Tough thespic row to hoe for Jericho Rosales

Like many concluding teleseryes, the final week of Jericho Rosales’ comeback TV starrer, “Bridges of Love,” had to work overtime to tie up its many loose storytelling strands—and to make sure that most of its resident villains were given enough time to make amends, rediscover their “good” side, and end up, if not exactly smelling like roses, at least no longer malodorously polluting the melodramatic landscape.

Being the series’ resident good guy, it was Jericho’s character who had to do most of the understanding and forgiving, because there were many people who wished him ill in the course of the teleserye’s proceedings!

Jericho’s biggest challenge was to come to terms with who or what his kid brother (Paulo Avelino) had become (namely, his principal nemesis and rival for Maja Salvador’s love)—through no fault of his own—because Paulo was just a victim himself of the devilish upbringing he had in his nasty foster father’s (Edu Manzano) care (or lack of it).

That “understanding” twist turned out to be hard to pull off for Paulo and Jericho because it was such a radical about-face—but, to his thespic credit, Jericho was able to “find” his elemental motivation by fully focusing on his being Paulo’s kuya—with all of the intense sibling love and mapagparaya (sacrificial) instinct that the “very Pinoy” virtue entails.

As for Paulo, he had a tougher time of it, because his character was still made to act “generically” confused and victimized, instead of finally arriving at his own powerful epiphany on what he had become.

In addition, Carmina Villaroel’s nasty character was also given her chance to repent and atone, but her key “transformational” moment was similarly unconvincing.

Finally, our biggest disappointment throughout the series was with its relative failure to fully take advantage of Edu’s presence in the show. In our view, he should have been made the series’ main nemesis much earlier in the story, because he’s more capable of greater complexity and even contradiction than Carmina.

So, on the show’s final week, we hoped that he would—even if only belatedly—take control of the thespic situation, and show everyone what great antihero acting should be—but, it still didn’t happen. Maybe next series?

Looking back on the whole series’ run, it did succeed in effecting the now more mature Jericho’s successful comeback to acting on the small screen, despite the fact that he had to share too much screen time with Paulo and Maja. They were also given their “moments,” so the show similarly furthered their careers.

But, the series’ most insightful thematic contribution came just this past week, on its final salvo: Jericho’s character was finally made to realize that his kid brother had changed so much under his “devilish” adoptive father’s darkly masterful mentorship that he was no longer the sibling he once loved so much.

So, the test for him now was—to learn to love Paulo’s character—as what he had become! —How in the world can you love the hateful, the evil, and the completely unlovable? —That’s the biggest test of all, so Jericho had his final thespic test really cut out for him!