The opening scene of “Pangako Sa’Yo” depicts Amor and Eduardo as a couple so intimately in love with each other. Right away, Eduardo’s promise of eternal love to Amor is delivered, and so is this retelling’s promise of a beautiful and poignant tale of everlasting love.
15 years after the original Pangako Sa’Yo began fulfilling its promise, ABS-CBN brings one of its prized and most successful soap opera back on the small screen.
It’s hard not to think this year’s Pangako Sa’Yo to be not capitalizing from the massive popularity of its original source material that registered one of the highest ratings ever recorded by a local television program, more than a decade ago. But to forget how massively popular the new actors playing the iconic roles, would be totally unforgivable.
Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo, celebrated as today’s Teen King and Queen, are enough to say that this show has millions of pairs of eyes, glued upon screen during its pilot telecast. Jodi Sta. Maria comes from a highly successful daytime drama that made her character a household name, while Angelica Panganiban has never been really out of the spotlight, and has come from a critically-acclaimed movie, That Thing Called Tadhana.
This assemblage of superstars already warrant an overwhelming triumph, but Pangako Sa’Yo’s makers, obviously look way past that bar. The trailers prior to the pilot episode guaranteed there’s a lot more to learn about the tale, and this is where how Pangako Sa’yo started.
Turns out, there’s still a lot to uncover from Amor . The beginning of her story introduces her character as a humble and conservative cook, who nurses a brewing admiration for the incredibly handsome Eduardo Buenavista (Ian Veneracion), the son of the owner of Buena Mine, where her dad works. Amor doesn’t mind the gap between their ages, justifying age doesn’t really matter when you’re in love, and that Eduardo, who is much older than she is, is still the perfect man for him.
“Today is the day” says Betty Mae (Erika Padilla), noting the day to be the day when Amor is finally meeting Eduardo. Such meeting has never really come to reality as news about the commotion happening in Buena Mine sends Amor rushing for his father, not even noticing Eduardo’s stolen glimpses when she’s not looking.
Now it’s hard to compare Jodi’s take on Amor with Eula Valdez’s, when I haven’t really followed the original Pangako Sa’yo, and I don’t think I still have to, when I’m already contented with Jodi’s delivery. Amor storyline seems to construct her character as a shy but a determined young woman who will do everything she can, to help her family, but I doubt that’s already everything about her.
Claudia’s introduction is rather funny, but leaves a lasting impression of her strong personality. It marks her first encounter with Amor, too, who has straightway received what could be Claudia’s overpowering mean and imposing characteristic. Cut to the Buenavistas, and we see them worried about the state of their bussinesses, particularly the Buena Mine, whose operation is gravely threatened of getting closed down.
Doña Benita (Pilar Pilapil) sees marrying someone from the Salamedas as their best bet of saving their company, and so their eyes have shifted to the illegimate, yet only possible successor of Governor Salameda, Claudia. This seems to be the point where everything starts getting thick, and from here, it’s not hard to guess that the narrative’s starting to take twists and turns.
“Pangako Sa’Yo” barely strikes as something we haven’t seen before. It’s a remake, in the first place, and it’s actually branded as a “re-telling”. The truth is, it has almost every soap opera trope that we can possibly see from its kind: politics and wealth are inevitably the symbolism of power and influence, we have two young ladies, Claudia and Amor, who work hard for their respective families, and we have a striking manly figure deemed as “pantasya ng bayan”, and so many other familiar elements. But these very elements are exactly the same reasons why Pangako Sa’yo really works. Audience long for it, no matter how overly familiar it’s premise is
While that is true, there are still a lot of things far worth noting about this version of “Pangako Sa’Yo.” One can’t deny how smartly shot the scenes are, and how exquisitely rendered the crisp cinematography is. Aerial shots are particularly unmissable, and the glossy colors add up to the overall palatability.
It’s even harder to resist those small yet endearing moments of this pilot episode. I was particularly crippling to both kilig and laughing during the elevator scene, when claustrophobia was attacking Amor and she was shakingly singing “Tong-tong-tong Pakitong-Pakitong”, prompting Eduardo to comfort her.
Another funny scene is when Claudia joined a beauty pageant and she was giving ridiculous answer to the question given to her.
But the pilot’s biggest surprise, really, is the dashing Ian Veneracion, who has proved himself as the new “pantasya ng bayan” despite his age. Right away, Veneracion’s irresistable charm immediately catapulted him on twitter’s worldwide chart, within a few minutes since his face first registered onscreen. You wouldn’t blame if both Claudia and Amor beg to their knees just to ask his attention, would you?
Veneracion comes across as a perfect embodiment of a man with fatal manly elegance, and an enigmatic appeal. Jodi Sta. Maria and Angelica Panganiban have both delivered their roles very well, and I couldn’t wait for everything bound to happen between them.
For a pilot episode, I’d say Pangako Sa’yo is quite solid. The build up is slow, but satisfying, nonetheless. I think the best thing that this pilot has done is lay down groundwork for the characters and their future adventures.
The pacing may be slow, but I really don’t mind if they continue mining that irresistably charming chemistry between Amor and Eduardo, do you? Those minor changes they’ve made are actually good ones, while those they’ve kept are reminiscent to watch.
I can’t actually wait for this show grow, and finally introduce Kathniel’s characters, but for what it’s worth, I’d also like it to take everything as slow as possible, so we can enjoy more of Amor, Claudia and Eduardo.
This is easily the best pilot episode of the year (so far), for me.
Watch the full pilot episode here:
