It is not difficult to come across cheesy, dramatic television shows to spend a few hours on. A mix of cheesiness, unnecessary drama, and ridiculous twists and turns in the plot, and voila! We give you a telenovela-ish show that is filled with stories that will probably never happen in real life. The circumstances might be true, but the actual theme might never happen. “Daughter from Another Mother” is about mothers whose daughters get switched at birth and come to terms with the reality around it. It is bonkers and absurd, which does not stop them from having two long seasons.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Daughter From Another Mother’ Season 1 And Season 2: Recap
“Daughter from Another Mother,” as the title suggests, begins with Marianna, a college student who is heavily pregnant while maneuvering through classes, and on one stressful day, her water breaks. She is taken to the hospital by her girlfriend, Elena. Marianna informs her mother that she is going into labor. Her mother, Teresa, is also a single mother who brought Marianna up single-handedly without the help of her father. Teresa is proud of herself and Marianna for bringing a child into this world. Teresa and her mother offer to help Marianna with raising the child, and she is more than happy to do so. Marianna is a fiercely independent woman who believes in taking charge of her life. Her boyfriend Pablo had abandoned her five months into her pregnancy, which broke her heart for good. Teresa suggests informing Pablo of her labor, which Marianna refuses. Teresa informs Pablo nevertheless, and he arrives at the hospital to have a look at the baby. Marianna is in agony, though she delivers a beautiful baby girl, Valentina. Marianna is a tech developer who wants to develop a mobile application for mothers in general, and Pablo, a mathematician and techie was helping her with the same. Their breakup would mean the end of the chapter for their app development dreams. But Marianne is determined to do something with her life, starting from here.
Ana, on the other hand, is a busy yet successful corporate executive who is pregnant with her third child with her husband, Juan Carlos. They are rich and successful with two grown-up kids, but somewhere their marriage lost the heat in the struggle to find more success in their respective fields. Though Juan Carlos takes time for his family, Ana struggles to do so. Even during her labor, she barely managed to reach the hospital on time to deliver. Ana also delivers a baby girl, whom they name Regina. Unfortunately for Ana and Marianna, the hospital nurse switches their babies, and they end up taking home each other’s girls without realizing it. They are informed of this drastic mistake by the hospital authorities after a few months of the switch, and their families meet to give their respective babies back as per the child authorities rules. Ana finds it difficult to part with Regina, and meanwhile, Mariana finds it difficult to part with Valentina. Both women come from two spectrums of lifestyles. Ana is ultra-rich, while Mariana is struggling to make ends meet but is determined to give her daughter a decent life soon after her app picks up traction. Ana offers to adopt Valentina to free Mariana of the burden, which offends Mariana. Both kick off on the wrong foot, but eventually, they learn to be around each other for their daughters. Ana offers to let Mariana stay with them till Valentina is comfortable with Ana. Mariana is more than happy to stay with Ana because her end goal is to be there for Regina and Valentina at the same time. As their families get involved in this new setup, a lot more problems crop up. Mariana’s mother, Teresa, had a brief affair with Ana’s husband, Juan Carlos. Even though Juan Carlos is a decent man and a good father, he is wracked with guilt as he sees Teresa with Mariana, and the prospect of seeing her regularly makes him feel jittery and guilty. Ana and Juan Carlos have not had a happy marriage so far, as Ana is embroiled in work. She promised Juan she would step away from work as soon as their child came along, but she finds it difficult to do so. Once Regina comes into their lives along with Valentina and Mariana, things start changing slowly. Ana slowly and steadily starts to let go of her controlling nature, which previously bugged Juan and their kids, Cecilia and Rodrigo. Ana, being successful, tries to use her money, power, influence, and tricks to get things done her way. With Mariana coming into their lives, it changes plenty of things for Ana, who lets in a stranger into her home, and Mariana is someone who has her own thoughts on how to lead life from here on. Mariana, though at Ana’s home, finds time to restart her work on her app, mainly meant for mothers and the turbulent times they go through during and after pregnancy.
