Episode 116:
I guess you should watch this, but skip through the flashback parts (which are about 30% of the episode).
Mad about Narda "killing" her father, Valentina has a tantrum at her house. Then she moves to the hideout, all the while consoled and simped by her worshipper, Ali. She sleeps on a bed of a giant python (that's new!) while Ali watches over her.
Meanwhile, Narda teaches the whole village self defense with stick fighting. I think (if I'm not mistaken) Ding and others also help by spreading salt
around the houses to deter the snakes?
Suddenly, Borgo has a lab on his ship (I don't think we've seen that before). With the help of Xandra in her sexy golden costume, he extracts some blood from Pineda, and the other heroes I assume (there are six blood vials). Then he places all the blood vials in a centrifuge and it starts spinning. Personally I'm amazed that the show budget sprang for a centrifuge. Maybe he'll create new Super Soliders out of the vials? We'll see.
At the end of the episode, there's suddenly a Nueva Esperanza Cosplay Festival, hosted by an MC dandy with a pink shirt. There are two cosplayer actresses dressed up as Darna and Valentina simulating a battle while a crowd cheers them on. (The Darna cosplay is wearing the *exact* Darna uniform, so it's possible she just borrowed it from Jane's wardrobe for the day.) They look hot in their fake fight. Nobody else in the crowd is cosplaying anything at all, so how exactly is it a "cosplay festival" as opposed to just a stage play?
Then, of course, Valentina shows up to teach these pretenders a lesson. End of episode. At least it's better than some of the ones from last week.
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Episode 117:
Yes, watch this one - stakes are finally ramping up a bit.
Valentina bites the pink-shirted MC and kills him. Then she forces the cosplayers to fight again, except she tells the Valentina cosplayer, "This time you win." It's one of the more bizarre villainous actions I've seen in any TV show. Valentina literally directs a live-action peril scene to show Darna vicariously losing a battle! The crowd claps and then breathes a collective sigh of relief as Valentina departs, killing nobody else.
Still think this is just a soap opera, eh? (Well, sure, it still is.)
Narda goes on television to instruct the village how to ward off the snakes with sulfur and ammonia (I guess that's what the salts were from the previous episode.)
Next, we're back on Borgo's ship, where there's a brief scene of Hergis still in jail with his beaten-up face. Xandra is still in her sexy costume in the lab, and she's injecting the Mayor with the serum while the other Super Soldiers look on. His face turns green, so it looks he's powering up.
General Diaz briefly has a meeting with his officers about the situation in Nueva Esperanza, while Dr Villalobos does some science of his own.
Meanwhile, Xandra, still in her hot costume, brings food to Hergis in jail. It looks like he's planning an escape.
Valentina surveys the village, only to find that she is warded off by the sulfur and ammonia fumes. That's an easy fix: she just puts on a gas mask, and then her snakes resume the attacks, while the villagers try to beat them with sticks. Valentina descends from the roof to the ground using all four snake limbs (very Doc Ock!), and then she directly attacks Narda. She takes Narda's sticks away and starts beating Narda with her own sticks!
You wanted some peril, so here it is (too bad she's not in costume, though). Narda is beaten to the ground and it seems like Valentina is about to bite her.
Tune in tomorrow, because it's several episodes since we've actually seen Jane in the Darna costume.
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Episode 118:
The introduction literally repeats the entire battle I just mentioned above, to kill some time.
Narda is about be dragged towards Valentina by her snakes, when Ding tosses a Molotov, which explodes above Valentina, showering her with the sulfur salts. It doesn't slow Valentina down that much. Then all of the villagers join in, surrounding Narda and Ding within their ranks, and showing solidarity against the villainess. They throw rocks of the yellow salt at her (you can see it all over the ground - obviously they had to do this in one take) and they start beating the snakes frantically with their sticks.
Then, a mysterious man in a biohazard suit and a gas mask arrives, and starts spraying Valentina with a large amount of gray gas, which makes her choke and repels her, forcing her to retreat from the village. Who is this savior? He removes his mask, and it's none other than... Doctor Villalobos!
