First Flight

Summary of Darna Episode 5
(April 8, 2005, Friday).

Darna walks over the edge of the building and falls. She screams until she finds herself floating in the air. Darna smiles as she flies. She soars in the sky.

Darna lands awkwardly on the pavement. Aio smiles unseen. Darna cannot control her flying; she floats. She tells herself if she was able to do it before, she can do it again. She flies again and lands uneasily.

Aio greets her and asks if she enjoyed her flight. Darna asks who she is and says she always sees her. Aio says it doesn’t matter who she is, but for Darna to know her own identity. Darna asks why she can fly. Aio says she asks too many questions. What matters is Darna is the sole heir of the powers of the Adranika race, and she is the upholder of justice in her world. Darna asks what Adranika means. Aio says she will know in time. Darna asks how to become Narda. Aio tells her to shout her name.

Darna hears a train holdup going on. She flies to the rescue. Darna fights the robber in a fistfight. She blocks his blows and throws him aside when the door opens. The robber takes a woman hostage. Darna grabs his hand and breaks his pistol. She twists his arm. He throws a live grenade. She dashes to the floor and picks it up and throws it outside in the air. It blows up. Darna chases the two thieves outside and flies and catches them. She drops them near policemen.

Darna waves to the crowd when they cheer her. Efren sees the flying woman. Darna notices Valentina’s billboard too late. She hits smack into the billboard and puts a hole in it where Valentina’s nose is. Darna is embarrassed. She lands unseen and bites her nails.

Braguda says she needs a sugo, an emissary. She sends swarms of insects to bring her their master.

Next day, Darna is in the news unnamed. Narda gets upset when Ding tells her he dropped a subject so he won’t have to go to school early. Narda tells Ding to take his studies seriously. Milagros (grandma) sighs that if only she were healthy still, Narda would still be in school. Ding leaves for school.

Oscar’s landlord brings police and tells him to leave in a day or else.

Oscar and Milagros meet. She is good to him and he thanks her. He tells her he can’t find relatives if they don’t want to be found. He says the cockroach with him is his friend. He goes home and shoots himself dead.

Jun and Narda meet and become friends.

Valentina is angry with Darna for punching a hole in her billboard. She says it mustn’t happen again. Narda is in same building and hears her.

Jeric Frias gets Darna’s name in a short interview. She takes the tape away.

Insects bring Oscar to Braguda and the dark man. He becomes the Insect King like she says he will.

Transformation

Summary of Darna Episode 4
(April 7, 2005, Thursday).

Voices wake up Narda. She sees a grown-up Ding, a young boy, and her grandma smiling at her. She asks what time it is and they tell her. She jumps out of bed for fear of the market vendor she works for.

Ding tells the little boy about the giant snake. He tells the boy he was just a baby when it happened so he doesn’t remember. The boy is somewhat incredulous.

Narda gets dressed and hurries on the way to the marketplace. She bumps into a veiled old woman. Later she passes by Oscar, the crazy homeless bum. She also meets a lady security guard who is her friend.

Narda notices a giant billboard that displays the face of Valentian.

Aling Echeng scolds Narda for being late. She reminds Narda she always gave a loan to her grandma and this is the old woman’s way of repaying her. She reproaches Narda for giving a customer less meat than was weighed on the scales. She says people will think they’re cheating. Narda mumbles an apology. The woman says it wasn’t a good idea to get free labor from Narda as payment. A young man chopping meat nearby keeps looking at Narda. Narda hears the name Efren and is absent-minded. Aling Echeng nudges her and tells her to go back to work.

Valentina is now a leading fashion model. Her face can be seen everywhere in magazines and TV screens. On the set, she is a prima donna. She scolds the crew on petty matters. But she smiles at the handsome photographer there. He is Efren.

At night, Narda is a janitress. Her boss reminds her being late a third time will get her fired. She says sorry. The boss, a kinder woman than Echeng, says maybe Narda is overworked. Narda says she has to work hard; her family relies on her.

Narda hears co-workers talking about the people’s need for a superhero.

The dark man in a cloak awakens Braguda. She is in a cocoon. It falls from a tree and opens. Braguda rises and announces the time has come. She tells her subordinate that this is a special time. She says the planets have lined themselves. She says the real battle has begun and the power challenging her is also from Planet Marte. The dark man is confident. Braguda tells him not to be stupid.

