#bad buddy analysis

[telomeke-bbs]

BAD BUDDY'S BASEBALL MOM – ROOFTOP RUGBY WITH LUCY IN THE SKY… OR ON A BASEBALL DIAMOND?

One of the most mystifying aspects of Bad Buddy was the decision to have Pat wear the now-iconic Baseball Mom tee for the Epic Rooftop Kiss at the end of Episode 5.

It's so utterly incongruous with the drama onscreen. The scene was a pivotal moment for the narrative, with Pat's big coming out to Pran followed by the very steamy demonstration of mutual emotions, after episodes of unending turbulence around where they stood with each other. And The Kiss they delivered was so stupendous, it rocked the Internet to its very foundations.

And for that hugely important moment, Director Aof decided Pat should wear – a big woman's t-shirt more associated with loud, overzealous American moms cheering on their kids at Little League baseball? 👀

At first I thought production simply wanted something open and sporty for Pat, to contrast with Pran being all covered up (mirroring their states of mind – Pat actively seeking to confess his feelings on the rooftop, Pran all closed-off and repressed). That line of thinking was definitely behind a lot of Pat and Pran's outfits, and I assumed they just used a random tee and cut off its sleeves for this.

But in retrospect this seems altogether too blasé an approach, especially since we can see how purposeful the wardrobe decisions were throughout the rest of the series. (The Soon Vijarn Recap video for BBS Ep.5 also makes it very clear Director Aof was closely involved in wardrobe selection, choosing all the outfits for their appropriateness to the narrative – see this link here, at timestamp 23.24.)

(above) The Soon Vijarn Recap video for BBS Ep.5 timestamp 23.49

The examples of the wardrobe reflecting the characters' inner states are copious. Pran's emotional journey in the first half of BBS – learning to open up, getting his feelings returned, and falling into a relationship – was mirrored by his sartorial journey, and he went from all colorless and buttoned-up to a wardrobe filled with more relaxed, expressive and colorful outfits when out in public:

(above) Pran all buttoned-up in his early whites (Ep.2 [1I4] 1.56, Ep.3 [1I4] 12.40 and Ep.5 [1I4] 6.03)

(above) A selection of Pran's more relaxed and colorful sweaters that he wore outside later in the series (Ep.7 [3I4] 2.52, Ep.10 [3I4] 0.26, Ep.12 [3I4] 6.36 and Ep.12 [4/4] 10.14)

Loud extrovert Pat on the other hand was decked out almost from the beginning in bright prints and wacky t-shirts (with some rivaling Baseball Mom in wackiness), all the better to broadcast his outgoing character and personality:

(above) A selection of Pat's bright and wacky tops (Ep.2 [2/4] 5.03, Ep.6 [3I4] 4.37, Ep.8 [2/4] 8.30 and Ep.10 [1I4] 4.52)

The mystery deepened further when the fandom tracked down the maker of Baseball Mom – it looks like a small, possibly home-based business in the US, and the t-shirt is part of a line, one of several related tops (see this link here). It simply wasn't a random tee from some small Bangkok shop (unless the vendor had gotten it secondhand off some American tourist, and was re-selling it locally). This looks like a t-shirt that was specifically procured for the show (possibly even sourced from overseas), rendered sleeveless with low-cut armholes to echo the openness of Pat's personality, and then put on Ohm with absolute intent.

But why?

I'm convinced that there is an element of subversion about this (not the least because the t-shirt undercuts the heavy drama of the scene so drastically). @ranchthoughts has already pointed out in this write-up linked here that the feminine Mom is an allusion to the subversion of gender roles embodied by Pat's character, and I very much agree. It's also possible that this particular tee was chosen because the baseball standing in for (and thus somewhat obscuring) the letter 'O' in the word Mom kind of makes the word call out to M🤍M or MLM. (And here's an afterthought that occured to me watching Only Friends and the promo trailer for My Golden Blood – the baseball bat is also visual shorthand for the emotional violence that Pat and Pran wreak upon their relationship when each figuratively beats up on the other – and on himself too – while acting out their strange, rambunctious relationship as enemies who are secret friends and later lovers.)

But I also do think that there's still more to Baseball Mom than the above, and this particular train of thought was triggered by an Ask from @pandasmagorica about Ep.5's rooftop scene (linked here).

I now think we can piece together a reason for Baseball Mom on the rooftop, but it's only fair to signal that this wackiest of wardrobe choices is getting possibly the wackiest of explanations (and it's a doozy).

Now what @pandasmagorica's Ask triggered for me was the realization that Pat's directness on the rooftop was actually almost the complete opposite of something that he'd been doing very often, right up until Episode 5 – and that was his propensity to torment Pran with the bait-and-switch.

Time and again, Pat would reach out with the offer of something precious to Pran – a smile, a kind word, a tender moment, a suggestion of intimacy – but then quite suddenly he would subvert the situation and switch out the proffered affection with something wholly discomfiting, crushing hopeful Pran's expectations.

There are several examples:

During their childhood, Pat returned Pran's watch after Pran saved Pa from drowning (Ep.1 [4/4] 9.46), signaling the start of his friendship with the lonely little boy next door – only to impose the caveat "But…don’t talk to me in front of people. They might think we're buddies."

That (almost shirtless) bedside conversation at the end of Ep.4 (beginning at Ep.4 [4/4] 10.43), when Pat kept bombarding poor Pran with personal, leading questions, half-begged to be allowed to share his bed and cuddle, before shattering his neighbor's heart by declaring that it was Ink whom he liked romantically.

Tending to Pran’s injured shoulder at Ep.4 [3I4] 7.07, before suggesting he only wanted Pran to recover so that they could compete in rugby again;

Returning Pran’s long-lost guitar to him, then ruining the tenderness of the moment with “I just like to see your face… when you lose” (Ep.3 [4/4] 10.30).

And with Pran deep in his feelings for Pat, the constant intimations of closeness and deeper feelings, shell-gamed away at the last minute, must have been soul-crushing for our poor yearning boy. (This is also what the lyrics of Pran's theme – Just Friend? – are all about, e.g., "I can’t make sense of what you’ve done"/"Are we just friends or are we more?"/"If you don’t mean it, don’t act that way".)

No wonder Pran was trying so hard to keep a distance from the cheerful boy next door, who was always invading his personal space (after having taken over his heart). So much so that Pran on the rooftop was expecting more of the same, which explains his blunt statement "Pat, you've got to stop doing this to me. We are not a thing" in response to Pat telling him that it hurt to see the song they co-wrote in high school played with someone else.

Pran saw this as more of Pat's teasing games, but irony of ironies Pat was being totally serious this time. And yet, even on the rooftop in Ep.5, Pat did a version of the bait-and-switch one more time, but with the polarity reversed for once – he listed all the ways Pran's exile should have brought him joy, only to end with "It was so depressingly lonely for me." 😢

I think Pat learnt early on that this is what you do to your loved ones – because there's actually an example of Ming doing something similar to his son at Ep.8 [2/4] 16.12. Helping to wash Pat's car, he quietly allowed his son to natter on about his day with fibs about rugby practice, before landing a sledgehammer blow saying "When did I teach you to lie?" at Ep.8 [2/4] 16.41. This was an ambush, intended to take Pat by surprise and inflict the maximum amount of damage – and judging by Pat's despondent moping after, Ming certainly succeeded.

But it's not only Pat doing this to Pran, or Ming doing this to Pat, that we see in BBS. Director Aof and his writers actually littered the narrative with other examples of the set-up and switch-out as well, doing it to us the viewers:

Pat may have started out Ep.1 a ruffian, but then we saw that he was really a cheery big kid who needed his popsicles and cuddles from Nong Nao for comfort (Ep.1 [4/4] 8.37 and Ep.2 [1I4] 1.36).

Ink was introduced as a demure girl from the north (remembering that northern Thailand is seen as close to the birthplace of Thai culture) in Ep.4 [1I4] 7.41; then she tripped and let out a curse word at Ep.4 [1I4] 8.01.

Pa's glow-up at Ep.7 [1I4] and subsequent story arc subverted her initial (albeit not very successful) portrayal as the frumpy kid sister with no life and no agency as a character.

BBS placed the emotional burden of Episodes 1 to 4 solely on Pran's pining shoulders, and then suddenly whipped it away in Ep.5 and dumped it squarely on Pat (kudos to Ohm, who gamely played Pat as a shining object of affection for the first third of BBS, before showing us that Junior Jindapat was so much more than a lovable, empty vessel himbo, and was instead someone who actually did possess an inner life that he could access).

And perhaps the biggest BBS bait-and-switch of all – Pran's unrequited love for inaccessible Pat turns out to be requited after all, but then without warning it's Pran who spins out of reach on the rooftop.

Looking at BL as a genre, the bait-and-switch is sometimes employed as a storytelling device to provide an unexpected dramatic twist (though whether or not it satisfies is debatable). For example there is the trap set for Lhong in TharnType, the aloof ice prince Sarawat turning out to have been carrying a torch for Tine in 2gether, and Nubsib's reveal in Lovely Writer as someone who also shared a past with Gene.

And if you think about it, all of Bad Buddy itself was kind of one big bait-and-switch as well. They set it up so that – at the start – it looked like the series would be shaping up into a run-of-the-mill, formulaic romance. The roadmap was laid out quite clearly – enemies to lovers, Romeo and Juliet or Kwan and Riam but the BL version thank you very much, star-crossed and kept apart by their warring families.

So we were expecting BBS to follow the usual romcom beats and rhythms, delivering the standard tropes, with the main storyline about how the enemies would fall in love against the odds, then find a way to beat the odds and stay together, or fall victim to it and be forever driven apart.

Except that Director Aof and his team pulled the rug out from under us time and time again, after setting this all up. The idea that Pat and Pran were enemies got turned on its head (they'd been secret friends since childhood). The process of falling in love didn't follow conventional beats at all – Pran was already in love, while Pat was… possibly already beset by emotions, just getting them all mixed up and projecting them onto Ink.

Instead of showing us the main couple falling for each other over the course of 12 episodes, this was firmly established by the end of Episode 5. Instead of their families being the primary conflict driving them apart, it was Pran's overthinking and emotional walls that drove a wedge between them in Episode 6. When family conflict finally did rear its head to threaten their relationship, well Pat and Pran just sidestepped it and carried on.

And the tropes? One by one they fell by the wayside as well. Ink turned up in Ep.4, looking like a formidable love rival for Pran (and he believed it too). Except that she wasn't the stereotype of the evil girlfriend at all – she turned out to be Pat's supportive bestie, while her eye (and camera) were focused on Pa instead. Any stereotypes overhanging macho Pat and pernickety Pran got subverted too, with Pat ditching sports practice for musical theater and Pran a credible street fighter and also a star player on his rugby team – so much for the seme and uke in this BL. The "gay for you" trope got put down (Ep.9 [2/4] 1.41), as was the "wifey" one (Ep.9 [4/4] 8.48). There are so many examples.

