BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us to love.” – Augustine
Honestly, I have a love-hate relationship with this series. The story and acting are spectacular, but the production and direction are, well, just awful. It is a religious story without being overly preachy. It has a sublime message without being moralistic. I was surprised by the screenplay in this most Catholic of countries and I am sure (being raised a Catholic myself), the Church would not have approved this series for its flock. Why? Because it gives the best definition of God I have heard in a long time. THIS God passes no judgment. THIS God is compassionate and believes in love, no matter how the love is realized. THIS God is more interested in you being good to yourself and seeing your own worth more than necessarily doing good deeds or praying.
It is a simple story of a young man named Damon (Kaleb Ong). While he is barely 19, he plays this part with an incredibly deep dimension. He is an individual racked with guilt and pain for developing HIV/AIDS. He is sent to live with his Uncle Pete (Gio Emprese). Uncle Pete is a deeply religious and caring individual who tries to take care of Damon with compassion and is bit of an enigma. We do not really know his back story. He is hoping for a miracle and believes that if you pray hard enough and believe, all things are possible.
We later find out that he has been accepted into the seminary to become a priest. Damon’s whole world is unfortunately turned upside down and he ventures into a world of bitterness and anger, mainly directed towards God. He does not believe that God is listening, and he is being punished for being his true self — gay. He refuses to take his medication or eat and wants to escape by drinking. He does not believe in God nor prayer.
Finally reaching a tipping point, he spirals into a deep depression and tries on several occasions to kill himself but is unsuccessful. He cannot figure out how he is being spared. Just as he is ready to jump off a bridge, he is met by a stunningly handsome man named Angelo Enzo Santiago). He is Damon’s Guardian Angel who indeed has been blessed with angelic features. Of course, Damon does not believe him but with some great dialogue, we are all convinced that he is. And so, the relationship to try and save Damon begins with Angelo telling him he will never leave his side. In some very good exchanges, Angelo says he is with him all the time and yes, he has seen ‘it’ and he tells Damon, amusingly, his is ‘bigger’.
There are some warm and relatable human connections in this series even if they are between an angel and a human. Slowly but steadily, the two of them deepen the trust between them and Damon begins to soften and become hopeful. He becomes that way not so much necessarily from the prayers (which his uncle continues to do for him) but for the deep and profound connection that Damon has for Angelo and Angelo for Damon.
It becomes more than simply helping him to understand who he is or what God is really like. It develops into love. Deep, romantic, and in a subtle but lasting sense their souls are beginning to intertwine. Some of the conversations that they have about what God is, is simply profound, deeply moving, and in a real sense spiritual. The scene were Damon and Angelo are in bed together hugging, and they talk about what is God and can ‘people like him ever get into heaven’ is beautiful and quite moving.
As I said before, being a (former) Catholic some of the same questions Damon had are the same ones I would have asked my own Guardian Angel. I KNOW the fear and anguish of what punishment of the soul conjures up, even to this day. So that colloquy was done so brilliantly. Softly, sweetly, gently, non-judgmentally, spiritually (but not religious), lovingly hugging, and making it all sound ‘okay’. It was indeed quite touching, and I was deeply and sincerely moved by it.
Unfortunately, as Damon’s health deteriorates, there is a certain inevitability that happens, and he begins to realize that he has value and worth and would have done good things in this life. He asks Angelo to have this pass from him, but Angelo inconsolable and with great torment, cannot as he does not have the power. Damon does not despair but with dignity and a calmness learns to accept what is going to happen. He acknowledges his love for Angelo and asks if Angelo will be there when he gets to heaven and will he seek him and can they be together.
Angelo, with great anguish and pain in his inability to change the outcome, said that he would, and they shall be together, as he too is deeply in love with Damon. His job was to help Damon keep alive so he can be the best person that he can. But he failed and he too must face the consequences.
There is a significantly beautiful scene when Damon is outside sitting, weak, but still very lucid, asks his uncle if we would like to meet his Guardian Angel. Uncle Pete is beyond ecstatic in wanting to do so and Angelo appears. Damon says, ‘Uncle, meet my angel.” I totally lost it and wailed at this incredibly moving scene. I thought it was one of the best and most effective scenes of why a series is called what it is. It was quite extraordinary. Simple but very effective.
However, this series is not without its faults. The production is just awful. Sound was uneven even difficult at times to hear. Camera work and angles left a lot to be desired. Plants and trees in front of the actors blocked our seeing them sometimes in very critical scenes. The direction and attention to detail was not very good. It tended to linger on shots for a long period of time that even the actors seemed uncomfortable. The rosary scene droning on forever, brought back so many unpleasant memories for me that I began to cite the same verses, just to move it along. Details are extremely important. It is obvious that Damen is dying, yet he looks well except for the dark circles under his eyes. I am guessing that the production is a low budget enterprise, but a few makeup tricks could have made him look the part. It needs to be real so we can believe in it. It was not for lack of trying in acting. His movements made it look like he was frail, and his voice sounded weak and raspy, but he needed help to look the part. Details are vital.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? All three of these actors, honestly, did an exemplary job in conveying their characters as real as possible. I believed the portrayal of religiosity in Gio Emprese as Uncle Pete. I believed Enzo Santiago was a Guardian Angel. He played that part, which could have been an absurdity, into someone with real conviction and a sense of genuine purpose and a wholesomeness about who he was. Honestly, he looks like an angel. But I must give a slight nod to Kaleb Ong as Damon. The range of emotions he had to play in rapid succession was astounding. He must transform from utter depression into a person whose life is worth saving. He was to feel the profound guilt of being gay and becoming ill because of it with pain, anger, bitterness, and a realization that God has abandoned him. But at the end, he manages to convey a sense of grace and dignity and an acceptance of who he is and more importantly that his love for Angelo is real and sanctioned by God. He never overplayed or underplayed the part. He has such a quiet beauty about him and a boyish almost innocent charm about him that made him appear even more handsome. There is just something about him that I just could not keep my eyes off him. I wanted to hug him and tell him that everything was going to be okay also. Some people have an ‘It’ factor that draws you to them and he does for me. He is an outstanding actor.
When I watched this series, I was not sure where it was going or wondered if it would get preachy or take a religious route. Its message of acceptance and inclusion even in heaven was quite beautiful, solidified by the love between Damon and Angelo. And the Uncle, who was going to become a priest, offered hope that maybe, just maybe, the Catholic Church will wake up and see that God really is everything they claim He/She/It is but they themselves do not believe.
This story and screenplay are quite provocative and thoughtful (especially in such a Catholic country) and spot on. The acting is excellent. What brought this series down was the production. If that had been up to a better level, this would be on my top ten list for 2021. But the production and direction let this series down. Also, I am not sure I understood the end at all. If Damon had been suffering for 5 more months, he would never have been able to get to where he was nor look that good.
Also, I was not sure why they did not get their ‘wings’ (you have to look up “it’s a Wonderful Life’ to get this reference). Where they being punished for some reason in needing to go back to earth and assist, ironically, who they were assigned to? While it was a nice reunion scene with Angelo, I am so tired and weary and feel cheated that we, as the audience, did not get a chance to see them kiss. I am frustrated with these stories where characters fall deeply in love but NEVER kiss. Give me a break! Come on. That smacked of prudishness and a fear of taking it just one step further.
As a gay man who lived through all the torturous guilt that the Catholic Church heaped on me growing up, I am insulted that we did not even get a simple kiss. No more excuses. If this is a love story, then show it. That starts with a simple kiss. I would have given this series a way higher rating but cannot because of the poor production and the unwillingness to show a simple gesture of love with a kiss.
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