JasMINE The Series (TV5 – 2014) Episode 2 Recap

And.....we're back! Because of a production incident, this episode was delayed for a week. As a result, this episode had a few technical problems, mostly with the audio and editing. Hopefully, no more behind the scenes drama unfold over the next few weeks. *fingers crossed*

Episode 2 Recap

Luckily, Selina is alive but she’s in a coma. Her fans are outside the hospital, holding a prayer vigil for her recovery. Jasmine sees this in the news report and she’s clearly affected by it. Carly tells her that Insp. Ramirez wants to see her regarding Selina’s stage accident. Before Jasmine meets him, she wants to talk to Steven first.

Carly asks her if she’s sure about this and Jasmine replies that she thought about this all night and she has decided. Carly thinks that it’s a mistake but she’ll support her anyway. Turns out, she’s here to talk to Steven about quitting showbiz for good, because of all the bad things that happened to her recently.

Steven tells her that it’s okay if she didn’t win the Best Actress award but Jasmine responds that it’s not just about the award, she thinks that she’s not fit for showbiz. She has decided that after she finishes all her current commitments and projects, she will be taking a break from show business for good.

Cut to: Jasmine telling the same thing to Wendell who freaks out about the news. Wendell is in disbelief and asks Jasmine if it’s really true. She’s still undecided but leaning towards quitting and she wants to announce the news first and exclusively through Wendell’s entertainment blog. He tells her that she can’t quit now and asks what Steven said about her news.

Cut to: Steven telling his other assistants that he can’t accept her favorite talent to just quit showbiz abruptly. He scolds the assistants that it’s their fault because they didn’t give Jasmine a good project. It’s because Jasmine isn’t a famous household name yet plus she had that scandal video, the assistant responds. Steven doesn’t care; he just wants them to give Jasmine a good project.

Just then, Leila(his personal assistant) tells him that Insp. Ramirez wants to talk to him via call. Steven gets shifty eyes at the mention of the inspector’s name; he takes the call and asks everyone to leave the room. Insp. Ramirez is calling about Selina’s accident and before he can ask Steven any questions, Steven lies that he has an emergency meeting right now and asks him to coordinate with his secretary instead. 

At the police station, the chief asks Insp. Ramirez and Osorio to hand in their report regarding Selina’s accident. Ramirez is confident that it wasn’t a mere accident but the chief tells him to just hand in the report and make all their jobs easier. 

Ramirez requests for more time to investigate and if they don’t find any more evidence to support his claim then they'll close the case as an accident. The chief grants his request but orders them to be careful about this case, the press and the media are hot on their tail because this case involves a high-profile celebrity.

In the hospital, Selina is still unconscious with Mama Mia beside her. Sarah Mae walks in and tells Mama Mia that she talked with the URLoved director and she found out that they can’t wait until Selina recovers so they’re replacing her with another actress.

Mama Mia is expectedly furious and declares that the role should only be for Selina and no one else, she won’t let anyone replace Selina. Suddenly, Selina wakes up and declares the same thing, that role is hers.

Jasmine is filming a scene with actress Alice Dixson(in a cameo role as herself). Afterwards, in the dressing room, Alice compliments Jasmine about her acting. She notices that Jasmine is in a sad state and asks her what’s wrong? 

Jasmine tells her that she's affected with their scene earlier and she’s thinking about quitting showbiz. Alice tells her that she was in the same situation before, there was a time where she quit showbiz because of all the controversies, unfounded scandals and grueling work schedules.

But she met an old lady a big fan of hers, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, the lady always forgets her own grandchildren’s name but she still remembers Alice’s dialogues from her old TV shows. Alice saw that the lady was happy whenever she watches her shows and this made Alice realized that making other people happy makes her really happy as well. The story clearly lifts up Jasmine’s mood.

Steven talks with a TV5 executive in charge of the URLoved series and tells her that Jasmine would be perfect for the female lead role. The executive informs him that they’re already considering someone else to replace Selina and besides, Jasmine isn't famous enough to headline a primetime show and they need someone controversial so the audience will talk about the show.

Steven counters that Jasmine has a set of controversy under her name; just like the scandal video on YouTube, but the executive doesn’t think that’s controversial enough. What about the rivalry between Jasmine and Selina? If they replace Selina with Jasmine, this will surely create a feud between both actresses’ fans.

The executive likes the idea and Steven assures her that if they give Jasmine the lead role, she will definitely kill it. 

Selina is incensed when she finds out that Jasmine will replace her and Mama Mia is sure that Steven planned this whole thing. Selina asks Mama Mia to set up an exclusive interview so she could get back at Jasmine.

In a fan’s day event, Steven encourages Jasmine to take the role, it was always meant for her. Just then, the two inspectors arrive at the event to ask them some questions regarding the accident. 

Carly tells Jasmine that she needs a costume change right away(Why? It’s a fans day not a concert) and Jasmine just grabs Ramirez by the arm so they could talk in the dressing room while she changes.

With only a curtain separating them, which of course makes him uncomfortable, he asks her if she noticed something weird and out of the ordinary during the awards night. 

Jasmine only noticed that the stage lights were flickering before it fell on Selina. Ramirez then asks her about her relationship with Selina, are they friends?

He read up about their so-called rivalry, does she have any grudges against Selina? This makes Jasmine wonder, what are these questions for exactly? Are they suspecting her? Ramirez responds that he’s just exploring any possible angles of the case. 

