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5 (more) Reasons to watch ABS-CBN's Wildflower


One of the most popular teleseryes today is ABS-CBN's Wildflower starring Maja Salvador, Aiko Melendez, Tirso Cruz III, and other talented actors in Philippine TV today. Its no secret that I'm a fan of this TV show and I think it is the best teleserye I've watched in Philippine television. The bida of this show is Ivy Aguas, who seeks revenge against the people who have wronged and tried to kill her and her family. The antagonists are the Ardiente family, a strong political family controlling Poblacion Ardiente.

We all know that there are tired and overly abused stereotypes, tropes, and plotlines in your everyday Filipino teledrama. Talk about amnesia, lost children (and they eventually find out they're from a rich/powerful family), revenge, kidnappings, over-the-top kontrabidas, dramatic scenes, and you name them. Wildflower also has their fair share of these things but it manages to use it in a good way. Though it can get overdramatic at times, the actors are great at it.

Ivy Aguas is the new identity of Lily Cruz, a young girl who was 'killed' by the Ardientes, but she survives and gets adopted by a billionaire. She goes back to Poblacion Ardiente with her new identity. She attracts the attention of Arnaldo Ardiente, and soon becomes his fiance. Her main enemies is Emilia Ardiente, Arnaldo's mother, and Julio Ardiente, the family patriarch.

#TheWildestWedding was one of the most iconic scenes in recent Philippine TV with Ivy's black wedding gown (Image Source
If you're not watching Wildflower, I suggest watching a bit. Here are some more reasons to watch Wildflower (or some reasons why I love it):

It's bloody portrayal of Philippine politics. 

I think that its the first time a teleserye revolved around an influential, corrupt, charismatic, and Machiavellian political dynasty. If you look at real Philippine politics, political families run many provinces and towns and our history is influenced by many of them, in a way. Look at the Marcos family and the influence of its members even today. The Ardientes may be a fictional and a somewhat exaggerated version of a political family, they are really not far from the truth. For me, its brave of them to show something like this. What the Ardientes do is also a reflection of what's happening in reality with politics: extra judicial killings, private armies, corruption, lies, manipulations. Its a very good setting for a revenge drama.

The dramatic, unexpected Comebacks.

Philippine TV loves stories with revenge comebacks. The insecure kontrabida thought that she can get rid of the bida for good (usually by killing her), but the bida is actually alive and decides to grow spine and plots her revenge comeback to drag the kontrabida's nose in the dirt. We've seen that in Marimar and other popular storylines. Wildflower is great at grand entrances and comeback surprises. Viewers were awed at Ivy's black gown in her wedding day, and now that Emilia had buried her alive she's back again - declaring that Ivy Aguas is dead and Lily Cruz is alive. I was always wondering how Ivy will reveal her true identity and this was perfect timing. I just love it when the usual bitchy Emilia looks like she just peed in her dress in fear.

Camia Cruz's comeback and Emilia's reaction is still killing me:

...and Lily is back, "Black is out. Gold is in!"



Emilia Ardiente. Period.

I think Aiko Melendez will be remembered for a long time for her portrayal of the beautiful, classy, stylish, and psychopathic Emilia Ardiente. Sometimes I just tune in to see Emilia's latest outfit and her plastikan wars with Ivy Aguas. Though, Emilia is awful but we also see the motivations behind her actions and her flaws.

Roxanne Barcelo as the conyo Nathalie Alcantara

It seems that Roxanne Barcelo has tried everything in Philippine TV and show business. She has been an actor, a Pinoy Big Brother housemate, a singer, and Marianne Rivera's sidekick in several TV shows. She has been in the game for a long time, but her casting as the kontrabida Nathalie Alcantara is spot-on. I actually laugh a lot at her character but she's just perfect for the role and don't you just love and hate (at the same time) her posh accent?

The best of Wildflower's 'Three Little Witches':

Bidang Kontrabida

Ivy is clearly the bida here, but she's not all perfect and good. Telenovelas are usually very clear on good versus evil, while Wildflower is also a variation of that, it shows that Ivy can also be as bad as the Ardientes. Look at Arnaldo Ardiente: for me, he's just a victim of circumstances and he's not to blame for the Ardiente's crimes (he's an effect, not a cause) but Ivy was clearly manipulating him for her own goals even if he did love her for a time. Arnaldo was on his way to become an evil Ardiente, but he ended up mentally unstable, and now he is an unconscious vegetable in the story (party caused by Ivy).

Anyway, there's another character I find silly and amusing - the masked guy/gangster leader named Jaguar. His potential is great, but to me he's a little corny. And why hasn't anyone figured out he's Raul yet? To make the story worse, there's another 'real' Jaguar who turned out to be Ivy's uncle who looks like her father. Whut?

That's it. Though I'm not really a fan of shows in Philippine television, this one is an exception and I will surely watch how it all plays out until the end. Its full of unexpected twists and turns, and it will surely be remembered for a long time.

You can watch Wildflower on ABS-CBN at 5:30 PM on weekdays. Here is their official website with videos too.

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2 Comments

  1. Your review is right on the money. Just like me, I'm not fond of Philippine tv series but Wildflower caught my attention. There are flaws here and there in the story line but their dialogue is something that will make you glued to watch it.

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    1. Yes, and I think that the #WildflowerGiyeraNaTo episode (before the ending) was better than the ending episode itself. I love their dialogue too, fleshed-out characters, they go beyond the typical telenovela cliches. It was filled with action and suspense. I haven't really watched teleseryes until the end before but this one had a solid story.

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