GMA Network/Viu’s Slay – Episodes 37-40 Thoughts + Hindsight Review

Okay! Slay saved its best for last! The last four episodes of the Viu version of the series was a roller coaster of drama, emotion, shock, and awe. And it was probably some of the most satisfying final episodes of a teleserye I’ve seen in a loooong time!

Let’s go through the four episodes first and then I’ll have my final thoughts of the series.

Episode 37 picks up with the shocking cliffhanger revelation that Tito Leonard binugawed or “exploited and trafficked” his own son Zach. But we then immediately learn that Juro was also a victim.

Juro suddenly flashes back to a time when Tito Leonard drugged his drink and offered him up to a dirty old man.

I know we make fun of Juro for being a poor detective. But I thought it was a great scene seeing Kirby genuinely concerned for his old partner.

So as Juro storms out, we cut to what initially seems like a cute scene of Sugar meeting a new boyfriend played by Saviour Ramos. Instead, it’s actually a Salonpas commercial and I just laughed out loud. If I had been drinking something at this point, I would’ve spit it out. Lolol From the heartbreaking and dramatic revelation of the child abuse to talking about the great benefits of the Salonpas pads, I lost it lol

Then the episode moves on to Yana and Gabo and stuff that’s actually a bit boring compared to everything else happening. Even the hilarious Salonpas commercial. Little did I know it would all be setup for something later on lol

Juro calls Liv and asks her to stay on the phone so she will be a witness to what is about to happen. Juro arrives at Tito Leonard’s home.

Leonard expresses his disappointment in Juro and regrets taking him in. Juro, with a perfect line, says he wishes he didn’t either so he wouldn’t have had to live through the hell of being abused.

Leonard reveals the money for Zach’s gym came from the child sex trafficking. Juro gets his punches in, but Leonard gains the upper hand and beats Juro. Then he sees Liv on the other end of the phone.

Tito Leonard yells and threatens Liv and she hangs up. Liv tells Mama Leona that she never saw any signs of abuse in Zach. But Mama Leona explains that sometimes the biggest smiles hide the deepest pain. And it takes just one person to break the cycle of abuse.

Juro regains the upper hand and vows Leonard will rot in jail. But Leonard grabs Juro’s gun and shoots him in the shoulder.

At the gym, Sugar submits her resignation letter to Luke since she’s accomplished her mission already. Liv and Yana arrive. They talk about Amelie being with her aunt so someone can watch her 24/7.

I guess this is still when Gabbi Garcia had to go into the Big Brother house or if they’re just filming, she needed the week to prepare to host Miss Universe Philippines I guess lol But I can’t imagine they intentionally left Amelie out of this final week for any reason other than Gabbi Garcia was not available. Too bad.

Anyway, Liv tells Sugar and Yana about the abuse. Liv and Sugar think perhaps Zach was killed by his abusers. But Yana doesn’t care. She’s sick and tired of all this and wants nothing to do with any of it anymore.

At this point, I’m back to thinking Yana is the culprit lol

Juro calls Liv to warn her about Tito Leonard, but it’s a bit of a choppy signal. A drunk Leonard arrives at the gym with a gun and he shoots the security guard outside.

Can we applaud the security guard please? Episode 38 begins with his awesome heroics. He’s already been shot, but he still kicks Leonard to keep him from shooting and possibly killing Luke. (Who could still be Zach’s killer, tbh. Lol)

Leonard goes on a shooting spree, allowing Luke to run in to warn Liv.

One thing to point out, there’s some poor editing and/or quality control issues because they repeat the moment Liv asks “What is happening?” I suppose that will be fixed in the GMA edit.

Anyway, Luke and Liv help a woman up after she trips while Sugar and Yana go hide in a storage room.

Meanwhile, Kirby and Inspector Georgia arrive at the Zamora house and find Juro on the floor. Kirby hurries over to his former partner (Uy!!!!) and he tells him to go to wherever Liv is as she is in danger.

Liv and Luke hide, but Liv wants to go out and face Tito Leonard so no more innocent people will die from his shooting rampage. Luke tries to stop her, saying Amelie would never forgive him if he let anything bad happen to Liv.

Liv goes out anyway and stops Leonard before he shoots and kills another guy.

Now, to be honest, I’ve been quite iffy with Julie Ann San Jose’s approach to Liv during the series. Something I’ve chalked up to Liv potentially being the killer. But her performance in this scene where Liv confronts Leonard and his disgusting acts was amazing. That’s the Julie Ann San Jose that earned big praise in the past, especially on Maria Clara at Ibarra. Really a great scene.

