Or Sinetrons as they prefer to call it. Soap is so American. Anyway, from what little knowledge I knew, soaps originated as day time drama serials over radio or tv with continuing or in some cases endless episodes (Days of our Lives(?!) haha. Someone's grandmother actually joked that she'd die first before reaching the end of the story). Well, the said grandma did passed on and the story is still running. Anyway, in January 2007, it was suggested by NBC that Days of Our Lives is unlikely to continue past 2009.
Back to my entry here. For the record, I have never, ever, for the life of me, indulged myself in front of the couch at a certain hour each week, eagerly waiting for an anticipated episode and wondering why the handsome but stupid male actor remain blissfully unaware that everyone around him is conspiring against him and that his stepmother is actually a mad, old cow with an 80s hairdo.
I have never, ever cleared all the cooking, cleaning and slaving superfast on a given weekday just so that I could enjoy that one hour of freedom from everyday life.
And god forbid, I hope I never, ever put on a sour face when guests came at that hour and make me miss that crucial episode.
For I have never, ever been a big fan of soap operas. Never.
That is until I came across the first episodes of Istri untuk Suamiku (A wife for my husband). Now if only I could do the same to my husband. Not!
As riveting as the title goes, the story is so damn stupid, the pace super slow, the parts so bloody unbelievable that I just have to sit through 1.5 hours of it. Every week. I have no idea why but somehow, crunchy peanut butter on celery sticks just tastes better in front of that programme at that hour when you have the TV to yourself and everyone has gone to dreamland.
The story centres around a couple, Alia and Krisna. A happily married but childless couple. Krisna's mom dotes on Alia (Talk about unreal. Is there such a thing?) and openly expressed her wish to have grandchildren before she die. Alia took it upon her head that she has to die-die give a grandchild to her mother-in-law so as not to disappoint her. But, here's the catch. Alia is barren.
So this pious, ultra beautiful woman hit upon this idea of finding a wife for Krisna. A sort of contractual thing where they will consummate the marriage and file for divorce once the baby is born. All expenses paid, no strings attached and a straight cut win-win situation. Apparantly, the producers have never heard of artificial insemnation.
Krisna's violent objection was understood but I think he secretly likes the idea. Which men wouldn't? So we see Alia interviewing women of all walks of life together with her gynae whom I noticed have eyes that are too close together. The fact that she is so wooden doesn't really help matters. I give her credit for her expressive frowns though.
After rounds of interviewing the wrong girls, they came upon Reva who looked like she was forced to marry a camel and is desparate for money to bear her younger sister's surgical expenses.
So the unhappy Reva married Krisna in Alia's wedding gown. A stupid move because apparently, Krisna kept seeing Alia in the gown instead of Reva. The two reluctant newly weds then consummate their marriage.
Alia being the super-understanding, super-sweet wife comforted Reva and assures her that everything will be alright. She clears the master bedroom of her things and moved to the guest room where she lay awake the whole night praying that she could be strong enough to ignore what is going on in the other room.
Krisna came into Alia's room and told her that he's done what he has to do. He looked so miserable that as the audience, we forgot to see that he's a bona fide man and that he's actually itching to get back to Reva's room.
Reva's sister amidst much misunderstanding finally gets to stay with them and undergo the operation so that she can walk again. This one a bit unlogical but the glaring mistake cannot compensate with what I would want to say next.
Reva's pregnancy advances and managed to fall in love with Krisna. Alia meanwhile parades around with a pillow under her clothes to fool her mother-in-law. Seriously, how many women can stand walking around with a pillow like that for nine months?
Then in the hospital, while Reva was struggling to give birth, the mother-in-law kept interfering and stumbling upon Reva and Krisna who unfortunately were always in a less than desirable position when the clueless woman walks in.
Have to give the mother-in-law some credit when she initally suspects but was always put at ease when Alia or Krisna created one white lie after another. As easily as the woman shows her distaste and disgust (like stepmothers in sadistic 70s movies), she can easily be cooled and calmed by the two main characters. Tell me, how many mother-in-laws are like that?
So, we have Reva fighting for her life and her baby. The doctor (surprise! it's the closely-spaced eyed actress again!) told Alia and Krisna that Reva has only 3 hours to live if she is not given a specific medication which unfortunately the hospital has ran out of. How unbelievable is that?
Krisna and Alia is portrayed as rich enough to buy half of Indonesia, and here they are in some bloody, inefficient hospital with a doctor who said matter of factly (forget about the expressive frown! Reva is dying remember??!!) that they don't have that kind of medication and calmly wrote on a slip of paper the name of the medicine so that Krisna can go and look for it. She might as well add potato chips and popcorn on her list. It was so stupid, the writers deserved to be kicked to ER (the american tv series, duh!) and have the doctors there jabbed some sense in their asses.
The next scene have them twiddling their thumbs for 3 hours and looking at the clock's fingers from 12:00 to 2:55 am. Krisna came in with a plastic bag with the medication (maybe he purchased from the nearest 24 hour guardian pharmacy) and gave it to the doctor.
Miraculously, Reva survived (duh!) and so does the baby. Do they live happily ever after? Of course not. Mother-in-law have to come into Alia's room and feed her post-natal food and thank her for giving her a grandchild. Alia is too stupid to confess and kept giving wild looks. Mother-in-law of course was too happy to notice.
The unlogical part. How is it that Alia, who supposedly fought all night to give birth look so healthy with make up to boot and walking around from room to room the next morning? I couldn't walk like that even after a week of giving birth. Mother-in-law never notice this too. She was too busy scolding Krisna for hugging another woman (Reva).
As of today, the serial is still running. It's only once a week, late at night, so, I need not do my housework in a hurry and need not have to put a superficial smile on my face when I have guests over. Wait! Didn't I just deny all this at the top of this page? Well, I'm still in denial. This sinetron is so damn stupid, it's good. And I am so not going to watch this ever again.
So tonight, when everyone has gone to bed, I'll probably can't sleep and start channel surfing. HBO and StarMovie will not have anything interesting unless you unsubscribe. Yes, when you unsubscribe, they advertise all these blockbusters and when you do, you get all these stupid movies.
Oh boy, I can't wait to see more stupidity tonight.
Oops.
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