Oscar the taong grasa comes to his daughter’s old home and begs to be allowed to see her. A man meets him at the gate and tells him to go away. He says Agens, Oscar’s daughter, is gone and doesn’t want to be found. Oscar recalls how he maltreated his daughter and how she left him. He blames himself.

Oscar returns to his filthy den where he talks to the insects and rodents. He tells his pets that they will be giving “them” a surprise. He loads a .45 caliber pistol.

At night, Narda passes by Aio again. Aio says Narda’s goodness is admirable and the time has come. Narda asks what she means and if they each other. Aio leaves.

Narda walks alone that same night at the top of a building. Below her is the cityscape aglow with light. She looks at the mystic stone and wonders what it’s for. A voice tells her she is the sole heir of the powers of the Adranika. It says she must swallow the stone and shout the name written on it. The name “DARNA” flashes on the surface of the stone.

Narda wonders if she’s going insane. She swallows the stone and shouts the name. She spins and gets dizzy. She falls to ground and rises with new power. She has become Darna.

Transition

Summary of Darna Episode 3
(April 6, 2005, Wednesday).

Aio is undaunted. She gathers her powers and throws them at Braguda. Braguda falls unconscious. Aio retrieves the magic stone but says the villain’s condition is only temporary.

Narda is crying. Aio appears to her, beautiful and radiant. She insists that the magic stone is for Narda and it is her destiny to keep the stone and continue the good work of the Adranika. She says Narda must uphold justice and righteousness in her world. Narda doesn’t understand. She takes back the stone. Prospera calls and Aio disappears.

Narda’s family hopes that with Valentina back, things will get better. The grandmother coughs and becomes ill. Narda begs for her to be taken to a hospital. Prospera tells her the old woman is just making an excuse to skip work next day.

Valentina meets Narda later and offers her medicine. Narda unsuspecting gives it to her grandmother who gets worse. Next day, she takes her grandmother to a kind old man. She shows him the bottle of medicine and he says it is poison. She asks if her grandma will die. He says God is merciful. He reminds her to get rid of the poison.

A dark man with the face and form of a skeleton comes to Braguda’s side. He calls her his mistress (his master) and tells her to rest. He says she will rise again. A red light covers the queen as she falls into a deep slumber.

Valentina is crying alone. Her palms are turning green. Prospera sees her and asks what’s wrong. She cries and tells her mother she doesn’t like what is happening to her. She glows a sick green. Prospera is horrified and embraces her.

The townspeople notice that everyone around Narda has been either dying, getting sick, or going missing. They say she is a bane to their town and must be gotten rid of before more get hurt. They tell this to the priest who is unable to dissuade them. Efren is passing by on a bike outside and hears.

Efren goes to Narda’s hut that night and warns her family they must leave. Narda wakes up Ding and they get their belongings and leave.

The villagers go to Prospera’s hacienda demanding the girl be turned over to them. She tells them she’s not hiding Narda and they can do with her as they please if they find her. They find her hut empty.

The people see Narda’s family fleeing. Efren stands in the way and gets hit. The people are unable to catch up with the family. Efren meets them on the way out of the town with his head bleeding. He tells Narda he ran away from his father when he heard of Nanay Ising’s death, so he could see Narda. The two friends bid farewell to each other with a promise to remember each other.

Running for their lives, the family reaches a bridge. They meet a young couple with their infant child. The man asks Narda’s grandma to carry the child while he helps his wife cross the bridge as she is afraid. Narda’s grandma does so. She talks to the baby as they watch the couple cross the bridge.

The omnipresent sea monster appears again and frightens them. The young couple is lost. Narda and her relatives cower in fear. Aio is nearby but they do not see her. She says no harm must come to the stone-keeper. She decides to use her remaining powers to destroy the monster. Aio gives all of her power to destroy it. The serpent writhes in the air and dies. Aio transforms into an old woman as a result of her sacrifice.

Eight years later, Narda has grown into a beautiful young woman. She dreams of looking up at the sky. The sun is beaming down at her and she gazes at it with a radiant smile.

Misfortunes

Summary of Darna Episode 2
(April 5, 2005, Tuesday).

