In defense of Ate Judit, @AdrienneVergara

Many have expressed their disappointment towards Ate Judit. I, myself, was very frustrated when she cornered Karl. But I tried putting myself in her shoes. When Vlad’s father left him, his father left her, too. (1/n) #GayaSaPelikulaEp07

As a child, it must have been tough to see your parents fight w/ each other every time, let alone witness one of them leaving your family permanently. The homophobic slurs against Vlad surely traumatized him because these came from his siblings, his father, his own family. (2/n)

But, the constant fighting and the parents’ separation that affected Vlad as a kid, was also traumatizing for the young Judit. Remember that when their father left them, she probably had to toughen up quickly and had to become source of comfort for her two younger siblings. (3/n)

Was she able to process her own issues, trauma? I bet not or at least not enough. Filipino families expect panganays to act mature & act as a parent, esp when one parent isn't around, even though they're still young, naive & still have gotten a lot of growing up left to do (4/n)

She knows she has to be mature because she has seen the guilt and self-blame of the young Vlad. It must have been tough for her to balance acting as a parent to Vlad and Rob and dealing with her own abandonment issues. (5/n)

In Family Therapy, there’s this thing called “parenting your inner child”. It involves the concept of having a “wounded inner child” because of traumatic experiences, painful childhood memories, dysfunctional familial relationships and many others. (6/n)

These things “contaminate” the person up until they're adults. They leave deep wounds, so deep that they carry it until they become older versions of themselves. (7/n)

And I can see that both Vlad and Judit have indirectly undergone ‘parenting their inner child’, but remains to be unfinished or unsuccessful. As with Judit @AdrienneVergara, yes I agree she isn't a perfect ally. She even said that she’s still navigating through these things (8/n)

But I can see why she has built big walls, even big enough to protect her youngest brother, too. Because she has been there all along and has witnessed what Vlad has gone through as a child and how Vlad blamed himself for not being able to save the marriage of their parents (9/9)

~End. My point is let's not dismiss a character just because of one, two faults. Let's try putting ourselves into their shoes. Understand the context. Again, sabi nga ni Gege, every time we consume art is a practice for empathy. TY for the wonderful portrayal, @AdrienneVergara