Bound by the same man yet worlds apart in temperament, Mia (Anne Curtis) and Gemma (Kaori Oinuma)’s rivalry stems from their tangled connections to Patrick (Joshua Garcia). And while it could have easily unraveled into shouting matches or messy confrontations, they instead keep their encounters and ‘tarayan’ moments restrained, except for that one instance when tempers boiled over into slaps and hair-pulling.
To review how this rivalry is unfolding, Friday 5 rounded up some of their ‘puksaan’ moments from “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay.”
Just on the very first episodes, viewers have already noted that Mia and Gemma could not see eye to eye, beginning when Gemma was introduced as the OK Hospital nurse assigned to care for Mia’s dementia-stricken father Samuel (Michael De Mesa). Coming all the way from the remote town of Maravida, Gemma traveled to Manila just to meet Mia and have her sign the consent form for Samuel’s brain tumor surgery, which they had earlier discussed over the phone with the help of Mia’s manager, Vincent (Enchong Dee). However, Mia changed her mind on the spot and refused to sign, insisting that for her, both her parents were already dead.
While there was no explosive confrontation, the tension between the two could be felt. Mia hinted at their shared complicated past when she mentioned that it had been two decades since they last crossed paths, while Gemma’s insistence on keeping things formal, even after Mia asked her to just drop it and call her by her first name, suggested that their history was far from pleasant. Still, Mia eventually signed the documents, allowing the surgery to push through.
The female feud began to heat up when Mia showed interest in Patrick and even drove all the way to Maravida to follow him to OK Hospital where both he and Gemma work. Unable to hold back, Gemma asked how the two first met, to which Mia replied that their meeting felt like a fairytale. Destiny, she said, had brought them together. She narrated how a near-death experience, when she pulled Patrick from almost drowning in the river when they were kids, turned into a series of chance encounters, as if fate have been pushing them toward each other.
Gemma brushed it off as nothing more than a fantasy. Unfazed, Mia shrugged and told her to believe what she wants before turning the question back on her frenemy. She reduced Gemma and Patrick’s story to a simple workplace connection, suggesting it lacked the kind of magic she believes she and Patrick shared.
In another scene, Gemma approached Mia after her literature class with the OK Hospital patients to remind her that she's yet to visit her father, which was part of her agreement with the facility. Mia, however, stressed that the agreement only required her to conduct classes—nothing more, and certainly not to visit “that person.” When Gemma pointed out that she didn’t need to be in the facility at all if that’s the case, Mia countered that she wanted to be there regardless. Then, with a sly smile, she teased Gemma by asking if she wanted to know the real reason she agreed to the lectures, fully aware it would get under her skin since they both knew she was referring to Patrick.
Mia taunted Gemma in another scene when the latter walked in the mess hall to check if Matmat (Carlo Aquino) had started painting, only to find him still busy taking selfies with Mia. Her smile vanished the moment Mia asked, half-mocking, if she wanted a selfie too. Cutting straight to the point, Gemma questioned why Mia was even there when she didn’t have any scheduled classes with the patients, to which the latter answered that she was visiting someone, leading Gemma to assume it was Patrick.
The tension finally boiled over when Gemma found Mia casually sipping coffee while enjoying the seaside view outside Patrick’s house. Confronted about why she was there, Mia toyed insinuated that she had spent the night with him. She pushed further, teasing that she had already confessed her love and Patrick accepted it, spinning tales that she had given him what he wanted while dismissing Gemma as nothing more than a friend in his eyes. Gemma fired back, telling Mia she doesn't own anyone and that all her claims were nothing but obsession. The clash escalated fast until Gemma slapped Mia, who hit back even harder by pulling her hair and spitting out that she isn't as lovable as she thinks she is and that no one would ever fall for her.
If looks could kill, these two would’ve turned every hallway in OK Hospital into a battlefield.
Catch “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay” on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live (KOL), A2Z, and TV5, weeknights at 8:45 PM. Watch it in advance on Netflix and iWant.