He has concocted this repulsion gas in his lab (I think?). The villagers all cheer for him. So, it was that easy to defeat a supervillainess with strength and lethal venom? OK then.
Some short segments: Ernie's sister (?) whom we saw earlier has a rifle strapped to her back - it's the first evidence we've seen of a civilian owning a gun in the show (I don't know what the gun ownership laws are like there, but we've only seen criminals and cops use them up til now).
Valentina is in pain, recovering in the woods and shouting "I will kill them all" when Borgo shows up to meet her.
Hergis tries to figure out the digital combination lock to his prison cell. Xandra interrupts his efforts, still in her tight costume.
Valentina tells Borgo his vengeance against Darna will have to wait, because she wants to get back at Narda and the villagers first.
Then there's a terrible camera cut where we suddenly see her in her hideout. Her costume is covered with red spots (bloody burns from the gas, I would assume) and the snakes are helping her to heal by pulling the red spots off (I guess that would be called picking at your scabs).
General Diaz then marches into the facility with his forces, telling Dr Villalobos that "this is a maximum security prison". Time for some martial law.
Yet another episode where we barely see Darna at all (except for a couple of brief footage flashbacks).
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Episode 119:
A surprising scene: Brian seems to be reconciling with Ernie, and he drives Brian to see Narda.
They talk, and it seems productive like he's realizing he can still join the fight without his badge.
Then (for some reason, I don't know) Darna flies through the air a bit, giving us a chance to see more flashback footage.
Something new: Regina is in her lair, transformed as Valentina, but she is not wearing her costume - just a black skintight catsuit and high-heeled boots. She sees Cora (one of her main snakes) crawling away, and asks where she is going. Suddenly, Valentina's eyes turn black and she convulses, as she has a vision through a snake's eyes. She then says to Cora, "You have given me a new power [presumably that of seeing through the eyes of snakes?] and for that, you shall be my new emissary." The other four snake personalities are not too happy about that. But I'm happy about Regina's sexy black alternate costume. Are you?
- regina alternate costume.jpg (73.27 KiB) Viewed 12959 times
General Diaz shows up in the village and takes Tricia away to the facility (does he realize she has powers?). Ding isn't too happy about that. Valentina sees this from afar using her new "Cora power", and Janella stands up in that tight new black costume, proclaiming "Now it's time for me to get to work." She looks confident and majestically evil as she strides away. A few minutes later, in her Valentina getup, she confronts Ding.
Meanwhile, the Super Soldiers look ready to commit their first criminal action: Detonator and Blazer land in the village, traveling there inside Force Field's flying force bubble. The villagers flee in terror from these costumed evildoers. Nearby, Valentina is strangulating Ding with one of her snake arms, and looks about to bite him, when Narda shows up. "I'm going to kill him in front of you," she gloats to Narda. "Make sure you watch closely. Just like you killed my father in front of me!" Darna has no choice but to transform in front of Regina in order to save Ding..will she do it???
Yes, she will! (Not sure why this wasn't a cliffhanger to the final episode of the week???) Incredible sexiness is achieved as Regina watches Narda transform into Darna right before her eyes. Valentina looks shocked, which gives us a chance to review a couple minutes of footage from previous episodes where Regina should have *realized* that Narda is Darna, but didn't. In fact, she's so shocked that she lets go of Ding, and turns back into Regina without any snakeface remaining.
Meanwhile, Darna is checking on Ding to make sure he's alright, and driving away any residual snakes. This gives a chance for a great lingering shot of Jane's gorgeous bare back and perfect posterior in that shiny costume. Here it is.
- Darna's perfect posterior.jpg (47.73 KiB) Viewed 12959 times
Seems as if Valentina was only the appetizer and not the main course, as Regina is knocked aside by a blast from Detonator and gored by a tree branch (really? that was a bit abrupt, with no build-up). The three Super Soldiers stride into view, with Blazer hurling fire at Darna, while Regina seems to be dying. Here's where the redemption probably takes place, as well as the beginning of Darna's final confrontations with Borgo's army of villains.
Worth watching for all the story development (finally!!). I'll post the Friday episode here when it comes out tomorrow.