Some just need to hear Wai apologise - thinking what he did to help Pat not get arrested was not enough, hence…
Thanks for the detailed writing. It was very well written!
Will Wai say sorry in the coming episodes? Who knows? It's still too early to tell, coz EP 10 is twelve days away!
And agree with you on the cancel culture, which is just really very sad. Just because someone does something wrong then we want to annihilate that person totally and utterly without giving any chance at seeking forgiveness or to change himself/herself.
I think all those who still hold grudge against Wai or how his actions were portrayed in EP 9 need to chill. Not everything can be told in a single episode of 1 hour. We are making too many presumptions and judgments without clarity of thought and understanding of the characters' actions/being clouded by emotion.
At this point I'm simply happy they didn't break up. After having been apart from each other from years, it would…
Yes, agree with you. Most importantly, no unnecessary drama. Will Wai make up for his many mistakes? We'll see. But I don't foresee any more drama coming from them.
Most important is, Pat and Pran still remained rock solid in love and that's very important. Otherwise, we end up distracting ourselves from the key of this series' story, that is Pat and Pran, and not so much on others.
I believe it may end up on Netflix next year. I don't think 2gether was immediately shown in Netflix either.And…
They have to let their own YouTube channel gets the maximum exposure before releasing it on Netflix. Otherwise, people will watch on Netflix instead of on GMMTV's YouTube! :D
State of Bad Buddy Report (YouTube total of all four parts per episode - rounded to closest thousand)
EP 1 - 10,023,000 EP 2 - 7,926,000 EP 3 - 7,622,000 EP 4 - 7,216,000 EP 5 - 8,885,000 EP 6 - 7,365,000 EP 7 - 7,699,000 EP 8 - 6,168,000 EP 9 - 4,064,000
Total - 66,968,000
(As of Saturday, 25 December 2021 at 9.45 pm Thailand time/UTC+7h)
I would like to ask a simple question. If Pat still believed in Wai and even wanted to do everything to help Pran reconcile with him (Pat was obviously annoyed and jealous of Wai earlier on) and even intervened for his sake in the bar scene, and if Pran still forgave Wai after what he had done in revealing his relationship in such a way (don't forget that Pran was really afraid of revealing their relationship)....
Then can we as the audience also learn to forgive in time? It is too early for us to pass judgment or to over-villainise (I don't think such word exists, but never mind) Wai.
Wai behaved like an impulsive guy he is, and those flashbacks remind us (I mentioned this before), that Pran had denied any involvement with Pat earlier on, and this was what infuriated him into revealing their relationship on that theatre stage. He has a big ego as well, and I wrote on this before, how this made him such an annoying person during that rugby match and up to he helped Pat in the end (with the CCTV video), as he refused to let go of his pride and of feeling of having been wronged and betrayed.
(Isn't this what we also often do? Imagine if our best friend tells us that he/she has been secretly in love and relationship with someone we dislike a lot. How will you react?)
Bad Buddy as we know is a series that breaks tropes and stereotypes of BL. Having an evil mastermind is yet another BL trope.
Example? I am sure you all know Lhong from TharnType, and what he had done is far more unforgiveable than Wai. And even so, towards the end, I was having even a bit of pity towards him. (Of course, don't forget Fiat's part in the sequel too)
Another one? Those who watched Don't Say No will know Fiat's mom and her mental illness. But even with the mental illness as an excuse, what she had done to her own son in manipulating him also went way beyond what Wai had done.
One more? Tul from Love by Chance is another one. Of course those who know more about his story will know that his story was actually a rather tragic one as well (from the Breath novel), but still what he did to Tin was what a manipulator do. And in his case, in the end, the story also came to a full circle and though the relationship between brothers were not fixed fully, but at least there was some sort of resolution and forgiveness.
(Note: You all know that these are MAME's products. No offense to MAME's fans!)
I am not saying that Wai is a saint. Was he wrong in doing all that he had done? Of course! But given relative comparison to other examples I mentioned earlier, then Wai deserve more character progression instead of just being put into the trope of being the evil mastermind.
Been rewatching EP 9 again, and how many of us are so happy watching that rugby match when Pran can finally show how excited and happy he is whenever his Pat scores a goal in the open, without the need to hide anymore?
I still need this series to be shared on other streaming site tho… 2gether, together with me, great man academy,…
I believe it may end up on Netflix next year. I don't think 2gether was immediately shown in Netflix either.
And given Bad Buddy's popularity and very high rewatchability, I am not surprised it will be included in Netflix's list and remain there for a long time.
