Bad Buddy: Watch Diary, Episode 9

I got quite mixed feelings about this newest episode. It's not all bad, but it definitely didn't go into the direction I was ecpecting or hoping for.

Touching Queer Topics Appropriately

I was quite surprised to see Pat and Pran discuss their sexual orientations. During the first few episodes I sensed that a coming-out plot was coming. Then it seemed that they wouldn't touch on that topic at all and  treat their sexuality as something that is just the way it is. But in this episode, we suddenly hear Pat's story about how he slowly realized that he also likes men. And this is really something special. Pat doesn't say he likes Pran in particular (though obviously he likes him too). He likes men. Or rather he likes "all genders." If we want to put a label on him, pansexuality seems to be the one.

So many BL stories feature the infamous line "I don't like men, I like …" meaning that the character's attraction to that one particular man they like is something out of the ordinary. They want to tell a gay romance story, but don't want to include any gay characters. Their characters are straight and "normal" except for each other. It's a strange brand of queer erasure. Gay people are even absent from their own romance stories. Bad Buddy deliberately calls out that trope. During a joint dinner, Pa says word for word that she already feared that Pat would say that line.

Pran's dialogue "maybe someday I'll like girls too" suggests that he has always been gay, but that at the same time he doesn't consider his sexual orientation as something fixed. 

Meanwhile the ship between Pa and Ink seems to actually sail. In previous episodes they were friendly with each other, but if there was more than that was pure speculation. In this episode, there's some actual flirting going on that can't be explained away. Ink indirectly asks "who's your type?" and Pa goes down a step on the flight of stairs before answering "anybody taller than me." Those are deliberate actions. They are definitely flirting.

Pa also seems to be in a phase of self-discovery after her big brother just came out to her. She finds these changes strange, but not in a bad way. The bigger surprise seems to be that Pat and Pran found each other rather than that they like men in the first place.

Some Reframing

Wai didn't just happen to see Pat and Pran. It was a bit of a plot hole that he was suddenly standing there in the sound booth when the entire reason for Pran's involvement in the play was that Wai was too busy with his role in the rugby team. But in this episode, we get a quick glimpse into Wai's perspective. He was suspicious already. Pran was always so eager to defend Pat and acted too friendly with him over all. Wai was there because he wanted to see what Pran was up to. Then he heard Pran and Pat talk with each other behind the curtain (apparently, someone's mic was on) and that's when a whole lot of emotions rushed up in him. And then he dropped the curtain himself. Deliberately. (I totally overlooked that the curtain falling was a plot hole too. It definitely required a proper explanation and we got one.)

On the one hand, Wai is a huge dick for this. Outing someone like that is not okay. And it's a bit disappointing to see that Wai doesn't really suffer the appropriate consequences. Nobody calls him out, he doesn't have to change. One might even get the impression that outing your friend like that is alright and not a big deal.

On the other hand the series also makes Wai's motivation relatable. There were definitely moments when Pran was too secretive with him. Plenty of moments of tension could have been resolved or at least explained if Pran trusted him. Wai wasn't entitled to the truth, but Pran's lack of trust is still a gut punch for someone he calls his best friend. Finding out that your friend has maintained a facade for months leads to estrangement. And that emotion is the driving force behind Wai's behavior in this episode.

I can understand Wai's action in the heat of the moment. It's certainly wrong, but considering his impulsive nature the rush of emotions might move him to this. Especially when you realize that Wai doesn't simply dislike Pat. He thinks that Pat is outright evil. And one of the reasons justifying that impression is that Pran refuses to give him any reasons to think otherwise. I could forgive him if he showed remorse for it. But that is a point where the series is a bit too lax. His guilt in this situation is kinda dropped.

A Refusal to Escalate

There seems to be this trend that every third episode is somehow underwhelming. In episode 3, Pat turned into the solution to Pran's every problem and it destroyed the balance in their relationship. In episode 6, Pat's response to Pran's emotional turmoil is to harass him constantly and to provoke his friends to the point that they were already about to beat him up. And now in episode 9, we find that the big reveal in the previous episode does not lead to much fallout.

It begins with a time skip. From the last rehearsal to the final performance of the play. I already explained it in my review of episode 7. A time skip should either happen to skip over a calm period when not much changes. Or it should happen after a big twist to show how much things change. But here it happens after a big twist only for things to not change that much. It's not a big skip this time, but only a couple of days I think. But that is still quite a lot of time considering that apparently, Pran and Wai managed to go through all performances of the play without any significant conversation. Only after their final performance, they discuss the matter and Wai explains that he is angry because Pran didn't trust him, not because Pran was dating Pat.

