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More than a year since it was announced that ABS-CBN Studios and Netflix would do a remake of the well-loved 2020 Korean drama series “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay” via the Star Creatives production unit, the much-awaited Philippine version has finally premiered on free TV—and it immediately got the viewers invested just on its pilot week!
The promising teleserye’s key characters were already introduced in the first five episodes, led by Anne Curtis as the famous and antisocial children’s book author Mia Hernandez, Joshua Garcia as the self-less hospital nurse and the gentle brother Patrick “Patpat” Gonzales, and Carlo Aquino as the mentally-challenged yet nifty “manong” or older brother of Patpat, Matthew “Matmat” Gonzales, who has autism spectrum disorder or ASD.
“Once Upon A Same Day”
The inaugural July 21 episode began with the animated narration of the book “Ang Prinsesa at Ang Anino ng Kadiliman” written by Anne Curtis’ character Mia Hernandez, which seemed to be read by Patpat to Matmat as he took him to sleep. As the story approached its conclusion, the scene then switched to reality with Mia suddenly appearing onscreen, cladded in a black robe and her straight hair down as she eerily stood all by herself on the balcony, then nonchalantly uttered, “Opo, Mama,” while looking directly at the camera.
A scene from their past was then shown via Patrick’s dream, in which he was seen pacifying a distressed Matmat as he had a nightmare about butterflies. Matmat enthusiastically woke him up in the morning as they both went to work, but that was eventually replaced with anxiety as Matmat saw a butterfly hovering inside the printing press where he was working.
Patrick quickly went to his manong’s workplace upon receiving a call from the boss, who told him that Matmat was already fired. Since he knew that it would make him feel bad, Patrick reassured Matmat that they’ll find a new job that can make him happy. He also treated him with batchoy and handed him his supposed salary, which he got from his own money.
Meanwhile, we also got a glimpse of Mia’s unfathomable and peculiar personality, as she drove away a young female fan who was ecstatic to see and have a picture with her while she was savoring her rarely cooked steak at a posh restaurant. She told the little girl that her mom has been lying to her and that she must aspire to be a “pretty badass witch” rather than becoming a beautiful princess. Her enthusiastic manager and publisher Vincent Romulo (Enchong Dee) then joined her on the table to give her some reminders on their activities for the day.
At the hospital where he worked, we got to see how empathetic and composed Patrick is while attending to their patient named Jillian (Sofia Andres). But despite his admirable qualities as nurse, we learned through his colleagues that he has already worked in several hospitals yet never lasted more than a year.
In his free time, Patrick called Matmat to inform him about the book signing and reading event of his beloved author, Mia, at the hospital, which filled him with excitement and prompted him to prepare to leave. But Patrick advised him not to go anymore since it was catered only for children and just promised to get her autograph, which calmed down Matmat.
Prior to the event, Patrick already had the chance to meet Mia as he accosted her for smoking within the facility’s premises. Completely dumbfounded to see each other face-to-face, flashbacks hinted at a past connection between them, with Mia quizzing him afterwards if he believes in destiny and if he knows who she is. He responded casually yet refused to give her his name when she asked, then lef
As he walked, Patrick was reminded of a haunting memory of him and his manong wailing over the lifeless body of their mother in the middle of a forest and under the heavy downpour, with Matmat frantically yelling “paru-paro” on repeat.
“Destiny Finds Us”
The second episode gave us a peek on Mia’s dysfunctional relationship with her estranged father, Samuel (Michael de Mesa), as she considers him already dead despite being still alive, based on her conversation with Gemma (Kaori Oinuma), the nurse assigned to take care of him at the OK Hospital, over Vincent’s phone. As Gemma insisted for her to sign the consent form needed for his father’s brain surgery, Mia told her to come and get it herself, which got the former annoyed. After checking on her patient, Gemma was advised by her two senior colleagues, played by Agot Isidro and Maricel Laxa, on what she could do for her problem with Mia.
Mia’s ongoing event got disrupted due to an emergency, as Alex Roces (Christian Vasquez), the patient assigned to Patrick who was being treated for anxiety disorder after he tried to take his own life and even almost killed his own child, managed to escape. He roamed around the hospital to search for his beloved daughter, Mona, who was also there to undergo examinations for PTSD because of the intense trauma she experienced.
