Maybe you’re too focused binge-watching tons of Thai and Pinoy BL dramas that you’re actually missing one the most surreal boys’ love moments in local television.
Everybody seems to be hopping on the of BL (Boys’ Love) drama bandwagon, these days, and now that the reruns are almost the only thing we see on local television, marathoning BL series on YouTube seems to be the only better way to kill time.
And so you’ve been missing #PhilJie, the bittersweet couple, that can break and excite our hearts, at the same time.
Ever heard of ‘A Soldier’s Heart’? That ABS-CBN action drama series which now airs via the network’s cable channel, Kapamilya Channel (because it lost its free tv license), and is nearing conclusion? The show has Gerald Anderson in the lead role, but also stars popular names such as Carlo Aquino, Elmo Magalona, Nash Aguas, and the tandem of #PhilJie—Yves Flores and Jerome Ponce.
In the show, Flores plays 2nd Lt. Benjamin Arguelles, who falls in love with Pvt. Philip Panganiban, played by Jerome Ponce. Ponce’s character, is a “template” bully, who makes fun of and does nasty things to the good guy, Arguelles. But it is also love-hate moments that would actually bring them closer to each other.
Given that ‘A Soldier’s Heart’ is an action drama with teeming action thriller themes, the story of Phil and Benjie struggles to thrive in a very hostile setting. Homosexuality in any military organization is generally discouraged, and while there isn’t an open denial about the existence of romantic admiration between men in the force, there is a great possibility that it does, in spite of being cautiously hidden. In ‘A Soldier’s Heart’, it blooms between Philip and Benjie, amidst their conscious efforts to escape from what they feel.
Interestingly, how these two characters accept the inevitability of their relationship － from simply buddies to something deeper － does not come out forced, and done at a gradual but not lazy pace. Writers are seemingly conscious enough to not make how things unfold between the two, too unrealistic.
While Benjie is an “out” gay man －at least, to Phil, and their closest friends－ Philip still believes he is straight, and still has not fully embraced the possibility of being involved with Benjie, in a romantic way. There is a generous space granted for their relationship to grow into something fonder, which audiences will only keep looking forward to, as the series nears its conclusion in less than two weeks.
NOW on its final two weeks, ‘A SOLDIER’S HEART’ makes its final salute on September 18. It airs over KAPAMILYA CHANNEL and KAPAMILYA ONLINE LIVE.
