Lovers in Paris Finale – Finally, it’s over

It’s Christmas Eve, so my gift is a recap. I have not done one in a long time so here it is.

For an inconsistent run, the television series ended in prettily. There was as usual the element of the fantastic and I just withheld my disbelief to be able to enjoy it fully. So here’s what happened in the final episode of Lovers in Paris – Philippine remake.

The episode began after a rather intense episode. I am not about to deal much about the second-to-the-finale episode but it has the LOLest trial scene we have in dramas this year. I always say this, Philippine TV has yet to perfect its courtroom scenes (although Dahil May Isang Ikaw is doing fine which is a good thing) because it never gives out the effect that it wants to give.

During the trial, Martin (Zanjoe Marudo) remembered his involvement in the red folder scandal. To those who were not following this series, Aranas Motors was developing a hydro-run engine and someone stole it and gave it to its competitors. The suspect was of course its president Carlo (Piolo Pascual). As he was being cross-examined, Martin stood up and told everyone in the room he was the one who did it and pointed fingers to those involved John Palma (Mark Gil) and Congressman Alex Gatus (Benidict Rosales).

Furious at the way things turned out, John Palma stormed the Aranas home, a gun in hand. After another intense conversation (everything here is always overly done) he fired it then Carlo punched the living daylights out of him. Of course, things did not turn out well because it was really Vivian (KC Concepcion) who was shot.

The finale episode began with Vivian lying in a coma with everyone around her mope. Carlo felt guilt for turning her away and realized how much she is worth in his life. Fangirls all over the Philippines of course died a little during this scene.

Those who committed ill towards our protagonists got their just desserts with a little jail time. I was a bit surprised that this include Chairman George Aranaz (Christopher De Leon) but then again he was a bad man despite softening towards the end of the episode. Like a true gentleman that he is, he stood stoic as his daughter Louise Aranaz Barrameda (Rachel Anne Wolfe) cry her eyes out.

A pivotal scene was of course the one in the ICU where Carlo gave one of his speeches to the comatosed Vivian. As he told her that she should wake up after the prince kissed her like what happen in movies, she died instead. After an awkward scene with doctors trying to revive her but failed called for another crying scene. This time, Carlo’s pleas were heard and Vivian awoke.

And when I thought that everything ended, we see a fully-made up Vivian putting the finishing lines of her screenplay while her cousin ate tons of food. Although pleased with her work, she found out that she was late to her own wedding. In what looks like a re-enactment of Runaway Bride (down to the sneakers) she ran towards the church. As she reached the steps, we see Martin not far behind carrying her shoes. Helping her out, it looked like of course he was already giving her away.

The wedding scene was not a big affair. In fact the church was almost empty save for the priest, altar boys, and the three characters. Now the last few minutes were filled by the proclamation of love from both parties. And I have to admit I almost died when Piolo gave his. The man has skills, I should say.

The series is finally over. As I said before, it was not a very good series mainly because of KC Concepcion. I mean, hate on me all you want but she is not a very good actress. This is already a remake so I was not very particular that she copy the original character’s mannerism. What I wanted was of course to see how she would become the character.

Throughout the series, she was the weakest which is quite tragic for someone who should be carrying the series. What was worse was that she was not in the least bit charming at all. Don’t get me wrong, she is beautiful, I mean absolutely gorgeous but she cannot translate that to likability of her character. Although Kim Jeung-un (of the Korean version) can be annoying she captured the quirk that the character should have. Sadly, KC failed in this one.

Piolo’s character, Carlo, was not without flaw although the man can really wear suits. He started out to be really wooden and I laughed a lot at the start of the series because he is way stiffer than my mom’s ironing board. Thankfully he was able to improve as the series went on. Unfortunately he was not able to carry the whole series on that toned shoulders of his.

I refuse to comment much on the actressin’ of Zanjoe. He was never a good actor from the start but he looked damn good in jeans. That I have to say. Then again he was not provided a lot of range, just be angry most of the time. He can be charming if he wanted to. I still adore him in that movie he had with Toni Gonzaga.

The supporting cast and the directing were the best things that this drama had. I think it came to the point that I was only curious as to what the others were doing that makes me want to continue to follow the next episode. The network seemed to spare no cost as to the production and it shows. Sometimes all the money in the world cannot just buy talent.

That is what makes reality different from fiction.

A Christmas miracle

There are times when I wished that I should go and do something nice for this blog by posting something, crap will come up and ruin everything.

