ALDEN RICHARDS has two leading ladies in “The Gift”. One is Mikee Quintos as Amor, his vendor friend in the market who has secret romantic feelings for him. Then there’s Thia Thomalia as Faith, the dazzlingly beautiful daughter of a rich textile owner with whom he harbors a crush and who he now avoids because of his blindnesss.
Thia finds a new suitor in Martin del Rosario as Jared, the corrupt young politician that Alden doesn’t know is his half brother as they have the same mom, Jean Garcia as Nadia.
The show’s regular viewers are now divided as to who should eventually succeed in capturing Alden’s heart as Sep. But the show’s director, L.A. Madridejos, says it will all eventually depend on the viewers themselves. “Ganyan ang nangyari noon sa ‘My Special Tatay’,” he says.
“Ken Chan has two leading ladies also, Arra San Agustin and Rita Daniela. Eventually, mas pinaboran ng viewers are tambalan nina Ken and Rita, so doon napunta ang kuwento sa kanila. Sa ‘The Gift’, mahaba pa ang itatakbo ng kuwento kaya hindi pa natin alam where it will be going.”
He’s very pleased, though, that the show is always getting empowering feedback from the audience. “We’re really so glad sa very positive response ng viewers. Trending kami every night sa social media and the viewers really talk about the major happenings in each episode. The feedback on Alden’s acting is also truly encouraging. Gustong-gusto nila na mata pa lang daw ni Alden, umaarte na. They easily get carried away by his acting, lalo sa scenes after mabulag na siya. Iyak daw sila nang iyak.”
Viewers say they like the positive messages the show impart about not losing hope and having stronger faith. “But it’s done not in a hardsell manner na over the top ang pagiging preachy, kundi in a subtle way na mararamdaman mo ang kurot sa puso mo,” says netizen Rupert Gallegos Sy.
“This is aided by Alden’s impressive emoting that alternates between being angry, being scared, being hurt, but still rising from his feelings of helplessness by not losing hope. All his co-stars from Elizabeth Oropesa as his grandma and Jo Berry as his adoptive mom, to the other members of the cast like Jean Garcia and even Martin del Rosario, they all deserve commendation for their great work in ‘The Gift’.”
This week, Sep’s struggle as a blind young man continues. The principal witness in the crime that made Alden blind has been killed and now, the next target of the culprits is the priest who continues with the investigation, played by Leandro Baldemor. Alden has started seeing visions and he seen premonitions of Leandro being killed and lying inside a coffin.
He warns the priest about this but the bad guys, including Rochelle Barrameda as the ruthless assistant of Christian Vasquez as the father of Martin del Rosario, are deadset on also getting rid of him.