RA vs the World

Look, “Dirty Linen” had a fantastic first week but I’d be lying if I say the second week topped that. This week, however, there were weird moments involving deepfake, there were some fantastic acting, and there was, uhhh, a cameo from Triple H’s sledgehammer. *cue in “The Game” by Motörhead*

While we wait for the 11th episode tonight, let’s recap, in no particular order, the top eight moments—both the bizarre and the beautiful—from episodes 6 to 10.

The deepfake video was weird af.

Aidan Fiero (Zanjoe Marudo) has the most millennial criminal way of solving their problem with Ador Pavia’s (Epy Quizon) sex tapes—telling the media that his uncle was a victim of deepfake.

For the uninitiated, deepfake is just like photo manipulation, but in videos. This is one of the latest techniques in misinformation and disinformation campaigns in which a person’s face is swapped with another’s to make it look like he or she did something or said something. With the rise of artificial technology, deepfakes are becoming more and more believable.

The video that the Fieros released, though, wasn’t believable. At all. For context, the Fieros are as rich as a dragon, but all they could afford was a video that looked like it was done with Windows Movie Maker.

Aidans, whose only talent so far is to flash his nips when he sees someone bleeding, was proud of this plan. Speaking of other people proud of their plans,

Alexa’s mata-mata when the shit hit the fan for the Pavias and Fieros.

We get it, Alexa (Janine Gutierrez). Your plans are working, but you better be careful with those eyes, mate. The CCTVs are watching! Hide that smirk!

In episode 7, Alexa, Max (Christian Bables), Lala (Jennica Garcia), and Rolando (Joel Torre) devised a plan to humiliate the Fieros during Instituto de San Jose’s Al Hambra Family of the Year Awarding. When Cielo Fiero (Tessie Tomas) was on her way to the stage, Ador’s sex tape played for everyone in attendance to see. Apparently, the awarding ceremony had a live telecast because Tonet’s (Xyriel Manabat) social media account was swarmed by negative comments within just a few minutes. Which brings us to Angel Aquino, Epy Quizon, and Manabat delivering some of the greatest performances in the show so far.

Great writing and acting for the Pavia family minus one.

This week’s epic performances are from Angel Aquino who plays Feliz Pavia, daughter of the matriarch Cielo Fiero; Epy Quizon who plays Ador Pavia, Feliz’s husband who makes and sells porn videos of himself and the Fiero maids; and Xyriel Manabat, who plays their follower-thirsty daughter Tonet. There’s another Pavia family member, but we’ll talk about him later.

Aquino’s best performance was during episode 7, when her character Feliz saw the video and she just looked at her husband as if to say, “Why, Ador?” She had no line, but she delivered the emotion. Quizon’s best performance was almost all of the times he was on screen because he was that fucking good. Even when he was delivering his lines from inside the sack, he was giving it his all.

Xyriel Manabat was successful in making us all want to be abducted by aliens just so we wouldn’t hear any of the shit her character Tonet was vomiting. Her concern that her followers were bombing her with hateful comments is how I imagine all teen content creators are like. Her best moments were those scenes immediately after they got humiliated at the awards night and when Ador reached home and Feliz threw away all of Ador’s belongings. I’m done talking about Manabat’s performance, so let’s talk about her character Tonet.

Just deactivate your socmed, Tonet.

As she started losing followers and gaining bashers, Tonet grew more and more annoying. We wouldn’t have any trouble relating with her character if it weren’t for her reminding everyone around her that the people she doesn’t actually know are now turning against her. My good friend Nicolai has a solution for your problems, Tonet. Just deactivate your account for a while, as your cousin Aidan cleans this mess up. No one can unfollow you while your account is deactivated.

“‘Di mo man lang kami inisip? ‘Di mo inisip yung reputation ko (Did we even cross your mind? Did you even think of my reputation?),” this line and her reaction during the awards night were telling. The writers want us to know that her main motivations are problematic, much like their writing for the character Clint.

Clint should win an Emmy for that line.

Not.

The character Clint, portrayed by Raven Rigor, is probably the most neglected character in the writers’ room. He was only given the line, “Tonet tumigil ka na’t itatapon ko yan (Stop that or I’ll throw that phone away),” and how the hell is one supposed to make the most out of that line? (Also, how is throwing someone’s phone the answer to her problems?)

Or all of these could be done deliberately. Not giving him memorable lines could work well if the plan is that he’ll stay in the background for now. I still have a hunch that Clint, and not Chiara (Francine Diaz), is Alexa’s half brother.

Joel Torre’s acting.

Aside from the actors who play the Pavias, another favorite performance of mine last week was Joel Torre’s. We felt the rage when he smashed the lug wrench repeatedly over Ador’s face. We felt the pain and surprise when Riza threw away the cake (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE ROCKING CHAIR!). We felt the mini celebrations when the plan was finally working during the awards night.

In the episodes to come, it looks like Lemuel Onore (JC Santos) will finally make his first appearance as the investigator of the incidents happening in Al Hambra.

My theory has shifted once again. It looks like he will first investigate Alexa as his prime suspect for the Stella murder. This will be like a Light vs Kira showdown, except that Alexa didn’t actually do it.