Our kilig moments for JacqRiel were short-lived because Jacq, since falling in love with Gabriel, has been crying buckets again just like her mom, Isabelle, did in the first gen of Ikaw Lamang. This is because, our idea of teleseryes to keep going is to make sure the protagonists go through many major emotional upheavals before they live happily together in the end. I therefore ask why we associate that most important element of any story, the conflict, to pain and suffering, physical or otherwise? Why not a rom-com through and through so we could enjoy the unmistakable chemistry that the lead stars of Ikaw Lamang have? Apparently, with talents like Kim Chiu and Coco Martin, and stellar senior cast led by Joel Torre and Christopher De Leon, a rom-com is too easy and too light (of course) a project. Or is it because, we, Pinoys, like tearjerkers to spice our nightly viewing despite the many hardships and close-to-tears encounters we have day, in day out? Shades of masochism there , I don't know.
Anyway, this is not to say I do not enjoy the second gen Ikaw Lamang. I do, tremendously. I am so into it as much as I was with the first gen despite my complaining about the weakening of Samuel's 'napikot' character. My twitter buddies will attest to my perfect attendance weeknights at around 8:30 pm .
Parallel lives and stories. This seems to be the theme of the second gen Ikaw Lamang. We see characters and events from the first gen duplicated in the current one. Among them are:
1. The romance of Jacq and Gabriel which expectedly continues or should finally consummate the ill-fated love between their parents, SamBelle;
2. The bratty third wheel Natalia who is the female version of the younger Franco: to the manor born, secure but insecure, obsessively possessive, always the second best to another. Franco's insecurity then was Samuel, Natalia's is Jacq/Andrea;
3. The sibling rivalry between Andrea and Natalia over wealth, their father's favor, the man they love. All these duplicating the conflict between Samuel and Franco then;
4. Tessa who I see as the new Miranda. She claims and assumes more than she should of Franco and uses Natalia to the hilt to advance her cause;
5. Franco of course has "improved" on his madness and sheer evilness and has become like his grandfather, Maximo;
6. Gabriel for his part, writers forbid, is showing some Samuel traits which I hope he would recover from especially the one about his very tentative and impressionable feelings for Jacq/Andrea . I hope this time he will always have a clear motivation for whatever he chooses to do unlike Samuel who was a disappointment in the love department during his time.
I still am hopeful for alitaptap moments to happen soon if only to lessen the teledrama texture to IL. I hope Andrea will not relive the miserable life her mother seemed to have endlessly lived now that she is in the mansion of her father.
What makes IL deserving of viewers' loyalty is the ability of the creative team to develop surprising scenes and memorable lines. Coco and Kim are a formidable tandem and the rest of the cast are perfect for their respective roles. I just hope the rom-com episodes will come back soon so that we can have a rest from all the intensity. Send the alitaptaps in please.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Key Metaphors
On my way to work this morning, I was thinking of Ikaw Lamang. Yes, that is my secret weapon against getting pissed in traffic, thinking of the previous night's episode of my favorite teleserye. I couldn't help but be amused at how the word KEY has evolved many metaphors in the said TV masterserye. Kim Chiu's character Jacq Sangalang shouts "key to your heart, key to your heart" while giving out flyers advertising their family business. Coco Martin's Gabriel's expertise among other things is to pry open luxury vehicles ala "Bukas Kotse" gang. The two meet and the key to each other's past and present lives begin to turn. Among the many "key metaphors" in the teleserye are the following:
1. Isabelle travels to the city in search for things and persons that will "turn/switch" open her memory. Of course, it turns out she was just faking the "amnesia" and actually has opened her self to the possibility of collecting back her past specifically her two daughters ;
2. The Sangalang couple holds the key to Jacqueline's true identity which they have guarded so tightly for years since Baby Andrea was given to them to save from the shipwreck two decades ago;
3. Franco kept Samuel in jail because the latter remains the key to finding Isabelle;
4. Samuel for his part stayed alive despite not holding the key to his freedom. The thought of seeing his son again kept him alive;
5. Dennis Padilla's character served as key to Samuel surviving those cruel decades of incarceration as well the latter's eventual escape;
