The BL genre rose to prominence during the great lockdown of 2020. Thai BL 2gether The Series swept many fujoshi off their feet. Almost 2 years have passed and we’re still feeling its effect with the upcoming 2gether: The Movie. That fame, though, caused many upcoming BL series to pale with comparison. Be it the groundbreaking mystery thriller Manner of Death, or cinematic, lyrical I Told Sunset About You, none of them created a ripple that lasted more than a few weeks after its finale.
2021, therefore, seemed to be an unusually dull year for Thai BL series. That is, until Bad Buddy Series burst onto the scene. With 6 episodes aired, Bad Buddy Series by GMMTV starring Ohm and Nanon looked set to become the crowning jewel in BL fandom of 2021.
Bad Buddy Series – A Tropical Romeo and Juliet
Bad Buddy Series followed the story of 2 boys, Pran and Pat (pronounced as P-ah-t, not P-eh-t), whose families were at loggerheads with each other. It didn’t help that they stayed right next to each other!
Beneath the bad sentiments, Pran and Pat got along very well, up until one day in high school. They were assigned to perform for a Christmas gig, which was uncovered by Pat’s parents. Things fell apart quickly and Pran was transferred to another school.
In a twist of fate, Pran and Pat went to the same university, but in competing faculties. Henceforth the main story line unfolded. They had to pretend to be fighting in front of their friends and families as a cover for their secret friendship.
Great Acting From Seasoned (but Young) Actors
In my earlier post explaining how 2gether The Series was a turning point for the BL series, “good acting” was one of the reasons. That being said, it was obvious that the acting of Win, a new actor then, was lacking in the first few episodes.
For Bad Buddy Series, however, the production team had it all covered.
Ohm is a seasoned BL actor with many popular BL series under his name. At 16, he burst onto the BL scene with the outrageously daring Make It Right. That series was so popular that it earned a sequel the very next year. Ohm didn’t let fame (or his good bod) get into him. He continued playing lead roles in BL series that performed well in both ratings and critics in the next 5 years.
The characters he played were also varied. His best performance so far was The Shipper, in which he played a multi-faceted character Khet. On the surface, Khet was a lazy and carefree soul, but he was meticulous in his life, including his love for his crush, which was also how he found out that his brother’s body was actually taken over by his crush’s soul. Ohm juggled between the multiple layers of personality without making it looked like he was playing different characters altogether.
Nanon had a longer acting career than Ohm. He started out playing supporting roles when he was 14. His first break was in My Dear Loser: Edge of 17, when he played the lead role Oh who was the subject of school bullying.
I thought Nanon’s acting back in My Dear Loser: Edge of 17 to be too exaggerated – unbecoming of a lead role. However, his performance in Bad Buddy Series so far had shown how his skills had matured over the years.
Pat’s Unknowing flirting
While we knew from the start that Pran had secretly loved Pat since young – in the form of flashbacks – fans were unsure how Pat would reciprocate this love. Will Pran have to openly woo Pat? Does Pat also secretly like Pran in return?
The story line seemed to take us through the funny clashes the pair faced when trying to hide their secret friendship from their families and friends. However, this was also the journey of Pat realising that he was in fact, in love with Pran.
And even worse?
He kept flirting with Prat without realising he himself is falling in love with the latter.
The Longest BL Kiss Scene
The flirting had to end somewhere.
This led us to the now-dubbed “The Longest BL Kiss Scene” in episode 5. In a poignant dialogue at the rooftop, the pair trashed things out to answer the question, “Are we enemies?”
Ohm and Nanon’s acting didn’t disappoint.
Ohm’s Pat went from being confused and frustrated to swelling with adoration, while Nanon had to contain Pran’s secret love for Pat from overwhelming his rational self after Pat’s declaration. Yes, he still gave in, but it was a restrained one.
This made me look forward to a more passionate, interactive (and perhaps even looonger?) kiss scene.
One Dimensional Supporting Roles A Glaring Flaw
Unfortunately, the painting of the supporting roles, Pran and Prat’s friends and families, were rather plain and one-dimensional. The production team basically replaced the mature actors playing Pran and Prat’s parents with young punks without changing their lines.
The only supporting roles that had more screen time were Pa (Pat’s younger sister), Ink (Pat’s high school crush and target of Pran’s jealousy) and Wai (Pran’s unusually over protective faculty mate). However, Pa’s dialogues were mainly “Did you fight with Pran again?” and “Remember your promise to me.”
Ink had more varied dialogues, but due to editing, her dialogues were piecewise. With one week in between episodes, there were times when I wondered if I had missed out or forgotten scenes with Ink, because what she was saying wasn’t coherent to previous development. Having said that, I understood her character’s purpose was to draw out the conflict between Pran and Pat and through that, guide Pat to understand his love for Pran. However, beyond knowing that Ink likes photography and worked in the varsity news magazine, there was literally nothing about her background, emotions and plans for the future.
Similarly, Wai was a very weirdly one-dimensional character who was always blowing his nostrils at Pat. This was bad, considering Jimmy, Wai’s actor, is a very good-looking boy. Not only were the “angry scenes” unbefitting his image, it might backfire and push him into the stereotype of “pretty boys who could only handle 1 expression/emotion in dramas”.
Hopefully, the screenwriters would give these characters more depth in the upcoming episodes.
