Enchante’s pacing and acting for me is so weird and sometimes all over the place but Akk and Theo’s freaking adorable, I decided to just tolerate and watch.
lots of ppl focus on the second half of uncle tong’s speech at the end of ep11: you might think one man cant change the world, but the world cant change a man like me either
but the part that stuck with me more (especially in terms of pat and pran’s hard-earned freedom) is the first half: you asked why i didnt quit what im doing. it might not be able to change the whole world, but it surely changes my attitude towards this world
i need to talk more about this, because like… this is all over the show as well. they choose each other over and over again; they never stop gravitating towards each other; they don’t break apart but build each other up instead; they work to understand each other’s feelings, flaws, fears, dreams, and when they’re not on the same page they work out compromises that can satisfy both of them.
this is not a case of letting the world change them. the world is what made them confused and afraid of their love for one another. this is them choosing to change themselves, and their attitude towards things, for the person they love, in order to become even better at loving:
PAT becomes more tidy and hygienic. he reflects on his actions more often and recognizes when his impulsivity leads to trouble. he stops concerning himself with reputation and the masculine image his dad wants him to exude- in fact, stops needing his dad’s approval so much after the truth is revealed. he learns to find the little joys in loving quietly and having pran all to himself
PRAN slowly but surely opens up until he is just as fierce and brazen at pat. he’s much more relaxed, bickers out of fondness rather than stress, doesn’t worry as much about being a little sloppy (like burping, talking with food in his mouth, etc). his smiles no longer look like they‘re being weighed down by shame or embarrassment, and he is finally able to express himself fully and openly and loudly
that’s why i don’t see ep12 as them forcing themselves to hide again. they’re really, really not hiding. their story began with them not telling anyone that they even knew each other, hesitating to even act friendly with each other, feeling cornered and hopeless at every turn by their affection for each other all because they were burdened by the ever-looming scrutiny of the world
but in ep12 they’re not lying out of fear anymore. all they did was tell their friends and families a convenient fiction in order to avoid being anyone’s public spectacle again. their love is between them and whoever they choose to tell. they chose this together! they worked for it together!
i know pat wishes he could be more open and have their families acknowledge them. but any hope of peace between their parents is totally out of his hands. ming and dissaya are the ones who need to resolve their own issues, not their kids. if their parents (mostly ming) would rather continue to live the lie rather than act like grownups and face the truth, it’s neither pat nor pran’s burden to bear anymore. and what the two of them do to keep their relationship separate from family stuff is merely a polite kindness, a gesture of consideration and compromise. it literally doesn’t stop them from making noise at home. not caring who can hear them crossing the rooftops to get to the other’s room, and laughing loudly, and playing music together. just because they’re not able to talk about it with their families doesn’t mean they’re silencing themselves either
I love them so much. I had a mini calendar made showing my fave moments and pics on both the series and their photo shoots. And every time I look at it, I can almost hear the dialogues in my head and it makes me smile and makes my day.
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, WIEL, 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.
I’m still sad there’s no more bad buddy but started enchante today and can’t deny that Theo and Akk are adorbs! Sure the pacing and transitions are a bit awkward for me and you can’t really expect the acting to be as good as Bad Buddy but it’s off to a good start. And i just love Egg.
i think that today we learned an important lesson: it is possible to be realistic and still get a happy ending.
while pat and pran’s parents have yet to fully accept them, the boys bet on something more solid than rebelling, they bet on patience.
and with a love as resilient as theirs? it was only a matter of time until it started wearing their parents and their walls down. of course that it’s been four years, it’s a slow process much like water shaping up rocks, doesn’t happen overnight.
but slowly the parents are getting tired of the fight and are learning that there’s no way pat and pran will ever break up. they’ve gone through so much and to such lengths to be together, there is no stopping their love. little by little that becomes a normal thing, common knowledge. and maybe one day, hopefully, pat and pran will walk into each other’s houses through the front door and finally feel truly welcomed.
MJ, I hope you don’t mind me writing a huge addition to this with my own thoughts, but I really liked what you wrote here and didn’t want to diminish it by just linking to it. I want to also highlight what @patandpran as well in their post:
Love doesn’t have to be loud enough so everyone can hear, just as long as the people involved in the relationship are listening.
I think there is something really radical in this episode with the first half playing into the belief that they broke up when they were still secretly together. In the recontextualization of the early scenes, this show reminds us that a big part about being queer is determining how you want to remember the things that have happened to you. There is power in being able to tell our stories.
Others may see us sad people who have broken up and done what our parents want of us, but we can make our own happiness with the people who support us. On top of that, the parents knowing what’s going on actually makes me happy. Pat and Pran have invited them in, and it reminds me of when we learned about Justice Smith’s queerness when they tweeted this:
Dissaya and Ming are welcome any time, but their struggle is no longer Pat and Pran’s problem. The problem was always outside of their relationship, so now they’ve reserved it for those who can support it.
BB is really special. It gave us a modern BL that uses tropes and expectations in a productive way to tell queer stories that others can connect to is important and necessary.
As for the fans who are having a bad time today, I understand your disappointment that in a way the boys are still closeted. I am really glad that for so many of you, that’s an unfathomable and unacceptable form of happiness. It’s a testament to where we are now that you can have that conviction. For me, as an older fan, I feel like Aof reached out to folks like me who can’t have a love that everyone can support wholeheartedly. I think it’s beautiful that this show says, “Even if your parents can’t get over the hump, you can still have a love for the ages.”
Also, connecting BB to the pinky touch is definitely a flag that says, “This is for all of you who this is the most you ever got to do.”
It’s been an absolute joy experiencing BB with all of you for the last three months, and I hope the genre reset BB provides has a positive influence on BL next year.
i rewatched ep11 for the first time since it aired and it’s just so fascinating as a piece of media because it needed to be so layered. it needed to serve a narrative that existed on its own and then again with the context of the trailer like my gawd the whiplash and mourning we all went through because of how one trailer paints a whole episode in a new light. the writing, the acting, and the subtext all have double meaning to us now and that’s hella impressive
and i’m still thinking about bad buddy sticking the landing btw. from the beginning that was everyone’s biggest fear for the finale two episodes. they kept the two boys that would never breakup together and made everyone stay completely in character INCLUDING the parents. and managed to complete the story line with the parents in a way that was completely satisfying at least to me (no direct resolution regarding the parents but them just not interfering with their lives was something i thought was going to happen and would be the best choice since ep 10 came out). they didn’t sacrifice who the characters are or the story for a dramatic typical ep 11 breakup and rushed get back together and resolution and for that i’ll always be grateful because if one couple didn’t deserve something like that to happen to them it’s patpran.
Now that Bad Buddy is over I don’t know what else to do. I was using Bad buddy as a treat for myself since I was taking a winter class so that I could get my degree faster. I would do all my work and readings so that on Friday I could treat myself to bad buddy…I need something else like that.
I know a new show is coming out, but I need something GOOD that’s already out so I know I have something to treat myself to each week that I know ATE. Please someone I need recommendations.
Keep in mind I’m already watching F4 Thailand. I like to have 2 shows, I was using both bad buddy and f4 Thailand as treats. So I just need one more good one.
As an INTJ and member of the lgbtqia+ community, is it even my responsibility to inform people the ins and outs of my relationships? Is that a requirement?
If not, then why do I see people getting hot and bothered that two fictional characters exercise the choice of letting a limited number of loved ones know the truth about their relationship?
What is it about these people that makes them entitled to judge who, what, why, when, and how to be happy? The series made it clear - despite the similarities of circumstances, one's life experiences does not predict that the same thing would happen to other people.
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