bit to watch it for the 3rd time).

In conclusion you should not watch this series as your first bl series because you will never be able to find any better one ever after.

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ARE WE JUST FRIENDS OR ARE WE MORE?

Ok I'll start it like this. If you loved 2gether then please watch Bad Buddy too. You'll never regret it. Because for me it's like the 2gether paved a beautiful way for BL dramas, and the Bad Buddy elevated it to a golden standard.

But to be honest I love this drama so much not because of the story, or plot. But because of the two main leads who are truly adorable. I mean I just truly love that two little cutiess (*＾3＾)/～♡. My PatPran, my OhmNanon, my sort of comfort..They are so cute to look at and the chemistry these two have is beyond amazing !

And I must say that this is my second Thai drama as well as the drama where I see Ohm and Nanon for the first time. So at first I was completely unfamiliar with both of them. But this problem didn't last long. Because from the very first episode I knew that I was watching a drama with amazing actors.

Pat and Pran..what a perfect absolutely stunning match ! Both Ohm and Nanon portrayed their characters very well and hence it was very convincing and lovely.

Also the music of this series is very beautiful. I especially love the song 'Just Friends' sung by Nanon himself. I also really like the lyrics of that song which implies the relationship between Pat and Pran and the way their feelings change towards each other from friends to lovers..

Thank you Bad Buddy, Thank you PatPran/OhmNanon for making my heart warm and happy throughout the whole series..It was a wonderful journey ♡.

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The best at being just friends

If you want a nugget of GL that's more than just implied, this is a good option (but I hope there will be better ones soon where the GL is the main couple). If you've never seen a BL, start with this one. They ended up reusing some ideas from others, but this one did them the best. If you already watch BLs and want to watch yet another university romance, you should watch this so you can see a healthy, non-toxic, consensual relationship.

The actors did an amazing job. Their intimate moments never felt forced, especially because they subverted some popular BL tropes. The relationship progression felt natural and never tried to force the characters to change who they were. I loved watching Pat and Pran's journey without having to sit through (or fast forward past) complicated storylines of side couples. There wasn't a single scene that I felt like I needed to skip. (I think this is the first time that fluff made me cry.) There are so many scenes that I've already rewatched. I personally like that they didn't shy away from the product placement and decided to use it to create some really fun scenes. (I also rewatched those scenes.)

I personally cannot be happy with a secret relationship because it would feel too much like running back into the closet. I'm still happy that they managed to work their way through it. I wanted to feel satisfied by the end, but this show left something unresolved that could easily be solved in 1 episode with what they said in the last episode. Honestly, the last episode felt like a brisk wrap-up. I kind of wish that they had stopped after episode 11 and added a few more episodes after to fix their problems in the present.

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my compliment sandwich of a very good and important show

good thing:
- both lead actors are so talented. literally i felt everything the characters felt
- the banter is pretty realistic, actually feels like conversations you would have w ur partner, which is only complimented by the amazing acting which made me feel mostly happy but also very lonely LMAO
- women are portrayed very very well for BL standards, i for sure thought that ink would be used as some sort of obstacle for pat and prans relationship and it would be a long and drawn out love triangle but no!! the love triangle bit only lasted like a day and ink was never led on by pat, plus she actually has her own personality and interests and isnt just “evil woman who’s stopping leads from getting together” also the lesbian side relationship???? omg i called it jokingly but then it actually happened!!! so good too because again i suspected pa and wai would end up together which didnt feel right to me at all
- this show feels like it was written for queer people. it somehow combines the comfort of queer escapism and with the catharsis of homophobic subtext. none of the characters are homophobic or even have a heteronormative mindset at all. the only reason pat and pran have to keep their relationship hidden is because of their families and friends respective rivalries, which could very easily be read as homophobia. and all of this combines into a show thats relatable to gay people, yet not too depressing or uncomfortable! im floored. i absolutely didn’t expect the story and writing to be as good as it was
- a lot of people hate the product placement but i thought it was funny and kinda looked forward to it sometimes. it’s definitely not natural by any means but its fun and the show wouldn’t be as charming without it tbh

bad thing:
- it is very confusing to me that pat is the engineer and pran is the architect because pran is like such an engineer i mean come on!!
- in all seriousness the one thing preventing my rating from being a 10 is that the show is pretty lacking stylistically speaking. i know i shouldn’t be expecting it to be an incredibly shot visual masterpiece, but i just appreciate good aesthetics what can i say

more good things:
- the character writing is just beautiful. i knew exactly who the main two were within the first 20 minutes of the show and they really did feel like real people. none of the characters choices or dialogue seems out of place, and in fact everything they did seemed incredibly in character.
- this show knows that it is a BL and it knows what it means to be a BL, it takes almost every BL trope i can think of and either pokes fun at it in a kinda metahumor way, or totally subverts it. i expected ink to be an obstacle, falling for pat the moment she’s introduced, being led on by him in a long and unwanted love triangle only to be immediately discarded once he gets together with pran. but pat is the one to ask her out, and immediately realizes that she isn’t for him because he’s actually in love with pran. and while we’re on pat, i totally expected him to be the whole “toxically masculine ‘straight’ guy in a gay relationship because he’s basically the guy and his boyfriend is basically the girl” but thats not him at all!! pat and pran’s relationship doesn’t have forced gender roles, and the writing makes this a point. pran points out the absurdity of heteronormative labels being applied to a gay relationship. pat denounces the “im only gay for you” trope, and says that he’s multisexual. there are many more moments i could write into this, but those were just some of my favorites. all that being said, it’s just so cool to me that a show would address the long running and blatant issues with the genre it’s a part of.
-that one scene when pat jumps onto his bed giggling and kicking his feet and strangling his pillow an shit. he is so me.

