The idea of love in “What Lies Beneath” is consistently explored in wonderfully complex ways, ranging from unbreakable friendships and a mother’s unwavering care to even the painful ways in which it is experienced, like a persistent reminder that hearts can truly feel.
In the turbulent lives of Alice Quintana-Miller (Janella Salvador) and Beth Sevilla-Mora (Charlie Dizon), the kind of love that is so elusive in reality has embraced them for who they are, flaws and all.
For the two protagonists, love appeared in the form of Ryan Mora (Yves Flores) and Scott Miller (Mark Neumann). These two leading men in the series convey to viewers their most genuine and unconditional way of loving, no matter the struggles that they might encounter in their relationships.
The starting point of Ryan and Scott’s love stories with their wives
Similar to a charming teenage romance that stirs up giddy reactions, Ryan and Beth’s journey began back when they were young students at Amurao High. On numerous occasions, Beth’s closest friends, the young MABEL girls, Mel (Reich Alim), Alice (Eliza Borromeo), Erica (Krystal Mejes), and Louisa (Mutya Orquia), would happily join in on their classmates’ relentless teasings of Ryan and Beth.
Upon hearing the high-pitched voices of his friends pushing him to Beth, Ryan would gladly admit heart-fluttering expressions at Beth, even adding warm siopaos from their school canteen to make his confessions extra special.
As time passed by, the two eventually became official, and as their love blossomed stronger, from a young age, they had their daughter, Chloe (Jewel Milag). The pilot episodes showcase the cozy atmosphere inside the Moras home, entirely love-filled, until Beth’s pent-up regrets about her life slowly resurfaced.
For Alice and Scott, their romantic tale unfolded like one of those real but rare accounts of love that happened at the right time and place, and in their case, it was inside of an elevator.
After Alice established a prosperous career in America as an accountant, she encountered Scott catching a ride in an elevator with her, a supposedly mundane event that turned life-changing for the two.
In an unfortunate instance, the elevator malfunctions, trapping the two inside for quite some time. A surprising instance for Scott, it was also the same day he realized that he had never completely recovered from his claustrophobia.
Observing Scott’s panic, Alice gently opens a conversation and teaches him a grounding technique to calm himself, something she had often done when she was afraid of the dark during her younger days.
The two then exchanged playful comments about finding more time to know each other once they were rescued, which eventually led to their fairy-tale-like marriage, until Alice’s traumatic past came back to haunt her.
How Ryan and Scott decided to overcome love’s hurdles for their spouses
Despite the heavy hardships posed by early parenthood, Ryan was a dedicated partner to Beth, immediately taking responsibility and being her biggest supporter no matter how intensely she belittles herself.
Ryan has been present throughout Beth’s triumphs and during her toughest battles, particularly when her life had been in grave danger multiple times, from her heated confrontation with Liezel (Mary Joy Apostol) and Angelo (Marlo Mortel), the violent ambushes of Edong (Jake Cuenca), and the repetitive criticism she receives from Amurao High’s faculty members.
Although one thing hinders Beth from being truthfully contented with her life, which is the regrets she hides about what she could have been if she didn’t have a family at an early age and decided to pursue her dream of being a journalist.
This has also been the reason for her adamant refusal to admit her mistakes about falsely accusing Edong of murdering Louisa. The feeling of ‘jealousy’ towards her successful friends keeps creeping into her mind, making her doubt her love for Ryan and cling to Chloe’s admiration of her.
In the face of his hurt, Ryan remains loyal to Beth, showing up when she needs him. A part of him also changed, specifically contradicting Beth’s turndown of helping Erica (Kaila Estrada) and Alice stop Edong. Seeing his family nearly killed, Ryan joins Erica and Alice, furiously desiring an end to their suffering at Edong’s hands.
From the perspective of Scott, Alice had turned to accuse him of abusing her while she was asleep, despite failing to gather evidence that would prove Scott’s consecutive mistreatment.
This level of downfall they have faced in their marriage stemmed from one of their fights, where the sound of a falling glass revived Alice’s deep-seated and forgotten trauma when she was abducted at just five years old.
With no memory of the event, Alice confuses Scott with her real abductor and would often distance herself until she decided to bring their son, Seth (Rhys Stevens), back to the Philippines amid a divorce and custody battle.
Regardless of Alice’s nonstop unwillingness to answer Scott’s questions and reveal the truth, he still kept fighting for her, making the choice to go to the Philippines and offer her his support.
New beginnings for Ryan and Scott’s relationships
On the topic of confrontations, forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing, Beth and Ryan have a long way to go. The soft-hearted Ryan finds Beth’s regret-filled secret too agonizing to get over quickly, heightened by Beth’s hesitation to answer Ryan’s query about her choosing to live a life with him if given the chance to start again.
Meanwhile, the days are brighter for Scott, who finally reconciles with Alice. At the current time, he would accompany Alice during her psychological sessions, which have been helping her remember her trauma.
Both Ryan and Scott also took the courageous decision to stand by and protect their families while facing Edong’s persistent acts of violence, the most destructive conflict in the series.
Will Beth, Ryan, Alice, and Scott hold on to their marriage until the end? Find out in “What Lies Beneath,” airing weeknights on Kapamilya Channel, ALLTV2, A2Z, Kapamilya Online Live (KOL and iWant.