Mariana starts facing her issue when Pablo decides to be in his kid’s life after all. Mariana refuses and is skeptical about bringing him back into her life. Pablo goes ahead and sues Mariana for demanding visitation rights. Mariana disagrees with his demands, but after observing Juan Carlos and his relationship with his kids, she makes sure to give Regina the choice of being around her father no matter how long the relationship lasts. She agrees with Pablo’s co-parenting of Regina. She makes it clear she does not have any feelings for him, and she cannot jeopardize their future relationship since he is the father of her child. Pablo agrees not to bring any feelings to the table, and they begin their life as single parents. Mariana is comfortable at Ana’s home, taking care of Regina as well as Valentina, and she helps Ana understand she needs to let go of her controlling nature, especially when it comes to handling her newborn. Ana slowly loosens up and loves the fact that her daughter wants to be with her after all. As parents, Ana and Juan go through their struggles taking care of their two older kids, Cecilia, a teenager, and Rodrigo, a pre-teen. Cecilia goes through her ups and downs as a schoolgirl and makes mistakes along the way. Meanwhile, Rodrigo is on the verge of hitting puberty. Though Juan is a friendly father, Ana, on the other hand, is a strict mother. They do their duties as good cops and bad cops and find ways to help them with their issues. Juan is struggling to deal with his situation with Teresa and offers to help with setting up the business as well as paying the rent. Teresa accepts the money but does not inform her daughter of the fling she had with him. Teresa is grateful to Juan for his help but makes it clear this was just a financial transaction that would not lead to an emotional relationship. Juan steers clear of Teresa from there on. Juan feels guilty about cheating on his wife, but in his defense, he and Ana were going through tough times, and the fling with Teresa was just a blip he would like to forget by helping her out.
Mariana, on meeting her biological father, realized the importance of a good father in her daughter’s life, and she is furthermore grateful to Pablo for taking a step towards being a father to Regina. As all of them trudge through their lives on the day of the baptism, many unpleasant truths come out. Ana and Mariana end up spending a lot of time together, which makes Ana confess her love for Mariana. Mariana does not respond immediately. Mariana, though, is made aware of the brief fling Juan and her mother had; she wants to inform Ana of it but is stopped by Teresa. Ana learns of the fling Juan had with Teresa and is mortified to know of his actions. Ana, though, confesses that on her work trip to South America, she cheated on him with her ex-boyfriend. Ana is mad about the fact that Juan cheated on her a long time ago, making her feel guilty for the infidelity while he did not own up to his mistakes. Ana and Juan separate consequently, and Ana learn from Mariana that she knows of her mother’s fling with Juan. Ana is livid at this point at everyone she loves, and she cannot believe she is left to pick up the pieces of the broken friendship and marriage. Mariana moves out of Ana’s home and starts working as a food delivery agent in the town, and Pablo starts working with Ana’s company. He is hired by Ana under a promise that he will let her meet Regina, which is against Mariana’s instructions.
Ending Explained – How Do Anna And Marianna Take Out Time To Spend Time With Their Daughters? Do They Get Back Together?
Ana and Mariana clash on several matters. Ana tries to buy out Mariana in exchange for adopting Regina, which offends Mariana yet again. Ana maintained a good relationship with Mariana’s kids and her now-separated husband, Juan Carlos. Ana and Mariana are angry about the fact that they love each other but cannot fathom admitting it, followed by the problems caused by Mariana being aware of Juan Carlos’s infidelity. Ana is disturbed by the fact that Mariana is involved in her daughter’s life while Cecilia is acting up because of their parents’ separation. She chooses not to ask for any help from her mother with the prom dress, as she feels her mother has become too sensitive and critical. Mariana pacifies Cecilia by explaining why her mother is acting the way she is. Cecilia should give her mother the benefit of the doubt in this situation and let her help. Ana and Mariana become friends again and restart their work on Mariana’s app. Ana and Mariana are good friends, but they do not mix business with their friendship. Ana is adamant about how she wants to market the app, while Mariana has other ideas about how to do so. Ana and Juan are trying to navigate their separation, while Juan is trying hard to make up with Ana and the kids. Juan confesses he loves Ana, and he would go miles to salvage his marriage for the sake of his love. Juan accepts the mistakes he made and tries to mend the ties with Ana, but Ana makes it clear that, at this point, she needs space to think about their relationship. Juan feels thoroughly guilty for what happened, and Ana feels guilty too, but since both made mistakes, Ana believes that taking a break would help them get clarity about their marriage.
