I Love Nicole the Mistress, Don't I?

Monica (wife), Adrian (husband) and Nicole (mistress). Photo credits: www.bubblenews.com.

 

 

Nicole Esquivel, the anatagonist played by Maja Salvador in the teleserye entitled The Legal Wife aired on ABSCBN, is gaining more and more haters as the story unfolds her hole and corner relationship with a man named Adrian Devilla played by Jericho Rosales, who is married to the protagonist Monica Santiago played by Angel Locsin.

Many of the bashful comments I read and heard, especially for Nicole Esquivel played by Maja Salvador, are mostly based on personal life of the artist playing the role. Unless you are living under the rock, we know in real life how the friendship of Maja Salvador and another actress Kim Chui was broken because of a man in the person of actor Gerald Anderson.

Gerald is the former lover of Kim, who seemed to have been most heart broken in their decision to separate ways. Now, Kim and Maja are two good friends, the latter known to be a confidante of the former during her very painful days. Until one day Gerald and Maja came out as lovers, leaving Kim more hurt than ever and Maja being painted with the "traitor" image.

Now, back to the drama on screen. Why this so much hatred? Some avid viewers hate Nicole not simply because of her wickedness in the story but because of the untangled story of Maja behind the camera. My friends on social networking sites, with smoking ears, write that Maja is the most ideal actress for role of a mistress because she is an experienced one; not an experienced actress but an experienced "mistress".

But I partially digress to that. It is hard to set aside personal feelings and I admit I am no big fan of Maja. But viewing the literature angle, I cannot deny that I love Nicole after all. She is giving justice to the mistress role as evidenced by my rising blood pressure.

What is a masterpiece without villains like Nicole? Civilizations have traitors. Plays have villains. Tales have witches. In a nutshell, if Nicole and other minor villains are not part of the casting, then end of the story! Turn off the idiot box because there is no complication to give denoument at all and there ought to be no story to spin in the first place. 

And are mistresses in real life not like Nicole? She flirts and dates with a man she knows she can never have. She loves to settle for second. She fell in her own trap of love and lies. In short, we know that Nicole is a stock type of character based on reality. And if she hurts, it only shows she effectively connects to real life. Truth just hurts, does not it?

If we get all these purely to our emotions, we will all taste like a bitter gourd. Admit that we just too taken away, which is the true measurement of the effectiveness of the character. Try to take a glimpse at the other side of things - the literature. Separate the the water from oil, so that maybe then we will find something worth appreciating after all.

Things are clearer to me now. I love Nicole because that is how I should expect of her to fit the bill. However, I am still no big fan of Maja in real life by my own personal feelings, which I am sure is understandable.