Pinoy BL Series

Episode 7: The Wall is not really a good episode. It's a bit preachy and I got bored with the long dialogues. I've given up on the screenplay and acting in this series. While definitely there's improvement when compared to the first episodes, overall, they're still underwhelming. Like in the previous episodes, the best parts of this episode were those without dialogues and with only the OSTs. Cinematography was fine while editing was a bit off in this episode. Credits wasn't even provided in this episode. Next week is Sakristan's finale. I hope Sakristan is able to at least resolve all the issues it brought up throughout the series.

This is not the first Filipino BL series. Gameboys is the first Filipino BL series. Gameboys is definitely way, way better than this and even better than Thailand's Quarantine Stories. There are other Filipino BL series like Hello Stranger and In Between worth watching.

I just finished watching the two-part Episode 1: Muli. The plot/storyline seemed promising. It opened dramatically with Tau breaking up with Otep. While it's obvious Migs is more experienced in acting, Genesis did held his own in the opening scene. I felt that Genesis needed to dial down a bit but his acting overall was fine. Migs may not be an Elijah or a Kokoy but he did have different layers in his acting. Both Migs and Genesis looked sexy in their own way so that's a plus. I love their look. They seemed perfect for their roles. Most of the support cast have acting experience. I remember Renshi, Lara, and Shiara from the movie "Class of 2018" (2018). They were ok but I felt that like Genesis, Lara needed to tone down a bit to avoid overacting. The screenplay was realistic enough. Production design was alright. The use of Baybayin was really nice. Editing was generally satisfactory although there where scenes in the first part wherein the audio was not perfectly in sync with the video. Music was also up to par but the series needs a good OST. Overall, it's a good pilot episode and I'll definitely watch the next episode!

Done!

10+ out of 10. I'm not mad that we didn't get Cairo's "Yes" in this episode. The elephant in the room was not really his answer to Terrence's question. The elephant in the room has always been about Cairo's father and his relationship with his family. Episode 7: The Elephant in the Room reminded me of the centrality of family for a lot of Filipinos and the difficulty of navigating within this unit especially if you belong to the LGBTQ+ community. It also reminded me that the pandemic is real and that people are dying. I've watched a lot of boys' love (BL) series, and when I say a lot, I mean a lot, but the last scene from this episode is one of the most, if not the most heartbreaking scene I've ever seen. Acting was at its best in this episode. Adrianna's Pearl was an effective happy relief from the overall despair in this episode. Sue Prado, who portrayed Cairo's mother proved that you don't need to be hysterical to show great sorrow. The way she showed quiet grief was simply amazing. Kokoy's Gav showed a lot of character development in this episode. The facade of confidence was broken down in this episode that gave way to a sensitive Gav with doubts and insecurities. The last scene where Gav cried with Cairo was very powerful, overshadowed only by the greatness of Elijah. Man, I've watched this episode three times already and in all three times, Elijah made me cry with him. I love Elijah. But so as not to end this comment in gloom, I would like to point out that we did get some romantic and sexy scenes from this episode. The scene where Cairo and Gav paused for a few seconds while dancing just to look into each other's eyes was a very intimate moment. For the sexy scene... Gav taking a shower... need I say more? Lol. Three episodes left! I hope we get a happy ending on Episode 10. I don't want to wait for the movie or Season 2 to get a happy ending! Direk Ivan, please give us our happy ending!

Best acting performance by a mile! Elijah was soooo good! Longer comment later after the post-show interview with Revil in the One BL Pilipinas Facebook page :)

This one is a Filipino gay series, not really a BL series.

Everything improved in Episode 3: Hello, Heartbeat! More information about the background of the lead characters was revealed in this episode. Particularly, we got to know more about Mico. I love the "Dear Basketball" (2017) and "One More Chance" (2007) moments. While the pace is still a bit slow for my liking (dialogues went too long), the screenplay was generally refined in this episode. Acting and the chemistry between the lead actors were also better. JC deserves special mention for his improvement. Production design, camera work, musical score, and editing were as good as in the previous episodes. The last scene, with its dialogue and hand gestures, was really corny but it can be forgiven because the last line from Xavier was absolutely romantic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbddgNd_EtM

Not yet. Last episode next Saturday.