Instead of fleeing like the other people inside the auditorium, Mia insisted to stay to confront Alex and stop him from his plan of killing both himself and his child. A scuffle ensued between them, with Alex being able to pin her down the floor and strangle her, which reminded her of a traumatic memory she had with her father in the past. Patrick suddenly arrived in the scene and stopped Alex, which allowed Mia to stand up and retrieve her knife.
As she brandished her weapon towards Alex, Patrick was able to stop her by holding the knife mid-air, which made his right hand bleed. Mia then volunteered to wrap his wound with a cloth and explained that she only intended to scare Alex by giving him a scar on the face.
Before she left the hospital, Mia spoke with the director (Jong Cuenco) to ask him to terminate Patrick as soon as possible, or else she would make a big deal about what happened at the book reading today by telling her manager to post about their negligence to their patients. As he didn’t want the hospital to get into trouble, the director indeed fired Patrick for not practicing restraint to their patient.
Later that night, Gemma arrived at the location of Mia’s endorsement shoot to have her sign the consent form. Despite Mia’s refusal, Gemma remained determined to get her signature, which prompted the latter to declare that she already considers herself an orphan since her mom seems to be deceased while her dad is dead for her. In the end, Gemma still succeeded in having the necessary papers signed by Mia.
“Shared Past”
Taking care of his Manong Matmat maybe challenging sometimes but Patrick has found a person who’s willing to share the burden—his best friend Jason (Francis Magundayao), who was introduced in the third episode. As he forgot to get Mia’s autograph, Patrick sought the help Jason to forge her signature, which Matmat later on discovered was fake and incited him to throw tantrums.
As if stroke of luck, Patrick received an invitation from Vincent for him to come at their office to talk about what happened between him and Mia at the hospital earlier that day. While reading her book “Ang Batang Dinalaw ni Batibat” (The Boy Visited by the Spirit of Nightmares, or “Bangungot”), little did Patrick know that his patient, Alex, was found dead and covered in blood in solitary confinement, which cause was still unknown. However, it can be recalled that an unidentified person cladded in maxi black dress came to visit him and placed a knife on top of his chest before the incident happened.
Patrick indeed came to Vincent’s office the next day and his long-awaited confrontation with Mia finally happened, which triggered his old memories with her to come rushing in. They were apparently close in the early days of their friendship but that instantly changed when she told him one evening to back off and never see her again.
“Never Healed”
Before leaving, Patrick was able to finally fulfill his promise to his Manong Matmat—a copy of Mia’s new book freshly signed by her—thanks to the reminder of the energetic executive assistant of Romulo Pages Corporation, Madeth (Xyriel Manabat). While he expressed apathy to see her again, Mia found a clever way for their paths to cross anew soon by inviting his manong in her upcoming book signing event.
Of course, Matmat was over the moon upon reading Mia’s dedication and invitation, so he instantly looked for clothes to wear on his first meeting with her. Not wanting to spoil his manong’s happiness, Patrick immediately called Jason to ask him to be his companion to the event the next day, to which the latter agreed.
We also learned in Episode 4 that Gemma actually knows Patrick since she has been longtime friends with him and Jason. With the way he looked at Gemma and enthusiastically attended to her when came to his “paresan” to eat, it was pretty obvious that he harbors secret romantic feelings for her. However, it seems that Gemma has unrequited feelings for Patrick with the way her eyes lit up when Jason mentioned his name during their conversation, as well as when she finally saw him again.
Patrick and Gemma had a spontaneous bonding moment over streetfood, where they reminisced on their fond memories of working together at the same hospital in their hometown. As Gemma asked him if he doesn’t really consider going back to Maravida, Patrick remembered that fateful night that forever changed his and his manong’s lives.
“Made by Scars”
The opening scene of Episode 5 indeed tugged at the heartstrings, as we witnessed the heartwarming moments between the Gonzales brothers following the tragic and mysterious death of their mom when they were still young.
Upon learning that they were going to be turned over to different facilities since the cops were not able to reach any of their relatives, the young Patpat (Nathan Bulalacao) and Matmat (Noel Comia Jr.) left the police station. They may not have a specific place to go to, yet Patpat, despite being younger, promised his anxious and emotional manong that he would never abandon him no matter what happens, as what their mom had reminded him before.
