kojisuzuki

When I first heard about Dingdong Dantes and Rhian Ramos being paired together for this drama series, I was very surprised, mainly the age gap of nine years between them. Dantes is known to be a really good actor at times, and a really bad one often. While Ramos frequently receives abuse from fans for bagging roles she does not deserve, however, every time Ramos proved hr detractors wrong - she gained rave reviews in her last drama series role in LaLola - and Stairway to Heaven she certainly puts her detractors in their places! Stairway to Heaven is utterly beautiful from beginning to end. Joyce Bernal directs the most heart wrenching drama series I have seen in a very long time, a story of a childhood love that must overcome the greed of others and above all, death. Dode Cruz is the head writer, it is so different to anything he has done before - after receiving endless bashing due to the way he writes; with Stairway to Heaven, he proves he does not need violence, kidnappings, switch-births, etc. to make a drama series work.

The acting is the most solid I have ever seen for a very, very, very long time - the entire cast performed miles above the bar. Barbie Forteza and Joshua Dionisio played the younger counterpart of Dantes and Ramos' Cholo and Jodi, and they played it well, they had a certain chemistry that made you feel for their characters, Forteza's crying scenes are noteworthy especially coming from someone who has no past acting experience.

The supporting cast did amazing jobs, starting with Karen de los Reyes, who had her career's best performance! De los Reyes has always been known as the "best-friend", although she has done well with a few intense characters like in Mulawin. In Stairway to Heaven, de los Reyes proves that she can literally eat the leading lady in acting (although Ramos was still amazing). Same goes to Soliman Crz, who best performance he has ever delivered, the audience could feel his heartache and love for his son Tristan (played by TJ Trinidad), the nice third wheel. The most memorable scene of him here is when he fought off Jean Garcia's evil stepmother character, not with violence, but with sharp words! Jean Garcia gave out a scary performance, her scene alone when she revealed Sandy Andolong's character's affair was simply devilish, she was so scary.

Now, the main characters! Glaiza de Casto was effective as a villain who only wants to be loved and wanted things she was deprived from. TJ Tristan's Tristan is a tragic character who desperately wants to be loved by the woman he cannot have.

Music also played a very important role in this drama series, Regine Velasquez's rendition of Faith Cuneta's "Pag-Ibig Ko'y Pansinin" wasn't really the best, but it was beautiful, I felt shivers down my spine. I also love the music score, although there were some off-key and kinda out of place music scores, but listening to the score along is lush. Overall, Stairway to Heaven showed the entire cast's career's best performances. Highly recommendable!

This is the second GMA-7 remake of a Thalia telenovela after the highly successful MariMar two years ago. When Rosalnda first aired, it gained lukewarm audience, and I must admit the first few episode of the series was not interesting nor boring - maybe the story is not as intense as MariMar's.

Newcomer Carla Abellana reprises the role memorable Thalia title role. Her innocence alludes the character, the way she spoke and way she acted was perfect for the role. When the character turned stronger, it suited Abellana even more. Abellana is paired to Geoff Eigenmann as the ever dashing Fernando Jose, even though Eigenmann's charisma is no par to Dingdong Dantes' Sergio in MariMar, the chemistry between Abellana and Eigenmann is electryfing.

The overall performance is surely about the bar. Glydel Mercado throws an award-winning deserved performance, her anger and pain is felt by the audience. As opposed to Sheryl Cruz who carries the OTT (over the top) performance, it might have worked with Bakekang, but not here. Roderick Paulate is a revelation, I've never seen him in a such melodramatic role (even though the character is a comic relief). Another stand out is Jomari Yllana, and man, the man has not lost it. His aura could make any woman (even me, and I'm a man) swoon! Although not as solid as director Maryo J. de los Reyes and writer R.J. Nuevas' previous effort, the powerful Impostora, Rosalinda is an underrated flower that deserves more hype and more love than it's getting.

8/10

Padilla's fourth serving on television, third with GMA Network, is better than expected, and in comparison to the previous three, this adaptation of Carlo J. Caparas' graphic novel is Padilla's acting piece for television. In Basta't Kasama Kita, his character seemed forced to be 3-dimensional. Asian Treasures was good for the explosive action scenes and until the fantasy storyline crept in. Joaquin Bordado was an excellent piece of television filled with terrific characters, but I found it very hard to watch.

Totoy is a farmer living with loving wife Elena and daughter. This "Totoy" character develops into a revolutionarian after Elena killed herself instead of being raped by the terrorists. Ara Mina played to role subtle, the best performance she has done in ages as Elena. After getting even with the terrorist, Totoy moves to the city and become a day-labourer fighting against the company's corruption. And there he meets two characters: Fredo, the man who seemed to lost faith in his former profession as a boxer, and Anna, Totoy's childhood sweetheart who is now a famous singer. As always, Eddie Garcia delivers the goods, now as Fredo. While its ironic seeing the country's most famous singer Regine Velasquez playing the country's most famous singer Anna Molina.

And from there, Totoy becomes the renowned Totoy Bato. Much similarly to GMA Network's other programme Zorro starring Richard Gutierrez, Totoy Bato explores the origins, the pathos of the character Totoy. All the different battle he went through (terrorist, revenge for his wife, corruption, prejudice and for love) defines him as a character.

Acting solid here, Padilla is not overshadowed by visual effects like his previous two series. Garcia performs up the bar. Velasquez might be not as good as in Ako si Kim Samsoon, but still commendable.