Revenge of the ‘uglies’

DELA CRUZ. Confident portrayal.

GMA 7’s NEW teleserye, “Mundo Mo’y Akin,” started telecasting last Monday, and generally made a positive impression on us, due to the confident and believable portrayals of its two leads, Angelika dela Cruz and Sunshine Dizon.

They were cast as downright plain and even ugly young women who were reviled and ridiculed by everyone—until they were able to avenge themselves on their heartless maligners and bashers.

We appreciated the show’s penchant for brisk storytelling. Unlike other series that start two generations in the past, this one begins with the two leads already as young adults.

Angelika’s character is so ugly that even her own father ridicules her. She finds comfort in Sunshine’s friendship, and they get to be so comfortable with each other that they even crack jokes about their “lack of good looks.” —Misery does love company!

Trouble is, Angelika’s character needs to make money after her father kicks her out for good, so she finds employment as a caregiver in the mansion of a really sour and rancid old maid, who treats the househelp like dirt. When the spinster dies, her caregiver is shocked to discover that her ostensibly nasty employer has most uncharacteristically willed her vast fortune to her!

Some viewers may find this shocking development difficult to comprehend, but there it is: Wish-fulfilling teleseryes operate on exceedingly stretchable rules of “logic”—so, if the series’ plot dictates that Angelika should be given a lot of money to turn her sad life around so she can get back at her detractors—voila! Consider it done!

More specifically, a preview of future episodes shows Angelika no longer ugly, so we presume that a cosmetic surgeon has performed his expensive ministrations on her. And it looks like she will also be reunited with her best friend, Sunshine, with whom she will share her newfound riches. —How nice for ugly people everywhere!

But, much of that still has to come to dramatic fruition. Eventually, we hope that the show will be able to make some strong points about how we relate to beauty and ugliness, and how they impinge on our collective psyche and value system, both within and without.