Even the end of Ep.11 was a bait-and-switch as well, when a large portion of the fandom was hoodwinked by Director Aof's Ep.12 preview into thinking that we were headed for a break-up. (Fortunately they switched it out for the happy ending that we got instead, thank goodness.)

There's so much of this going on, it seems as though BBS was actually celebrating the bait-and-switch (and in that way kind of subverting its use in BL as well). The thing is, nothing was ever what it seemed in Bad Buddy, and it was all intended to be so, from Day One, because it's solidly a thematic preoccupation underlying the series.

I now think Baseball Mom really plays into all of this glorification of and subversion with the bait-and-switch as a storytelling device. But in a really wacky way, as perhaps is only fitting for the wackiest of Pat's t‑shirts.

So looking back on decades of popular media, who's been crowned the Big Boss of the Bait-and-Switch, the Grand Poobah of Switcheroos, the Queen of the Short-Con, the House Mother of all Bamboozlers?

It’s this little lady right here: 😍

This is Lucy Van Pelt, from Charles Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. Lucy is many things in the Peanuts universe, but one thing she's iconic for is a bait-and-switch prank, where she holds a football and then goads Charlie Brown on to kick it. He usually takes a bit of convincing, but eventually he goes for it and at the last second, Lucy pulls the ball away and poor Chuck ends up kicking the air, sent flying in the process. It's a running gag in the comic strip, first appearing in 1952 and recurring every year after that:

So what's the link with Baseball Mom though?

Football aside, in Peanuts Lucy is also a member of Charlie Brown's baseball team – and significantly she's absolutely terrible at the game. She misses the easiest of pitches, and even when perfectly positioned she gets hit on the head by the ball instead of catching it in her mitt.

So while she may be totally, confidently in charge of the situation baiting Charlie Brown with the pigskin, when it comes to baseball instead of football – Lucy is completely out of her element.

The parallel with Bad Buddy is that master of the bait-and-switch Pat Napat Jindapat – the BBS manifestation of Lucy – was pulling different versions of the Charlie Brown football prank on hapless Pran over and over again, causing much anguish to the latter's battered heart.

But suddenly on the rooftop, the tables got turned and Pran pulled the big switcheroo on him instead – by confirming their mutual feelings with a kiss so dizzyingly sensational that Pat must have been delirious with happiness… only to send it all crashing down by abandoning him there without a word of explanation.

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.5 [4/4] 12.58 – an abandoned Pat stares uncomprehendingly as Pran walks away from the wreckage of their broken hearts

In that moment Football Lucy morphed into Baseball Lucy, from self-assured manipulator to incompetent klutz, all alone in right field when the ball came zooming in from way out left. And what better way to mark this moment than with a t-shirt loudly proclaiming Pat's newly-minted Baseball Lucy status on its front?

(above) The Baseball Mom graphic – BBS's own version of The Scarlet Letter

Yes, I know this explanation is outlandish; that's how it sounded to me too when it first took shape in my head. So I decided to test it, by looking for supporting information elsewhere in the context of Bad Buddy. And the findings are truly surprising. 👀

No characters from Peanuts actually appear (in canon form) within any of BBS's visuals (not that they could, I suppose, for licensing reasons). But Charlie Brown and his cohort of characters aren't unknown in Thailand – there is a Charlie Brown Café (79/335 แขวงช่องนนทรี เขตยานนาวา, Bangkok, Thailand, 10120) that was previously at MBK Centre and a Charlie Brown's Restaurant (315/303 ซ.นราธิวาส24 แขวง ช่องนนทรี Yan Nawa, Bangkok 10120, Thailand) at Belle Park Plaza/Fortune Condo Town:

(above left) Charlie Brown Café; (above right) Charlie Brown's Restaurant

And even though we don't directly see Charlie Brown, Lucy or any other Peanuts characters in BBS, there are oblique references. One of the more obvious ones alludes to Lucy's younger brother, Linus Van Pelt:

When we see Pran out in the world with his PP hobo bag (written up here) or Pat snuggled in bed with his beloved Nong Nao (written up here), we know by now that the bag and the stuffed doll-pillow are our boys' favorite comfort objects, providing psychological security even as they face their personal fears.

(above left) Bad Buddy Ep.2 [1I4] 3.01 – Pran and his PP hobo bag, that he deploys like a shield when outside; (above right) Bad Buddy Ep.2 [1I4] 1.37 – Pat cuddling Nong Nao for comfort when he's all alone

But another name for these comfort objects actually has a connection to Peanuts – they can also be called Linus blankets, after the security blanket that Lucy's brother carries around with him all the time. Just a coincidence? I'm not so sure. (I think it's also significant that all three objects have blue as their predominant color.)

There's also a nod at Charlie Brown himself later, on the rooftop in Ep.7 [4/4] – Pat's tee is an unmistakeable visual reference to Charlie Brown's signature yellow top with its zigzag motif:

(above left) Bad Buddy Ep.7 [4/4] 1.48; (above right) Charlie Brown in his own iconic t-shirt

After their roles were reversed on the rooftop at the end of Ep.5 (with Pran pulling the ultimate bait-and-switch move back on Pat by walking away after The Kiss), the mantle of Charlie Brown the football prank victim was thrust onto Pat instead, and that is what we see here in Ep.7.

The brand name emblazoned on Pat's t-shirt also rings some bells – it's Patriots, which immediately calls to mind the NFL team from New England, and is another nod at Lucy's American football. (There is also a Minor League baseball team called the Somerset Patriots based in New Jersey; not as well-known as their counterparts – compatriots? – a few states away, but still… 👀).

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.7 [4/4] 2.13

And looking a bit closer the Ep.7 scene on the rooftop (the last one to be filmed among all of Bad Buddy's queues) really starts to overflow with meaning because it's actually a parallel to Ep.5's rooftop bait-and-switch.

It's far too much to include here, so I've put it into its own separate post (see this write-up linked here) – the short of it is that Pat as Charlie Brown plays the bait-and-switch one last time on Pran in Ep.7, but for the very first time turns the last-second switch-out into a win for his beloved instead, rescuing Pran who was floundering with the musical. And this reversal of the bait-and-switch, a redemption of sorts, is what convinces Pran to end their courtship competition and enter into confirmed couplehood instead. 👍

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Now all that aside, there's still one more element in Bad Buddy that I think is a direct reference to Lucy's bait-and-switch in Peanuts – and that's all the rugby, doing its part as a stand-in for Lucy's American football.

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.4 [4/4] 2.04 – the boys face off on the rugby pitch

It would never have been possible to feature American (gridiron) football authentically in Bad Buddy (it's not a popular sport outside of North America, to be honest, and would have been totally alien in a Thai setting). So they shone the spotlight on rugby instead, most probably because the ball used for play there is ovoid and almost the same as the one used in American football – it seems like the rugby in BBS is pointing at Lucy and the American football she deviously deploys.

(top) Bad Buddy Ep.7 [2/4] 13.01; (bottom) Bad Buddy Ep.7 [2/4] 13.02

This would explain why Director Aof and his team opted to feature rugby instead of soccer –the latter is far more popular in Thailand, and would have been a more obvious choice. In addition, soccer would have been far easier to stage – all the BBS rugby scenes had to be filmed at a completely different campus from the primary uni location (Bangkok University instead of Rangsit University) because the latter doesn't seem to have a rugby pitch, though it does have a soccer one. In case you were wondering as I was, the goalposts are starkly different so they couldn't just pretend to play rugby on the soccer pitch – it would have been a terribly obvious fake-out if they had.

They couldn't substitute another team sport even if it was easier to accommodate, because rugby (or rather the ball) was integral to this aspect of the storyline. It needed to be rugby if the intention was to evoke Lucy's favorite weapon of torment.

Further evidence in support of this can be found when you look at the original (rough-draft promo) Bad Buddy trailer that was released in 2020 (I think) to promote the 2021 lineup, before actual filming of the series itself in mid-2021:

The rugby was present even at that early stage (and Toto was on Pat's team! 😂). But what's mindblowing is that they're actually using an American football (the AF500), not a rugby ball (you can tell from the laces, which modern rugby balls do not have). 👀 So the gridiron football was very much part of Bad Buddy's primordial DNA, way back at its inception, even before actual filming began. Another nod at Lucy in Peanuts here.

(above) A screenshot from the original Bad Buddy promo trailer at timestamp 1.48

(above) A screenshot from the original Bad Buddy promo trailer at timestamp 2.15

Now all of this is dandy I suppose, but even with Linus blankets, Pat dressed like Charlie Brown, the oval ball and BBS's insistence on rugby (masquerading as American football) over soccer, for the longest time the hardboiled skeptic in me still wasn't fully convinced that Pat wearing Baseball Mom was actually Lucy in disguise getting her comeuppance, Bad Buddy style.

UNTIL I DECIDED TO LOOK MORE CLOSELY AT THE RUGBY MATCH IN EPISODE 4. And that was the clincher, that cemented the intentionality behind Baseball Mom in my mind, because there actually is a sequence where Pat executes Lucy's signature bait-and-switch move, with the rugby ball standing in for an American football, and with Pran as his fall guy.

The sequence in question starts at Ep.4 [4/4] 3.33, when we see Pat running with the ball, coveted by Pran (in more ways than one).

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.4 [4/4] 3.33

Pran tackles him, but in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, Pat flicks the ball away and before any of us (Pran included) can realize what's happened, Korn is off and running with it instead (and I think he scores the rugby version of a touchdown too).

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.4 [4/4] 3.38

Meanwhile, Pat and Pran are still locked in a full-body clinch – and if you look closely, it's Pat who's actually holding on to Pran, not letting him go (with obvious delight, even if he's unaware of exactly why he's relishing the contact so much).

Much of Bad Buddy is really chaste, but there's something about this moment here that makes it seem like a line has been crossed, and that things have turned inexplicably raunchy somehow. There's full-body grappling, legs spread wide, crotch jammed to butt, a whole lot of heaving and panting. Pat is clearly enjoying every second, almost as though it’s the successful climax of his great big plan to waylay Pran with this bait-and-switch. And of course it's the perfect cue for him to deliver that now infamous, golden line: "If you hug me this tight, you might as well take me as your boyfriend." 😂

Actually Pat had been teasing and taunting Pran with hints of romance even before the game (going so far as to acknowledge that his behavior was flirtatious, at Ep.4 [4/4] 0.48) so it's impossible not to see that body tackle on the pitch as anything but a close encounter suffused with sexual tension – and Pran would of course be the first to notice it. (It's possibly also a subversion of the accidental "falling on you" trope, since it's at once contrived yet consensual.)

If you break it down, Pat used the ball to get Pran to tackle him, only to switch it out at the last minute with something else (close, practically intimate body contact) that poor Pran (drowning in his crush) would have found absolutely devastating. This is practically a playbook version of Lucy doing the football bait-and-switch with Charlie Brown.

To be honest though, I'd always found this rugby clinch a little odd and confusing, and had wondered why they even had this scene. It was logistically complicated to set up (two whole teams of players!), and the bait-and-switch portion would have been extremely tricky to choreograph and film. The whole rigmarole was also a lot of work for just a few seconds of screen time. That the ball slips away unseen also makes it seem anti-climactic for the viewer – but not for master gameplayer Pat, who successfully got his planned payload nonetheless.

