One surprise after another

DINGDONG Dantes and Lovi Poe play besieged lovers

Maricel Soriano’s portrayal of the “wounded wife on the warpath” in “Ang Dalawang Mrs. Real” is currently the talk of TV town, what with Dingdong Dantes and Lovi Poe at the painful receiving end of her verbal and physical attacks.

Her unexpectedly violent reaction to their extramarital duplicity has made viewers, particularly potentially philandering men, see “wounded wives” in a decidedly cautionary light!

The teleserye could end up as the local version of “Fatal Attraction,” the US film that scared male viewers so much that it dissuaded them from straying—an empathetically painful lesson learned!

Even more interestingly, Maricel’s assertive attacks in “Mrs. Real” are turning out to be a series of assaults! Just as viewers think that her outraged character has already done her worst in beating up Dingdong and slapping Lovi, it looks like she’s just warming up for a really long battle!

From day to day, watching the series’ climactic scenes unfold is like getting zipped with one surprise after another!

MARICEL Soriano plays wounded wife on the warpath

After her initial outburst and assault, Maricel didn’t stop to savor the sweet relief of vengeance and catharsis, but surprised viewers when she told the by now completely cowed Dingdong that she wasn’t through with him and Lovi: She insisted that he take her to his and Lovi’s nest—and started trashing the whole place, hurling picture frames here and there, ransacking their clothes closet and throwing her underwear in his face! Hell knows no greater fury than a wounded wife on the primal warpath—indeed!

Nor was that the end of it: When Lovi made the big mistake of fighting for her man, Maricel’s character went on attack mode anew—and didn’t stop until Dingong miserably mumbled his pledge to choose her over her younger and more delectable rival and interloper!

Was that the end of it? No way! Maricel then proceeded to further twist the knife in Dingdong’s innards—and decided to give him up! In fact, she even “returned” him to his parents!

Now that was an even more unexpected lulu, and all Dingdong could do was to look really dumbfounded!

To complicate matters even more, it turns out that Lovi’s old dad, played by Tommy Abuel, also has a mistress on the side—a plot development that effectively amplifies the “extramarital” discussion that the series has initiated to include not just Dingdong’s case, but the general issue of some (many?) Filipino men’s penchant for having more than one “wife”!

Let’s hope that the amplified discussion will prompt some viewers to effect changes of perception, if not action, in their own lives in this regard—knock on wood!

As “Mrs. Real” hurtles to its climax and finale, we keep watching to see what other surprises Maricel and her coplayers have up their sleeves—and hope that, when the dust finally settles, valuable and cautionary lessons about the perils of marital infidelity are taught—and learned by the empathetically quivering and battle-scarred viewer!