Since graduating from college, it’s been my tradition to binge-watch a series during Christmas vacations. In the previous years, I mostly watched The Big Bang Theory. This year, I sort of binge-watched a Filipino TV drama entitled, Maria Clara at Ibarra. You can watch the full episodes here. I hope GMA Network will include English subtitles because the series is based on Noli Me Tangere, Jose Rizal’s internationally-acclaimed novel that sparked Asia’s first anti-colonial uprising — the Philippine Revolution.
A Flawed Yet Important Milestone in Philippine TV
I said “sort of binge-watched” because I fast-forwarded a lot of scenes. The characters spent too much time standing or sitting around talking about their issues that the audiences already know instead of doing things that demonstrated their struggles. That writing style worked well in the novel because of Rizal’s vivid descriptions of the events that the characters narrated. Unfortunately, it came out boring when translated to a TV drama format.
Still, Maria Clara at Ibarra is a fun, groundbreaking Filipino TV series. For one, the cinematography, production design, and costumes are so gorgeous to behold that you will really feel transported to Noli’s story world. The drama also made me feel proud of the Ilustrados! It was so cool that they could easily switch in speaking Tagalog, Spanish, and English at a time when Asians weren’t that globalized yet.
I also like it that the show is a historical portal fantasy series in which the first female lead is transported to a novel that is based on the Philippines’ Spanish colonial era instead of a real-word historical period. That’s a concept that I’ve never seen in an Asian drama before, especially among Philippine TV shows. I admit though that I don’t watch TV that much.
A Non-Toxic Enemies-to-Lovers Trope
Finally, what got me to watch the series was the romance between the non-canon characters of Maria Clara Infantes (“Klay”) and Fidel Delos Reyes. Klay — a man-hating, dismissive-avoidant Gen Z feminist — doesn’t know her boundaries, especially when relating to men. She is then transported to Noli’s story world through a magical copy of the aforementioned novel that she is required to read for her college Rizal subject. It is there that she meets Fidel, a male chauvinist Ilustrado from the 1800s.
Klay and Fidel bicker all the time because of their deeply-ingrained differences. However, they’re quite similar too. They’re both hardworking, determined, loyal, globalized, rude, arrogant, competent, well-educated Filipinos.
This drama’s other unique aspect are the relationships among the first and second leads. In Asian dramas, the first and second leads are often in a love triangle with the other first lead. In Maria Clara at Ibarra, the first male lead (Crisostomo Ibarra) and the second female lead (Maria Clara Delos Santos, Klay’s namesake) are devoted in their love for each other. Klay, the first female lead portrayed by Barbie Forteza, develops a bizarre crush on Ibarra at the start of the series. She then snaps out of it and decides to help Ibarra marry Maria Clara and establish a private school for native Filipinos. To do this, they enlist the help of Fidel, Ibarra’s best friend (the second male lead portrayed by David Licauco).
In the process, Klay and Fidel develop appreciation for each other’s strengths. It eventually blossoms into romance that inspires positive changes in their character. Fidel grows to admire Klay’s intelligence, independence, and strong convictions. On the other hand, Klay learns to be more vulnerable and trusting.
No More Stupid Love Triangles, Please!
It will be great if the Fidel-Klay relationship will have more airtime even if it’s non-canon. In the first place, many Filipino viewers already know the canon ending of Noli and its sequel El Filibusterismo because we were required to read them in high school. Then we had a Rizal subject in college. I even read the English versions after graduating! But we don’t know what awaits Fidel and Klay.
We care about these two non-canon characters because they’re a great illustration of how lovers can facilitate each other’s growth through their similar and complementary attributes in ways that no other person can. The resulting chemistry made their subplot very romantic…not to mention hilarious! Hence, there’s no need for the writers to resort to love triangles, amnesia, immodest clothing, immorality, or cheating scandals. Plus, the love confession spliced between episode 57 at 16:58 and episode 58 at 2:29 is the best one I’ve seen among Asian dramas because of the Pride and Prejudice feels. I also love it because marriage was foremost in Fidel’s mind when he confessed. On top of all that, Barbie and David have great comedic timing.
I wish that Philippine TV networks would come up with more edifying love stories like this. The youth will learn a lot from them. Moreover, such creative works help the Philippines offer something valuable to the world that is distinctly Filipino.
Great review! My sentiments exactly. I hope Philippine Cinematic Arts will deliberately shift from soap opera; the melodramatic story lines that know no ending save for the male antagonist kidnapping the protagonist's love interest. Of course, there will be a gun fight/fist fight in an abandoned storage building, The rescue is complete! The protagonist and his girlfriend walk out to the streets where police sirens are heard from the distance while the couple, holding hands walk away into the night.