In a slightly surprising twist of events, despite not even being halfway through the season yet, the male leads of Bad Buddy have finally kissed!
But the fallout of the situation leads to one of the boys not speaking with the other as they try to come to terms with their feelings in the subsequent episode.
While many BL dramas will often leave the main couple finally holding hands, kissing, or ending up together until the last or second-to-last episode of the series, Bad Buddy has broken the mold. A confused and questioning Pat and Pran end up kissing on the rooftop of their dormitory building, only leading to even further confusion between the pair.
Read on below as we recap the fifth and sixth episodes of Bad Buddy, chronicling how the main couple end up in the situation they do.
*The publication of this article was unfortunately delayed due to unforeseen personal circumstances with the author. We would like to apologize for this delay.
Ford Carter watches Bad Buddy on YouTube
Bad Buddy Episode 5 and 6 Recaps
“I hope you aren’t so cruel as to make me wait outside.”
The fifth episode of Bad Buddy picks up the day after the fourth episode finishes. Pat wakes up in Pran’s bedroom and can smell a fire. But when he comes out into the kitchen, Pran is just making himself some breakfast. Although Pran asks him to wait outside his own room for his sister to arrive with his spare key, Pat jokingly refuses. Pran then tells him that in order to stay, he can clean up the dishes.
At school, Pran requires a thumb drive with his song for the singing contest on it. He asks Pat to bring it to him, and to take the back hallways so he isn’t caught, as Pran is currently in the architecture faculty building. Pat finds pictures of the two from high school and reminisces.
When he brings the thumb drive to school, Pat is followed by Wai and his friends, before Pran skillfully pulls him to one side. Pran questions why Pat is still wearing his shirt, before the pair start overdramatically sniffing one another. They are caught by Ink, who questions why they are acting so friendly, especially seeing as they are supposed to be acting as though they don’t know one another.
A frustrated but shy and jealous Pran walks away. Meanwhile, Ink asks Pat out to dinner. While eating at the noodle food truck, Ink asks for her noodles the same way that Pran has his, with three wontons.
“Should we move on to the next one?”
At his parent’s house, Pat looks at the bracelet Ink gave him. The smile on his face clues his sister Pa in that he has feelings for a girl. As his sister, Pa claims to know how stupid Pat is when it comes to girls. She gives him the advice to never date a friend. Unless that friend is Ink, as Pa likes her already as a friend.
Pa advises Pat to take Ink on a date and gives him the advice to find out whether Ink really likes him. The advice doesn’t go to plan, unfortunately, with many of Pa’s tricks failing to work. More of these connections seem to work between Pa and Ink rather than with Pat.
At the music store, Pat arrives to pick up some drumsticks he ordered. When his hand collides with Pran’s – who is browsing a guitar – he feels the connection Pa talked about that he should have with Ink. The same happens when their eyes connect. And Pat feels jealousy he didn’t realize he had within him when Pran talks to another friend on his phone.
Pat realizes that he might just have feelings for Pran, and leaves the store.
“Has he ever spent the night here?”
Back at his apartment, Pran notices a note that Pat left for him, promising to buy another moisturizer. Pran then thinks back on seeing Pat with Ink, noticing his own jealousy and feelings for his friend.
While practicing on his guitar, Pran receives a knock on the door from Pat. Pat has claimed that he has come over to search for earphones he lent to Pran. Instead, he is looking for more clues as to whether he really does have feelings for Pran.
As Pran answers the phone to Wai who is calling, Pat becomes increasingly frustrated and jealous, noting that Pran and Wai are very close, as Wai is going over to Pran’s parents’ place for dinner.
Pat asks Pran if Wai has ever spent the night at his dorm room, to which Pran recognizes that he has, having slept in the same place Pat did the other night. An incredibly jealous and despondent Pat walks out, telling Pran to keep the earphones.
“Sometimes, I’m insecure and hesitant to approach . . .”
Back in his own dorm, Pat has a flashback to a time when he and Pran were friends at school. They were trying to find a song to sing at the school show at the time, where they talk about a song where the main couple is lovers but rivals, in a similar situation to their own. As they discuss the feelings that come with love, they start to write a song. The flashback shows that the crush that has been developing between them has occurred for some time.
Pa comes into Pat’s room, disrupting him from his daydream about Pran. She continues to talk about Ink, but Pat simply can’t take his mind off of Pran. Pa then questions whether Pat likes someone else, but Pat can’t bring himself to tell her.
Pat and Pran bump into each other in the music room once again as they hand in their song lists for their respective faculties. As they start up their conversation, Wai makes his way over, asking if everything is okay. Pat says everything is fine, and they walk off together.
“Are we just friends or are we more?”
In the main foyer of the university, as part of the music festival, Pran sings the song from their Christmas show back in high school. His eyes seemingly can’t be ripped from Pat during the performance. Throughout the performance, Pat is reminded of the terrible experience that came from the last time Pran performed this song.
He becomes emotional and has to leave during the performance, but not before he sees Wai performing a guitar solo while also looking into Pran’s eyes, which makes him hurt even more.
