Our Skyy 2: Bad Buddy (2023)

Bad Chemistry

Going into this final stretch of Our Skyy 2, I find myself with conflicting feelings. I was not expecting to see Bad Buddy and A Tale of Thousand Stars combined. None of the other stories were connected and I'm wondering why they decided to do so here. It's not bad, but I feel like the focus is more with the Thousand Stars story and Bad Buddy is the side piece. Like many other viewers, the Bad Buddy and Tale of a Thousand Stars episodes were the ones I was looking forward to most. They're the two oldest and so the nostalgia is stronger with them since it's been a couple years since we've seen these characters. As much as I anticipated these episodes, I'm finding that they fall a bit flat unfortunately.

When it comes to Bad Buddy, I'm not sure how much of a fan I am in going back in time a bit to just after Pat and Pran pretend to break up. I feel like a lot of the plot in that first episode is a rinse and repeat of what we've already seen. I would have preferred if it was a continuation from the end of the series after they graduated. We'd seen the rift between their parents starting to heal and things had reached a point where they weren't going to need to hide their relationship. Going on from there, continuing to show that healing, the novelty that they could be together openly, all would have made for a great conclusion to their story and would have focused solely on them.

Their relationship, while very similar to how it was in the series, does have its differences here. There was a good balance in Bad Buddy of mischievous/playful and sweet moments between them. I liked that it was a series where both leads were strong minded young men. It gave a whole different dynamic that worked very well. In these episodes though the sweet moments are few and far between and the mischievous/playful moments take precedence. And those few sweet moments are by and large initiated by Pat at which point Pran pushes him away or something interrupts them. It's been a while since I watched it, but I felt like they were on more of an even keel in the series. That's not to say there aren't some sweet moments between them, there are, it just overall doesn't feel quite in harmony with the series. And I was expecting a lot more of those sweet moments once they were away from their friends and parents since they wouldn't have to pretend anymore, but they're still few and far between. As a side note, Pran's reaction to up and leave without Pat because of Pat's comment felt over the top. Since they were pretending to still be enemies, it would make sense that Pat would be bad mouthing him or making himself out to be superior. Considering that Pran typically came across as relatively level-headed previously, his taking that comment to heart and deciding to abandon Pat didn't seem to quite fit with his character.

There were a couple of other things that just didn't quite work. Pat and Pran are supposed to be broken up and back to being enemies at this point. However, they don't act like it at all. They're constantly together in public without showing a bit of animosity and yet we're supposed to believe that their friends are in the dark. Yes, they're questioning it to some degree, but seriously, those two are so obvious a blind man could see they're still together. Besides that, it also appears that they're living together. Living across the hall from each other and sneaking into each other's rooms is one thing, but how on earth does them living together work? Do they just not have any friends who aren't in on their secret over? What about their parents? The other part that didn't work for me was how little time they spend together. With the first episode they spend a good portion of it together, but once the second episode hits and they're in the village, they're pretty effectively separated for much of it. I would have preferred to see more of them working together rather than their divide and conquer strategy.

Ohm and Nanon are both very talented actors and two of my favorites. Their chemistry together in Bad Buddy was phenomenal and their interactions were just very natural. I've heard rumors of some kind of conflict between them, it's not something that I've looked into, but after watching these two episodes, I do have to wonder if there is something going on between them. The spark they had previously just wasn't quite there. I can't put my finger on it, but something felt a bit off.

A Tale of Thousand Stars was a series that I really enjoyed. I liked the story which I felt was overall well done as well as the characters and acting. I was very excited to see Tian, Phupha and the rest of the characters from their story again and I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed at how few of the characters were brought back. For their story, I was hoping for a continuation from the end of the series focusing on Tian getting reacquainted with the village and villagers and settling back in with them and into his relationship with Phupha. I was not hoping for angsty, teenage drama between two grown men.

The inconsistencies between the series and Our Skyy 2 are grating. Phupha seems to have undergone a personality transplant because he's just coming across as an unreasonable jerk here. He was a serious character in Thousand Stars, but he wasn't totally unbending and there was a tenderness about him whenever he was with Tian that was very endearing. That's just gone. Their conflict feels very contrived. In the series they generally came across as two reasonable adults, now though they feel more like sulky teenagers. I hope we get a better explanation for why Phupha doesn't want to accompany Tian than he doesn't like crowds. Which, that reasoning just seems like BS since we saw him at at least two gatherings in the series. Sticking with Phupha for a moment, his fainting just as he meets Pran also felt off. This is a man who very rarely showed any kind of weakness, so to see him keel over because he hadn't had breakfast seemed out of character. There was also Tian acting like he didn't know how to get to Pha Pun Dao when he went there alone, in the dark previously. And besides that time, he'd gone at least two other times, if not more, so his uncertainty of how to get there didn't make sense. There are a few other minor details that don't quite jive with the series which is more just annoying than causing any actual issues.

Similar to Ohm and Nanon, Earth and Mix don't have quite the same spark between them as they did in the series. Even when they were in conflict, you could feel that magnetic pull between them. Maybe because their bickering here just feels petty more than anything, that pull doesn't seem to be as present. That being said, Earth and Mix are great actors and there is chemistry between them, just not as strong as what they had in the series.

Having these two series combined did create some interesting and entertaining moments. Pat and Phupha waking up and panicking about what they may have done together was a particularly funny scene. Also the fact that Phupha offering Pat his shirt was a direct call back to a scene from Thousand Stars. I am enjoying the friendship springing up between Pran and Tian as well as the competitive camaraderie between Pat and Phupha.

While I love both Bad Buddy and A Tale of Thousand Stars, I don't know as I love them combined. At this point, I feel like we're being robbed of Pat and Pran's story in favor of one centered on Phupha and Tian. And I think with both stories, they're just missing the brilliance of the originals. I hope they find their way before the end, but right now I'm just disappointed at how this is turning out. I'll update after next week when the final episodes air.

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