Previously on Rebelde Way: Mia and Manuel made out! I, for one, am shocked. Nobody saw that coming. Vico and Tomás began their torrid affair, and Pilar busted them after like two minutes. Pablo and Marizza are locked in a battle of wills over a frickin’ homework assignment. Let’s begin!
Opening monologue: Parents are the same no matter time nor place, they don’t understand that us kids are gonna make some mistakes.
We pick up where we last left off, with Mia and Manuel giving into their UST and making out. After Mia slaps him, naturally. They come to their senses and promise to never speak of it again, especially not to Feli. Manuel tells her that he had nothing to do with Guido being creepy, which is true. And he only talks about Mia with Feli because Feli brings her up, which is less true, although he actually doesn’t bring her up that often anymore. They agree to ignore each other and shake on it, and then nearly pass out from touching each other’s hands. I like how this show often decides to indicate Mia and Manuel’s thing for each other by having them act like they’ve literally never been around a member of the opposite sex before.
COOTIES.
You will also recall that Pablo tried to blackmail Marizza into not airing his dirty laundry all over school, and then he grabbed her by the throat and was generally every guy you don’t ever want to run into at night. Our protagonist, everybody! But never forget that Marizza is ~rebelde~, and she tells the ethics teacher that she refuses to take her essay back, for great justice. If we can’t write papers about our classmates’ shady parents for English class, do we really live in a free country? The ethics teacher leaves and Lujan and Luna, correctly, are like, “Pablo is going to set you up with a pair of cement boots.”
Pablo is actually too busy interrogating Tomás over who his mystery girlfriend is. You will recall it’s Vico, who is mackin’ it with Tomás to get revenge on Pablo, because she thinks Pablo is cheating on her, which he actually isn’t, but he is kind of a douche to her in general, so her revenge kind of makes sense, in a really roundabout way. BUT ANYWAY. Tomás lies and says it’s Pilar. Amazingly for this show, Pablo is able to recall the events of a few episodes ago, and reminds us all that Pilar flipped out the last time Tomás tried to mack it with her. (Actually, she flipped out because he was verging on sexual assault, but we all know this show doesn’t take violence against women seriously.) Tomás lies that they’re both trying to keep it on the DL because Dunoff would lose his shit and Tomás would get in trouble, which is believable enough. Pablo and Guido promise not to tell anyone. Then the ethics teacher knocks on their door to tell Pablo that Marizza said she wasn’t going to change her essay. Why does he have nothing better to do than play telephone for two 15-year-olds?
“You made a mistake, Espirito!” Pablo fumes. “I’m going to find you!” Well…yeah, Pablo, you guys live in the same building. You’ll probably see her in class in like five minutes.
(Sidebar: the teacher calls Pablo “viejo”, which the kids use for their parents all the time, but sounds a little weird coming from a teacher to a student. I choose to translate this as “old sport”, like he’s the great Gatsby.)
Nighttime. Marizza frets over losing Nacho, who…I guess never came back to the room after running away from Pablo? I don’t know why, it’s not like Pablo actually caught him. Lujan correctly points out that Nacho isn’t her responsibility; the grown-ass adult who should’ve been taking care of him is the one who fucked up by skipping town for no plausible reason. Then she ruins her moment of clarity by jumping on Luna for staying with Mia’s dance group: “You can’t get along with everyone! You have to decide!” Yeah! Luna shouldn’t have any friends that aren’t approved by Marizza and Lujan, and she definitely can’t hang out with them while doing an activity that Marizza and Lujan don’t even like.
And then the ethics teacher comes back and says Marizza needs to speak to Dunoff. In…the middle of the night? I don’t know how boarding schools work; surely after dinner or whatever, the kids and teachers are off and school matters wait until morning? I mean, unless the kids do something really bad, like getting busted smuggling a dragon out of the school at night, like in Harry Potter. Sorry, what? Anyway, as always, Marizza and co. jump to the conclusion that it’s about Nacho. Once again, Marizza, literally nobody knows you’re hiding this kid in your room.
Over in the lounge area, Manuel angsts over Pablo pantsing Nico during the soccer game. Nico must be avenged! Nico is like bro, chill, but as we all know, Manuel has literally zero chill. Tomás comes in with a bunch of girls from the dance team hanging off him for some reason and Nico flips out. They’re laughing at him! Everyone is laughing at him! I think maybe Nico doesn’t have any room to be telling Manuel to chill out. Manuel tells him that he is what he is, and the world is what you make it. I mean…yes and also no? Nico’s confidence absolutely doesn’t depend on anyone but himself; on the other hand, it’s not like you can just create your own reality. I’m going to stop before a telenovela, of all things, sends me on a rant about how much I hate postmodernism. Anyway, Tomás starts making jabs at Manuel for being Mexican, and Manuel decides to go punch him, as you do. Feli runs up and stops them before they can rumble, and Manuel leaves to go take a phone call. Tomás snaps that he can’t stand Manuel, and there are “others” that think like him. That sounds like the awakening of a dormant plot point!