Chopstick Fights and Mint Sticks
Technicalities aside, the greatest joy of watching Bad Buddy Series was the comical attempts by the lead roles to hide their friendship from their families and friends.
Like Pat’s friends almost discovering that Pran is staying across the hallway (not to mention they had been neighbours since young).
Like Pran having to find a place to hide in Pat’s room when the latter’s father dropped in unannounced while the pair was in there for a discussion.
Fujoshis also lapped up every cute, if not suggestive, interactions between the pair.
Like their “chopsticks fight” at the wanton mee stall.
Or how Pat pasted himself onto Pran in the corner of the not-so-empty lift. Even though Pran was irritated by Pat, he was still secretly smiling like a little boy who just got a chocolate bar.
Or Pran helping Pat remove his makeup.
Or their clueless, but carefree race up the stairs to their rooms when the lift was down.
Yup, if it were me, I wouldn’t take up a challenge to run up 3 stories of stairs. Not even if the challenge was thrown in by my mortal enemy. I would just tell him to go fly a kite.
But I suppose I was missing the point.
Fujoshis were going gaga over Pran’s mint stick (which he used after the run to pace his breathing) and Pat’s attempt to snatch it from Pran. Like he was saying, “Hello, I want to stick your stick up my… nose.”
Let’s… just leave the rest to your imagination.
Pat Flexing His Muscles
What cannot escape the imagination of all viewers was the flexing of Pat’s muscles. Yes, it’s a fact that the actor Ohm has a Greek God body that makes most guys feel inferior. And that him flexing his biceps and abs in every episode has become another form of product placement.
Not that anyone’s complaining.
There’s only a few actors in GMMTV with bods to show off and unfortunately, most of them are very stingy about it. And Ohm had not shown off his for quite a while too!
Most strikingly, the scene that took a little too long.
What’s Brewing for Bad Buddy Series?
Ep 6 of Bad Buddy Series ended with a (cheesy) challenge between Pat and Pran – whoever falls in love with the other will lose.
Errr… All viewers knew that Pran was already the loser.
#PatPran vs #PranPat
But well, what’s worth looking forward to is how Pran is going to get back at Pat.
He spent the first 5 episodes harbouring his love and being tormented by Pat’s nonchalant flirting. Now that everything is out in the open, he can let Pat have a taste of his own medicine.
Already, fujoshis were treated to a snippet of what’s about to come. Just look at Pat’s expression. We can already know what’s going on in his head!
There’s also strong suggestions that #PatPran is going to be #PranPat instead.
Based on the formula that GMMTV is following, we should anticipate a 2nd kiss scene in the upcoming episode 7 between the 2 leads. This will be followed by an episode or 2 of honeymoon period, before their bubbly BL world starts bursting due to some conflict.
Who Is Going to Split Up the Bad Buddies?
Going by the history of BL series, a female character in the form of an ex-girlfriend or rival in love would be the cause of the conflict. In Bad Buddy Series, Ink, Pat’s object of affection and the source of Pran’s jealousy had already appeared in episode 2, so she’s out of the question.
The candidate most eligible to be a rival in love seemed to be Wai. It remains to be seen if his outbursts at Pat were due to jealousy or just plain concern for a platonic friend.
With the likelihood of the presence of an ex-girlfriend or rival in love to be low, their family’s feud would most likely be the spark for the turmoil to come in the penultimate episodes. One thing fans are looking forward to see was the moment when Pran and Pat’s rivaling friends finally discovered that their class presidents were actually dueling on the bed rather than off it!
Will There Be Any Other Ships Sailing?
There also didn’t seem to be any hints of a side CP. But we don’t know. ManType, the side CP of 2gether, only surfaced near the end of the series, when Type, Tine’s brother, showed up. However, based on the casting list for Bad Buddy, every supporting role has already appeared, so any side CP will definitely be from one of them.
Among them, Wai, Ink and Pat’s sister Pa, had the most screen time. One popular ship that has sailed was InkPa. People have even found evidence in the set and background that hinted at their GG love!
Oh… Somehow, I’m looking forward to seeing a twist where Wai gets involved with Pa. Imagine him having to start being nice to Pat in order to win Pa!
Watch Bad Buddy Series For A Perfect Ending to 2021!
Bad Buddy Series comes after a drought of Thai BL series that are both critically acclaimed and popular for the past year. It might seem that this series benefited from China’s clampdown of Chinese BL series, which had been the hotbed for BL fandom resulting from Word of Honour (山河令) in 2021.
However, with the solid acting from Ohm and Nanon, coupled with an interesting premise of an underground affair friendship, Bad Buddy Series re-captured the hearts of fujoshi who got distracted by CN/JP/KR BL. At this rate, it looked set to be the unicorn of Thai BL series in 2021, directing the centre of action of BL fandom back to the land of smiles.
At 8.7/10 on My Drama List, Bad Buddy Series is currently the highest ranking BL series, outranking popular series like I Told Sunset About You and Cherry Magic. Let’s hope the remaining of this series lives up to fans’ expectations.
Till then, don’t get BLown away!
p/s: If you can’t get enough of Ohm/Pat, be sure to check out The Shipper and my review on this fantastic Japanese-inspired BL drama!
You can watch Bad Buddy Series on GMMTV’s YouTube channel.
*Disclaimer: All pictures used were of the property of the producer, even if they were posted on Twitter by fans. This post is meant for sharing the joy of watching BL; if you’re offended by BL content, please click away from this post.