By Nestor Cuartero
JUST A THOUGHT: “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” – John Wayne
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MEDICAL DRAMA: Definitely new on the local TV-serye scene is The Cure, GMA Network’s new medical drama set to premiere on April 30, primetime.
Director Mark Reyes said it bluntly that it has never been done before. He is correct. Staging a medical drama series is not only expensive, it also entails a lot of technicalities, research, and scientific explanation.
Are our TV creatives ready for these?
Mark explained that concept of The Cure has been lounging on GMA shelves since 2012. However, due to its complex nature, it has been repeatedly shelved. Producers were probably thinking that such concept may not sit well with night time audiences, still seriously hooked on themes of revenge and love stories.
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CURIOUS ABOUT THE CURE: What, really, is ‘The Cure’?
Stepping into La Reve, venue of the show’s media launch April 17, gave one an eerie feel. The place had been made to look and feel like a hospital or a science laboratory, complete with that antiseptic atmosphere.
It didn’t take long before we realized The Cure is something as serious as cancer. Cancer it is that downs one of the series’ main characters, played by Irma Adlawan, who’s cast as the mother of Tom Rodriguez, in the role of a medical research associate.
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DRUG CAUSES PANIC: The Cure’s premise is set on an experimental drug that kills cancer cells. However, its side effect causes a deeper problem – the mutation of a dangerous and highly contagious virus called the Monkey Virus Disease or MVD wherein anyone infected begins to have seizures and becomes rabid and violent.
Soon, law and order is non-existent as the disease spreads not only in the city, but also throughout the entire country. Now more than ever, it is crucial to find the very thing that would save everyone – a cure.
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THE CAST: Jennylyn Mercado and Tom Rodriguez headline the series as Charity and Gregory Salvador, a happily married couple. Charity is a ‘retired’ nurse, who left her job to focus on her husband and only daughter, Hope.
Greg is the family provider, working as a Clinical Research Associate in an international pharmaceutical laboratory.
They both live a peaceful life, until Greg’s mother is diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
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Playing an equally vital role is Cannes best actress Jaclyn Jose, the doctor who discovers the experimental drug that created a nationwide epidemic. The series also stars Mark Herras, LJ Reyes, Ken Chan, Jay Manalo, Ronnie Henares, Glenda Garcia, Diva Montelaba.
Set in a world succumbing to the worst, The Cure, says Reyes, is an action-suspense drama over and above being a family love story.
