Pinoy BL Series

By the way, since the Philippines is still on lockdown, you need a quarantine pass to move around. You can be arrested by the police if you're outside your house without the pass. But only one pass is given to each household so each household needs to decide who gets the pass.

Things Judah found in Rocky's bag: Judah found Rocky's CV. He finished high school and he's not in college since he always seems to be looking for work (contrast that with Judah who's studying in the top Philippine university -- the state university, University of the Philippines). Rocky has worked as waiter, barista, dining crew. It also seems that he's been sending money, maybe to his family. The yellow papers are actually copies of forms he filled out to remit/send money [Palawan Express Pera Padala (Send Money)]. I think this is the reason why Judah decided to give Rocky the quarantine pass. He realized that Rocky needs it more than him. Rocky needs to find work so that he can send money, probably to his family.

I think compared to Gameboys, Sakristan, Hello Stranger, In Between, Amore, and My Day, Quaranthings has a much lower budget. And yes, as long as they make do with what they have and still provide good plot/storyline and performance, I'm ok with average production.

Yes, Kyo was generally engaging. I like Kyo. I think his Judah is a relatable character. Judah's unapologetically queer. With regards to the delivery of lines, it's probably partly writing, partly acting, but also partly editing. The scenes were not as smooth but they were tolerable. I hope they continue to improve in the next episodes.

I was pleasantly surprised with the pilot episode of Quaranthings: The Series! Although clearly set during the pandemic like other Filipino (Pinoy) boys' love (BL) series, the plot/storyline wasn't straightforward at all which made it quite interesting. After watching Episode 1: Quarantine Pass, you'd certainly want to stick around to understand Judah's issues, uncover Rocky's secrets, and find out how their relationship develops during the quarantine. Screenplay was cute with a lot of funny lines. Acting was generally natural especially the performance of Royce, who's a magnificent specimen of a man, lol. He's so sexy! Kyo, a newbie, was alright. He was on point in a lot of scenes but there were also scenes wherein he was flat. He needs improvement but he was ok. I like that Judah's unapologetically queer. Karl was also a natural in his role as Beshie and I love his rendition of the OST "Sansinukuban" (My Universe). Production design and cinematography were just average. But I love that there's an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez photo, Martin Luther King Jr. quote, and Thai BL series posters. Cutting of scenes and transitions from one scene to another need refinement. All and all, Quaranthings: The Series is a very promising Pinoy BL series. I'm undoubtedly looking forward to next week's episode!

With a shallow plot/storyline, Episode 7: Chances & Choices tried to compensate with a corny screenplay and over dramatized acting. Sky's acting would have been ok if it wasn't dragged too much which didn't do him any favors since it exposed his lack of range. RJ and Allen were generally ok while Kristof still felt scripted. Production technicals were the same as previous weeks. Next week, this series ends with an online fan meeting.

Quaranthings The Series premieres tonight, 9PM (MNL), Friday, September 4!

Since we're already on Episode 4: Hide & Seek, it's probably pointless to keep mentioning Amore's technical weaknesses but with 26 episodes left, maybe they'll still try to improve in the succeeding episodes? Audio and editing were still poor in this episode. The "Previously" segment of Part 2 of 3 didn't even have audio! Other than having Buknoy and Xander Ford (both very poor actors) in the cast, there weren't a lot of substantial weaknesses in this episode. I appreciated that scenes were allotted to the different ships, JoWil, JoJimmy, JoKenji, and JoNuan, to illustrate Joey's different relationships with Wil, Jimmy, Kenji, and Nuan. Sure, screen time tilted more to Joey and the manipulative and scheming Wil, but hopefully this will not always be the case. JoWil had obvious chemistry but the problem with their poetry reading scene was that it was long and dragging. Contrast their scene with the bedroom conversation scene of JoJimmy. While shorter in screen time, JoJimmy's scene was more meaningful in terms of character development (Jimmy's redemption arc) and relationship development (from enemies to friends to lovers?). Nothing much happened with JoKenji other than Kenji being creepy asking Joey about his love life. Of course, the most heartbreaking was the confession (not really a) prank scene of Nuan. By now, it seemed futile to push for JoNuan. The break in Nuan's voice, his sorrowful and close to crying eyes, and him being left alone in his lonesome in the end of that scene were just too heart-wrenching. I want a happy ending for Nuan, if not with Joey, then maybe with someone else. Overall, this episode was ok.

