GMA Network/Viu’s Slay – Episodes 1-4 Streaming-to-Linear TV Comparison

So, I’ve been watching the Viu versions of the Slay episodes for three weeks now. (I haven’t watched Week 4/Episodes 13-16 yet). But the series premiered on linear television this week as it began airing on GMA Network as well as be uploaded onto their official YouTube channel.

I actually caught a bit of Episode 3 as it aired on GMA Pinoy TV and I immediately noticed pretty big changes to the episode itself.

First, let’s start with Episode 1. It starts out with narration by Derrick Monasterio as Zach instead of from the four ladies. And it actually changes the tone of the episode itself, making it more from his perspective and almost making him a sympathetic figure. At least more than the Viu edit.

Other smaller edits include editing out Zach bringing Liv to see his meditation chamber (which I think is kind of significant), the convo between Liv and her mother about their broken family (which was less important) and also cutting a few seconds from that infamous early anniversary dinner for Liv and Zach (negligible change in tone).

A new scene in the episode, which I think is actually a great addition, is a scene of Liv talking to her mother at home after running away from Zach and before going to the club with Yana. It was a nice little moment that showed more of the Liv and her mother’s dynamic than that original scene of them talking about her father leaving them.

Then the rest of the episode shortened the confrontation scene between Zach and Liv outside her house, removed Liv and Sugar talking before Liv’s father arrives the next day (which removes our original first impression of Sugar) and then removed Liv stuttering after seemingly slipping and assuming the culprit was a woman.

Episode 2 has less noticeable edits. But the one that was noticeable was a pretty major moment via flashback of Sugar’s father, in anger, telling her to kill Zach to avenge her brother.

Now we come to Episode 3. Zach narrates the beginning again. But we have several new scenes that I think are pretty huge, especially for Amelie as a character.

First, we get a new scene of Amelie’s mother telling her to apologize to Luke for embarrassing him at the gym when Zach almost him choked him to death. This scene had Amelia talk back to her mother (which was awesome!) before slinking back again.

Then there was another new scene of Amelie rampaging in her room after the viral video came out in which her father comes to comfort her. She asks if they can go out tonight, but he says they have to figure out how to handle damage control, especially since this issue might affect Luke’s mother who is running for mayor.

But the biggest change so far across these three episodes has to be the videos Zach had of Amelie on his computer. To refresh our memories, the Viu episodes just had the coffee freakout and then a video of her ass while working out. But in the GMA episodes, the workout video is replaced by a video of her in a nightie seemingly beckoning to whoever is filming her to join her in bed. Some sexy POV video of some sort. Like a typical OnlyFans teaser. (Don’t ask me how I know lolol)

This change though actually fits better with Zach’s lines about What would your family think if they found out about the videos. The workout videos wouldn’t cause a scandal. Some kind of OnlyFans account would though. Or maybe even a sex video between her and Zach. Could they have had a relationship? Fuck buddies?

And finally Episode 4. It probably had the least amount of substantial edits. A few lines and parts of scenes excluded, including Yana’s narration at the start and the girls singing together in the park after they all meet as four.

The new addition was a scene of Yana calling her father asking him about the fake watch. He admits that he just gave it to her to motivate her and asks if the price or the sentiment is more important to Yana. Yana says she needs the money to pay Zach back, but her father says she’s a law student and can figure something out herself.

The scene concludes with Amelie telling her to remember her father is sacrificing a lot for her. Yana asks Amelie if she wants to buy her bag.

So I really don’t get why the episodes are so different. I thought they would be simple edits like cutting out the sexier or more violent scenes to make the MTRCB happy. But significantly different narratives? That’s so odd.

Even more that the GMA episodes were actually a bit better than the original Viu episodes.

In my last recap of Episodes 7 through 12, I talked about how they were a bit lacking compared to the solid start of the series. Problems with execution and even pacing where my biggest gripes. So now I wonder if the GMA TV cuts of these episodes might be better and change my opinion on the show up to that point.

Pretty crazy to think about. But this is very fascinating. Like, I even get having alternate endings at the end with different killers. Or even multiple endings a la Clue. But they way they seem to be handling this is very strange, but also maybe even more interesting than the series and story itself.

I wasn’t sure if I would be watching both versions. But now I might just be compelled to just to see how different both versions can end up being!