I couldn’t
decide whether to recap this last episode in full or just write a lengthy summary
but in the end, I chose the former mainly because I already recapped 8 episodes
in its entirety and no matter how disappointed I was with the execution of the
finale, I still wanted to write everything that happened. So, here we go…
EPISODE 9 (FINAL) RECAP
As Jasmine
continues to cry while holding Carly’s lifeless body, Agila checks in with his
boss and reports their botched operation. His boss reprimands him and demands
to catch Maskara no matter what it takes.
Agila angrily
calls Jacinto and before he can finish his sentence, Jacinto cuts him off and
tells him they should finish their mission. Suddenly, all the lights go out and
our Rogue duo quickly shields Jasmine for protection. Aww!
Agila checks
in with the other teams through radio-com as they report in that the lights
have also gone out in their areas, Agila orders the whole building on lockdown;
no one gets in or out.
Everyone
retreats to a safer area as Agila orders his men to survey all the floors until
their back-up arrives. Suddenly, gunshots are heard from a distance and
everyone ducks for cover. Jasmine and our Rogue duo hurriedly run to a safe
area(a meeting room) while Agila’s team stays behind to look for Maskara.
They safely get
inside the room and Jacinto grabs a trophy(as a defense weapon). Jasmine gets a
text from Maskara, “I’m not done with you yet” and she replies, “Let’s end all
of this tonight.”
And the
opening credits roll for the last time.
Jasmine wants
to go outside and find Maskara while Osorio wonders why the building’s
generator isn’t working and Jacinto deduces that Maskara planned all this.
Speaking of
the devil, Maskara confidently walks the hallways with the SWAT team following
him. Jacinto hears gunshots near them and he checks in with Agila who tells
them that they spotted Maskara but he keeps on evading them.
Jacinto
figures that Maskara’s messing with them and comments how he seems way too
familiar with the layout of the building.
Osorio
decides to go out to help and hands Jacinto his radio-com along with a gun and
tells him to protect Jasmine declaring that he’s the hero(main lead) while
Jacinto is just the supporting(second lead). Hee!
Agila checks
in with his men who are, one by one, killed by Maskara. A little while later, Agila
finds Wendell in a stairwell. Wendell, with guns pointed at him, begs for his
life as he explains that he was on his way out when the lights went off. Agila
alerts Jacinto that Wendell is on his way to their safe room.
Jasmine is
frustrated with their situation wondering why Maskara knows his way around the
building while Jacinto wonders how Maskara knows her schedules like tapings,
fans day, etc. Jasmine doesn’t want any more people to get hurt, she lists all
the names of her loved ones who were victimized by Maskara and asks who remains
unscathed as someone knocks on the door.
The knocker
turns out to be Wendell, he and Jasmine hug each other in relief. Wendell cries
as he tells them that they should get out of here and asks where Carly is.
Jasmine tends to Wendell’s wound as Jacinto asks her if all the people close to
her were already targeted by Maskara. Jasmine says yes except for Alexis.
Jacinto tells
them that Alexis was already investigated before but no evidence pointed to him
as their suspect. Jasmine is unsure whether to believe if Alexis is in fact
Maskara.
Jasmine asks
Wendell what really happened earlier when he was with Carly. Wendell just tells
them that he saw Maskara before bursting into tears because he thought he was
gonna die.
Jacinto steps
out of the safe room, leaving Jasmine with Wendell, to help Agila since most of
his men were struck down by Maskara. He sees the dead (police)bodies and heads
back to the basement parking where Carly died.
In the safe
room, Wendell asks if Alexis is really Maskara and Jasmine replies that she’s
unsure but the evidences points to Alexis. Just then, Alexis enters the room
and Jasmine defensively keeps her distance from him as she instructs Wendell to
radio-com Jacinto to tell him that they’re with Alexis.
Alexis asks
what’s going on and Jasmine replies that they think he’s Maskara. We flashback
to some scenes; when they rescued Miguel, when Carly mentioned that Alexis is
obsessed with her and when they went to visit Selina before she died. Basically,
scenes that puts Alexis in a bad light.
Alexis gapes
at her accusations, he points out that he saved her from Maskara but Jasmine is
convinced that he’s either Maskara or his accomplice. Meanwhile, Wendell just
stays at the other corner, intently listening to the heated conversation.
Jacinto
closes Carly’s eyes as a sign of respect and reaches for the cellphone in her
pocket. He sees a bunch of recorded audio files and he listens to them one by
one as he continues looking for Maskara. The audio files were recorded by Carly
while she was abducted by Maskara.
Jasmine sends
a text to Maskara’s number to confirm and (predictably) Wendell’s phone rings. Sigh.
And to
confirm that Wendell really is Maskara….Carly says his name, in the audio
files, and cries as she tells him how they trusted her. With this information, Jacinto
rushes back to the safe room.
