Bad Buddy is my favorite BL of 2021, and to be honest, of all-time. Out of the 40+ BL titles I have seen, this one is the most well-made series even outside of the "BL" category. I think what contributed to how beautiful this series is the director, P'Aof, who was also behind my second and fourth favorite BL of all-time, which is A Tale of A Thousand Stars and He's Coming to Me respectively. P'Aof pours his heart out into his works, and it always pays off. It is very obvious how much effort he put into making Bad Buddy, plus the amazing acting skills of pretty much the whole cast whether it be from the main leads, Pat & Pran, all the way to the parents, friends, and other extras, this series is so well casted which is probably one of the reasons why it became successful project.

First, I have to dive deeper into my appreciation for Ohm and Nanon's acting. The way that in some scenes, they would make us feel all the emotions they were trying to communicate to the audience without saying a single word is actually unbelievable. There was no awkwardness or cringe factor at all, which seems to be one of my biggest problems when watching shows overall, I cannot handle acting that seems like they're reading off a script. This was quite the opposite, everything felt so natural and real. They single-handedly raised the bar for the standards of BL and BL actors so high up that I wonder if there will be a series by GMMTV in the next few years or so that could ever beat this level of perfection in terms of acting. I would also like to add that I appreciate Jimmy (Wai) for working hard to keep up with Ohm and Nanon's acting during that fight scene in Ep. 5. Jimmy is new to the industry and does not have any prior acting gigs, so the fact that he was able to hold that tension during that scene and be at par with the level of acting that the two very experienced actors have is really commendable.

Next, the story, script, and the way it was executed. In the past, there have been numerous BLs that seemingly have a pretty good story or a pretty good script, but turns out mediocre or even worse sometimes because of the execution. Bad Buddy is the perfect example of the way a story should be told, a perfect blend of a good story, script, and execution. When I tell you there is not one boring scene in this drama, I mean it. There were no filler scenes, no useless information, every single scene had a meaning, explanation, and reason behind it. The fact that when the first trailer came out, everyone thought it would be another cliché university-setting enemies-to-lovers trope, but they were able to turn something cliché into something that a lot of people find exceptional is truly a rare talent. There were absolutely no scenes where I felt like going on my phone like I do with a lot of (even some of my favorites) shows whether it be a BL or not. Pat and pran have one of the healthiest and strongest relationships I have seen in a BL. I won't dive deep into this because I don't want to spoil anything, but once you watch the show, you will understand what I mean. Anyways, I know some of my favorite scenes from the series are actually unscripted or improvised by the actors themselves, but I still wanna give a huge congratulations to everyone behind the script of Bad Buddy, it was flawless and so well put together.

I just wanted to add that in addition to all this, the OST tracklist of this show has been on repeat for me for months now.
"Just Friends?" by Nanon Korapat (actor who plays Pran)
"SECRET" by Kacha Nontanun
"OUR SONG" by Nanon Korapat
"Same Page?" by Tilly Birds (old/original OST)
All songs mentioned above are worth listening to. Give them a listen if you want to explore more Thai music too!
(All available on YouTube, Spotify, etc.)


Now if you're going ask me if this is a show worth watching, my answer is a big YES! You would be missing out if you haven't seen this. It is everything I've ever wanted in a BL put together into one series. I would like to say thank you to all the cast and crew of Bad Buddy for making one of the happiest and memorable 12 weeks of my life, especially because of the pandemic that is still going on, this has been such a breath of fresh air and an escape from reality for me. I would recommend this show to anyone, BL-fan or not. Thank you P'Aof, Ohm, Nanon, Love, Milk, Drake, Jimmy, Mark, Marc, Lotte, Prom, and many many more for your hardwork. Thank you for keeping me happy and giving me something to look forward to each week. Til' the next Friday @ 9:45, see you soon Pat & Pran.