Previously on Rebelde Way: Who could be writing the newspaper? WHO? Literally all the evidence pointed to Pilar, and Marizza and Guido still let her get away. They must have learned their detecting skills from the Hardy Boys. Joaquin struck out with Marizza and Mia. You’d think he’d move on to one of the tertiary characters, like Fernanda or Random Amanda. Well, maybe not Random Amanda. She is a Potential Slayer, after all.
Opening monologue: Teenagers have the right to fuck up while they’re figuring themselves out. That’s fair enough, actually.
We pick up where we left off, with Papa B storming in and slapping Pablo in front of God and everybody. Manuel, Joaquin, and Guido all book it out of there. Papa B’s about to get his abuse on, when Marizza and Tomás run in. Pablo reminds her that she’s not supposed to be in the boys’ dorms, but she tells him that she’ll do anything for a friend. Pablo’s like, “What.” Tomás tells Papa B that the music is his, and he used Pablo’s name because the radio wouldn’t pay him any attention otherwise. Papa B is pissed, but he can’t exactly start hitting Tomás, so he storms off in a huff. Pablo wants to know why they’re covering for him, which I think is a fair enough question, but Marizza gets huffy that he’s not being grateful and stomps out.
In the teachers’ lounge, Gloria busts the econ teacher looking through Mansilla’s stuff. They tried to build suspense with this earlier, showing just his hand reaching into the drawer and pulling out Mama D’s gift, but anyone with a brain knew it was the econ teacher, so whatever. Gloria snaps at him that whatever’s going on between Mama D and Mansilla is none of their business…then she immediately starts gossiping about it anyway. Oh, Gloria. The econ teacher tries to talk her into blabbing to Dunoff: “Who’s more important, Dunoff or Mansilla?” Gloria says she’ll give it a shot, but doesn’t make any promises, probably because she hates them both (and everyone else in this school) equally.
Mia’s room. She asks if Feli has any proof that Joaquin is sneaking around with Marizza, and Feli’s like, “No, but he’s not exactly subtle.” He really isn’t. Mia doesn’t believe her, and Feli suggests that she ask her new bestie, Luna. Scare chord! Although, as the next scene shows, Luna apparently doesn’t know about Joaquin and Marizza: Joaquin texts Marizza that he’ll go with her to see Nacho, and Marizza squeals that he’s such a sweetie. She swears Lujan and Luna to secrecy, and tells them that she and Joaquin are dating. “I thought he had a thing with Mia,” derps Luna. Luna! How do you not see what’s happening here!
Papa B runs off to Dunoff’s office to whine that they should totally kick Tomás out for the heinous crime of playing music. Music is dangerous! It shouldn’t be taught to children at all! First they listen to Elvis, then they’re burning their draft cards and fleeing to Canada! Seriously, Papa B is like 30 years late on the whole “rock music is dangerous to the youth” thing. Mama B calls Papa B and he starts verbally abusing her. Even Dunoff looks weirded out by this, and he occasionally casually tells women that he wants to leave his family for them.
Cafeteria. Manuel and Guido gossip to Nico about how Pablo’s dad totally hits him. Guido muses that his own dad would never do such a thing, and Nico and Manuel are like, “Yeah, who IS your dad, anyway? Where the hell are you from, Guido?” Guido’s like, “Uh…gotta go.” Vico comes into the cafeteria and pouts to him that she doesn’t understand math, and Guido hustles her off to the not-library to “study.”
Over at another table, Mia asks Luna to tell her the whole truth and only the truth: does Marizza have a thing going with Joaquin? “I…don’t know,” Luna says. Luna! You had one job! Mia squeals that she just knew it couldn’t be true and thanks Luna for assuaging her fears.
Luna!!
Pablo finds Papa B in the main hall and Papa B tells him that he doesn’t want him hanging around Tomás anymore. But Tomás and Marizza’s support has given Pablo the courage to stand up to Papa B, and he takes a swing at him. Was not expecting that! Papa B sidesteps it easily, probably because he’s used to people trying to punch him out. Pablo yells that he’s sick of his dad and he wants to kill him. Mansilla comes to break it up and tells Papa B to get out. All the kids in the main hall are watching this drama, which is weird because usually they just keep walking past whatever shenanigans are occurring that day.
