Opening monologue: They say when you’re jealous, it means you’re really in love, and you’re feeling things ~intensely. Or you’re an insecure dickbag. I’m just sayin’, on this show, one of those possibilities is more likely than the other.
So when we last saw Manuel, he was endearing himself to me by being the only person on this show to care about statutory rape. Blas tries to get him in trouble with Dunoff for it, but Manuel covers fast and BSes that he was just telling Blas about this thing that went down at his school in Mexico, where a teacher started going out with an underage student, and he’s not saying anything like that’s happening here, but if it did, his old school totally got the pants sued off of them. “I don’t know why it offended Blas so much,” he says. Hee. I love you, Manuel. I mean, I think I’ll be back to hating you within five minutes, but right now, I love you.
The girls all gather for gym class (sans Marizza, Luna, and Lujan) and Mia says they should rehearse a bit. They break into a dance routine (to “Vale la pena“) for about five seconds, then Marizza comes in. She’s remarkably upbeat about the whole thing, and Mia’s like, “She’s up to something.” Then Sonia calls Mia and tells her she needs to leave school now, immediately, to go somewhere with her. Mia’s like, “But my education,” and Sonia’s like, “Pfft, like you’ll miss anything at that school.” This is true.
In the teachers’ lounge, Blas ominously opens up the report on Mansilla’s background check. An excellent time for Renata to stumble in, literally. She spies the report on the desk and a scare chord goes off. We cut away for a few scenes, and when we come back, they’re bonding over their hateboner for him and cackling over how he doesn’t have much time left at the school. Renata opens her bag and finds her wallet gone, and realizes the only class she’s had is with the third year. Blas is like, “Oh yeah, those kids are the worst. Except for the underage girls.”
Nico and Marcos walk out into the courtyard, discussing the Society. Sure, do it in the open in broad daylight, where anyone could hear you. Also, dig Nico’s gelled hair:
It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to use the early 2000s tag.
Marcos insists nobody saw him steal the wallet (I bet somebody did), and they get down to trying to figure out who the third-year watcher is. Nico says they know he’s a friend of Pablo’s — which they don’t, they’re just assuming it because his friends are all rich kids. Which is a fair enough assumption, but I’m just saying, you don’t know that, Nico. Secondly, they know he has a cell phone like the one Nico’s holding. He does? Did they find that phone somewhere? Whatever, let’s roll with it. Nico wonders why they chose to steal Renata’s wallet. HMMM.
The rest of the kid are in gym class with the dude gym teacher who pops up every twenty episodes or so and then disappears. He tells them they’re going to do saltos de cajon, which I’ve never done in a gym class in my life. Then again, we used to play soccer with traffic cones and a crushed soda can. My school didn’t have a ton of money. Anyway, Paula calls Pablo in the middle of gym class and cries that she loves him more than anything else on the planet, including herself because she’s full of self-loathing and bad life decisions, and she’s breaking up with him. Pablo flips out, but she hangs up.
Mia leaves class to meet Sonia, and Sonia says they’re going to a photo studio to take photos of Mia, so they can get rid of Luz. Mia doesn’t even want to have anything to do with Luz, and Sonia says that she better care, because Luz is vibing with Manuel. Mia insists that she doesn’t care, and Sonia’s like, “Shut up, you totally do care, because you love him and I am going down with this ship.” Frankly, I think it’s weird either way that Mia’s not jumping at the chance to model. Is this character development? Sonia finally points out that Luz is gonna steal some of Papa C’s attention, and that gets Mia worked up enough to go.
Renata’s gotten Hilda and Dunoff involved with her wallet situation. Dunoff, as ever, is like, “We must deal with this with rigor and discretion! Mostly discretion. Let’s pretend it’s not happening.” Then Blas comes in and smugly says he found the wallet in Lujan’s bag. Renata wants to go yell at Lujan, but Dunoff says he’s going to talk to her tutor first.
All the kids jump over the boxes, except Feli, who freaks out and refuses to do it. All the kids laugh at her, except Marizza, who tells her she doesn’t have to jump. This is the same Marizza who calls her an elephant and a trash can, right? She is master of the mixed message. Facundo shows up and Pablo sneaks out of class, and Marizza tries to follow. Sonia catches up with her and tries to BS that she came to see Marizza, but then Mia rolls up ready to leave. Marizza storms off, and Mia and Sonia are like, “Whatever.”
In the cafeteria, Facundo’s giving Pablo some bad news, but we don’t hear what it is. Pablo leaves, and Marizza tries to sneak past Facundo, but he sees her. She asks what he and Pablo were talking about, and Facundo’s like, “I’m suspecting you’re just using me to get to Pablo.” Marizza’s like, “Stop saying words.” Anyway, the real reason Facundo’s here is to tell Marizza that Paula’s left his apartment, so it’s free again, if she gets his drift. Marizza’s like, “I have to leave now.”
