I hate to admit it...The Legal Wife

The fight is on. Will Angel seek revenge by having an  affair
with JCDevera or will she fight for her husband by engaging
Maja in a fight for Jericho's love? Will Jericho suddenly came
to the realizationthat he's gay and he ends up having an
affair with JCDevera?

My wife is hooked on "The Legal Wife", ABS-CBN's new drama. The plot is cliche: a married guy fell for his wife's best friend and they end up having an affair. My wife religiously watches it. Again, I hate soap opera, and as much as possible I avoid it because the stories are cliches. I keep telling my wife, " that's too predictable!" Of course she plays deaf to my teasing. 

Though I do not watch actively, I'm either on the PC or playing guitar or reading, I still catch whiffs of the dialogs and the drama and the next thing I know, I was already asking my wife what just happened.

The series' main draw are the actors. ABS-CBN pooled together its most bankable dramatic stars and billed them in this series. Angel Locsin played the role of a loving wife very well especially when she tries to control her intuitions and allay her suspicions about her husband. 

The fact that many fans are getting angry at him means  that Jericho Rosales is playing his role very well. His portrayal of a philandering husband is convincing from the struggle of ending the affair early on, the lying and pretensions, the shuffling from Angel to Maja,up to the loss of self-control. 

I hope the network don't strecth the
series too far and end up borng the audience.

Maja Salvador's acting, for me, is a little stiff. Her portrayal of a troubled daughter is unconvincing. Maybe its her facial expressions; she's trying to do a minimalist and restrained acting a la Jaclyn Jose but its not working. Maybe it's because I am used to seeing a wacky Maja. But its not a problem, she's one beautiful adulteress and that's enough to compensate for the acting. 

The supporting stars are also big shots in showbiz, so the star power alone is formidable.

Gay theme

There's a little sideshow about Angel's gay older brother. The story can do without it, but I think its a reply to GMA 7's "My Husband's Lover.". Anyway, this is now becoming the trend on TV and I believe its intentional to desensitize the Filipinos about the issue of homosexuality. So, I'll leave at that.

GMA

Expect a new series from GMA 7 with the same theme. This is crazy.