Unexpected career shift

YAP. Plays first villain role in “Ang Probinsyano.”

For sometime now, we’ve been griping that the “villain factor” on the popular ABS-CBN teleserye, “Ang Probinsyano,” isn’t big or intense enough to make the series’ protagonist-cop’s (Coco Martin) mission sufficiently dangerous or significant to get viewers really involved in its central conflict.

The current bad guys (played by Albert Martinez and Arjo Atayde) simply don’t have the intensity, “fear factor” and gravitas to hit the really scary spot, so help is urgently needed for the series to peak.

Finally, the show is doing something to solve its obvious problem, by introducing a really bad guy in the person of Philip Tang, the leader of a large and deadly crime syndicate, who will hopefully give the series’ heroic cop much stronger opposition!

Plum villain role

Surprisingly, the plum villain role has been assigned to Richard Yap, who isn’t exactly known for playing terrifying characters. In “Binondo Girl,” he was an arch taipan, in “Be Careful With My Heart,” he was a dream employer and husband—so, his really powerful and evil character in “Ang Probinsyano” could be a big stretch for him.

Some kibitzers think that he can’t make the major shift, but we choose to be less prematurely judgmental, and take his scenes as Tang as they come. We’re all for unexpected developments in stars’ sequentially unfolding careers, so Richard should be given the time and space to give his radically new thespic assignment—his best try!

Truth to tell, 2015 hasn’t been all that great for Richard’s career, often through no fault of his own: He was supposed to costar in a new teleserye with Judy Ann Santos, but it was put on hold when she found out that she was pregnant.

His participation in “Wansapanataym” didn’t exactly ring viewers’ bells, either—and his subplot toward the end of “Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita” was an unfocused complication that was curtly concluded when the series’ leads, played by Christian Vasquez and Vina Morales, got married a second time!

So, Richard needs to make a strong showing in “Ang Probinsyano,” so that 2015 will end on a high note for him. A really, creepily terrifying villain turn on the show could do it—so, we’ll be waiting—and watching!