Themes: desperate measures, obsession, poor family, hustler
Since their late spouse passed away in a workplace incident caused by a migrant worker, Ember has been trying their best to provide for the family: the young Rudi and the angry Reine. But Reine will hardly speak to their parent anymore; the money from the insurance company is running dry, and on top of everything else, they have to help support their parent-in-law, Francis. Ember has a lot of compassion for them because all of Francis' drinking problems stem from losing their partner in a work incident, but their funds are getting thinner every day. But Ember has a plan that will turn everything around.
Ember’s obsession with *another foolproof plan to turn their life around* is making the family members increasingly estranged from one another. But the payoff is near, for sure!
Everybody who lives in La Cage is mostly poor and desperate. The families and professionals living in Apartment Blocks are the ones who really try to keep some semblance of normality in their lives. The Block B consists mostly of tradesmen and people of other desirable professions. People with no exceptional wealth or status, but the ones who are good and honest at their job and are beneficial to the La Cage. Educated, but not burgeois - teacher, nurse, students, social worker or people jilted from Block A. They mostly want to stay far from the troubles and extreme ideologies (to a small degree of success) but are willing to help each other as much as they can - like a big family.
Everyone knows HealthiLife: the vitamins aren’t cheap, but what is your health worth? That’s the question its sales cadre asks as they go door to door, promising health in a little pill. Some swear by it but those who signed up to sell it only curse the day they did, somehow never able to get out from under the debt.
But now there’s a new game in town: Elixir! Health in a vial, treating all manner of ailments and slotting neatly into the HealthiLife product line. The cynical might say it’ll be just as useless as HealthiLife (and the foolish and cynical might say it will get you just as sick), but nothing sells like hope.
When the two managers go head to head, however, and secrets about the organizations are brought to light, who will come out on top – and who will get trampled beneath their feet?
A long time ago, The Second Club was a group of youngsters, held together through thin and thick with the help of The Mentor, who was always ready to wave away the latest problem they got into and did their best to steer them on the right path. After some harsh words and hurtful deeds, the group fell apart one fateful night. Some left, some just refused to talk to each other ever again. Now after countless years, they finally meet again, at the reading of the last will of The Mentor. But there are still some unresolved memories and even unfulfilled dreams. Will the past be enough to repair their future?
