ranchthoughts

[ranchthoughts]

[ranchthoughts]

Milk & Choco

CHOCO MILK SHAKE (2022)

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WE BEST LOVE: NO.1 FOR YOU (2021) dir. ray jiang

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Go. Before my mom is back. I can’t. My leg gets stuck. Just go.

BAD BUDDY | EP12

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Pick your fighter

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Dichotomy time if you were depicted in a red/blue characters dynamic

No other colors you are getting SHOEHORNED into these boxes

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Oh, by the way, we've hit 300+ items which I've documented on the thai communal wardrobe list.

Sweet Tooth Good Dentist ep 3 tipped us over and there are actually currently 302 items of shared clothing that I have spotted in various thai (and taiwanese) ql series. So far.

302.

And counting.

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#loved us role playing in the comments airenyah 😂 #and then the follow through to the role playing... incredible stuff

^^^^us roleplaying as if i hadn't made that gifset days in advance already after we talked about it in our dms 🤭🤭🤭 definitely one of my highlights from that day

I can tell you trained in acting 😤😌😂😂😂

[ranchthoughts]

thinking thoughts about Wai, Pa, and the themes of Bad Buddy

I think one of the things that really gets me about waipa is how perfectly it encapsulates the themes of Bad Buddy. I picked a couple of the main ones that stand out to me, because otherwise I would be rambling for far too long:

Photography

In her great meta on photography in Aof shows, @chickenstrangers points out the prevalence of photography/photographers all of Aof's shows and the themes of visibility and invisibility they explore. Characters like Pat and Pran, Pete and Kao, Heart and Li Ming, among others, are seen for who they truly are (and for the love they have for each other) through the lens of a camera wielded by someone they care for and trust.

We see this same theme in Wai and Pa - Wai offers to be Pa's model and she takes photos of him, and Pa sees Wai for who he really is (and Wai doesn't hesitate to show Pa his true self: the soft, smiley side of him). In fact, it's also during the scene where Pa takes Wai's photo that their feelings for each other become visible - they experience each of Pa's Patented Four Ways to tell if someone likes you (see @airenyah's beautiful edit here). Pa and Wai see each other clearly and become aware of their own feelings for the other all through a moment of photography.

Rivalries and Healing

The premise of Bad Buddy rests on the familial feud between Pran's family and Pat's family, which echoes the stories of Romeo and Juliet (from Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet) and Kwam and Riam (from the Thai book Plae Kao). Many people have written at length about these stories and how they have been woven into Bad Buddy (see @chickenstrangers excellent meta on tragedies and queer futurities, for example).

We see these same themes of rivalries tearing people apart in Wai and Pa's relationship too. Wai wants to pursue Pa but when he learns she is the little sister of Pat, Wai's enemy, he gives up on his dreams of a relationship with her because he knows Pat will never accept them as a couple. The rivalry between the architecture and the engineering students (which predates Wai and his friends) keeps Wai and Pa apart, just like the long-standing rivalries between Pat and Pran, Romeo and Juliet, and Kwam and Riam's families keep them apart. Wai and Pa's relationship is only possible if their friend groups can heal and move past their destructive rivalry.

Bittersweet Endings

I've written about the bittersweet ending of Bad Buddy (and another Aof show, He's Coming to Me) before. This is another theme Aof likes to explore: endings that are melancholic, that are not neatly solved, that feel more true to life than perhaps an easy happy ending would be. The family feud between Pat and Pran's families is not resolved at the end of Bad Buddy, just as the relationship between Wai and Pa is not resolved either. Some hurts are too large to get over quickly or completely.

Over the course of Bad Buddy, especially after Wai meets Pa in episode 7, Wai works to dispel his animosity with Pat and the others in the engineering squad (e.g., providing the proof that cleared Pat of his gun possession charges, welcoming Pat into the architecture fold, hanging out with Pat and Korn). However, despite all the changes he's made and the growth he has exhibited, by the end of the show Pa doesn't feel ready to accept his change of heart. Wai might have made some atonement for his actions but he was still so antagonistic to Pat and Pat's friends (and honestly, often not a good friend to Pran either, though I don't know how much of that Pa would have known). Pa needs some time to learn to trust the changes he's made, the work he's put in, before her head will let her heart love freely like it wants to.

We don't get the resolution we wanted during the show's run: Wai and Pa are not officially together. Aof is so good at leaning into those bittersweet endings - the family feud between Pat's dad and Pran's mom persists at the end of Bad Buddy though we see some improvements and softening, Wai and Pa are not together at the end of Bad Buddy despite the character development he's had, we don't know how long Med is going to be able to stick around in HCTM, Li Ming, Jim and Jam have made great strides in their relationships but there is still more healing to do, etc. @waitmyturtles writes here about the prevalence of suffering in Asian narratives and cautions against a Western instinct to "close loops" at the end of a show. She argues that Asian filmmakers do not feel the same pressure to resolve "emotionally questionable loose ends," which further reflects and deepens other themes like intergenerational trauma present in shows like Bad Buddy (also explored in this meta by @waitmyturtles). Intergenerational trauma is not quickly and easily solved but continues to resonate and complicate the lives of those coming after, like their parents' feud affects Pat and Pran or the enduring architecture and engineering faculties' feud at their university affects Wai and Pa.

