‘Inday Bote’ makes good first impression

The new “fantaserye,” “Inday Bote,” started telecasting last Monday, and made a good first impression with its “flashback” depiction of its title character’s back story—all the way back to even before she was born, to her parents’ involvement with a family of duwendes.

In fact, their magical powers were responsible for helping her barren mother (Carla Humphries) conceive and give birth to her.

So effective are the series’ initial scenes involving the magical elves and the performances of the actors portraying the little people that they threaten to make the grown-up Inday’s eventual appearance more than a bit anticlimactic.

The most delightful “mini” performances are turned in by Nikki Valdez and Alonzo Muhlach, Niño’s exact mini-me, as mother and son. They delight viewers in a special way because, they’re full of verve and character.

Alonzo is only 5 years old or so, yet he confidently delivers a lot of cheeky dialogue, serving notice that he doesn’t just look exactly like his dad, but could become a major child star in his own right.

Let’s hope that, after this new series, he won’t be made to exclusively imitate Niño’s patented acting style, and will be encouraged to make his own, unique impact on the performing scene.

2 protagonists

Meanwhile, “Bridges of Love,” which started telecasting last March 16, also opted to go the flashback and back story route, showing how its two protagonists, played in adulthood by Jericho Rosales and Paulo Avelino, had a really rough and tough childhood, because their mother had to leave them in the “care” of their neglectful and even cruel father.

This forced them to run away from him and barely survive on their own. They bonded as brothers, but the kuya eventually had to give his sibling away to improve his lot in life.

Visually, the “back story” scenes were sometimes striking, but the child actors’ performances were more proficient than truly felt and moving.

It also didn’t help that the older sibling was played by a healthy-looking and even chubby child actor, thus making his character’s deprivations—less than believable!

Credible

When the characters enter their adolescent and teen years, the actor who plays the teen Paulo Avelino does better, and his pain, rage and ambition are quite credible.

Still, we can hardly wait for these flashback scenes to end, so Jericho and Paulo can finally be completely in charge of the unfolding drama.

Viewers who regard Jericho as his generation’s best actor are eager to see him in top thespic form, because he hasn’t been all that visible on TV-movie screens for some seasons now.

In an industry where “out of sight, out of mind” is the operative norm, even the best actors can’t rely on reputation, and have to keep proving their superiority, so that the competition doesn’t get—overly ambitious!

Let’s hope that Jericho is so good in “Bridges” that they will abashedly mind their manners—and know their rightful place!