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Thursday, August 07, 2014

JasMINE The Series (TV5 – 2014) Episode 9 (Final) Recap


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.

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.



Screencaps Via TV5 Philippines

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