I hope you guys don't mind that I jumped from a chronological upload to randomized (I went from Episode 3 to Episode 19). GMA seems to be removing MCI from YouTube and putting it in their app, so I wanted to get the recaps ready before I can't watch them anymore.
Klay momentarily sets aside her lingering feelings for Crisostomo Ibarra after receiving the bad news about Crispin and Basilio brought by Sisa.
While playing sipa with Ibarra, Klay's foot slips and lands in his arms. Ibarra scolds her for moving around so much, saying that her fever may return and she may hurt herself yet again. Nonetheless, she is adamant and tells him not to worry before resuming the game. Ibarra compliments that she learns pretty quickly, and Klay simply replies that her coach, or he, is a good teacher.
The next morning, Maria Clara and her fellow colegialas busy themselves with embroidery. One of her friends ask if that's the only thing they can do all day. Maria Clara tells her that going outside frequently won't be good to them. Another friend, Neneng, calls out for them after spotting two gentlemen outside their windows. One of the gentlemen tips their hat at them, so the colegialas teach Neneng the way of fanning herself fast - a sign that she is interested in him. He seems to return the affection, and the ladies tease that Neneng may have a fiancé soon.
Meanwhile, at Ibarra's, Klay brings tea for him in his yard. She walks away before stopping midway, suddenly fanning herself... in a fast motion. Klay asks herself if she likes Ibarra, seemingly getting butterflies in her stomach. Before she can answer, she returns to her duties.
Back with Maria Clara and the colegialas, Tiya Isabel enters the room and scolds the ladies for not finishing their work by mingling around. Maria Clara calls for her maid Andeng to prepare for an upcoming party. Andeng says that there is not enough reserved food for the guests, so she must go to the mercado or market. Maria Clara gives her a letter to deliver to Ibarra on the way, but Isabel snatches it to read its contents. She wonders why Maria Clara is inviting Ibarra's mysterious "cousin" whom none of them have met beforehand - not knowing it is merely Klay. Doubtful, she hands the letter to Andeng. The ladies then proceed to attend mass.
At the Ibarra residence, Klay locks in a room and scolds herself for her growing feelings. It must be her fatigue from staying up all night... thinking about Ibarra. She reminds herself that everyone are characters from the novel, particularly the handsome, idealistic, child-friendly, and helpful gentleman who, unlike most men in her life, cared for her when she fell ill. Defeated, Klay remembers Prof. Torres and wishes the entire story was over so that she may return to her world. She's falling apart and... falling in love?
She resumes her sweeping duties in the yard with Ibarra from afar. Looking at him, she notes that their worlds are different "literally and figuratively." Behind her, Pilosopong Tasyo hears her muttering and warns her to be careful of her talking to herself. When he approaches her, he notices that she is "the lady from the new world." Ibarra comes to greet him. Tasyo compliments that if he hadn't come near, he would have mistaken him for Don Rafael Ibarra. He also tells Klay that her face brightened up in an instant when Ibarra came closer, like a rose signifying a happy mood. He wishes that this happiness does not escape her, and that tragedy wouldn't strike her.
Ibarra is surprised that the two had already met and greets him a good morning. However, Tasyo says that he doesn't know if it truly is a good day - "one shouldn't be deceived by the sun when the previous night's storm birthed darkness." He asks the two if they had felt or heard the cries of the abused and the abusers last night. Ibarra and Klay exchange looks in thought, though they say nothing.
At the church, Victoria tells the colegialas that something seems strange with the parish friar from a gentle and elegant person. One of them wonders if he might be sick yet again, and another jests that she didn't know that God had sickly messengers. This earns chuckles among the ladies. Tiya Isabel warns them that they will suffer in fire for 40 days for speaking rudely about a friar. The same lady merely says that she has enough money as offering, which earned yet another snickers among them.
Tiya Isabel notices that Maria Clara had been quiet for a while and asks if something is bothering her. She replies that the two sacristans that she and Ibarra had wanted to help, Crispin and Basilio, were absent during the mass.
