From Andrea Brillantes greeting us, “Hi! It’s me, Sky Love Cruz,” on the trailer of “High Street,” we went on to watch her well-loved character bade farewell as she uttered, “This is Sky Love Cruz, now signing off,” in the riveting and shocking conclusion of the much-admired youth-oriented series on Friday, August 30.
The “The Final Destination” finale week commenced with the unforeseen tragic demise of Wesley (Harvey Bautista) after being accidentally hit by a car while chasing Sky and Gino (Juan Karlos Labajo) at a parking lot. This further fueled the wrath of the wicked main antagonist Tori (Dimples Romana) and turned her more determined to take her and all her loved ones down.
Fearing what Tori could do to them after what happened to her son, Sky and her family decided to go into hiding. But unfortunately, that didn’t happen as what they were dreading of transpired after Tori was able to successfully abduct Sky’s mother Tania (Angel Aquino) and baby sister Star and harm her stepfather Brandon (Kean Cipriano) through the help of her remaining ally and trusted right-hand, Esteves (Joel Molina).
Sky wasn’t with them during that time since she and Gino went to the mental facility to visit his mom, Cecil (Ana Abad Santos), who wished to talk to her to personally ask for her forgiveness and express her willingness to make it up to them. Even though Cecil played a significant role in all the monstrous and unpardonable things that her late husband, William Acosta (Mon Confiado), did to her, her family, and the students of Northford High, Sky still chose to forgive her.
While Sky’s connection with Cecil was already dealt with, her feelings toward Gino were something that she found it truly difficult to tackle. Although she knew in her heart that she loved Gino, the mess that she went through in life apparently made her numb, making it impossible for her to reciprocate the amount of love that he had for her. As she expressed her apologies, Gino reminded her that she didn’t have to be pressured because he totally understood and promised that his love for her had always been genuine and for forever.
As soon as she learned about what happened at their house, Sky immediately went to the police station to coordinate with the police, which included her close friend, Tim (Zaijian Jaranilla). She suddenly received a video from Tori that showed Tania and Star being held as captives, which prompted them to try different techniques to be able to trace their whereabouts, but to no avail.
At the same time, Sky’s friends and half-siblings Z (Daniela Stranner) and Archie (Elijah Canlas) joined forces as well to help her find her mom and sister, which made Sky feel guilty as she thought that they shouldn’t be dragged into this chaos and she should have been alone in this fight since she was Tori’s only target. However, Gino reminded her that they were all her victims, too, and that was the least that they could do for all that she had done to them.
Out of sheer desperation, Sky uploaded a public apology video online to retract the allegations hurled at Tori and clear her name, which was actually part of the latter’s ridiculous conditions in exchange for Tania and Baby Star’s safety. Of course, her barkada got disappointed upon seeing it, but they knew that Sky only did it because she was forced and threatened.
They then received a video of Baby Star crying and a slew of text messages from an unknown number, informing them that Tania and Baby Star were at Northford High. Initially, they argued over the right move they must undertake until they agreed to see it for themselves first and not to call the police yet to not complicate things and put the captives in danger.
However, as he sensed that something wasn’t right, Poch (Miggy Jimenez) decided to call Tim, who was upset about the decision they made, and assured him that he would immediately send backup to rescue them. On his way to the second floor, Archie found bombs and commanded everyone to leave, but the main door was locked from the outside, and they found themselves trapped. As they tried to escape, Tori caught them and threatened to shoot whoever would dare to move or answer their ringing phones.
Tori then called Sky and told her that she would kill all her friends along with her mom and baby sister, which made the latter panic even more. At this point, Esteves was seen opening the tank that contained a huge volume of carbon monoxide.
Sky and Gino were able to arrive at Northford and immediately set forth to search for Tania and Baby Star, their friends, and the evil duo of Tori and Esteves. Gino managed to find Tania and Baby Star and take them out of the room contaminated with toxic gas and of the building. Coincidentally, Tim’s parents, Edith (Angeli Bayani) and Elmo (Gerald Madrid), arrived at the scene and volunteered to rush Baby Star to the hospital while Tania decided to go back inside to save Sky.