Flashback
time, Wendell removes his Maskara hoodie and mask after scaring Carly. He then
grabs Carly to hide and tells the SWAT team where he is. End of flashback.
Wait, that’s
it? We don’t even get to see how he managed to get Carly in the Maskara costume,
put her in the basement and return back to the stairwell in time to tell the
SWAT team where to find Maskara and who caused that wound in his face, was it self-inflected
or did Carly do that as self-defense?
Moving
on….Both Jasmine and Alexis look at Wendell in disbelief as Jacinto radios them
that Wendell is Maskara.
Jasmine asks
Wendell, “You’re Paulo Marasigan?” and he immediately drops his Wendell persona,
in a stiff and lower voice, he asks Jasmine what the title of the play was in
2011 when they first met. Jasmine answers ‘Maskara’ as she remembers how he got
rejected for an acting role in the play so he instead worked for the props
department.
Wendell
removes his glasses as he barks at her that Jacinto can’t save her while Alexis
grabs the trophy and whacks Wendell’s face with it and shouts at Jasmine to run
and she gets out of there fast.
Jacinto
alerts everyone to converge at the safe room and informs them that Wendell is
Maskara.
While Alexis
is distracted, Wendell repeatedly whacks him with the hammer he kept in his
pants. I swear that’s not a euphemism. Wendell leaves an unconscious Alexis and
follows Jasmine who tries to call someone for help but all the lines are busy.
She manages to find a place to hide inside a stage room as Wendell, in a
threatening tone, taunts her.
He dons his
Maskara mask and continues to look for her, telling her, “So you want to play? Then
let’s play.”
While he slowly
scouts the place, he tells her his backstory and the gist of it: his mom loved
her fame more than she loved him and he didn’t have any choice but to stay with
her; to care for her and protect her from anything.
Meanwhile,
Jacinto follows the trail of blood(from Wendell’s hammer) and it leads him to
the locked stage room where he hears Wendell’s monologue. Jasmine replies that
she won’t let him get away with this and she’s done playing games with him.
Jacinto
forces his body to get in between the doors, managing to squeeze the upper half
and sees Wendell about to whack Jasmine with a hammer, he shoots him with his
last bullet(nonfatal). Wendell gets up and angrily approaches Jacinto who is
stuck between the doors, trying to get out.
Jasmine
remembers the video of Elaine abusing Wendell for messing up the song(Bahay
Kubo). She starts singing the same song to distract Wendell and it works as he
screams at her to stop and he covers his ears.
Jacinto
manages to free himself and quickly tackles Wendell, punching the mask off his
face. Wendell laughs maniacally and even provokes Jacinto, “Whatever you do,
you will never bring back Ramirez.” Jacinto beats him even more and it’s
pretty brutal. Jasmine begs him to stop as Jacinto tells Wendell, “You son of a
bitch, rot in prison.”
A short time
later, Osorio drapes his jacket on an emotionless Jasmine and tells her that
Ramirez is proud of her. Jasmine thanks him and she’s escorted out by another
officer.
Osorio tells
Jacinto that he might get reinstated now that he solved the case but Jacinto
scoffs and replies that he’s more interested in opening his own detective
agency. Osorio points to himself as if to ask if he can join him but before he
can, Jacinto turns him down. Aww!
Jacinto
starts walking away and Osorio asks if he really doesn’t need him, even just as
an assistant? Jacinto just waves him goodbye.
2 months
later. All is back to normal, Jasmine is back on set in a movie production and
looks like Steven turned around as Jasmine teases him that he’s nicer now.
Steven thanks her for staying(in showbiz) and Jasmine replies that she can’t
leave this kind of life because this is who she is.
Jasmine runs into Jacinto, who is looking more suave and dapper. She sincerely thanks him
for all he’s done and he tells her that he’s here because he and Osorio are
working on a new case.
He jokingly says
that they’re currently looking a new partner, someone brave and dependable like
her. She jokingly replies that he could be an action star(Ha, I appreciate the
meta), and he even resembles a certain
someone. They keep joking as they walk away off-screen.
The End.
The End.
COMMENTS
Sigh! The
entire episode was dedicated to chasing and unmasking our killer and the short
epilogue didn’t even have enough emotional payoffs, what happened to Alexis? We
literally only saw his backside and what about Agila and the Chief?
Don’t even
get me started with the continuity errors (in this episode alone), how Wendell
managed to walk around the building littered with SWAT team and managed to
still continue his ruse, I’ll never know, and how he didn’t even sustain any
bruises or scars from being whack by Jasmine before, a heavy bookshelf even
fell on top of him, is so illogical I can only roll my eyes.
I have so
many gripes not only with this last episode but with the show in general that I
don’t even know where to begin and it’s too tiresome to write them all down. I’m
just so disappointed that this show was actually promising at the start but
fizzled halfway through and totally failed at the end.
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