This felt like an overlong exposition for a better season, but even then it still left me with a lot of questions about the lore and the "magic system", if I can call it that: why is the Santelmo coming out of her phone? What are the limitations of the twins' powers? What exactly are the powers and abilities of Trese, and are there limitations to them? Why do you need dragon blood to open the portal? Why do you need ground mermaid bones to trap ghosts? I have many other questions as well.
The tone was also confusing because the show almost never gave a glimpse of how the people are reacting to everything that was happening around them. An "apocalypse" was literally about to happen but you never get a sense of paranoia from the population. There was no sense of populated space (except for the jailbirds and the military that we never got to see again) during the boss fight, and this really undermined just how much was supposed to be at stake.
I think the storytelling was my main issue here. There were so many unnecessary subplots, and I get that this was to consolidate the lore but again, I still have a lot of questions so I guess the world-building was off. The last episode was a huge let-down because it was literally just the main antagonist explaining everything. There was also no chemistry between the characters, and I didn't feel any connection with them. In the end I was like, "am I supposed to feel sorry even if the twins betrayed Trese?" because I never had the impression that they were supposed to be like "family".
The voice acting for the Filipino version was just okay. Soberano's acting was wooden for the most part. I know that Trese was supposed to be this jaded, impassive character, but she could've added more personality into her.
I believe that this show is a huge step forward for Philippine entertainment, but I don't think this would make a lot of sense to foreign viewers because the folklore was taken out of context. I am a Filipino, but even I was confused as to why a tikbalang would be in a city. Our folklore and superstitions are rooted in Nature, and so I feel like the story would make a lot more sense if a generous amount of it took place in a province or if there are characters from the province to explain why these supernatural beings have migrated to the city.
The tone was also confusing because the show almost never gave a glimpse of how the people are reacting to everything that was happening around them. An "apocalypse" was literally about to happen but you never get a sense of paranoia from the population. There was no sense of populated space (except for the jailbirds and the military that we never got to see again) during the boss fight, and this really undermined just how much was supposed to be at stake.
I think the storytelling was my main issue here. There were so many unnecessary subplots, and I get that this was to consolidate the lore but again, I still have a lot of questions so I guess the world-building was off. The last episode was a huge let-down because it was literally just the main antagonist explaining everything. There was also no chemistry between the characters, and I didn't feel any connection with them. In the end I was like, "am I supposed to feel sorry even if the twins betrayed Trese?" because I never had the impression that they were supposed to be like "family".
The voice acting for the Filipino version was just okay. Soberano's acting was wooden for the most part. I know that Trese was supposed to be this jaded, impassive character, but she could've added more personality into her.
I believe that this show is a huge step forward for Philippine entertainment, but I don't think this would make a lot of sense to foreign viewers because the folklore was taken out of context. I am a Filipino, but even I was confused as to why a tikbalang would be in a city. Our folklore and superstitions are rooted in Nature, and so I feel like the story would make a lot more sense if a generous amount of it took place in a province or if there are characters from the province to explain why these supernatural beings have migrated to the city.