Back in Ibarra's yard, Tasyo comments that he seems to be the only one thinking about such issues that do not cross the mind of other people - perhaps except Klay. He takes his leave to have his merienda, and Klay is surprised that he knows the word. Ibarra tells her that he means to take a tour or sightseeing.
Ibarra narrates that Pilosopong Tasyo is a peculiar man who is often ridiculed by society. In reality, his intelligence surpasses those of common people that his vocabulary cannot be easily understood. His father once said that his words have hidden meanings and lessons that the town can learn from. While he speaks, Klay nearly falls into a stance from staring at him for too long. When she snaps out of it, she agrees with whatever he is saying and urges him to return to his spot earlier to plan his proposal for her for the schoolchildren.
As he scoots away, Sisa and Basilio arrive at the yard looking for them. She says that she had been searching for the two since last night when Klay was struck by her fever. Apparently, the sacristan mayor or chief sacristan had taken away her children to pay for their fines after being accused of stealing from the friar. Shocked, Klay says that this shouldn't have happened. She asks where Crispin is, but only Basilio had come home in the previous night, leaving the former at the hands of the chief sacristan and the friar.
The group resume their discussion inside Ibarra's house. Klay wonders how this had happened - after all, she had already diverted the plot from the original Noli Me Tangere story, hadn't she? She also asks what happened to Basilio and his brother, but Sisa requests that she explains the story herself. That night, while silently crying because her husband did not leave a single morsel of food to her children, she heard Crispin behind her, exclaiming a riddle about a candle - "if one wants to light up a candle, the candle has to die in exchange." Sisa smiled after hearing his voice. When she turned around, she didn't find her son and only saw a bloodied Basilio running home. She asked why his head was injured and why Crispin was left behind in the convent. Basilio only replied that he was escaping when a guardia civil saw him. He doesn't answer about his brother's condition and attempted to stop Sisa from confronting the friars before fainting from his injury.
Sisa continues to narrate that she prayed for dawn to come to finally call for help but grew concerned about Basilio's dream. Ibarra says that dreams may or may not be true, though they can still hold meanings. With this, Basilio explains that he dreamt of his father handing Crispin to Padre Salvi, who sold him out as a thief. However, Crispin said that his father is a liar, and that he saw him stealing from the friar. He bit him on his arm before escaping, but he does not run far - in the next moment, a shadow of Crispin was getting beaten by his father, with Padre Salvi watching and smiling to himself. Not long after, the figure of Crispin seemed to be no longer moving.
Ibarra asks why Basilio is weeping, since this dream is a good sign. He replies that it is only a dream, and hopes that it doesn't come true.
End of Episode 19.
Images courtesy of GMA Drama. No copyright infringement intended.
Recap Notes:
- Pilosopong Tasyo speaks in pure Tagalog, and everything he says is vague (on purpose since he's a philosopher after all) that it was hard to translate his dialogue without using Google Translate. I put the gist of his points instead so I wouldn't have a difficulty of going back and forth through the episode lol.
- "One shouldn't be deceived by the sun when the previous night's storm birthed darkness" - this dialogue references Chapter 14 of Noli Me Tangere. Darkness here can alternatively be translated to evil.
- He follows this up by saying "'di niyo ba nadinig[sic] kagabi? Ang mga lintik at mga tumatangis na nalintikan?" I didn't know how to translate "lintik/lintikan" and the English version of Noli doesn't seem to translate this verse from the Tagalog version either, so I opted for using "abused" and "abusers" since they fit the context.
- With merienda, I believe Klay assumed this meant a light mid-afternoon snack but both men were referring to a different definition.
- (This is my fourth recap that was published, so it may not reflect in previous and later posts) The way characters refer to the church head juggles between priest, pastor, and friar. I opted to use friar for the entire post just to be consistent.
- About Crispin's candle riddle: Tagalog is a fairly gender-neutral language, so this delivery works better in its native form than in English. In literal translation, Crispin says "if you (Sisa/the speaker) want to live longer, I (Crispin/the candle) have to die in exchange".
- In the final part, I'm not sure why Ibarra said that it is a good dream (if translated literally). I'm guessing he meant that this is a good sign that Crispin is alive?