Angelika
Good or Not?
Bad Buddy gained massive popularity and an army of devoted fans, and honestly, I get it. It had a lot going for it that most BL dramas just don’t have:
Cinematography that didn’t look like it was shot on someone’s phone.
Actors who could actually, you know, act.
A budget that didn’t scream “we spent everything on this one shot.”
Characters who felt like actual humans with layers, rather than cardboard cutouts with tragic backstories.
If I’d been asked to rate the show based on episodes 1 through 6, I’d have happily given it a 10/10. Seriously, I was ready to hand it the gold medal in the BL Olympics. But, alas, I finished the show, and by the end, it felt like all that beautiful potential was thrown out of the window. Somewhere around episode 6, the story decided to go downhill like a boulder with no brakes. What started off strong became repetitive and messy, as if the screenwriter had to make so many last-minute changes that they ended up flinging spaghetti at the wall to see what stuck. Spoiler alert: not much did.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved that Bad Buddy addressed some common misconceptions and brought a fresh perspective to the BL genre. But the difference in quality between the first half and the latter half of the show is as stark as that infamous Game of Thrones "horse drawing" meme. You know the one: perfectly detailed in the front, absolute chaos in the back.
Apparently, the plot is based on a novel. I don’t read or speak Thai, but I’d bet good money that the main issue here—screenwriting—stems from whatever changes they made from the source material. You can almost feel the subtle shift in the characters’ personalities in the later episodes, like they wandered into the wrong storyline but were too polite to say anything.
Now, I can already hear some people saying, “You’re asking for too much. It was already really good for a BL!” And sure, it was good, but I have to ask—do you honestly believe episodes 7-12 were as good as episodes 1-6? Having actors with such great chemistry in the lead roles, they really dropped the ball by not giving them a script worthy of their talents.
In the end, Bad Buddy had all the ingredients for greatness, but somewhere along the way, it ended up with half-baked episodes.
Cinematography that didn’t look like it was shot on someone’s phone.
Actors who could actually, you know, act.
A budget that didn’t scream “we spent everything on this one shot.”
Characters who felt like actual humans with layers, rather than cardboard cutouts with tragic backstories.
If I’d been asked to rate the show based on episodes 1 through 6, I’d have happily given it a 10/10. Seriously, I was ready to hand it the gold medal in the BL Olympics. But, alas, I finished the show, and by the end, it felt like all that beautiful potential was thrown out of the window. Somewhere around episode 6, the story decided to go downhill like a boulder with no brakes. What started off strong became repetitive and messy, as if the screenwriter had to make so many last-minute changes that they ended up flinging spaghetti at the wall to see what stuck. Spoiler alert: not much did.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved that Bad Buddy addressed some common misconceptions and brought a fresh perspective to the BL genre. But the difference in quality between the first half and the latter half of the show is as stark as that infamous Game of Thrones "horse drawing" meme. You know the one: perfectly detailed in the front, absolute chaos in the back.
Apparently, the plot is based on a novel. I don’t read or speak Thai, but I’d bet good money that the main issue here—screenwriting—stems from whatever changes they made from the source material. You can almost feel the subtle shift in the characters’ personalities in the later episodes, like they wandered into the wrong storyline but were too polite to say anything.
Now, I can already hear some people saying, “You’re asking for too much. It was already really good for a BL!” And sure, it was good, but I have to ask—do you honestly believe episodes 7-12 were as good as episodes 1-6? Having actors with such great chemistry in the lead roles, they really dropped the ball by not giving them a script worthy of their talents.
In the end, Bad Buddy had all the ingredients for greatness, but somewhere along the way, it ended up with half-baked episodes.
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