Again, as far as I can tell, almost every single Thai BL series is a one and done situation. I believe the same thing goes for this 2023 series, Bed Friend, but I kind of wish there were more. Yes, there is a spinoff series featuring a supporting character, but it’s not the same!
Anyway, in Bed Friend, Uea and King work together at a company, where Uea specializes in design, King is a programmer, but the two are always around each other. It’s clear that King has feelings for Uea, but Uea would rather eat dirt than give this diehard romantic the time of day. The dynamic between the two gradually start to change after Uea has a PTSD triggered panic attack where King is there to comfort him, and also after the two hook up. These two incidents are the first of many insane things that happen to Uea, and it is certainly not the last time the two of them hook up.
Let me tell you what. The hook up scenes in this series rival that of KinnPorsche and Love in the Air, but there is still just a boundary that really cuts its successes short for me. It’s clear that the actors have amazing chemistry and a comfort that doesn’t make any of those intimate scenes awkward. Thank goodness. There’s nothing worse than that. But still, even throwing in some kinky scenes didn’t manage to edge it into the top spot. Not to say I was disappointed with anything that went down.
I feel what was disappointing though, was the actual plot. Uea is truly a tortured man, but almost all of his trauma is covered in a single episode. He’s got a possessive and abusive ex-boyfriend? He gets stopped twice and then threatened with security footage. The same thing goes for a new supervisor whose creep level was played to a perfect ten out of ten. It took way too long, but at least that was finally resolved with getting HR involved. The only storyline that spans over any amount of episodes involves his awful and abusive mother, along with his sexually abusive step-father. Those scenes were the most uncomfortable to get through, but thankfully justice is served.
Another disappointing aspect of the show was the lack of development of supporting characters. I’ll admit that most supporting characters in these series don’t get much action, but there is usually at least one other pair of people involved more significantly. I suppose Uea’s co-worker and friend Jade was supposed to be that, but he was honestly pretty annoying. I don’t know if I’ll be tuning into his spin-off series anytime soon. Thankfully, the scenes between Uea and King were enough to keep me going through all ten episodes.
I don’t think this is one that’d I’d recommend to people to check out, especially if they are looking to get into BL series. Like I said before, KinnPorsche set the bar pretty damn high, but there have been plenty of other series that have been almost as enjoyable.