On the other hand, Sky was able to locate Tori and Esteves and singlehandedly knock both of them down. Unfortunately, she was shot by Tori on her left shoulder on her way out of the room, yet she managed to run away with the bomb detonator in her hand. She was also able to find her friends and siblings and help them get out of the room where Esteves and Tori detained them.
As they were all heading to the main door, little did they know that Tori was lurking in a corner and succeeded in getting hold of Sky. She repeatedly beat her up as the latter refused to surrender the bomb detonator, while her friends and mother couldn’t do anything but watch until they found the chance to grab the guns of Esteves and Tori away from them.
Unbeknownst to them, Tori was hiding another gun on her right leg and fatally shot Sky at the back, which led to her death. Tori and Esteves were also killed after the police arrived at the scene and fired shots at them. Gino recovered the bomb detonator from Sky’s hand, realizing that she still did everything she could do to save all of them until her last breath.
Sky’s family decided for her remains to be cremated and put her urn beside her twin sister Luna’s resting place. While the loved ones, colleagues, and acquaintances of Sky were able to grieve her death, Nikki (AC Bonifacio) was not allowed to go out of prison, even just for a short time to at least see the bodies of Wesley and Tori. Being the next of kin, she was asked by PCOL Emil Concha (Art Acuña) to decide what the authorities must do with their remains.
The viewers were then taken to the events that transpired eight months after the tragic demise of Sky.
Cecille was already discharged from the mental facility and lived with Gino at his condominium. It may have been months already, but he still found it impossible to move on from the passing of Sky and move forward in life.
Yanna and Z teamed up to establish a women’s crisis support group and held hands going to a cafe.
As we saw them hanging out together, it was safe to say that Sanya (Gela Atayde) had already forgiven Kenjie (Tommy Alejandrino) after what happened to them in the past. They were able to rekindle their friendship and find new love with other people – Kenjie with Kurt (Elyson de Dios), an employee at Here Cafe & Bar, while Sanya with a dapper young man played by Aljon Mendoza.
After their relationship went on the rocks due to the objection of Tim’s mother, Edith (Angeli Bayani), Tim and Poch got back together and lived under one roof again. At the same time, Tim was also able to rekindle his relationship with Edith, as Poch advised him to fix their rift by finally forgiving her. Edith thanked Poch for helping them make amends and gave her blessing to them by asking him to never stop loving her beloved unico hijo. They underwent same-sex marriage abroad, which was witnessed by their parents.
Ardent shippers of the RoxChie tandem surely rejoiced as Roxy (Xyriel Manabat) finally found it in her heart to completely forgive Archie (Elijah Canlas) and set aside her issues and grudges against him for the sake of their son, Riley. Aside from giving him the permission to put his name on Riley’s birth certificate as the legal father and affix “Aguerro” to his name, Roxy also decided to bet on Archie again and finally gave her much-awaited “I love you” to him. They eventually got married and lived happily ever after with their beloved son.
Tania and Brandon were able to reclaim the title of their house, which can be recalled the latter had to mortgage in order to pay off their debts.
On the first death anniversary of Sky, her former supervisor, Dante (Romnick Sarmenta), found an envelope containing a flash drive buried among the piles of documents atop his table. It turned out to hold an important file, which was the final project of Sky—the final chapter of her documentary entitled “Northford Files” that she recorded at the OnQ office before she died —and showed it to everyone who attended the tribute for her.
In the video, Sky imparted her realizations and learnings, as well as looked back on some good and bad memories she had created and shared with the people dear to her heart within her short yet purposeful life. It was her moving and noteworthy way of signing off.
Notable performances of the cast
Throughout its more than three-month run, “High Street” indeed consistently brought us to a rollercoaster ride of emotions – extreme level. Set five years after the young main cast’s graduation from Northford High School, we had joined Sky, Gino, Roxy, Archie, Z, Tim, Poch, Sanya, and Kenjie as they navigated the world as adults, while having to deal with a nightmare they thought was already over at the same time.
