¡¡Disclaimer!!
This review is based on my personal opinion/experience while watching, it's not meant to discourage/encourage you to watch this series. You're free to agree/disagree with it.



I'm gonna be honest here, when I first read the synopsis for Bad Buddy, it didn't really stand out to me, but somehow I couldn't help but look forward to it so I went with my standards set somewhere in the middle, especially since it's a GMMTV series, and after watching it, I must admit that it was a very enjoyable ride. From reading the synopsis, you might gather that it's a very cliche BL, nothing special about the enemies to lovers plot, however, once you start watching, you'll realize that it's not that usual of a series, especially among BLs.


Plot/storyline :
The storyline isn't something unique or unheard of, yet the way they portrayed it without making it too cliche really makes the difference. We start off with the two main leads being enemies because they were told to be so by their parents (classic cliche) but we soon come to realize that the two didn't seem to want to be enemies, so the two start growing closer through a series of, in my opinion, typical events. The two eventually realize they like each other and after a while, they start dating in secret, until one of the main leads's best friend (I hate this guy, and I'll get to why later) decides to out them in front of the whole place, and they're left to face the judgement of their friends and family. I won't spoil how and where their relationship goes, but I will say I was pleasantly surprised with how they decided to go with it because I expected them to either:
A) have a crappy ending where they're left/forced to break up
Or
B) have an open ending where we, the viewers, get to decide if they stayed together or not.
Surprisingly, they went with a little bit of either options with a side of something else that I won't reveal and honestly, despite how cliche it turned out, it still was something kinda unexpected and unique and I'm very much amused with how it turned out. The way the relationship between them developed was really one of my, if not my very, favourite relationship development in any series. There was no unnecessary love rival, no uncalled for drama, no unwanted side couples AND we actually get some of the healthiest relationships imo. With that being said, the plot did have some plotholes/questions that could have been easily avoided/answered, e.g. why did Pran's mother hate guitars so much really? Why did they hint at Korn and Wai being a thing but not go through with that idea? WHY did Korn (whether platonicly or not) start liking him even? How come that even tho the two [Pran and Pat] hated each other since basically before birth, they still communicated through these tin-phones? What's so special about that watch that Pran has other than the fact that Pat returned it to him? How long did these two disappear for during the time they ran away? There were so many things left hanging that I started losing track of what's happening sometimes. Regardless, the plot was executed really well and I'm quite content with how it turned out.


Characters/cast:
This section in all honesty, was either a hit or miss. Some characters were absolutely phenomenal and some I just wanted to kick in the shin. The main couple were very cute, and the fact that they didn't have the typical assigned role of husband/wife, one of them came out as pan, they respected each other's boundaries and didn't push each other to come out, made me really like the writer. Also the plot hinted at them being a switch couple (which is unimportant really, but very much unheard of in this genre) and that honestly made me like them way more with the fact that there was no such stereotypical feminine delicate bottoms and strong masculine tops. With that outta the way let's talk about the cast. I'm very happy with Ohm and Nanon's acting and the rest of the cast did a very good job, no overacting, no underacting, no cringy moments (imo) and most importantly, no dramatic ugly crying on a beach/near water in the most laughable manner for weird reasons like in some other shows *cough* tharntype *cough* *cough* still 2gether *cough* so overall Pran and Pat were a good pair, HOWEVER, they did suffer of what I call the GMMTV syndrome at some point where the main couple's chemistry somehow dissipates into thin air and they start acting more like brothers than lovers and their pre-dating era starts to look way more romantic and interesting than their current relationship. Now that we've talked about our main couple let's move onto that ONE (or two if you count Pat's dad) character that I could not stand for the life of me and that character, is Wai. This character made the least sense and I honestly feel like he had the most potential to be an antagonist, hell the writer was already going with this plan, yet sowehow they just randomly decided to turn him into a good guy and what, expect me to forgive him easily? Idc if people like him or think he had a redemption arc or whatever (which he didn't have) this guy was the most manipulative, trashy, annoying sleezbag that I've ever seen and I'm not gonna forgive his actions just because he suddenly became a good person. This mf guilt tripped Pran into taking up his place on the soundteam for that theatrical act, tried getting closer to Pa while still publicly cursing her brother out, tried to beat up Pat multiple times for no real reason other than him being annoying, basically outed his friend and his boyfriend as lgbtq+ with no right to do so and even went as far as cutting Pran out and making their other friends treat him like trash because he was HuRt and BeTraYed by him not admitting to him that he's dating his "enemy" because somehow being best friends entitles you to know every little detail about his private life, right guys? So after all this I'm just left here wondering, why did Pran cling onto their friendship this much? Why were they friends to begin with? How come his parents didn't see how terrible a person he is? And most importantly, why ISN'T this guy an antagonist? He did a complete 180 only after Pat literally took a bullet for/because of him, so now I'm expected to what, forget everything he did? Yeah, no chance buddy, although I must say, the actor wasn't that bad considering how horrible his character was, albeit a bit expressionless. I'm not gonna go into why I dislike Pat's dad simply because it's a waste of space really, and the fact that my reason for hating him is somewhat of a personal pet peev so yeah, opinions on this guy vary considering how you view him, I will say tho, the actor was kinda hilarious, he seemed so out of place and so not into his character I couldn't help but laugh whenever I saw him. Out of all the couples, InkPa were my favorite, these two were really cute together, although I did find their relationship a bit weird since apparently Ink liked Pa since she was in highschool, meaning Pa was barely in middle school back then considering the age gap between her and her brother so yeah, definitely not my favorite setting for those two, they were still a cute couple. In all seriousness tho, GMMTV should cut Drake some slack, my guy has been appearing in almost every series recently I'm starting to feel bad for him and how overworked he is lol.

Soundtrack/Music:
The soundtrack was really good, it wasn't my favorite, but I did like most of the songs, especially Nanon's "just friends?" I don't have much to say here since music is subjective and some might like the music way more than I did so soundtrack, a solid 8.

Production/Product placement:
The production on this wasn't bad really, but there were some time skips and some occasional cases of sloppy camerawork that had me scratching my head but otherwise, the production was ok. The product placement is everywhere, as expected of a GMMTV series, they had to squeez in a couple of seconds in every episode for promoting these products, nothing new here, it wasn't as bothersome as some of their othere series, but it was still evident enough to point out.


So overall, this was an entertaining series, it had the right amount of fun for me personally and I enjoyed watching it. I finished it in one go yesterday and I was left with only today's episode so I can't really relate to the rest of the viewers here who waited for it every week, although I did wait for it to come out for a whole ass year so, I guess now I can say it was worth the wait. For those of you hesitating to give it a try, I say go for it, if you want a fun BL but don't want a really deep plot, here's your show, I definitely recommend it if you want to pass the time with something enjoyable and amusing.