BLISS RATING: ★★★★+
“I never meant to fall in love with the priest. But God help me, I did.” – Unknown
Where do I begin with this series! Its production is simply lousy. The editing is awful. The sound is sporadic and uneven in a lot of places. The support characters are superficial and stereotypical. The main actors are at times have a flat affect about them and lack depth and suffered from someone not being able to give them good acting directions. The story meanders a lot and at times was hard to follow.
But God, I LOVED IT! I just loved this little throw away series that should not be on anyone’s top ten list, but it could very well be on mine. For me, it worked. I laughed, I cried, I was sad, and I was happy. It elicited emotions in me that I did not think I had let alone really feel. I honestly felt for these characters. Perhaps for all the reasons this BL series was awful are the reasons I feel in love with it. It is just a stunning series of human reactions, of love, and of human pain yet filled with totally unrealistic characters that should NOT have worked. But did! There is nothing pretentious about this series. It is satirical but serious. It is over the top but never over acted. Plus, the screenplay is not just brilliant it is one of the best I have ever seen. What a series. I am simply gobsmacked! Let me explain my reasoning (and why I totally disagree with all the negative criticisms about this series.
This is a story about two young men connected to a Catholic school, one of whom is an acolyte (hence Sakristan) named Christian (John Henry Villanueva). He is asked by the priest to tutor a swimmer who is vital to them winning. His name is Zach (Clifford Pushing). While initially not liking each other, they develop a friendship and bond the more time they spend together. Soon, they fall in love, and it turns into a love story with the usual insecurities and jealousies. Initially, there is more of a woodenness to their acting which I attributed to the fact that both do not have a lot of acting experiences.
But, when they are together, there is something magical that happens. There is such a connection to each other and their whole demeanor changes when they are together. It is tangible and authentic. It is soft, gentle, real, genuine, and just plain nice. There is such an intensity between the two of them and a chemistry that it grabs you. They are so believable together. I could watch these two together simply sitting at a table and saying and doing nothing but being themselves. To me, it was genuine, and I believed it. However, there is one person, who is also a fellow acolyte and a best friend to Christian named Wolf (Xavier Reyes) who is unusually negative to this budding relationship. When he finds out that Christian and Zach are together, Wolf is upset and calls Christian derogatory names. It is obvious that Wolf is closeted and has deep feelings for Christian. This is borne-out in the end of the series with a somewhat sad ending between the two.
That makes this series so memorably brilliant is the screenplay. The writer of this series is also the director, and his name is Daryl Yap. I discovered that there is some controversy about him, and I am not here to pass judgment on that as I do not know all the facts. All I know is that he is a brilliant writer and gave us something that, while certainly not singular, looks at the gay world in an unusual way. His writing is spot on and obviously pushes the envelope and just borders on being salacious.
Some of the dialogue, especially between Christian and his lesbian friend, is down-right hysterical and is full of innuendo and tremendous symbolism. For example, she says to him, “Sex is like bilo-bilo — warm sticky white soup. It is sticky…because of the friction between the rice balls and the banana slices.” I almost fell off my chair laughing so hard as I am sure people might have been scandalized by that. She also gives him some profound advice that is beautiful. She further says to him, “If a relationship is an entire day, then sex should be like bilo-bilo. Just for snack time. Don’t let it be the source of strength in a relationship.” Great advice and absolutely spot-on. (By the way, bilo-bilo is a Filipino sweet snack/desert and is very good.)
When Christian goes to visit his father, he is shocked by what he discovers about his dad. His father is gay and living his life dressed and acting like a woman. There is some beautiful dialogue between father and son. He says to his son, “We say everyone has a right to love but when we get hurt, we blame it on what we are”. That is incredibly astute and so true. He knows and can see that his son is in pain from the breakup of his love. (The breakup between Christian and Zach was caused by an incredibly stupid act by Zach that in Christian’s mind is unforgivable). Christian asks him if he has ever been in love with a man. “Oh yes. I love him so much that I feel in pain when he is in pain,” he says. Just brilliant and so meaningful. The father leaves Christian with advice that he will have peace. “Forgiveness always gives you peace”. I just melted at these words and cried. I shall not disclose the ending of this series except to say that it is neither happy nor sad. It is hopeful.
This story is so in your face that it is hard to describe fully. So many of the characters are over-the-top gay, which I (normally) detest. They are stereotypical comic relief characters that paint an unfair picture except that they too can be cruel. One of their members in their ‘Pop Club” is kicked out over something petty and he is ostracized by them. He is heartbroken and later when they see him, he smiles but they treat him as if he did not exist. So cruel but I am afraid so common even among this marginalized group. There is always still someone who is ‘less than you’.
Yet, despite all of this, for me, these characters worked and are integral to its storytelling. Zach’s father is also introduced which as shocking as it was, was not unexpected for this series. I shall not apologize about how I feel about this series.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? John Henry Villanueva as Christian takes this part and runs with it. Given how young he is, he still has good acting skills and shows the depth of understanding of his character. More importantly, he knows how to react with in the situation in a way that is so believable and feels nature. This is not an easy part because the whole series is a set of quirky dynamics.
The story is so spot on and is so beautifully told, that it deserves recognition. The main actors are handsome and have incredibly beautiful bodies (yes, I am aware of how old Clifford was at the time of production but that should not negate the truth). There are mass amounts of symbolism in this series that are just too numerous to mention but nonetheless add so much to the understanding of this story, from time to time with humor and earnestness. The fact that it sometimes and sometimes not pokes fun of the Catholic Church only enhances this series for me. Having grown up Catholic, I am cognizant of how the Church can influence the development of one’s self-awareness as a gay person.
It is not always pleasant or pretty and to be honest it mostly is not positive. Yet, this series, while poking fun of it, never loses sight of the fact that it is an integral part of Filipino life. It does so satirically. It presents it as sometimes good and useful as an escape pod. I just loved this story and highly, highly recommend it despite the concerns of others over the director. I am judging his work; not him.
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