Some cafe, which is not the same cafe that they’ve been using for the past twenty episodes. This one has wacky paintings on the wall. Marizza apologizes to Joaquin for being snippy with him, especially as he’s going to such lengths to visit Nacho with her. He’s doing so much for her! And she hasn’t done anything for him! Uh-oh, don’t do it, Marizza. He tells her on Sunday they’re going to do aerobatics. Marizza pretends to be thrilled about this.
Mama B comes to see Mansilla. Man, it’s like all he does is deal with parent/student drama. Does Mansilla ever have time to like, grade papers or work on his lesson plans? He tells Mama B that there needs to be some changes with Pablo. “Is he okay?” Mama B asks. “No, he’s not okay,” Mansilla says. “I promise.” Just kidding, not that last part. He tries to tell her that Pablo has some serious emotional problems and maybe, just maybe, Mama B should like, take an interest in her son’s life. Mama B’s like, “Yeah, no can do.”
Vico tells Mia that Feli isn’t going to audition for the new dance group, so Mia runs off and gives Feli a dance uniform, and tells her she wants Feli to be on the team. Feli says it’s too late, but Mia tells her that she should do it because she loves to dance, and she’s good at it. It’s very sweet, but also…kind of weird? Shouldn’t Mia be mad at her for supposedly lying about Joaquin? Whatever.
Gloria tells Dunoff her suspicions about Mama D and Mansilla, but Dunoff blows her off. He gets really creepy about it, actually: “One thing that’s certain is the fidelity of my wife. She’s mine. I created her.”
So…that’s not weird at all.
In the hallway, Mia is leading the girls in singing “Bonita de más.” Bizarrely, Lujan is with them for some reason. The guys come up and tell them they can’t use the gym, because they have basketball practice. I am just shocked that, among everything else, Alicia couldn’t be bothered to properly schedule the dance team’s rehearsals. Also, shouldn’t an ~elite~ school have a dance studio? I remember my high school had one, as well as a gym. They all run off, but halfway there they hear music and realize the gym is already occupied by someone else. It turns out to be the new dance teacher, practicing ballet (Marcos recognizes the music as “An American in Paris”). The guys all ogle her, completely forgetting basketball practice.
Lounge. Tomás is playing pool solo, and Pablo silently comes up and starts playing with them. They both try to shoot the same ball, and meet eyes while gentle piano music plays in the background. It’s beautiful.
A long time ago, we used to be friends~
Pablo thanks Tomás for covering for him. Tomás tells him that it wasn’t just him; Marizza wanted to help out too. Pablo’s like, “What“, as am I. I mean, I buy that Marizza might’ve felt bad as it turned out Pablo didn’t spill her secret after all, but bad enough to backtrack on her entire revenge? I don’t know about that. Pablo apologizes for being a dick, and they vow to use the power of friendship to defeat Joaquin at pool. Aw!
A scene later, the boys are still slack-jawed, watching the new dance teacher. You’d think she stop and ask them what they’re doing there, but no. The girls come in and start class — the dance teacher introduces herself as “Lulu” (I think) — and the guys muse that maybe they should join the dance club too.
Pablo is the only one of the boys who isn’t at the dance club/class. I’m confused. Does he have to be there or not? What kind of bell schedule does this school have? Well, whatever. Mama B tries to talk to him, and Pablo opens up a little about his drinking. Just as they might be getting somewhere, Papa B shows up. He gets all pissy that Pablo and Mama B are hanging out without him, and tells Pablo that he’s shipping him off to military school. Pablo protests, and Mama B hesitantly backs him up. Papa B does not like that at all. He tells Pablo that from now on, he’s going to obey Papa B, and then drags Mama B off.