Gabo and Tito Charlie try to run inside, but are stopped by barangay tanods. Charlie ends up getting through and finds Yana and Sugar in the storage room.

Liv is able to knock the gun out of Leonard’s hand and they struggle. Sugar tries to pick the gun up, but Leonard hits her and he takes the gun to shoot at Tito Charlie in the back.

The police finally arrive and chase Leonard away.

Liv, Sugar, and Gabo run over to Yana crying over her father.

Yana’s father leaves her with his dying words. He wants her to be a successful lawyer. He jokes that he might have been a terrible father to her, but at least he wasn’t as bad as Leonard lol

Now I get why have all the scenes with Yana and him that felt so uninteresting compared to everyone else. It all led to this and now I see that it all works well here. Every good teleserye ending needs a good sacrificial death. And Tito Charlie’s was a good one to affect Yana as a character. (Oops, his death happens in the next episode though lol)

Outside, Inspector Georgia joins the cops chasing after Leonard. (At this point, I’m hoping she ends up shooting him.)

Leonard insists Liv and her friends are Zach’s murderers. Inspector Georgia has the great line: “Batas ang mananaig, hindi ang baril!” Indeed! I think many Filipinos need to remember that due process exists and no one should take the law into their own hands!

Inspector Georgia shoots and kills Leonard before he can do the same to her. I stood and cheered!

Also, I finally found out that Inspector Georgia is played by Kakki Teodoro who recently won Best Supporting Actress as the Metro Manila Film Festival for Ang Himala. No wonder she has been so good!

Moving on, we are introduced to Ninang Irene Zamora who pops up out of nowhere as she visits Juro in the hospital. Episode 39 opens with Inspector Georgia calling Kirby who then relays to Juro and Ninang about happened. Ninang Irene is still upset that Leonard died because she did love him at one point.

Ninang Irene says she didn’t know he would become a child abuser. She regrets not taking Zach with her when she left. But she did that because Leonard was rich and she felt he would take better care of him.

Kirby asks Juro if he had amnesia or something. They have a doctor come in to explain that he most likely had dissociative amnesia, with the drugs and alcohol contributing to the trauma response of trying to erase those bad memories. There could be certain triggers that suddenly bring those memories back or one could regain them through therapy.

“The mind may forget, but the body remembers,” the doctor says. Juro wants to recover those memories so he can put those disgusting animals in jail.

Elsewhere, Liv calls her mother to tell her she’s fine before she washes off Tito Charlie’s blood off her hands. But this action suddenly triggers a vague memory with Zach.

OH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

Inspectors Georgia and Kirby are interviewing Ninang Irene and getting her official statement. Though she had been living in Hong Kong, she wanted to be close to her son. So she observed him from afar, taking photos of him, etc (like a creeper).

One day, Zach spotted her and, calling her “Irene”, says he stopped being her son the day she left him with a pancake. He admitted that deep inside, he was rotten and damaged because of her leaving him with Leonard. “I had to fight every monster alone!” Zach said.

Turns out this would be the last time she saw Zach as he died that evening. She remembers how he “filled his water bottle to replace the tears he cried”. That reminds Inspector Georgia and Kirby of Zach dying by eye drops.

Back at the hospital, Tito Charlie succumbs to his gunshot wound and Yana blames Sugar for it. Later, Gabo tries to get her to have a clear head about the situation. But Yana says Leonard and Zach are already dead so she has to dump all her anger onto Sugar. She knocks the hot noodles Gabo bought for her onto him.

Much later, Yana does not appreciate Gabo’s efforts to comfort her and she insults him instead.

I was surprised because I thought the scene would be a commercial for instant noodles.

Yana has already buried her father under a huge cross. Gabo pops up again and then tries to get her to admit she likes him. But she refuses.

Anyway, Juro and Ninang Irene bump into Liv and Hector. Ninang Irene recognizes Hector from the day of her argument with Zach. She saw him holding a water bottle and eye drops in front of Zach’s office. “They’re just for my eyes,” Hector said, unprompted.

That leads us into the Final Episode. Ninang Irene thought it was weird Hector had eye drops but didn’t remove his glasses. Juro wants to bring Hector in for questioning, but Liv demands they produce a subpoena first.

Later, Liv tells her father that the accusation is so absurd and assures him that his name will be cleared.

Inspectors Juro, Kirby, and Georgia go over how Hector had the means, the method, and the motive to kill Zach, giving them enough to have him arrested.

Calling GMA Network and Viu! A police drama/procedural with Nikki Co, Kakki Teodoro, and Royce Cabrera please!

That night, Hector asks Liv for his forgiveness while she sleeps. And next morning, Inspector Georgia arrives with police to arrest him. Liv and Leona refuse to let them in, but Hector comes out and surrenders.

