Week 12 of Pulang Araw was a bit slower once again. But I think it actually was appropriate for what was tackled in Episodes 56 through 60.
Episode 56 of course picked up on the horrifying and heavy final scenes of last week. That is, the aftermath of Teresita witnessing the brutal rape and abuse of the women in that hell of a house.
Though the series did include some of the nonsense back at the Tanaka-turned-Borromeo home, the week was focused more on the suffering of the women in the house. And rightly so. Even the busybody Adelina’s stuff was eventually tied in with her and Eduardo’s reunion connected to their future search and potential rescue of Teresita and the women.
A great scene in Episode 57 was how chilling it was when Teresita gratefully hugged Col. Yuta thinking he was there to save her. Even if it was expected that Col. Yuta was the big boss, it was a strong scene. Sanya Lopez delivered that scene with great nuance to go from relief to horror. Really great. And she definitely expressed those emotions very well.
I’ve talked about how cringey and eyeroll-inducing all the soapy forced marriage and arranged marriage and love triangle stuff has been. It seems like they wanted to do that only to lead to this week’s events and giving Col. Yuta a reason to take Teresita hostage just to introduce this exploration of one of the most horrifying aspects of the war in the Philippines.
But I still think all that soapy stuff was not necessary to tell these stories now.
Good to see Eduardo and the rebels out in the forest and touching upon the dangerous conditions they had to face while bravely fighting back.
The highlight of the week was the emotional scene between Teresita and the young Lorena. I think it was Episode 60? Heartbreaking performances from Sanya Lopez and Angeli Nicholle Sanoy. Again, it’s just unbelievable to remember that Japanese troops really did rape minors as well during the war. It’s difficult to watch here, but very important to not forget.
This scene was handled with great care. And I think it was one of the stronger and more well-executed moments of the series so far.
The next standout moment was the scene (broken up of course) between Rochelle Pangilinan and Ashley Ortega’s characters talking about where God is at their time of suffering. It’s a fascinating discussion. And obviously a question anyone in their situation would ask.
One of the all-time great films of Filipino cinema is titled Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos which also deals with the atrocities against women during World War II in the Philippines.
It will be interesting to see how the series will continue to talk about this question as Eduardo also mentions the same sentiment in Episode 60.
One huge positive about this week’s developments is that the Core4 are finally away from Mama Borromeo. So we can hopefully be done with the teleserye nonsense and focus on the more important and interesting plot threads instead. Lol Phew! *crossesfingers*
Hiroshi and also Papa Tanaka waking up to the fact that Col. Yuta is a demonic asshole is great. I sense a tragic end for Papa Tanaka, but hopefully that will be the final straw for Hiroshi to maybe switch sides and join up with his Filipino BFFs? I could see that. And it would go a long way to also further display the brutality and cruelty of the Japanese invaders of this time.
My nitpick of the week of the week though: Please chill with the loud crashboombahs. You know what I’m talking about? Like, you don’t need to drop those loud sound effects every other second to make a point. It’s crazy. It reminds me of the overdramatic editing of the shows that Pulang Araw creator Suzette Doctolero likes to criticize (i.e., both Coco Martin FPJ shows) with their weird zoom ins and TikTok-level editing and beats, whatever. So strange. You don’t need a loud audio period at the end of people’s sentences to emphasize a point or to tell us the viewer to gasp at that moment or something. Takes a lot away from the scene, to be honest.
Overall, an appropriately slower week to give the main focus of these episodes the care and importance it deserves.