Bracingly ‘liberated’ tack for ‘Binondo’s’ protagonist

CHIU. Her character gives young female viewers a good role model to emulate.

Kim Chiu’s new teleserye, “My Binondo Girl,” has an interesting and even potentially instructive plot premise: In the Chinoy world, sons are valued above all else, so she is made to “pass” for a boy to assure her a life of comfort and wealth.

Unfortunately, the new TV series’ first telecasts began with an overlong “back story” before Kim’s young-adult character entered the scene. It started with her parents’ romance and early marriage, and the distracting detour got the show off to a decidedly bumpy start.

For one thing, AiAi delas Alas  was patently too old to be believable as the child title character’s young mother. And, her “muggy” attempts to be funny came off as old-hat.

Crying scenes

As for her “dramatic” and crying scenes, they were dismally strident, shallow and/or unsympathetic. Yes, we know that we shouldn’t expect exceptional acting from a teleserye, but surely, a passably proficient performance isn’t too much to ask for?

The saving grace in the show’s first week of telecasts is the relatively natural and felt portrayal turned in by the child actress who plays Kim’s character as a tot.

We recall seeing the young charmer in another TV drama series (“Mutya”), so we know that she’s no overnight sensation. But, she’s been able to retain her natural acting “attack,” unlike many other “experienced” child performers, who all too quickly turn in portrayals that are much too self-conscious, cloying and “knowing.”

Appearance

By the third telecast, Kim’s young-adult character finally makes an appearance, as a tomboy who wants to be able to do anything a man does. This is a bracingly radical, new tack for a teleserye protagonist to take, and it should be celebrated, because it gives young female viewers a “liberated” role model to emulate.

It’s definitely better and more proactive than all of the sweet, exquisitely suffering heroines who have come before, and (if believably dramatized) could end up as the new teleserye’s  best contribution in terms of forward-looking and tradition-smashing themes and central characters are concerned.

The third telecast also introduced the young-adult persona of Kim’s character’s childhood chum, played by Jolo Revilla. The way the telecast went, it looked like both Kim and Jolo secretly liked each other a whole lot, but refused to admit their mutual attraction, because it could sour up their friendship.

Jolo did his best to make his character interesting, but his portrayal wasn’t significantly different from his performances in past TV shows, so the result was underwhelming.

Feminine side

As for Kim, her first appearance had her doing a lot of “tomboy” stuff, but her being a woman at heart was underscored by a scene that had her comb her mane of hair and reminisce about the time when her best friend admitted that he had a crush on her.

We suppose that this feminine side to her character had to be clearly established, because she would soon have to pretend to be a young man (with a moustache, yet), in keeping with the series’ provocative theme.

Will Kim be able to pull the difficult gender-bending challenge off? The possibility of that happening in a believable way is iffy, due to the young actress’ lean, even gaunt frame and thin voice, which have limited the effectivity of her portrayals, even in less demanding female roles.

But, we hope that Kim and the show’s support team will be able to pull that key switcheroo off, so that, when it happens, viewers can simply sit back and enjoy it, instead of having to consciously suspend their disbelief every step of the way.