GMA Network/Viu’s Slay – Episodes 33-36 Thoughts

Trigger Warning: This recap discusses themes of child abuse and exploitation, which some readers may find disturbing.

Well then! This penultimate week (I think?) of the Viu version of the GMA/Viu co-production Slay was very eventful! One mystery solved and a longtime comeuppance finally arriving. And a huge revelation that seems to take us into the final week of this series.

Let’s go episode by episode first!

Episode 33, which is apparently brought to you by BingoPlus (lol), is a big episode. It starts out with Inspector Georgia and Kirby actually losing Hector as they chase him through the neighborhood all thanks to the local tambays running interference. Thanks for nothing tambays!

When Liv and Mama Leona kept snapping at Inspector Georgia, I was hoping she and Kirby just dragged them to the police station. Lol I would’ve arrested them just for being annoying. They kept saying Inspector Georgia was the one that nang-aasar, but it was really them. Also just because I want Liv to be the killer so there’s that. lol

A great scene in this episode is more of Amelie not taking Mama Marga’s crap any more. That hand up to her mother when she was about to get slapped was awesome. And it’s great to see Amelie dressing down Marga like that.

Even better seeing Jigger try to milk more pesoses out of Marga. But even at this point, I knew it would not lead to a good ending for Jigger.

Very interesting though as it now seems like Marga really did kill Byron. And perhaps she didn’t stop there. Her being Zach’s killer wouldn’t be too far fetched. Perhaps Zach also knew of her relationship with Byron. And heck, they could’ve been messing around too. Zach does like sleeping around with anything that breathes.

Then we get the great confrontation scene between Liv and Sugar/Yana. Liv is definitely doing all she can to get us to root against her. Lol That cocky attitude just screams guilty, I think. Lol

And Liv throwing the “utang na loob” at Sugar when Sugar is just wanting justice for her dead brother and the suspect just so happens to be Liv’s father; Infuriating! Liv is too smug.

Sugar and Yana are absolutely right. What’s the use in continuing this toxic relationship. It was actually hilarious that after snapping at them, Liv still brought up how they should get back together and be friendsies again. Lol Umm, how about no! That’s exactly what the murderer would want to happen! Lol

The episode ends with Jigger unfortunately getting in way over his head. He should’ve been a bit more careful knowing Marga is a wacko who has steroids apparently just lying around for her to swipe and inject Byron with or give to plant in Hector’s locker.

Amelie watching it all happen was great. But like I talked about last week about the psychological drama of born or raised monster, Amelie mentioned that exact thing! She fears she will end up just like her mother. And now I’m thinking maybe Amelie did kill Zach. So instead of the father-daughter murderers with Hector and Liv, it’s mother-daughter! Lol!

Unfortunately, Episodes 34 and 35 pretty much squashed that hope.

But first, enjoy some Oishi Crispy Patata snacks. Lol I thought they were going to promote Viu when Sugar and her mother were talking about watching a movie or something on their tablet. Lol

Anyway, Jigger is thankfully alive and he stayed alive too. I would’ve been so annoyed if they had him die just as he was trying to tell Sugar about Marga killing Byron. Like, you know the typical situation. He is about to reveal everything and *poof* he’s dead. Lol But Slay decided against that overused plot device. And that’s bonus points in my book!

Inspector Georgia is definitely a great arrival for the show. She’s even able to teach Kirby lots of things too. I hope there’s still time for Kirby to lose all the horrible habits he learned under Juro. Lol

The scene of Marga and Amelie before they become fugitives was great. First, Marga damayed poor people to justify her victimhood. Umm… no ma’am. Get outta here with that nonsense lol

Best part was Amelie and all her hurtful (though deserved) words to her mother. “Ang hina-hina mo!” and “You’re not strong enough to be a mother to me. Kasi hind imo kaya!”

Loved that! But Marga didn’t snap back this time. Which I guess shows she really knows she’s in trouble and this is the end for her.

After that scene though, I end up annoyed with Yana. Her father is an asshole of course, but she’s a bit of a hypocrite chastising her father for betraying his friend or whatever. When she is doing the same to Sugar. She knows (at this point) that Hector is the suspect in Sugar’s brother’s murder. Sugar is basically Yana’s only friend at this point. Yet she decides it’s okay to betray her friend for a murderer? Even if that potential murderer helped her and her father in the past?

Well, Yana is an aspiring lawyer, after all. They use their own logic lol

Yana’s story continues in Episode 35 and it’s just focused on her and Gabo which is the least interesting thing in these increasingly exciting episodes.

Another funny moment, which might be due to Viu’s editing out of scenes that will eventually pop up in the GMA edit, is Sugar going to confront Marga even after Georgia warned her not to. Lol

I enjoyed Sugar and Amelie’s catfight. It was the right reaction from both of them at this moment. Specially to heighten Amelie’s conflicted feelings about what’s going on.