El orfanato. (I really can’t think of orphanages and not hear Don Omar’s voice. It’s a problem.) Nacho and Marizza reunite. Dammit, show, I thought I was done with this kid! He tells her that Sonia is here, to Marizza’s chagrin. Sonia and Joaquin meet again for real, and Marizza’s charade falls apart. Oops. Joaquin disappears and Marizza says she’s going to go find him. “Or do you want your grandchild to not have a father?” Sonia takes this literally, as she does with every ridiculous thing Marizza says.
Dance club/class. “Sweet Baby” is playing for the entirety of this scene, which is distracting because like half of it is actually dialogue. The boys argue that they’re being discriminated against, although given that they’re there solely to perv on the dance teacher/some of the girls, I’m having a hard time dredging up sympathy. Mia snarks that none of the boys were interested in dancing before (true), and none of them can even dance anyway. “What’s he going to do, a rain dance?” she snips, re: Manuel. Manuel’s like, “Au contraire!” and busts out some moves to “Sweet Baby.” I don’t think we needed the song to be played over the entire scene just for these last twenty seconds, but whatever. Lulu is super into it, and says the boys should be allowed on the dance team. The boys all dance out of the room and Lulu goes with them. It’s good to know she’s already picked up on the Elite Way tradition of ditching her class after five minutes.
The girls, meanwhile, plot for a way to get the boys off the team. Lujan says they won’t do anything until Marizza gets there, and Mia mocks her for needing Marizza to make all the decisions. She’s not wrong, actually.
Pablo tells Tomás and Guido that his dad is going to send him to military school. They ask what he’s planning to do, and Pablo decides to run away. Or he could just hide in the sad trailer! That thing is like a force field against any kind of adult authority.
Mia sneaks out of the dorms to meet Joaquin. He whines to her that it’s so ~hard~ for him not to be with her (I bet it is). He leads her to a cupboard under the stairs. That’s almost as bad as the tree. Don’t do it, Mia! Manuel, who’s also out of bed for contrivance purposes, rounds the corner and sees them going in. He immediately gets on the phone and tells Franco to get his ass to the school now. I’m sorry, what? Why? I mean, the creepiness of it all aside, it’s not like Mia making out with Joaquin is a national emergency.
Teachers’ lounge. Sonia shows up at school in the middle of the night and finds Mansilla. She starts wailing that she thinks Marizza is pregnant. Then it occurs to her that Marizza might’ve been trying to freak her out: “She doesn’t even have a boyfriend!” Just when it looks like Sonia might actually see through one of Marizza’s machinations for once, freaking Mansilla has to jump in: “Yes, she does, she’s seeing Marcos.”
Mansilla!!
Sonia: “No, his name’s Joaquin.” Mansilla: “No, it’s Marcos.” Sonia starts flipping out that Marizza’s been banging two guys, which is weird for someone who’s pretty much implied to be a burlesque performer, but whatever. (Also, the resemblance between Catherine Fulop and Camila Bordonaba is really strong in this scene.)
Mia and Joaquin make out in the cabinet under the stairs. The doors of the cabinet are apparently now translucent for the sole purpose of making a dramatic kissing silhouette.
She asks him if he’s seeing Marizza, and of course he tells her no. I mean, was he really going to be like, “Oh yeah I’m totally cheating on you, hope that’s cool”? Although…actually, I’ve known guys who’ve done that (and sadly, have friends who thought they were the problem for not being cool with it). He tries to unbutton her shirt, and voiceover Mia starts freaking out that she’s not ready to have sex with him. Listen to your voiceover, Mia!
Tomás and Guido help Pablo sneak out past the security guard in the main hall. I like how the guard has randomly appeared now that they need suspense, but was totally absent when Manuel was making a phone call in the middle of the hall. Tomás gives Pablo his watch, and Guido gives him his Secret Catholic necklace. Aw! Little do they know, however, that across town, Mama B tells Papa B that she won’t sign the form to send Pablo to military school. Dramatic irony? In my dorky telenovela?
Leave a Reply