Marahuyo Project

Authenticity

Every now and then the Philippines give the world of BL groundbreaking series. ”Gameboys” helped people around the world cope with the depressing Covid pandemic, ”Gaya Sa Pelikula”, one of the best BL series ever, encouraged closeted people to come out, the completely underrated ”Ben x Jim Forever” gave a voice to people from all colours of the rainbow, and the story of Eli and Nikko in ”The Day I Loved You” touched the hearts of viewers.

All these series have great scripts, creative cinematography, good directing, excellent acting, and beautiful soundtracks, but aside from all this, what makes them so worth watching is authenticity and a clear message. ”Marahuyo Project” continues this tradition, and like most of the aforementioned series it isn't a typical BL, but rather a queer series.

I won't spoil too much of the plot here – just so much: King (Adrian Lindayag), an openly gay student, is expelled from his college and sent to a college in a conservative town on ”Marahuyo”, a remote island. He wants to launch an LGBTQIA+ club at his new college, but the students' president Ino (Neo France Garcia) blocks his demand at first. Ino, the son of the most influential family of the town, carries the burden of his homophobic family heritage on his shoulders, but of course he falls for King – that's the BL element of the series.

The climax of the story is a ”Balagtasan”, a kind of traditional poetry slam, where King and Ino take the respective sides of ”mind” and ”heart”. This isn't the only poetic moment – poetry actually plays an important role in the story, as the wealth and influence of Ino's family, and thus all of the island of Marahuyo, is based on the plagiarism of a gay poet's work.

Readers may want to know whether this series has a happy ending, and I'm happy to say that it has no ending at all, because after the final episode viewers will want to know how the story of the ”Sea Creatures” continues. So, season 2 is a must! But rest as...