#bl bracket for best kiss

[respectthepetty]

This BL Bracket for Best Kiss is the toughest because every kiss is solid and great.

But if Pat and Pran's episode 5 rooftop kiss doesn't win it all when

It started as an apology for a fight

It ended the best episode of the series which was a masterpiece from beginning to end

It had the softest "no" ever whispered on my screen

It featured the "Baseball Mom" shirt

It was really TWO kisses

And both were PERFECT!

I will be the saddest duck on your dash.

Don't break Pat's heart again.

[neuroticbookworm]

*deep breath* FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Alright, I'm gonna make my case for the Bad Buddy Rooftop Kiss. This is probably gonna be the most personal I've ever been on this hellsite.

Let's get this out of the way. I loved Kinnporsche. I honestly did (even though it might not look like it since this is the second time I'm passionately campaigning against the show). I loved it so much that I made my very busy best friend, @tonysteve25 who is planning their wedding, make up the time to talk to me so I can rant for two hours about the show (no need to judge me, I know y'all are equally crazy)

I'm gonna strip the plot to the basics and then build my argument, so if I end up reiterating a lot of themes that are already discussed, apologies in advance

Bad Buddy is, at its core, a Romeo and Juliet retelling. Set in a fairly conservative Asian country, and produced by a media industry whose brand of storytelling often involves an AU-esque setting where homophobia does not exist. We are shown time and again that Pat and Pran's friends and family do not have a problem with them being in a same-sex relationship.

So the conflict comes from the history their families have with each other. As a South Asian cinephile, I've watched this trope play out so many times with heterosexual couples that I'm sure it has unwittingly become a part of my brain chemistry. Oftentimes, the reasons why the families are feuding are so over the top that every shred of relatability gets thrown out the window.

In Bad Buddy's case, the reason is kept simple, albeit childish in the beginning. A business rivalry between the two families, and as a result, the boys are also pitted against each other. This simplicity gives way to a lot of levity in the beginning, but as the story progresses, the real strength of this narrative starts seeping through. This show is relatable. Almost too relatable.

The constant pressure to outperform the other in every way, be it academics, sports, or romance; the expectation on Pat to follow his dad's footsteps and match his achievements, even in a dumb singing competition; the guilt that permeates every moment of joy they feel in their relationship, because they are always aware that they are actively disappointing their parents; the quiet, painful realization in the later episodes that they will never be accepted into each other's families, no matter how hard they try; the revelation that the root of the conflict came from a scholarship stolen from a woman, to satisfy the expectations of a patriarch.

Every statement above is the reality of so many Asians living their lives right now. I personally know couples who have been cut off from their families for over 20 years because they don't approve of their love/marriage. I have peers who blindly follow the career path charted for them by their parents because it is easier than resisting and doing something they actually like. A lot of us are left feeling unmoored and struggling to define our self worth in the real world, after we leave academia, because that is all we are ever taught: your grades indicate how worthy you are.

Now, I know not a single word above argues why the kiss is the best, but I'm getting there. Stay with me now. Many people more talented than me have argued the specifics of the kiss, the reasons why it grabbed us by our throats the first time we saw it, and why we are still on that rooftop with them. The reasons submitted in the poll describe it so eloquently, beat by beat (edit: I found out that it was witten by @tiistirtipii, here). @respectthepetty begs us not to disappoint Pat again here, @lurkingshan dives deep into the character analysis and why the kiss is the perfect culmination of narration, pacing, and the characters' journey here, @waitmyturtles explores the importance of foreplay, the 'how did we get here' before the kiss, here.

What I want to draw attention to are two things. One: how this kiss was executed in such a way that all of their deeper struggles are woven into the microexpressions, so when you rewatch the show, all of the added context makes it so much more heartbreaking.

Let's be clear here, Pat and Pran did not get a happily ever after. They did not break all of the chains that were weighing them down. Pat went on to follow his father into the business (who also followed his father into it). They have to keep their relationship a secret, with no end in sight. Even in the end, the audience is shown only a hidden, reluctant acceptance from the parents, not an open love.

Pat and Pran's relationship will always be bittersweet. And the kiss shows it. The fact that the kiss was the very last shot to be filmed is no coincidence. The actors know how it ends, they have already performed it. They also know that the characters in this moment know it too. They have lived all their lives playing their families' games, they know that if they take this leap of faith, then they are willingly giving up so many little moments in life, even something so mundane as entering each other's house through the front door. And we can see it, see all of it clearly in Pran's face. Pran, who plans every detail of his life. Pran, who is also in love with his rival for who knows how long. And then we see it in Pat's face too, if only after a moment, because that's the way he is. Pat, who has looked at Pran all his life as a rival, a bandmate, a secret friend. Pat, who is the only one who can completely understand Pran, his anger and grief and devastation, because they only have each other in this wretched game. We see his face fall, and we see confusion cloud his happiness.

This kiss is the perfect summation of their relationship, shown at the very beginning of it. They can have desire, but be riddled with guilt. They can have happiness, but only in secrecy.

Two: how this kiss did more for Asian queer representation than we can ever comprehend.

