Opening monologue: Oh god, the mumbly girl is back again. I think this might be Georgina Mollo (Luna). She quit acting a few years after this show and became a fashion designer, presumably because she realized acting requires the ability to enunciate. Anyway, something something, hate, revenge, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, something. Whatever, these stopped having anything to do with the episode ages ago, if they ever did to begin with.
Papa C’s found out that Manuel’s here to get revenge on the Coluccis, so he’s gone off to confront him at school. He’s all like, “I HAVE NO SON” and backhands Manuel. I mean — you know, thinking about it, Manuel sucks up to Papa C a bit, but he doesn’t really do that much to ingratiate himself into the family. Papa C’s the one who started projecting all this father/son nonsense on Manuel in the first place, and he also ignored Mia every time she said she didn’t like him. It’s kind of his own damn fault. Papa C starts yelling at Manuel that he INVITED HIM INTO HIS HOUSE! and LET HIM STALK HIS DAUGHTER! Was it all a LIE? Manuel breaks down and admits he was wrong, and he’s going to go back to Mexico without stabbing anyone. Papa C’s like, “You do that, because we are never ever getting back together.”
Meanwhile, Mercedes has caught Papa C and Sonia having fun together, so she’s reaming Sonia out. Mia runs down and tells Mercedes to back off her substitute mother figure, and Mercedes starts snarking on her for being a spoiled brat. Sonia’s like, “Aha, so you are a telenovela villain after all!” Mercedes brushes them off and says Papa C still likes her, and flounces out. Sonia says they have to get rid of her, but sneakily. She uses an expression (“pisar el palito”, it sounds like) to that effect, and Mia’s like, “What decade is that from?” Hee.
Back in class, Dunoff is trying to discipline the kids for tricking Gloria into going out with a hooker. Marizza and Pilar take the blame, for some reason — I mean, I can believe Marizza’s trying to save her lady love Lujan from expulsion, but what’s in this for Pilar? Hilario also owns up to his part in it, and Gloria and Hilda are so charmed by his apology that they decide not to punish anyone.
Mansilla’s called in Feli’s dad for a parent-teacher conference about how his daughter is bulimic and needs serious therapy. “Feli’s always eaten like an animal,” he says. Mansilla’s like, “Yeah…do you think maybe talking about her like that is why she’s bulimic?” Feli’s dad is like, “Pfft, nah.” Mansilla insists that Feli’s parents take her to a doctor — shit, he’ll take Feli to the doctor as long as her dad pays for one. Feli’s dad is like, “So I don’t actually have to take responsibility for her? Cool, let’s do it.”
Mia brags to Vico that she and Sonia are going to take Mercedes down, and Vico’s like, “So…Feli’s bulimia, that’s not really on your radar, huh.” She suggests that Luna was right; three teenage girls aren’t really equipped to deal with a serious illness. Mia flips out that they’d be betraying Feli. Just then, Mansilla and Luna come in, and Mansilla says he wants to see them in the teachers’ lounge. Vico and Mia immediately accuse Luna of tattling and are pissed at her. But…wasn’t Vico just…oh my God, nevermind. Mansilla sits them down and tells them that Feli has issues and now is not the time to be all, “But we pinky-swore!” Vico and Mia are all shamefaced.
Manuel emos in some random corner of the hallway. He can’t do that in his own room? Nico finds him, and Manuel tells him he’s going back to Mexico. “I want to be with my mom, with my little sister…” MY GOD! He finally remembered his tiny lisping sister! Nico’s like, “Whoa, you haven’t remembered her since the first episode, what’s wrong?” Manuel confesses that Papa C found out about his revenge, and it was all for naught since he didn’t have anything to do with Papa Aguirre’s death anyway. So Manuel’s going back to Mexico to forget this whole misadventure and hopefully go to college instead of doing high school all over again. Just kidding, I made that last part up; but seriously, for some reason Nico seems to think that Manuel has to finish out the school year. He’s not actually a 10th-grader, Nico! Keep up!
