Dolce Amore (2016)

A Fun Ride That Doesn't Stick the Landing

I started watching "Dolce Amore" right after finishing Enrique Gil's and Liza Soberano's previous project "Forevermore." In some ways, I feel like I set up "Dolce Amore" for failure in my mind. It was originally going to be my first Filipino telesyre but then I decided to watch "Forevermore." I anticipated it being better than "Forevermore." And it in some ways it does, but it in other ways it doesn't... For my "Forevermore" review, I mostly just summarized the drama. But for "Dolce Amore", I have more clear negative opinions so I'll skip the complete recap and just give a short one.

"Dolce Amore" has a great opening set-up that immediately draws you in. It starts by establishing the childhoods of Serena (played by Liza) and Simon "Tenten" (Enrique), both of whom are adopted but under vastly different circumstances, from different economic classes, and living in different places. Serena is from Italy and Simon the Philippines. After the childhood portion (about three episodes), the story falters just a bit when Serena and Simon meet as young adults. It picks up once the two become friends. Nearing the end of "Chapter 1" (first fifty-three episodes), Simon and Serena are now dating. (If I'm being honest, I find it hard to believe that Serena would fall in love with a man who acts so juvenile lol.) Now enter the conflict. Simon's brother, Binggoy (Kean Cipriano) decides to ransom Serena in order to raise money for their father's heart operation. This, of course, ruins Serena's and Simon's relationship. Though, she doesn't remember it, because, of course, she has memory loss.

Now going in "Chapter 2" (eps 54-106). Serena is back in Italy with her adoptive mother, Luciana (Cherie Gil), whom, of course, arranged the whole kidnapping thing. The shock of this revelation put Serena's adoptive father, Roberto (Ruben Maria Soriquez), into a coma. Why? Because Luciana wants her daughter to marry the rich Giancarlo de Luca (Matteo Guidicelli). Giancarlo has mostly been portrayed as a good guy though somewhat jealous so far. But *ding ding ding*, first red flag. Giancarlo goes along with Luciana's plan, and he eventually proposes to Serena after two years. After a woman, named Alice (Sunshine Cruz), claims to be her biological mother, Serena returns to the Philippines and meets her father, Uge (Andrew E.), and sister Angel (Sue Ramirez). Meanwhile, Simon has become a successful composer working with Angel who has just started dating. Serena's return causes the truth to come out to Simon's parents, Dodoy (Edgar Mortiz) and Taps (Rio Locsin). Soon, everyone knows but Serena.

Finally, Simon admits the truth to Serena. She's mad and returns to Italy to b*tch out Luciana and Giancarlo, before coming back to the Philippines to find herself with Simon's help. Simon and Giancarlo then squabble for Serena's affections. It ends with Serena falling in love with Simon again. Giancarlo seemingly takes it well at first, but soon turns into the most cartoonish, mustache-twirling villain I've seen put to screen. Aided by his evil uncle Favio (Alvin Anson), Giancarlo demands for Serena to marry him instead of Simon. In the process, Binggoy is accidentally killed instead of Simon. His death and funeral, unfortunately, feels so unserious despite becoming the emotional current for the rest of the drama. Serena decides to go with Giancarlo to save everyone else. Fortunately, at the alter, Giancarlo and his evil uncle are murdered. *And the crowd goes wild*

Now time for "Chapter 3" (eps 107-137). It gets even more complicated from here. Simon is now working in business with his "real" mother, Vivian Dubois (Tetchie Agbayani). Serena and Roberto, now awake, are living on a vineyard. Her and Simon's paths cross when he buys her family's previous home. Wanting to preserve it, Serena goes to the Philippines in hopes of negotiating with him. Simon keeps her on the line in order to get what he wants: Luciana returning to the PH so he can prosecute her for Binggoy's death. She does eventually come after reconciling with Roberto. Luciana strangely professes her innocence, only to later reveal the truth to Vivian. She was inadvertently involved in Binggoy's death because she worked with Giancarlo to have Simon killed. However, it turns out that Simon is actually the children she abandoned over twenty years ago. So she had Giancarlo killed and gave all her money to Vivian to give to Simon. Oh my f*cking god, what the hell was that?

Turns out that Giancarlo's evil uncle Favio with a bad Italian accent didn't actually die. Just when Simon and Serena become a couple again, he reveals Luciana's role in Binggoy's death. Of course, this stops the engagement. You know, I really don't understand what Luciana was thinking was going to happen... Anyway, Simon eventually learns that Luciana is his real mother. He doesn't take it particularly well, though his parents encourage him to find it in his heart to forgive her. Simon asks Serena to run away with him, which they do for a while. I think I would've prefer they ended it this way. But no, they had to make it "legal." After the wedding, the drama ends with a stupid comedic scene where Serena finally gets her memories back and gets jealous over Simon and another girl from *way* in the past now. Underwhelming to say the least.

Okay, so perhaps you see a pattern. At the end of the first two "chapters," the drama does something incredibly stupid just to keep the main couple apart for just a little longer. I absolutely hated the plots concerning Serena's kidnapping and Giancarlo becoming an evil, mustache-twirling villain. I cannot understate how bad Giancarlo and his uncle are as villains. The uncle, in particular, has the worse Italian accent I've ever heard. He's two steps away from just adding -a to every other word. Every time he pulled a gun out or something, I was just laughing my a** off. Giancarlo, on the other hand, was way overacting his role. It was so painful to watch him, though, ironically, he still succeed in me hating him lol. Luciana was the only decent villain thanks to her actress, who tried her best to act with nuance because lord knows that the writing wasn't doing her any favors.

As for the good parts, I actually think that the first two chapters are mostly good. Enrique and Liza have a nice, comfortable chemistry though their characters are not always written consistently. The supporting cast consisting of their various family members and some hangers-on friends help to give the drama a lighter tone when it needs. By the end, I was living for all three sets of parents becoming the best of friends. It was so cute. The drama, unfortunately, fell off because of Giancarlo's turn as a villain. It picked up a bit at the beginning of "Chapter 3" but honestly the damage had been done. They then crammed so much drama into the last ten episodes that the ending just doesn't seem feasible in my opinion. I was happy with "Dolce Amore" for a majority of the time, but it wasn't able to surpass "Forevermore" after all. Personally, I'm giving it a 7.5 for my list but the real score is 6.5 to 7.

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