Well, well, well. This week on Walang Hanggan, sparks fly between Marco and Emilia, and Daniel and Katerina, despite the fact that one in each pair is married to someone else. Manang Henya gets afflicted with the Cassandra syndrome, taken to new levels, and it kind of drives me crazy because she reminds me of the usual mouse running on a wheel– she puts in so much effort, and she keeps getting nowhere. Lemme tell you, if I played the old drinking game and downed a mug of Red Horse for every time Henya insists “I’m telling the truth, Daniel is Marco and Emily’s son!” I’d have been drunk halfway through this recap.
So Katerina’s the new liaison between Montenegro Corp. and Daniel’s new company, right? This seems to consist of Katerina submitting reports to Daniel about the Montenegro company every once in a while. The first time she does so, she calls Daniel to task for “taking away” the Montenegro company (never mind that it was due to Margaret’s hubris)– “why can’t you leave my family in peace?” Daniel points out that he was living in peace once before, until her so-called “family” stepped on him.
Nathan’s out of town (he’s a student vet, remember?) on some “immersion” training (beats me why we call “immersion” pulling a rich city kid out of his environment and putting him in farming or mountain communities to let him see how the other half lives). He calls, however, just as the office day is about to end, to check up on his wife. She assures him she’s fine. Afterwards though, James asks her to bring a folder up to Daniel on the tenth floor of the building, before she goes home.
So up Katerina goes to the tenth floor, which seems to be under renovation. The empty space spooks her so that she almost brains Daniel with a two-by-four when he comes along. However, the lights suddenly go out, and she ends up shrieking and jumping into his arms instead. He’s thisclose– and she realizes it, and moves away quickly.
The “power failure,” however, was staged– by James and Emily’s driver, Miguel (who was also her fellow OFW and is kind of in love with her; he’s the man who is always with her while she plots). The two chuckle with glee over the thought of the former lovers locked up in the tenth floor overnight in the dark, because, yunno, the proximity will help them to talk things over.
So when Daniel and Katerina call for help (by banging on the door, when you’d think no one else would be on an unused floor), no one hears them. Of course, the elevator is not running (Me: Where are the stairs? The stairs, you idiots! A building that tall has got to have stairs!) and Daniel sits down and observes that they have to stay there until the power comes back on, even if it’s the next morning. Katerina is all OMGwhut. He asks what she’s so afraid of. Katerina: N-nothing. Daniel does the logical thing that such an answer calls for– he kisses her and laughs and goes off to find a way out. (Me: Find the goddamn stairs! My mother: Then they wouldn’t stay together for long! Me: Oh— yeah. Right.)
James calls Daniel with some story about an electrical malfunction that will have to keep them stranded on the tenth floor until their emergency team finishes dealing with it. Katerina’s driver calls Katerina asking where she is, since he’s there to pick her up but can’t find her. Katerina tells him of the “electrical problem” and asks him not to tell the family so they won’t worry. He agrees immediately– and then turns and high-fives James and Miguel. Because he’s that guy Emilia had planted in the Montenegro staff, the one who’d taken the video that Emilia showed Johanna.
Katerina also calls Yaya Perla to tell her the truth and ask her not to worry because the maintenance people are on it, but Yaya isn’t to tell Jane or Margaret so they wouldn’t make a big deal out of it (because yunno, she’s trapped with Daniel). Before she can say more, the phone battery goes dead. Yaya Perla covers nicely for her when Margaret’s personal assistant Kenneth comes in to ask where Katerina is, because Nathan called– Yaya says Katerina arrived earlier and is in their room, so Kenneth assures Nathan that yes, Katerina is safely at home.
Henya wonders why, if Margaret hates Emilia so much, she would send Marco to the same convention Emilia is attending. At the convention, Marco keeps getting distracted by Emilia’s pretty face across the room– Jane calls, but he keeps the call short with some lame excuse and is staring at Emilia all the while. It’s a good thing Emilia doesn’t melt.
Tomas, meanwhile, catches up with Johanna outside the bar and tries to apologize for his earlier behavior, only to revert to caveman tactics when she mentions Daniel. He skulks off, though, when a guard comes up and asks Johanna if anything is wrong.
Up on the tenth floor, Daniel and Katerina are talking, all right– from opposite sides of the huge room. Daniel’s sitting with his back against a wall and Katerina’s sitting against the far wall. LOL. They’re illuminated with a portable emergency light Daniel had found. Katerina says that she knows he’s moved on– why, he didn’t even come to visit her in the hospital even if she almost died. (If only she knew…) Daniel realizes she was indeed rambling when she woke up and saw him that time, and doesn’t tell her the truth– he just apologizes, saying that he learned of it too late. Katerina is all “ows? Manang Henya didn’t tell you?” Daniel asks for his ring back. Katerina (who’s still wearing the ring on a chain around her neck), says peevishly that she threw it away long ago, why, is he giving it to Johanna? Daniel asks if Nathan knows about the ring. Katerina: My husband is not the jealous type. Daniel: That’s not what Johanna says. Right afterward, though, she winces because of the wound on her arm, and Daniel notices. Then the light goes out, and Katerina panics. Daniel laughs at her because she’s still scared of the dark, and tries to scare her even more by saying that she doesn’t know if someone will touch her shoulder… Katerina screams that he better get over here right now! Daniel: You’re the one who’s scared. You come over. And she does come over and sits down beside him…
The Daniel / Katerina scenes are nicely intercut with Marco / Emilia scenes at the convention, exchanging barbed pleasantries. Marco finally tries to get a rise out of Emilia by accusing her of using her charms to woo customers, all the while looking at her as if he couldn’t get enough of her. Emilia: Why, Marco. Are you telling me I’m beautiful and charming? Tsk. If only your wife could hear you. Emilia – 1; Marco – 0.
Katerina falls asleep with her head on Daniel’s shoulder; a tear falls from his eye as he looks down at her. And then she murmurs “I love you.” Daniel: I love you, too. Whereupon she wakes up, realizes what she said, and totally denies that she was saying it to him, uh-huh, no way at all.
Overattheconvention,