It’s Papa C on the phone for Manuel, inviting him over. The ominous music helpfully hints to us that this is a trap, but Manuel is too dumb to wonder why Papa C would invite him back after busting his cover earlier.
Back in Marizza’s room, Lujan sarcastically suggests that Marizza is making friends with Pablo. Luna derps that she’s so glad Lujan is coming around to her way of thinking! Heh. I mean, everyone and their mom can see exactly where this Marizza/Pablo thing is going, but I guess Lujan didn’t have a lot of time to watch teen dramas when she was ~on the street~. Then, weirdly, Lujan says that Marizza cares about Luna a lot, but Luna doesn’t deserve it. Quoi? I don’t know why A) Luna has to be ~worthy~ of Marizza’s love, or B) why it’s any of Lujan’s business. Anyway, Nacho crashes in and tells Luna it’s all her fault for spilling the beans to Vico (like Luna even told her anything of worth anyway). I can’t believe Luna is getting guilt-tripped by a shitty 8-year-old in a sailor costume. She really needs better friends.
Dunoff suddenly has a blue light in his office, apparently for the sole purpose of sweating Pablo and Marizza. I mean, why not, it’s not nearly the most useless way this school spends money. Dunoff warns Marizza that this is her last chance, as you’ll recall that she’s basically been getting into trouble since the first episode. Hey, remember when Pablo was also in trouble for crashing his car, and then he had to do community service? Yeah, neither does this show. Marizza rightly points out that nobody has any proof that Nacho is in the school, and they can’t kick her out for writing an opinionated paper. Pablo sputters. This is not how he planned his day! Marizza is smug.
In the lounge, Manuel and Feli discuss ~the Society~, who have suddenly become a plot point again after 10 episodes. Feli tells him that she doesn’t want him catching the Society’s attention, because they can get him kicked out of the school. Of course the people with the most power in this school are a bunch of 16-year-olds. I am not at all surprised by this. Manuel accuses her of needling him because she’s annoyed by him being in the dance group with Marizza. Manuel keeps flipping out on Feli for like, no reason. He’s like, “I don’t understand why you keep telling me about the Society!” and she’s like, “Because they’re specifically targeting you for being poor and also kind of mouthy!” and he’s like, “I don’t get why this is important!” and she’s like, “Because you’re stepping out of line and might get in trouble! I literally just told you this!” and he’s like, “Is it because of my grades?” and she’s like, “No, they DON’T LIKE POOR PEOPLE” and he’s like, “Is it because I’m in the dance group?” And she’s like, “NO, IT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE POOR.” And he’s like, “Is it because I’m friends with Marizza?” OH MY GOD, MANUEL. He suggests that she rethink their relationship, since he can’t seem to be the kind of boyfriend she wants. He’s kind of a douche about the whole thing. I’ve been waiting for Feli and Manuel to break up since forever, but it’s still kind of sad for her, crazy eyes and all.
Some basement. A bunch of kids stand around in hoods while holding candles, and there’s red smoke everywhere. Say “Repressed homosexuality!” Anyway, of course this is ~the Society~. They waffle a bit over whether to kick out Manuel or Nico first, then decide on Manuel, since they figure it’ll be easier to pick Nico off without Manuel defending him. A display of critical thinking? I find it hard to believe these kids attend school at Elite Way.
Over in Marizza’s room, Nacho chirps that they should beat Pablo up. Tough words from Little Lord Fauntleroy! Even Lujan isn’t advocating violence in this situation, which surely speaks to its seriousness. As it turns out, Marizza BSed her way out of trouble with Dunoff, but now she’s on shaky ground, as Pablo is even more determined to figure out a way to trap her. Lujan notices that one of the teachers is out looking for Nacho on the grounds, and they all panic. Nacho suggests that he hide in an abandoned trailer he found on the edge of the campus earlier. Naturally they now have to figure out how to smuggle him across campus and then sneak back into the room. Luna has also mysteriously disappeared, and Nacho suggests that she’s flagellating herself for telling Vico about Marizza’s paper, which of course Pablo already knew about anyway. Whatever.