And because he did it using Lucy Van Pelt's signature move, I now think the reason for this scene is for it to be held up as the paragon of Pat's bait-and-switch traps in Bad Buddy, and a parallel for the Epic Rooftop Kiss when Pran slaps the old switcheroo back on Pat instead.

On the rugby pitch Pat baited Pran by pulling away (with the ball), and then crushed his heart with physical intimacy (hugging him like a lover, but making it seem like he was only play-acting at returning Pran's love). On the rooftop Pran baited Pat with physical intimacy (The Kiss, proof to Pat that his feelings were returned), and then crushed his heart by pulling away (and taking with him all promise of his love).

Atop Chana City Residence at the end of Ep.5, perpetual prankster Pat couldn't stop himself and went in for the bait (Pran offering himself up romantically), only to see it whisked away from him at the very last second.

Suddenly the rules changed and Football Lucy, the House Mother of all bait-and-switch bamboozles, became the victim of the biggest bait-and-switch of them all, and was thrust into a different game instead. Bereft of Pran and denied his moment of victory, Pat became Baseball Mom indeed. 😔

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.5 [4/4] 13.06

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P.S. You can order Baseball Mom (the t-shirt, not Pat 😂) from Amazon at this link here. (If the link doesn't work, you may need to change your "Deliver To" location at the top left of the landing page on Amazon to another country – not useful if you want to buy it when they don't deliver to your location, but useful if you just want to view the page, or get them to deliver to a third party who can then forward it to you. If changing the location doesn't work, try following the other instructions in this post linked here.)

I suspect the fandom has been buying up Baseball Mom like crazy, because it went from limited stock and availability on Amazon (selected locations only), to becoming available for other global locations and on Walmart.com as well – so maybe demand from the BBS fandom has boosted sales so much they started marketing it on more channels? Thai BL soft power trickles down. 🥰👍

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P.P.S. OK, just a little aside – this Peanuts fan theory for Baseball Mom is really wacky, but I think the universe is telling me to put it out there anyway because just as I was finishing the write-up, this random post about the Peanuts football bait-and-switch appeared on my dashboard.

What are the odds of it crossing my dash at the same time I'm writing about it, when I've not seen it referenced before throughout my history on Tumblr, ever? (There were a few random Peanuts and Charlie Brown posts that appeared at the same time as well.) I'm not superstitious, but I do think the universe has spoken. 😂

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I noticed many people are feeling pretty angry at the writers right now, for how they handled PatPran’s conflict. First of all, for introducing us to Pat’s fear (I don’t want to admit to myself that I can’t live without him) without every really foreshadowing it; second of all, for having Pran say that he’s insecure, that he doesn’t feel enough, that he believes Pat puts more effort in their relationship than he does (and well, all of this was already pretty obvious from other scenes in both Bad Buddy and this crossover), but then having him do nothing about it and wait for Pat to be the first to say, ‘I can’t live without you’. 

I will try to explain these scenes and the reasons behind them, but I do want to clarify something first: unlike the 12 Bad Buddy episodes, these ones were rushed, and not as well written. I’m not as disappointed as other people and I don’t think they ruined the show and/or the couple with these specials, but I do wish they’d done a better job conveying these messages. 

Pat loves playing the hero, even Pran tells him (in episode 11) that it’s one of the reasons why he likes him. 

We’re used to Pat being vocal about his love for Pran, and that’s what put so many people off—why would he feel insecure about saying those words out loud, when he’s always been sincere and has never had issues expressing his own feelings? And you’re right, of course, that’s one of the many differences between Pat and Pran’s personalities, as established in the show.

But! Pat telling Pran how much he loves him, Pat being there for him, Pat always taking Pran’s feelings into consideration and putting them first, Pat protecting Pran, Pat being ready to lose in case his win might put Pran in a tough situation, Pat yelling his adoration for Pran on the stairs of the Architecture faculty... all of this is a way for Pat to be Pran’s hero, to be the strong one, the one who’s willing to yield because he knows that’ll please his boyfriend, the one who’s straightforward and who never hides the way he feels. 

And yes, we did get some quotes from Pat in ep 11 about how much he likes that Pran always fights alongside him and never leaves him alone, but that speaks a lot about partnership, doesn’t it? We fight together, we go through stuff together and nobody can stop us as long as we’re together. 

But then Pran starts having doubts, shows his insecurities; he knows that Pat always being there for him is fine and all, but let’s not forget that Pran isn’t used to this. Yes, they’ve been together for three years, and they faced a lot together, helping each other out all the time, and that’s why now Pran feels like he can let his guard down next to Pat. When Pran says, in episode 1 of OS, ‘No matter what problem I face, you’re always there for me’, he means it, deeply, and he isn’t ashamed of it at all, or at least until he hears Pat and his friends making fun of it, making fun of how much he trusts Pat, to the point that he’d be willing to rely on him, something he’s obviously never done before. And while he knows those are not words Pat truly means, he can’t help but wonder: ‘Am I doing enough? Does Pat feel like I’m a burden to him? Doesn’t he believe I can get things done on my own anymore? Have I got too comfortable with thinking he’s always by my side that I’ve reached the point where I need him by my side?’

Because let’s not forget that Pat and Pran are individuals that got together by choice, and by choice only. Ever since they were kids, they chose to break their parents’ rules and become friends, they chose the hard way instead of the easy path. So they’re choosing to stay together, going through the trouble of hiding their relationship again, and maybe Pran starts wondering whether Pat still thinks it’s worth it (let’s not forget that Pat answers ‘I have no choice’ when Pran tells him he’s grateful for his presence, and while Pat just meant that they’re meant to be together, that he couldn’t not love Pran even if he wanted to, that might also come off as ‘It’s the way it is, I got used to it’).

And that’s why in ep2 of OS, when Pat reminds him that he wants to help him because he’s his boyfriend, not because Pran asked (not because he has to, or because Pran needs him to, but because he wants to, because his choice is to stay beside him) the mood immediately changes, to the point that Pran gets super comfortable with physical touch again and they’re even implied to be sexually active (which may not sound important, but we saw how brutally Pran pushed Pat away when he still wasn’t in the mood and was still hurt and Pat kissed him, so I think it’s actually very important). 

Pran is still obviously insecure—and can you blame him, really? Pran has been in love with Pat throughout his entire life, he thought the mere chance of having any sort of relationship with him was nothing more than a dream, and instead got exactly what he wanted. But he never thought he deserved it, or that he was enough for it. He is clearly uncomfortable with how different their bodies are (despite Pat being horny for him all the time! Which kind of proves the point that until you’re the one who fully believes in something, it doesn’t matter if anyone else around you tries to convince you: you’re still gonna doubt), he knows he’s ‘a lot to handle’ (as Pat tells him himself in ep11, and please do not get me started on Pran’s face when he asks Pat why he likes him, as if he’s thinking ‘honestly, why on Earth would someone like you love someone like me?’), he asks Pat if he ‘were good’ after they made love for the first time, although I’m pretty sure Pat showed his pleasure pretty evidently while they were at it. There are still days in which he doesn’t believe his own eyes, think about that little moment in ep1 of OS when Pat agrees to give him the auditorium and his eyes shine and flicker with the same lovesick expression he had back when they weren’t even dating. We see Pran getting confident around Pat because he knows Pat likes him, because he’s somehow reassured that his boyfriend enjoys the way he is, which allows him to be more comfortable in his own skin (think about how smug he acts during more than half of episode 1 of OS). His confidence shutters when he hears Pat say those words and laughing with his friends about them; I think it’s perfectly normal that he got insecure after that, despite being fully aware that Pat did not mean what he said. 

And then you have Pat, whose whole identity is shaped around the idea of being the perfect son, the coolest friend, the greatest rival in history, realizing that he doesn’t just want to be with Pran all the time, to take care of Pran and to be there for him, to cherish him and make him feel loved and desired. No, when he takes his time to think about Pran’s insecurities, he goes like ‘He’s the one who’s worrying over whether he needs me too much or not, when I’m literally nothing without him by my side?’

Pat can only be truly himself around Pran. Pat only shows his weaknesses to Pran. Pat is only clingy to Pran. Pat wants to help Pran because Pran’s his entire world. Sure, he likes to play the hero; he likes to be someone the people in his life can rely on, someone who can be anyone else’s rock; but all of that means nothing in the face of the idea of losing Pran. 

And it’s terrifying to admit it! One thing is to say, ‘I love you so much, you’re the most important person in my life, our relationship means the world to me’, and something else entirely is to say, ‘I can’t live without you’. Our parents will eventually find out and they might try to get in our way again? That’d break me, break me completely, do you understand? I don’t know how to function without you. That’s what ‘I can’t live without you’ really means, we can’t live without air, we can’t live without food or water, and that’s how much Pran means to Pat (and how much Pat means to Pran), and it doesn’t matter how vocal about his feelings Pat has always been, and it doesn’t matter that they both already know (as Pat tells Pran!): to say it out loud is a different story.

Especially when you think about how important to Pat and Pran is that they’re equals in their relationship. Think about how much Pat was insecure in ep1 of OS when he realized Pran was so confident about the whole ‘play-competition’ thing, how sad he got when his presentation went down bad and Pran got the sponsorship. What gets him all happy again? The realization that he doesn’t need to be better than Pran at everything; the realization that they’ll always be there to help each other out, that what Pran did with him—helping him visualizing things as something different from what they were—was really the same thing he did when he helped Pran visualize a bus-stop that wasn’t even there yet. That’s why he goes from being so worked up about winning the competion to being once again willing to give the auditorium to Pran. 

So why does Pran feel so bad at the idea of needing me, when I’m literally so sure that I do? That makes him feel uncomfortable, and doesn’t allow him to fully accept the idea that he needs Pran so much, when he he isn’t sure that Pran needs him all that much and when Pran seems so against the possibility of actually needing him (also, take into account how much Pat belives in Pran! He doesn’t doubt Pran will find a solution to him and Phupha being lost in the forest for one second! Sure, he’s worried about him, but he also knows Pran will always handle things one way or another, with or without his help).

I think the miscommunication is evident, because Pran’s issue wasn’t with needing Pat, but with the idea that Pat might be starting to feel like Pran was becoming a burden to him. That’s why they should have talked this out, because Pat ‘can’t read his mind’, as he very cleverly pointed out in ep6. But while PatPran do have an healthy communication going on, I don’t understand why people were so upset that Pran didn’t feel like spelling it out, when it’s really not the first time he does that? Pat and Pran just happen to always get each other in the end, often without any need for words to come out of their mouths. 

I think the main difference this time was that Pat needed an answer. Pran already got an answer to his insecurities when Pat told him he couldn’t live without him, and Pran already knew how Pat felt because Tian snitched had already told him about his conversation with Pat. So, ‘Am i doing enough? Is Pat getting tired of me? Is the way i handle things, the fact that he’s the one who usually yields, something that’s tiring him?’, very obviously no. Pat’s not getting tired of him, Pat could never get tired of him (when you think about it, it’s also kind of the meaning of the ost that Ohm sings, and that’s supposed to be Pat’s answer to Pran’s song). 

