Beyond Perfection

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.

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Never going to be able to move on from this masterpiece.

Listen, now this may be the most perfect and flawless show I have ever seen. As someone who has seen almost all BLs of GMMTV as well as over 80+ BL/non-BL thai titles, Last Twilight is truly the definition of the perfect show with impeccable casting, execution, and storyline. I rarely ever take the time to write reviews for shows i've seen, but Last Twilight really deserves all the recognition it can get. If you have yet to see this show or if you're maybe still comtemplating whether to watch this or not, do yourself a favor and WATCH IT RIGHT NOW. I honestly wish I could erase this show from my memory and experience watching it again for the first time, so consider yourself lucky if you're just about to watch it, you're in for an amazing (and emotional) ride! Trying my best not to include spoilers, all I have to say is that I cried at least twice per episode (and I bet everyone who has seen this show did too), so prepare tissues especially if you're an easy crier like me.

Okay now getting into the details and all. First of all, the casting and acting. I have to say that I could not imagine any other pair playing Mhok and Day better than Jimmy and Sea has. Seeing them as actors all the way from Bad Buddy (for Jimmy) and Vice Versa (JimmySea as a pair for the first time), which I also recommend you go watch too because it's so underrated, their growth and improvement is so obvious here in Last Twilight. All their hardwork and effort paid off, and it is so wonderful to have been a witness of that. I genuinely hope that we get to see Jimmy and Sea in more projects as main leads, because if anything, this show proved how capable they are of pulling off a masterpiece.

As we all know, P'Aof is infamous for his amazing work as a director, so when the Last Twilight Pilot Trailer was first released, I immediately knew that I would love this show, but I did not expect to love it as much as I did. If you watch the behind-the-scenes of the show, you'll see just why everything seems so flawless. It's because P'Aof does his job so well and is very involved directly with the actors and knows exactly what he wants to see on the screen. The small details are absolutely crazy, we've seen this from P'Aof's past works, but he just continues to prove that he never fails to convey the exact message and emotions he wants us, the audience, to feel. Huge props to P'Aof and his team for once again creating and sharing the beautiful story of Mhok and Day.

Lastly, THE SUPPORTING ROLES. This show would truly not be complete without the supporting roles. Unlike a lot of other shows, the side characters are not used for convenience or as accessories, they add so much to the show itself and each individual character has so much depth. Porjai and Night is literally my favorite side couple, they STOLE MY HEART I SWEAR. They made me cry, laugh, and feel butterflies even with just the few scenes they had over the course of the show. But yes, Day's mom and dad, Pla and Aon, the friends, literally all the little side roles did so well.

Also, THE SOUNDTRACK. Oh my god the songs from this show are actually so beautiful I cannot even explain it to you through words. "Last Twilight" by William Jakrapatr has been played at least a hundred times since it was released for me and I will continue to listen to it because it is just too perfect. "Better Days", "Blame the Stars", and "One Palm Distance" are so worth listening to too! I swear this is one of my favorite OST lists ever.

There is nothing more I can in this review without spoiling, so I'm going to wrap it up by saying that this show taught me so many lessons and realizations. Thank you to everyone who was part of Last Twilight and made it a safe haven for so many of the viewers. I already miss Mhok and Day so much, I don't know how I'm gonna continue life without a new episode to look forward to :( haha kidding aside, I am so happy with how it ended and I will definitely be rewatching it in the future. From casually starting the first episode, to listing it down as my #1 favorite show, I couldn't have asked for a better outcome.

I hope to witness your love again one day Mhok and Day,
until the next twilight.

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