I was not present in the Tumblr trenches with y'all when the show originally aired, but I've read many, many posts about how it broke the internet. Western media often fucks up queer characters because they don't write fully fleshed out characters who happen to also be queer. They place enormous emphasis on the character's queerness, and end up writing a stereotypical cardboard cutout in the shape of a queer person. Complex queer representation is hard to come by, add Asian into the mix and the pool gets laughably small.

In the episodes leading up to the kiss, we see the characters get fleshed out, their struggles explored, but they are also deeply rooted in the middle class Asianness of it all. I know it is ironic to say that other shows from Thailand are less Asian than this one, but the struggles of a queer mafia boss/rich businessman/heir to the corporate throne protagonists can sometimes be a tad out of touch for the general populace, and we can only feel so much nostalgia for our school days before we are tired of the saccharine sugar high.

When I saw this kiss for the first time, my eyes teared up, not because these gay characters are having a hard time, but because I could feel their pain, irrespective of my sexuality. I knew deep in my bones how a kiss can simultaneously feel like freedom and a lifelong trap. And I'm sure so many others felt it too. The kiss went viral because it was a perfect representation of so many struggles of Asians and the diaspora (and beyond), and it happened to be queer.

I don't know how the results will tally up when the clock runs out, but I hope we can chalk up a honest-to-goodness happy ending for them, if only in a silly Tumblr poll.

cc @bl-bracket, here ya go, a very long and rambling campaign propaganda

[bl-bracket]

Finals: Pat and Pran First Kiss (Bad Buddy) vs Kinn and Porsche Goodbye Kiss (Kinnporsche: The Series)

[Submitted Reasons Under Cut]

Pat and Pran First Kiss: "There aren’t enough words to describe the way I felt the first time I watched this kiss happen. The buildup is immense, Pat is jealous but he doesn’t understand his feelings, Pran has been in love for so long he doesn’t want to even think there’s a chance. Pat talks about how damn lonely he was without Pran. He recontextualizes their whole relationship, yes they were enemies but they were also the only two people who understood eachother. And with that they’re not quite enemies, at least not anymore. And if they’re not enemies do you think they could be friends? When Pran asks, “Do you want us to be friends.” The hesitation before Pat just says no. It holds the weight of the world. And of course Pat is the one to lean in and cross that barrier, Pran is still petrified of his own feelings after years of beating them into submission. But once Pat has taken that leap and crossed that line you can see Pran say ‘fuck it’ and just go for it. If this is the only time he ever gets to kiss Pat then godammit he is going to make it worth it. Hands in each other’s hair like they couldn’t get closer to one another if they tried, desperation spills out of every corner of their kiss. And when then break apart, Pran is beyond devastated, he knows they could never be together, that this kiss might have been his one and only taste of something he has longed for, and he leaves Pat standing there for him to slowly come to the same bitter realisation as his face shifts from lovestruck to heartbroken. Ohm and Nanon raised the standard for every other kiss in any future bl. Not to mention the kiss happened when Pat was wearing a shirt that says ‘baseball mom.’ There is no other kiss that could be more deserving of this win"

Kinn and Porsche Goodbye Kiss: "it's about the EMOTION it's about the ANGST it's about finally having a glimpse at the freedom they've both dreamed of for so long and the pain of knowing that they will never have it but that in each other they can find a taste of that freedom and the pain and sacrifice that that entails. it's about the goodbye it's about the kinn kicking the ground and crying because he is willingly giving up the one good thing in his life to protect it it's about porsche being willing to cut off a hand for him for this man who put him through so much shit but that he LOVES because he has seen the true kinn, the real kinn, and the NEED to turn back and acknowledge that and that what they had in the woods was real and that kinn is worthy of his love. it's about the way that kinn staggers when porsche crashes his mouth into his it's about the arms wrapped around each other it's about the desperation to be as close as possible meaning that they hardly even move it's about the layers and layers of emotion folded into it it's about how porsche has to pull away and run so he won't turn back and so that he can give kinn what he wants (the knowledge that at least one of them will be free). it's about the fact that he does turn back. it's about them always coming back to each other. it's THEIR FIRST KISS IN LOVE OKAY IT'S EVERYTHING TO ME"

[waitmyturtles]

I’m sure folks have already posted about this, but I’ll just chime in to say, regarding the BL Bracket on Best Kiss:

I’m personally praying for a final playoff run between Old Fashion Cupcake vs. Bad Buddy/rooftop ep. 5 first kiss. CCing @wen-kexing-apologist, @lurkingshan, and @shortpplfedup, my/our consensus is — FOREPLAY. While the kiss itself is important, the bigger question — the one that y’all think about when you’re in this situation yourself — is how did we GET HERE?

Both scenes have INCREDIBLE FOREPLAY. If I’m not mistaken, BOTH scenes are one long continuous shot (with the BBS scene taken with multiple cameras, and the OFC scene with one handheld camera). Both with incredible actors and acting. Both with rising heat and anticipation. Both with negotiation and interplay of emotion.

