Bad Buddy (Thai Series)

Thanks to my friend Sailor Man, who recommended that I should watch this series sooner than later, I am so glad that I did this. Because the way things are going, and the list L shows that I need to watch are rising every single day, it would have been easy for me to miss out this amazing story from Thailand until months later. This is the kind of BL drama thatI had been waiting for a while. A lot of my complains that I have normally had in my previous reviews, especially the Thai series, have all been beautifully handled and taken care of in this show. More on that later.

The story is actually pretty basic. Pat and Pran are in Engineering and Architecture faculties who are supposed to be rivals. It turns out that not just that, both their families, who are actually neighbors are staunch rivals and all the kids have ever heard is to take everyone from the other family. So you can imagine that the two boys have nothing but hatred for each other. Although through multiple flashbacks, we feel there is more to the truth since they were kids. After a series of incidents involving their friends, Pat and Pran start becoming friends and enjoy each other's company but they hide this from everyone. Enter Ink, a girl from their high school, who is the only one who knows that these two boys know each other from school. By now both Pat and Pran like each other but are not really sure what they are feeling. When Pat proposes to Ink and she rejects him, thesis when they realize that they actually love each other. They start to date secretly, even hiding it from Pa who is Pat's sister who has been nothing but supportive of her brother. They play a game where whoever confesses their love openly will lose. Eventually their friends find out about their affair. Initially mad, but they all come around the duo. Now the biggest obstacle is their parents and families, who are so full of hatred for each other. We then find out that there is actually a history between Pat's father and Pran's mother. Essentially both of them have done mistakes but none to the extent that the stories have been pushed on to the kids. Still they don't like the idea of their boys being together. Fast forward, the duo come up with a plan to break-up for the world because they feel that this might be the only option to actually be together. Parents know but they are slowly realizing that they need to letter kids be who they are.

"From two people who shouldn't be friends to two people who cannot be just friends anymore." This line is being used to promote the show and I couldn't have summed it up better. Yes, the story is all that, which to behest, is not all that different from some of the other shows, but its the treatment and execution that has made all the difference for this specific show. I have to start firstly with the amazing chemistry that the dup of Pat and Park share. I have seen Pat in other shows , but oh my god! The actor playing Pran is such an amazing find. I was skeptical after the first episode, but I was so wrong. The boy is cute as hell and his eyes just speak volumes. And that dimple. Kill me now!! Its not to take away the amazing improvement I have seen in the actor playing Pat. I mean, the chemistry they share in the show is rock solid. Both as friends and as lovers. You believe in each and every interaction of theirs, be it them flirting or fighting or kissing or just looking at each other. There is absolutely no awkwardness and things in their relationship progress very naturally. I think the last two episodes could hav been better and I feel they were a bit dragged, but hey, the positives of the show outdo so many others.

The makers have gotten rid of many stereotypes in this show. My biggest pain point used to be the whole husband-wife tag that was being used. This is actually been addressed here where Pran says why does anyone have to be a wife. And I was like, OMG! Finally, they are talking about it.  Sexuality is not made an issue here at all. You could be lesbian, gay, bisexual and everything is considered ok, which was again so refreshing to see in today's time. By the way, we get to see in episode 5. Can you believe it? We would get a kiss in the every last episode earlier, if we were lucky. The fact that the story focuses on their love and relationship and partnership after a few episodes itself was just too good. I am not complaining when I see the duo flirting, and kissing each other at every and any given opportunity. A lot of real issues like social media, love, family, education are brilliantly handled here. Thankfully there are no multiple side stories here taking away the attention that the lead story deserves. We do get a first lesbian connection here but the focus is always Pat and Pran. Their friends Was and Korn are very integral part of the entire storyline and their characters have also been given ample story and reasoning behind why they do what they do. They way they support the leads when they are fighting and also then when they are in love was quite realistic. Some of my favorite episodes were around they both clearly love each other but they play a game to flirt with each other, and whoever admits to being in love will lose. The tricks they both use and the chemistry they need to share to play act friends and lovers while being coy was just too good. I had this constant smile on my face throughout and just had a warm fuzzy feeling inside me while watching this show.

I can't remember when was the last time, I almost binge watched the entire series and was actually waiting to see what happens next. Thanks to the makers for doing the right thing and taking feedback from your fans. This is hand down one of the best BL shows and now my expectations, just like others will be high again. Going and watching some of the other shows which are in my backlog is going to be such a pain now. Bad Buddy is a BL show that deserves to be praised and watched and loved. And please bring in the duo again in another show soon. I wanna see more of them. I may be getting very lenient with my rating here but so be it. I feel warm and nice after watching the show, so judge me if you want to. (9/10)