User reviews

MCIA is a fantastic show that mainstream Philippine television desperately needs and deserves! The story is based on José Rizal's novel 'Noli Me Tanghere,' a dark and disturbing book about the powerful Catholic church during the Spanish Colonial Era. The plot's execution is effective because of one character: Klay, a 2022 student who time-traveled to the 1880s-but not in reality-inside she's in a book.

They perfectly blended fantasy, drama, comedy, cliche, and new unconventional ideas, so the people who worked on this show deserve all of the credit! The cinematography is impressive, the production design is on point, the costumes are accurate, some VFX scenes could be improved, but they are still good, and the scriptwriters consulted historians.

I haven't seen any "teledrama" made in the Philippines for a long time. I have always thought most series from the Philippines are unnecessarily long, repetitive and boring. I decided to give this title a shot after hearing about it on Social Media, and boy I'm glad I did!

The script is well-written, funny, witty, and relatable. The characters are mostly likable (except for the villains, of course). The costumes and settings look great (especially considering budgetary constraints of a show produced in a developing country). And most importantly, the story is engaging.

It's amazing how this book was written over 100 years ago (where this series is based on) and still reflects the modern struggles of the Filipino.

My only complaint is how the volume changes from loud to quiet in one episode, and how the music is jarringly cut off from one scene to the next (but that may very well be becasue I'm watching the series online, rather than on local TV).

A recommended watch!

I'm one of those guilty Pinoys who had never clearly understood "Noli" (and "Fili") during HS days. Thanks GMA7 for shedding light on what this novel is all about (despite of obvious twists and turns, which I don't mind at all).

The fusion of the present and the past made this magnificent Obra compelling and effective, needless to say the quality of the production and cinematography, plus the immense characterization of each and every actor were superb.

For now, I am curious to know how far they will go with the story, since I remember "Noli" has an open ending. Anyway, this is World Class..

Edit 10/29/2022: I noticed many people bombing this series with 1 stars which is completely unreasonable, as a kapamilya this series is a solid recreation of the book but with a twist; therefore I am updating my rating to 10, Shame on you, bots and people who voted one which is completely unreasonable unless you've slept through your filipino Noli Me Tangere class or couldn't care less about filipino Heritage, Go read the original book if you dont want the time travelling stuff, thank you.

Original Review: Honestly, I am surprised and thrilled about this series, It is a new and unique way of promoting the book. It offers a topic that haven't yet explored in Philippine teleserye history quite extensively, time travel. This show provides this in a quite humorous yet interesting way in which you might ask yourself what will you do or what would happen if you, yourself time travelled to the 1880's in this fictional world. As someone who love history so much, it is an interesting take on the traditional portrayal of Noli Me Tangere. I am highly invested on the story and I hope GMA wouldn't disappoint, with the coming episodes.

I feel like Maria Clara at Ibarra sets the bar high it'll inspire Filipino filmmakers to do well too. I hope this won't be the only Filipino Serye that will capture many's eyes.

I love how all the actors played their characters so well! They were all is such a great casting! The villains will really get to your nerves and the protagonist's personality will really grow on you. The side characters are worth admiring too, you'll notice how they highlight the "Filipina" beauty. It reminds us how beautiful our natural faces are comparing to the standards now, which Klay might represent.

The writing is great, there's barely cringe scenes (only when a dramatic scene is prolonged a little) but I guess it adds to their character. But I don't think their purpose is only for fillers.

I even made an account just to post a review. This is the only series that made me want to learn and delve with the Filipino language. Definitely a must watch for those interested in the Filipino culture and history. Both entertaining and educational.

Just a little concerned with its visual effects and Background system. Especially its background music like when in some scenes it will just cut off midway when it jumps to a different scene. Then I became more conscious on it all throughout the series but it will grow on you as well.

Anyway, overall its a pretty interesting and entertaining watch for all audiences. 👍 Kudos to the researchers and production peeps on creating this unique historical drama series!

It's a Great Series You can learn a lot from the history of the Philippines Especially the novel of Dr Jose Rizal GMA Did Well at Adapting this series Into A tv show it's worth watching. I like the Costumes The Artists they did well at portraying their characters Especially Sisa. But What I didn't like is how the story ends It's Just lacking Of Something Maybe this show has season 2? I hope so.

