English Dub Review: Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence “The Things They Protect”

Overview

There’s a knock at the church door. Abel answers it, then slams the door closed again, to no avail. The visitor, Hazelita, has come looking for him and also to see the lady saint. When she meets Cecilia, her manner toward Lawrence turns cold. But why?

Our Take

This time around, we get Haiselita’s introduction. Compared to the “previous episode”, we also got to see some of her past too. As a character, she seems to be much more outspoken and isn’t afraid to say what’s on her mind. Her character interactions with Cecilia are kinda amusing since their personalities somewhat contrast. Abel and Haiselita had even more amusing moments together.

Though Cecilia brightens up at Lawrence, Hazelita asks the taboo question of a man and woman living together, despite everything being platonic. All the preparations are complete for home tutoring, though Hazelita specifically requests Abel to teach her instead. That said, Cecilia has to act formally, she can finally rest after all the while.

Overall, for an introduction episode, Hazelita’s presence further changed the character dynamics by bringing some more energy into the proceedings, and this episode was quite a bit more enjoyable because of that. With much-needed fun comedic moments contrasted with Lawrence’s denseness, he’ll surely be the butt end of a lot of the jokes. Hazelita’s past was the most interesting part. And despite her stealing most of the screen time of the episode away from the titular two leads, she gives an undercurrent of mystery that I hope is further fleshed out in later episodes.