After the show, Pat admits his feelings to Ink, saying he has liked her ever since high school. Ink says that it doesn’t feel like a love confession at all. But that it instead sounds like Pat trying to get something off his chest. She sees right through it. Ink admits that even if it had been a real confession, she would have said no, and that she can’t really afford to lose Pat as a friend.
Ink tries to get Pat to tell her what he’s feeling. Despite his refusal, she tells him just to tell her when he’s ready. Pat simply nods.
As Moi Band of the architecture faculty is announced as the winners of the singing competition, Pat feels a deep rage within him when he sees Pran celebrating with Wai. And when the architecture and engineering students bump into each other at the bar Wai works at, Pat’s rage still has not subsided.
“I’ve had enough for today.”
Wai condescendingly offers Pat, Korn, and the engineering students a table hidden in the corner, hoping to stir up a fight. But a despondent Pat stops Korn from engaging. The group goes off to find somewhere else to eat.
At a carpark, an intoxicated and depressed Pat looks at his phone at Pran’s updates. Just then, Wai arrives on his motorbike, dropping off Pran. Pat asks Pran to come over, and Pran tells Wai to stay back. Pran, putting on a show for his friend who doesn’t know about their secret relationship, acts cocky towards Pat.
Pran is put in an awkward situation. Pat threatens to tell Wai about their friendship, and Wai tries to cause a scene. Pran, frustrated and angry, tells Pat to pull himself together, and tries to get him to stop telling Wai his secret.
Wai lands a punch on Pat, immediately followed by Pat laying a punch on Wai. Pran, stuck in the middle, tells the both of them to stop it. He tells Wai to go, and states that there is nothing going on he needs to worry about. Pat, laying on the floor, looks up at Pran as he walks away. In his bag, he remembers the rose moisturizer he was going to give back to Pran for borrowing his.
“Pat, you’ve got to stop doing this to me. We are not a thing. We are not even friends.”
In the shower, Pat, still feeling down, can only think of Pran. He knocks on his neighbor’s door, and even tries to call him, but to no avail. He then decides to make his way up to the roof, hoping to be alone for a moment, when he sees Pran standing there. As Pran goes to leave, however, Pat stops him.
After asking why Pran sang their song, Pran states that it is his song to use as he pleases, and questions whether that made Pat angry. Pat says that the song is not insignificant to him, and that he hates to see Pran play it with someone else.
When Pran mentions that they aren’t an item, and aren’t even friends, Pat begins a spiel, explaining how he has always been compared to the boy next door, and that when Pran was not around, he felt a sense of relief, but also a sense of loneliness. If they aren’t enemies, Pat hopes they can be friends. Pran asks if he wants to be friends, but Pat says that he doesn’t. It isn’t enough.
The two lean in, and Pat begins to passionately kiss Pran. Pran reaches up for Pat’s neck, and kisses him back as the lights of the city skyline light their backdrop. When they stop, they make eye contact. Pat smiles. However, Pran begins to tear up.
Eyes filled with tears, Pran walks away, as Pran looks on.
“What’s wrong? You can just talk to me.”
As the sixth episode of Bad Buddy begins, Pran lays in bed, hand on his lips, uncertain of his feelings. Pat knocks on his door, hoping to get his attention, but Pran does nothing but stares at the ceiling.
The next day, at the grand opening of the bus stop, Pat and Pran struggle to look at each other. When Pat tries to talk to Pran after the photoshoot, Pran doesn’t speak back, asking what there is to talk about. As Pat’s father arrives, Pran walks away.
Pran drops his guitar off at Wai’s place. He claims he can’t keep it close. Wai takes this to mean that Pran will get in trouble if his mother finds out he still plays.
Back at his parents’ place, Pat notices Pran next door. He goes over to the window, where Pran looks back at him, but walks away. Pat becomes angry that Pran refuses to speak to him.
Pat walks over next door to speak to Pran’s mother. However, the families are not on speaking terms. Pran’s mother rudely asks what Pat has come over for, and Pat says he wishes to speak to Pran. In no uncertain terms, Pran’s mother tells him he isn’t welcome. Pat’s father comes over to find out what is going on.
Pat informs the parents that he is just there to drop off some paperwork for Pran, but Pran’s mother refuses even to take it, telling him that he should instead just inform his university professor that Pran will pick up the paperwork later. Pran’s father comes in to diffuse the situation, and offers to take the paperwork to give to Pran.
Pat, now back at his house, is interrupted by Pa, who asks what’s going on. She figures that Pat’s solemn mood regards Pran, but instead that it is the fact that both boys like Ink. Pat madly stomps away.
“You’re not the only one feeling uncomfortable.”
Pat, desperate to speak with Pran about their kiss from the previous episode, makes his way onto an architecture faculty field trip. When Wai, who is sitting next to Pran, gets up for a bottle of water, Pat takes his seat and attempts to make Pran speak with him. The attempt doesn’t work, however. And when Wai comes back, Pat is forced to take his old seat back.