At least with OFC — if you hadn’t read the manga, you may not have been sure how that scene had ended. With BBS, at least the first time I saw that scene — I wouldn’t have necessarily known that Pran was catching onto what Pat what going towards until the very last second, that very last “mai.”

The kiss is not just the kiss. The kiss is everything that happened before that moment. And I sure hope that all of us voters hopefully keep that in mind as we VOTE FOR BBS EPISODE 5 TO WIPE THIS COMPETITION CLEAN continue to see how the bracket plays out.

(All of this cc @bl-bracket!)

[gillianthecat]

We Best Love fans -

In case you didn't know, Gao Shi De and Zhou Shu Yi are in the Best Kiss tournament, and I really want them to win. Come vote for them!

[wen-kexing-apologist]

The Greatest Kisses of All Time

So @neuroticbookworm just finished watching Old Fashion Cupcake and @waitmyturtles is never not watching Bad Buddy, and this naturally sparked a conversation around two of the best kisses of all time. The kiss between Togawa and Nozue in Episode 4 of OFC and the kiss between Pat and Pran in Episode 5 of BBS. 

For as much as there are similarities in these four characters, namely that Pat and Nozue both exist for years without any understanding of Pran and Togawa’s feelings, and that Pat and Nozue both exist for years without realizing their own queerness. I don’t know how many people who may be reading this were around for the BL-Bracket Best Kiss competition, but myself and quite a few others on here were fighting tooth and nail for the final fighting ring to be Bad Buddy vs. Old Fashion Cupcake because these are just…such emotionally complex, beautifully shot, and masterfully performed feats of acting and filmmaking. But their kisses could not feel more different. So I wanted to take a moment to break these scenes down. 

Bad Buddy, Episode 5

There is already so much want and hope and pain in Pran’s eyes when he turns around to face Pat. When Pran says “we aren’t even friends” Pat’s response is this extremely small, ironic smile and an exhaling of breath. When he responds to Pran’s statement, his is listing off all of these barriers to the two of them being together, the tow of them being friends with each other. But the way his voice sounds, the way the music supports makes the words and the emotions so dichotomous. Pat is listing all these reasons that they should not be together, but Ohm delivers these lines like Pat is telling Pran all the reasons they should be. And part of that has to do with the subtle ways in which he undermines the impossibilities of their friendship with the realities of it. “How can we be friends if we live next door to each other but can’t even talk?” but they do talk. They have spent their whole lives talking.

And I think you can kind of tell the way this kiss is going to go at the end (with Pran walking away) with how much sadder Pran progressively gets as Pat continues to talk “[when you were away] I was so damn happy” and Pran looks crestfallen. And again we get a dichotomy here with Pat listing off all these positives of Pran being gone from his life, but the tone that is being set by the irony in Pat’s face and the sadness in Pran’s is building on this idea. Pat is listing all these reasons why being apart from Pran was good for him, but Ohm delivers these lines like Pat is telling him all the reasons why being apart is not an option. The way that realization and hope comes in to Pran’s eyes, in to his face when Pat says “It was so depressingly lonely for me”. Like, that line is fucking tragic, this moment is fucking tragic. Pat admitting how lonely he was is sad, and yet it is the thing that gives Pran hope that finally finally his feelings may be reciprocated. 

This is the constant trend. Why should the lines “Do you want to be my friend?” “No.” be so heartwarming and hopeful, so honest and pure, and raw when at face value saying you don’t want to be someone’s friend would not be regarded as a positive thing. The moment of happiness when Pat pulls away from their first soft kiss knowing something is right, the way Pran’s jaw sets in determination when he grabs Pat and pulls him in for more. Their kiss builds and builds and builds in its intensity the longer it goes on, the more time neither of them pulls away, how hungry they both are for it the more it feels right, the more things settle in to place. The look of pure and utterly joyous relief on Pat’s face when they finally part, everything having clicked in to place for him. Finally understanding himself after all of these years, only to have Pran, who has known for so long what he wants, how he feels about Pat, sobbing and walking away because he cannot allow himself to believe this is real.

I think I said this in one of my Our Skyy 2 posts about PatPran that Pat is someone that is unable to ponder. It may take him his entire life up to this point to realize that he has feelings for Pran, but the second that he does, he does not linger on the thought, he does not mull it over, he does not find shame in it. He is upset at Pran because Pran sang their song, because that song is important, because Pran is important, because he wants to be with Pran, and then he immediately goes to tell Pran all of this, to admit his feelings, to kiss him, to want to be together. While Pran has been sitting on this love, this knowledge for years, pining and in pain at all the ways Pat has kept him close while being completely oblivious to both Pran’s feelings for him, and his feelings for Pran. And, I don’t know, maybe it is just that hindsight is 20/20, or that Bad Buddy is so deeply ingrained in me at this point that I may be overestimating my powers of prediction here. But Pran walking away from that kiss was not a surprise. Pat’s reaction to that kiss was not a surprise. You can see every part of where this kiss is going, you can see the pain in Pran’s eyes, you can see the desperation in Pat’s. You know what is going to happen the second they break apart. 