This is the beginning of the Great Era of Philippine Entertainment and I hope more Tv shows like this This should be the one that This generation should Watch not those violence tv shows! It's a well series Recommend it to watch.

Maria Clara at Ibarra is a great work of art. Every Filipino must see this movie. It enlightens me on many things. I hope others too. As an educator, I should not waver in educating our youths. I should inspire them to learn and appreciate the bits and pieces of our history . We should be proud of our heritage, our culture, ,our history. Because if we will not, who are we as people? Laud GMA for creating such great project. All the characters are portrayed well by all actors and actresses. I love how the story unfolds from one episode to the next. There should be more creations like this . I am proud being a Filipino.

This series is new and refreshing to Philippines Teleserye. Also a nice way to introduce Jose Rizal's iconic novel, that is a big part why we are enjoying our independence right now. Dialogues are excellent, actors are all amazing, and story telling is nice. But when Klay started to always insist to be part and change the story, it becomes irritating(for me)I know that is their plot twist perhaps, but I wished they went with the actual story as is as it is already a masterpiece. Well, its still a nice 7/10 for me, but the trying hard "modern" Klay Character is annoying and ruined the show for me.

This series is just dragging. When most of the scenes are just too slow and dialogs to cringy. Most important scenes are being dragged to prolong and make the situation too unrealistic. A lot of unnecessary dialogues and scenes just making the episode too long to watch and making me sleepy and uninterested.

The production quality was very fine but there are too much acting that's too unrealistic and just does not match the book characters. It feels like the scenes and characters are acting for stupid people to understand.

This series can be made into a 12 or 16 episode series and make pretty much all sense and realistic but it took them 52 episodes and each episode has 70% non related to the book and also does not help context.

The plot itself is interesting. It's like Midnight at the Pera Palace meets Bridgerton - time travel and period 'dramedy'.

Acting-wise, I only found Chai Fonacier as believable. I get transported to 1884. The worst offenders are Dennis Trillo and Tirso Cruz III. Their poor grasp of how people at the time actually speak shows lack of research and preparation for their roles. As for Barbie Forteza, she has moments that are quite funny and is convincing as a true-blooded Gen Z'er. I truly enjoyed her scenes. With Julie Anne San Jose, I wish she would have enunciated more. At times, I couldn't understand her dialogue. Her singing voice though was amazing.

Production is relatively good given that there's always limited budget for shows coming from the Philippines. I also appreciated them bringing Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo to the small screen, especially for the younger viewers to know more about Rizal's works.

This is a casual watch.

The MOST IRRITATING protagonist ever! 70% of her time is crying like a stupid no brain, no respect to other esp elders stupid girl. Imagine a spoiled brat that was sent back in a time where she brags everything about her stupidity and all her drama that is not relevant. Her character is very irrirating in all the episodes, most of the time she drags everyone in her stupidity even though she should have known that in the time she was sent all people is not use to the culture she grew up with. Yet, she keeps on doing all her stupidness in all episodes. Should have been a great series, the main character of Barbie ruined a great tv series. Thumbs up for Dennis and Tirso's character and great acting. Most of the character is great. Shoul have been 10, but -7 because of the character of Klay.

In short, they made the Main Character sooo bad that she wouldn't have the strength or knowledge to change the story.

In addition, she has this kind of plot armor that the villains could only slap her, nothing more. If this is really in the past where those colonizers have total power over their slave countries, she would have already been jailed or whipped to death, yet for some reason, they always tend to ignore her after a few scolding.

They have the guts to plot against the Male Lead who is rich and reputable, yet they can't touch a girl who has no background. A very strong plot armor.

--- This drama is LIKE proving that 'education' is a waste of time or simply 'education in the Philippines' is bad.

Imagine the main character is a nursing student who had spent four years in college (plus grade school, plus high school), she should have the advantage over the people in year 1800's... but the main character acts dumber than these people.

She can't even think or analyze what she should do or act against certain circumstances, that always put herself and everyone in trouble.

In what kind of 'knowledge' says that shouting and blabbering against the one in power is a wise decision?

One example is when she found a peeping tom, instead of having an advantage, she went to confront and was slapped instead. Lol.