Even better that Marga was the one to actually try and get them to stop fighting. Lol “Idiota!” she says. Coming from her! lol

Can we also applaud Jigger for being smart and clever? Typically, we get these kinds of characters dead before they can reveal the critical info. Or they are not believed because they don’t have the needed proof. But nope, Jigger has a recording! Thank you Jigger!

Though maybe not too smart as he just allowed Marga to grab the gun from him lol

Sugar livestreaming the police standoff was also amusing. It is definitely something that would easily happen in 2025. Dangerous standoff, livestream it for views! Lol But it was a good plot device to have Liv and Mama Leona involved, watching live and saying sanctimonious things again.

What was more hilarious was the police just allowing Marga and Amelie to drive away. Not only that, they argued on the street for a long time before anyone else arrived. Typical teleserye police. (or is it typical Filipino police in general. Oop!)

Marga crashing into the tree though was not very good direction. It’s one of those moments where you’re like “that’s too halata“, you know? Not the most convincing crash scene ever, that’s for sure.

And so… *take a deep breath*, Episode 36 continues with the police FINALLY arriving and taking Marga into custody.

It was fun seeing Sugar relish in Marga’s downfall. It’s well deserved. It would’ve been even better if Sugar laughed in her face if she wasn’t so heartbroken and angry about her brother’s death.

I could not care less about Amelie and Liv and Hector and that whole family at this point. Like, to be honest, I don’t care if Marga gets thrown in jail forever. Lol

I am immediately reminded of this meme:

https://x.com/gay_reactions/status/1195735769765171201?lang=en

Like, she deserves everything she’s getting now and then some. So I don’t feel sorry for her. And I can’t feel sorry for her family. If they want to blame someone, blame her. It’s not our fault she’s a murderer and criminal, yeah?

Amelie trying to justify her mother’s “mistakes in the past” like it’s forgivable or something. Umm… no.

And Amelie crying about oh, she’ll be 40 years old when her mother might get released. Give me break! Lolol My Goodness.

Though I did feel kind of sorry for Amelie when she was about to jump over the side of the balcony and into the pool.

This must be the teleserye nonsense that tries to redeem evil for whatever reason even if it’s completely stupid. There’s nothing wrong with evil people getting punished. And we shouldn’t pretend otherwise!

At the same time, it’s great to see Marga finally paying for her crimes. But why did I still feel underwhelmed by her downfall? Like, I kinda of expected more I guess. I dunno.

Anyway, Luke (Gil Cuerva) pops up to comfort Amelie. But also to remind us that he is a suspect in Zach’s murder lol It would be underwhelming too if he is the killer.

And finally, the HUGE reveal at the end of the episode.

First, it was actually fun to see Juro back. We love Inspector Georgia. But it’s fun to see Juro again if only to make fun of how much better Georgia is as an investigator. Lol

But after that initial fun, things got dark very fast. We learn that Zach might have been abused (sexually?!?!) by his father and his frat bros. WHEN HE WAS A CHILD! WTF!

Well then. I definitely did not see this coming at all. But it is a fascinating turn of events.

But Aha! This show really is about the nature vs. nurture/are monsters born or raised? That whole discussion. The whole thing with Amelie and Marga was just to set-up this bombshell revelation about Zach and his father.

But this is definitely a dark turn for the series. Slay has been more campy and typical teleserye until this point. But perhaps because of that, this dark turn is even more impactful.

And frankly, very different and almost profound in comparison to other teleseryes. This is definitely not your typical teleserye plot line.

But perhaps that’s the point. The difference in tone shows that beneath the surface of camp and the like, there can be dark and deep-seated pain and damaging consequences.

While this reveal offers up a potential explanation or origin for Zach’s abusive and aggressive behavior, it certainly does not excuse his actions whatsoever. His violent behavior is still unacceptable and caused harm as well.

So the show will have to be careful in its final week to not somehow redeem Zach or make him out to be some kind of tragic hero or something. With Filipino teleseryes, I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened. But I’m hopeful Slay is different.

The show has a chance to do something very profound in discussing the impact of childhood trauma on someone’s development and how they interact with the world. The show has done that a tiny bit with Amelie. Perhaps also with Liv and Yana. But specifically with Zach, this potential cycle of abuse is very fascinating to maybe watch play out. We can empathize with a young Zach while still condemning the adult Zach of course.

But I think the show did a relatively amazing job in unfolding this twist. The only thing is I wish they didn’t keep spoiling big moments and reveals in the preview. Nevertheless, Inspector Georgia and Kirby grappling with the disgusting photos of the abused children to Juro’s horror at realizing Zach might have been abused too; an excellent cliffhanger for the week.

And of course, leading into the finale week of episodes as well. I guess this might mean Lenard might be the killer. Or the other pedo maybe. But I’m still hoping it’s one of the Slaydies. Particularly Liv.

Even more interesting is to see whether the GMA version of the series will have a different killer since it’s supposed to have a different ending. We’ll see!

Until then, this was a big week ending on a huge cliffhanger. I hope the last four episodes live up to the potential the show has exhibited through its run.