Bad Buddy's episodic structure
Originally posted as a comment on Reddit, January 2022.
To me, one of the most striking things about Bad Buddy is how the story very strictly follows this certain episodic structure. Each episode will be built around one main conflict, which is always resolved at the end of the episode and never spread over multiple weeks (though the next episode's conflict might be introduced at the very end of the preceding one).
To illustrate the point, here's a breakdown of each episode's conflict:
Behind the facade, are Pat and Pran actually friendly? (Yes - they exchange contacts)
What happens when they find out they're in opposite rooms? (Pran almost moves away, but doesn't)
How will they rebuild the shelter? (Pat helps Pran with the funding and the design, gets his friends to help, and convinces the professor to retract the music competition ban)
What's with their fuss over Ink? (Pat likes Ink, which hurts Pran)
Will Pat realize his own feelings? (Yes - he and Pran then kiss)
Will Pran relent to Pat's advances? (Yes - they make it a competition)
How does their competition play out? (Pran is about to let Pat win in exchange for help with the play, but Pat helps out of his own volition instead - they become boyfriends anyway)
How will they manage being in a secret relationship? (Pran, mindful of Pat's feelings, acquiesces to greater displays of affection)
How will they reconcile with their friends? (Wai comes over after Pat gets shot fighting on his behalf)
Why do their parents hate each other so badly? (Pat's father robbed Pran's mother of a scholarship)
The conflict also mostly alternates between Pat and Pran's viewpoints (or between either being the main actor towards its resolution), so it's mainly about Pat in odd episodes, and Pran in even ones.
Director Aof mentioned early on in some Soonvijarn videos that he was quite conscious of the story's pacing, worried if the audience would find it too slow. Apparently he took to heart some of the criticism for A Tale of Thousand Stars, and the tight control of the pacing in Bad Buddy seems to be a very deliberate response to this.
And it works well. Thanks to this structure, every episode is enjoyable, satisfying and very rewatchable, even with the ebbs and flows in intensity throughout the overarching story. Without any actual cliffhangers (except maybe at the end of episode 8 - Wai being the one seeing Pran getting into Pat's car is pretty much the only mystery in the series apart from the origin of the feud, which was hinted at in episode 6), the audience is hardly ever left frustrated when an episode ends. Even the brief wandering into lakorn-style storytelling with the gun and police thing in episode 9 was very limited as a result. It's a very effective formula indeed.
But then it has me wondering... does that make the writing formulaic? And even if so, would that be a bad thing? As the viewer, I don't really notice this episodic structure when watching, and it helps me enjoy the show. But take a step back to think and it's very clearly there. Why don't I notice this with other stories? Don't they use it? Or is there a way to conceal it better, make it appear more natural? Maybe it's a common thing, but I only just noticed because the reaction videos touched on it?
