If the world of “Seducing Drake Palma (SDP)” is likened to cotton candy—“sweet, colorful, and happy”—the visual reference for its sequel “Dating Alys Perez (DAP)” is metal and glass: cold, hard, and can easily cut when one isn’t careful.
Set four years after their graduation from Brenford, “DAP” follows Alys (Angela Muji) and Drake (Rabin Angeles) as working professionals who are no longer dealing with school antics but are reckoning with more grown-up concerns.
While at first it was Alys who did the pursuing, this time, the tables have turned. Back from New York, a more mature and guarded Alys is now happy with her boyfriend Tripp—a man she loves and loves her back. But just when she thinks she has already moved on from her painful past, she crosses paths with Drake, who’s now bent on doing everything in his power to win her love back.
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Wider acting range
The turns in the story are so drastic and emotionally taxing that director Cristanto Aquino had already been warning Muji and Angeles about “DAP” while they were shooting their film “A Werewolf Boy” late last year.
“It requires more serious acting and a wider range,” he says of the series, which will tackle issues such as long-distance healing, sacrifice, and weighing passion against stability. “Sabi ko, paghandaan nila kasi sobrang bigat ng pagdadaanan nila.”
The “RabGel” love team is well aware of the new material’s gravity. But turning to each other for strength and motivation, the two actors are ready for the task. “Hindi na lang siya pa-tweetums,” Muji says. “Our characters face unexpected real-life challenges. Because we haven’t experienced those, we really had to immerse ourselves in their situation.”
Angeles, on the other hand, places his trust in the chemistry and connection he has built not only with Muji but also with their director. “Mas naiintindihan na namin kung paano kami mag-work together,” Angeles says of their dynamics on set. “Mas gamay na namin ang isa’t isa during takes.”
Aquino, who describes the pair’s acting as “effortless,” adds: “Isang tingin ko lang sa kanila, alam na nila if they did a bad or good take.”
While “DAP”—which streams on Viva One starting June 12—maintains continuity with “SDP,” one of the most immediate changes is in its casting. Tripp, originally played by Dylan Menor, is now in the hands of Zeke Polina, who’s best known for the mystery thriller series “Hell University.”
“It’s a unique situation, so I was very surprised. There’s pressure because Dylan played Tripp so well,” says Polina, who made sure to watch “SDP” and read the internet novel it was based on. “I will just try to do my best.”
Sensitive issues
The biggest change, however, will not reveal itself until the very last episode.
Written in the early 2010s, “DAP”—and “SDP,” for that matter—reflect the sensibilities of early Wattpad-era storytelling. Some of the attitudes and actions the characters exhibit, as well as sensitive pivotal moments, may no longer align with today’s values when viewed through a contemporary lens.
“Before I agreed to this adaptation, I pointed out that ‘DAP’ is unlike ‘SDP’ na teenager kilig-kilig lang—it actually tackles sensitive issues. So if we were to do this, we have to make sense of everything,” says author Ariesa Domingo, who admitted that, as a college student writing during a time when people were “less sensitive,” she failed to “rationalize” some of her characterizations and narrative choices.
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Redemption arcs
But because those facets contribute to character growth and lend weight to some of the characters’ eventual redemption arcs, the screen adaptation retains some of the most crucial ones—but not without placing them in proper context.
Domingo and Aquino kept the specifics to a minimum for fear of spoilers. But one particular scene prompted a lengthy discussion among the creative team, who ultimately agreed that it had to remain.
“The sensitive matter—ando’n pa rin siya. Doon siya (Drake) masasasaktan nang sobra, doon siya ma-cha-challenge as a person and character,” Aquino says.
Domingo adds: “Hindi ‘yong andito ‘yong scene just for the sake of it. Andito siya, pero dapat i-explain kung bakit dumating sa point na ‘to.”
A different kind of closure
Looking back, Domingo realized that—perhaps owing to her youth and whatever she was going through during those days—she ended up putting the characters in painful circumstances without fully fleshed-out reasons.
As such, while Episodes 1 to 14 are based on the novel, Domingo gave Aquino free rein to take the story in a different direction for Episode 15 and the finale.
In any case, Domingo views the adaptation as a separate body of work. Onscreen, she hopes it allows for a closure different from the novel’s heavier and more open-ended ending. “I just wanted to wrap everything in a happy ending and close the book in a good way for everyone,” she says.