But Nozue and Togawa? I am not certain that I can say the same 

Old Fashion Cupcake, Episode 4

Honestly throughout most of Old Fashion Cupcake, we do not get anywhere near the level of sexual tension we get between Pat and Pran, though the few moments there are are fucking powerful. Leading up to the Episode 4 kiss, Togawa has convinced Nozue to try to plank, and boy oh boy is it a good excuse to get this hot man on his bed. I do appreciate the fact that there does not appear to be any sexual tension to begin with. Togawa getting on Nozue’s back may look sexually suggestive, but it does not (initially) feel sexually suggestive. And that is in part due to the fact that Nozue is currently distracted, he isn’t tuned in to the sexual tension. And it is a testament to Takeda’s acting prowess that in a split second Nozue is able to go from laughing at being tickled to laying the tension on thick. We move in to the conversation about the positive impact they have had on each other’s lives. A complete opposite of Pat and Pran. This is an admission on Togawa’s part about his feelings for Nozue, even if he does not say that directly.

It is why he starts the conversation with his back to Nozue, it’s why it takes him so long to make eye contact. And Togawa walks away, while Nozue smiles fondly to himself, reflecting on the importance of Togawa to his own life, and I honestly do not think it is until the second that Togawa comes rushing back towards him, saying his name low and with such intensity that it really starts to click for Nozue what is about to happen, what is happening. Over the past few episodes, Nozue has been turning over these thoughts and questions about why he feels so irritable and out of sync when he thinks Togawa has ignored his email. But I do not think it is until Ochi-san calls Togawa and snaps him out of this moment, that the embarrassment kicks in. We enter the continuous shot, Nozue says he has to leave, and he will not make eye contact with Togawa.

And it must be said, that while  do not in any way shape or form doubt that Ohm and Nanon could have absolutely demolished a continuous shot for their Ep 5 kiss, I think we rely too heavily on their microexpressions for it to have worked. But here, it is such a brilliant choice, because everything that ends up unfolding is spontaneous, unexpected in some regard. The episode 4 kiss being a continuous shot serves to express and highlight the motion of the scene, the energy of the scene, which is what we need for the eruption that will occur, where we rely more on seeing the difference in the words and the emotions that are coming out of Pat in Ep 5 of BBS. I think that Nozue’s feelings, his realization, his anxiety comes on suddenly, so suddenly that the camera does not have time to cut away. Nozue is panicking, and he is trying to stay emotionally detached in a way that Pat and Pran are not, in a way that Pat and Pran are incapable of. Because Pat has been oblivious and Pran has been repressed, while Togawa has been repressed and Nozue has been oblivious, and Nozue, unlike Pat, is a character that is prone to decision paralysis. His habit of maintaining the status quo because making different choices means something bad might happen, means that he is much more likely to keep things the way they were. To ignore his feelings, or to run from them, unlike Pat who is physically incapable of holding those feelings in his body. 

There is desperation between Togawa and Nozue, just as there is desperation between Pat and Pran, but the desperation for Pat and Pran comes from Pat needing Pran to understand his feelings, while the desperation for Togawa stems from trying to stop Nozue from running from his feelings, while Nozue’s desperation is to flee. I love love love that Nozue’s approach here. Where Pat was listing off all these impossibilities for their relationship, that were tragic yet true, and delivered with hope, Nozue is trying to shut down. He is being as polite as he can muster, but he is absolutely not concerned with seeming like he is lying. Again, where Pat is rambling off a list of things that were true but had not been said aloud in years, Nozue is rambling off a list of things that were not true and are only said because Nozue’s brain is disconnected from his body. The first thoughts that pop in to his head are the first things that come out of his mouth, any and every poor and pathetic excuse, and Togawa’s desperate attempts to counter every argument, to try to keep Nozue here. There is a tension underlying the scene that we get through the background music, that is far more discordant than the romantic, hopeful swells we got in Bad Buddy. 

Togawa grabs Nozue, and kisses him, and the music cuts out so that it is just silence. Nozue’s mind goes blank, and where we get the intensity of Pat and Pran’s kiss escalating from both sides as their kiss goes on, what we get from Nozue is a physical reaction that his brain has not caught up with. Because at every turn, Nozue kisses Togawa back. But his eyes are wandering, he’s very much uncertain about what is happening. Not in a “do I like this? How does this feel?” kind of way, in my opinion, but in a “how did I get here? What is happening?” kind of way. And then he drops, and Togawa follows, and we get the “I’m seducing you” confession. And for a while Nozue is just frozen there on the ground, but the longer Togawa speaks, the more Nozue’s brain and body finally connect, and the more he seems to relax. He tries to engage Togawa in conversation, they have switched roles as Nozue tries to stop Togawa’s ramble. 

And Togawa won’t let him. Pran walks away because he cannot allow himself to hope that Pat is actually serious about liking him, Togawa puts his hand to Nozue’s lips to make sure that he Nozue cannot reject him. Togawa’s internalized homophobia will not allow him to dream of a world where Nozue returns his feelings. So he hurts himself by rejecting Nozue before Nozue can reject him. Togawa asks to be hit, just sits there bowing and waiting to be beaten for being queer, for liking his boss, and you can see the way it hurt Nozue to see that Togawa assumes that Nozue would resort to violence like that. Nozue gets this look of disgust on his face, this look of pain when Togawa tells him he can hit him. 