Pran doesn’t need any other answer, but Pat does. He doesn’t in ep11, when he so very genuinely gives that huge, emotional speech to Pran, to which Pran doesn’t reply a single word, and that’s perfectly okay because Pat doesn’t need an answer to that. But Pat does need an answer now, and you can see it from the way he’s so shy when he pronounces those last two words, from the way he looks at Pran craving for something, anything, that will make him feel like him needing Pran is okay, because Pran needs him too. So that’s what Pran tells him, nothing more, and nothing less—although, he does say a lot more, by literally resting his head on his shoulder, asking for physical support, and physically supporting him at the same time, because that’s who they are, that’s who they’ll always be. Pat telling Pran he can’t live without him makes Pran feel like it’s okay if he can’t live without him too, it’s not something he should be ashamed of or afraid of. It’s just the way they work. Yes, they chose to be together, and now they need to—and there is no shame in that.

And it may look like Pran’s not putting any effort into this, but he so clearly is. Pran’s crying, you guys! Even just saying those few words out loud isn’t easy for him, all considered. He’s always been the one having an harder time expressing what he feels, this is nothing new.

EDIT: I guess I should have written that his eyes were watery, not that he was crying, since there were no tears in sight. I’m sorry!

And things will kind of always stay this way, if you think about it. Think about how even in ep12, when they’have been dating for ages and are fully adults, Pat’s still the one who goes to Pran’s bedroom, never the other way around. And that’s not—don’t you dare say it—something that shows how much more Pat loves Pran than Pran loves him: it just shows that people can show their love to each other in different ways, and that’s okay. 

#bad buddy #Our Skyy x Bad Buddy #bad buddy series #bad buddy the series #bad buddy analysis #our skyy 2 #our skyy x a tale of thousand stars #our skyy x atots #bad buddy x atots #patpran #pat x pran #phat x pran #pran x pat #pranpat #pranphat #pran parakul siridechawat #pat napat #pat napat jindapat #pran parakul #gia talks about bad buddy

[23point5degree]

The other day I rewatched Episode 10-12 of Bad Buddy and when I noticed something in ep 10 I shared it on Twitter. Now I also wanted to share it here as well 😊 It’s only a small detail but I think it’s great acting on Nanon‘a part! I wonder if he did it deliberately or not?

Okay so this is in ep10 part 1 after Pat got picked up from the hospital and he sees Pran on the street. We see Pat and Pran talk normally until Ming comes.

Pran greets Ming and lifts his hands into a wai.

When he puts his hands down he let his right hand rest on top of the left one.

But only for a second because he immediately covers/hides his watch from Ming. He did it so fast I didn’t noticed the first time around.

1/ First I thought it was instinct to hide anything Pat related even subconsciously. Especially since Ming couldn’t have known how Pat related to Pran’s watch.

2/ then I thought maybe it is out of fear. Pran is worried in that scene. He desperately wants to hide what they have. The watch has always been a metaphor for Pat and Pran’s secret and kinder relationship.

3/ in the end I thought maybe it was just for comfort. I haven’t noticed in other scenes but maybe Pran seeks comfort from it in situations that stress him.

Anyhow I thought it was a sweet detail and I wonder if I just maybe interpret too much into a simple gesture but I can also see it being done on purpose.

#bad buddy #bad buddy meta #bad buddy analysis #Pran Parakul Siridechawat #pat napat jindapat #mine #bea talks

[youtreatmelikeaman]

pran always touches me so much..

i relate so bad. wanting to control every single aspect of your life. what’s tragic about it is that wanting to be this wall of control you end up wearing your heart on your sleeve more than anyone.

you end up thinking that you are so obvious to everyone and that the only way is to cut the conversations, but actually no one knows. and you feel like this huge open wound that everyone can see but no one knows and of course because no one knows they don’t help you right, and it’s normal it’s because they aren’t mind readers.

but at the same time you get so hurt when they don’t act accordingly to the fact that you are (from your pov) obviously miserable. because how could they not know !??? you’ve been so clear !! (you have never shown your emotions clearly)

and you’re so broken behind your little wall (that feels like wood but is actually fucking bricks) that every step you make towards people feels like it’s reaping you apart. every time you have to state clearly how you are it’s like jumping into the void. everything feels like the biggest risk.

pran my sweet ball of pain and suffering… i love you so much my guy

#bad buddy series #bad buddy the series #bad buddy #pran x pat #pat x pran #patpran #pranpat #lil analysis #bad buddy analysis #yes im rewatching bad buddy for the nth time #nanon korapat #ohm pawat

[mishapen-dear]

Cant sleep so im thinking about ayhalo

I think its like. one sided. qaypierre WOULD smooch that demon and take him on dates. qbad would not recognize anything as a romantic gesture. aypierre could throw a bouquet of chocolate roses at him and bad would just be like ! thank you :}

like they love each other, absolutely. they TRUST each other, to the point where i’d even say it gets in the way of bad seeing aypierre as anything more than a good friend. that’s his guy. The dude always in his corner. Friend resource label: team mate (coparent) (down to help kidnap people). bad doesnt do classic romantic relationships- all of his relationships are INCREDIBLY queer, but the closest he usually gets to what others read as romance is a classic chewtoy4chewtoy dynamic. He LOVES to fuck with people and he loves to get fucked with and if there’s a nice jawline or pretty muscles included?? huge bonus !!

he’s got something- not kinder, with aypierre? not calmer, either, but stable, maybe. pierre has proven, over and over again, that he’s on bad’s side. Spying on tubbo, encouraging bad’s pranks, the kidnapping- i can’t call it a reliable dynamic, not with how paranoid bad is, even when he trusts, but there is still a feeling of understanding that, wherever pierre’s limits are for when he cant support bad (or genuinely turn against him), it hasnt been reached yet

aypierre, on the other hand, i dont know enough about to be absolutely sure but there are some Vibes. ironically, i think hes feeling like his relationships are unreliable. max was going to have their baby, and then he wasnt, and then he left him, then max fucking died. plus whatever is happening with him and ayrobot, which probably leaves him feeling like he cant rely on Himself. like he had, if not a little crush on bad, at least some Interest in him, before. as well as several islanders. i remember the days of the Bed Threat.

but thats part of it, too? because those flings didnt have that emotional connection, and i always got the sense that he started looking for that with maximus, to Love and Be Loved rather than pure lust. To care about someone, genuinely, and be cared about in return. but he didnt get that with the flings, and We know that max was using him, but i dont know if he did, but maybe he had a feeling about it and maybe he also had a feelinf about maximus’ feelings towards bad and maybe- there’s something about that? A little push of not-spite-not-projection onto bad.

because bad IS that reliability, right now. he’s a fucking gremlin. a bastard. a prankster silly guy. he trusts aypierre and aypierre trusts him and they dont share everything but so often, when it comes down to it, it is them against the world. them in the corner, caught, aypierre shouting about kissing as a cover for their crimes while bad runs giggling away from him.

#qsmp character analysis #qsmp shipping #<- because i DO think bad would be down to ~fornicate~ #but i dont think pierre drifts into that chewtoy zone enoufh for bad to get that Obsession #theyre kidnapping and escaping buddies !! who share food and secrets and strategies !! #but bad would do the same with the other french yknow #god i could go on for YEARS about how queer qbad’s relationships can get that demon is full of LOVE and that love is QUEER #i could make an argument that even his parenting style is affected by his queerness #in the way that he takes on all required roles for the eggs and cares for them SO MUCH #and SO OBVIOUSLY #as a dad/uncle that you dont often get to see in fiction #to the point where he is still in some way seen as a mother figure #but thats a whole different post #anyway this is part-analysis and part-silly written at ass-o’ #clock in the morning #if i remember ill come back to tag the ship for filtering purposes but i dont wanna throw ‘i think its one sided and exacerbated by grief #and general yearning for love/stability in an ever changing world’ when prople are just tryin to make em kiss #i respect the kisser causers have fun yall im enjoying seeing it #god i need to sleep #ayhalo

[fiercynn]

a completely definitive ranking of pran's sweaters in bad buddy

as we all know our parakul siridechawat likes a good sweater, and they are (almost) all excellent. but some are more excellent than others, so: my completely scientific ranking

(if you've seen this before elsewhere shhhhh no you haven't)

6. leaving for singapore sweater (4/10) - i'm sorry pran i think this ugly - points mainly because the scene is cute - the patterns clash? or the colors? or both? idk idk

5. singapore office sweater (5/10) - i feel neutral about this - only shows up briefly - sweaters with things written on them = not my thing - also max is there so

4. freshy day music festival sweater (8/10) - i like this sweater - it looks so soft - points off for the raincoat - what even was moi’s costume concept - but points back on for singing the song you wrote with your crush about your crush back to your crush

3. manidi sweater (9/10) - listen i am a sucker for a teal + burnt orange combo - love that it's collared - also you can't see it in these pics but sweaterpaws - no wonder pat’s brain went a little fuzzy

2. behind the scenes bar sweater (10/10) - can’t explain why it’s good it just is - the colors, the stripes of different widths - doesn’t hurt that he’s glowing in it i guess - get yourself a lover out of your university's long-held faculty feud

1. kwan & riam audition sweater (10000/10) - the platonic ideal of a pran sweater - it’s cozy it’s pretty it’s cable-knitted - asymmetrical but in a cool way - look out knives out sweater this one is coming for you

#very important bad buddy analysis #yes i will be taking comments #but i WILL fight you if i disagree #bad buddy #parakul siridechawat #ranking things because i can #pran's sweaters are very important #bad buddy shitposts #bad buddy meta

[needle-noggins]

One day I’ll write my essay on Fifth Moon, July, and why Trigun is about reclaiming body autonomy

#today is just. not yet that day. but it’s close #I saw a dumb post and got big mad about someone vagueblogging about my fifth moon analysis #like bud you don’t even have a counter argument you just don’t like my interpretation because boo hoo it makes your special little meow meo #millions fucking knives - look bad #buddy I have bad news for you about knives’ morals and motivations and disregard for vash as his own person

[ranchthoughts]

an analysis of the Baseball Mom shirt, Bad Buddy ep. 5

Many have spoken about the shirts of Bad Buddy, and specifically the Baseball Mom shirt before:

In her excellent meta about Pat's shirts, @chickenstrangers posited that the Baseball Mom shirt Pat wears during the episode 5 rooftop scene hints at how Pat sees a future with Pran - partnership, a family (though not necessarily one with kids), possibility. @thegayneurodivergentagenda notes that the Baseball Mom shirt is a tank top, representing Pat at his most "unguarded," his most vulnerable, compared to other scenes where he wears multiple layers.

@respectthepetty gives a quick primer on the colours of Bad Buddy here - the Baseball Mom shirt is dark blue (Pat's colour) with red writing (Pran's colour). respectthepetty also points the rooftop scene out as a time when Pat and Pran switch colours: Pat is wearing red shorts and Pran is wearing a light blue shirt.

