Bedmate or Bad Mate (2023)

fun crack comedy short series

Overall: this is a fun webseries. Each episode is about 7 minutes long followed by behind the scenes stuff. Watched the cut version at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLalG2smk62xH9vj-eSvdz7UHexMlChZcf&si=9ek2Td5UmgHkHZVo (not sure what is in the uncut version but I suspect they actually show something in episode 10, looks like the least expensive membership gets you the uncut episodes)

Content Warnings: kick

What I Liked
- comedy
- cute moments
- (neutral) comedy sound effects

Room For Improvement
- ep 1 sitting on the toilet
- didn't understand the insistence that a guy who had feelings for a guy is straight, that is the definition of not straight (maybe this was translated incorrectly/I misunderstood though)
- something that almost happened in episode 10 of the cut version (maybe was shown in the uncut version)

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Discovering yourself

Bedmate or Bad Mate is a fun little taiwanese bl web drama. I watched the 90min edit on youtube (easier than going through 10 episodes full of BTS footage!). It is obviously a low budget production but what they lack in funds is more than enough compensated by their enthusiasm.

The story is cute though it uses many familiar tropes: best friends to lovers, gay man in love with a straight one, but also "only gay for you but otherwise straight", seme/uke height difference etc. etc. which I thought were things of the past. Their cohabitation was fun to watch, their bickering cute. The straight guy's confusion about his feelings towards his best friend and how he tries to sort it out by talking to customers in a gay bar was hilarious. There were also scenes filmed during Gay Pride parade in Taipei and I was struck by the fact that these two actors looked the most "cliché gay" wearing costumes in the part of the crowd where they filmed.

I could not find out anything about the actors but I did not watch BTS so maybe it is mentioned there though not necessarily translated: I don't know, I am not interested in BTS....I would like to know also if this was based on a webtoon because it seems to be the case judging from the images on their youtube channel.

In conclusion, a short, cute & fun watch.

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A modern queer spin on a classic bedroom farce

Let's say you're gay, 25 years old, and you live alone, and you don't want to associate with heterosexuals.
Let's say that your friend and fellow university student, a year older than you, who defines himself as heterosexual, has just broken up with his girlfriend and moved into your house.
Let's things get even more complicated when, in order not to sleep on the hard, cold floor, he gets into your bed and sleeps next to you, linking his hands and feet with your body.
Let's warn that no matter how angry you look and the constant invitations to look for a rental apartment, the new tenant will refuse to leave, claiming that he likes living with you, and that your large house could very well be shared by both of you.
Let's imagine that he claims that even though he knows that you are gay, he does not find it uncomfortable living with you, as he is a person who is easy to get along with.
Let's affirm that he tells you that he has no impediment to living with a homosexual boy, if at the end of the day neither of the two is interested in the other since one does not like men, and the other likes the type of intelligent and fun boy, the one who makes you feel loved and praised, and who has the same taste in movies, something that, according to you, your straight friend does not have.
Let's say that you arrive home drunk and frustrated after your date didn't arrive at the meeting place and you ask your friend to undress you and put you in the shower.
Let's say that your friend would like to understand your homosexual life and to do so he reads the BL novels and mangas that you keep on the shelf.
Let's confirm that he takes you home so you can meet his family.
Let's assume that to try to understand you better, your friend meets another homosexual boy in your same house, and he turns out to be your ex-boyfriend, who abandoned you for a girl.
Let's imagine that his heterosexual heart begins to beat rapidly every time you touch his cheeks, or discover it, at night, while you pretend to sleep, that he covers your body with a blanket, casually plays with your hair and gives you a kiss on the forehead.
Let's certify that your heterosexual friend surprises you in your job as a bartender in a gay bar, and behind his back you surprise him talking to your co-workers and clients about his "life as a couple" with you.
Let's make sure that on a date with heterosexual girls your friend tells them about his daily life with you, and they blurt out in his face, very funny and complicit, that his actions are those of a gay boy in love.
Let's confirm that your best friend has to listen to your recriminations about being single because of him, because you can't get a boyfriend when he is sleeping with you next to him every night.
Let's confirm that when we see them arguing with each other in the middle of the street or in shopping centers, they are mistaken by everyone for a gay couple.
Let us witness that the sexual tension between the two boys shoots up to unimaginable limits.
Let us state that the constant proximity of structural bodies and physical contact provokes desire in the two young people.
We agree that looks full of desire, as the basis of eroticism, are taken to the maximum by measuring the distances between bodies.
Let us confirm that the erotic charge increases when the two friends move over very short distances not only with their genitals close, but also referring to them.
Let's support that without intending it you have developed feelings for your friend.
Let's proclaim that your friend, who has always defined himself as heterosexual, finds himself in love with you.
Let's confirm that your heterosexual friend suddenly recognizes that he likes someone who is not tall, that although he appears irritable his angry face is still cute, that at night he lets him hug him to sleep peacefully, and that he has made him enter a new world to he.
Let us maintain that secretly, he has described you.
'Bedmate or Bad Mate', the Taiwanese web series, is a modern queer spin on a classic bedroom farce where relationships old and new will be tested when the boundaries of friendship, love and sex collide when life comes to a head. The harmonious and calm life of Hao Chen, a young homosexual, is interrupted by his heterosexual friend Wang Da Zhi, an athletic and expressive boy, when he decides to move into his room after breaking up with his girlfriend.
In this delicious and fun LGBT+ romantic comedy about two roommates who try to live in harmony, their different personalities will cause an eternal dispute between them for even the most unexpected reasons, which will lead them to get to know each other and get closer.
'Bedmate or Bad Mate', which has all those characteristics that make you remember it for a long time, reminds me of series like 'My Gay Roommate', a 2012 North American comedy, directed by Austin Bening, about the funny stories of a straight boy and his gay roommate, starring Noam Ash and Drew Paramore.
But here friends go for more.
Successful use of words and phrases with double meanings, of inanimate figures that come to life to express the emotions and feelings that overwhelm the characters; of the internal monologue and the breaking of the fourth wall so that the protagonists let us know about the past of the two characters and the new reality they live.
I also like the use of the mockumentary film technique as a way for Wang Da Zhi to interview young homosexuals to try to understand what he feels for Hao Che.
Among those interviewed, there is someone who suggests that he keep it simple when expressing his feelings: "Just tell him directly that you like him and that's it."
In summary: 'Bedmate or Bad Mate' is a fun and entertaining comedy that addresses the issue of diversity intelligently and without falling into stereotypes. The performances are convincing and there is good chemistry between the main characters.
However, the script is a bit predictable and the web series is not very original. Also, some parts are a bit forced and the dialogues are sometimes a bit forced.
Still, I recommend seeing it. It will make you laugh and daydream.

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