Episode 130 - The Finale!
So...the plan by Dr Villalobos to trap the villains inside his perimeter of power-dampening rings doesn't work: the rings stop working, and fizzle out.
Meanwhile, Darna and Borgo continue to trade massive crunching blows in the parking lot area.
Then (as shown above) Darna begins to glow with power. She hits Borgo with a massive blow and flies up into the air.
There's an extended camera pan up and down her body as her costume is glowing. So beautiful, so triumphant! The crowd looks up at her in awe.
But they don't have much respite, as the army starts firing up at the newly giant-sized Evil Titan. The bullets just bounce off Titan. But the villagers and cops are having more luck on the ground as they surround and try to crush Deathglare, Detonator, and Basura. Then, from out of nowhere come the prisoner Extras from the Facility! (I guess Villalobos let them out for good behavior).
One guy who has green hands uses his force field to prevent Titan from stepping on people. Silent Shocker is back, and he's sending lightning bolts
at Titan. Meanwhile, beautiful glowing Darna is flying back and forth through the air, punching Borgo around the sky like a plaything. Deathglare tries to roast the villagers, but Metal Man steps into the breach and saves them. Ding plugs the ring apparatus back in, and it starts working again, making Titan into a regular-sized guy and taking away the Soldiers' powers. It also looks like Silent Shocker is helping to power the rings, if I'm not mistaken.
Darna spins around quickly in the air and wallops Borgo into the ground, where he cracks a crater in the pavement, and lies motionless. Everyone from the village cheers for Darna. But Borgo gets up and pulls out his trump card: the incredible powerful staff thingy (the "Zithrax"?) which can destroy the planet (where was he hiding it on his costume?). It launches into the stratosphere, and Darna flies up after it, hugging the staff close (it's larger than she is).
After a commercial break, a little villager girl looks up and sees that Darna has it under control. The staff apparently explodes - but you only hear the sound, you don't see the explosion, which is a little cheap and detracts from the drama (they couldn't budget for one explosion, but they used an elaborate costume in one final shot...see below). But anyway, everyone's happy about it, and Ernie and the cops give Darna a salute. Even the Human Urchin and the Seductress get into the spirit! So, then we see the Mayor and the other Soliders led away in handcuffs into the jail, and the reactions from the other prisoners. However, I do have a question: where is Maisha? Did she get captured? And why didn't she use her Pied Piper power to control all the people in the area, so they wouldn't have been able to use the dampening rings?
She just kind of disappears off the radar.
Hergis has a serious sit-down with the Super Friends (Darna, Villalobos, Ding) and he cries a little bit, as he gets a hug from Ding for being a good combat trainer (as 'Claudio'). Hergis goes on his way, leaving the city like Bill Bixby used to do at the end of every Hulk episode. Narda brings out the ring that Brian was going to give her, and she's very sad that he's gone. Then Darna in her superheroine form stands with Luna, looking over the village. They hug, and then Luna says goodbye to Richard, too. Luna's now in her costume, so my question is: why didn't she do a damn thing in the first against Borgo if she still has her costume and powers?
Luna and Darna are both in their costumes, and they are receiving a new spaceship which is touching down: four Marteans wearing elaborate costumes who are probably some sort of bodyguards or courtiers, and then stepping down the ramp is a beautiful goddess with a fancy headdress, a cape, and a very tight catsuit with shiny striping down the front. It's obvious that this is the Martean Queen. This is the tightest and sexiest costume of the whole series and they only use it in one final shot? Check out those high boots.
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After Luna bows to her and introduces Narda as the successor Protector to her mother Zora, the Queen addresses Darna. I'm guessing that the Queen commends Darna's achievements, and gives her permission to keep the stone and remain as the defender of the Earth. But you can correct me (Red5, brdiy?) if I'm wrong. The Queen and her retinue takes off in the ship.
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Next day, Narda hangs out with the restaurant crew, and has a nice hug with Grandma and Ding. Then she goes to visit Regina in the prison.
I'm not sure what they talk about, but I assume it has something to do with Narda and Regina reconciling, and possibly what Regina plans to do in the future (not sure how long her prison term is, I mean she did kill a whole bunch of people). Regina proclaims that, "After all, I am the first Extra."
Narda and Regina hug.
But after Darna flies away (and there is a nice final flying sequence), Regina reveals her evil plan to get back out into the world. "My life is my choice", she says. When the jailers try to get in her cell, she attacks them with her snakes, which are now so strong that she can tear off the iron cell door. She strides out in full tight sexy costume, proclaiming that she wants to be free. "I AM VALENTINA!" Hopefully she learns her lesson and decides not to plague Nueva Esperanza and kill its citizens anymore.
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Darna recalls something the queen said: "Daihim mapaparating mga malakim". I'm not sure if I'm getting it right but it means something like "it will be accessible to you". Perhaps the queen is referring to the power of the stone, or that Darna can call on the queen in the future? Not sure - again, maybe Red5 or brdiy can enlighten.
The episode ends with dozens of cast shots featuring all the bit players and listing their names, plus a few quick bloopers. They show photos of all the production team, and even the executives of the company (ABS-CBN, I assume). A few quick clips of the actors (including Jane) saying goodbye, and then a clip of the crew all shouting "Thank you for watching Darna!".
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One thing for sure you can say about this series: all through it, Jane and Janella have just been hot hot hot. Even when some episodes were very low or recycled old footage, we didn't give up, and stuck through it. This was ultimately an emotional experience, and exactly the reason why we love superheroines so much!
Hope you had as much fun with Darna 2002 as I did. Hopefully we don't have to wait so long for more adventures of Darna and Valentina.
Jane blows you a kiss at the end! (I didn't catch everything she said but it ended with 'lipad' so I assume it means something like 'keep on flying!')
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