In this week’s episodes, Gino’s acts ends up with surprising consequences, both for him and Mikay, while Jao embarks on a dual search and his Mom has evil designs on the king…
The previous week’s episodes closed with Gino’s declaration that he can’t stay out of Mikay’s life. Mikay stares at him like he’s crazy. “What?” Gino answers that it will be hard for him, but he doesn’t know why. Mikay says she knows why– it’s because he’s a bad guy who likes to make things hard for her. Gino bursts out, “Mikay, am I not even your type?”(Literally, don’t you even like me?) Mikay retorts that yes, he’s her type– her type to crush between her fingernails like a louse, bury in the ground, and break like a stick. “Oh sorry. You are a stick.” (Literally, you’re thin as a stick, referring to Gino’s slimness.) Ooh, burn.
Dad, on his way home, spots the man who recommended the Pampanga trip to him, the one that got him framed for human trafficking, and accosts him angrily. The man gets away, and tries to take revenge that night by stopping Dad on his way home and having him beaten up by some hired thugs. Dad escapes a stabbing when the barangay tanod* arrive in time to help him. When he gets home, Mom bawls him out for almost getting himself killed.
Meanwhile, in Yangdon, Behati distils some flowers for a love potion. When she sees the king again, she asks if he still misses his wife and child. Everyday, he says. On the pretext that she misses Jao and would like some company, she asks him to dinner… and when he accepts, she dismisses the servants and secretly pours the potion into his cup of tea. He raises the cup to his lips and pauses, looking at her…
…and then he sees Isabel as if she were there, talking about how the taste of the dishes in a meal should be balanced. And asks for water instead, saying that tea would not complement the rich meal. Whew. When he leaves, though, he tells Behati that his opinion of her has changed. Before, he thought she was a diamond, beautiful, but cold and hard. But now he’s realized that a diamond gets only more beautiful when it’s cut. Later, Behati has the love potion thrown away, saying she doesn’t need it anymore.
Jao gives Han (who, by the way, is played by Ketchup Eusebio) the slip, and goes out to look for Mikay, but with no success. When he returns, Han does some emotional blackmail on him, saying dolefully that he (Han) better hang himself for not keeping an eye on Jao, before the king and Behati can do it to him. He’s all “eyes on you, Dasho.”
Mikay finds an anonymous note in her locker at school, asking if it’s forbidden for her to smile. When she looks up, she finds Gino in front of her, so she tells him to stop ruining her day, and rips up the note and throws it in the trash. Kiko is also nearby, and has a stare-off with Gino before the latter leaves.
Things are a little tense in the Maghirang family after the previous night’s quarrel, and Mom initially ignores Dad when he heads out the next morning. But she can’t stand it, and calls after him to not forget his medicine.
The mean girls had seen Mikay read the note, and retrieve it, wondering if Gino really wrote it. One of them sniffs that it’s not his style at all– the note is beautifully hand-printed, while Gino’s penmanship is like a doctor’s*– even he doesn’t understand it. Ha.
Meanwhile, Mikay fumes to Kiko about Gino, wondering why he can’t just leave her alone. Kiko says Gino should be taught a lesson, to take him down a notch.
The mean girls spot Gino, tucked away in a corner listening to some music, and corner him to ask if he’s really courting Mikay. He reminds them that he told them not to waste time on Mikay– no, he’s not courting her– and leaves. While they’re all “I told you so,” he turns back with a devilish grin to say that she’s his girlfriend.
The king sends for Behati, thinking his words of the previous night may have been a little harsh. She assures him she took no offense, and thanks him for being there. He asks after Jao, and she mentions that Jao was angry at her when he left, and they haven’t talked since. He invites her to take some tea with him, while the attendants gossip about this development.
Kiko finds out from Gino’s former high-school classmate that although Gino acts tough, he’s so deathly scared of frogs that he was absent for one month from their biology class to avoid having to dissect a frog. He reports his findings to Mikay.
Mom Stella tends her ukay-ukay shop while thinking over her argument with Dad. She’s interrupted by a customer, who recognizes her from that long ago pageant she entered, and who says that it’s a pity she didn’t compete in Binibining Pilipinas because she’d have won, in fact she’s still beautiful.
Kiko has brought Mikay a frog, but she lets it go, saying they should not involve an innocent frog. Lol.
Jao and Han are en route to another appointment, but Jao gets away from Han by the simple expedient of distracting him and then climbing a chain-link fence. And then repeats Han’s “eyes on you” gesture back at him before running off. Ha. He chose that particular spot because it’s near the place where he’s supposed to meet Gino –I’ll bet the two boys cooked this up between them, the same way they used to jump the wall at the Royal Academy when they were little.
And Jao and Gino meet again! It’s clear they’ve stayed in touch through the years, as they greet each other with hugs, backthumps, and their special handshake. Aww. Jao seems like a different person altogether, dropping his standoffish dignity, grinning, and talking a mile a minute about how he can’t believe he’s here. He jokes about Han, complete with facial expressions and hand gestures that make Gino laugh. Gino listens, correcting his Filipino, and teaching him new words, and finally asks if he’s going to study here and improve his grasp of the language. Jao is all “uh, I don’t know…” and Gino tells him, dude, you can loosen up, your mom isn’t here! They play a game of Frisbee, while Han gets caught trying to climb the fence and is dragged off by security.
Dindi finds Mom crying, and tries to comfort her. Mom cries that she’s a bad mom and a bad wife, and finally blurts that she feels she’s so ugly now.
Han finally gets back to the car, apologizing profusely to the guards and grumbling about his wayward boss– and Jao, in Yangdonese clothes and acting very much the offended prince, leans out of the car to yell at him that he’s been waiting the whole day, where has Han been? Pwahaha. Han scratches his head, especially as Jao was wearing a coat and slacks earlier.
Back at RRIA, Jao learns that there was, in fact, a Filipino scientist who went to Yangdon to do research on a project similar to his, but the man resigned after he returned to the Philippines, and is now hard to find.
Because they have nothing else to do with their lives, the mean girls confront Mikay, but Gino again steps in to tell them to lay off of his girlfriend. Mikay: “What girlfriend?”
Gino informs Mikay that it’s an honor to be his girlfriend; she retorts that she was an honor student in high school and it didn’t feel like this. Maddie huffs that she’s so conceited she’s even denying her relationship with Gino, and the mean girls leave. Mikay fumes
thanks for the recap. sana may pictures sa mga susunod na recaps.