The architecture trip, it turns out, is to a green village. The zero-waste community is to teach architecture students about planning for the future. Pat tries multiple times to get Pran to speak with him, but to no avail. However, things turn out in Pat’s favor, as a pair’s competition sees the two forced together.
After staring into each other’s eyes while standing on a piece of paper, the pair fall over, with Pat falling on top of Pran. Wai goes over to make sure Pran is okay, and the two walk away.
Later that night, Pran and Pat meet on the beach to talk. Pat aks what is running through Pran’s mind. Pran asks Pat to just leave him alone, as there are many thoughts he has. Pat isn’t the only one feeling confused. Pran leaves Pat on the beach.
“I should. But then I tried to think it through. You were put in the same situation too. That’s why I couldn’t force myself to hate you.”
Pat, searching for Pran, finds himself in the back of a ute on a trip to the market. He speaks to Junior, an assistant on the camp in the fourth grade, about friendships. He asks about what he would do if he had a friend who wasn’t speaking to him. Junior’s answer is that he would simply end that friendship – not the answer Pat was looking for. Junior asks Pran what he would do, but Pran says that all of his friends are the talkative type.
At the market, Pat’s insistence gets Pran to start speaking with him, and the two become playfully friendly once more. Together, they buy food at the market, help to push the ute when it stops working, and splash each other at the beach.
Pat tries to bring it up the other night, but Pran is uncomfortable bringing it up. Pran asks if Pat hates him, and Pat assures him he used to think the same thing. They talk about how their lives have always been tougher when compared to one another.
Pran admits that when he was transferred because of Pat, he hated both him and his own mother. Pat apologizes. Pran admits that it was just anger, and not hatred. When alone, Pat feels as though he can sit next to Pran comfortably, but when other people are around it feels like a matter of life and death.
Pat thanks Pran once again for saving a drowning Pa, and asks if he would do the same if he were to drown. He jokingly pretends to do so, and Pran laughs.
“You guys are beating up Pat, aren’t you?”
Pat and Pran get back to the house they are staying at in the village, Pat fills Tong’s printer with ink, and prints out a photo he took of Pran sleeping.
That evening, in another pairing-up challenge, Pat is paired with Wai. The two obviously thoroughly dislike each other. When Pat tries to speak with Pran in the food line, Wai comes over to stop him. The other architecture students all look at Pat with a look of disdain, and Wai comments that he might do something to Pat.
Four of the architecture students, including Wai, stand up partway through dinner, commenting that they are going to rest, but Pran comments that three of them are not even in the same house as Wai. He recognizes that they are going to beat up Pat, and questions them about it.
“You don’t need to understand. Because I don’t want you to understand me either.”
Pran tries to stop his fellow architecture students from beating up Pat. The other students, however, question Pran’s loyalty. In order to stop them from beating up Pat, Pran lies and tells them that the reason he has been feeling down throughout this trip is that his first love is now in a relationship. Getting his fellow classmates intoxicated, and that now he has “confessed” to them, they must stay with him tonight.
On the beach that night, Pat and Pran run into each other once more. When Pran goes to walk away, Pat grabs his arm. The two sit down on the beach near a boat. Pran doesn’t allow Pat to talk about the kiss, and so Pat gets around this by writing it as a question in the sand.
Pat admits that he doesn’t like Ink the way he originally thought he did. The two begin to joke around about who likes who, both attempting to deny it to the other. They make a deal that whoever falls in love with the other first loses.
Bad Buddy Episodes 5 & 6 Musings
These are two of the best episodes of the series so far. Rather than playing the long game, as so many BL dramas are wont to do, Bad Buddy shakes it up by bringing the main couple together earlier than expected for a BL of its style and timeslot.
Of course, many of the tropes BL fans have come to expect are still there. Pat and Pran aren’t exactly together yet, but their feelings for each other are well-known, both to the audience and to each other. Becoming an official couple, though? Likely to still be a few more episodes.
The story also does incredibly well to portray the depth of some of its background characters as well. This makes a change from many other dramas. While Pat’s friend Korn still appears to be nothing more than an empty shell of a character, Pran’s friend Wai has been developed into a character the audience can love to hate. He’s clearly in the way of Pat and Pran ending up together. He has a seriously unwarranted hatred of Pat. He keeps stealing Pran away for himself. And, in my opinion, in a way that could be reminiscent of TharnType, he could also be trying to keep Pran as his own for his own relationship benefits, attempting to ruin any other chance he might have.
Of course, those are nothing more than my thoughts on the matter, but I could see it happening. These sorts of friends have existed in BL dramas before, and will continue to do so into the future.
What about the future of the drama?
In the preliminary clips for the seventh episode of Bad Buddy, it appears Pat and Pran’s bet to make the other fall in love first is well underway. There are several moments with them being playful and friendly.
There’s a good chance of this couple becoming a thing sooner than I would think. But Wai also appears in some of these clips, so it acts as a reminder that there is someone there attempting to sabotage the entire situation.
But to find out what happens next, we’ll just have to watch.
The author would like to once again apologise for the delay in the publication of this article to both the editorial team and the readers.
Photos: Screencap from GMMTV YouTube channel
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