Lujan asks Dunoff if she can apply to be a scholarship student, and he’s like, “You’re literally one of the worst students in this class, so…no.” Then he goes off to ream Pilar out for being part of the whole Popeye thing. He’s convinced that she fell under Marizza’s wicked influence, but Pilar’s like, “Papa, don’t preach! I do what I want!” Because she’s ~rebelde, get it? And Dunoff really shouldn’t be moralizing on her behavior, since he’s going around lying about why Mansilla’s resigning. Mama D hears their yelling and runs in, and Pilar immediately starts crying and wailing about how mean Dunoff is. HEE.
Manuel asks Marcos to lend him money. Cutely, he’s nervous about asking, and Marcos is just like, “Sure, how much?” Aw, Marcos. Still, even he balks at lending Manuel $500. Manuel’s like, “I’ll definitely pay you back. I’m gonna be hella vague about what it’s for, but I’ll definitely pay you back.” Marcos is like, “Oh, okay, we cool then.” Then Manuel borrows his cell phone, and books a one-way ticket to Mexico.
The next day, it looks like. Pilar returns to Dunoff’s office. He’s mad at her for hinting that something’s going on between him and Gloria, and wants her to tell Mama D that she made it up. Pilar agrees to tell the truth to Mama D, if Dunoff will tell her the truth about why Mansilla’s leaving. Sneaky! He does not like that at all, and he’s like, “I will not stand for you being so ~rebelde!” Drink!
Mia and Vico gently broach the subject of seeing a nutritionist with Feli. They promise to go with her, but she’s still like, “Aw, hell no.” They’re like, “We kind of think we’re not really equipped to deal with this,” and she flips out on them.
Hilda’s doing whatever teacherly things that the teachers in this school never bother to do, and Hilario waltzes in on her. She’s back to being mad at him for the Popeye thing, and she tells him to leave her alone. He’s like, “Man disregard desires of puny woman!” He’ll never stop bugging her until she forgives him, whether she wants to or not! Hilario leaves and Mansilla comes in, and he confesses to Hilda that the whole thing was his idea to begin with. Hilda’s like, “This is like the eightieth time I’ve told you to stop meddling in my love life.” Mansilla’s like, “But it brought the kids together! And Hilario adores you!” And Hilda should just get with Hilario because he wants her to, right? Women’s opinions don’t matter, let’s not be silly.
Mia yells at Luna for ratting Feli out to Mansilla. Luna’s like, “Well, she has a serious problem and you two weren’t doing jack about it, SO.” Mia snaps that she’s sick of Luna’s goody-two-shoes act (burn!), and she doesn’t want to talk to her again. Luna’s all sad. In the cafeteria, Sandra’s on the phone with Luna’s mom, who’s being all snippy that she doesn’t want Luna to come visit them. She makes out like Luna visiting and then leaving again will bum Flor out, but really she’s pissy that Luna didn’t fall for their plan to drag her to San Luis and be their maid forever. Sandra quickly hangs up the phone before Luna can talk to her mother, and lies to Luna that her mom is super pumped for Luna to come visit. This won’t blow up in anyone’s face at all.
Some guy comes to school to give Marcos the $500. I’m just pointing this out in case it becomes a thing later. He wants to know what Manuel needs it for, and Manuel’s all dodgy and evasive. Why doesn’t he just say he’s going back to Mexico? Like, for vacation? Nobody has to know he’s not coming back. Nico rocks up and he, Manuel, and Marcos all group hug. Manuel’s like, “Omg…what if I miss Argentina when I’m gone?” He runs off and Marcos tells Nico that he just lent Manuel some money. Nico totally flips his shit.
Marizza and Pilar hang out, and Marizza asks why Pilar’s suddenly being all rebelde. Pilar says she doesn’t want to be a snitch anymore, and she wants to be on her classmates’ side now. Ah, peer pressure. Pilar says she knows there’s something going on with Mansilla’s resignation, and she’s going to get to the bottom with it. I dig girl detective Pilar! Then Nico shows up and drags Marizza off, and Mama D comes in. Pilar lies that she’s been fighting with Marizza, and everyone is judging her because Dunoff is carrying on with Gloria. Oh, Pilar. What’re you doing, girl?
