GMA Network/Viu’s Slay – Episodes 5-8 Streaming-to-Linear TV Comparison

Okay, now things are getting craaaazy on Slay. And I don’t mean the story itself. But the differences between the Viu version and the GMA linear TV version. After eight episodes of comparing, why does the Viu version feel like a first draft and the GMA version is the final draft.

Not just the new scenes, but the way the scenes flow. It’s a bit smoother. Less clunky than the original Viu versions. And perhaps pacing is a bit better too. Indeed, the GMA version is now one full episode behind the Viu version. That is, the end of GMA’s Episode 8 was the end of Viu’s Episode 7.

But while some of the new scenes in Week 1 of GMA’s airing provided some new details about the characters, an addition in this Week 2 introduces a whole new plot point! Like, what is happening?!?!

Let’s go through each episode first.

Episode 5 again begins with Zach doing the opening narration. He really has main character syndrome. Lol Bro, you’re not the main character! Anyway, his narration just has him talking about what his perfect heaven would include: beer and babes. Like we care.

Anyway, after some simple edits with the ladies talking about going to see Zach’s dead body, the episode then streamlines some scenes instead of switching back and forth. Such as scenes of the Squad and Zach’s father going uninterrupted and likewise for Inspectors Juro and Kirby first talking about spontaneous combustion and looking at evidence.

I actually quite preferred the GMA edit for this sequence. The quick cuts, which can be used very well for tension and sometimes disorienting feelings, were probably not needed here in the first place.

After more short (and inconsequential) cuts to scenes, we get a new scene of Liv reuniting with her mother outside the morgue and they all share a big group hug.

Episode 6 begins with a “SINO PUMATAY KAY ZACH?” recap, like this was the first episode of the week, before continuing on with the original recap from the Viu airing.

Juro’s presscon is moved to the beginning of this episode and they added a flashback to Liv’s confrontation with Zach which was not in the original.

There’s also a new minute added to Sugar talking to her little brother on the phone before Amelie and Yana arrive for the comic relief fake suicide scene with Liv. (That sounds weird. lol)

There another streamlining of scenes. No back and forths for the Squad before we get a continuous flow with Juro at the morgue, his flashback to his bromance with Zach and then Zach’s father popping up.

While the Squad ladies talk about Zach, the GMA edit adds some existing flashbacks to provide context to their feelings about him. Including the scene of Sugar’s father telling her to kill Zach, which was not originally in the Viu edit at all, but has now been used twice in the GMA edit.

Episode 6 ends with Juro and Kirby dragging Jigger to the precinct and moves his interrogation and Liv and Sugar’s scene to the start of Episode 7 instead. Viu Episode 6’s cliffhanger of Emman playing with the lighter (implying he is a major suspect) is now a regular scene in the middle of Episode 7.

The episode ends with a now-mostly uninterrupted scene of Yana and Gabo’s light and more comedic interaction and Juro telling Liv and Sugar about the lighter with Sugar being very suspicious.

I actually think this was a better cliffhanger to have as well.

And now Episode 8 of GMA’s edit. It continues with the rest of Viu’s Episode 7 including the end of Yana and Gabo’s scene. But then we get to the craziest bit of this week. And of the series so far.

We get a brand new scene of Amelie’s mother Marga chatting with her amiga kumare. Mama Baltazar says she hates going to funerals because she hates goodbyes and that it is hard for her to let go. “Except for that one time, right?” her bestie asks.

Mama Baltazar says she had no choice but to let go, “kahit mahirap para sa akin”. She did it for her family. And she vows to keep that secret to her grave.

First of all, I couldn’t even understand some words because the audio was not good in this scene.

But it made perfect sense when we got the scene of Sugar’s parents talking later. Basically, we are to believe Sugar is Mama Baltazar’s daughter that she gave up way back when? What?!?!

Sugar’s mother is worried that she is in Manila and close to the people they had specifically tried to keep her away from. And she specifically says that they might end up taking Sugar back and away from them.

Hello?! Where in the world did this come from?! A completely new plot thread that was nonexistent in the original Viu edit.

But then again, it now adds a whole different angle to the later confrontation between Sugar and Mama Baltazar which, in the Viu edit, came across as more comic relief. But now has some extra color thanks to this revelation that they might be mother and daughter.

So strange! I am thinking now that the two versions will completely diverge from each other. It’s crazy!

So again, the GMA edit is now one full episode behind of the Viu edit. So I have no idea how the rest of the series will play out. But now that I’m watching both versions, it’s going to affect how I watch the Viu episodes knowing things that they did not originally include in their version.

Strange!