Destined to be yours Episode 26 #DTBYStillTheOne
Tuesday, 11 April 2017 02:03![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catatonic_17Recap
Benjie and Trish celebrate their anniversary and exchange gifts. He gives her a charm bracelet and she gives him a replica of Destiny’s promise (a fascinating parallel to Trish’s role in Benjie’s life: a mere replica to take the place of the real thing he has been pining for). Meanwhile, team Pelangi has congregated in the Obispo house to witness Badong’s romantic move to ask her to be his girlfriend (Destiny’s Promise is back to the Obispos). She says yes and the whole family rejoices.
As Sally gazes at Destiny’s Promise, she can’t get help but be worried about her vision.
The next day, Ninay gets Sinag to accompany her to check out condo units and they talk about Badong. Because she’s the ultimate bestfriend, Ninay can sense when something is wrong with her beshie. Sinag expertly dodges the question. But Ninay keeps on shoving the “he’s your destiny” argument down Sinag’s throat (the same argument she used for Benjie).
Of course, because destiny is at work, Benjie and Jason are also at the same building. Lo and behold, it’s a Rosales Development owned building. Apparently Benjie is not fully preoccupied with the Pelangi project because Don Vicente just asked him to oversee the renovation of a building. Oh look, he’s going to enter the elevator at the same time Sinag and Ninay are on the elevator at the same floor. Will they finally meet?
Of course not. There are two elevators.
At Rosales Development, Trish drops by to look for Benjie and Marjorie (with her gawd-awful hair extensions) greets her…and tells her about Benjie’s relationship with a girl back in Pelangi. (Why bring up something that happened two years ago that didn’t even come to fruition? Because that’s what second rate kontrabidas do. While the main kontrabida is busy plotting evil schemes, these petty creatures purpose for their existence is to stir up intrigue and annoyances for the lead. That’s the whole point of Marjorie’s move to Rosales company). This cements the doubt and insecurity in Trish’s heart.
Badong and Sinag go on first date. Badong tries to follow Arman’s tips on how to level up their relationship. Failure upon failure.
Trish is back at home, trying to look for this Sinag girl. Of course, she can’t reach Benjie on the phone because he’s in the middle of nowhere. (Ah, the danger of being idle. There is a saying about an idle mind being the devil’s workshop.) Her mom happily tells her that she got a job at a place she didn’t even apply for. She wasn’t even interviewed to see if she was qualified for the job. (All hail the oligarchs *eye rolls*) Seeing her daughter getting anxious about her boyfriend, she feeds her paranoia further (because that’s what cliché kontrabida moms do). “Maybe he’s still hung up on his ex, that’s why he still hasn’t proposed to you.” (or maybe it’s because it’s difficult to fully trust a cheating ex, kontrabida mom).
Oh but wait, it seems that Benjie misplaced his phone. Seeing the missed calls from his (paranoid) girlfriend, he promptly calls her. But it doesn’t go through.
Meanwhile, Badong and Sinag get real food and have a typical dinner date…with a live acoustic rendition of the DTBY OST (ZOMG!!! Is that Denise Barbacena, the singer of the OST???) because in this universe, there is only one song. While Badong is off somewhere, Sinag is left alone with her Benjie-centric memories…and writes on the song request sheet (absent-mindedly, yet still legibly): Why is it still you? Why? Badong comes back to a visibly bothered Sinag, who makes a bad (yet effective) attempt at diverting his attention.
The next day (or at least it seems that way), Benjie surprises Trish with a bouquet of “apology” flowers. Trish goes on her paranoid girlfriend tirade and Benjie is all like “I demand for your understanding.” (Urghhh! Alden is sooooo good. Notice how his eyes suddenly darkened when Trish brings up Sinag’s name? *goosebumps*) He walks out and the kontrabida mom witnesses all this (how awkward is that headshot?).
Meanwhile Sally checks up on her daughter, asking how her date with Badong went. Sinag admits it felt awkward and that she was unsure about her decision. She is aware that she might end hurting Badong in the long run. Her mom tries to give her advice but we know what exactly is keeping Sinag from giving 100% in this relationship.
After his squabble with his rebound ex, Benjie gets Catalina’s shade in front Don Vicente and others during a meeting of sorts (Time is money boy! You’ve already wasted thousands of company money on your horrible “Oplan infiltrate the Obispo family by making their eldest daughter fall for you”). Of course, this is won’t be the last time we’ll hear from Catalina.
At the Obispo house, Sally and the kids give Teddy a pep talk since he was feeling nervous about their upcoming exhibit (turning to liquor again to deal with the feels).
