After seeing the first episode, I think I'll keep watching for now - there was enough in that episode to keep me interested. Having said that, there are a few things that I find worth mentioning:
1. I hope they address why Ben's being a bitch towards the delivery man. I know of some people who try to flirt by being irritating, and I would prefer that Ben was that shallow instead of a more deeply-seated character flaw.
2. In this fantasy Philippines, it's perfectly acceptable to sleep with open ground-floor windows. Not only do burglars not exist, apparently there also aren't any mosquitoes.
And now for something completely superficial -- I find Teejay's alabaster skin and too-straight nose bridge a bit android-like. He's definitely twigging my uncanny valley. He should consider roles in science fiction films.
Part of "taking back our story" and normalization of non-heteronormative narratives (wow, that's a tongue twister) is portraying LGBTQIA+ stories in mainstream formats.
The rom-com formula is by now a patchwork of familiar clichés, and prior to GSP, we've never seen a rom-com featuring two guys and that's the inspiration for this entire series. Maybe one day we'll get an LGBT thriller, an LGBT superhero flick, or an LGBT war story. Who knows? We can start here with romantic comedies.
Until one day, it becomes so normalized that nobody bothers to point it out. To borrow from Avril Lavigne,
"He was a boy, he was a boy. Can I make it any more obvious?"
Not gonna lie, this series got me on the first half... before it became In Between Flashbacks. It started to feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread, to quote Bilbo Baggins.
Three-episode rule, sorry. I can just google for "basset hound" if I wanted to look at sad puppy eyes. Female characterization here is subpar for 2020.
I'm invoking my three-episode rule for this one. With the explosion of Filipino BLs, I can't afford to watch everything that comes out, unlike six months ago.
Looks like I was right about "I suspect this end credits sequence will evolve as the episodes pass by."
Incidentally, the end credits song is entitled "Unti-Unti" by Up Dharma Down and it literally translates to "little by little" -- which is what's happening.
Since this show is aired on free national television (TV5) here in the Philippines, it will be interesting to see how they navigate the regulation and censorship of our largely conservative, Catholic-majority country. All the previous Filipino BLs this year avoided this mine field by airing on YT or subscription cable.
I love the part where they said that while the Philippines have quite a fair share of LGBT stories, it's almost…
I agree, I think the international indie / film festival circuit has this affectation, this bias for poverty porn, "bury your gays" tropes, and coded schadenfreude, that it already feels artificial.
I am not dismissing these experiences, but at the same time we weren't put here on earth just to become object lessons -- we also have the agency to tell affirmative, positive stories.
The pilot was okay. I still have issues about the writer, juan severo, shading gameboys and ideafirst on twitter.
They can shade each other all they want -- at the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding, and real quality shows like Gameboys rise to the top, while the bad representations get drowned out and sink to the bottom like detritus. Here's to hoping GSP rises to the top too.
Okay, after a couple of re-watches (and watching reactors), I am deducing a few small things. Since I haven't read the wattpad, I may be totally wrong:
1. Ate Judit (without an "H" lol) rented out Vlad's unit to the girl she was talking to, because she was planning to take Vlad home for the semestral break/holidays. That's why Judit was saying it was okay to party there and that the neighborhood was safe, to reassure the new tenant.
2. Karl and Vlad have no choice but to live together --Karl because Vlad's paying his rent, and Vlad because he doesn't have a place anymore. I think this explains the end credits sequence where Karl's sitting on the couch watching something, and Vlad's standing in the kitchen area in the back while drinking from a mug, watching too. They're still not comfortable enough to share the couch at this point in the series. I suspect this end credits sequence will evolve as the episodes pass by.
3. Regarding Karl's rent: I think that a fully-furnished loft apartment would in no way cost just $100 to rent (look at the size of that TV!) so here's what I think is going on. Karl's uncle Sandy owns the apartment, and Karl staying there for the sem break is a rite of passage for his family. So, Karl's "rent" is just him paying his uncle Sandy the cost of utilities plus something extra, just to prove that he can be independent.
1. I hope they address why Ben's being a bitch towards the delivery man. I know of some people who try to flirt by being irritating, and I would prefer that Ben was that shallow instead of a more deeply-seated character flaw.
2. In this fantasy Philippines, it's perfectly acceptable to sleep with open ground-floor windows. Not only do burglars not exist, apparently there also aren't any mosquitoes.
And now for something completely superficial -- I find Teejay's alabaster skin and too-straight nose bridge a bit android-like. He's definitely twigging my uncanny valley. He should consider roles in science fiction films.
The rom-com formula is by now a patchwork of familiar clichés, and prior to GSP, we've never seen a rom-com featuring two guys and that's the inspiration for this entire series. Maybe one day we'll get an LGBT thriller, an LGBT superhero flick, or an LGBT war story. Who knows? We can start here with romantic comedies.
Until one day, it becomes so normalized that nobody bothers to point it out. To borrow from Avril Lavigne,
"He was a boy,
he was a boy.
Can I make it any more obvious?"
<-- sus
Incidentally, the end credits song is entitled "Unti-Unti" by Up Dharma Down and it literally translates to "little by little" -- which is what's happening.
I am not dismissing these experiences, but at the same time we weren't put here on earth just to become object lessons -- we also have the agency to tell affirmative, positive stories.
https://youtu.be/8fLnsu_uMZA
1. Ate Judit (without an "H" lol) rented out Vlad's unit to the girl she was talking to, because she was planning to take Vlad home for the semestral break/holidays. That's why Judit was saying it was okay to party there and that the neighborhood was safe, to reassure the new tenant.
2. Karl and Vlad have no choice but to live together --Karl because Vlad's paying his rent, and Vlad because he doesn't have a place anymore. I think this explains the end credits sequence where Karl's sitting on the couch watching something, and Vlad's standing in the kitchen area in the back while drinking from a mug, watching too. They're still not comfortable enough to share the couch at this point in the series. I suspect this end credits sequence will evolve as the episodes pass by.
3. Regarding Karl's rent: I think that a fully-furnished loft apartment would in no way cost just $100 to rent (look at the size of that TV!) so here's what I think is going on. Karl's uncle Sandy owns the apartment, and Karl staying there for the sem break is a rite of passage for his family. So, Karl's "rent" is just him paying his uncle Sandy the cost of utilities plus something extra, just to prove that he can be independent.