Unpopularopinionbydemand
watching BL in the corner of my room
This review may contain spoilers
Bad Buddy Shows That GMMTV Can Do Better
From the beginning of my watch to now, I think there is a completely different view on this series than I originally had. In the beginning, when this was first announced at the GMMTV 2021 lineup, this was on the very bottom of my list. It looked like a typical Uni BL that, of course, I was going to watch, but I wasn't going to think anything of it. But from then to now, I feel like that has changed for sure. Bad Buddy was again, a very successful and pleasing BL that a lot of people can find entertainment in. However, Bad Buddy did have its little slice of irreverence and irksome characters.
Let's Dive In.
Production was decent, just the same old it always is. The rooftop was very nice though, and probably the best to come out of production. I did like the montages of them going to each other's door and hanging items. Pat sneaking in with his blanket was by far my favorite. Way too many ad placements. Usual for GMMTV, but I've seen smaller companies do way less at advertising (Have you ever watched Arm Share? or Earth-Mix Space? I can't remember the exact variety show, but they literally spent 15 minutes talking about KFC... I don't recommend any of their variety shows unless you want to sit through them speaking forever on an ad you could care less about). I know this is how they get their money, but damn, there has to be something else than this. It's literally GMMTV, one of the biggest companies for BL, they have to be making enough bank to cut at least a few ads, geez. Other than that everything was decent.
Onto the plot. Nothing special. which is why I give this show a lot of credit. While the series was nothing new, original, or impressive, it made its way to being something great because of the actors and their amazing performances. This show wouldn't have worked had it been with any other actors, especially Ohm and Nanon. The plot was as basic as it could get, but with these two, they turned it into something more than that.
Anyways, back onto the actual plot. I give it a 50/50. In terms of Pat and Pran, I loved it. In terms of some of the scenes presented, they were irrelevant and dumb. for instance, the shooting and police situation. Dumb. Very dumb. And so out-of-the-ordinary for the series. it was a serious "what-the-f**k" moment for sure. There were plenty of different ways they could've had Pran run into Pat's parents. Many. I'm not a fan of filler, but with this series, it worked really well, especially for when Ohm and Nanon were kind of doing their own thing and just making the series feel more realistic.
The situation with the parents was okay until it just became annoying. Pran's mom was upset with Pat's dad about the scholarship thing, but they both live in the exact same style of house, in the same neighborhood, in the same town, so it wasn't like he was doing much better than her family. Again, that part made sense until it didn't. I also would've liked it if, by the end, Pat and Pran's parents would've eventually gotten over the feud entirely and allowed their children to be happy. For them to be grown adults and still have to hide their relationship has to be aggravating (especially after 5 years).
Moving onto the characters. I loved Pran and Pat. Ohm and Nanon did a phenomenal job at playing these characters. Their chemistry was through the roof, which is so surprising for me, cause at the beginning I was on the bandwagon that it wasn't going to be good at all. But Ohm could make chemistry with a tree if he wanted to, so I shouldn't have thought for a second it wouldn't be good. They both brought about some awesome performances, and Pran and Pat were pretty much perfect in this series, with enough flaws for me to enjoy them even more. Although, the last few episodes were feeling very much fanservice-y and not telling a story at all. A little less of that, and I think I would've enjoyed them even more.
Ink and Pa were just the cherries on top. I don't think this series did enough with the two of them. Granted, we did get a GL couple, but they were barely on screen. Had they been treated like the other side BL couples, we would've gotten a much more drawn-out indication of their relationship. I'm satisfied with what we got, but I wish we would've gotten more.
With the few times we did get to see Drake's character, I enjoyed him (when he wasn't being a bully). Korn was really silly and extroverted, and Drake played that character wonderfully. He had barely any screentime on this show, with the exception of the last few episodes. I will continue to advocate for Drake and the reason why he deserves another series of his own (but that's for another discussion). Wai was by far my least favorite character. Maybe not because of him personally, but maybe how the writer's disregarded how he outed Pat and Pran to the entire school. A huge situation that was just dusted off (I don't even think it was brought up at all). I think this series did a good job at being progressive (making fun of the 'I'm only gay for you' trope), but in a situation like this, it was serious and deserved to at least be discussed. Then Wai just bothered me with the entirety of the episodes that he was mad at Pran. Mad because Pat didn't tell him? A really weird excuse for him to have a surge of rage. It took Pat getting almost shot for him to be like, "Okay, I'm fine with your guy's relationship"..? They tried to redeem him in the end, but by then, I was just not feeling it. Jimmy is adorable and did a really good job, but his character is a nuisance. The rest of the cast did really well. I also want to give kudos to Pran's mom and her amazing scene with Pat's dad. Beautiful.
Rating:
Story: 8.5 - Nothing new, nothing special. But because of the acting, the plot/story felt fresh and enjoyable. Some irrelevant plots, and annoying circumstances, but other than that, I was entertained.
Acting: 9.5 - Phenomenal. Everyone did an amazing job. Ohm and Nanon made this series work for a plethora of reasons, but their performances were one of the larger ones.
OST: 6 - I don't remember much of the music, and quite honestly, I skipped over the parts of them singing, cause I just wasn't feeling it. But since it wasn't anything noticeably annoying or distracting, I'll give it a 6.
Rewatch Value: 1 - I have more series to watch. This series was nice, but I have no need to rewatch anything. Maybe come back for certain parts, but probably not even then.