Jason’s chat with Benjie (who was cramming the design revisions like a college student) reveals why it was taking him forever: he’s distracted by Trish. More specifically Trish’s persistence in knowing more about his past with Sinag. Jason reminds him that they’ll head to splitsville if he doesn’t clear up this misunderstanding soon (Everyone is too nice to point out how ridiculous it is that Trish has the gall to be the jealous and insecure one when she’s the one with a confirmed cheating history).
For Benije, annoyances always comes in threes, so Marjorie enters the scene to make his horrible day complete.
Random thoughts
* I can never not be blown away by Alden’s acting. He is smiling but you know it’s not his real smile because we’ve seen his smile when he’s really genuinely happy.
* I just realized how easy it is to evoke “destiny” when you want to be convincing. During the first two week’s everyone was so sure that Benjie was Sinag’s destiny. Now it’s Badong. If it’s really destined, can it be thwarted or change course? I’m starting to hate the overly used term “hindi aksidente na nangyari to” to convince the girl to consider a romance with him (both Benjie and Badong used this argument).
* I hope Badong sterilized Destiny’s Promise first.
* I love Sinag’s lippie.
* OH MAY GHAAAADDDD!!! Doesn’t this company have an HR department? Marjorie’s outfits (Like seriously, who would think that a bralette was an appropriate corporate outfit?) have to be some kind of sexual harassment for the men of this company.
* Oh Marjorie…you are a hero to all second-rate kontrabidas out there. Like a cat desperately clinging by her claws on a tree branch, your desperation to be still relevant in this universe is amazing.
* I have a theory why Marjorie is still on board this series even though she has lost her role both as an effective kontrabida and a third wheel. Because this is a rom com and Catalina is too classy and smart to fall on her face when her evil schemes blow up, we need a second rate kontrabida like Marjorie who the writers can subject to various cruelty (like getting a bucket of paint spilled over her head and getting dunked head first in a basin full of soapy water) as a punch line without feeling guilty about it. Notice how Sinag is not involved in physically attacking her? Because she’s the female lead, the paragon of goodness and proper conduct, a role model for impressionable girls out there. The lesson: even when somebody bullies you, don’t retaliate with force; let karma handle it. So yes, this won’t be the last episode we’ll be seeing Marjorie and her horrendous outfits.
* Is it accurate to calll Sinag Benjie’s ex when they weren’t officially together when they separated in the first place?
* Trish is like a beaming example of how ironic cheating exes’ logic work: she cheated on him and got caught red-handed and she has the gall to be suspicious about Benjie’s fidelity (no matter how valid because it’s obvious he’s still all about Sinag). Hypocrisy at its finest.
* When you get into a relationship, is it protocol to tell your current boo about each and every ex you’ve had? And in Trish’s case, does she have the right to demand that (when she’s the one with the history of cheating while currently in a relationship)?
* Seeing how reckless Benjie is and how easy it is to rile up his girlfriend, Catalina should’ve taken him down easily. Like seriously Catalina girl, what have you been doing these past two years??? Or maybe she’s too focused on the company’s success so she let him do the hard work. And now that they’re entering the final phase of the project, she can now strike this over-confident lolo’s boy upstart. You know what they say, the higher they are, the harder they fall.
* Fun fact: Denise Barbacena, the singer of the DTBY OST is part of the cast of Bubble Gang, along with Juancho Trivino and RJ Padilla. Incidentally, both Denise and Juancho starred in Bubble Gang’s spoof of ALDUB.
*Wow. This song is an effective truth serum of sorts for Sinag.
* I have to point this out: This DTBY song is now at least two years old in this universe. And still popular.
* Throughout this episode, I can’t help but think, why doesn’t Benjie use the “you’re the red-handed cheater in this relationship” comeback with Trish but then I realized that that is such an @sshole move, which can be easily used against him. Trish can just turn on the water works, whine about it to her mom and his grandmother and Benjie would be known as an emotional blackmailer.
* Who in the world goes for a swim in full make up??? Is there a pool side photoshoot we are not aware of?
In conclusion
I feel like for most of this week, we’ll be getting KS-level suspense where we’ll be given almost-meeting scenarios every episode. “Oh look they’re in the same building! Will they finally cross paths again?” Only KS did it better. DTBY tends to overdo these almost-meetings that they lose the thrill and sense of surprise. It’s like the whole point of these scenes is for the aired 31-second teasers for the upcoming episodes.
Both our leads are now officially involved with other people. Meaning more people will get hurt when they get back together, like unintended casualty in destiny’s mission to get SinJie together. But who knows, maybe this is destiny’s way to introduce Badong and Trish to their own “destined ones.” Hoping their own love stories will be less cliché and overdone.
