From dastardly bad to gloriously good

CURTIS. One for the books.

LOCAL TV dramas aren’t known for their consistency and logic, but what’s happened to Anne Curtis’ character, Trina, in “Ang Probinsyano” is one for the books: She started out as this really loud, spoiled and entitled “bitchy beauty” who made life miserable for everybody around her, including Cardo, the series’ protagonist (played by Coco Martin).

It was all so over-the-top and off-putting—until last week, when Trina was suddenly made to undergo a stunning transformation
—and go from snarling and yowling killer feline, to sweet and repentant kitten!

What the heck happened? It appears that Trina finally saw the light when Cardo risked his life to save her from a gang of “kidnappers” who had actually been ordered to kill her.

The fact that he was prepared to die for her even if he was turned off by her nastily “nega” behavior apparently moved her to the very core of her being
—hence her sudden and total transformation!

We’re all for change and atonement, no matter how belated, since some people do learn their life lessons—but, not in this fast, facile and shallow way.

It’s like instantly going from pitch black to the brightest light—the speed is unnatural, illogical and blinding!

Perhaps a really exceptional actor could pull it off, using all of the texture and subtlety and “contradictory” impulses in the advanced thespian’s vocabulary and arsenal.

But, Anne doesn’t appear to need any of that, she’s just gone from dastardly bad to gloriously good, without batting a pretty eyelash!

Whatever happened to logic, natural character transition, sequential motivation and other relevant thespic niceties? —No need, just a waste of time, the plot’s going there anyway, so why dilly-dally? —Seriously?

To “change character,” Anne softens her voice, warms up her previously slasher-sharp gaze, and looks gratefully and lovingly at her heroic rescuer.

For his part, Coco as Cardo is surprised—but he too doesn’t waste time and quickly shifts to “forgiving” and “speculatively romantic” mode as well—as viewers watch slack-jawed at the screen couple’s abrupt about-face!

Oh, if life were so simple and knee-jerk, how wonderful for all the jerks out there who cluelessly think that life is a facile teleserye, when everything gets resolved really fast and easy-breezily—just because the script says so!