I'm nit-picky with GMMTV series because I expect more from them than anything. They have the money, the actors, the resources, and the power to do so. While Bad Buddy was indeed one of GMMTV's best BL series, I know we can still reach further, and do better. I want to see something different than the typical uni BL. Sadly, it seems like the only series to gain popularity out of GMMTV are the uni BLs, so they're never going away, but I'm on the side of wanting something more than this. More than a bunch of engineer dudes falling in love. Especially, again, from GMMTV. Of course, I recommend this show, especially for viewers just getting into BL.
Let's Dive In.
Production was decent, just the same old it always is. The rooftop was very nice though, and probably the best to come out of production. I did like the montages of them going to each other's door and hanging items. Pat sneaking in with his blanket was by far my favorite. Way too many ad placements. Usual for GMMTV, but I've seen smaller companies do way less at advertising (Have you ever watched Arm Share? or Earth-Mix Space? I can't remember the exact variety show, but they literally spent 15 minutes talking about KFC... I don't recommend any of their variety shows unless you want to sit through them speaking forever on an ad you could care less about). I know this is how they get their money, but damn, there has to be something else than this. It's literally GMMTV, one of the biggest companies for BL, they have to be making enough bank to cut at least a few ads, geez. Other than that everything was decent.
Onto the plot. Nothing special. which is why I give this show a lot of credit. While the series was nothing new, original, or impressive, it made its way to being something great because of the actors and their amazing performances. This show wouldn't have worked had it been with any other actors, especially Ohm and Nanon. The plot was as basic as it could get, but with these two, they turned it into something more than that.
Anyways, back onto the actual plot. I give it a 50/50. In terms of Pat and Pran, I loved it. In terms of some of the scenes presented, they were irrelevant and dumb. for instance, the shooting and police situation. Dumb. Very dumb. And so out-of-the-ordinary for the series. it was a serious "what-the-f**k" moment for sure. There were plenty of different ways they could've had Pran run into Pat's parents. Many. I'm not a fan of filler, but with this series, it worked really well, especially for when Ohm and Nanon were kind of doing their own thing and just making the series feel more realistic.
The situation with the parents was okay until it just became annoying. Pran's mom was upset with Pat's dad about the scholarship thing, but they both live in the exact same style of house, in the same neighborhood, in the same town, so it wasn't like he was doing much better than her family. Again, that part made sense until it didn't. I also would've liked it if, by the end, Pat and Pran's parents would've eventually gotten over the feud entirely and allowed their children to be happy. For them to be grown adults and still have to hide their relationship has to be aggravating (especially after 5 years).
Moving onto the characters. I loved Pran and Pat. Ohm and Nanon did a phenomenal job at playing these characters. Their chemistry was through the roof, which is so surprising for me, cause at the beginning I was on the bandwagon that it wasn't going to be good at all. But Ohm could make chemistry with a tree if he wanted to, so I shouldn't have thought for a second it wouldn't be good. They both brought about some awesome performances, and Pran and Pat were pretty much perfect in this series, with enough flaws for me to enjoy them even more. Although, the last few episodes were feeling very much fanservice-y and not telling a story at all. A little less of that, and I think I would've enjoyed them even more.
Ink and Pa were just the cherries on top. I don't think this series did enough with the two of them. Granted, we did get a GL couple, but they were barely on screen. Had they been treated like the other side BL couples, we would've gotten a much more drawn-out indication of their relationship. I'm satisfied with what we got, but I wish we would've gotten more.
With the few times we did get to see Drake's character, I enjoyed him (when he wasn't being a bully). Korn was really silly and extroverted, and Drake played that character wonderfully. He had barely any screentime on this show, with the exception of the last few episodes. I will continue to advocate for Drake and the reason why he deserves another series of his own (but that's for another discussion). Wai was by far my least favorite character. Maybe not because of him personally, but maybe how the writer's disregarded how he outed Pat and Pran to the entire school. A huge situation that was just dusted off (I don't even think it was brought up at all). I think this series did a good job at being progressive (making fun of the 'I'm only gay for you' trope), but in a situation like this, it was serious and deserved to at least be discussed. Then Wai just bothered me with the entirety of the episodes that he was mad at Pran. Mad because Pat didn't tell him? A really weird excuse for him to have a surge of rage. It took Pat getting almost shot for him to be like, "Okay, I'm fine with your guy's relationship"..? They tried to redeem him in the end, but by then, I was just not feeling it. Jimmy is adorable and did a really good job, but his character is a nuisance. The rest of the cast did really well. I also want to give kudos to Pran's mom and her amazing scene with Pat's dad. Beautiful.
Rating:
Story: 8.5 - Nothing new, nothing special. But because of the acting, the plot/story felt fresh and enjoyable. Some irrelevant plots, and annoying circumstances, but other than that, I was entertained.
Acting: 9.5 - Phenomenal. Everyone did an amazing job. Ohm and Nanon made this series work for a plethora of reasons, but their performances were one of the larger ones.
OST: 6 - I don't remember much of the music, and quite honestly, I skipped over the parts of them singing, cause I just wasn't feeling it. But since it wasn't anything noticeably annoying or distracting, I'll give it a 6.
Rewatch Value: 1 - I have more series to watch. This series was nice, but I have no need to rewatch anything. Maybe come back for certain parts, but probably not even then.
I'm nit-picky with GMMTV series because I expect more from them than anything. They have the money, the actors, the resources, and the power to do so. While Bad Buddy was indeed one of GMMTV's best BL series, I know we can still reach further, and do better. I want to see something different than the typical uni BL. Sadly, it seems like the only series to gain popularity out of GMMTV are the uni BLs, so they're never going away, but I'm on the side of wanting something more than this. More than a bunch of engineer dudes falling in love. Especially, again, from GMMTV. Of course, I recommend this show, especially for viewers just getting into BL.
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