Meanwhile, Dunoff is yelling at Mansilla for hiring his wife. He says that she doesn’t have any teaching experience, and Mansilla points out that Renata doesn’t either. I mean, I’m assuming Renata at least has a license, though. Dunoff snaps that when this blows up in his face, he’s sending all the angry parents straight to Mansilla. Mansilla’s like, “You do that anyway.” He leaves as Blas walks in, and Blas is like, “Oooh, I’m sensing trouble with Mansilla! My favorite!” Dunoff scowls that he’s sick of Mansilla, and Blas is like, “In that case, I have something that might interest you.” He hands over the background check.
At the photo studio, some creepy photographer waxes on about how hot Luz is. She comes out and they begin the photoshoot, which is a hugely disturbing montage of Luz posing for the camera. I feel like I’m on a list somewhere now. Still, Mia and Sonia have some fun mocking her, until Manuel shows up with a bunch of flowers. He says they’re from Franco, but also kind of from him, and he and Luz walk off together. Mia and Sonia are not happy.
Pablo is sneaking out of school, and jumps over the railing to leave. Marizza catches him mid-jump (hee) and asks where he’s going. He BSes that he’s going home to see his mom, and Marizza snarks that he should take a course on lying better. She needles him that she can help him sneak out, presumably so she can follow him.
Back in the main office, Dunoff is all pleased that Blas has the dirt on Mansilla. Blas is like, “Please, it wasn’t hard, all I had to do was channel my petty grudge against him into something productive.” Blas not-at-all subtly puts the report away in the teachers’ lounge, which Renata notices. She fishes it out and starts reading it.
Feli sits in the gym crying, and calls Augusto, who doesn’t pick up. Oh, Feli. Lujan comes in and decides for once not to be a total dick. She comforts Feli and offers to help her jump the boxes. Then Gloria comes in and tells Lujan she has to go to to the office. Dammit, Gloria! They were gonna have a training montage and become friends!
Lujan, in a rare moment of not-homicidal rage.
Feli tells Lujan that if she helps her with gym, she’ll help Lujan with Blas. Feli says she knows someone who has quite a bit of influence over him. Jesus, I hope she doesn’t mean Mia. In the office, Dunoff tells Lujan to return Renata’s money and cards, or they’ll expel her.
Paula’s at the mall, packing up her Etsy shop. She tells the mall guy that she’s not coming back. Then Pablo rocks up and starts passive-aggressively helping her pack, and she tells him that she has to leave him 4eva. Marizza creeps up and spies on their conversation, as Paula tells Pablo that “a guy” from her past won’t leave her alone, and she wants to start over in a new city. Pablo’s like, “Fine, I’ll go with you.” Even Paula’s like, “Uh…you’re going to leave your entire life behind and drop out of high school for me?” Pablo looks like he might have second thoughts, but then he’s like, “Hell yeah, I’m never going to find another girl with low enough self-esteem to date me.” They make plans to run away together tonight.
Blah blah photoshoot blah. Second verse, same as the first: Sonia tries to push Mia into modeling to get revenge on Mercedes and Manuel hits on Luz. Mia sees them walk off together again, and gets pissed enough to agree to model. A somehow even worse montage of Mia posing ensues. Luz and Manuel come back, and Luz for some reason wants Manuel to do something about this. He does: he calls Papa C, who is rightly not at all pleased.
Lujan insists to Dunoff that she didn’t steal anything; Dunoff tells her the wallet was found in her backpack and shows it to her. Lujan recognizes it as the one Marcos brought to the Society. Dunoff tells her she has until tomorrow to confess. Lujan runs into Feli in the hall, and Feli once again uses her bizarre third person: “Come on, tell Feli!” Why does she do that? Lujan gets pissed at her and storms off. Feli is upset, but whatever, having Lujan violently freak out on you is just part of being her friend. Just ask Luna.
Mansilla comes in to the teachers’ lounge to see Renata looking smug. He tries to make her a better teacher via an inspirational talk, but she’s having none of it. In fact, she wants to know why he left his old school so suddenly, if he’s such a great teacher. Because she knows where he used to work, plus literally everything else about him. “Absolutely everything,” she tells him as she flounces out. Mansilla is perturbed.
The photographer guy tells Luz he doesn’t have any film left to shoot her today, which Sonia and Mia are all smug about. I’m sure Luz will turn out to be a telenovela villain just like Mercedes, but man, way to dick around a 15-year-old girl just because you don’t like her family. Anyway, Papa C shows up and wants to know what’s going on, and Sonia and Luca tell him that Mia’s the model for their campaign. Papa C’s like, “Your campaign?” and they’re off fighting for the millionth time. Mia calls Sonia “Aunt” and Papa C blows his top again, some more.
Pablo sneaks out, and Marizza catches him. He admits that he’s leaving with Paula, and she tells him not to ditch everything for his much older yet extremely emotionally immature girlfriend. He needles her that what he has with Paula is ~real love~, which he’s never had with anyone before. Burn, Marizza. Marizza’s like, “Whatever, I’ve never felt true love either, so there!” As he walks off, he turns and lightly says she won’t have to put up with him anymore. Marizza tries not to cry.
That would be a nice, dramatic place to end the episode, right? Of course there’s another scene. Pablo meets up with Paula in the sad trailer, when Marizza comes storming in. She tells him that Paula has history with his dad, and he shouldn’t leave without knowing what it is. Wow, she got over that crying jag fast.
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