Lilet makes TV comeback of the season

LILET. “Throwback find” has wide range of performing skills.

The first time we watched “Forevermore,” we were struck by the textured performance turned in by the actress cast as Enrique Gil’s mother.

Trouble was, we couldn’t place her. She was obviously a comebacking star, but we couldn’t recall her name. All we knew was that she made a particularly focused and strong impression, coming across more believably than Zoren Legaspi, who was cast as her well-born husband, but didn’t or couldn’t act the part.

The “mystery” actress looked more credible in the “classy” milieu that was the setting for the new series’ “rich” subplot, so we kept trying to find out her name.

After a few false starts, we finally established the relatively mature actress’ identity last Tuesday: She was none other than former teen star Lilet, who opted to live and work abroad many years ago, thus her having gone “out of sight, out of mind” in our recollection.

One of the best

Well, we’re glad that ABS-CBN has succeeded in getting Lilet to make her comeback in “Forevermore,” because her performance is one of the best things about the show—and could even be the TV comeback of the season!

What makes Lilet’s comeback portrayal so good is her “rightness” for the role she plays: She’s mature, classy-looking, has an expressive face and speaking voice, and is emotionally “giving” and “accessible.”

Even better, at one point in the series, she performed a song in a club scene—and she did really well! Is there anything this “throwback find” can’t do? We hope she’s here to stay, so that she can put her obviously wide range of performing skills to good use—for our benefit.

—Now, about the rest of the series: We’ve watched the show on a fairly regular basis, so we can report that Liza Soberano is coming across better in it—but, Enrique Gil is still hamstrung by his being a number of what we call the “tulala” school of acting:

Instead of plumbing his character’s emotions to the required depth, he just goes “dazed” and “benumbed” as a result of his character’s painful experience or recalled trauma—so, the emotive and empathetic effect on viewers is too thin, too shallow, too vague to be of much help or impact.

Dead-end street

The sooner Enrique realizes that this is a dead-end street, the better for his portrayals—and career. All he has to do is to study the “breakthrough” performance finally turned in by another “laid-back” actor, Piolo Pascual, in “Hawak-Kamay.”

At long last, Piolo was “forced” by his assigned character’s many tests and challenges to go emotionally “all the way,” and the improvement in his portrayal was significant.

If Enrique also learns how to become an “emotionally giving” actor, his own performance in “Forevermore” should similarly improve.

Finally, we hope that the series will go into more subplots, because the interest value of its main poor-rich, away-bati young romance plot and theme is wearing thin.

Yes, too many subplots and additional characters can cause a series to lose its focus—but, in a daily show, lack of variety and contrast can also end up as major liabilities!