Pitying and feeling sorry for lead stars nowadays. And why so? For all their charisma and popularity, add the fact that the major storylines of movies or television dramas center on them, the stars in the second lead billing and category are the ones receiving mammoth shares of buzz, likes, ships, and yes, love, love, love, love.!

Thus I cannot help but wonder, why are the second leads stealing the thunderbolt and lightning from the main stars and is there anything they can do about this second lead phenomenon?

Mighty Aphrodite-y

The finest sampling of this second lead ascension took place in the Hollywood motion picture Lisa Frankenstein, the movie whose lead stars were Kathyrn Newton and Cole Sprouse as Lisa and the Creature, respectively.

Forget about its domestic and worldwide box office results. Look the other way when they start the discussion on how the movie polarized the horror loving audiences and the critics. And just concentrate on what was its center of attention, Taffy, the character given life by Liza Soberano.

If you are to read the major reviews of Lisa Frankestein, aside from its script, Soberano’s was the most addicting part of the Diablo Cody-written motion picture. She made her second lead character elevated to lead star status with her beauty, knack for acting and that undeniable X factor.

Her appearance on the Screen Actors Guild red carpet showed to the world that Liza screamed A-lister. E! Entertainment commented on their social media page about her red carpet video moment: “I’d take Liza Soberano any day.”

The video clip where she twirled to show off her peach hued Mikado skirt, as of this writing, fetched 1.7 million views, 16K likes, 2,528 reposts, 752 quotes and 469 bookmarks.

The photos of her being displayed on Getty are proofs that Liza Soberano, as so written in the iconic Broadway anthem “I Enjoy Being A Girl” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song, is: “I am strictly a female, female.”

A real Hollywood rising, an unmistakable second lead ascension that makes the majority of Pinoys oh so very happy.

Terrific Three

Three surprising love pairings this side of Southeast Asia’s Hollywood are creating so much nice, their own battalion of fandoms and shippers, and the clamor for them to be given their own separate projects have become fervent.

The surprising trio come from the still playing Can’t Buy Me Love, with Maris Racal as Irene Tiu and Anthony Jennings as Snoop, and from the much talked about Gen Z Pinoy drama Senior High, Zaijan Jaranilla and Miggy Jimenez, Timothy and Pocholo, and Zyriel Manabat and Elijah Canlas, as Roxie and Archie.

With Snooperene as the portmanteau of the characters played by Racal and Jennings, the rich, bratty and dysfunctional Irena and the man of the masses with a heart of gold trope works big time for the Can’t Buy Me Love second biggest act.