Apart from that, not much seems to have happened at all. We get a glimpse at Pran's friends (or "friends" rather) and it seems that they are avoiding him. And Pat also gets a mean comment or two by his fellow students. They call him an outsider. That is technically a consequence, but I don't get the impression that this really is the appropriate consequence after the rivalry between their faculties has been put into so much focus. In episode 1 and 2, they have four(!) fist fights emerging from the rivalry, and a few awkward looks are all that happens now in response to this huge act of "treason"? Pat offers to pretend to break up to alleviate Pran's troubles, but it falls a little flat because we don't really see those troubles in action.

Pat's friend Korn even is fully accepting of them. He basically turns into Pran's friend over night. That makes him a likable person for sure, but I'm not sure if I like how this affects his role in the story. Especially because he has been Wai's equivalent on Pat's side in the early episodes. But even he doesn't pose any troubles at all. This leaves Wai as the only center of conflict even though we were told that the conflict persists on a much larger scale.

And over the course of the episode, Wai already comes around and basically also turns into Pat's friend (or at least he is no longer his enemy) meaning there isn't even much conflict with him. It is this lack of escalation that leaves me a little underwhelmed. At the end of the episode, Pat's parents see how Pran leaves Pat's hospital room and it is supposed to be the next big step in the plot development, but I'm honestly not really hyped for it because this promise was made the previous episode already. I hope that they will tackle the theme a little better and I'm confident that something is coming. The preview for episode 10 hints at the developments that I was expecting for episode 9, so maybe I'm just too impatient.

Too Many Contrivances

The story of how Wai comes around and accepts Pat as Pran's boyfriend is honestly more than just a little underwhelming. Center piece of the conflict between Wai and Pat is a rugby match against another university. During the match, Wai first refuses to pass to Pat and loses the ball as a result. They almost begin to fight about it, but then Pat is switched out by the trainer and they calm down. Later Pat is switched in again and this time, Wai gets over himself and passes the ball and they win the game. Over the course of this single match, Wai has a change of heart already. He doesn't turn into Pat's friend (yet), but decides that their quarrel is not worth losing the rugby match for. It plays a bit into the refusal to escalate, but honestly I don't mind it so much because the message here is right. It is a matter of choice to overcome their differences, not a matter of principles. Even if Wai doesn't like Pat, he doesn't hate him enough to lose a rugby match. He got his priorities straight. Unfortunately, this rugby match spawns a bunch of plot contrivances.

The existence of the match itself just at the right time to resolve some tensions is a minor contrivance itself, but my issue is with one of the players in the opposing team. Throughout the match and afterwards, Wai has a few quarrels with that player, teasing him that he lost. Later, that same player shows up in the bar where Wai is still a waiter. He abuses Wai even worse than Pat's friends did a few episodes prior. During a confrontation with Wai in a quiet corner of the bar, he pulls a gun on him. So there's no doubt left that that character is a huge asshole and a potential threat to the lives of the other characters.

When Pat picks a fight with that guy (to do Wai a favor) he gets shot. This would harshly contradict my point about the refusal to escalate if it led to consequences, but the very next scene we see him alive and well and joking around in his hospital bed. Then the police accuses him of possession of the gun that he was shot with because his finger prints got all over it during the fight. But luckily the moment when the guy pulled his gun on Wai was caught on camera and Wai sends them the video to save Pat's ass.

And this entire development is so contrived. Instead of using previously established elements of the story, they write in a new character who didn't exist in the previous episodes and who is unlikely to be seen again in the future. This guy that Wai picks a fight with just so happens to be the worst criminal in the entire series. And when he shoots Pat, the police charge Pat—the victim of the crime—with possession of the gun that shot him. But luckily Wai just happens to have a video recording of the true culprit pulling a gun on him, so he can save Pat from jail. So many things in this episode are just so out of place. The only thing that could move Wai to overcome his differences with Pat is a series of events that have no connection to anything else in the story and doesn't make a lot of sense in itself. Pat has to pick a fight with Wai's enemy, get shot and then threatened with jail, all just to allow Wai's change of heart.

It's a really disappointing development.

(:(

There wasn't much. Nothing sprang to my eye at all. It's still there, but never really put in focus. That definitely makes me more :( than :)

Conclusion

Maybe I raised my expectations too much. Maybe I'm a little too impatient and the big payoff is still coming. But right now, I don't think that this episode is very good. It has its moments when it is not about the main conflict, but the end of episode 8 just seemed to promise something that episode 9 didn't deliver.

The thing is that on a technical side, this episode is excellent. The moment Wai flashes back to the moments when Pran lied to him is giving me goosebumps because it is executed so well. The music was always good, but in this episode it somehow was on a whole other level.

 I also notice that I barely wrote about the relationship between Pat and Pran this time, but it is just as healthy and pleasant to watch as always. It's almost infuriating. Their relationship is too healthy to analyze. There is still a lot to like about this episode and I realize that my overthinking may be killing some of the joy and the tension.

I'm gonna expect episode 10 with a little more caution, but I'm still confident that something more is coming eventually.