‘Rigodon’ of players for drama series’ Book Two

CHRISTOPHER de Leon will be engaged in a thespic fight in this soap opera.

When “Ikaw Lamang” launched its “Book Two” recently, it was a good move on the production’s part to extend Jake Cuenca’s character, with Christopher de Leon stepping into his shoes as his more mature personification—because their acting styles are similar, they’re both floridly over-the-top!

It was also a no-brainer for Coco Martin to be cast as his original character’s son, Gabriel. The bad news was, Coco’s limited range as an actor has made him play his new role pretty much like he portrayed Gabriel’s dad—no thespic surprises there, unfortunately. But who would play Coco’s original character, Samuel, as an older man?

The production opted to cast Joel Torre in the role—a smart choice because Joel is a strong actor who’s sure to give Christopher a good thespic fight when Book Two reaches its expectedly fierce climax.

JOEL Torre takes over the role of Samuel—yet another convict.

Joel’s choice is interesting in another context because he’s really come into his own as an acclaimed actor of late, what with local and international praise he’s reaped for his standout portrayal in “On the Job.”

Instructively, he reprises his convict character in OTJ in “Ikaw Lamang.” Come to think of it, didn’t he also play an escaped convict in a previous teleserye (“Honesto”)? Somebody give

him a fresh persona before he expires from predictability, quick!

Feisty babe

As for Kim Chiu, her original character Isabelle was presumed to have drowned, “Titanic”-like, at the end of the series’ “Book One.” The popular actress now portrays a feisty, motorcycle-riding babe—a welcome shift in thespic approach, because Isabelle was such a pain for the actress to portray, going from one weepy scene to the next, until she had absolutely no more tears to shed!

KIM CHIU (left) and Coco Martin’s scenes are “for the fans” pa-cute.

Her new role gives Kim the chance to show her versatility and range—except that some of her scenes with Coco have been too gooily and “for the fans” pa-cute, which is not a good thing!

It now looks like Kim will have to compete with KC Concepcion for Gabriel’s heart so that’s another big thespic confrontation in the offing, aside from the impending Christopher-Joel “duel.”

While all this was going on, we wondered if Isabelle was really dead—and it now turns out that she wasn’t because she’s just resurfaced and is being played by Amy Austria, one of our most esteemed and much-missed TV thespians.

The “miraculously surviving” character clearly has vengeance in mind and will be thrilled to be reunited with her daughter, so Amy’s “reunion” scenes with Christopher, Joel and Kim are

KC CONCEPCION’s character is gearing up for a confrontation.

definitely worth looking forward to.

We just hope that the drama’s Book Two isn’t inordinately stretched, or else the series’ seams will show. Now that the new “generation” of characters has been fully presented, with Amy stepping into Isabelle’s sad and vengeful persona, it’s time to let the long-festering conflicts finally come to a climactic head and make the series’ vile villains and viragos face the music—and reap the whirlwind!