Destined to be yours Episode 14 #DTBYProtesta
Recap
Marjorie tries to suck up to Catalina (ugh, the difference in class and kontrabida finesse is so glaring that I cannot bear watch this sorry excuse of a kontrabida. Can’t they send her away, like soon? Or, since the Obispos are gonna leave Pelangi eventually, can this girl never ever show up again?) and fails. Miserably. (and just like that, I am now a solid fan of Catalina. Please have more screen time in the next episodes)
While the people at the groundbreaking ceremony are preparing for the event, so are the Obispos and the protesters. (I love the stark contrast in the colors: everyone was wearing white at the groundbreaking events, while the protesters were garbed in colorful frocks and protest signs). Ninay gets SInag to text Benjie to invite him to join their protest. Of course, he can’t make it because he’s one of the architects in the groundbreaking ceremony. He starts to sweat bullets after finding out that the Obispos are on their way to where he was.
The ceremony goes as planned… and so does the protest. The security aide springs into action, and Benjie uses the commotion to slip away unnoticed. For some reason the mayor’s security aide thinks that it is perfectly okay and legal to fire a shot “as a warning” against unarmed civilians who are within their rights to stage a protest. Don Vicente and Catalina are disappointed at the Mayor’s handling of the event. The protesters leave after another “warning shot” is fired (someone could die from a stray bullet, but does he care? Of course not).
Teddy dismisses the crowd after a short impassioned speech. Benjie arrives in a trike, to make it seem that he was trying to catch up to their protest. Sally invites him to have a meal with them.
Back at the event, as Don Vicente and Catalina make their way to leave, Catalina complains about the bad publicity the protest would bring to the company and the fact that Benjie had the gall to leave in the middle of it. Don Vicente is pretty cool about it, getting more concerned over the fact that Benjie was getting distracted lately. Catalina vows to deal with Benjie.
Sinag escorts Benjie down the steps of her house, thanking him for sympathizing with their cause. Seems like Benjie can’t take the guilt anymore and was about to spill the beans to Sinag but a drunk Mang Teddy drags Benjie away to join him for a drink.
Teddy and Benjie get drunk over local liquor and have a man-to-man talk. Teddy warns Benjie to never hurt or fool his beloved daughter. And Benjie keeps on lying.
Click to viewAfter a while, Sinag tries to get Benjie to get up from their outdoor bench so he could head on home. Drunk Benjie ends up talking to Sinag about his dad, because Teddy’s drunk affection made him miss his father. Sinag quietly listens as he pours his heart out.
Benjie nurses his hangover and he asks Jason if what he was doing was still right (newsflash: it never ever was right from the beginning) because the Obispos are really good people. He realizes (or finally gets the balls to admit out loud) that he doesn’t want to hurt Sinag. Jason can’t believe that Benjie was seemingly aborting his mission when he was so close to his goal. And because Jason doesn’t give a deym about the town, he tells Benjie to focus on his mission because he wants to back to Manila.
While Benjie’s conscience haunts him, making sure he doesn’t get a good night’s sleep, his mom is also haunted…by bad memories of her husband’s death.
The Obispos have prepared a feast but Teddy was missing in action. Sally tells her children that he went to the scene of the accident, still blaming himself for the death of the man who saved him.
Benjie gets a visit from Amanda, who is surprised at how much the town has changed. She asks his son if he has visited the site of the accident and we get a perfect close up on Alden’s wounded-puppy-dog eyes.
And that’s how Teddy meets Amanda, and how Benjie finds out that the man his father saved was Sinag’s dad. It’s like a sardonic joke from the writers to have Sinag’s “narration” in the background as the two parties meet after a long time. Their unexpected meeting not only opened up wounds but made it worse.
Ninay and Sinag talk about Benjie and Teddy’s drinking session last night and Ninay asks her bestie when she would get introduced to Benjie’s family. Sinag shares that Benjie’s dad has died while he was very close to his mom. She can’t help but wish that she would get to meet her someday.
Amanda gets assaulted by the pain from the past, and while she knows in her head that she shouldn’t be blaming others, she just can’t accept that they had to be the ones who need to deal with the loss and suffering. She gets more disstressed when she finds out that Benjie knows him and his family.
Random thoughts
* Sinag could also put up a sign that says “Save Baby Charmaine.” We need to bring back the NoToSkinnyJeansAlden campaign. (Jason's face says it all).
* To be fair, I think that more than the fear of getting caught, Benjie was actually worried about the safety and wellbeing of Sinag, her family and the other protesters should the mayor’s security fight back.
* Trust Marjorie to make a classy jumpsuit still look sleazy. That’s got to be a superpower.
* Why would you wear stiletto heels when you know that you will be walking over a field? Like seriously, what wrong with the show’s stylists? Style before function/comfort is already an obsolete concept in the fashion world (hence the rise of athleisure and normcore trends). Catalina is written as a stylish yet practical woman. Why would she choose to wear stilettos? My gahd! However, her ootd still slays. As always.
* Alden playing a drunk character is always entertaining to watch (James in God Gave Me You, Andrew in Imagine You and Me). Their commonality: they cry and become emotionally vulnerable.
* Benjie talking about losing one of his parents and losing a part of himself…ARGHHH! Stop making me sympathize with this jerk, Alden. Stop being so effin good at what you do.
* I feel like Benjie is stuck in a kid’s mentality where everything should revolve around him and what he deems important. “I wish my dad didn’t think about others so he wouldn’t die and I wouldn’t be incomplete.” Wow. It’s all about him in the end. It’s like he’s got the mentality of a three-year old boy who still hasn’t gone past the stage of egocentrism.
* Maybe Teddy’s loss of dexterity in his arm is more psychological than physiological. Maybe his guilt over his savior’s death was too great that he subconsciously “punishes” himself by taking away the skill that he takes prides in.
* You’d think that they’d be proud of what Gabriel did, for being a hero, that his death was not in vain because he not only saved them but also a complete stranger. But nope. We need more drama. And we need to have Teddy feel indebted to Benjie’s family so there would be a “balance of sorts” when $h!t hits the fan and they find out Benjie’s deception.
*Argh! I’m cringing while listening to Amanda’s script. It’s as if Teddy shoved Gabriel down the cliff to die with the way she was talking. And doesn’t she realize that they way she’s blaming a totally innocent man for an accident is the same way Vicente has been blaming her for his son’s untimely death?
In conclusion
This episode was all about the universe taking revenge on Benjie for being a heartless scheming jerk. Not only does he have to deal with his own guilty conscience, he also has to deal with the resurrected pain of losing his dad so suddenly. And the universe is just starting. Karma is a b***h.
I realized another thing. People in pain in this universe have this tendency to let the pain rule their life and override their capacity for positive coping. After Sinag’s heartbreak, she became bitter and cynical about love, blocking off any male that attempts to get close (thus hurting Badong). After getting played around by his ex-girlfriend, Benjie ends up with playing around with girls, not caring about their feelings. Vicente was hurt when his son, his pride and joy, chose to abandon him and his heritage for the sake of a woman. So he ends up hating Amanda, even more so when Gabriel dies in the accident. And Amanda, because of the great hardship he has to deal after Gabriel’s death (from losing her husband, being rejected and resented by his family, and getting threatened to have her only son taken from her) ends up hating a complete stranger, an innocent man who happened to be the last guy her husband pushed out before the bus tumbled down. (If Benjie had been that last guy pushed off the bus, would she end up hating her own son as well?)
And that is why legit grief therapy is important.