They believe that it wasn’t just some accident, they need to know who has the most to gain if Selina dies and whoever that person is, they’re sure that he’s the suspect they’re looking for. Jasmine takes offense that he would think to suspect her.

Jasmine spends the day with her fans; signing autographs and taking pictures. One of her fans requests for an autograph for her little sister who is in the hospital. 

Jasmine asks what she’s in the hospital for and the fan responds that her sister has leukemia. Jasmine is sorry to hear that, she asks for her number so she could visit them at the hospital.

Jasmine receives a text from maskara011, they chat and she wonders where he is, he creepily answers that he’s just somewhere nearby. Miguel comes up to her and hands her another bouquet of flowers. She thanks him and introduces him to everyone. Carly and Wendell look at them curiously. 

Jasmine thanks everyone for coming and tells them that with everything that’s been going on with her recently, this may very well be her last fan’s day. Everyone is understandably shocked and confused.

Selina tells the inspectors that ever since then Jasmine has always been angry at her; she even blamed her for the scandal video. Ramirez asks if she considers Jasmine an enemy; Selina feigns innocence, her parents taught her not to think badly of others and she always considers Jasmine as her friend. 

Mama Mia and Sarah Mae share a meaningful look, both impressed by Selina’s really convincing acting.

Ramirez asks her if she noticed anything weird while she was onstage, she remembered something small fell on her but she didn’t know what it was. When she looked up, she noticed someone was there; a hooded figure with a masked face, our eponymous Maskara.

Ramirez calls his chief and relays what Selina told him, she saw someone at the rafters. The chief thinks that’s not enough evidence to conclude that this was an attempted murder. Ramirez asks for a security team to guard Selina, the suspect might try to attempt something again. The chief stubbornly tells him that he will grant Selina a security team after Ramirez hands in their case report. Ramirez has no choice but to comply.

In the hospital, an unknown figure goes inside the doctor’s lounge and puts on a doctor’s lab coat.

And in the same hospital, Jasmine is accompanied by Alexis as they go visit Selina. 

He jokingly asks if she’s sure about this; they could still turn around and leave. Jasmine wants to clear the air with her before she could accept the URLoved role.

Selina is happy that Alexis finally visits her but she feels the opposite with Jasmine. She can’t believe that she’s here after what happened; Jasmine tells her that she justs wants them to reconcile, she’s even thinking about quitting showbiz. Selina asks Alexis to turn on the TV in time to watch her exclusive interview.

She plays the part of the kind and forgiving fellow actress who urges her fans to support Jasmine even if she got replaced unceremoniously by her. Jasmine can’t believe Selina did that; this will only make their fans fight each other. 

Selina accuses Jasmine of doing this to her so she can improve her career while destroying hers. She taunts Jasmine even more; she will destroy her, her opportunistic manager, her good for nothing assistant and all her fans. Outside, Alexis comments that was an intense experience.

Turns out, Jasmine is also in the hospital to visit the young girl with leukemia whose big sister she met at her fans day. The young girl regrets not going to her fans day but Jasmine tells her that’s why she’s here so they could meet each other. The girl asks when she can see Jasmine on TV again, Jasmine hesitates for a second but smiles and tells her that she’ll be back on TV soon.

Afterwards, she calls Steven and tells him that she’s accepting the URLoved role. She promises that this time she won’t make any more mistakes.

A doctor, whose face we don’t see, enters Selina’s room and tells her that she shouldn’t be stressed out. So he administers a sedative through injection and creepily say that it’s time for her to rest. Suddenly, Selina feels really hot and uncomfortable. 

The doctor sits down, pulls out a mask, puts it on and is revealed that it's, you guessed it, Maskara. Selina looks at him with horror and the drug finally takes effect, she coughs and vomits as Maskara tells her that she had already done so many wrongdoings against Jasmine so this is her punishment.

COMMENTS 

So much for using both gender identifiers, Maskara is a definitely a guy. There are still not enough clue to determine who Maskara really is, but in this episode, the focus turns to Steven. Why would he evade being questioned if he's innocent and has nothing to hide? Could he have done the unthinkable for the sake of his favorite talent? Would he actually be desperate enough to the point of killing someone? He definitely has something to gain if Selina is gone but I don't think that he's capable of murder although he's a really suspicious character.

Now on to our female lead, I get that she wouldn't tell anyone about the link to the website she received from Maskara last episode because then we wouldn't have a show, but to still communicate with him after that incident? Isn't that just an extreme form of naivety. The website was creepy and disturbing as hell so I don't get how Jasmine can still comfortably chat with him. Suspension of disbelief, I really need you for this!

Good thing, Jasmine is still likeable and apparently has a huge heart so I'm just gonna gloss over that hiccup and appreciate her as a character. She's definitely flawed; she's naive and sometimes weak-willed but she's not afraid to stand up for herself and for the other people around her. At the start of the episode, she wanted to quit showbiz but by the end, she accepted the role.

It's because she didn't really wanted to quit but instead she was looking for a reason not to, she saw(and us too) what it's really like being in showbiz and it terrified her to think that she might end up like Selina. But, her talk with Alice along with seeing the little girl just reinforced her decision that this is what she really wanted to do.

Screencaps Via TV5 Philippines

RELATED POSTS

• Jasmine Episode 1 Recap
• No 2nd episode for tomorrow's 'Jasmine'