I want to thank Kathy75 for sharing this earlier on regarding the milk tea drink scene. This shows the attention to even the smallest details in Bad Buddy is amazing, and why we really need to rewatch the episodes to fully appreciate its depth.
It was a reference back all the way to EP 4 of the scene when Ink brought Pat a less sweet milk tea, and by that, to the high school story of Pat and Pran before their separation. That Pran remembered that detail showed just how much he loved Pat and cared for him.
(High school flashback scene from EP 4) Pran, who obviously already liked Pat back in high school bought two ice milk tea after he saw Pat, wanting to share it with him. But what he saw was Ink playing and teasing with Pat, which obviously broke his heart and Pran gave the two milk tea to the other people who happened to be there instead.
(EP 4 scene of Ink buying less sweet milk tea for Pat) This one is another sad reminder for Pran who happened to witness it, as he remembered what happened back in high school. He must have been disappointed that he couldn't have a chance to be with Pat. And don't forget how EP 4 later on ended with that bedroom scene, which made Pran hurt even more, as Pat admitted to liking Ink.
(EP 9 milk tea scene) Pran buying those two iced milk tea for him and Pat to have together is therefore their love story coming to a full circle. It was the fulfilment of the unrequited love of the high school era, symbolising how their love story had progressed up to this point. That he remembers how Pat prefers it less sweet speaks volumes about his love for Pat.
(Imagine having to wait so many years just to finally have the chance to share that iced milk tea with the one you love. With parents, friends and others as your obstacles)
It may be just a minor detail, but if we spend the time and effort to appreciate them, it will make the already amazing story 10x better.
Happy to see this comment section alive as always. Please keep sharing our thoughts!As mentioned by some in the…
I have already fleshed out Wai's actions in one of my earlier posts, his attitude, actions and all.
Did he do wrong? Oh yes he did. He almost got his best friend's boyfriend killed.
But why he did what he had done? It was because of his emotions going overdrive, plus his big ego. EP 9 was the beginning of his journey to redemption because he slowly realised that all that he had done so far, was all that caused even more pain to Pran.
Wai thought that he was the one who was hurt the most, but he didn't realise (and only until later on), that his actions caused hurt to Pran too, and what a lot of hurt that was.
Has he been redeemed? To me, not fully yet. But before we jump too quick to conclusions, wait for EP 10 and see how his character continues to act. I foresee that he would turn from the big obstacle (as he was earlier on) to be one of Pat and Pran's greatest supporter.
(I am sure you saw Wai standing beside Pat declaring his love for Pran before the Architecture students, and that smile he had on his face as he looked on Pat is to me, why Pran had Wai as his best friend. Yes, he did wrong things, but he is still a good person, a flawed person yes, but not a demon. After he finally overcome that ego and feeling of being hurt, he can be Pat's good friend too.)
To me, his character and the others really felt real in their actions and emotions. Not like some other BL (or non-BL) characters that feel rather fake and artificial.
Happy to see this comment section alive as always. Please keep sharing our thoughts!
As mentioned by some in the below section, some of us may be unhappy with the way the story turned because we have expected Wai to be the supervillain, but which turned out not to be the case.
Let's moderate our expectations of a story and remember that in any series, there can be a lot of twists and turns in the plot and storyline. Before we jump too quick to conclusions, or hate a particular character to the bone, let us try understanding their actions from their perspective first. We can predict how a story will turn out to be, but we shouldn't demand a story to go in a certain way we want.
(This past week we saw a huge wave of antipathy against Wai after EP 8 ending, while waiting for EP 9 to air, and I know many of us couldn't wait to hang him if possible.)
Remember that the director and scriptwriter have freedom to dictate the direction of the story, and for me, EP 9 was an equally great episode as the earlier ones, if not better (This is subjective). And as I mentioned, the actors did very well in playing their roles, especially I want to mention Jimmy in playing Wai (who did great despite this being his debut series. His performance in EP 9 was great.)
I thought this last epidsode was done very well. I understand how some people perceived various flaws in this…
Thank you for sharing my thought as well, solipsism5!
I think those who were unhappy with this episode is because they were too high in their expectation of how the story will turn out according to their own perception, and as things didn't turn out that way, it kind of made them unhappy.
I mentioned this earlier, but a lot of anger was directed at Wai for that grand reveal at the end of EP 8, and I think quite a few people were expecting him to be a horrible mastermind, which turned out not to be the case. It was ultimately the family that I believe will be their most important hurdle, not Wai or the friends (as EP 9 proved to us).
