One of the factors that keeps me from watching this series is the eye candy. After a few weeks of subsisting on the emerging hotness of Cyrus, I have now been thrown a bone with the appearance of Harvey. The drama now begins to set the triangle between the characters and I can’t wait for the blood to flow. For now, I just contend myself on the story unfolding.
As Samsoon arrived home, she was surprised by Harvey, who was waiting for her at the gate. Stammering and sarcastic, she asked him the reason how he found her. They have already met a few episodes earlier and this did not change Samsoon’s reaction towards Harvey. She was still affected by his presence. It turns out that he wants to talk to her to settle the issues that they left before (for those who just tuned in, he left her at the altar) but their conversation was cut short because Samsoon was called by her mother. Knowing the chaos that may ensue, Samsoon asked him to meet up a restaurant nearby because she had to show herself to her mom first.
When she came in, Sonia looked bothered. She was not the hysterical banshee that wailed throughout the first half of the episode 16 but a calmer Sonia. She told Samsoon about the incident on the street where Eliza blatantly ignored her because she was with her rich friends. She felt sad that she was treated like that. Teenagers are usually embarrassed with their parents, but this does not mean that aren’t hurt by it. Samsoon tried to comfort her mother by telling her that perhaps she was not really seen by Eliza. Sonia was still saddened by the whole thing and would not budge from the living room. This creates a problem for Samsoon who was about to meet Harvey at the restaurant. So she decided to pretend to go upstairs and wait for her to come up.
After a short while, Sonia was snoring like a cow under a shady tree. This was the opportunity that Samsoon was waiting for. As she was about to sneak out, she thought that Sonia woke up but it was just her mother talking in her sleep. The coast may seem cleared but the final hurdle was Eliza at the gate. To keep her quiet, Samsoon handed her a 50-peso bill then she went to the restaurant. On her way there, she consulted Mau about her situation. Mau (who was still exercising for the sake of the viewers) reminded her on her reason for meeting Harvey. She was skeptical on the idea that she was just trying to settle things because in her opinion, Samsoon was just doing this to forget Cyrus. This of course was denied by Samsoon.
While the friends were talking, it was a teary moment between Sonia and Eliza. Sonia was not pleased of what Eliza did to her. Eliza denied that she saw her mother. A fact that made her mother even more pained because she knew that Eliza saw her. I know that the mothers who were watching this were able to relate.
Cocoy was getting a bit of pep talk from his mom as well. Not the way that Sonia and Eliza was doing however but it was more of helping him realize to face his feelings for his bestfriend. He tried doing that by giving Eliza a single flower, her favorite, but his efforts was overshadowed by Aaron who filled an entire room with roses.
Samsoon arrived at an empty restaurant. She felt that Harvey once again played a bad joke on her and she decided to leave. Then she heard a violin playing. When she turned around there was Harvey carrying a bouquet of roses followed by a man playing the violin. Harvey apologized for all the hurt he had caused and fell on his knees to ask Samsoon back in his life. Sounds too good to be true? Well it does because all of this happened in Samsoon’s imagination. In reality there was no violin player, and Harvey was calmly waiting for her at the restaurant. Sadly, they weren’t able to talk much, not even enough for Harvey to give his reason for the meeting because Eliza called to tell Samsoon that their mother woke up. This was her cue to pack her things and run.
At La Dolce Vita, everyone was preparing for its regular opening. Cynthia was busy with something else. She was pestering James the cook if he found the document that they almost read a while back. She was sure that there was something going on and she wanted to be the first to know. As they were discussing this, Chef Dina passed by with a plate of muffins (hey hey, yummy). Not to miss an opportunity to investigate, Cynthia jumped on the chef to inquire about the missing document. Chef Dina was evasive and in fact threw Cynthia’s questions back at her. In the end, the two ladies ended in another bet. The elder bet that Cynthia will not find out Cyrus’ secret and the younger was adamant on the opposite.
Cyrus’ secret was in a rut as she found herself consulting with Mau. She talked about the meeting that she had with Harvey and they began to speculate the reason for his meeting Samsoon. This conversation was heard by Cyrus who tried to warn Samsoon about meeting Harvey after what he did to her before. Cyrus’ only defense was that she shouldn’t use her working time to call people up. Samsoon felt slighted and took this as a challenge to her person. She stood her ground by telling Cyrus that she will see whomever she felt seeing then she abruptly left.
The man they were talking about came to La Dolce Vita that day. Samsoon was very flattered to see Harvey at her workplace and asked him the reason for his visit. Unlike the cool and composed Harvey the night before, this time he was sweating and nervous all of a sudden. The reason for that came after a few minutes as Cherry came gliding in and introduced Harvey as her fiance.
Ouch. This is what happens when one assumes too much. I also felt the same way with this episode. I liked the idea that there was less hysterics compared to the last episode. It is just I get this feeling that I am watching three different dramas in one timeslot. All of them enjoyable on their own, mind you. I don’t know if this is a good thing but I am trying to find a connection between these three subplots that was shown in the episode. Subplots are common to help the characters evolve in a story but I have yet to see their relevance in the drama. And I can only take too much family melodrama.
Samsoon’s main storyline is the best and it is getting better everyday. I felt that the restaurant crew are the best supporting cast in this drama. They are consistently funny but not overwrought. They are quirky and lovable. I still find Cherry grating to the ear but she still has the episodes to grow as a character. If Harvey was trying to channel Hugh Grant as a cad by all means do so. There are a lot of opportunities, to paraphrase Marlon Brando, to swing a cat around.