Ana and Juan start working in the same co-workspace, much to Ana’s dismay. The owner of the workspace, Ferran, is an attractive man who has a reputation for being a major flirt. Both Ana and Mariana are attracted to him, but Ferran asks Mariana out for drinks, and soon they start dating. Ana is, at this point, unaware of the man Mariana went on a date with. Ana briefly flirted with Ferran but was initially jealous of him choosing Mariana over her. But she learns from her colleagues about Ferran’s flirtatious nature. She tries to inform Mariana of it, but Mariana does not feel bad about the fact that Ana has a crush on him. Their friendship has reached a point where they don’t hurt each other but instead want to build each other up and support each other, as both are going through trying times. Juan Carlos assumes Ana is having an affair with Ferran and confronts her. Ana assumes Juan is crossing the boundary she set and decides to file for divorce. Juan is shaken by this decision but accepts Ana’s choice. However, Juan and Pablo are uncomfortable with Ferran being around Ana and Mariana. Pablo does not find it appropriate for his child to be spending time with Ferran. Pablo, though he is dating another woman, is visibly jealous of Mariana dating Ferran. Pablo still has feelings for Mariana, which are made clear, but he wraps this jealousy under the garb of protecting his daughter. Mariana makes it clear that Ferran is harmless, but Pablo is not ready to believe it. Ferran and Mariana break up over this fact. Ana and Mariana finally launched the application. To everyone’s delight, they are happy to see the response they receive for their creation. Along with the launch party, Ana and Mariana revealed they are not just business partners but are in a relationship as well. Juan, Pablo, and Ferran feel betrayed by them, but they are also happy for both. Ana and Juan’s divorce comes through after a lot of difficulties, but Juan and Ana make sure they are there for their kids from now on. The audience, though, is taken aback by this reveal, including Mariana’s family and Ana’s family, but they pretend to be okay with the scenario, for they are in public now. Ana and Mariana have always had each other’s back since the mix-up involving their baby happened a year ago. They became close friends and were nearing getting into a relationship, for they had confessed their love to each other. It didn’t seem like a good time to do that. After a year of struggle, divorce, and breakups, they both realize now is the time to be in a relationship and announce it to their loved ones.
What To Expect From Season 3 Of ‘Daughter From Another Mother’?
“Daughter from Another Mother” Season 3 will be all about Ana-Mariana, the couple, the route they take in love, and how people around them take the news. Cecilia will be happy, but she is not sure how Rodrigo will take the news. Juan, Pablo, and Ferran were visibly upset, which meant they would not be comfortable around them anymore. Juan and Pablo will try to gain custody of their daughters. Ana and Mariana will face their share of hostility for being gay, but they will trudge through it. Mariana’s mother, Teresa, is pregnant with Juan’s brother, Victor’s, child. Victor is unaware of the pregnancy; he will learn of it this season. Expecting this season to be as absurd as the first two ones.
Final Thoughts
Carolina Rivera and Fernando Sariñana’s show about motherhood, the problems they face, and the relationships around it is handled with sensitivity, even though the plot twists and narrative are not very believable. The struggle of pregnant women and mothers after pregnancy is showcased in its most real form, but the rest of the screenplay does not stand up to the actual plot of the show. The makers forgot the daughters Regina and Valentina, around which the plot of the show is supposed to revolve. The makers take the path of usual soaps by bringing in various unnecessary subplots, which did not add any value to the existing main plot of the show. The love angle between Ana and Mariana also felt forced since the relationship they share is more like a friendship than love. There is no chemistry between the two lead actors. The only arc that the makers justified was the motherhood angle. “Daughter from Another Mother” did an absolute bang-on job of describing the issues that women face basically at every stage of their lives. Being a working woman, a mother, a single mother, a pregnant woman, a single woman with no kids, and many more examples such as these. Many of the issues were from the female point of view, which was refreshing to watch. “Daughter from Another Mother” is too long and stretched and can be watched only for the sake of the bigger subject here, motherhood.
