One wonders how a production company could come up with a project out of thin air. It must take significant talent and imagination to do this. It must include a whole lot of patience to search for the right partners to do the job well.
Such an event came into being as a project of the GMA Network, and the discovery of Lovi Poe (as Joyce) and Heart Evangelista (Kristine) who appear as stars in the series Beautiful Strangers. With their interspersed lives, Joyce and Kristine both have big dreams they are aching to pursue.
Joyce applied at one of the largest real estate companies in the Philippines -— the Castillo Realty, to enable herself to establish a name in interior designing and start a family with Noel (Rocco Nacino).
This is a series of two women who began as close friends and ended up as rivals. With Ronaldo Castillo (Christopher de Leon), owner of the large Castillo Realty company, both Kristine and Joyce had high hopes they would attain their goals in life. What they both got was a man playing with their dreams, a philanderer and a fake.
But all of Joyce’s dreams have gone into pieces when Ronaldo rapes and accidentally pushes her down the stairs. All along, Ronaldo thinks that he had killed Joyce. Fortunately, Joyce is able to survive everything but she suffers from selective amnesia. She crosses paths with Kristine and will be called Lea.
There is also Alejandra (Dina Bonnevie), Ronaldo’s wife who cleans up her husband’s dirt for her family and her son Lawrence (Benjamin Alves) whom she loves so dearly, and mechanic Noel who loves Joyce but eventually falls for Kristine.
Lawrence, only son of Alejandra and Ronaldo and half-brother of Kristine, has his own story to tell. Equally important roles are those of Emilio Garcia (Nestor) supportive father of Noel, as well as Ayen Laurel (Lourdes), mother of Kristine, who loves her and Ronaldo so much.
Lovely Rivero (Imelda) is the mother of Joyce who depends on her for survival. Kier Legaspi (Rigor) is the Castillo family’s amazingly efficient henchman.
The other roles went to Gab de Leon (Rex), the trouble-making Fil-Am cousin of Noel; Dyanin Cruz (Hannah), ex-girlfriend of Lawrence; Nar Cabico (Shakira), street wanderer and friend of Joyce; Diane Medina (Monica), secretary and best friend of Kristine; Mariel Pamintuan (Leslie), the cute but dependable cousin of Kristine; and Renz Valerio (Gason), the younger brother of Joyce.
What have we learned from the primetime series so far? We know now that large families are difficult to live with since they have their own preferences, habits, dreams and inspirations. Still, we also know that they will continue living the way they have, despite all the hurts they have encountered.
It has been said that it is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. Watch Beautiful Strangers weeknights after Marimar on GMA Telebabad.
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