It's ok to disagree. But actually the tension in this episode has been simmering for the past few episodes if…
No offense, but overall I feel Bad Buddy is a league above A Tale of Thousand Stars. A Tale of Thousand Stars is a great series, but towards the end, the story and the production were not very good.
Bad Buddy is at least equally if not more a masterpiece than ATOTS. But should we really compare? I don't think so. Each are different masterpieces of their own.
Thank you for sharing! It's happy to see both of them being far ahead of any other Thai actors (BL or non-BL)
Exactly, and no matter how trending and powerful Bad Buddy is, its watchers now is just a tenth of the top watched series in MDL (which is Korean). Even 2gether is far below many Korean series considered average in watchers.
And outside MDL, Chinese dramas (and to some extent Korean dramas) have vast advantage in numbers, potential watchers and popularity. For Bad Buddy to be able to reach such a level of support here, in Twitter and others, it's already great enough.
That's why when I compare, I only compare within Thai BL series/drama series. Even 2gether is often an outlier that can't really be compared to fairly.
We can only compare quality when comparing across different countries' products. To compare viewership plus this fan rated best actor list objectively is impossible.
1 
Will Wai say sorry in the coming episodes? Who knows? It's still too early to tell, coz EP 10 is twelve days away!
And agree with you on the cancel culture, which is just really very sad. Just because someone does something wrong then we want to annihilate that person totally and utterly without giving any chance at seeking forgiveness or to change himself/herself.
I think all those who still hold grudge against Wai or how his actions were portrayed in EP 9 need to chill. Not everything can be told in a single episode of 1 hour. We are making too many presumptions and judgments without clarity of thought and understanding of the characters' actions/being clouded by emotion.
Most important is, Pat and Pran still remained rock solid in love and that's very important. Otherwise, we end up distracting ourselves from the key of this series' story, that is Pat and Pran, and not so much on others.
State of Bad Buddy Report
(YouTube total of all four parts per episode - rounded to closest thousand)
EP 1 - 10,023,000
EP 2 - 7,926,000
EP 3 - 7,622,000
EP 4 - 7,216,000
EP 5 - 8,885,000
EP 6 - 7,365,000
EP 7 - 7,699,000
EP 8 - 6,168,000
EP 9 - 4,064,000
Total - 66,968,000
(As of Saturday, 25 December 2021 at 9.45 pm Thailand time/UTC+7h)
Then can we as the audience also learn to forgive in time? It is too early for us to pass judgment or to over-villainise (I don't think such word exists, but never mind) Wai.
Wai behaved like an impulsive guy he is, and those flashbacks remind us (I mentioned this before), that Pran had denied any involvement with Pat earlier on, and this was what infuriated him into revealing their relationship on that theatre stage. He has a big ego as well, and I wrote on this before, how this made him such an annoying person during that rugby match and up to he helped Pat in the end (with the CCTV video), as he refused to let go of his pride and of feeling of having been wronged and betrayed.
(Isn't this what we also often do? Imagine if our best friend tells us that he/she has been secretly in love and relationship with someone we dislike a lot. How will you react?)
Bad Buddy as we know is a series that breaks tropes and stereotypes of BL. Having an evil mastermind is yet another BL trope.
Example? I am sure you all know Lhong from TharnType, and what he had done is far more unforgiveable than Wai. And even so, towards the end, I was having even a bit of pity towards him. (Of course, don't forget Fiat's part in the sequel too)
Another one? Those who watched Don't Say No will know Fiat's mom and her mental illness. But even with the mental illness as an excuse, what she had done to her own son in manipulating him also went way beyond what Wai had done.
One more? Tul from Love by Chance is another one. Of course those who know more about his story will know that his story was actually a rather tragic one as well (from the Breath novel), but still what he did to Tin was what a manipulator do. And in his case, in the end, the story also came to a full circle and though the relationship between brothers were not fixed fully, but at least there was some sort of resolution and forgiveness.
(Note: You all know that these are MAME's products. No offense to MAME's fans!)
I am not saying that Wai is a saint. Was he wrong in doing all that he had done? Of course! But given relative comparison to other examples I mentioned earlier, then Wai deserve more character progression instead of just being put into the trope of being the evil mastermind.
Just sharing my thoughts. Feel free to disagree.
Stats update coming up in 2 hours (I usually post one 24 hours after the release of a new episode)
And given Bad Buddy's popularity and very high rewatchability, I am not surprised it will be included in Netflix's list and remain there for a long time.
No worries, I also have high hopes for the last three episodes, and I know P'Aof won't disappoint.
