Mara Clara Season 1: When Blood Is Not Enough

It's been a while since I watched Mara Clara, and I'd say it's one of the first Philippines movies I watched, if not the first, and I started watching it expecting the usual story of two girls who were switched during their birth, according to some spoilers' short videos I came across online. But what I was so much amazed at was how these two ladies grew up and were shaped differently by the parents who raised them. Both Clara and Mara were giving birth to on the same day, same hospital and they got switched because of Karlo who acted on the instructions giving to him by Gary. Mara was raised by poor parents, while on the other hand, Clara was raised by the Del Valle family, a very wealthy family, and when I got to realize that both were living each other's lives, I was shocked, like both of them were.

Personally, I see Mara as not being interesting because she seems calm and was a good girl and helped Susan. But she stood out for me because she loved her life and was not ready to turn cruel. She continued to do her thing, helping others and constantly making peace with those who made her feel unwanted.

And on the other hand, I saw Clara as the opposite because she grew up in a family that gave her all she ever wanted, and due to that, she has this mentality that her money and the status of her family can make her talk down or look down on anyone. And truth be told, a lot of her actions disgust me, and also, she was also a bit of an interest because her behavior didn't just emanate from nowhere. Right from her young age, she has been spoiled and protected as the only child, so losing her position felt like losing herself.

Susan was one strong woman who I paid closer attention to because the way she was treated by Lupe and the kind of pressure they made her receive from Gary was unbelievable, and merely looking at that, I saw how poverty can affect someone's life. Just because she was unable to give the kind of life Albira provided, she was tagged as nothing and inferior. And along the way, the whole storyline was becoming more interesting because Karlo was feeling guilty about the action he took. He made a terrible mistake by switching two babies, and yet, he continued to care about Mara, maybe out of his guilt, I guess, or something else that I was unable to see. But in the long run, he was living with the truth that everyone else is living inside without knowing.

And without second-guessing this, ever since I got to know what he did, I began to dislike Gary. And I continue to dislike him because he creates a lot of people, and he constantly uses those around him, including his own daughter, to get everything he plans for. He made me see how some parents can be, which led me to how I saw Slbira and Amanthe. Despite how wealthy they were and how much they cared for their daughter to give her everything and protect her, they still made some harmful choices that they turned a blind eye towards.

At first, I saw how Mara and Clara were in a competition with each other, and along the way, their rivalry was getting into something so complicated. Right before the truth was made known, and I got to see how their differences made sense because they were raised completely in a different place. From the earlier episodes, Mara tried to get closer to Clara, and Clara's friends humiliated Mara, and this act stirred up tension between the two.

I had a lot of questions running through my mind in this season, even though it was just a show, but then things like this might have happened in real life, and I begin to wonder if we can call someone's biological child an automatic member of a family or if it makes them a family. Because when I look deeply, some who show deep love sacrifice all they have for someone else and are always there for someone matters most is the a the blood running through someone's veins....

If you simply love complicated family stories, secret relationships, rivalry, or something dramatic, you can watch for the weekend. You can opt in for Mara Clara, but be prepared for the emotional conflict.

For me, 7.2/10.

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