Liv and Leona accompany Hector in the interrogation room and he surprises them by admitting to Zach’s murder. Leona proceeds to insult Inspector Georgia.

“Ma’am, kahit isa lang po ang mata ko, hindi ako ganyan trumabaho.”

Hector wants time alone with his family. He tells them that he always thought of escaping and running away. But at least in prison, they would be able to visit him.

He admits that he was furious with Zach for blackmailing him and Marga about her affair with Byron. As Zach was going to ruin their family and his name, he had to kill him.

What a dumb reason lol It would be better if he found out Zach was hurting Liv. Then that would be more reason to kill. Not just to hide the affair. Come on now lol

Fast forward. Sugar and Yana make up when Sugar saves her from getting hit by a car on her way to admit her feelings to Gabo. Yana and Gabo share a nice moment and it’s all cute and happy.

Later, Sugar invites them all to the grand opening of Sugar’s S’Mores. Sugar and Liv joke about Sugar finding the right person for her. When Sugar is not looking, Liv puts two brides on the cake.

What is this implying? Liv thinks Sugar is gay? Liv is bisexual? They’re in love with each other? What’s going on here? Is there a deleted scene. Lol But medyo kinilig ako ah lol

Liv, Sugar and Yana video chat with Amelie, since I guess Gabbi Garcia is still too busy, and the Slaydies reaffirm their friendship foreva.

Back home, Mama Leona tells Liv that she made her ripped up blouse into a rag. This triggers a memory for Liv. She had ripped it up herself after confronting Zach.

Liv goes to visit her father in jail and she tells him that she remembers now. Hector didn’t murder Zach. She did. She flashes back to the night in question. Zach raped her in her car. So the next day, she put eye drops in his water bottle. Hector saw her and thought nothing of it until he heard Zach died by eye drops.

Hector says this is how he can pay her and Leona back for what he did to them and how he’s lived his life until now.

Liv goes to church to apologize to Zach because she did love him once. And she leaves us with this thought: “You were too damaged to the point that you damaged me too.”

Hindsight Review

And so we come to the end of Slay. The Viu version at least. And I must say, it was an up and down ride, but the series ended very strong. Like I said, this was the first four episodes of the series, no question. And it resulted in a satisfying ending and conclusion.

I was excited when it looked like Liv would turn out to be the real killer. And I think that is the only fitting conclusion, to be honest. I will admit, when Hector admitted to the crime, I thought it would be so underwhelming if he really was the murderer. But then it started becoming evident that he was covering for Liv. All until that moment Liv remembers the night she was raped by Zach. Crazy stuff. But very compelling.

I actually quite like that Liv just let her father rot in jail for her crime lol. But you never know, she might have turned herself in later too.

Still, Slay has been such a fun, crazy ride. A murder mystery, but also some nice camp and familiar teleserye tropes. It was a lot of fun guessing and following all the crazy teleserye antics. And while some moments during the series were annoying, it ended strong and I think that matters even more.

The series as a whole took the Filipino teleserye into another direction. Pretty much everything was familiar and already tackled on Filipino TV. But it did offer up a refreshing new approach to such stories.

It had a solid ensemble cast. The four Slaydies of Julie Ann San Jose, Gabbi Garcia, Mikee Quintos, and Ysabel Ortega did well with the material. Though I would’ve liked to have seen them at each other’s throats a bit more just for the fun of it. And to see them have fun with it too.

The supporting cast though had some of the more standout performances. Perhaps even scene stealing performances. Scenes like Matet De Leon as Leona fighting back against Phoemela Barranda’s Marga. Or Phoemela Barranda taking Marga from head bitch to pathetic loser and murderer at drop of a hat. Or the always underrated (and underappreciated by GMA) Nikki Co being the funny and quirky sidekick. Or Royce Cabera unleashing Juro’s anger on Ninong Leonard. Or Kakki Teodoro in pretty much every scene she was in. And of course Derrick Monasterio, doing everything he could to make you root for Zach’s potential murderers.

It was a great cast that at times elevated the sometimes shaky material.

Though admittedly, the Viu version at times felt like a rough draft with the GMA TV version being the final one. Some shaky pacing. Deleted stories that would’ve made the series a bit fuller. It’s been very interesting comparing the two versions.

But we’re just focusing on the Viu version now since that is the one that has wrapped up. And overall, I’d say it was a fun 40 episode series. Really simple as that. It didn’t reinvent the wheel. It might have touched upon one or two themes that aren’t typically seen on linear Philippine TV. But it was still an accessible and ultimately enjoyable series.

I’m glad to have followed along live for its run.