As I look at comment sections of Reddit sub threads recommending Bad Buddy, almost 3-4 years after it's airing, I feel like the show has reached a very overrated status.
To be clear, I think Bad Buddy was a step forward for what BL shows should get right. It had ideas related to discussions of consent, gender dynamics, as well as more progressive versions of what other BL series try doing.
We all loved "the kiss" of episode 5. This was because we've NEVER gotten a well executed, comfortable, affectionate kissing scene in BL ever and before BB it was either uncomfortable or forced or just sort of out of place.
Bad Buddy made strides in dropping a lot of the unhealthy BL series tropes(such as being very casual about SA or assignment of gender roles) and replacing them with healthy ones, and we can see this influence cascade into other series that came later.
Bad Buddy isn't necessarily a "bad show". But I think many look at is as an ideal for what more BLs should be like, without recognising the core issues with a plot like Bad Buddy and the execution around the nicer moments.
The premise of Bad Buddy is so so strange, and it's romance narrative takes place in a very weird dynamic.
Both these guys' families (and college departments?) are rivals/fighting for some reason. So they both need to sort of put on the act of disliking each other, despite being attracted to each other. And this premise would be fine if the execution wasn't so weird. Right BEFORE the ep 5 kissing scene, we get this huge drunk ramble scene that's supposed to be super tense and serious, but I just found it kind of ridiculous. Why are these boys fighting and acting so serious ? What even is the basis of this conflict?
Even after we get explanations for these conflicts in the series, nothing justifies the plethora of strange things each of these characters do or behave like, which took away from a lot of the stakes of the show. Bad Buddy gave us a really nice relationship that made full use of some really good actors but the actual narrative conflict felt so unbelievable to me that I couldn't buy into the drama or conflict that made the couple develop or seem better.
Tldr: Bad Buddy was a great show for its time. But I think criticisms and recommendations need to add the caveat that it's loved for its main character dynamics and not so much for its plot.
