Flies in the ointment

As new teleseryes continue to unfold, some gongs beg to be struck, hopefully for revelatory and insightful benefit:

First, on “Maria La Del Barrio,” Erich Gonzales wears a signature “crown” on her head, even as she works as a maid in a mansion where most of the people despise her. We suppose that the crown was a given “emblem” in the original telenovela, but it’s still a problem in the current Filipino transposition.

It’s a problem of logic: If the snooty people living in the mansion hate her so much, why in the world would they allow their maid to sport such a silly headpiece while serving them?!

Logically, they would have instantly torn it away from her head and tossed it into the trash can, but of course, they don’t—because it is an “iconic” character touch or gimmick that has to be sustained—and retained. Sad, isn’t it?

Another emerging aspect of the show that merits attention and concern is the performance of Angel Aquino as Maria’s nasty nemesis. She hates the young protagonist to bits, because she reminds her that her husband loved Maria’s mother more than her. In fact, Angel’s character hated Maria’s mother so much that she had her “killed” (we suspect that the character, played by Assunta de Rossi, could resurface in due time.)

Not vicious

So, what’s the emerging problem? Well, after some weeks of telecasting, it now appears that, despite her best efforts to come up with a truly hateful and even “monstrous” performance, Angel simply doesn’t have it in her to pass muster as a vicious super-virago, which is what the drama series needs, if it is to rise to the heady, stratospheric and melodramatic heights expected of an all-out, slam-bang tale of cross-generational demented jealousy and vengeance!

No, Angel is too innately nice and equable to convincingly turn herself into an absolutely horrid monster. So, it looks like the show may have to trot out some subsidiary villains to help make up for the slack.

We do credit Angel for trying her best (or “worst”) to be as quadri-polar and evil as all get-out, but her heart really isn’t in it (bless her). Well, there are many other roles she can play more believably in the months and years to come, so this isn’t a major debacle—just an instructive reminder that stars can’t do and play everything.

‘Iglot’

For its part, the new teleserye “Iglot” started telecasting last August 30. Claudine Barretto is cast as a young woman courted by a rich politician, whom she spurns in favor of her longtime love (Marvin Agustin)—who, it turns out, is secretly loved by their mutual childhood friend (Jolina Magdangal).

That’s pretty solid star value, so the show should interest viewers. This early, however, we note some potential problems:

Claudine is a bit too plump, Jolina looks a mite too mature for her role, especially in its “early” years, and the central conflict is rather old hat, so the show needs to work harder to make it fresh.

In addition, the story’s “fantasy” element could prove to be an unproductive distraction. But, let’s give the new series more time to get its act together. One thing you learn from watching a lot of teleseryes is…patience.