5 scenes of Carlos as a loving father to Chiara in “Dirty Linen“

Villains come in all shapes and sizes, with diverse backgrounds and philosophies. And the most powerful kinds of villains are those who aren’t just black and white. Case in point: Carlos Fiero in Dirty Linen.

The actor behind this hated persona, John Arcilla, described him as a grey character, one who is greedy and powerful on the surface but is weak and insecure within. He might kill and steal, but sometimes he can be soft toward the women in his life, especially his daughter Chiara (Francine Diaz).

Carlos is a bad guy. Yet the way he fathers Chiara is almost admirable, as shown in this Friday 5 video.

In the first clip, he lovingly praised Chiara for winning a math competition, which, on the contrary, was ignored by her mom Leona (Janice de Belen). The sweetness in this father-daughter moment was worth noting. Carlos was gentle and supportive. He even expressed his excitement to award Chiara her medal on stage, certain that she will graduate as class valedictorian. And when Chiara mentioned she’s headed to a mall in Manila, Carlos gave her his credit card, then, ordered Abe (Joel Torre) to drive for her.

The Fiero family shares a love-hate relationship. Not everyone gets along well, but Carlos and Chiara’s closeness remains solid. In the next scene, Chiara bantered with Aidan (Zanjoe Marudo) when she got home after a beach getaway with her cousins. Carlos came downstairs with Leona, then, gleefully welcomed his ‘bunchuchay.’ He made sure Chiara would know he missed her dearly.

Like father, like daughter, Doña Cielo (Tessie Tomas) noted one morning when Leona called out Chiara for using her mobile phone during breakfast. The young Fiero stood up. Now she’s done eating, and therefore can freely use her phone. She then requested her dad to drop her off at school. Carlos willingly obliged – anything for his ‘bunchuchay.’

Carlos loves being bad. Yet he also loves being a dad. During Chiara’s pool party, he sat down with Nico and jestingly interrogated him about his intentions. Though he came off as intimidating and arrogant by pressing his role in Nico’s scholarship program, Carlos only did what fathers normally do when a guy gets close to their precious daughter. By the looks of it, he only thinks he’s doing what’s best for his unica hija, even if it means others must be hurt along the way.

Don’t miss an episode of Dirty Linen, weeknights, on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, TV5 and A2Z.