Pinoy BL Series

Even without shirtless scenes, lol, Episode 7 was a nice episode. Alex and Gino confessed their love for each other and they kissed at the end of this episode. Screenplay wasn't perfect but there were some good lines on this episode. The conversation with Lolo Dell more or less represented the views of guys like Alex who are uncomfortable being labeled as gay. The insecurities of queers like Gino with respect to appearance were evident in the dialogues as well. Although their scenes together needed a bit more chemistry, Migo and VJ's acting was mostly fine. Audio-visuals were alright. For next week's finale, I hope all loose ends are resolved.

Compared to the previous episodes, Episode 5: Liquid Courage was pretty light but it was a good episode nonetheless. Additional character backgrounds for JM and Reb were provided. And with JM and Reb sharing personal details about themselves, relationship development was evident. I especially liked how drunkenness and post-intoxication/soberness were handled on this episode. The scenes were funny. And no drunk sex involved! Screenplay was mostly fine. Acting was on point. Audio-visuals were ok. Iyo singing "Nagmamahal Din Lang" (Since You Love Anyway) was nice. I wonder, will they eventually include his version in the series' Spotify playlist? I sure hope so. Anyway, this was solid episode.

It was revealed on Episode 4 that Andrei possibly has a peptic ulcer. Because of this, he failed to attend some of his classes. Sef, who doesn't get along with his family, misses Andrei and decides to visit him. At least this episode provided some additional character details about Andrei and Sef. But script and the delivery of lines lacked flow. Allen and Ivo's performances were missing dynamics. Their vocal, physical, and emotional choices were almost the same for every scene. They need proper acting direction to be able to showcase some range. Production technicals were similar to previous episodes. All in all, I'm still hoping that this series gets better on succeeding episodes.

At least Episode 5: Spoken Poetry had more creative elements compared to previous episodes. The funny shower and masturbation scenes and the meaningful spoken poetry and musical scenes were welcome reprieves from the usual conversation scenes. While the poems and the song were quite ordinary, they were nevertheless apt devices to present Gerald and Joshua's feelings at those moments. Drei and Gus' acting on this episode were mostly alright. But audio-visuals were uneven. Sound volume wasn't good and some camera shots failed to capture the emotions of the scenes. Overall, this episode was still ok.

It wasn't clear yet on Episode 2: First Dance, but as COVID-19 was described as spreading rapidly in the provincial and rural town, symptoms seem to point to Cardo as having caught the contagious disease. I just hope this isn't another Filipino (Pinoy) boys' love (BL) series employing the bury your gay trope. Anyway, more than anything else, this episode was about Cardo and Nathaniel's domestic life together presented through conversation-heavy scenes. While their dialogues need to be more natural, they were generally ok. Gino and John Gil's chemistry still need work. But their intimate scene was alright though. Audio-visuals remained uneven. Sound wasn't always clear and some scenes were too dark. Notwithstanding these technical issues, this episode was mostly fine.

Two-dimensional antagonists are adversaries of the leads who lack character depth or substance. The character treatment is very superficial with no plausible explanation for the character's behavior. They indicate lazy writing.

It's available now.

I can confidently say that "Lust Never Lasts" is among the worst Filipino (Pinoy) boys' love (BL) series that I've seen. Much like the previous episodes, Episode 4 was soapy with bad direction, script, and acting. Aside from incest, problematic stereotypes, not only of bisexuals and intersexuals but other queers, dominated its nauseating screenplay. It's highly regressive. It's as if it's written by someone uneducated on the issues of the queer community. Acting was awful. And production technicals remained poor. I hope this series ends soon.

Episode 2: Katotohanan (Truth) was a weak episode. While character and relationship backgrounds were provided, the execution of scenes was quite uncreative. Script had unrealistic lines and whiny dialogues. Acting-wise, Elijah and James were alright but the supporting cast members delivered mostly tentative performances. Production technicals remained poor. Overall, this was a disappointing episode.

The last I heard there's still Episode 4. Maybe it's just delayed.

He plays Lloyd. He has a boyfriend (Troy) but he sleeps around with a sex worker (Lance).

Is the juxtaposed parallel narrative style working for this series? To be honest, I'm not sure yet. I'll need a few more episodes to gauge. Episode 2: Real Talk tackled sex work. Because the series' moral dilemma was still pretty evident, the discussion about sex work had cringy parts. Nevertheless, while there were motherhood and preachy statements, script was mostly fine. Acting was good. Production technicals were ok. But overall, this episode was a bit dull. Hopefully, the next episode will be more interesting.

I'm not sure about Dane's link with Kyle. Maybe he's part of Dane's scheme or maybe he's just interested with Martin. I think one conflict in the remaining episodes, Ethon will eventually find out about Martin being part of Dane's scheme and understandably he'll get mad at Martin. So how they'll resolve that will be interesting. With Dane, I agree, what does she expect to gain from her scheme? That's why her character needs depth to help explain why she's like that. I hate two-dimensional antagonists.

I must admit, the pairing of Aki and Solo on this series really grew on me. They looked cute together. On Episode 5, Ethon and Martin's relationship development didn't feel forced. I liked that there were still banters exchanged between them, most of which were actually funny. They have chemistry together. The plot/storyline was made a bit more complicated with Dane's scheme and Kyle's entry. I just hope these antagonists are given more character depth in succeeding episodes. While there were corny lines, the dialogues were mostly ok. Some of the jokes were quite effective. Acting was alright. But production technicals regressed. Set designs for the production shoot and press conference were substandard. Regardless, overall, this was a good episode.