And where I knew where the PatPran kiss was heading, while it was no surprise that Pran walked away at the end of that, I cannot say I know what Nozue would have done if Togawa hadn’t jumped the gun. I don’t think Nozue knows what he would have done if Togawa had let the moment linger. If Togawa had let Nozue speak. 

Anyway all of this to say that I love both of these scenes so much, and it is a testament to the acting prowess of all performers involved that so much can be conveyed. That Ohm and Nanon had to film all the rooftop scenes for the entire show in one evening, had to change the nature of Pat and Pran’s relationship as the Qs progressed. That Takeda and Kimura could carry four minutes of an intensely emotional scene where the power and the comfortability must flow between Togawa and Nozue, where Takeda has to stay physically in the scene while ensuring that his character looks and acts like he is in two different places. Pat’s hope, Pran’s despair, Nozue’s understand, and Togawa’s fear are all so visceral, it is no wonder these scenes have made and maintain such an impact.

[ranchthoughts]

an impassioned defense of the Bad Buddy episode 5 rooftop kiss

aka, last minute propaganda for the @bl-bracket best kiss competition.

Firstly, a literature review:

@kenmakaashi writes about the imbalance we usually see in long-term pining stories that is not present in this kiss (and how that relates to Bad Buddy’s overarching dismantling of imbalances).

@lurkingshan writes about episode 5 of Bad Buddy as a whole, as Pat realizes and re-contextualizes his relationship with Pran, and how the kiss catalyzes the rest of the series.

@miscellar and @aikinn write about the emotions Pat and Pran bring into the kiss, and how important the stubbornness of both characters is to their journey.

@telomeke-bbs breaks down the moment between the two kisses here, writing about how this represents Pran’s head vs. heart, and how he cedes to his wants, if only for a moment.

@neuroticbookworm writes about how the kiss perfectly encapsulates the emotions and experiences of Pat and Pran, and its greater resonance to Asian and queer Asian communities.

And now to add my two-cents worth:

There are a lot of dichotomies, opposites, tensions in Bad Buddy, and this episode rooftop kiss perfectly encapsulates all of them, while looking forward to the eventual resolution of these tensions through the rest of the show.

Firstly, the opposing trajectories of Pran and Pat's journeys to (queer) self-realization: Pran, who knows he is gay and has known about his feelings for Pat since at least high school; and Pat, who is just realizing he is queer and that he is into Pran and has been for some time.

The first few episodes of Bad Buddy show us more of Pran's story: we learn about his crush on Pat, we see how Pat’s casual compliments and downright flirtatious behaviour affected him, we watch him silently cry after Pat says he has a crush on Ink and then outlines all the reasons someone (Pran) should like him. Pran has been keeping his love for Pat, like a lot of his emotions, repressed and hidden for a long time now (see these posts by @lurkingshan (here) and @telomeke-bbs (here and here) for more on Pran's personality and emotional guarded-ness).

Episode 5 switches it up: now we get a closer look at Pat. As @lurkingshan wrote, episode 5 is about Pat realizing things – that Ink doesn’t like him; that, going by Pa’s Patented Four Ways to Tell if Someone Likes You, he probably likes Pran; that he is indeed jealous of Wai which confirms he likes Pran as not-a-friend. (see @grapejuicegay’s amazing post for why it took Pat so long to work out how he was feeling here).

In episode 5, we watch their two arcs collide: Pran continues to repress and not act on his feelings, while getting increasingly frustrated at the liberties Pat seems to take with them (Pran performing the song they wrote together in high school, and Pat being mad about that); while Pat has speed-run his realizations and is now full to bursting. In all the ways Pran is quiet and hidden, Pat is open and loud. Once Pat realizes he is in love with Pran, he can barely hide it. He comes close to spilling it in the scene where Pat fights with Pran and Wai outside the dorm (amazing meta on that scene by @shortpplfedup and @functionalasfuck here and here), and he lets it free up on the rooftop at the end of the episode, outlining their past history and what Pran means to him and confessing he doesn't want to be friends. Pran says "You have got to stop doing this to me" (Pat makes it so hard to stop loving him, to keep those feelings repressed and hidden), and Pat finishes his queer realization arc by kissing the boy he loves. Even the way the first kiss happens emulates their respective arcs and personalities: they get close to one another, in each other's space but not making a move, and then Pat is the first to break the tension and go in for the kiss. The hidden and the open collide.

We see this conflict, this tension between hidden and open, play out again in episode 8, when Pat keeps posting things on Instagram and toeing the line of secrecy and him and Pran fight about it, or in episode 9 where Pran indulges Pat and stages the public confession and claiming on the stairs (meta about that scene by @kenmakaashi here). These moments also exemplify the care and understanding Pat and Pran have for one another: Pat is willing to hide things and pretend to break up with Pran (firstly to get Wai to talk to him again and then at the end of episode 11 so they can hide from their families) to make Pran happier and more comfortable, and Pran is willing to be more open (allow Pat to post on Instagram, stage the claiming scene on the stairs, etc.) to make Pat happier and more comfortable - it's all about compromise, the middle ground. In the end, also Bad Buddy ends up somewhere in the middle between open and hidden: Pat and Pran are open about their feelings for each other and are happily in love, but they remain hidden from their family and friends, unable to be fully open.