Narda cries out and runs for help. Nobody comes. She finds a large branch and comes back to fight the monster with it. The monster is slipping back into the water and Valentina is gone. Narda screams at the monster to bring Valentina back.

Mulong and Ising look for the children since it is late. They see Narda shivering in fright. They ask what has happened. She stammers about a snake, a big snake. Her parents remember the stories in the town about such a snake. She tells them the snake has taken Valentina. Mulong gets his bolo to rescue Valentina. Narda goes home mourning for Valentina.

Prospera is looking wildly for her daughter. She warns Narda’s family that if something happens to the girl, not even their lives will be enough price to pay.

Braguda’s pet monster brings her the dead man. Braguda says she needs to know all about this new planet. She touches the man and absorbs all the knowledge and experiences he had in his life. She gets impressions of this world form his brain’s point of view.

Mulong and Ising keep looking for Valentina. They call out to her. A girl with fearsome eyes is watching them, hiding in the tall grass. Mulong feels movement and goes to see. He calls out to Valentina. Ising screams and Mulong sees she is in the grip of the giant serpent. Mulong attacks the serpent as it flails his wife in the air. It drops Ising and she dies. Mulong goes after the snake.

Ising’s dead body is found. Narda and Ding mourn for her. Mulong is missing.

Narda’s grandmother pleads that they be allowed to hold a wake for Ising for even just a day. She says Ising died looking for Valentina. Prospera’s anger is implacable. She refuses to grant the request and Ising is buried immediately.

Narda memorizes her mother’s face in the picture above her coffin. She vows to remember her forever and to look for her father. Ising is buried while it is raining. Prospers watches contemptuously inside her car and the car leaves. Narda and her family cry in the rain over the burial mound.

Narda’s family try to leave but Prospera and her bodyguards stop them. She says they cannot leave while Valentina’s fate is uncertain. She punishes Narda and the others by reducing them to servitude.

Narda talks to the stone and blames it for her misfortunes. She says all these bad things happened after she picked it up. She curses it and casts it away into a pond.

Valentina comes back smiling but silent. Prospera is overjoyed. Narda has misgivings. There is a glimpse of a snake’s tail under her dress, around her leg.

Aio has the stone again. Braguda meets her. They fight with their alien powers. Braguda sucks the stone from Aio’s hand with her power. She laughs and says the stone is finally hers.

Exodus

Summary of Darna Episode 1 (April 4, 2005, Monday).

In Planet Marte, two alien races are at war: the noble Adranika led by Adran, and the evil Anomalka headed by its queen, Braguda.

Adran sends her second-in-command, Aio, on a mission to find a new owner for a mysterious white stone. Aio leaves on a spaceship followed by Braguda. Planet Marte explodes.

Aio’s ship crashes to Earth. Narda, Ding and Efren see it and think it’s a comet. The children try to cross a bridge. Narda almost falls, but Efren saves her.

Narda’s family is told to leave their house because her father, Mulong, is unable to pay the rent. Mulong fights the owner. The owner orders his men to burn the house.

Aio comes out alive from the wreck of her ship. She she’s herself in a piece of glass and finds out that she is aging rapidly.

Braguda creates a giant sea monster to terrorize the people of Narda’s town. The monster kills a man and takes the body back with it. The story spreads in the town that there is a big snake in the lake.

Efren is angry with his father who is the owner of the house that was burned. He leaves crying and meets Valentina who develops a crush on him.

Narda’s family goes to Prospera for shelter. Prospera is Mulong’s wealthy half-sister, and mother of Valentina. The girl convinces her mother to let them stay so she can be with Narda. Prospera consents but tells Mulong to find a job. The family goes to live in a hut in the hacienda.

The two cousins go out to play and meet Efren. Efren gives Narda a necklace and says his family is leaving the town. He asks her to come to the same place tomorrow to meet him.

Prospera scolds Narda when the children get home for taking Valentina with her. Narda cries. Valentina defends her. Prospera locks Narda away. Narda weeps in the darkness.

Efren waits for hours next day but finally gives up and leaves. Valentina comes to free Narda and they go look for Efren. They split up. Narda finds the magic stone. It tells her she has been chosen to keep it for a mission, and at the right age she will be told what to do. Aio looks from afar.

Valentina screams. Narda runs and sees her in the grip of the giant snake.