All’s well that ends well
ALEXA Ilacad and Nash Aguas in “Bagito”
On its concluding week of telecasts, the “Christmas-serye,” “The Gift Giver,” pushed its old protagonist, played by Eddie Garcia, past the point of endurance, so he made the risky decision to leave the home of his daughter, portrayed by Dimples Romana, alarming his entire family. They looked for him everywhere, but failed to locate him!
Had he put himself in harm’s way? He was too old to take such risks—so was his story going to end sadly?
Well, this being a limited series timed for the Yuletide season, it was more than likely that the show’s finale (last Friday) would snatch an upbeat and decidedly happy ending from the very jaws of tragedy in which it seemingly trapped its principal characters!
If the series ends badly for Garcia’s character, its producer’s name must be Ebeneezer Spoilsport-Scrooge!
“The Gift Giver” started off sluggishly, but its storytelling eventually picked up steam, with the old lead character’s children belatedly realizing that he wasn’t a cold, authoritarian dad, after all:
Aiko Melendez understood why her father had separated her from her first love—because he turned out to already be married!
And Romana finally summoned the nerve to leave her lousy husband, who treated her like one of the household help!
With belated realizations like this, Garcia should be found just in the nick of time to be weepingly but happily reunited with his by now more appreciative and grateful children!
Meanwhile, on “Bagito,” the teen protagonist’s own woes are piling up on his addled head—one problem after another! Most recently, his studies were put on hold due to the scandal over his “accidentally” having become a very young dad.
This forced him to work to help his folks pay the bills rapidly piling up and he quickly realized that it was hard! Meantime, the mother of his love child was also earning her keep abroad by babysitting—ironically, taking care of a child that wasn’t her own!
As for the bagito dad’s folks, they were experiencing many woes of their own, but tried to remain supportive of their formerly clueless but now brusquely natauhan son!
All of these low blows should make teen viewers think 10 times before getting sexual kicks at much too early an age—it just isn’t worth it!
Much better life
Finally, on “Dream Dad,” life is going much better for the series’ resident moppet, Baby (Jana Agoncillo), who’s gotten her wish to live with her dream dad, played by Zanjoe Marudo.
Actually, it’s Zanjoe’s mom (Gloria Diaz) who’s volunteered to “foster ” the child at home for some months, so Baby is having the time of her life living in a mansion and snuggling up close to her “preferred” father figure.
Too good to be true? Well, this is a teleserye—so, it’s wish-fulfillment time!
Interestingly, right after Garcia’s starrer “The Gift Giver” ended, another limited “seasonal” drama series was poised to immediately take its place on its late-morning time slot.
This is a “medical” drama top-billing Gerald Anderson and Maja Salvador, in their first TV teamup. It dramatizes another kind of “gift” and “need” situation, this time involving organ transplant.
Let’s hope that the new “seasonal” drama warms viewers’ hearts as much as Garcia’s starrer did—and add to the viewing public’s collective Christmas glow!
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