@dribs-and-drabbles spoke here about the flashes of red over Pat's heart that appear in his episode 5 shirts as he becomes more and more sure about his feelings. dribs-and-drabbles also spoke here about how the intensity of the colours in Pat's shirt could speak to the intensity of his feelings, and that the "Mom" on his shirt could reflect the role Pran's mom will have in the success (or failure) of their future relationship.

I would like to add my contributions to the venerable field of Bad Buddy shirt analysis by expanding on the potential meanings of Pat's Baseball Mom shirt in a couple of avenues: Mom, Baseball, and Baseball Mom.

Mom

Firstly, the word Mom. I have talked before about how Pat subverts the typical seme/uke dynamics (and their conflation with masculine/feminine, top/bottom, dom/sub, etc.) we often see in BLs. Pat embodies many of the physical and social qualities we might expect from a "seme" character: he is a bit taller, more muscular, more typically "masculine" (likes sports, doesn't like doing chores, etc.), etc. However, he takes the "uke" role in tropes about as often as he takes the "seme" role (he tends to Pran's wounds, kisses his cheek, is clingy, etc.), even deliberately casting himself in the "uke" role to pursue Pran during the episode 7 bet (e.g., pretending to be sick so Pran will give him a sponge bath). @absolutebl called Bad Buddy a "masterclass" in using tropes to upend our seme/uke expectations. Furthermore, Pat casts himself in the "feminine" role several times over the series: in episode 3 when he is helping Pran visualize the bus stop and offers to play Pran's girlfriend, or when he plays Riam in the play (originally a female role), or even when Pran is upset that Wai isn't speaking to him in episode 9 and Pat suggests they fake breakup and offers to pretend to be the one who got dumped and is heartbroken. And of course, the post-sex scene in episode 11 where it is strongly implied Pran was the top in that encounter.

Thus, the fact that Pat's shirt says Baseball Mom could be a further continuation of the subversions of seme/uke and masculine/feminine in Bad Buddy. Going by typical BL metrics, Pat narratively, physically, and socially should be the "seme", the "masculine" one in the pair, but the show subverts our expectations by having Pat often be the "uke," or "feminine" one in trope instances, sexual situations, and more.

Baseball

Secondly, I would like to examine the choice of baseball. The association of sport to Bad Buddy feels especially apt given the competitive nature of Pat and Pran's relationship. Rivals since birth due to their families' feud, Pat and Pran have always been competing with one another. Even once they become friends, and are on their way to being lovers, the spirit of competition doesn't leave them (there are too many examples and metas to go into them all here so here is a sampling of the myriad of posts detailing Pat and Pran's competitive edge: 1, 2, 3, 4). In fact, competition is the only way they know how to maintain their connection - as @dudeyuri points out in this post, Pran continuously refuses to let Pat settle the debt he owes Pran for saving Pa's life when they were kids in order to keep Pat in his life. The best example of this is of course the episode 7 Flirt-Off Bet, where Pat and Pran compete to see who can make the other fall in love first. They can't simply express their feelings to one other, they (especially Pran) aren't ready for that, so they will work their way around it and through it in the way they know how, through the language they both know: competition.

But back to baseball - why baseball, rather than any other sport? As far as I understand, baseball doesn't seem especially popular in Thailand. Why doesn't Pat's shirt say Soccer Mom or Volleyball Mom, or even Rugby Mom, a sport they both play in the show? Baseball is a slow game: there is a lot of standing around and waiting, a really good hitter only hits the ball about 30% of the time, there are 10 innings, etc. Like baseball players and fans, Pat and Pran are not unaccustomed to waiting. Pran has been pining for Pat for ages, waiting without much hope that Pat will return his feelings. Pat waits for Pran to come around to the idea of a relationship over many long months of the Bet. Both of them are waiting for the day their parent will accept their relationship, when they can be free to be themselves openly. And we as an audience are waiting too - will Bad Buddy have a happy or tragic ending? Are we going full Romeo and Juliet or Kwan and Riam, or is there a light at the end of this tunnel?

In his wonderful novel Summerland about baseball (and many other things), Michael Chabon writes: "The fundamental truth: a baseball game is nothing but a great slow contraption for getting you to pay attention to the cadence of a summer day." In Summerland, Michael Chabon often brings up the idea that baseball was made to make one appreciate a slow, summer's day, and that lovers of baseball and of life know the true purpose of baseball and of life is to pay attention to the small moments and details. This feels relevant to Pat and Pran's story: two people kept apart by their families and faculties, enjoying what moments they can steal in secret. Pat and Pran end the series unable to be fully open about their love, but they will take the happiness they can get. They choose to stay together, they choose optimism (Pran's room full of :)), they choose to focus on the little details of their love for one another. The path to being together might have been long, and still not over yet, but Pat and Pran will wait and enjoy the slow cadence of the journey there together.

Baseball operates on a different timeline to other sports - there is no clock counting down the minutes - just like queer people operate on a different timeline to their non-queer peers. The concept of queer temporality posits queer people live on different timelines than the societal norm, experiencing the past, present, and future in different ways than non-queer people (see @chickenstrangers application of this to Bad Buddy here and @shannankle's application of it to The Eighth Sense here). Queer people are waiting for milestones: their first kiss, first relationship, their first desired puberty, legal marriage, etc. Bad Buddy is a very queer show, full of queer temporality and realistic queer experiences (e.g., pining, self-discovery, waiting for their families' support, no "gay-for-you," no overly prescriptive seme/uke dynamics, no fairy tale happy ending, etc.). Bad Buddy even operates on a different timeline than other shows with regards to the chronological passing of time as it has several significant time skips (the one between episodes 6 and 7, and the one between episodes 11 and 12), both of which upend our expectations about how the show should go (I go into more detail about this here).

In Summerland, Chabon says: "life was like baseball, filled with loss and error, with bad hops and wild pitches, a game in which even champions lost almost as often as they won, and even the best hitters were put out seventy percent of the time." Bad Buddy is not a show full of unrelenting successes. While wearing the Baseball Mom shirt, Pat kisses Pran and get kissed back, but the scene ends with Pran leaving Pat on the rooftop, both in tears. Pat may have confessed feelings, but the pair's relationship moves forwards in fits and starts over the many months of the episode 7 bet. Pat and Pran eventually come together and date, but they have to hide it from their friends, and when their friends find out, their friendships are strained (Pran and Wai's in particular). Even after gaining the support of their friends, Pat and Pran still must hide their relationship from their family and face the consequences of their ongoing feud. While there are many victories and moments of joy in Bad Buddy, they are tempered by moments of failure, of bad luck, of pain and fear. And that's life (and baseball).

A quote attributed to Juliana Hatfield reads: “Baseball is more than a game. It’s like life played out on a field.” What is television if not life played out on a screen? What is Bad Buddy if not the familiar story of star-crossed lovers, a story of queer love and realization and heartbreak, played out on a screen? And to further this argument of "playing out" - Bad Buddy tells us a familiar story of homophobia but played out through the lens of a family feud (there is seemingly little/no homophobia in the world of the show, but nevertheless the show is all about hiding, (non)acceptance, coming out, etc.). What is Bad Buddy if not the eternal story of queer struggle and joy in the face of that, played out through an allegory of familial feuds and generational trauma?

Baseball Mom

Finally, I would like to examine the confluence of "Baseball" and "Mom". For those not in the know, sports parents are a very specific breed. They are typically wildly supportive of their child, often to the detriment of other children (do a quick search for "hockey parents suck," for example and you will find endless articles, blog posts, and Quora questions about the phenomenon). They tend to be single minded, ride or die for their kid and their kid's team, and ready to hurl abuse at anyone who "stands in the way" of their kid's success (other parents, the opposing team, the opposing team's coaches, referees and judges, etc.). When we first meet Pat, he embodies some of the worst traits of a sports parent: he is ready to fight at the drop of the hat to protect his own team (the Engineering faculty), despite the collateral damage it causes and the trouble it gets him and his team in. Over the course of the series, Pat mellows (and there's been so much great meta on this, e.g., @grapejuicegay's post about Pat escaping from under his father's thumb): he works together with Pran to make sure his team (the Engineers) and the opposing team (the Architects) aren't kicked out, and even ends up in a peaceful place with Wai.

Pat enthusiastically loves and supports his friends and his family, like a sports parent does, and while this initially manifests as him physically fighting the opposing team, it eventually settles into what an ideal sports parent (Baseball Mom) is: supporting their team while respecting the other team, and working for a fair space where both teams can compete but also have fun.

Conclusions

While many others have explored the meaning of Pat's episode 5 Baseball Mom shirt before, mostly through the lens of colour theory, I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and provide reasons as to why the choice of "Baseball Mom" suits the show Bad Buddy and the character Pat. I think it speaks to the subversion of seme/uke dynamics in the show as a whole and particularly in the character of Pat; it reminds us of the slow and realistic progression of Bad Buddy and life itself, with all its successes and errors, and Pat and Pran's competitive dynamic; and it recalls Pat's personality and arc through the show.

#bb #bb meta #throwing my hat in the ring of bad buddy shirt analysis #thank you to all the bad buddy shirt scholars who have come before #ranch thoughts #bad buddy #bad buddy meta

[thegayneurodivergentagenda]

hi hello pran autism anon here again!! i just watched ep 4 again and i noticed at the scene when pat comes to give pran his earphones, and lets himself in, pran repeatedly expresses his distaste at the fact for two reasons. yes, he doesn’t want pat infringing on his privacy or messing up his meticulously arranged living space. but it's the other reason that intrigues me when looking at pran through an autistic lens. he repeats that pat entered without being let in. he's very bothered not only by pat's actions, but also the fact that pat is breaking a social norm. as an autistic person, i find that i tend to feel uncomfortable when i see other people not follow social norms, which i feel is because i've had to consciously learn these and remind myself to follow them for years. i feel like pran is having a similar internal experience here, where he's seeing pat do something that isn't considered 'socially acceptable', which bothers him because he has a script in his head that he's built up over the years, and this doesn't follow the script that he uses to dictate what is and isn't okay to do, what does and doesn't get him acceptance from his peers etc. he then comments that pat 'has no manners'. i think this is a pretty common thing that many autistic people have experienced, being told we have no manners because we unconsciously broke an unwritten social rule we never learnt about. pran, in my opinion, can't help but project the rules he's learnt to help himself fit in and mask onto other people. it might be a very small detail to focus on, but it's something that really got me thinking.

thank you for reading my rant about literally three lines of dialogue!! hope you have a great day!!!

I love you anon.

I know you didn't technically ASK me to rant about Pran's relationship w his room but I have too much to say and I hope you're okay w that.

So

Pran and his room: from the lens of autism

1. As someone with autism, social rules and norms that we agree with are set in stone. So your analysis about Pat breaking a social rule makes a lot of sense. Especially when you see the other interactions at the food stall and music shop (you're not supposed to sniff people????????????)