Please share more of these, as even I can't spot every single details!
It was a reference back all the way to EP 4 of the scene when Ink brought Pat a less sweet milk tea, and by that, to the high school story of Pat and Pran before their separation. That Pran remembered that detail showed just how much he loved Pat and cared for him.
(High school flashback scene from EP 4)
Pran, who obviously already liked Pat back in high school bought two ice milk tea after he saw Pat, wanting to share it with him. But what he saw was Ink playing and teasing with Pat, which obviously broke his heart and Pran gave the two milk tea to the other people who happened to be there instead.
(EP 4 scene of Ink buying less sweet milk tea for Pat)
This one is another sad reminder for Pran who happened to witness it, as he remembered what happened back in high school. He must have been disappointed that he couldn't have a chance to be with Pat. And don't forget how EP 4 later on ended with that bedroom scene, which made Pran hurt even more, as Pat admitted to liking Ink.
(EP 9 milk tea scene)
Pran buying those two iced milk tea for him and Pat to have together is therefore their love story coming to a full circle. It was the fulfilment of the unrequited love of the high school era, symbolising how their love story had progressed up to this point. That he remembers how Pat prefers it less sweet speaks volumes about his love for Pat.
(Imagine having to wait so many years just to finally have the chance to share that iced milk tea with the one you love. With parents, friends and others as your obstacles)
It may be just a minor detail, but if we spend the time and effort to appreciate them, it will make the already amazing story 10x better.
Did he do wrong? Oh yes he did. He almost got his best friend's boyfriend killed.
But why he did what he had done? It was because of his emotions going overdrive, plus his big ego. EP 9 was the beginning of his journey to redemption because he slowly realised that all that he had done so far, was all that caused even more pain to Pran.
Wai thought that he was the one who was hurt the most, but he didn't realise (and only until later on), that his actions caused hurt to Pran too, and what a lot of hurt that was.
Has he been redeemed? To me, not fully yet. But before we jump too quick to conclusions, wait for EP 10 and see how his character continues to act. I foresee that he would turn from the big obstacle (as he was earlier on) to be one of Pat and Pran's greatest supporter.
(I am sure you saw Wai standing beside Pat declaring his love for Pran before the Architecture students, and that smile he had on his face as he looked on Pat is to me, why Pran had Wai as his best friend. Yes, he did wrong things, but he is still a good person, a flawed person yes, but not a demon. After he finally overcome that ego and feeling of being hurt, he can be Pat's good friend too.)
To me, his character and the others really felt real in their actions and emotions. Not like some other BL (or non-BL) characters that feel rather fake and artificial.
As mentioned by some in the below section, some of us may be unhappy with the way the story turned because we have expected Wai to be the supervillain, but which turned out not to be the case.
Let's moderate our expectations of a story and remember that in any series, there can be a lot of twists and turns in the plot and storyline. Before we jump too quick to conclusions, or hate a particular character to the bone, let us try understanding their actions from their perspective first. We can predict how a story will turn out to be, but we shouldn't demand a story to go in a certain way we want.
(This past week we saw a huge wave of antipathy against Wai after EP 8 ending, while waiting for EP 9 to air, and I know many of us couldn't wait to hang him if possible.)
Remember that the director and scriptwriter have freedom to dictate the direction of the story, and for me, EP 9 was an equally great episode as the earlier ones, if not better (This is subjective). And as I mentioned, the actors did very well in playing their roles, especially I want to mention Jimmy in playing Wai (who did great despite this being his debut series. His performance in EP 9 was great.)
I think those who were unhappy with this episode is because they were too high in their expectation of how the story will turn out according to their own perception, and as things didn't turn out that way, it kind of made them unhappy.
I mentioned this earlier, but a lot of anger was directed at Wai for that grand reveal at the end of EP 8, and I think quite a few people were expecting him to be a horrible mastermind, which turned out not to be the case. It was ultimately the family that I believe will be their most important hurdle, not Wai or the friends (as EP 9 proved to us).
Bad Buddy is at least equally if not more a masterpiece than ATOTS. But should we really compare? I don't think so. Each are different masterpieces of their own.
And outside MDL, Chinese dramas (and to some extent Korean dramas) have vast advantage in numbers, potential watchers and popularity. For Bad Buddy to be able to reach such a level of support here, in Twitter and others, it's already great enough.
That's why when I compare, I only compare within Thai BL series/drama series. Even 2gether is often an outlier that can't really be compared to fairly.
We can only compare quality when comparing across different countries' products. To compare viewership plus this fan rated best actor list objectively is impossible.