While I'm still looking for a bit more complexity in terms of plot/storyline, at least there were some movements on Episode 6. Alex and Gino spent more time together. Also, Derrick and Alex separately confessed their love for Gino. I swear, going shirtless each episode was part of Migo's contract for this series, lol. By the way, congratulations to Migo for winning the male pageant Mister Friendship International (2021)! For this episode, script was alright. Acting was fine. And production technicals were ok. On the whole, this episode wasn't bad at all.

While Episode 1 was still rough around the edges, in terms of tone, this season seemed better than the previous season. It's less campy and less theatrical. Sure, the narrative techniques used to connect the previous season to the current one (flashbacks and voice-overs) weren't really creative but they accomplished what they intended to do which was to situate the new plot/storyline. And I like this season's post-initial romance plot/storyline. Benjo and Emil's domestic issues were relatable. I only hope social issues are also tackled on succeeding episodes. The sexy and steamy scenes on this episode were tastefully done. They were actually funny. I'm just not sure about the maid. I'm tired of women being made the antagonist on boys' love (BL) series. In any case, this is only the pilot episode so maybe there's still hope for Chloe. While screenplay had cheesy and preachy lines, it was ok for the most part. Acting was fine too. Carl and Johnrey came across as more comfortable on-screen this time around. Audio-visuals were quite uneven though. Sound was somewhat clear. Camera shots, angles, and movements were alright. But there were poorly edited photos (during the flashbacks), inharmonious dubbing (scene with Emil and his staff), and incorrect subtitles (e.g. business friends instead of business trends). Johnrey sounded great singing the soundtracks "Tayo'y Kasal" (We're Married), "Gawin Mo 'Kong Boyfriend" (Make Me Your Boyfriend), and "Tama Ba Ito" (Is this Right) by Pipo Cifra and Vince Tanada. I wasn't excited about the songs but at least Johnrey sang them beautifully. Overall, I still think this was a solid premiere episode.

Other than insinuating Gerald and Joshua had drunk sex (which I hate), nothing much happened on Episode 4: Guessing Game. It's really a guessing game where the plot/storyline of this series is heading. I'm all for deep conversations but if they lead to nowhere, they're actually wasted, which I think was the case for this episode. Besides, script got quite boring on this episode. Again, Drei and Gus are good actors, they act naturally, but they're artistically crippled by the poor material. Production technicals were better though. Sound was clearer. Camera shots, angles, and movements were mostly ok. All in all, I hope next episode's more interesting.

Episode 4: Bare Naked had cute and funny scenes as well as dramatic and sad scenes that all the more made this episode a satisfying watch. Of all these scenes, the face reveal scene at the beginning and the hug scene at the end were my favorites. On this episode, I learned more about JM, as he slowly let his guard down, and Reb, as he shared about his life, music, and work. The death of Reb's friend was a relatable reminder of the state of the world we all live in. Script, with a mix of Filipino, English, and Taglish dialogues (just a note, lots of Filipinos with middle to upper class background normally speak this way), had adorable lines ("Have you fallen in love with me yet?," "On your... lap?," "Hug me," "It's okay... you're okay... everything will be okay"). But there were also some controversial statements ("...there's nothing wrong with sex work because it's a legitimate and respectable industry"). Yes, there's nothing wrong with sex work per se, but contextualizing it in Philippine realities, it's certainly an abusive industry borne out of exploiting the poverty of (and therefore, the lack of choices for) most Filipino sex workers. But at least this series doesn't shy away from challenging the demonization of sex work in the country. Acting-wise, Iyo and Yves were consistently solid. Their portrayal of their roles felt quite natural. Production design, cinematography, musical scoring, sound engineering, and editing were all good. The soundtracks "Naghihintay" (Waiting) and "Orasan" (Clock), both by Iktus, enhanced some of the important scenes from this episode. On the whole, this was a wonderful episode.

Episode 3 reminded me of some of the issues I had with One Day Pag-ibig. Like One Day Pag-ibig, this series had too many secondary characters without clear character background, depth, and development. This episode had male characters displaying machismo, female characters flaunting toxicity and/or vanity, and queer characters exhibiting shallowness as comic relief. Instead of merely showing how Sef continuously picks on Andrei, this episode would have been better spent improving the characterizations of the supporting cast members. Some of their dialogues were cringy. In addition, the delivery of lines of the supporting actors portraying these characters wasn't natural enough. If it weren't for Allen, Ivo, and Clark, I would have really hated this episode. Audio-visuals remained weak. Overall, this wasn't a good episode.

In terms of plot/storyline, Episode 1: Bahay Kubo (Nipa Hut) didn't reveal much. The conflicts and tensions within the plot/storyline weren't clear yet. Be that as it may, some character backgrounds for Cardo and Nathaniel were provided. Apparently, they have different economic backgrounds. Cardo's poor while Nathaniel's a bit well-to-do. They worked together as seafarers. And they've been lovers for six years now. They're on a provincial and rural setting that was seemingly far from the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic. There were curious scenes that didn't quite fit yet like the scenes wherein Cardo was recording an instructional vlog about cooking "pakbet" or "pinakbet," an indigenous Filipino (Pinoy) dish made from mixed vegetables sautéed in fish or shrimp sauce. Screenplay was generally ok. While tentativeness was evident on some scenes, acting was still largely fine. Chemistry needs improvement though. Production technicals were a bit uneven. There were good camera shots and interesting color grading but lighting on the whole wasn't that good. There were scenes that were too dark for my liking. But overall, this pilot episode was alright.