I know Wai and Pa are a side couple and sometimes you don't get resolution with side couples or characters, but the open ended-ness of their relationship felt intentional, like purposefully representation of that recurring Aof and Asian theme of intergenerational trauma, of learning to heal, of the complexities of life.

[ranchthoughts]

Oh good it was an April fools prank. I was so terrified like... When did this happen??? How have I missed such a monumental shift??? did the straights somehow do some brainwashing???? I actually deleted an anti wai tag from a gifset bc I didn't want to be insensitive if you were actively wai positive 😭😭😭😭😭 the relief just now. Palpable. 🧡🧡🧡

omg dfjkjdkfkjdfkfd

i thought it was obvious that it was just a prank considering the date and also like, WHO in their right minds would actually ship w*ipa???? dfjkjkfdskj

but yeah, @ranchthoughts and i came up with this idea a week before april fool's and so we rushed to make a whole bunch of posts. @ranchthoughts collected them all in this masterpost, if you feel like going through them again and looking at all of our creations through the lense of your newfound knowledge. i especially recommend taking a look at the meta, it's excellently bullshitted and made me laugh so much (i read it all to my mother earlier today and we were both crying from laughter)

also, how sweet of you to delete the anti-wai tag just in case 🥺🥺🥺 however, had you kept it i'm sure it would have made me giggle a lot 🤭🤭🤭 which reminds me, this:

#vaippa means diaper in finnish and i think that's beautiful for them 🧡

is a tag that @isaksbestpillow left on the favorite waipa moment poll and it made me laugh so much when i saw it (i too think that's beautiful for them!!!!)

also here's a little peak behind the scenes: the following is a message i sent to @ranchthoughts after calling wai my "son" in the tags of a gifset

[ranchthoughts]

rewatching the waipa scenes and just thinking about how blurry the camera work is through their first meeting...

In the shot where Wai first sees Pa, the camera is unfocused, like it has been shaken around with the force of them bumping into each other. Wai himself has also been emotionally thrown off balance - he was ready to fight (he's always ready to fight) but now that he's seen her, all that fight suddenly drains away.

He's been physically up-ended, emotionally shaken, and his world has been rocked too. Now that Pa is in his life, Wai has a new priority and one that prompts a change in how he comports himself.

In contrast, look at the first shot of Pa we get during this scene:

Look how crisp and steady the camerawork is for this shot in comparison to the shots of Wai. Pa doesn't change much over the course of the show, except to blossom further into the confident young woman she is. This camera choice also emphasizes how for Wai, Pa is a moment of clarity and stillness. His world has shifted and now he has a new focus which calms him down and mellows him out.

This scene in episode 7 marks the beginning of a change in Wai that continues for the rest of the show. So far we've seen Wai angry and spoiling for a fight, but now he has something else that catches his attention, something that brings out his soft side. We start to see more and more of that soft Wai as the show goes on: he gushes over Pa, he helps Pat with his gun possession case, he welcomes Pat into the faculty and helps organize the public claiming on the stairs, he becomes part of the Pat/Pran/Korn friend group, etc. This all culminates in episode 10, where his feelings and esteem for Pa prompt him to do the single most respectful thing we've ever seen him do.

[ranchthoughts]

When Pa isn't sure if she should take a photo of Wai when he offers (she's worried about betraying her brother - I love Pat and Pa's bond), Ink says it's a good idea and encourages Pa to go over and "set up the model" which gives Wai and Pa an excuse to touch...

I think Ink is a Waipa shipper 👀

[ranchthoughts]

the way pa smiles at wai and the way her face falls when he says he has to go. she's so disappointed that he's leaving 🥺🥺🥺

thank you @ranchthoughts for pointing this moment out, i can't believe i never noticed that in my 23x of watching bad buddy

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look how Pa's face falls when Wai says he's leaving now... she wants him to stay but she doesn't know how to say it

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Your superserious new header and blog description made me do a spit-take bwahahahahah

glad you like it ❤️💚

[ranchthoughts]

something for the OTP!! my video software justttt managed to export this in time. really wanted this out today since this fine first of april has become such a day of waipa appreciation. thank you @ranchthoughts and @airenyah for helping me discover the beauty of this ship, now i really can't get enough!! feeling the feels

[ranchthoughts]

favourite waipa shots 💚❤️