2. It's also likely that he's very transparently present in his room. For people with autism, our rooms are our safe spaces and worst nightmares because they reflect so much of who we are. If they are messy, It's our mess. If it's organized, It's customised to our space. Rooms, dorms and other living spaces are basically a self portrait.

Which is why when Pat dares enter and sneak a peak at his barest self, lit with fairy lights and faces telling him how to smile, rituals along every curve and table, he feels scared. What if Pat notices his smilies and thinks he's still a child (he should have overcome the hyperfixation by now? Will Pat understand?) What if Pat notices his coffee stained couch and calls Pran on being an imposter who only pretends to get angry at messy stains. There's so many ways Pat could see behind his carefully constructed masks.

His apprehension from pat entering could be from not letting Pat see him.

And that's also why he holds the social norm of asking before entering so close to his daily functioning; revels in the safety of enforcing this rule rigidly.

[I sometimes liken this to the idea of a nest in the omegaverse where it's extremely personal and reflective of the person making it. I also love the omega verse so much because it takes a lot of neurodivergent traits and makes them seem normal and that's just another post altogether]

3. When Pat and Pran finally get their shit together Pran let's Pat change his room and make the space theirs. It's the biggest declaration of love if I've ever seen one. He let's Pat put up photos and shares his bed and doubles the Pillows and makes space for Nong Nao. All because he's ready to allow Pat in his space. Across the rituals. Inside his safety.

4. The fact that the most crucial of the moments (The Kiss, The Bet, The Ming) happen away from the safety of his room goes along with this and his canon OCD.

If you're living with OCD, safe spaces can turn into compulsions at the sight of threat. And the fact that he was so adamant on keeping the relationship behind closed doors felt a lot like stemming not just from his anxiety about his parents but also his imposter syndrome: It's a glitch in the matrix that Pat likes me back and we should not test the matrix lest it remind Pat I'm an annoyance that he rather not deal with.

If you have autism, the safety of your room provides familiar and clear cues that could be helpful if an emergency is to arrive (I could just start talking about the rotting food if conversations get tougher// I could go to my own washroom and pretend to take my time if I feel overwhelmed). These safety nets are not present Outside.

And it is through his autism that Pran shows his love to Pat.

He let's Pat break his rules constantly. Not because they don't cause him discomfort. They still do. But his love for Pat is just greater than that.

He will let Pat drag him outside. Let Pat post photos of him. Let Pat make a mess on his kitchen table. Go with Pat to an unknown room.

As Anon said, these rules and norms and safe spaces are all in place because of being reprimanded for being neurodivergent by the neurotypical system builders. They are precautions to avoid being hurt or being called out on the fact that they don't belong.

But Pran doesn't feel hurt in Pat's presence. Because regardless of if they are friends or enemies, they've always belonged together.

#hi anon i love you #and i hope you know your efforts are appreciated sm in this home #i cant help but feel like youre apprehensive about the accuracy of your analysis #but i hope you know that youre so insightful and fun? #all autism is different in its nuances and i love you for putting in so much efforts for our dear old pran #bad buddy #patpran #bad buddy brain rot #bad buddy text posts #autism #neurodivergent #ill wait for anon to become non anon but take your time bb #we have hugs for you!!!

[castysconstellation]

Man it’s fucking fascinating going straight from Bad Buddy into The Eclipse, because I just wrote a whole-ass essay of a post about how important it is that Bad Buddy is a narrative without ANY homophobia at ALL, just to take a look at The Eclipse and go “wait but here it’s important though”

Bad Buddy is a show about the queer experience, but it’s also a rom-com, and in making everything about the rivalry an allegory for queer-ness they touch on the struggles of being queer in a meaningful way without making it painful for their audience.

But The Eclipse on the other hand, is social commentary. I mean yeah it’s a story about rebelling against uniforms and school rules, but the second they made it clear that those rules are steeped in tradition, inequality, and canonically, actively oppress and demean queer students, it becomes clear that it’s not, and never really was, about the uniforms at all. Homophobia is important to this story because it helps elevate the narrative to the social commentary that it is.

Especially when you throw in the context that the show’s producer is gay, and the show’s director is non-binary AND an ex-MP who got kicked out of parliament due to a move against pro-democracy sentiment. Because well. When you have that context I don’t know how much clearer the societal critique could be really.

#the eclipse the series #the eclipse #bad buddy #Something something different narratives require different things #wow brain really said i do not care that it's 2am it is time for media analysis rambles #love that for me

[telomeke-bbs]

BAD BUDDY FILMING LOCATIONS 13

Barring any surprise discoveries, this write-up will call time on all of my Bad Buddy location posts – I've had notes for this tucked away for more than a year now, and have been putting off writing it up partly because I didn't want it to end, and also partly because (frustratingly) there's one final location I still haven't been able to track down (😬 more on that later).

But now it's time; more than two years after Bad Buddy aired I really should put my location posts to bed, and I was motivated to set digital pen to virtual paper by an Ask from fellow BBS fan @honey-beebs (linked here). Lucky Bee is heading to Bangkok right about now and will be looking up BBS locations while there, so I hope my posts will be helpful! 💖

This write-up, Part 13 in the series, profiles mostly odds and ends – minor locations that I found late and/or couldn't manage to fit into any other location post. So there isn't a theme here, but it's all BBS-related so hopefully Bad Buddy location fans will still find something interesting in this.

To start things off: the scene where Pat helps Pran look for his lost earphones (beginning at Ep.4 [1‌/4] 10.29) is the only outdoor one with an overt reference to rugby (Pat is still in his rugby kit after practice) that was filmed at Rangsit University (RSU):

(above) The boys search for Pran's lost earphones at BBS Ep.4 [1‌/4] 10.58

All other rugby scenes (plus a whole lot of outdoor university scenes as well) were filmed at Bangkok University's Rangsit campus. But the location of this one scene is actually the grass verge in front of RSU's Faculty of Architecture:

(above) The tree in front of the Architecture Faculty, below which Pat and Pran search for Pran's lost earphones

Proof of the above is the building that we see in the background of the scene, behind Pat and Pran – that's the Chinese-Thai Institute of Rangsit University, with its unmistakeable roofline and parade of columns, on the other side of the road from RSU's Faculty of Architecture:

(top) The Chinese-Thai Institute of Rangsit University (opposite the Faculty of Architecture); (bottom) the map location of the Chinese-Thai Institute in relation to the Faculty of Architecture‌

Elsewhere on campus, the covered car park where Pat serenaded Pran with Nanon and Sizzy's Love Score (Ep.8 [1‌/4] 15.52), spied on by a furious Wai (Ep.8 [1‌/4] 16.57 and Ep.9 [1‌/4] 5.19) is also where Pat, loving Pran on the down low, waves to Chang, Korn and Mo before getting into his car where Pran is waiting (Ep.12 [3‌/4] 4.54):

(top left) Pat serenades Pran in his car at Ep.8 [1‌/4] 15.59; (top right) Wai sees Pran getting into the car of his sworn enemy Pat at Ep.9 [1‌/4] 5.21; (bottom) Pat waves to Chang, Korn and Mo from the covered car park while Pran stays horizontal and out of sight in the car (Ep.12 [3‌/4] 4.54)

These scenes were filmed at the ground floor covered car park of the Faculty of Optometry (Building 12/1) at Rangsit University:

(top) Location of the Faculty of Optometry on the map; (middle) the ground floor covered car park of the Faculty of Optometry is on the left of the photo – in Bad Buddy the perforated cladding is visible at Ep.9 [1‌/4] 5.21 and Ep.12 [3‌/4] 4.54; (bottom left) a look into the car park; (bottom right) the building opposite the car park, that we see behind Chang, Korn and Mo at Ep.12 [3‌/4] 4.54

‌

Another covered car park in Bad Buddy was the airport car park in Ep.12, that we got to see when Pat sent Pran off to further his architectural career in Singapore:

(above) Pat and Pran at the airport car park (Ep.12 [3‌/4] 7.32)

Despite the airport signage at the top right of the image, this wasn't the car park at Don Mueang (or Suvarnabhumi for that matter). It's actually the same car park as the previous filming location (the ground floor covered car park of the Faculty of Optometry), just over at the other end facing the basketball court:

Corroborating details are the large V-shaped struts and the ramp next to them, that we can see behind Pat and Pran at Ep.12 [3‌/4] 7.32.

And if the adjacent basketball court looks familiar – it's arguably most famous because of its appearance in SOTUS S2, when Kongpob and Arthit were shooting hoops there in a one-on-one bet. (And that was also when Kongpob found out Arthit was a great shooter – see SOTUS S Ep.4 [4/4] 8.22. 🤣)

The court also appeared a couple of times in SOTUS Season 1, but its scene with Arthit and Kongpob's matchup is perhaps the most memorable one. 🤩

‌

Still on the RSU campus, the South Technology University Library was represented by (no surprises here) the Rangsit University Library (Building 7). This is also the building on whose forecourt Pat and Pran's favorite wonton noodle stall is located:

(top) Location of the RSU Library on the map; (bottom) a view of RSU Library (Building 7) and the forecourt in front, that housed the wonton noodle stall

In Bad Buddy, the South Technology University library scenes are all indoors:

(top) Pat keeps the Engine gang distracted while Pran hustles the Archi gang back out of the library at Ep.2 [1‌/4] 5.58; (bottom) Pran apologizes to other library users for reacting too loudly to Pat's teasing at Ep.3 [2/4] 3.30 (actually the same location as the one above, just from a different angle)

Matching images of the RSU Library with corroborating details:

(top) This photo from RSU Library's Facebook (linked here) has a lot of matching details – the RFID gate scanners, the ceiling lights, the bookshelves, the shelf labeling, vinyl floor pattern, orange-red ottoman, green exit sign and what looks like a book-scanning station in the bottom right can all be seen at BBS Ep.2 [1‌/4] 5.58; (bottom) this photo on Google Maps by P. Hirancharoennon (dated April 2019, linked here) is actually a match for BBS Ep.3 [2/4] 3.30, just viewed from a different angle – note the same dark red sofas that curve around the columns, chairs in the far background that match what Pat and Pran are sitting on, the ceiling lights, the computers for OPAC (library catalog) reference and the yellow-orange poster of what looks like a clock on the right

‌

This scene of Pat applying ointment to Pran's shoulder at Ep.7 [2/4] 3.05 (re-living the tending to my stricken lover trope and calling back to Ep.4 [3‌/4] 7.07) is one of the few in BBS that actually shows wet weather (remembering that the series was filmed at the height of Thailand's rainy monsoon season, although we don't actually get any scenes of PatPran in the rain):

This scene was filmed at the elevator lobby of Chana City Residence, and may possibly have been one of the scenes originally planned for the rooftop that were rained out on that fateful last night of filming (see the Behind-the-Scenes video จนกว่าจะพบกันใหม่ครับเพื่อน! | แค่เพื่อนครับเพื่อน | BAD BUDDY SERIES linked here):

Anyway, proof of the location can be found in this scene in Oxygen The Series Ep.12 [2/4] 13.57:

The full-height window frames, wall paneling and red fire alarm panel are a match for what we see in Bad Buddy.

