Pinoy BL Series

I enjoyed Episode 11: Lihim. It didn't really resolve Otep's reasonable jealousy of Tau and Orion but at least there was development on the Pangs ship front. I like the Pangs ship and it seemed to be going somewhere on this episode. Both Renshi and Lance are adorable and I would love to watch their spin-off series. But for now, for In Between, at least the Boom Harot gang, as per the cliffhanger, will soon find out about Nin's secret (lihim). I like the Boom Harot gang. They remind me of the Young Padawans of Hello Stranger. Having supportive friends is really important especially if you're gay living in conservative Philippines. I'm also looking forward to Nin's conversation with Tau and Otep about their readiness to face judgements and unfair treatments from society as teased on the trailer for next week's episode. All in all, Episode 11 was a satisfying episode.

[Apologies, I'm posting this earlier than usual. Too much to write on Saturday. Lol. Saturday will be Hook Up's finale and Boyband Love's premiere so I'll be focused on those series. Edit: Boyband Love = postponed for a week.]

Maybe they can also do what GMMTV does here in Thailand. Thailand also has censorship. The entire SarawatTine kissing scene on the Still 2gether finale was not shown on TV channel GMM-25 (no English subs) but GMMTV uploaded the uncut version on LineTV and Youtube. Poor me, because I always want to improve my Thai, I watched on GMM-25, and complained there's no kissing scene only to find out later that it was cut. Lol!

With 30 episodes (3 parts each episode), we expected that this series will be dragging. Episode 6: First Kiss clearly exemplified this. It's not that nothing much happened on this episode, there were plenty of things that did happen, it's just that all these things didn't really move the plot/storyline forward. The only thing new on this episode was the confirmation that Kenji's a creep. And like what other commenters have pointed out, the problem with this series' handling of sexual abuse/grooming (Gilbert) and sexual harassment (Kenji), the perpetuators will probably get away with these crimes. Sure, we got those lengthy preachy dialogues about sexual harassment being wrong but at the end of the day, these characters got off scot-free. With 24 episodes left, will they remedy this problematic handling of sexual abuse/grooming and sexual harassment? I'm not optimistic. As for Jimmy, Nuan, and Wil, they just stretched the characterizations already established in the previous episode. Even if you've skipped this episode, you wouldn't miss out on anything about them. Acting performance was just so-so because the actors were held back by the long lines. No improvements on production as well. For the next episode, I just want the plot/storyline to progress.

Me too! And it's an open mouth kiss. We don't even do that in most of our television dramas (teleseryes). We only do that in some of our movies. Maybe it's good Gameboys is on Youtube and not on a regular Philippine television channel, less censorship/regulation I guess since Youtube is not under MTRCB. This makes me think, how will they do kissing on the promising upcoming Pinoy BL series My Extraordinary? My Extraordinary is our first Pinoy BL series on a regular Philippine television channel (TV5) so this will probably be challenging since they are under MTRCB.

It was a problem with translation. Jimmy used "bakla" which is equivalent to "gay." Bakla is a neutral term, it can be both positive or negative depending on the context of use. I don't think we have a word for "faggot."

Updates: Pangs will get a spin-off series while Jet (Ron Angeles) will no longer appear on In Between -- so I guess, it's the end for BianxJet. Ron will appear on another Pinoy BL series, BenXJim.

Gameboys, the highest rated Filipino series of all time on MDL, is now ranked #30 overall -- this is the highest ranking Gameboys has received :) A 9.0 rating will put Gameboys within #16-22 :)

Agree. I also remember Leila telling Cairo that her husband’s hospitalization drained their family’s savings when she first brought up Bukidnon.

Yes, happy for Fuccbois’ alumni Kokoy & Royce, also In Between’s Migs & Ron Angeles. By the way, I heard Ron will no longer appear on In Between & we all know what happened to My Dreamboy where he was supposed to be the lead star (production company Dreamline Digital TV is a fraud according to the cast & crew). Thankfully Ron will appear on BenXJim.

The good thing about Episode 5: Oh My DJ!, we got a clearer idea of the interconnectedness of the main characters. At least the plot/storyline progressed on this episode. Generally, I don't like silly and thoughtless tangled web of love and relationship trope but we'll see on the next episodes if the use of such trope on this series makes sense. This episode seemed more akin to Episode 3. Like Episode 3, exaggerations were lessened on this episode that allowed more comprehensible script and relatable acting. Even the audio-visuals were not as distracting as the previous episodes. All in all, this episode was watchable.

