#BadBuddySeriesEP10 took me back to the rooftop and gutted me.
P’Aof and OhmNanon outdid themselves. Best episode so far. I did not expect myself to ugly cry this early heading into the finale but the emotional highs and lows in this episode were *chef’s kiss*. The acting here was masterful. Acting students need to study this episode on emotional delivery. We knew it was coming but we did not expect to be hit this hard. That’s on Ohm and Nanon bringing us their best. Kudos also to the direction and scriptwriters for making the expected feel new and game-changing.
It's been a week since the ending of "Bad Buddy", and I've wanted to do a post about it since then. But this would also mean that I have to let it go, and, sincerely, I don't want to.
Bad Buddy has been my happy place for 3 months. I didn't expect it to become as important as it has been, but the fact is it has and it will stay that way forever.
This show has shocked me to my core and I need to vent out all the feelings I've had during its run. This is my way to letting them go while keeping them in my heart. It's going to be a long rant, meant for me to cope with the ending more than anything, but if anybody wants to join me, you're welcomed!
I accidentally came into the BL world almost a year ago. Back then I was invested in "Mr Queen" (another of my happy pills) and YT and Tumblr started to recommend me BL shows. I remember seeing some gifsets about "HiStory" and "Manner of Death". Then, AToTS was released. And, of course, I got hooked.
My own path in fandom includes a lot of yaoi, M/M, W/W and LGTBQ+ stories. I am a musical theatre fan, fyi. So, I had it coming, I guess. But I didn't have a clue about the BL industry in Asia. Even as a long-time anime and manga fan, I really had no idea that such a thing existed.
So, coming into this world after decades (yes, I'm that old) of being in the fandom world was such a wild ride: it was so full of clichés, toxic relationships, corny plots, dubious acting and low budget production that it took me a while to come to terms with it. But I simply thought about it as a fun way to escape from the harsh reality. And it really worked for a while.
But then, ITSAY happened. I had already glimpsed a bit of what things could be if the stories, the acting and the production were better when I saw the last episodes of AToTS. But still, it wasn't mind-blowing for me. Just fluff and fun, basically fanfic came true.
I saw ITSAY a month before IPYTM was released. I binge-watched it during a long weekend and it shocked me to the core. It was so good, full of life and feeling that I couldn't believe it was classified as BL, because being a BL for me at that time meant no quality whatsoever. ITSAY was phenomenal in every way, and, thus, IPYTM was the first BL that I watched live every week.
From then on, I tried to catch up with other quality BLs. That's how I started to collect my happy pills in this genre: Cherry Magic, Gameboys, WYEL, Light on me, To my star and some of the HiStory series. They had a good production, good actors and well written stories.
So, most of my happy pills were non-Thai BLs. And then, they released Bad Buddy.
I had, of course, seen the pilot trailer. I thought it would be a fun, cute story. It honestly looked as cheap in production as other Thai-BLs, and I hadn't seen anything about the actors before. I just knew about P'Aof, the director, because of AToTS. So I didn't expect anything from it but having a good time.
The first episode was as cute and fun as I thought it would be. The chemistry between the male leads was as loud as that from ITSAY. The bantering was on point as well. But I started to see things, mainly in the acting, that caught my attention: Pat's stare when he realised who he was fighting against. Pran's shaken expression when Pat tells him that he doesn't want to fight him. Pran's hopeful eyes when they finally exchanged Line IDs. It was subtle, but it was there and it got me hooked.
The first time I laughed with the show was in ep2, the moment they almost met in the library. That expression in Pran's face and his swirl to avoid Pat's group? It was so natural that I couldn't help the chuckle. I laughed again, louder this time, in ep4 when they were in the stairs, at Pran's scared scream when Pat tickled him. And when a TV show is able to get that from me, I know I'm in for the long run. It's one of my weak spots.
By then I immensely enjoyed the episodes, so much that I started to build my expectations. The plot itself wasn't groundbreaking, the script was good, but the acting? The acting from Nanon and Ohm was extraordinary. Every time they were together on screen it was magical. Every stare, touch and dialogue felt like I was watching a real relationship starting to develop. Pran's expression at the end of ep3, when Pat returns the guitar to him, is still one of my favourite scenes of the whole show.
When I got to ep4 I was really invested in the show. The moment they started with the flashbacks to their budding friendship in high school and we got a glimpse of how long Pran had felt that way for Pat was a turning point for me as a viewer. Ep4 is so, so touching for me (and for most of the audience as far as I've seen) because we identify ourselves with Pran's feelings of longing and pining. The bedroom scene, where an oblivious Pat tries to convince Pran that he is the best option for Ink by listing all the things he has done for Pran, is heart-breaking for Pran and for all of us. It was the first time I tore up. Up until that moment I had only torn up for ITSAY. And that's a lot coming from me.
