The Kapuso network has found something that works to its favor. It’s the pairing between Gabby Concepcion and Carla Abellana in GMA Network’s primetime nightly rom-com Because of You.
When I heard Concepcion was cast in a series on GMA last year, I thought he’d go the way of his peers playing young fathers as support to the main characters in some unremarkable drama series.
Watching the series (whenever time permitted), I realize the script revolves around three main characters – Jaime Salcedo (Concepcion), Andrea Marquez (Abellana), and Oliver Dictado (Rafel Rosell).
Andrea is a spurned bride. That’s in the beginning of the series. Oliver, his groom, tells her he is not up to marriage and leaves her alone in the church. In her moment of depression, she leaves the church, rides a jeepney and when the driver finds out she doesn’t have fare money, he dislodges her from the vehicle. Ambling, she finds herself on a bridge, and while looking at a photo of her parents (which abandoned her as a child), wind sweeps it off her grip and lands on a bush by the bridge. She is trying desperately to grab it when a car passes by and its passenger, Jaime, thinking the girl in a trousseau is going to commit suicide, grabs her hand and places her back on the bridge’s sidewalk.
Of course, we know that she doesn’t have a bit of thought of ending her miserable life.
That’s the first encounter of Jaime and Andrea. And in the succeeding episodes they meet again in various circumstances.
What surprised me with the series of encounters was how the rapport between Andrea and Jaime progressed, from aloofness to being comfortable with each other.
In the current episodes, Andrea has expressed her feelings for Jaime, who in turn is beginning to think if there’s something positive if he entertained the idea of giving a prospective relationship between her a chance.
Meanwhile, Oliver who rejected Andrea at the beginning is back in pursuit of her, after realizing, she’s the girl she wants to be with for the rest of his life. And the epiphany was when Andrea has become famous as a couturier.
Concepcion seems to have found the right material to explore his talent, no matter how limited it may be.
After his return after a long hiatus in the US, he had lingered on TV playing semi-serious supporting characters that, unfortunately, failed to kick his name up to be back in the firmament of leading men, unlike Richard Gomez who has successfully recouped his clout on the small screen by romancing his former screen sweetheart Dawn Zulueta in a number of series and movies.
Many are hoping something similar to Gomez would strike Concepcion if he’d team up once more with ex-wife Sharon Cuneta. I think otherwise. The Concepcion-Cuneta team up might be too risky and is at this point unlikely as both are not on the same network, unless Concepcion returns to the Kapamilya lot.
In the meantime, Kapuso fans are having a heyday following the love-team-in-the making between Concepcion and Abellana in Because of You. And fans are thrilled that Andrea is falling for a handsome, rich man, and whose marriage has been annulled.
The success of this pairing lies in how Mark Reyes, the director, keeps everything light and easy. No mushy sentimental kinks, and I hope it should remain this way till the end.
Abellana is comfortable in the material as well. She doesn’t have to put extra effort in showing dramatic muscle on her face. And it suits her well.
Rosell, who has been immersed in many a melancholic roles in the past, seems having a good time playing the jerk that left his fiancée at the church during the wedding. Let’s see until when he will try to win back Andrea, especially now that the woman whose life he nearly messed up is getting all the breaks and headed towards a sunshiny future.