After 4 episodes, nothing much has happened on this series. The conflicts laid out during the pilot episode (sexist Twitter commenter, unemployment, etc.) were the same issues depicted on Episode 4: Lean on Me. The plot/storyline has dragged on. It needs to progress somehow. While script and acting were better compared to previous episodes, they still need improvement. Audio was clearer on this episode (less background noise) but some issues with visuals remained. For example, the computer graphics for the Twitter handle of Terrence still showed @ReuvenEj which is actually the name of the Lead Actor/Director. This should be changed to a Twitter handle closer to Terrence's name. This may be a minor concern but similar issues like this should be cleaned up.

According to Ticket2Me (production company) premiere dates: October 15, 2020 | 8PM PH | Ticket2Me Video Player & October 18, 2020 | 8PM PH | Ticket2Me Youtube Channel.

After reading my Gameboys series review, my Marxist friend told me he likes Gameboys but his one issue with the series is that it has no class consciousness or it doesn't really represent majority of Filipinos who are having financial difficulties. That's why he said he prefers Quaranthings over Gameboys because at least financial difficulties are represented in Royce Cabrera's character (Rocky). I disagreed with my Marxist friend. I told him that precisely the reason why Cai's family is moving to Bukidnon is because they can't afford to live in Metro Manila anymore. Cai may not be poor like Rocky but there's still some class consciousness in Gameboys. And I also love Quaranthings. After two episodes, I agree with some of the commenters, it's really a top-tier Pinoy BL series in the company of Gameboys and Hello Stranger. Of course, Gameboys is still the best for me but do watch Quaranthings as well, it's also very good.

Thanks for the comment! There was a lot of good Thai BL series in 2019 [Until We Meet Again, He's Coming To Me, 3 Will Be Free (more LGBTQ+-themed than BL), Dark Blue Kiss, Theory of Love, etc.] but I think 2020 is really the year of Pinoy BL series. Aside from Gameboys, Hello Stranger, etc., there are other promising Pinoy BL series this year. Currently, I'm enjoying Quaranthings but watch out for Like in the Movies (Gaya Sa Pelikula) [Sept. 25] and My Extraordinary [Sept. 27], they look really promising. I'm not sure about the other upcoming series but Like in the Movies and My Extraordinary impressed me with their promotions (including trailers) so we'll see.

We need more comments, more high ratings, more reviews...

yes a'tin!

Yes, most drama series including BL series like Gameboys and Hello Stranger employ the “enemies to lovers” trope so my general rule is to look for something new on these series which I found in both series so I’m fine with both.

I do think that these hateful fans are a minority so let’s not mind them.

Whether it’s 1 or 2 or more episodes, if they start as enemies and end up lovers, it’s still considered “enemies to lovers.” There are reasons why Tony who has been in show business for a long time hasn’t won any reputable acting awards. His vocal, physical, emotional choices in acting are not always consistently in sync. He’s oftentimes betrayed by his eyes in dramatic scenes. JC is really good and I really like him but acting coaches will probably have a minor issue with him. He sometimes telegraphs his acting, meaning you’ll know when the dramatic acting’s coming and how he’ll do it. He’ll need variety in delivering his dramatic scenes. But this is a minor issue that I’m sure JC will be able to address in his future projects. He’s still very young.

As for why people like Gameboys, please check out my series review. I’ve been doing episode and series reviews since the start of the Pinoy BL series craze. I’ve done 5 series reviews and 90+ episode reviews. Interestingly, I’ve only received vitriol twice from two Hello Stranger fans accusing me of being biased and hating Hello Stranger (check out the comments on the Hello Stranger MDL profile). I’ve consistently rated Hello Stranger 8.5-9.0. I don’t think that’s hate. This accusation came from fans who rated Gameboys 1.0. I mean, who’s biased and who’s hating here? I’ve always grouped Hello Stranger with Gameboys as among the top Pinoy BL series. I just prefer Gameboys for the reasons I stated in my series review. Luckily, most Hello Stranger fans are nice and respectful so I enjoy engaging with them. Similarly, you’ll find such hateful fans supporting other Pinoy BL series so just don’t mind them, they’re very few. Most of the commenters here are nice and respectful.

When will this rating go up? "Yeah, we gonna go up (We go up)" [SB19]. Lol!

And that folks is how you do a finale! In Episode 10: Crossing the Line, the plot/storyline had come full circle. All the major issues were resolved with the overall tone of the series maintained. Screenplay was as impeccable as ever. Ash gave us all the happy things we want from this series: strong women in Pearl and Leila saving the day, Terrence and Wes (maybe) finding each other, and of course, Cai and Gav loving and kissing each other and even living together. We even got to see Cai, Gav, and Pearl together in one scene! Acting was topnotch. Production design, cinematography, computer graphics, sound engineering, musical scoring, and editing were all great. I also love the fact that a number of the OSTs were integrated in this episode. And finally, there's no better way to end this episode than by teasing "Gameboys 2. Soon."

I can relate. I have already developed a self-switch -- switch-on and switch off. When the fillers or product placements or ads are on, I switch myself off and switch back on after, lol.