Episode 2 Recap

This episode is more than an introduction.

We get a further insight of the characters background and personalities and knowing who they are is vital to knowing where story is heading. Their personalities obviously affects their actions and behaviours which we are able then observe the ripple effect it has on the lives of those around them.

 

Episode 2

Just like a puppy dog who has just seen a big piece of bone. An excited Maya boards a plane en route to Manila. Insert Richard, who finds his seat at the front, close to the door. Of course, they don’t take note of each other.

In this plane ride, we see Maya’s passion to become a stewardess. She knows the safety demonstration being performed off by heart and mouths along with it to the point that an elder man sitting next to her whom she calls “tang”, questions whether she herself is also a stewardess. She responds no, that she is not one however she plans to go overseas to work and eventually take up the course which will allow her to become one.

“Sana lang nga.”
“Walang po’ng sana, tang. Sigurado”

The flight ends and we see Richard Lim about to exit. One of the pilots greets him by the door which makes me think that he is a VIP when even the pilot addresses him as “Mr. Lim”.

Next to exit are Maya and her friends. She greets tang with a goodbye with the promise that the next time they’ll see it each other hopefully, she will be a stewardess by then.

Richard is welcomed by Fred (Robert Ortega) wondering why he only now just arrived and asks why he didn’t use the company jet. Richard states that there’s no need to worry as has already made the deal making them a supplier of San Nicholas air.

Back to Maya, she and two of her friends await for a taxi. The taxi driver adds that an additional 200 pesos is needed to add on the meter before they can go anywhere. I have no idea what it’s for and to Maya, it’s unacceptable. Instead, they take a public van.

They arrive at Lorna’s place and Maya isn’t sure that they have arrived at the right place despite being at the right address. She calls Lorna to double check but only to find that the number she dials can’t be reached. They visit the local police and it turns out that they have been misled and they are now victims from a recruiter with a history illegal recruitment. Distraught and distressed, the three friends have no choice but to wait until Lorna is found.

The two friends decide to go back home whereas for Maya, she decides to call Kute and tells her of what happened. Only, it turns out that no one is on the other side of the line. He!

She eventually cooks up the courage and finds an excited mamang and nanay. They fuss over her and remind her to take care of herself and also warn her to not get married until she is very sure. As if she is about to tell them, Maya instead assures them that she is well and okay.

Later that night, walking along Jones Bridge, wheeling a suitcase and a shoulder bag on her shoulder, Maya cries out to the world,

“Hindi ito mag pa pabag-sak sayo, Maya. Narinig nyo yun! HINDI ITO MAG PA PABAGSAK SA-AKIN! Kayo ko to. Kaya ko to.”

What makes this scene more emotional is that when she looks down, she finds a hole on her left shoe. Talk about putting salt onto a wound. As she opens her bag, the contents burst out including a bottle of bagoong (a fermented fish or shrimp with salt resulting in a fish sauce) which rolls onto the road. Without looking, she runs after it causing the car behind her to suddenly stop and beep at her. Richard blames her for not looking and just as he is about to step out of his car, a police car also stops and a policeman asks her for an ID telling her that she is jay walking. Maya asks, “Ha?!” surprised and unable to coherently speak. Eventually, this causes her to pretend that she has trouble speaking. Fortunately for her, the policeman doesn’t know how to deal with her situation (huh? Why can’t you?) and leaves (huh? Why would you just leave a mute person behind?) her be.

Richard asks her if she’s ok and as Maya turns around, she then automatically becomes smitten by his presence. He asks again and offers her a ride home but she can only respond with a nod and shake of her head. The fact that she can’t speak at this moment is more likely because of him rather than keeping up the act but to Richard, he’s led to believe that Maya really can’t speak. He then drives off.

“Sa lahat ng panget na nang ngari sa araw ko, ikaw ay pinaka gwapo.”

We finally get a better look at the life of Richard Lim. At home, he is greeted by two women. He the elder woman asks were s/he and she answers that the person left without any notice and that she has tried to get a replacement but no one has taken the offer. Richard reassures her that he himself, instead, will take the initiative and is adamant that he’ll get someone as no one can refuse money. Meh.

Maya, meanwhile, has a hard time trying to find an accommodation for the night. Most of the places she visits is above her budget. So she is resorted to sleeping inside the entrance of a bank branch. It hurts my heart to see what she is going through. But the next day after using a public toilet as her bathroom, she finally finds a place to live in, temporarily. As she searches for a job she runs into Tang who surprisingly is revealed to be a Don and offers her an interview to work at the airport. She gets hired on the spot.

That night, she phones kute and tells her the truth about Lorna, and that she is not at Dubai. Kute of course doesn’t take this very well resulting in her cooking to burst into flames.

Working as a janitor at the airport, Maya meets a couple of stewardess in the bathroom. She tells them that the reason she is starring at them is because she wants to be one. They encourage her to talk to someone in the building in one of the offices to see if there is a place for her to train to become a stewardess.

At Richard’s office, his secretary, Liza (Kalila Aguilos), informs him that his meeting with Seafare Airlines clashes with Nikki’s (Janella Salvador) school activity which he has promised to go. He chooses to keep the Seafare Airline meeting as he sees that the completion of the contract with them is more important than whatever happens at Nikki’s school. (Hmmm, here’s judging you.)

It turns out that the office Maya decides to apply to is of the Seafare Airlines (ahhhh! I knew they had to meet someday but I did not picture it to be like this. Anyway). Dressed up and ready to be interviewed, Maya struts her way to the office. Inside the office awaits Richard becoming impatient as the Seafare Airlines representative runs late. In comes Maya, thinking that that the person sitting with their back to her can help her then taps his shoulder. Richard turn around and both look at each other at shock.

“Tell your boss I’m leaving…You can talk?!”

Comments

I would like to begin with Richard Lim. We have established that he is the head of an aviation company. He is cold, intimidating and it seems to be that he is constantly working or he is always at work. The part where he chose to cancel his plans with his daughter and instead put the contract before her makes me wonder how his household is shaped. It's a no brainer that he will not get Father of the Year any time soon. 

To me, so far, I see that Richard Yap is not a very strong actor but he does steal the scene with his charisma. I don’t mind that he mostly speaks English and transitions between English and Tagalog. I usually hate when Filipino actors do this because most of the time when they speak English, it is used to signify their superiority or it is in context of being ‘arte’ and ‘OA’. But so far I have no issues.

I don’t know much about the Richard Yap except for his not-so-good acting in the first episode of My Binondo Girl. I also know that he is half Filipino and half Chinese who lives in Cebu, which most likely makes him a Cebuano speaker more than a Tagalog speaker.

But that’s my perspective. I’m hoping to see what he offers in future.

As for Maya, I admire her. She has a fighting spirit that should be admired by everyone and she is determined to pursue her dreams as she sees this as a way to help her family. I’m glad that she didn’t go back to San Nicholas after finding out about Lorna because if she did, it would be useless move as she could again face what we saw in Episode 1.