Now is the time to stand up and just be the beeyotch that I am and find a way to blog about my one true love, television. For the past few months, I have whored my way around Japanese and Korean dramas and sadly Pinoy dramas took a backseat. Inasmuch as I wanted to sit through a series every night, I got work so the most that I could do is watch for three nights a week and that is just the best that I could do.

The last drama I actually watched in this manner was Lovers in Paris. It was an awful drama. Looking back, I wish I had the motivation to blog about it because it was not a really good drama. I could have released a lot of work-related stress just by reviewing the drama. While typing this, I am already thinking of doing a review of the finale.

Perhaps I would start the new year with a bang, by actually writing about dramas. I am also thinking of sharing some of the kdramas and jdramas that I am watching. The good thing about them is that I don’t need to rush home to catch them. Then again, it’s fun to bond with my television again.

Darna Episode 1: So here’s the story

from wikipedia.com

One thing that I can say to GMA 7 when they produce a teleserye. You can always be sure that they will run the story until they reach the cliff; and if they will jump right off it if they have to. And with this year’s Darna, jump off they did.

As I have previously mentioned in my last post, I tried not to have high expectations before watching this drama. As I was watching it, I should have not had any expectations at all.

The first episode dealt with the back story of the main protagonist, Narda, who will eventually become Darna. From the looks of it, after a few more episodes or until the audience decided to stage People Power nth. If you were expecting to see high-flying stunts and action sequences, this episode is not the one you should see.

As I was saying, the story began with a narration by the lovely Angel Aquino as the original Darna. I was secretly wishing that she will appear in the costume but all she did was to appear in a white goddess ensemble, which she is in real life.

While she was narrating the intro, the original komiks were being shown. As the story progresses, I was already wishing I was reading the komiks instead.

Flashback 1985. I cannot help but make the connection that this was also the year that Jestoni Alarcon and Rita Avila who played Simon and Alicia were beginning to be known. They were supposedly Narda’s true parents but I am getting way ahead of myself. These two were joined by their friends, Consuelo (Janice De Belen, this episode is wrought by ’80s nostalgia) and her husband as they watch the procession in the hopes of bearing a child.

The two women watched in dismay as their friend bore child after child but they did not. I am reminded that Janice De Belen used to be the queen of tearjerkers. She still has the chops as what I have seen in this episode. Heck, if not for the ludicrous twists, I was really taken by her portrayal of the distraught Consuelo.

Due to their desperation, they sought the help of a local mambabarang played by the ever-fantastic Vangie Labalan. When all her local magick failed, she advised the two to pay a mysterious cave a visit. Sure enough they did. On their way to cave however, they saw an old lady by the side of the road. Why do we still have this plot cliche, I have no idea.

Since the good one (Alicia) decided to stop and help the old lady who later turned out to be a goddess (surprise, surprise), Consuelo was left doing the nasty with a giant snake. The results were of course, inevitable. Alicia gave birth to a beautiful girl she named Narda (no surprise there) while Valentina slithered (pun intended) from Consuelo.

Nestor, Consuelo’s husband, could not stand being around such a fate and spent his days drinking. After a terrible fight with his wife, he upped and left her. This made her extra crazy and gave up her friend to the giant snake in exchange for her good-for-nothing husband. To round up the death toll, the baby Valentina started her death count by killing Simon while he was confronting Consuelo.

Nothing good came out of Consuelo’s bargain, which brings the term “snake” into its other connotation, she went to the cliff and dropped Narda. I hope this is not the metaphor for the show itself.

I am not against giving nonworking actors, albeit talented ones, an honest day’s pay but this episode is not something I truly enjoyed. Although subtlety has not been this network’s strongest suit (Zorro and its ilk comes to mind), I felt they took the back story telling in a whole OA level. As I was watching this, I continually ask myself, where do they plan to flesh out the characters in connection to the story? How come they have to dump it literally down our throats?

I was hoping for a few minutes to tell the story but from the way they show the promos, this version is all about the LOVE STORY hence the way they proceeded with jamming all the back story in one go. I hope I am wrong with this assumption.

On the bright side, the show looks pretty. There is an Amorsolo look in it. Given that the characters are farmers, it was of course quite an overkill. If the outside shots were pretty, the CGI still needs work. I think they need to look into that because they already put so much work in the production design.

The music was something I was surprised with. This is not the area that GMA 7 did not focus a lot of its energy in, as with the previous shows that I have seen. This time, they already hired a competent music director and it gave a good feel of the story.

All in all, I am still not convinced that this series is better than the last. The director and the writers need to step up their game in trying to entertain but not necessarily think that we viewers have the brains of mush. We want her fabulous.