Secondly, this kiss exemplifies the genre tensions inherent in Bad Buddy, between BL romcom and romantic tragedy. Over the course of the series, we the audience are not sure which genre, and specifically which genre-typical ending, Bad Buddy will follow. See my posts (here and here) and @chickenstrangers (here) on genre and tragedies and Bad Buddy.

Pat, over the course of episode 5, has realized he is in a romantic story. His interactions with Pran slide into context: those were tropes of the kind we see in romantic series (looming over someone, forced proximity, etc.). @chickenstrangers talked about this here: to Pat, this kiss is the classic confession kiss in a romcom or BL. After that type of kiss, the characters get together, the series will soon end happily (or there may be some episode 11 shenanigans before they ultimately reach a happy ending). Pat keeps the kiss meaningful and emotion-filled but short and sweet; to him, this will be the first kiss of many.

But to Pran, this is a different genre of story. Pran has known he is in a romantic narrative from the beginning (he’s had a crush on Pat since high school, if not before), but he doesn’t think this is a romcom. Pran looks at their family situation and recognizes another type of story: star-crossed lovers tragedies like Romeo & Juliet and Kwan & Riam. Pran says it himself, every time they are together, bad things happen (like Pran getting transferred). To Pran, this rooftop kiss is their last kiss, could only ever be their last kiss. Because of that, he can’t help but to lean into it, go in for a second kiss, to make it count. In this edit by @movementsofmylife they liken it to pre-nostalgia (“knowing you’re going to miss a moment once it’s gone and it makes you sad and desperate to hold onto or recreate it even when you’re still in that moment”). Pran thinks this is the closest he will ever get to having Pat and being happy because to him, the tragic ending to their story is inevitable.

In this kiss, the two genres Bad Buddy flirts with (BL and romantic tragedies – which will it emulate in the end?) come to a head. And it seems by the end of this rooftop scene that "romantic tragedy" might be the winning genre of the series: Pran walks away in tears, leaving Pat behind. For a moment, Pat was so caught up in the euphoria of being able to confess to Pran and having Pran reciprocate back that he forgot they live in a world with their parents, but Pran's tears, his leaving, and his avoidance of Pat through the next episode bring the barriers to their relationship back into focus. But there’s hope in this kiss too: Pran reciprocated. He’s spent half a lifetime repressing his feelings for Pat, he’s so good at denying his feelings… but we’ve seen how Pat is starting to wear on him. Despite it all, Pran can’t fall out of love with Pat, and despite it all, he can’t resist going in for another, deeper kiss. He might be able to walk away at the end of it, but we've seen the effect Pat has on him. Pat’s unrelenting good nature, the way he helps Pran at every turn (even when they are supposed to be enemies), and his sheer stubbornness and determination have gotten to Pran, and might give them a different ending after all.

In the end, Bad Buddy does end up somewhere between a BL romantic comedy and a tragedy: Pat and Pran are still together, but are trapped in a glass closet, still hiding from their family and most of their friends. It’s not a purely happy ending, it’s not a solely tragic ending, it’s somewhere in between, somewhere more realistic (there are a lot of queer people living in similar glass closets). Just like the rooftop kiss(es), Bad Buddy has something sweet, something hopeful, something joyful, meeting some melancholic, something fearful, and something hidden.

Finally, in the rooftop kiss scene Pat wears a shirt that says Baseball Mom, which is objectively hilarious but also deeply meaningful, and if that isn't the Bad Buddy Brand™ I don't know what is. See metas on Pat's Baseball Mom shirt by myself (here), and on Pat's shirts as a whole by @chickenstrangers (here), @thegayneurodivergentagenda (here), @respectthepetty (here), and @dribs-and-drabbles (here and here).

Bad Buddy is a funny show, but it doesn't hesitate to explore deeply emotional parts of the human (and especially queer) condition: intergenerational trauma (meta by @waitmyturtles), glass closets and homophobia (through a tale of feuding families), and more.

The episode 5 rooftop kiss scene brings together all the threads of Bad Buddy: the central characters, their personalities, and their history together; the external forces that threaten their love (their families' feud, their faculties' feud); the show's intertextual references to other narratives and genres (Romeo & Juliet/Kwan & Riam, BL, etc.); among others. I've focused here specifically on three opposing tensions in Bad Buddy (hidden vs open, romcom vs tragedy, and humour vs. emotional/allegorical meaning), and how this kiss scene shows them all as the opposing forces they are while hinting towards their future resolution, which is neither one nor the other but rather somewhere in the middle.

And really, Bad Buddy overall is a show that refuses to do one or the other (the way it both subverts BL tropes and is a BL, or its handling of seme vs. uke, come to mind), instead finding a more realistic middle ground where real nuance and meaning lie.

vote for Bad Buddy in the Best Kiss poll!

