A review by andrael
Midnight Tribunal by Budjette Tan, Kajo Baldisimo

3.0

Breaking up the episodic one-shot collections with longer stories makes for a pretty good rhythm; it makes the longer stories feel more "special". So I definitely enjoyed this volume.

The inclusion of thinly veiled stand-ins for real-life celebrities and politicians feels a little weird. It was weird in the previous volume with the Pacquiao story, and it's doubly weird here
Spoiler, when it seems like the Imelda character is being set up as a major part of the series mythology (Budjette Tan in the afterword described her as Trese's "archenemy")
. We'll have to see how that pans out. I do like that they're creating a greater sense of continuity between volumes.

I'd been dreading the possibility of Trese acquiring a romantic interest; but that subplot in this volume worked well and was a lot less offputting than I was expecting. Still, I can't really see her hooking up with that guy. If she was attracted to cocky pretty-boys who wear a lot of black, you'd think she'd just go for the kambal.