6. Tessa holds the key to Franco's heart, or so she thinks, because she has loved and served him well as his COS. Tessa would time and again possessively keep the doors to Franco's past closed but recent events show she will not be able to do so conveniently anymore as keys and doors held by others open;
7. Calixto has also held the key to Gabriel's recovering from a tragic past by mistakenly leading him to a revengeful path. He wouldn't open the door to Gabriel realizing his father was not the bad father he grew up to hate which further distanced the two despite doors being open for them to finally reunite;
8. Lupe remains a door ajar because she knows only half of the truth of the life they lead as Gabriel's "family". The key to the truth of their real identity is held by Calixto who thinks he is doing Gabriel a favor by helping him avenge his past. Calixto is actually half-using Gabriel to avenge his own bitter past as a young obrero from Salvacion;
9. Cherry and Cindy as BFFs of the female leads are keys needed to open Jacq and Natalia to things they are wont to admit such as falling in love with Gabriel or getting insecure of the competiton;
10. Natalia is key to destroy Franco in many ways possible;
11. Jacq is key to many things: Gabriel's change of heart about revenge; Franco's remorse as he finds out eventually that she is HIS daughter; Isabelle becoming more aggressive at protecting her daughters from what seems to be a repeat of past mistakes;
12. Gabriel's as well as Jacq's faces are keys to Franco's past haunting him hopefully toward his much sought-after comeuppance as the teleserye's formidable villain.
Meanwhile, Gabriel who breaks open cars in an illicit way to earn a living and credible cover for his plans, promises to break open hearts, Jacq's who he loves but does not heed and Natalia's who he pursues but only to tear apart. Gabriel will also break Samuel's heart when he refuses to open his own to welcome back his long-suffering father.
Keys... to a most successful Primetime treat.
1. Isabelle travels to the city in search for things and persons that will "turn/switch" open her memory. Of course, it turns out she was just faking the "amnesia" and actually has opened her self to the possibility of collecting back her past specifically her two daughters ;
2. The Sangalang couple holds the key to Jacqueline's true identity which they have guarded so tightly for years since Baby Andrea was given to them to save from the shipwreck two decades ago;
3. Franco kept Samuel in jail because the latter remains the key to finding Isabelle;
4. Samuel for his part stayed alive despite not holding the key to his freedom. The thought of seeing his son again kept him alive;
5. Dennis Padilla's character served as key to Samuel surviving those cruel decades of incarceration as well the latter's eventual escape;
6. Tessa holds the key to Franco's heart, or so she thinks, because she has loved and served him well as his COS. Tessa would time and again possessively keep the doors to Franco's past closed but recent events show she will not be able to do so conveniently anymore as keys and doors held by others open;
7. Calixto has also held the key to Gabriel's recovering from a tragic past by mistakenly leading him to a revengeful path. He wouldn't open the door to Gabriel realizing his father was not the bad father he grew up to hate which further distanced the two despite doors being open for them to finally reunite;
8. Lupe remains a door ajar because she knows only half of the truth of the life they lead as Gabriel's "family". The key to the truth of their real identity is held by Calixto who thinks he is doing Gabriel a favor by helping him avenge his past. Calixto is actually half-using Gabriel to avenge his own bitter past as a young obrero from Salvacion;
9. Cherry and Cindy as BFFs of the female leads are keys needed to open Jacq and Natalia to things they are wont to admit such as falling in love with Gabriel or getting insecure of the competiton;
10. Natalia is key to destroy Franco in many ways possible;
11. Jacq is key to many things: Gabriel's change of heart about revenge; Franco's remorse as he finds out eventually that she is HIS daughter; Isabelle becoming more aggressive at protecting her daughters from what seems to be a repeat of past mistakes;
12. Gabriel's as well as Jacq's faces are keys to Franco's past haunting him hopefully toward his much sought-after comeuppance as the teleserye's formidable villain.
Meanwhile, Gabriel who breaks open cars in an illicit way to earn a living and credible cover for his plans, promises to break open hearts, Jacq's who he loves but does not heed and Natalia's who he pursues but only to tear apart. Gabriel will also break Samuel's heart when he refuses to open his own to welcome back his long-suffering father.
Keys... to a most successful Primetime treat.
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