[lurkingshan]

I can’t believe it is even necessary to write this post but I’ve been in the @bl-bracket final tags and apparently it is!

Y’all. My friends. My pals. My blogs I don’t actually know but I’m sure are run by lovely people. Please be serious for one second and consider Bad Buddy episode 5 aka an absolutely perfect episode of television aka the best episode of any bl ever.

This episode is all about Pat’s journey through his queer awakening. It’s about him finally realizing what these feelings he’s been having for Pran for years actually are. It’s about him recontextualizing everything they’ve experienced together with that new lens, and finally understanding that they fell the fuck in love in high school and never got the chance to act on it. It’s about him finally comprehending why he’s so desperate to be near Pran all the time and why Pran sometimes looks at him in a way he doesn’t get. It’s about him finally catching up to Pran who has understood all of this the whole time because he has always been clued in to his own queerness and hyper aware of what he feels for Pat.

And as soon as Pat understands, literally at the first possible moment, he acts on it. In a way we rarely see from characters in romance dramas at all, let alone bl. Once he realizes what these feelings are he goes straight to Pran wearing his heart on his sleeve, clarifies what they are to each other, kisses the hell out of him, and invites Pran to kiss him right back. And it’s a great kiss. A fantastic beat for beat physical manifestation of the emotions Pat and Pran are processing as well as an excellent high heat kiss between two actors with amazing chemistry. Anyone who was there in fandom when it happened will never forget it. We were stunned! It was unprecedented!

If that wasn’t enough, the show gives us the immediate aftermath of the kiss, when with zero dialogue Pat and Pran react exactly as they should - Pat heaving a relieved sigh and giving Pran that exhausted and exultant smile, and Pran looking at him with nothing but sadness. Because Pat is still catching up. He’s reveling in something inside him finally clicking into place. But Pran? Pran has already thought this through from every possible angle and he knows exactly how impossible this is. Everything that’s going to happen next is on their faces as we pull back from the kiss. This kiss, and everything it represents, is the catalyst that drives the narrative from here on out.

There is simply no better executed kiss in any bl drama, period. Nothing else comes close when you consider the character work, the perfect pacing, the narrative importance, and the technical mastery that went into it. It absolutely must be given its due.

[badblkissbracket]

Thai BL's Bad Kiss Awards - Submissions Open!

Is there a pairing whose lack of kiss-chemistry made you drop a show? Does a specific actor's kissing technique make you cringe? Do you hate a kiss that everyone else seems to love?

Inspired by @gmmtv-bl-tournament-but-evil and the 'best kiss' round of @bl-bracket - until the end of January, use the linked google form to go wild and nominate all of your least favourite kisses for submission in Thai BL's Bad Kiss Awards, where they'll battle it out to determine the ultimate worst kiss in Thai BL history.

Submission Guidelines:

Submitted kisses should be intentional (not accidental) kisses on the mouth between two male characters in a Thai television series.

No 'accidental' kisses, please. Accidental/'pratfall' kisses are so universally terrible that, for the sake of fairness, we are limiting this tournament to kisses that happen on purpose (but that suck anyway).

What constitutes a 'bad kiss' is subjective - so don't overthink it. Adding propaganda alongside submissions is always appreciated, but don't feel you need to justify your choices. Simply thinking the kiss is bad is reason enough.

You can make as many different bad kiss submissions as you like, but please only submit each kiss once.

Submissions are open until the end of January, when the nominations will be announced, the bracket will be seeded, and the tournament will begin!

Happy Hating!

[justafriend-ql]

knowing that my boys are probably going to be obliterated in the ongoing "best kiss" bl bracket (despite having some quite lovely kiss scenes), i want to know which one of palmnueng's kisses is your favorite! i'll make a gifset of whichever scene wins!

[brazilian-whalien52]

Bl actors question game

1. Your Favorite BL actor

Gun just completely stole my heart since day one. His acting is just always on point.

2. An actor that deserves a lead role

I feel like he is just in every drama. When it is going to be his time to shine?

3. Two actors with insane chemistry

I thought about going if a classic Thai couple (offgun, EarthMix...), but people talk so much about them and not enough about this masterpiece

4. Actor that deserves more attention

I just wish to see more of him

5. The hottest/prettiest actor in your opinion

The way these two just hold me hostage when they are on the screen. I can't take my eyes out of them.

6. An actor that you don't understand why they are so famous

I do understand why he is famous, but don't feel it's because of his acting (run)

7. The actor with the Best Voice

Am I cheating with this answer?

8. What is your favorite scene that really showcase an actor ability

I know i am biased towards this scene but since the bl best kiss bracket i have been reading analysis of their kiss non stop. But also would add the recent a tale of thousand stars proposal scene because it's not leaving my mind.

9. A drama that was saved by their cast acting ability

Love in the air just work because of these two. Really. Specially Rain, if it wasn't for Noeul acting he would be so annoying.