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Funny but also touching and mature series.

Look, because I want to be objective my rating 9 BUT subjectively this drama is 10 for me.

It nails all of my personal favourite tropes (rivals to lovers, secret relationship, forbidden love, two idiots in love) which is the reason why my subjective rating is that high. And in my opinion this drama deserves high ratings because it delivered and nailed almost everything it promised to be.

I see lot of people say that the story isn´t original but I have to disagree. Yes it has the common trope of rivals to lovers but the Romeo and Juliet type of trope isn´t really that overdone. Not to say that Bad Buddy does all of it in its own way. I think that saying that the plot isn´t original when talking about BL is a strange statement because there are only very few series that are "original".

But yes, what makes Bad Buddy unique isn´t the plot - its the execution, the characters, the emotions and the overall message. Its very mature and well realized series.

Best thing about this series is the couple themselves. Their natural chemistry is one of the best i have ever seen. Their relationship is healthy, they trust each other, treat each other with respect. Their rivalry doesn´t stop when they end up together, they still tease each other and are just two idiots head over heels for each other. All of this makes the fact that the circumstances are unfortunate for them that much more tragic. Look at them, they just want to be silly with each other, why do you have a problem with that?

Another thing to applaud this series for are the reasons why their parents hate each other and forced them to become rivals. It doesn´t feel far fetched, it makes sense and isn´t overly dramatic . It was one of the things that could go badly for the plot but didn´t. I think its mainly because it wasn´t this one big dramatic thing that would made them hate each other for infinity but mixture of things that grew bitter over time. And made it much harder to magically fix and established that some things take a lot of time to fix , if they even CAN be fixed in the first place.

The parents could have been a bad plot device but they were so well characterized. They aren´t big bad villains, they are caring parents. Yes, they were petty and controlling, they couldn´t leave their past behind and dragged their children into their mess. They hurt them but it was because they wanted the best for them. Even though they more thought about themselves than their children. Its scary thing that happens in real life. I wish we saw more of them!

ACTING

Oh Nannon, he is stellar. One of my favourite moments is the ending of Ep. 4 and his performance. It was so sad, touching and realistic. I could feel it. I love how he portrayed Pran, he became one of my favourite characters in BL. Ohm is great as well. The scene where Pat realized he had feelings for Pran was also so well done by him. In fact I cannot think of any instance when would the acting fall off. Everyone is great and Nannon is phenomenal.

BUT WHY NOT 10?

Well, objectively this series has it´s setbacks and they mainly come in the middle were the plot kinda stalls and has some unnecessary plot points (like the whole Wai x Pa thing). I cannot really think of a good reason why were we so occupied with the architecture play. I think there were more interesting ways of moving the plot forward. And it took away time that was needed ( for developing Pa and Inks relationship, we need more GL for the love of GOD). Because my biggest problem was that they established faculty rivalry but Pat friends moved on so quickly and easily. And they were the more agressive part of the conflict in the beginning. They sometimes even bullied Wai and then never apologized. Not even Pat.

So this drama has a storytelling problems, nothing big but noticeable. Like I think we should have known the reason why Pa wanted Pat to protect Pran sooner, otherwise Pat character doesn´t make sense in the beginning. ( I am nitpicking, I know. Just my thought)

And the finale.... it could have gone better considering how good was ep. 11. The parallel between Junior and his mother and Pran and Pran´s mother was weird. Pran´s mother slapped him, she was in the wrong, Junior mother wasn´t. Pran forgave her too quickly a once again some things felt unnecessary. BUT I like that not everything was sun and rainbows at the end.

Overall the finale was satisfying end to an amazing series and one of the best that came out in 2021. I re-watched it, it was even better and would recommend this series to anyone, even if you don´t usually watch BL.

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A feel-good LGBTQ+ friendly BL.

I deleted Bad Buddy from my Plan to watch list when I saw how many things I have on it and something just had to go. No idea why I picked Bad Buddy to be deleted too, but YouTube knew this was the right drama for me and recommended me some OST and Just friend? playing on repeat made me watch it right the next day.

N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S

Ming and (if you know Pran's dad name, let me know)'s families been rivals since... Forever. Competing with each other in everything you can think of. Spending years arguing, the rivalry is being passed down to their sons, Pran and Pat. They start off as neighbours, trying to avoid each other, and end up being actually friends during high school, attending the same class and playing in the same band. Unfortunatelly Pran's mother is not happy with that and transfers Pran to different high school. Year later is Pran allowed to come back and start his studies at local university. Moving to dorm, he accidentally starts passing small gifts with his nextdoor neighbour, which turns out to be Pat. After whole semester of rilling each other and their friends up, Pat is tired of it and starts hitting on Pran instead...

We've seen so many variations of Romeo and Juliet already, ones following the story to the detail, ones alternated, some GL, some BL, the theme is nothing new. But none of them ever felt as feel-good, non toxic, non stereotypical or LGBTQ+ friendly until Bad Buddy came out and rised the bar high for everyone, not just the Thai BL dramas.

I applaud to the whole cast of Bad Buddy for making it fun experience with great soundtrack, ditching all those BL stereotypes about who's the wife and who's the husband in the BL relationship, avoiding the cliché line "I don't like guys, I only like him", smashing the misogyny many dramas use and excuse and sneakily turning sismance into GL. I was only sad about how Wai was painted as the victim after he outed Pran and Pat to everyone, which is in the LGBTQ+ community dangerous behavior and you do not need or want friends like that.

And with the ending we got, I don't think we need season 2. What we need more is another drama with Ohm and Nanon as leads. :)

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