Thursday, June 16, 2011

Amaya - Ep. 14

Last episode, Bagani and Amaya meet again; he learns she's a slave and she learns he's the son of the man who killed her father. Marikit comes to gloat over Amaya's situation, and the two get into a catfight.




Marikit pulls Amaya's hair and Amaya slaps Marikit's face [something tells me she will have to pay for that later on]. Marikit stares at her in surprise and exclaims that she only learned to fight back only when she became a slave.

Amaya: I have reason to do so, after your mother betrayed my father. 

Marikit tells her to get ready, for she will tell her mother. That seems to be her trademark move, hiding behind Lamitan's skirts and crying that the big bad Amaya had hurt her.

Meanwhile, the body of the dead warrior had been found on the beach, and Hilway determines that he died of a bite from a poisonous snake. Mangubat orders that the snake be searched for and killed-- well, he has good reason to dislike the reptiles, seeing that a snake figures prominently in the prophecy. After he has given orders, his warriors arrive to report that they had failed to find Binayaan in Bugna's village.

Dal'lang and Binayaan have gone a ways from the village and are resting by the river. Dal'lang tries to coax Binayaan to eat, but the latter is thinking of her village. She steps down from the rock where she had been sitting and runs off, and Dal'lang has to run after her.

Bagani has gone to the beach for some air, and to mull over his recent encounter with Amaya. He can't believe that this is happening-- is this a nightmare? Of course his attendant can't resist saying, I'm sorry, my lord, but all of this is real. Bagani wonders out loud how to console Amaya and lessen her suffering-- uh, I think you have a bigger problem than that, m'boy. Much much bigger.

Binayaan runs into the village, calling for her sisters. She sees her father's grave as Bagani had left it, with Bugna's kampilan on top. She and Dal'lang recognize the weapon and realize that Bugna is dead. Binayaan clutches the kampilan to her breast as she and Dal'lang weep on his grave.

Mangubat informs Lamitan that his men could not find Binayaan. Everyone wonders where she could be, and Lamitan calls on the gods, asking them where Binayaan is.

Mantal observes dryly to Marikit that she thought her sister didn't care for her younger daughter, but now that she can see Lamitan weeping she realizes she was wrong. [A case of not knowing what you have till it's gone, Mantal?] Marikit tries to comfort her mother, who sees the mark on her face and asks what happened. Marikit tells her about fighting with Amaya.

The other captives tell Amaya that she should not have raised a hand against Marikit, for it will only provoke Lamitan to hurt her. Amaya says she doesn't care, let them come. And indeed, Lamitan gears up to go to the slave quarters, vowing to make Amaya regret the day she was born.

Ahak again tells Amaya to fight her anger-- they are powerless against Mangubat's warriors and Lamitan. She begs her mistress to forget it-- Amaya says no, never.

Bagani tells his family that the binukot he had set out to find-- was Amaya.

Lamitan, Mantal, and Marikit arrive at the captives' hut and proceed to force Amaya to bow to them. She remains obdurate, even when Lamitan beats her with a cane.

Amaya: You made me a slave, but in my heart and mind I will always be a bai.

[Uh, I think I heard that before-- right, Miss Minchin?]

Awi and all the other captives try to intervene and prevent Lamitan from hurting their bai, but they all end up just trying to interpose their bodies between Lamitan and Amaya, who has had enough. She comes out from behind the people trying to protect her and in turn tries to shield them with her own body.

Mangubat nearly has apoplexy when he learns that Amaya was the woman his son wants to marry. He expostulates: of all the binukots in creation, why does Bagani want the daughter of a traitor? Bagani retorts that he didn't tell his heart and mind to love her-- they just did. Mangubat says that he cannot marry her, as she is now a slave, and worse, her father was a traitor. Bagani asks why he should blame Amaya for her father's sins... can't he leave her out of it? Mangubat draws his kampilan and lays it along his son's neck...

Amaya can accept being beaten, but she can't bear to see the other captives hurt, and yields to Lamitan's demands-- she kneels and bows before her. Lamitan can't resist rubbing it in and asks Amaya to affirm what she is.

Amaya: I am a slave-- ready to serve you.
Lamitan: You are a slave-- worthless. You will be one from now until you die, and that will never change. You will respect me and my daughter, or you will experience much worse than this.

Satisfied, the three leave, Marikit throwing her sister a parting smirk.

After a long while, Mangubat sheathes his sword and awkwardly claps his son on the shoulder. [WHEW.] He explains to Bagani that Bugna was a tree that yielded poisonous fruit that he doesn't want to become part of his household.

One of the other captives brings Amaya some water. Amaya drinks, tears still running down her cheeks. She tells Awi that she is ashamed of herself for abasing herself before Lamitan. Awi says that she did it for them. He feels sorry for her, and says that she shouldn't stay here where Lamitan can hurt her and he can't give her the care she deserves. He proposes that they escape.

Marikit and Lamitan gloat that they finally found the right button to push when it came to Amaya-- just hurt the other people she cares about. Lamitan says that Amaya would probably behave herself in the future anyway, for fear that the others would be hurt because of her, so they need not worry.

Awi says that he and Amaya will escape and he will take her far away where no one can hurt her anymore. But Amaya refuses to leave the other captives behind, knowing that they will be severely punished in her stead.

Mantal tells Lamitan that if Bugna were alive, he'd never forgive her for what she was doing to his beloved daughter. Lamitan says that the operative phrase is "if he were alive..." because now he's not, he's dead and she can do whatever she wants. Mantal observes that she should not let her anger and hatred overcome her, but Lamitan has had enough-- she orders her sister to leave the room. However, after Mantal has left, Lamitan happens to glance up at the rafters and sees a snake poised over her. She screams.


Comment:

Whoa! Kudos to Ms. Suzette Doctolero-- I loved this episode.

Amaya's pride [after all, she knows her father loved her above all else] won't let her back down, but she will back down for the sake of the other captives. In this she is beginning to manifest the characteristics of a true leader, one who cares about her followers' welfare. This is reinforced by her refusal to escape with Awi when she learns that they can't bring the other slaves with them.

When Awi suggested escape, I was like, what, so soon? Perhaps he is thinking of continuing her training, knowing who she is. It's obvious he also feels sorry for his niece, knowing how much his brother loved her and cared for her, and now that Bugna is gone, he is her only male relative left and feels the duty to protect her by intervening for her with Songil and Lamitan.

Mantal keeps taking the words out of my mouth, hahaha. She's like this puppeteer that manipulates and prods Lamitan into doing what she does, and yet she also becomes the voice that asks Lamitan the questions running through the audience's mind. She's done that twice already, first when Lamitan gets word that Bugna is dead, and now when Lamitan learns that Binayaan has disappeared.

I was not expecting the snake to go for Lamitan so soon-- would it be very bad of me to wish that it would give her a long, slow, torturous death? Or is something going to happen so that it spares her at the last minute? Yay, the cliffhangers are getting better!

2 comments:

  1. thank you for your recaps. i am from Malaysia and i watch Amaya every night thru youtube. however, i cant understand the language but your recaps helps me to understand the storyline. i hope you will continue with these recaps till end of Amaya. I truly love this epicserye. i hope it will be shown in Malaysia soon with english subtitles.

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  2. Thank you for your comment, sonia68 :) And thanks for watching Amaya! I am also trying to do subtitles, so hopefully we can put up some videos with English subs soon.

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