Episode 6: The Goddess was a good episode. Introducing Christian's gay father made the plot/storyline a bit more complex. Sakristan's plot/storyline was never really the issue. Its main textual problems have always been its screenplay and the cast's acting. But for this episode, both were relatively good. While I hated the gossiping of the support cast (whose acting was bad all around) and Zach's stereotypical views about Wolf's gayness, Christian's dialogue with his father, while still cringy at times, was also heartwarming. Their lines together hopefully neutralised Zach's stereotypical views. The acting performance of both Clifford and Henry was better in this episode. I also liked the portrayal of the female teacher. Cinematography blended pretty well with the OSTs. I would even dare say that the best scenes from his episode were those without dialogues and with only the OSTs and the sceneries. And man, Clifford is such a sight for sore eyes! He's one sexy dude! I don't care if the scenes showing Zach with a surfboard didn't really make sense for this episode, Clifford showing off his sexiness is always good. As for Henry, the haircut looked good on him. I found the last scene a bit odd that even without clarifying things with Zach, Christian ended their relationship. I know seeing your bestfriend and boyfriend kiss is a big deal but if I were him I would still want an explanation for better closure. Let's see what happens next in the last two episodes.

I can also understand a bit of Thai without Eng Sub :) But I need Eng Sub for my KDrama :)

Yes, I did. I'm a Filipino based in Thailand so I can understand Tagalog :)

I was caught off guard that Episode 5: Truly Yours was the final episode of the series. I was expecting 10 episodes! Anyway, the finale was the longest episode with over 16 minutes. It was a good episode, probably its best episode in terms of screenplay and acting. Not everything was explained and resolved. We still don't know what really happened between Mark and David but at least there's closure. And it ended in a hopeful note so that's good as well. Unfortunately, there's a problem with the audio which was a skip behind the video which kinda ruined the finale. But all things considered, it's still a cute Pinoy BL miniseries.

There's another update just this morning...

Episode 6: Secret Party was extra cheesy, but still cute and sweet. The episode delved more into Gav and Terrence's past relationship as well as Cai's personality. Gav was even more adorable in this episode, if that's even possible. While I still hate Terrence, at least this episode provided us the reason for his machinations. Part of me actually felt sad for him. As for Cai, I know a lot of friends like him so I totally get him. It's always hard to say you're sorry especially if it's your fault. Kudos to him for his effort! Pearl continued to be the slay Queen in this series. Obviously, the "confrontation" was the highlight of this episode. While the Screenwriter and Director did enough to avoid a super soapy scene, I still found it a bit awkward. I guess it's one of those scenes that's difficult to convert into a virtual setting. Unlike Hello Stranger, which has a lot of money that enabled it to acquire permission to use actual names of e-mail, social media, and social networking services, Gameboys had to invent their own versions of Facebook, Instagram, Gmail, Zoom, etc. to avoid infringing on the trademarks of these companies which I found really amusing. Elijah likes to rap. He writes and sings his own rap songs. He did that in one of his previous movies. He also wrote the lyrics and sang the OST "Angel of Peace" in this episode. Not my type of music but if that's what makes baby Cai/Elijah happy, then I'm happy for him. I prefer the other OST "Pag-asa," also sang by Elijah. The cliffhanger for this episode was my least favorite. I would have wanted this episode to end with Cai giving a definitive answer, that would have provided an even more exciting wait for next week. Anyway, only four episodes left! Let's watch again next week!

While Episode 2: Hello Feelings! is a notch better than its pilot episode, Hello Stranger still can't seem to get its putting right. It still looks quite tentative in its execution of scenes. The plot/storyline moved along just fine and the screenplay was ok. Acting and the chemistry between the lead actors improved. Production design, camera work, music, and editing were still good. I don't really know why, but I still got bored with this episode. Maybe because I didn't learn anything really new about the lead characters since we already have a general idea of Xavier and Mico's personalities and characterisations from last week's episode? Maybe because the dialogues were not exciting enough? Sure, there were some "kilig" moments here and there (Xavier sending Mico that video was really cute) but overall, the episode seemed dull for me. Or maybe because there wasn't a cliffhanger to entice me to look forward to next week's episode? I don't know. In any case, the boys (especially Patrick) looked pretty good so I shouldn't complain too much. I just hope things get more exciting next week.

It's written by Gab Torres. He calls it a mini-series so expect shorter episodes compared to Gameboys, Sakristan, and Hello Stranger.

I like the Wolf and Christian scene as well. They really looked like good friends who certainly love each other just joking around and settling their misunderstanding. There were still some iffy aspects but that scene is probably the most realistic and relatable scene in the entire episode.

Yap is so insecure. I don't even think Sakristan is the "first" because Gameboys came one week earlier with good numbers as well. Sure, Sakristan's first episode had better numbers in the beginning but they eventually fizzled out. Gameboys' episode 1 has now overtaken Sakristan's episode 1 in terms of Youtube views. If we compare episodes 2-5, Gameboys has consistently more views than Sakristan. With the help of the Kapamilya machinery, Hello Stranger will probably end up with the most views (Facebook and Youtube combined). Anyway, Yap should just stick to his own series. Enough of the shading. Lol.