Oxygen The Series filmed a lot at Chana City Residence, with the building name prominently displayed in the ground floor lobby scenes (see Oxygen The Series Ep.12 [3‌/4] 5.17 for one example). This confirmed its location, and thus the matching end wall of the elevator lobby also confirms the location for Bad Buddy's scene above at Ep.7 [2/4] 3.05.

‌

Pat and Pran's motorbike ride in Hua Hin was filmed at one of the side roads perpendicular to Khao Tao Beach:

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.11 [2/4] 13.15 – Pat and Pran set off on a motorbike ride toward Uncle Yod's bar

In the distance behind Pat and Pran we can just make out (on the left, half-hidden by a tree) the island of Ko Singto (also called Ko Sai) with its distinctive, leonine silhouette.

The truck ride to and from Chatchai Market (scene beginning at Ep.6 [3‌/4] 0.28) and PatPran's mud-play (scene beginning at Ep.6 [3‌/4] 4.00) were also probably filmed along the same road because we can see the same kind of barbed wire fencing, and Ko Singto also appears at Ep.6 [3‌/4] 4.04.

(top) PatPran in Uncle Tong's yellow Datsun; (bottom) Pran slaps some Hua Hin mud on Pat

(top) Uncle Tong, Pat, Pran and Junior head off to Chatchai Market; (bottom) Ko Singto in the background on their return

The exact side road (more like a dirt path) isn't traversable on Google Street View (and with increasing development of the area it may not be around for much longer anyway). But other Street View captures show similar barbed wire fencing in the general vicinity:

(above) This image from Google Street View showing similar barbed wire fencing dates to January 2017 and can be viewed at location 12°27'50.4"N 99°58'36.0"E

Noting that the road heads toward a hill looming inland (visible at Ep.6 [3‌/4] 0.28), triangulating off the map pinpoints an approximate location:

(top) The approximate location on Google Maps; (bottom) a dirt path viewed from 12°28'28.7"N 99°58'24.9"E, that is a likely candidate for the location (the trees in the distance are a match for what we see flanking the road at Ep.11 [2/4] 13.15)

‌

So PatPran's motorbike ride ended up at Uncle Yod's beach bar (location already identified in this post here – it's the Anchor Bar and Restaurant at Khao Tao Beach). However, the approach road to Uncle Yod's Bar is also visible on Google Street View – the location coordinates are 12°28'03.7"N 99°58'35.1"E, which brings up a match:

(top) Bad Buddy Ep.11 [2/4] 14.09 – Pat and Pran at the entrance to Uncle Yod's bar; (bottom) a screenshot from Google Street View of the approach road to the Anchor Bar and Restaurant

‌

The filming location for the music video to Pat's theme song Secret (sung by Kacha Nontanun) was already identified in this post here (it's the legendary rooftop of Chana City Residence):

‌

The music video for Pran's theme song (Just Friend?) stepped away from Bad Buddy and was a mini-movie unto itself:

The video was filmed in a location that had nothing to do with Bad Buddy the series – the Prince Palace Hotel Mahanak in central Bangkok. Visual proof of this is within the video itself, at timestamp 2.33:

(above) Nanon scribbles "แค่เพื่อนมั้ง?" (meaning "Just a friend?") on the hotel notepad, which bears the name Prince Palace Hotel Mahanak

From the interior details we can tell that the music video for PatPran's theme of togetherness (Our Song) was also filmed at the same hotel:

(top) Music video for Our Song, timestamp 2.11; (bottom) music video for Just Friend?, timestamp 2.07

Although the images above do not show not the same space, there are enough similar details in both (e.g., the armchairs, the green wainscoting with its gold-trimmed wainscot cap and the window framing) for us to conclude that both videos were filmed in the same building – the Prince Palace Hotel Mahanak.

‌

One final location that was referred to in Bad Buddy didn't actually have any scenes filmed there – it's the street in Singapore where Pran's condo was supposed to have been located. The address was identified on a postcard on the Ep.12 memory board (see this link here for more detail):

(above) Pran's postcard to Pat from Singapore, on the Ep.12 memory board

Although the details in Pran's address are mostly fictitious, the street is not. Lorong Limau in Singapore actually exists:

(top) Map location of Lorong Limau; (bottom) a screenshot of the neighbourhood around Lorong Limau

Lorong is the Malay word for street, and Pran's full address in Singapore is Blk 94, Lorong Limau #86‑05, Singapore 320047. Except for Lorong Limau and Singapore however, the address is wholly made-up.

This location is nowhere near the Marina Bay Sands (so Pran really couldn't have seen it from his apartment window). The neighbourhood around Lorong Limau is known as Kallang/Whampoa and it is considerably less flashy than residences bayside (although it is still central and convenient). There is also no Block 94 nearby, nor is the unit number #86-05 a real one, because the 86 refers to the floor level and there are no buildings with as many floors in Singapore at time of writing.

OK, so maybe Pran stayed here for a spell and then moved to within sight of the Marina Bay Sands sometime later? Not completely far-fetched, because we know that by the time of his Ep.12 break in Bangkok he had been working on a new tower for Marina Bay (and it would have had to have been a pretty prestigious project to be sited in that locale, meaning that Pran could well have afforded swankier digs if his career was on the up and up):

‌

And this is probably just a coincidence, but guess what's happening with the Marina Bay Sands? 🤣

Planning approval has been given and construction is expected to commence some time in 2025.‌ Yay Pran! 🤣

‌

Anyway, these are all the locations that I have for now. I've not been able to track down every location in Bad Buddy, nor am I going to try. For example, I'm not going to stress out over unidentified interior spaces like Ajahn Pichai's office in Ep.1 and Ep.3, and InkPa's dark room in Ep.10:

(top) Ajahn Pichai's office at Ep.1 [4/4] 6.19; (bottom) InkPa's dark room confession at Ep.10 [3‌/4] 17.05

These were likely filmed within the same buildings that represented their series counterparts anyway, so Ajahn Pichai's office is likely at RSU's College of Engineering, and the dark room in RSU's Digital Multimedia Complex (Building 15).

Likewise, I'm not able to say exactly where on campus the 112 Chemical Store is (where Bad Buddy made a potent political statement) as there is no Google Street View down that back alley.

But because of this TikTok video by TikToker @‌markydoge, I know it has to be somewhere in the environs of the RSU College of Engineering. 🤩

It's probably near the white tiger mural and workshops, because the air-conditioning condensers and buttressed walls that we see just before Pat pulls Pran into that alleyway are similar to those that we see when the Engine boys chase down Wai at the beginning of Ep.1 – and because the roofline of the Engine workshops can be seen behind Korn and Chang in their pursuit of Wai at Ep.1 [1‌/4] 0.51, the location is also anchored on the map. 👍‌

‌

HOWEVER, there is still one fairly important location that remains unidentified and that continues to frustrate me – and it's Pat and Pran's family hardware stores.

(above) Ming and Chai watch Pran's dad set up store right next to the Jindapats' one at BBS Ep.1 [1‌/4] 4.54

I've searched far and wide but just cannot find the location, and it's all the more frustrating because there are so many clues:

The store belonging to Pat’s family looks like it is actually a construction material shop; the shelves and the items all around have been there for some time, and not likely to have been put together just for Bad Buddy.

The store belonging to Pran’s family looks like a covered vehicular park or outdoor storage, masquerading as a shop though.

The general location of the shops is likely to be not in Rangsit (where a lot of other filming happened), but rather somewhere closer to central Bangkok (though not right in the city center either). This is because the planting on the road divider outside is very well-manicured (which is more a feature of central Bangkok), and the lamp-post has markings similar to those on central Bangkok lamp-posts. But there aren’t any tall buildings visible, so it’s not likely to be in the absolute city center either, where skyscrapers are everywhere blocking the sky.

I've been scouring maps of Bangkok and trawling Google Street View, but have not been able to find a matching location. If anybody out there has any leads, please do let me know! 😍

And that's a wrap for BBS locations! For now, at least (unless I can find the above – I won't stop trying). 😍 In the meantime, if any Bad Buddy fans have questions about BBS locations that you think I might be able to help with, do send me an Ask or message and I'll be more than happy to share my two bahts' worth! 💖

‌

[P.S. – here are the links to all the filming location posts:

Part 1 – The legendary rooftop, PatPran’s student apartments, their high school, the white arches behind the Engineering Canteen, the Zero Waste Village and various seaside scenes, their honeymoon suite, the hospital where Pat was treated for his gunshot graze, and the high school reunion.

Part 2 – Pat and Pran’s family homes, the Flagpole Bar, the car park fight location, and the Jae Si Curry House.

Part 3 – Various locations at and around the rugby field, including Pat’s photoshoot with Ink, the rugby bleachers, the iced milk tea (and green tea wave) picnic table, InkPa’s photography picnic, the old bus stop and the new bus stop. Also Khun Noppharnach’s pharmacy.

Part 4 – Pat’s Engineering Faculty (in and around Rangsit University’s College of Engineering).

Part 5 – Pran’s Architecture Faculty (Rangsity University’s School of Architecture).

Part 6 – Various F&B and commercial locations (eateries, shops, malls and a market).

Part 7 – Pat’s post-graduation apartment and Pran’s residence in Singapore.

Part 8 – Various campus locations filmed within Rangsit University’s Digital Multimedia Complex, including the auditorium and the Freshy Day Song Contest.

Part 9 – The LogTech Building and Pran’s architectural office in Singapore.

Part 10 – Locations for the Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy special episodes.

Part 11 – The apartment for rent that Pran went to view in Ep.2, the elevator scene with Pat just after the viewing, and Wai’s apartment.

Part 12 – PatPran’s elementary and high schools, as well as the location of Pa’s near-drowning.

Part 13 – Random locations (Pran searching for his lost earphones, the covered car park where Wai spied on Pat serenading Pran with Nanon's Love Score, the airport car park, the SouthTech U Library, PatPran's rainy day ointment interlude, their motorbike and truck rides in Hua Hin, the approach road to Uncle Yod's bar, the filming location for the music videos Just Friend? and Our Song, and Pran's street address in Singapore).

Will update this list if I can track down the hardware stores! 🤣]

‌

#bad buddy filming locations #bad buddy locations #patpran #bad buddy analysis #telomeke #YouTube

[aestheticsfandomsandmore]

I think I finally managed to understand what I genuinely disliked about episode 3 of the Our Skyy BBTS x AToTS crossover. I actually loved these specials, including episode 3, and I am still sad that part of the fandom hated them with such a passion, but I have not been able to fully appreciate episode 3 either, like most of those who watched it, and up until today I hadn’t realized the actual reason.

They didn’t show us Pran and Tian’s conversation. 

That’s it. That single conversation, that single moment that happened off screen could have changed the way the episode (and specifically the last PatPran scene) has been percieved by the fandom and could have made PatPran’s emotions and intentions way more explicit—especially Pran’s, who’s been unfairly criticized after the episode aired.

