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.
