Two mentally-unstable teenagers planned their Valentine's Day celebration by committing suicide — an iWant original series review.
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There were a lot of buzz sorrounding the release of Netflix's
13 Reasons Why back in 2017, both positive and negative uproar revolving its sensitive subject matter. Developed by Brian Yorkey and based on a 2007 novel of the same name by Jay Asher, the show tackles a series of events that happened in the life of a high-schooler named Hannah Baker, through her accounts recorded via cassette tapes, before ending her own life. Regardless of the stir, the show was successful at opening up a discussion about mental health conditions and raise awareness about it. As for the Philippines, it was extremely rare to see such impressionable plot being produced, if there were any at all. In 2019 however, writer-director Jason Paul Laxamana opened the doors for local audiences to witness a series dealing with the same subject matter through his six-episodal iWant original,
Project Feb 14.
Laxamana's mini series follows Brix (McCoy De Leon), a Vampire cosplayer with a radical fascination for aswangs, who met Annie (Jane Oineza), a fashionable harajuku-inspired girl who sidelines as an online entertainer, through an on-cam face-to-face deepweb chat room. Both decided to meet in person to plan and execute their supposed suicide on Valentine's Day. As ridiculous as it sounds, the couple, or at least that's how they pretend to be as given the fact that they just met moments ago, was very adamant with the idea and without a drop of remorse whatsoever. Meanwhile, a very drunk Cody (JC Santos) came into the picture, revealing his background sometime later as a known neophyte reporter with a dark past. Cody overheard Brix and Annie's suicidal proposal and decided to record the whole shtick on camera as a part of his mini documentary.
As for its structure, the show was divided into six mini sections dealing with different signs of a person with antisocial tendencies. Each of them was completed by a table interview with real-life psychiatrists and mental health experts, lead by tv personality Bianca Gonzales, wherein they discuss the events that happened in that episode and the possible explanation behind such actions and behaviors. With all of their opinions, the show was very educational and thus, in some way or another, was genuine with its intention to inform and raise awareness.
The actual episodes however, were all over the place. At times, Laxamana wants the audience to invest in his quasi-romantic plot accentuated by semi-sensual sequences that rarely amuses and enthralls. There were horror elements as well, scattered through Cody's paranormal sightings in which the show easily labels as Schezoprenia, that is, if seeing ghostly manifestations were enough to be considered as one.
As for the characters themselves, I thought the motivations that they had were not as compelling as Laxamana wanted it to be and thus came off as flat and generic. Yes, the obvious teenager-wanting-attention cliché were at play here but given the circumstances and the direction the story was going to commit, it was not enough. I don't know if it's just my personal view but I thought the show categorizes antisocial people as psychopaths and/or borderline murderers. If anything, that's what Laxamana seems to be so focused on and an occasional in-your-face cussing and uncontrollalble teenage outrage because apparently that's how depressed kids go on about their day-to-day lives. For what its worth, at least the show were consistent at giving educational bits at the end.
Let's Be Reel
Overall, the show was very problematic. Its disheveled execution and wonky storytelling were visually tormenting and for a mini series, it felt like an eternity to finish. The only acceptable reason of watching it is probably just to hear the discussion at the end and to be informed about the hotlines displayed at the beginning of each episodes.
There were better ways or shows to invest your time into when seeking self-help and/or just wanting to be self-aware and honestly, Project Feb 14 is not one of them.
3/10
Reel Points
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