Distractions dilute drama series’ impact

ABS-CBN’s third and last “Christmaserye,” “Exchange Gift,” recently concluded its run, giving fans of KC Concepcion and Paulo Avelino a special surge, because the abridged TV series featured the first screen outing for their new “real-and-reel” love team.

Concepcion and Avelino. Turn in earnest and felt protrayals.

So, how did they fare as a romantic tandem? Very well, indeed, although KC appeared to be a bit more mature than her leading man.

Not to worry, the disparity quickly became irrelevant, because the series turned out to be a study, not of young romance, but of married life, with KC and Paulo portraying a mismatched couple (she’s rich, he’s less so) who are unhappily married—up to the point where they both want out of their turbulent marriage.

What seems to be the problem? Aside from their conflicting backgrounds, he hates her penchant for threatening his pagkalalaki, while she gets ticked off by his excessive sense of pride.

A third fly in their marital ointment is the fact that their 7-year-old son, Jacob, is much too wise for his age, and too smartypants for his breeches. In fact, the show’s writers have most injudiciously opted to use Jacob as the pint-sized know-it-all solver of his parents’ problems!

He’s given dialogue that’s much too long and adult. And it turns out toward the series’ end that he’s the one who wants to get “annulled” from his always bickering folks!

This weird turn of events diminishes the plus points that KC and Paulo have scored for the series, by way of their earnest and felt portrayals. Other distractions include the leads’ “sidekicks,” who are supposed to provide “comic relief” but are in fact too stiff and awkward to be amusing.

All told, however, “Exchange Gift” should be appreciated for dramatizing some factors that contribute to an unhappy and troubled marriage. Trouble is, they end up being rather predictable, so the series’ actual impact is not as strong as it obviously intends to be.