Reality check for Christmas series’ young viewers

MUTYA Orquia, Zaijian Jaranilla, Xyriel Manabat and Louise Abuel.

After more than two weeks of telecasting, how is ABS-CBN’s “Christmas teleserye,” “Ikaw ay Pag-ibig,” faring? Thus far, the fourth and final child star in the series, Xyriel Manabat, has finally made her appearance, joining the orphans played by Zaijian Jaranilla and two other child stars.

Xyriel plays a little amnesiac who could possibly be an angel sent to help the other kids find a home for a baby, who could just possibly be the missing Baby Jesus image from the famous belen in the series’ subplot.

(Helpfully, pointing us along this path is the fact that Xyriel’s character is named Angelica.)

Well, maybe tonight, the answers to this and other questions will definitely and definitively be revealed.

It’s also expected that Zaijian will finally learn that he’s the son whom Dimples Romana’s character has been looking for since he disappeared right after she had given birth to him despite her mayor-father’s violent displeasure.

As for the other orphans, they should go find loving homes right in time for the big, happy group hug that will for sure be the show’s big, emotional finale.

At this juncture in the storytelling, the kids are all caught up in the mission to find loving parents for their little foundling. A promising couple turned out to be duds when they were shown treating their maid cruelly.

A second prospect, played by Ariel Rivera, revealed that he was leaving to work in the Middle East, so he could have fallen by the wayside, too, by the time this piece comes out. The search continues!

Most of the show’s elements appear to be working well to date—so far, so good. An evil woman who ran an orphanage (Eula Valdez) has been unmasked and punished (yay!). The cop played by Bembol Roco has emerged as the kids’ hero and supporter—but his own son is turning out to be a young hoodlum (uh-oh).

The child stars are given enough cute and touching things to do to move viewers—but not too much, so they don’t end up as a saccharine surfeit dangerous to viewing diabetics’ health!

Any cautionary notes? The biggest potential criticism could be over the show’s tendency to make the kids too smugly self-sufficient for their own good.

Since they’ve been badly treated in orphanages, they’ve decided to make money and survive on the streets, with their little foundling trundled here, there and every which way in a big basket.

Now, we know that this is just a feel-good Christmas story, but the child characters’ blessed self-sufficiency is terribly unrealistic and could send out wrong signals to young and impressionable viewers that they too could survive the city’s mean streets!

Hey, kids, reality check: The reason they are called mean streets is because they are! So please don’t believe this fanciful show and think that you can run away from home and have a great, exciting and liberated time with other runaways!

We trust, therefore, that on it’s remaining telecasts, “Ikaw Ay Pag-ibig” will make it a point to be more realistic and stop giving impressionable kids ideas that have little to do with reality.

Fun’s fun, but there are vulnerable psyches and sensibilities to protect and uphold—and a truly and truthfully Merry Christmas to you, too!