Bangkok Buddies (2019)

Interesting Character Study of Young Adults Sharing Cramped Quarters

Having most of the main characters live in the same house really enriched this story. The first episode, in particular, shows the chemistry and camaraderie of the guys. Unfortunately the focus on their collective home life fades pretty quickly and we get into more cliche, out-of-home relationship themes. Nevertheless, the overarching theme of unconditional friendship combined with the drama of 20-somethings struggling to find their place in the world sets out a satisfying banquet for the audience to savor. Wrapping it up with one of the characters getting married gives a logical stopping point to the series, as these dramas are too often just come to an abrupt stop with the storylines left dangling. My only complaint is somewhere around mid-point a second set of characters was added to the house, even when we'd barely gotten to know the first set. This made for "too many cooks in the kitchen" and we never really learned how the new set of characters lived in the house. Indeed, the first episode is by far the best, as it shows the household interactions among these young adults. Rather than introduce a second set of guys to the house it would have been much more interesting to have the girlfriends move in, then contrast that with the guy-only household. Early in the series the Mikey character makes a statement that he often feels lonely, even while surrounded by so many people living in close quarters -- that was a missed opportunity to explore that feeling. Instead, we get too many repetitious scenes of his in-and-out relationship with his love interest.

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