The IdeaFirst Company Creative Consultant Elmer Gatchalian confirmed via Twitter the Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP) article that announced that Gameboys Finale is on September 13 (not September 6). Thanks!

Oh My Sexual had obviously toned down in Episode 3: Oh My Thirdy! While the documentary-experimental vibes were still evident and the exaggerations were still there, they were noticeably lessened in this episode. This allowed the plot/storyline to take shape, the screenplay to appear more engaging, and the acting to be more relatable. Form should always be harmonized with substance. Too much focus on style as seen in the first two episodes takes away from the message of this series. How anxieties and distresses are magnified during a pandemic was featured in this episode. Zombies might actually be metaphors for the different types of people affected by the pandemic. Thirdy's story was interesting enough and his acting was the most tolerable so far. The changes from one scene to another and the editing were still a bit distracting but they were better than previous episodes. I hope succeeding episodes continue in this track so that by the end of its season, this series will be appreciated for bringing in something different (that's good) in the genre of Filipino (Pinoy) boys' love (BL) series.

By the way, the upcoming Pinoy BL series this September are all promising: Quaranthings with Kyo Quijano & Royce Cabrera (Kokoy's partner in Fuccbois), Oh, Mando! with Kokoy & Alex Diaz, My Extraordinary with Darwin Yu & Enzo Santiago & BenXJim with Jerome Ponce & Teejay Marquez :) This think this is a good batch of series!

I did! Lol!

Yes, you can view the ratings and you can leave a rating per episode. You don't need to leave a comment or review, just a rating is ok, it will still be counted :)

Please watch as well Truly Very Yours' sequel -- Hook Up!

This is a story. It's entirely in the hands of the creators to turn any character into a bad guy. They'll of course try to justify why he's turned bad (give him specific background, motivations, etc.) but what I'm saying is that I don't want the creators to turn him into one.

For me, one of the main problems of this series is its inability to progress in terms of characterizations. The characters are just too simplistic and unrealistic. With four episodes released, there's still no character development and depth. Because of this, acting of the lead cast appeared bland most of the time. Miko's acting had become monotonous as of late while Aki's performance had become stiff. Not even the fun and sexy moments of Episode 4 could hide the weak acting direction given to the cast. It's a pity especially since this series started with a lot of promise given its good production value. But hope is not yet lost. With eight more episodes, this series has plenty of time to arrest its downward spiral.

Yes, we did get some sexy moments from Tau and Otep and some cute moments from Nin and Makisig (plus some Nin and Makisig back story) but all and all, the plot/storyline didn't really move much on Episode 8: Unawa. This episode was slower than usual and seemed to be really setting up for the conflicts ahead. The screenplay wasn't as exciting as previous episodes but it was ok. The actors seemed to be more comfortable and relaxed with each other in this episode. Production design, cinematography, musical score, and editing were satisfactory. For next week's episode (most probably with Orion), I'm hoping for a more complex narrative.

Episode 5: Happy Birthday, Micro-Cheater! was not as good as the last three episodes. It was still ok but it wasn't as strong as the previous episodes. While there's more clarity about Mark's inner feelings and his relationship with Henry, I found Kevin's exit disconcerting, even upsetting. I just thought he was treated unfairly. There were some good dialogues in this episode but there were also some cringy and preachy lines. Acting was generally uneven. There were good scenes but there were also bad scenes. Some scenes were dragging which could have used some good editing. Still, I like this series so I'll see this series through till its finale.

I like those episodes too but since I also like to torture myself sometimes, I like how episodes 7 & 8 really made me sad & cry, lol!

Check out the official trailer from the Ride or Die Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YizryJ9mdR0