Even though what Sky and her family went through in the hands of Tori may not be something a lot of people have experienced, we were still able to relate to her, as well as to the stories of her friends and half-siblings. She had a huge heart not just for her loved ones but for those people who didn’t have the courage to defend themselves and go against persons who did them wrong.
Despite being aware that she had no match against the powerful enemies, she still chose to stand up and fight the wicked “monsters,” although it meant having to go through a lot of hitches and dangers that led to her unfortunate death. Through her impressive portrayal of Sky, Andrea Brillantes was still able to prove anew that she’s truly one of the gems of her generation.
The same can be said about her contemporaries Elijah Canlas, Xyriel Manabat, Zaijian Jaranilla, Juan Karlos Labajo, Miggy Jimenez, Daniela Stranner, Tommy Alejandrino, and Gela Atayde, who all delivered wonderful performances. The pairs of Elijah and Xyriel and of Zaijian and Miggy were consistent in astonishing us, especially during their scenes together in which they never failed to rend our hearts, amuse us, and/or make us kilig. Besides, they were also oozing with chemistry, which made the RoxChie and TimPoch tandems tremendous successes.
Juan Karlos, Daniela, and Tommy once again impressed us with their remarkable acting chops through their marvelous depictions of their respective roles. Meanwhile, Gela was able to further showcase her promising acting skills as the narrative delved into her character deeper.
Seasoned actresses Angel Aquino and Dimples Romana both slayed in portraying their characters. Angel once again astounded us with her dramatic chops as Tania, while Dimples proved, time and again, how a versatile actress and highly effective a kontrabida she is through her portrayal of Tori.
The supporting cast members Mon Confiado, Ana Abad Santos, Gerald Madrid, Angeli Bayani, Kean Cipriano, Inka Magnaye, Rans Rifol, and Nour Hooshmand definitely did great jobs as well in portraying their characters. Despite being new additions to the ensemble, Romnick Sarmenta, Harvey Bautista, AC Bonifacio, and Ralph de Leon amazed us by showing facets of them that we probably haven’t seen yet in their previous acting stints and by being able to create chemistry with their co-stars.
Of course, the appearance of child star Argus Aspiras shouldn’t be missed as well, since aside from the fact that this was his first foray into acting, he was also apparently the ray of sunshine on the set.
Takeaways from the series
The flow of the story may have drawn a variety of reactions and opinions from fans and viewers, but we can all agree that “High Street” provided us with realizations and learnings to which we can relate in real life.
As we religiously followed the characters in their journey towards fighting evil, they’re able to prove that the good, despite how painful or excruciating the process can be, will always trample the bad. We were reminded time and again that vengeance can definitely take us nowhere and bring us nothing but heaviness in our hearts and souls because of our wrath.
Sky surely inspired not just the people around her but the audiences as well with her resilience, determination, empathy, and courage through the various battles she faced. At the same time, she’s also a great reminder for people who are in parallel situations as hers to not forget to take care of ourselves or put our own well-being first so that we can be able to continue pouring our love and protecting our loved ones.
Like the first season, the series continued to boldly tackle different issues or struggles that many of us, not just the youth, confront or experience, yet we are often scared or ashamed to talk about. Besides, it also championed the LGBTQIA+ community through raising awareness about their struggles and advocacies through the stories of Tim and Poch, Kenjie and Sanya, and Yana and Z.
And finally, just like what Andrea wrote in her Instagram post paying tribute to the show and her characters, “The ending might not be what everyone expected, but I hope it serves as a lesson that some things have to end and sacrifices must be made for the greater good, so we can all start again.”
Rave reactions from netizens
Here are some of the rave feedbacks posted by netizens who got to watch the “The Final Destination” finale week of “High Street” on X (formerly Twitter):
Kudos to everyone who took part in the success of both “Senior High” and “High Street” – from the exceptional and talented cast to the people behind the camera led by its brilliant directors, Lino Cayetano, Rico Navarro, and Onat Diaz, and its amazing creative team! To more projects that not only provide quality entertainment and remarkable narratives, but also open minds and touch hearts!