As Gemma tried to persuade him return to Maravida to work and settle down, Patrick said was not keen to do so soon, for he’s still haunted by his bad memories there. But once he’ll have a sudden change of mind, Gemma offered for him and his manong to stay at one of her mom’s house rentals for she will definitely give a discount.
Even though he was able to make Jason promise to accompany Matmat in Mia’s book signing event, Patrick was still compelled to be the one to bring his manong there since his best friend appeared to inebriated after drinking too much the night before. Matmat was indeed filled with excitement and enthusiasm on D-Day, with Mia showing delight upon catching sight of the brothers among the long queue.
As Patpat had to leave his manong alone in line to answer the Jason’s call, Matmat figured in a commotion after he was attacked by the mad father of the kid whose costume, which reminded him of his favorite type of dinosaur and cartoon character, Trexy, he touched twice. That triggered Matmat to throw tantrums until Patrick came to save him from being physically and verbally harmed by the man, who accused him of being a molester.
The last episode of the pilot week concluded with Mia making the effort to interfere and fix the problem by uttering, “Mag-sorry ka,” while facing the two brothers.
Remarkable pilot week, rave comments from netizens
ABS-CBN Studios’ Philippine adaptation of “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay” may have continuously received mixed reactions from the moment it was announced last year to now that it has already begun airing, yet it’s able to prove just on its pilot week that it’s definitely worth-watching because of so many reasons.
So, we already like to congratulate Director Mae Cruz-Alviar, the actors, and the rest of the Star Creatives staff and crew for this amazing project and the successful first week!
First is its highly interesting, exciting, and relatable narrative that isn’t only centered on the romance of the two lead characters, Mia and Patrick, but also touches on various topics related to mental health; relationships with family, friends, and colleagues; and Filipino values, sensibilities, and culture—all of which audiences of all ages can definitely relate to. Besides, we’re also curious about the story arcs of each character and the role they’re going to play in each other’s lives, especially of the three leads.
Second is the promising portrayals of the actors—from the lead to the supporting to the guests—giving justice to their counterparts in the original series that many people from different parts of the world, including Pinoy K-drama fans, absolutely loved. Despite, perhaps, of the pressure, Anne Curtis indeed lives up to the hype of her much-awaited teleserye comeback, Joshua Garcia is able to prove why he’s indeed the perfect choice for the role, while Carlo Aquino once again impresses us with his versatility as an actor. The performances of their child counterparts in the flashbacks shouldn’t be overlooked as well.
While we’ve already seen a few scenes of Anne and Joshua together, we’re looking forward to see the three of them together in the upcoming scenes. At the same time, we also can’t wait to see more of the supporting ensemble cast and to meet the actors who are going to make special participations on the show after Sofia Andres and Christian Vasquez.
Third is the production’s choice of locations, which gives us glimpses of the beauty of the Philippines. Watching the characters move around those destinations, mostly in the vibrant and historical City of Iloilo, probably makes us either miss roaming around there or wish to set our foot there as well someday. The locations indeed added more depth, color, and beauty to the scenes shot in each.
Last, but definitely not the least, is the superb animation, which were actually done by Puppeteer Studios, a premier 3D animation studio in the Philippines. We also like the seamless and artistic interweaving of fantasy and reality in each episode, just like how it was done in the original.
We believe that there’s actually more things to love and be excited about this show but here are just the ones on top of our heads.
With the vibrance (and gloom) that it brings, we cannot help but think that “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay” PH version indeed came just right in time—when we really need a good content to light up our stormy days over the past week by keeping us entertained, kilig, and inspired. At the same time, the series has also made us reflect on the significant things in our lives and life in general that we’ve probably tend to set aside or taken for granted, such as our and our loved ones’ mental well-being and the love and care that the people around us have for us.
Just on its first week, we have already picked up a lot of wisdom and realizations through the experiences and exchanges of the characters, as well as the animated stories from the books written by Mia that are really intended for children. Thus, there netizens who wish that Mia’s books can be availed by the public as well.
Of course, the title of the show itself is already a great reminder for all of us that indeed, “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay!”
Here are some rave comments posted on X (formerly Twitter) by Kapamilya netizens who got to watch the pilot week:
Find out what’s going to happen next in the lives of Mia, Patpat, and Matmat in the upcoming episodes of “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay” PH version, weeknights on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live (KOL), A2Z, and TV5. You may also watch the episodes in advance on iWant.