Where to, LizQuen?

MANILA, Philippines - They made fans swoon in the teleserye “Forevermore” and the movies “Everyday I Love You” and “Just the Way You Are,” including their recently-concluded serye, “Dolce Amore,” aired in the Kapamilya network for two seasons (February to August).

But now the AlDub (Alden Richards and Yaya Dub a.k.a. Maine Mendoza) love team is again hitting the headlines, with a recent award as PEP’s (Philippine Entertainment Portal) Newsmaker of the Year and Celebrity Pair of the Year.

The question is, where is LizQuen (Liza Soberano-Enrique Gil) love team headed?

What are its chances amidst tough competition?  Must the two stars – who treat each other like boyfriend-girlfriend – start looking for ways to attract new followers to stay on the radar? Should they start building separate careers?

Star Cinema is hanging on to LizQuen by giving them another movie after their teleserye “Dolce Amore,” ended its two-season run.  

But does LizQuen have what it takes to last as long as CharDawn (Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta), a ‘90s love team that enjoyed a resurgence in the 2012 teleserye “Walang Hanggan” and the hit movie “The Love Affair”?

Liza, 18, and Enrique, 24, are too young to do a CharDawn. Makeup can add years to their looks and allow them to play a young married couple, the way they did at the ending of “Dolce Amore.”

But they can’t go beyond that to play a honeymooning couple, or – gulp – a young mom and dad. They have to stick to the tried-and-tested boyfriend-girlfriend stories.  But they have to give these stories breathing space because the audience has a saturation point.

Enrique tried to break away from the love team mold by playing a hostage victim in “Dukot.” He got good reviews. Sadly, the thriller failed to hold its own against AlDub’s “Imagine You and Me.”

Liza, on the other hand, has yet to play a role sans Enrique.

Clearly, Liza and Enrique still need each other. Pulling them apart is too risky at this point.  

What they can do is try comedy the way the Maricel Soriano and William Martinez love team did in the ‘80s. This will offer the audience something new and more exciting than the usual sweet nothings and gazing-at-each-other’s-eyes kind of scenes.

And since AlDub has its own comic moments, LizQuen should look for fresh ways to be funny and endearing. They can try wacky dialogue, use popular terms in social media (e.g. LOL! OMG, etc.) the way young people like them do. They can take wefies showing them in various hilarious poses.

LizQuen needs to leave its comfort zone of out-and-out romance and start experimenting with characters. Liza, for instance, can play a nerd who transforms into a beauty because of love. Enrique can play a gawky, bumbling guy whose clumsy ways of courtship endears him to Liza.

This way, LizQuen can show its versatility, and perhaps, make more people sit up and take notice.

Reinvention is the key that could unlock new, bigger doors for LizQuen. It could tap talents they never thought they had.

All it takes is a little daring, a little experimentation. You’ll never know where it will take you. Who knows, it could lead LizQuen down a less-traveled road to success they never thought possible.