GMA Network/Viu’s Slay – Episodes 13-16 Thoughts

Week 4 of GMA Network’s and Viu’s Slay. (The streaming versions of the episodes that is.) And after having an iffy time with the last group of episodes I watched, these four episodes made up for them I think.

Episodes 13 through 16 (and I did watch 17 too, but I’ll keep this recap to just the four) were probably the best of the series so far. Lots of fun and exciting developments. Most of all, the ladies’ true colors are finally starting to come out. Their real sides are being exposed and revealed. And that has led to some great scenes this week.

Let’s start with Episode 13 which picks up with Sugar finding out that her brother potentially led a secret life she had no idea about. Though the series kind of put all of that on the backburner for the rest of the week, it helps to plant the seeds for what I’m sure will be future story when the truth about Kuya Byron’s possibly shady dealings and relationships will be important to the overall narrative.

But Episode 13’s highlights definitely involved Liv. As Sugar took the spotlight last week (to wobbly execution, to be honest), this week looked to put Liv in the spotlight next. And I think the show did a much better job doing that.

First, Liv and Amelie confronting Cindy was peak soapy camp. The hair pulling, the screaming, the zingers. All fun stuff. Especially Gabbi Garcia’s delivery of some of Amelie’s attack lines at Cindy lol

But perhaps the most biting one-liner was from Cindy: “Youre cold. Youre frigid. Para kang robot!” Ouch! That hurt Liv! But that line seemed to activate the Liv we haven’t seen yet.

Or at least, helped to introduce the full moment of Liv and Zach’s confrontation. This episode signaled the start of palaban Liv. Seeing her fighting back against Zach and now Cindy and then the Mariteses at her office. This isn’t the meek, martyr Liv we saw in the beginning.

Zach blaming Liv for him cheating on her is typical Zach of course. And all of it made Liv going crazy at Zach’s grave be well justified. Zach doesn’t deserve the respect, even in death. No? lol

But again, this episode was a great kick off to finally seeing the ladies’ true colors finally come to the forefront.

Episode 14 opened up with Inspector Juro announcing to the whole office that he wanted to speak with Liv about Zach’s death. I thought it was hilarious.

The rest of the episode kind of focused more on the family drama. Which actually might end up playing a big role in what actually happened.

Like, what was the deal with Liv’s mother, father and Zach’s father? History there? And then what if Amelie’s mother had something going on with the horny Zach. We all know Zach would sleep with anything with two legs, let’s be real here lol Maybe the sanctimonious mother is a hypocrite. Wouldn’t be the biggest shock in the world, yeah? Lol

Elsewhere, we got more of Yana being kind of a spoiled brat and really a ditz. Which again, might make her the likelier culprit than the other ladies. You never know. It’s a perfect cover.

But for more zings, I actually very much enjoyed Liv’s “Akala ko investigator ka. Then investigate!” to Inspector Juro. Which, I kind of agree with her. Don’t let me give you all the clues, you know? lol

Episode 15 starts out with the continuing drama over Tea Tree Oil as well as the “Squad” being the biggest Mariteses ever. Lol

But it helped to set-up one of the best moments of the series so far. And that was the big confrontation at the mansion! Loved getting to see Amelie’s mother finally get some kind of comeuppance. Though I really wished Liv and her mother got a bit more of their kicks in.

That was the kind of fun soapy moments everyone eats up. It doesn’t matter if you pooh-pooh those kinds of stereotypical soap opera catfights. You just know it’s a lot of fun to watch. And that’s how it was here. Especially when the recipient of such ire absolutely deserved it!

The whole thing also helped to add more to Amelie’s character. Out of the four, she seemed to be the “bitchiest” one. I did mention she has a bit of a tsundere personality at first. But she’s certainly the most “mataray” or whatever. At least on the surface. In reality, she’s probably the opposite. Or maybe even just good at hiding her true nature.

Like, she is quick with a retort (or even a threat!) to everyone else. But she withers away in front of her overbearing mother. No matter how much she tries (and fails) to stand up for herself.

The end of episode 15 led into the final episode of the week with Liv confronting Amelie about the darned Tea Tree Oil! Lol It is kind of funny that such a thing plays such a huge role in everything. But I think that actually helps with the fun of it all.

I think this week had Julie Ann San Jose’s best performances of the series so far. As we were able to see her take Liv on an emotional roller coaster. So many different and contrasting emotions and feelings for Liv in this week’s episodes in which she basically went at it against anyone and everyone around her; she was really great.

And this confrontation between Liv and Amelie seemed to start setting up the shift in focus to Amelie now as a prime suspect.

I was quite shocked by the scene of Amelie being in heat in the car with Luke. Not because she was that horny at that moment, I guess. But more so because my perception this entire time was that Amelie actually doesn’t even like Luke, let alone want to marry him. Like, their families are the ones pushing the wedding. Arranged marriage between rich and powerful families kind of deal.

But little did I know that it was part of the way the show finally introduces us to the real Amelie.

So like I mentioned in my streaming-to-TV comparison last week, the original video on Zach’s “laptop full of kademonyohan” was simply of Amelie’s ass as she worked out on the stair climber or something. But the TV version was of a video of a scantily-clad Amelie beckoning the person filming to join her in bed.

Now, if I hadn’t seen the TV version of the episode, I would’ve been shocked by the revelation that Amelie and Zach had a sexual relationship. I don’t know if that’s what they were going for here. But it still doesn’t make sense why the difference between the two final, different cuts of the episode.

Anyway, Zach filmed his sex with Amelie both knowingly and in secret. So now we know they had a more involved relationship than we were initially led to believe.

There wasn’t any overlap with other relationships, but of course it adds a bit more detail to Amelie’s connection to Zach and even her relationship with sister Liv as well.

Does that mean Amelie is the culprit? Probably not. But it does add some motive for her mother or even father to have done something had they known about such material. And especially Luke who now has several motives to want Zach dead.

Last week, I commented on how the show was very awkward in their infusion of lighter, comedic moments during the episodes. But I think they did a bit better this week. And again, most of those opportunities came from our two inspectors.

A bit smoother with the quips from Inspector Kirby and seeing more of that dynamic between Royce Cabrera’s serious Juro and Nikki Co as the quirky and humorous sidekick.

This episode alone had them chatting in the CR. And then the moment Sugar mistakes them for being strippers on the down low. Lol Which, to be honest, is not that wild of an assumption considering GMA loves to typecast both Royce Cabrera and Nikki Co in such roles. Hmph.

Lol Anyway, it will be very interesting to learn more about Amelie’s relationship with Zach in the next week. And now perhaps an opportunity for Gabbi Garcia to deliver some great performances as well.

Overall, I enjoyed these four episodes a lot more than the last six I watched in my last sitting. And I very much hope the momentum continues. I am also intrigued as to how the GMA TV episodes may potentially change my perception of these episodes too.