Elsewhere, Pablo sneakily looks around and pulls a door shut behind him. Then the camera pulls back to reveal he’s in the student lounge. Yeah, he definitely has to be stealthy to make sure he doesn’t get caught…in one of the few common areas that students are allowed in after hours? Whatever. He uses the school phone to call Papa B, which is kind of weird considering his dad was hitting him in front of his classmates like, one episode ago. Benjamin Rojas at least gives the scene a little depth by looking very troubled through all this.
Luna runs to Mia and Feli to cry out her guilt over betraying Marizza, and they comfort her. You know, as actual friends do. Vico comes in and plays dumb, but Mia chews her out for using Luna. They all start arguing over whether or not they should defend Luna when she’s still friends with Marizza, and whether or not Vico is pathetic for doormatting every time Pablo pays an iota of attention to her. Finally Luna’s martyr complex has had enough and she runs out of the room crying because she made them fight over her. Mia is appalled by her friends’ behavior, because she remains the most sensible character on this show.
(Sidebar: Vico’s attitude towards Pablo is really interesting, and a reflection of a phenomenon that I feel like I see a lot in real life. There’s this idea that sexually confident women are disloyal or heartless or whatever, which I think is ultimately just code for “not ‘wife material’”, but I think there’s a much more common trend wherein women who actively try to project that image are more likely to be weirdly committed to men who treat them terribly. I mean, not that being loyal to douchebags is exclusive to only one group of women; I think the pressure on us to be forgiving and self-sacrificing is universal. But there does seem to be some inverse proportionality there. Maybe it’s a way of navigating that double bind of “a woman must be available to all men; she also has to be ride or die for one man or she’s a sl*t.” ANYWAY.)
The cafeteria. I don’t know what time it’s supposed to be. Whatever. Pilar has randomly decided to curl her hair for the day, and Tomás sits down and smoothes at her about how pretty she is. Heh. He tells her that he needs her to fake being his girlfriend for a while, and Pilar goes along with it instead of freaking out that he tried to assault her two episodes ago. I suppose that I might as well forget about the forced kissing (everyone else apparently has!) so I can enjoy their fake dating, which is one of my favorite tropes of all time. Pilar wants to know why Tomás needs her to fake date him, and he admits that he’s dating another girl, but he can’t tell anyone who she is. Oh, Tomás. He calls her “Pilu”, which only makes me think of Pilou Asbæk, but that’s neither here nor there. Pilar’s all twitterpated at the idea of figuring out who he’s really dating and exposing them to the entire school. Heh.
Meanwhile, Guido and Pablo watch Tomás mack on Pilar. Or, well, Guido does, anyway. He’s all bewildered, since Tomás told them he was trying to keep it on the DL, and now they’re sitting at the same lunch table in front of God and everybody. Pablo, on the other hand, is going crazy because he hasn’t seen Marizza all day. What kind of devilry could she be getting up to when he’s not watching? HE MUST KNOW WHERE SHE IS AT ALL TIMES! Guido tries to tell him that his thing with Marizza is verging into the weird, but he gets all distracted when Mia comes in and demands to speak to him. She drags him off by the tie and Guido’s like, “This is hot.”
Luna is angsting by some stairs. It’s also suddenly the middle of the day. I mean, why the hell not. Marizza runs by and Luna tries to get back into her good graces by helping her hide Nacho, but Marizza snips that she doesn’t want anyone informing on where he is. Luna cries.
Dunoff and the random ethics teacher. The random teacher says he’s collecting the papers to send to the new ethics teacher, some dude named Mansilla, so he can get caught up on what the class is learning. Dunoff’s like, “Taking responsibility for the class he teaches? That’s not how we do shit around here.” He asks the random teacher to hand over Marizza’s paper so he can see what’s so suspicious about it. The random ethics teacher is like, “For sure, it’s not like I have to grade it and give it back to her or anything.”
The next day, I guess. It might’ve already been the next day for a while. Since the scene with Luna, maybe? Anyway, we’re at some trailer behind the school. Nacho’s living off of the snacks Marizza brings from the cafeteria, and is sharing the trailer with rats. WHY WON’T SOMEONE CALL CHILD SERVICES. Marizza lugs some trash out and prepares to set it on fire, but a random dude pops out of nowhere and tells her she’ll set all the dry grass on fire, too, and the entire school will go up in flames. That doesn’t sound like such a tragedy to me, but whatever. The guy asks if Elite Way is around here, and Marizza lies and says they’re on private property. He’s like, “You sure? Because you’re like…wearing the school uniform and everything…” but she yells at him until he runs away.