10. Actor that you wish you could steal their style

I would steal their voice and style completely

I tag: @ahhhnorealnamesallowed @thegayneurodivergentagenda @i-che-bi @ashedddaisy @uozlulu @dual-domination @killerandhealerqueen @respectthepetty @jlomkrub

[theoryofarson]

Calling it rn I think best kiss bl bracket is gonna be between bad buddy rooftop, and maxtul manner of death couch scene (bad buddy will win)

[gradienta]

BL polls

Do y'all know about @bl-bracket polls?

There's going to be "Best Kiss" poll. I have already submitted several of less common scenes, and LET ME JUST ADD SOME MORE.

I mean, how can you just CHOOSE one?

[bl-bracket]

Congrats to Pat and Pran's First Kiss For Winning Best Kiss in a BL!!!

That was certainly a tough competition! I had so many great submissions that even selecting the final lineup was hard, but congrats to everyone and thank you for participating!

I have to say, I kind of predicted this result based on the fact that this kiss received 4x more submissions than the second highest, easily being the most submitted entry to any one of these polls that I've run! But everyone else put up a very valiant fight!

Thank you again to everyone who participated, I hope you still had fun, regardless of who won or not! Keep an eye out for the poll for the next bracket topic that should be dropping soon after this is posted!

[tournament-winners]

before we get to it i promise im not actually a poll georg I just run a poll-collecting blog for my fandom so I have a lot of tournaments on hand. that said:

Multifandom:

AO3 top ships bracket

Badass queer couples tournament

Canon misogyny victims tournament

Chaotic neutral tournament

Cringefail loser summit

Crown and sash tournament

Dysfunctional family fight

Fell first / fell harder ships tournament

Found family tournament

Ghost bracket

Guess that ship tournament: s1 | s2 | s3 | s4 | s5 | s6 | s7

Guy yuri poll

Haunting the narrative tournament

Hybrid battle

Incredibly caked up individuals

MLM ship bracket: first | second

Overworked blorbo battle

Red-black aesthetic bout

Ungodly amounts of godly trauma

Would fuck their clone tournament

Semi-multifandom:

Queer books:

Queer book character tournament: s1 | s2 | champion battle

Queer book ship tournament

Webnovels (general): Aroace-spec webnovel character tournament

BL (general): Yaoi Election

Danmei (Chinese BL webnovels):

Danmei character tournament: popular | less popular brackets

Danmei tournament

Baihe (Chinese GL webnovels): Baihe character tournament

Asian BL TV shows:

Best kiss in a BL

Best siblings in a BL

Biggest green flag in a BL

Causer of gender envy in a BL

Most autistic swag in a BL

Most babygirl in a BL (Asian BL TV shows)

Most bisexual swag in a BL (Asian BL TV shows)

Most whipped character in a BL

Poorest little meow meow in a BL

Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's novels:

MXTX character you most want to study like a bug tournament

Ultimate MXTX poor little meow meow

Single fandom:

Great battle of The Untamed couples (The Untamed/Chen Qing Ling)

SVSSS character tournament (The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System)

TGCF character tournament (Heaven Official's Blessing/Tian Guan Ci Fu)

Tournament of Jiang Cheng's lovers (Mo Dao Zu Shi/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation)

wow this is a lot! thank you!

[gillianthecat]

VOTE PAT & PRAN

My current hyperfixation has been doing the number crunching for the Best Kiss bracket:

Pat and Pran got 499 votes (68.4%) in the semi-finals, against Nozue and Togawa. In the 4th round, they got 503 votes (73.1%) against Vegas and Pete's Hospital Kiss. So fairly consistent numbers there, it seems they can pull about 500 people.

Kinn and Porsche got 453 votes (60.1%) against Jaeyoung and Sangwoo in the semi-finals, so less than Pat and Pran have been getting. But in the 4th round, they got 647 votes against Vegas and Pete's First Kiss! Now, that was still only 55.9% - that poll had 1,158 voters, which is I believe the largest by far of any of the Best Kiss Bracket polls.

All of this is to say, at first I thought Pan and Pran didn't have a chance against Kinn and Porsche, but now I believe they maybe do! It all depends on why those 647 people voted for K&P in the 4th round. Was it an internal KinnPorsche the Series fandom battle, and many of them might not bother to vote in the finals, or even switch allegiance to Pat and Pran? The relatively large numbers of voters for that poll, and then many fewer for their semi-final poll, might indicate that.

Or is it that there is more love for Semantic Error than for Old Fashion Cupcake, which is why K&P got fewer votes in the semifinal, but that effect won't transfer well to the finals?

If I reverse engineered it correctly @bl-bracket did give Pat & Pran 1st seed, and Kinn & Porsche 2nd seed, which means that P&P got more submissions. They've been pretty spot on in their seeding so far, so going by that, there is a good chance!

~~~

It's also interesting to me that both kisses in the final are heartbroken, "I love you desperately but the world makes it impossible, we can't be together" kisses. Maybe it says more about the popularity of those two shows than about people's preference in kisses? But I do think people like kisses with stories behind them. And maybe Romeo & Juliet type stories, where the lovers have to fight the world to be together, are more likely to become fandom obsessions.

all gifs from @actually-yikes gorgeous gifset of this kiss