#you can't tell me that pat and pran can avoid seeing each other for years

[boyfriendsmalec]

Bad Buddy and Poor Narrative Choices

I feel I’ve processed a bit more what happened on Bad Buddy and now I’m pretty sure that the promo is unfortunately very likely to be what actually transpires (though I really hope it isn't, thinking about ep 11, it looks to be the case).

There’s been a lot of talk on whether or not the show is poor writing. I myself said it was poor writing previously but I want to clarify it’s not the writing that’s poor, it’s the narrative choices that’s poor.

It may contain realism but that realism doesn’t make sense when taking into account what we know of the show. Besides knowing how committed Pat and Pran are to each other, I cannot fathom why the “it’s us against the world” storyline suddenly becomes “the world won.”

Also the fact that Pran’s mom in the end of episode 10 had said she didn’t want their kids to hate the neighbors next door anymore, that the only despicable person was Pat’s dad like… it really seemed like she was coming around. And I can’t believe Pat would completely just fall in line with his dad. Yes, Pat talked about taking over his family business but he also clearly would give up everything to be with Pran.

It’s poor narrative choices because it doesn’t allow the parents to grow at all. So what’s going to happen in episode 12? After 2-3 years apart and seeing how depressed their children are, they finally agree to let them be together? Is it not enough they were separated once, they have to be twice? (And in the book they were only separated once and I believe it was for around 18 months)

Also you’re telling me that Pran and Pat literally will live across from each other the next 2-3 years and don’t talk or interact? After everything they've been through it also feels weird their friends don’t try to help them reconcile, knowing how much Pat and Pran care for each other (seeing that Wai and Korn are now friends they must intermingle in the same social circles).

I have no idea what will go down at their high school reunion, but I’m guessing it happens around the time they graduate from university (or the year after graduation so they’re likely around 22 at the time).

I think I'm mostly just disappointed and tired. Frankly this was narratively uncreative. You can have a different take on it. I’ve seen break ups done well and poorly.

(For example for satisfying breakups that I UNDERSTOOD: Cherry Magic because it felt very in character and while it was upsetting the break up actually felt earned and not out of place. GSP [a show that has an open ending that actually felt right] where again it felt highly in character.)

Obviously it’s clear Pat and Pran love each other but the reasoning behind their breakup seems really forced in. Like yes the parents are an issue, but is the issue so large they can't stay together? Is it just because being together will upset their parents and make them unhappy? If we’d seen some more stakes in episode 10 then maybe I could understand more but all it seems to be about is family approval (which both Pat and Pran seem to not care about anymore). Neither parent was threatening to disown them or to send them abroad or anything.

Rewatching and reading about episode 11 I can see between the lines of the break up but the red shirt scene to me read very different upon first viewing and still does. Like they understand each other and read each other week enough to know what’s happening but— I hate it. I honest to god hate this is the route P’Aof has taken.

A break up followed by a time jump has slowly become a staple in the BL genre. I can name several shows off the top of my head with a break up and reunion:

ATOTS (2 year split), We Best Love (5 year split), Lovely Writer (some matter of months split), Until We Meet Again (some matter of months split), etc.

It’s become a cop out way for writers to separate couples for months or years and then bring them back together. Break ups shouldn’t be the only way to develop angst. I had hoped the angst would only stem from trying to get their families to accept them but instead their families win and they have to suffer for YEARS because of it.

This break up surprised most of the audience because it wasn’t overt. Literally I didn’t see it until I watched the ep 12 preview. To me the whole episode was about Pat and Pran confirming and further establishing their love, so to me it seems wildly off that such an episode would end with them breaking up. I know people say the whole episode was clearly leading to a break up, but keep in mind everyone interprets things differently and I certainly didn’t see it that way upon first viewing.

I know there’s cultural context to Southeast Asian families and how that pressure for parental acceptance is tantamount but the way the show compared Pran missing his mom (because she fed him and took care of him you know… basic things a parent should do) to Junior who is a like a 9 year old child while Pran is a 19 year old college student was a large reach for me. Like I saw the parallel they were going for and didn’t buy into it for a second.

I can understand now more of the choices that were made but I still don’t believe this was the way to carry out the storyline. P’Aof is appearing to fall back to old and tired separation tropes and it does feel like it’s for drama’s sake (to me) rather than for narrative or character development.

I’ll conclude this on a slightly happier note by saying, after all the marriage and honeymoon allusions, I do think we will get a marriage proposal (again at what cost).

But a marriage proposal when they’ve been broken up for 2/3 years you say?

Yes. While it’s not a BL, Shadowhunters had a breakup between the two leads and upon reconciliation the two immediately got engaged. In Cherry Magic after reuniting Kurosawa immediately proposes to Adachi.

I could see Pat doing the same for Pran honestly and him saying he got the ring years ago or something and everyone crying over it.

I know Nanon said to watch to the very end and that the end is very “P’Aof” and so I’m like 95% sure this is going to end with a proposal of Pat to Pran.

TLDR; Everyone can view this differently and has different interpretations. I am personally very disappointed with the narrative choices made and find it’s become very formulaic at this point to separate the two leads for the sake of dramatic tension. While some aspects of it may make sense or have been told well, it doesn’t mean it was the right choices for the story, and goes against sort of the core concept of this show (Pat and Pran against the world). The one bonus in all this is we are likely getting Pat proposing to Pran in the end.

Still trying to hold onto a tiny shred of hope that the preview is lying but most of my hope is now squashed. Sorry to say as I try to stay hopeful and optimistic but the more I think about it, the less likely it is, though I really do hope and wish for that to be the case.