Oh, look, and now we’ve cut back to Mia and Guido. Okay, maybe the scene with Tomás, Pilar, Guido, and Pablo was the start of the next day. Oh my God, who cares. ANYWAY. He tells her that nobody put him up to sneaking into her room and going through her stuff; he loves her so much that he creeped on her all on his own! Mia is understandably not impressed by this.
All the kids go to class, except Marizza who’s off burning refuse in the yard. Luna asks where she is, and Lujan’s all like, “Excuse you, you’re not allowed to show concern for Marizza unless you also sycophantically support all of her life decisions.” A+ friendship, Lujan! The random teacher shows up and is like, “Lmao I’m not really the ethics teacher, the actual teacher showed up today. Here’s Santiago Mansilla!” It’s the dude who ran into Marizza earlier. Is anyone surprised by that? Tomás is like, “This class is gonna suck,” as though he hasn’t already been in this class for like a month already. Marizza scrambles in, and Mansilla’s like, “Oh hey, I know you!” and she’s like, “NOOO, DESIST.” The rest of the class just observes this exchange like it’s totally normal. He tells them that he’s read their ethics papers, and there’s one in particular that he really loves, and of course it’s Marizza’s. He asks her to read it for the class. Pablo freaks out and tries to shut it down, but Mansilla throws his weight behind Marizza for no good reason that I can see. I hate Mansilla already. When will everyone stop enabling Marizza?
Then Papa B comes in, and he and Dunoff converse a bit with Mansilla. Pablo is smug, although I think having your parents come into classroom is hella embarrassing once you’re out of grade school. Dunoff tries to move the discussion to his office, but Pablo invites his dad to stay and listen to Marizza’s very interesting paper about ethics. Instead of getting all verbally abusive about how he’s wasting his time or whatever, Papa B’s like, “Oh, well, if my son says so! I completely trust his judgment and values!” and sits down to listen. Papa B is truly master of the mixed message. Marizza sweatdrops, but recovers when she realizes that all her friends are backing her up, and all Pablo has is his shitty dad, and pretty but dumb Tomás and creepy Guido. It is kind of sad, when you put it that way! She reads the entire damn essay. There isn’t even a commercial break.
Me 2, Feli.
Mansilla tells them they can applaud if they liked the essay. Manuel and Nico give her a standing ovation because Manuel spends half his time being up Marizza’s ass for no reason I can see. (The other half is spent stalking Mia, obvs.) Interestingly, Luna starts to applaud, but Lujan stops her. I originally thought this was because Lujan was trying to protect Luna from the Argentinian Mafia, but then she starts clapping while Luna runs out of the room, probably to go cry.
Some hairdresser shop. It’s Luna’s big-haired auntie! We haven’t seen her in a while! Hi, Sandra! She picks up the phone and listens to Luna wail for a while, then agrees to let her come back home for a while to recover from her shitty, shitty friends. On a more subtle show, I might believe this is a parallel between Pablo and Luna. But it’s Rebelde Way, so probably not.
Back in Dunoff’s office, Papa B is all furious that they would dare hire someone who…would give an assignment that…had the possibility of insulting him? I don’t know. Whatever, he’s pissed. Pablo timidly says that he was hoping Marizza would punk out if she had to read it in front of Papa B himself. Papa B says, “Well, you’re an idiot, then, aren’t you?” Yikes. He gets so verbally abusive that even Principal “Let Me Pimp My Daughter Out to the Other Students” Dunoff steps in and tries to get him to back off. Papa B’s like, “If this 2-page essay written by a high schooler gets out, I’ll be ruined in Buenos Aires politics forever!” That’s hilarious.
Meanwhile, a bunch of kids who should know better surround Marizza and cheer her on for taking down The Man. Her essay was like the 95 theses, if the 95 theses called the Pope out with a bunch of thinly-veiled pseudonyms and metaphors and generally pretended to not be about him at all. Then Papa B shows up and browbeats her into coming to the principal’s office with him. I hate Marizza, but that is some bullshit. Other parents shouldn’t be allowed to boss the students around. On the other hand, I continue to be unsurprised by the lack of teacher involvement at this school. Manuel and Nico run off to defend her, but they’re stopped by Marcos, who tells them someone broke into their room and left THIS:
Oh, no, wait, wrong show. They left THIS!
“It’s the mark of the Society!” Marcos wails. All the random extras gasp in shock. Cliffhanger! Will Manuel be expelled? Will Marizza be expelled? Will the teachers in this school ever do their damn jobs? Probably not, but we’ll see what happens next time!
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