Pran told Phupha he feels insecure, like he’s not good enough, and the way Pat is always ready to put Pran’s needs and wishes first makes him feel like maybe he doesn’t deserve Pat at all, like maybe Pat would be better off without him—and that’s why he needs to prove himself, because the idea of needing Pat to the point that he can’t live without him, to the point that he ends up relying on him, is terrifying. 

Tian’s words are what makes him feel better about this whole thing! Hearing that Pat actually feels the same way and doesn’t feel like Pran is a burden to him at all is all he needs to know to lighten up and put this matter aside, at least for now. It doesn’t mean it suddenly becomes easy for him to deal with this whole thing, it doesn’t mean he accepts it in the blink of an eye—hence the need to look away when he tells Pat he also can’t possibly live without him; he wants to tell him, he wants him to know, but he’s still uncomfortable with the idea, despite now being ready to admit it out loud. And I think there is really nothing wrong with that: what we got in these episodes is just a missing moment in their story, something that showed us how their relationship developed after their honeymoon, including the insecurities and hardships that come with a long-term commitment between two people who are very different (one whose love language is to help those he cares about, and one whose love language is to let those he cares about help him; that means it’s not natural for Pat to be the one who needs help from others, to be in a position that’s not that of the hero/supporter, and it means it’s not easy for Pran to feel like he needs somebody’s help/to be supported). 

Watching Pran listen to Tian telling him about his conversation with Pat would have made this internal conflict way more clear, especially the bit where he asks Pat to be the one to say it first; it’s not just a matter of pride or validation—Pat being ready to look vulnerable in front of him first is something he needs to show the same level of vulnerability—: Pran is letting Pat say those words out loud because he knows Pat wants (needs) to; Tian told him Pat said ‘I just can’t admit to myself I can’t live without him’, and Pran wants to give him space to do so, reassuring him that it’s okay if he does. Pran’s problem was never with Pat needing him, but Pat’s problem was always about wanting Pran to need him, with needing Pran to need him; that’s why he feels insecure witnessing how hard Pran tries to prove his point for which he doesn’t need Pat’s help at all, and that’s why he’s happy and content after hearing those few words from Pran’s mouth (Neither can I) and being allowed to say them in the first place (I can’t live without you). I think many of those who were disappointed with this interaction were probably expecting something different from what the characters themselves wanted and needed. 

So, while showing us Pran and Tian’s convo was not necessarily inevitable, it would have been a great addiction to the narrative (and Nanon would have acted the hell out of it! It would have made Pran’s relief and realization so obvious that nobody would have had the guts to badmouth my little boy).

#bad buddy #bad buddy the series #bad buddy series #our skyy 2 #our skyy x bad buddy #bad buddy x a tale of thousand stars #bbts x atots #bad buddy x atots #patpran #pat x pran #pran x pat #phat x pran #bad buddy analysis #gia talks about bad buddy

[akkpipitphattana]

literally cannot get over the line “but i care about you more” being used for both inkpa and patpran. like. just. the jindapat siblings growing up under such scrutiny from ming and leading to them having low self worth (pat by way of constantly trying to please his father and pa having very obvious issues with her body image) but finding these people that love them so much. ink and pran have both had eyes for them since HIGH SCHOOL!! they’ve loved them for so long, unconditionally and it’s just. GOD. it’s what they both deserve

#the jindapat siblings and pranink my fucking beloveds #bad buddy #magic of zero #patpran #inkpa #jindapat siblings #my analysis #mine

[bonefall]

I haven’t read the first arc in forever but if anyone else was a jerk to their best friend, ditched their clan, then ditched that clan and came back, killed someone, and didn’t even train their apprentice at all, that sounds like a horrible warrior and villain right?

But Graystripe is excused because Graystripe.

Also I swear Graystripe wanting to become a father came out of nowhere for me. Like yes, the treatment of half clan kits sucks, but Graystripe was well aware that there would be consequences if he fathered half clan kits, so he’s already ignoring that responsibility. And then he just goes into father mode and wants to be with them? And then he just leaves 💀Bro is a menace

I think the fact that Graystripe kills Clawface is super interesting, because Fireheart let him go to be a good warrior... and then Clawface attacks AGAIN, proving he will continue to be a problem until he's put down.

I think that's actually a really interesting vibe, that Fireheart WILL hold himself back for honor's sake. But Graystripe? Nah, one chance is enough, threaten Fireheart and Gray's gonna snap your neck LMAO

He is absolutely a menace, but I think that moment where Silverstream tells Fireheart she's pregnant is one of the scenes that makes me really like Gray in spite of it. She snaps, saying that is loving Graystripe is against the code, then it's the CODE that's wrong... and in this instance I think she's totally right!

The way that Graystripe breaks the code is exactly why I like him. For his own benefit; but he doesn't cross the line to put the people he loves in danger, you know? That's why he couldn't stay loyal to RiverClan... it came down to choosing.

Choose. Savage the clan of your best friend, or be banished from your children.

And more than just entering father mode, the death of Silverstream is so, so traumatic. It's sudden, it's bloody, it's violent. Cinderpelt AND Graystripe both walk away from it absolutely shaken.

Everyone forgets that Bluestar was ready to go to actual war with RiverClan over keeping the kits, at a point where RiverClan was their ONLY ally (Wind and Shadow had both united to try and kill blinded Brokentail)... and Graystripe is the one who begs for it to stop.

Bringing his kits to the Clan that demands them, but also, he can't bare to leave his children. Not after watching Silverstream die for them.

I just find him and his choices very interesting. I wouldn't have him any other way; my biggest problem is that the writers refuse to let other characters see him for the complicated, self-centered person that he is, you know?

#I don't always see being self-centered as a bad trait; it's more of a WAY of making decisions #If that makes sense #Some people make choices based on others and some people make choices based on themselves #And everything Graystripe does is based on what he's feeling and what he thinks is correct #I don't think that ALWAYS makes him an awful person... but it DOES make him self-centered. #He doesn't really make sacrifices #My buddy Jace said something in a reblog pointing out that Graystripe wouldn't see himself as wrong and I agree totally #Graystripe always follows his heart for better or for worse #AND LIKE... I think that is exactly the kind of mindset he can unironically HELP Squilf with #Because Squilf only ever does things for others even if it hurts her #Even if it hurts a lot of people #But that exchange in ALITM where she feels like she NEEDS to go into the DF to confront Ashfur #the part where Graystripe comes in and tells her to not give Ashfur what he wants #I think it was a strong moment that could be EVEN STRONGER if Graystripe was there to walk her through making a choice FOR HERSELF for once #Graystripe is a menace but he's MY menace #warrior cats analysis #graystripe

[youtreatmelikeaman]

actually for the first 3 episodes of bad buddy you’d think pat is the having an unrequited love. he’s the on always coming back to pran.

like, he’s the one coming back to the room like when they were kids, he’s the one trying to text pran out of the « let’s tell each other where we are » deal, he’s the one looking hurt each and every time pran tries to cut the conversation AND he’s the one always always trying to compromise to keep the discussion flow going because he’s scared to lose pran again.

and pran looks very detached ! if he does always enter the game and we can see he is not unaffected when they are on very close proximity (in the alley way and on the tickle fight on the bed) but he always cuts the moment short and more often than not he is the one backing away

but then… but then this tells you everything in a second

because for the first time we can see how much pran yearns

pat is just being cocky like he always is (and enjoying being close to pran but he doesn’t know that) but pran…..

Pran knows. pran knows he has to enjoy the moment, he doesn’t actually want to back away.

it’s such a sad sad look

it’s the face of a man who doesn’t understand where all of this is going.

And this is where us, the audience go oh… oh.

#bad buddy the series #bad buddy series #bad buddy #pat x pran #pran x pat #patpran #pranpat #lil analysis #yes im rewatching bad buddy for the nth time #nanon korapat #ohm pawat

[gennianydots]

Sooo, I was doing my daily rewatch of Bad Buddy Episode 5 part 4/4, you know, how it be sometimes and it really got me this time for whatever reason. I was reminded of a convo I had with Abby aka @abstractelysium where she mentioned this meta and I can’t let it go. Also I have bad buddy brain rot now until forever because it’s my favorite show but hold onto your hats while I ramble.

My thoughts: *the kiss*

For Pat, the kiss is a relief, the best thing. Pat sees this boy he grew up with and is slowly falling for and he gets to kiss him like he wants to and it’s confirmation of his feelings being returned. It’s the best thing! It’s a “My crush likes me back!” happy dance, the whole lovey-dovey she-bang. It’s a thank god we finally got to kiss, I understand our tension better now, I want to be not just friends but more than friends. Pat doesn’t even think about his parents expectations when he is kissing Pran, in that moment, he’s just a boy who likes another boy. We can see this when he smiles after they stop kissing.

For Pran, the kiss is the worst, the worst possible thing that could happen to him. Yes, it’s confirmation that he still loves Pat, that this horrible crush he just cannot get over is still persistent and alive. It’s confirmation that whatever he has been holding inside (his love for Pat) is now so much harder to deal with because of their parents expectations, their faculty’s fighting at school, and now, Pat seemingly returning Pran’s feelings! For Pran, it’s the end of the world. Pat just had to go and catch feelings and make Pran’s life that much harder. But! Despite all those things, Pran lets himself enjoy the kiss and even kiss back. Why? Because, for a few seconds, he lets himself be just a boy who likes another boy. That’s why Pran kisses Pat the second time. Then, through the tears, through the anguish, and the one happy moment he lets himself have, Pran has to go. In my head, Pran has had a crush on Pat for forever and has always thought of his crush as a nuisance. What’s more is that he’s been heartbroken his whole life, because he thinks he and Pat simply cannot be together. Their parents hate each other so they need to hate each other, too, right? So Pran remembers, oh yeah, this cannot happen. A relationship like that cannot happen. It’s easier to go back to being heartbroken all over again, forgetting that it ever happened, it’s easier to ignore his feelings like he has for his whole life.

It’s like Cinderella holding on to her special night with the Prince thinking she’s never going to see him again, but because she got this magical moment she can hold onto, maybe just maybe that evening is enough to carry her through her worst days. But as we know, the Prince doesn’t forget about it and similarly, Pat doesn’t let Pran forget, he downright refuses to not annoy Pran about what transpired on the rooftop.

👨🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏾 🌃 I love these boys so much. I love Ohm and Nanon’s acting so much. Part of me wishes I had been here when it was airing but oh by gosh by golly I sure am glad I’m here now. 💜💙

#bad buddy meta #bad buddy brain rot #bad buddy episode 5 #bad buddy the series #bad buddy series #bad buddy bl #bad buddy best series #bad buddy #patpran #thai bl #gmmtv #nanon korapat #ohm pawat #ohmnanon #acting analysis #character analysis #does this make sense? #I sure hope so #sorry about the long post #thanks for listening #I have many thoughts #I just had to put this one out there #i just really love this show #it’s a BL masterpiece #look at all my bad buddy tags #I’m such a dork #user: abstractelysium #thank you Abby for this meta #it haunts me forever