As everybody knows by now, Ep 5 was the tsunami that washed the fandom away and got us spiraling into madness. This was the episode that punched me hard and it's my favourite of the series. As I see it, it is perfection. It is such a powerful episode because, as others have pointed out, the focus changes from Pran to Pat. For the first time, we see things from Pat's perspective and we go along with him through his "awakening" about his feelings for Pran. Ohm does a fantastic job in the episode, his portrayal of Pat is honest and raw and it fits as a puzzle with Pran's pining and hurt.
Ep 5 has two of the best scenes in the show: the fight and the rooftop ones. During the fight I felt as tense as Pran was. There's nothing new to say about how amazing the acting is, but I'll point out 3 of my favourite moments: Pat's "maniri" and then Pran going to him. When Pat steps closer to Pran (to do what? Hug him? Kiss him?) and Pran panics. And Pat's expression before he says "tell him", just ready to blow everything out.
The rooftop scene deserves its own post, and that is what I will do as soon as I can (best excuse to rewatch it for the umpteen time hehe).
I have to be honest and admit that ep6 was a bit of a let down. Don't get me wrong, it is a wonderful episode, it makes me laugh with a heavy heart thinking about the tragedy of their situation, Pran's disbelief and denial and Pat's eagerness and determination. But after the whirlwind that was the ending at the rooftop in ep5, it took me a couple of episodes to come down from there into the show again.
The next three episodes, from the flirting, to the secret relationship and the forced "coming out" are great in terms of building the trust of the audience in them. As I mentioned before, we see them grow as a couple, and it is so satisfying to watch them overcome any obstacles they put in their way together. I think everyone agrees that we could be watching them being domestic for 12 more episodes and we, the audience, will be delighted. Pran and Pat are one of the few couples in the drama world that make us feel whole just watching them being together.
Episode 10 is as powerful as ep 5, the acting is top notch and at last we have a plot developing outside our main couple! Still, the best moments go back to our boys, the revelation of their parents' dispute coming hard, but the last scene again on the rooftop is the gut-wrenching one. I think Pran is scared to be alone again, not only because his parents can send him away but because Pat's parents can 'convince' or 'force' Pat to leave him somehow. That's why, when he sees Pat there, he breaks down. Pat would never ever leave him, he realises and it breaks his heart because in their world they simply cannot be. He knew what the relationship entailed and he knew they were doomed as soon as their families found out, but I'm sure he thought he would be going through all that ordeal on his own, like the first time. Pat's as gutted as he is but he holds on for Pran. For Pat, Pran, as we have seen throught the series, always goes first.
The last two episodes gave me whitplash. I have never ever in my life suffered so much between two episodes of any show (well, maybe when I was much younger and susceptible, time hardens anyone). I watched ep 11 with a plastered smile on my face and my eyes wet. I didn't fully understand why both boys were crying so much until the end of the episode and the misleading teaser for ep 12. I bawled after watching it and hours later when I replayed it in my mind. I was in shock for the rest of the week, thinking that either way I would end up crying buckets: if the preview was real, it wasn´t fair for the characters, damn it!. If the preview was fake, I just had one episode left to enjoy. There was no way out to feel devastated.
I knew the show had to have a happy ending somehow. This is P'Aof, and the show was tagged as a rom-com, so it couldn't have a sad ending. But that didn't mean it would have a satisfactory ending. It could be happy, but rushed, incomplete or disappointing. It could have failed the landing and that would have been terrible after doing such a fantastic job.
Fortunately, it did nailed the landing. Even if we all felt betrayed by the way they mislead us, the suffering was erased once we realised that we had been had. The last 30 minutes of the show are exactly why we all love it: we returned to the secret relationship, they were happy together in their bubble, the families subtly came round and they had their closest friends (and Pa) supporting them all the time. They chose how to live their lives, maybe giving up some freedom, but knowing than, in the long run, they would stick together through thick and thin, no matter what. That's what they deserved.
The finale is faithful to them. For me, as a fan, it means I can rewatch the show as many times as I want because it has come full circle. I remember not being able to rewatch or listen to the OST after ep 11 and that hurt as hell, because they were (are!) my comfort zone, my happy place, and I couldn't go there without feeling torn. So, as it happens with the best shows, with ep 12 they gave me my good place back and I was ecstatic. I laughed and cried after it had finished, repeating to myself that it was perfect for them, I wouldn't have wanted anything different for Pat and Pran.
So, thank you to the production of the show for such a gem. It has raised the bar so high that it is going to be hard to find another like it, but I thought the same with ITSAY and here we are! I hope BL shows learn from here and they keep on improving.
Thanks for the memories, buddies.
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