Anticlimactic finale

KATHRYN Bernardo and Daniel Padilla in “Pangako Sa ’Yo”

Toward the end of its run, “Pangako Sa ’Yo” was getting astronomical ratings, so hopes were high that it would end with a big bang on Feb. 12. Alas, that much hoped-for finale failed to materialize due to the drama series’ injudicious decision to place most of its melodramatic bets on Angelica Panganiban’s viciously vengeful character, Claudia Buenavista.

Sadly, both the character and the actress couldn’t push the drama to the required peak of vituperative and demented vengeance, so the intended big-bang finale turned out to be more of a fumble—and bungle.

Adding to the problem was the improbability of the archvillainess’ vengeance scenario, which required her and her lone cohort to speedily order the construction of two glass cages, one each for Amor Powers (Jodi Sta. Maria) and her daughter Yna (Kathryn Bernardo) into which they planned to pour huge amounts of mixed concrete to kill them!

Alas, when the pouring process began through big tubes, it was in a weak and insufficient flow that would have taken hours or even days to smother its intended victims to death!

Also making the “vengeance” scene less than gripping and terrifying was the fact that the rescuers, Angelo (Daniel Padilla), got the remote venue for the planned execution exactly right, and just in the nick of time to save Amor and Yna from his demented mom!

It was all too facile, so the threat and fear factors needed for the finale were drastically reduced.

Expectedly, after behaving so dementedly vicious, Angelica’s character was belatedly given a change of heart—in fact, when her cohort shot Angelo, she “took” the bullet meant to kill him! Hooray for mother love!

Hooray, too, for TV lead characters’ penchant for “miraculous” survival and recovery, because the series’ postscript showed both Angelo and Claudia alive and none the worse for wear—and the show’s good guys predictably forgave the suitably remorseful bad eggs, tra-la!

All told, despite its weak and improbable denouement, the drama series should be praised for its popularity, which means that many viewers “connected” with it, and for some of its past dramatic stagings, which were more successfully and effectively achieved.

On point of performances, Jodi initially benefited from her being cast in the plum role of Amor Powers, because it required her to come across much more strongly than usual. Later, however, her character was made more sympathetic, so the impact she made was diluted.

Angelica’s failure was her refusal to act her assigned character’s age, which made her actuations come off not as naturally and believably as they should have.

For their part, former teen faves Daniel and Kathryn turned in noticeably less giddy and more young-adult performances, which augurs well for their joint and/or separate thespic prospects.

A drawback, however, was the fact that their “younger” subplot tended to distract from and upstage the series’ main “senior” story.

The series was also good for Ian Veneracion’s comebacking career, winning him a new generation of younger fans and resulting in the revival of his film career, as well. He’s the biggest beneficiary of the updated “Pangako Sa ’Yo” drama series’ popularity and success.