Sonia’s at Casa Colucci, sniffing Papa C’s phone like a total weirdo. What the fuck. Peter comes in and he’s like, “This is completely normal.” Man, Peter must have seen some shit those two weeks Sonia employed him. She tells him she came to see him, and Peter’s like, “Man, I just got my job back, don’t fuck this up for me.” Hee. He has Sonia’s number. Sonia tells him she’s come to ask him for a favor. “What is it?” he asks, with dread. I’m liking Peter in this scene.
Nico calls an emergency Erreway meeting and tells them that Manuel’s going back to Mexico. (Manuel’s not in this meeting, obviously.) They’re like, “But if he doesn’t play the Gran Rex, then there won’t be four of us. WHAT DO.” Marizza says she has an idea. This idea is apparently faking a fight with Pablo, which is hilarious because the two of them just GO for this fake argument (Pablo even puts her in a headlock). Manuel catches them fighting and moves to break it up; while he’s distracted, Mia steals the money out of his pocket.
Luna tells Sandra she’s upset over her friends, but this time, she’s going to work her problems out herself. Sandra’s like, “Wow, you’ve really grown from the beginning of the show.” Luna recaps her story arc for us: she’s made friends, she’s fallen in love, but her sister’s moved away and she’s basically stranded at school forever. Sandra says Luna’s always been a good kid, and tells a story about how she tricked Luna into going to the dentist when she was little, by telling her that they were going somewhere else. Luna’s like, “Hey, that gives me an idea!” She gets Vico to help her, and Mia eventually goes along with it when she sees Vico agrees.
Peter gets Sonia a tape recorder and she makes him stay and be a part of her wacky plan. She plants the recorder and arranges a meeting with Mercedes in the office. She baits Mercedes into insulting Mama Colucci (she flat-out calls her a prostitute), and revealing her evil plan to send Mia to a boarding school in Switzerland. Dude, is Switzerland the only country with boarding schools? “She hates me, and I hate her,” Mercedes snarls. She’s not afraid that Sonia will tell Papa C about all this, because it’s Sonia’s word against hers. Sonia grabs the tape recorder and skedaddles.
Hilda calls on Lujan in class to talk about Argentina’s voting system. Lujan blows her off and says she doesn’t remember shit. Marcos is like, “What the fuck?” and Lujan blows him off, too. Mansilla rolls in and he’s like, “I don’t care if you’re in the middle of class, I need to talk to Mia, Vico, and Feli now.” If I were Hilda, I’d be like, “You already fucked up my personal life and now you’re screwing with my lesson plan? Get outta here.”
After class, Lujan blows up at Marcos for daring to want her to stay in school. He offers to help her, but she’s all determined to go live on the streets again or whatever the fuck she’s always talking about doing. Marcos snaps that she’s choosing her pride over her relationship with him, and storms off. Blas catches wind of their fight, and is predictably unprofessional with Lujan about it: “What’s wrong, did Marcos realize who he was with and have regrets?” You’re a teacher, Blas. I mean, barely, but still. Marizza drags Luna off, so Blas goes to harass Marcos about how he and Lujan are both losers, and it’s really embarrassing how Marcos can’t even get Lujan to stick around, blah blah blah. Blas throws Marcos up against the lockers and won’t let him go until Marcos tells him that they were fighting because Lujan can’t get into the school next year. Seriously, you guys, Blas needs to be in jail. Every time I think he can’t sink to new lows, he does.
Manuel realizes his money is missing, and Nico is like, “Wow, that’s too bad, huh?” He tries to convince Manuel to forget it, but he recalls Mia bumping into him during Pablo and Marizza’s fight. He realizes she stole his money. Aw, man, I was so invested in Mia being a master pickpocket.
Mia, Vico, and Feli go to the doctor, with Mia and Vico overacting their boredom with the whole thing. The doctor comes out and asks for Feli, and Feli’s like, “How do you know my name?” “I’ve been waiting for you,” the doctor says. Okay, that’s just a little creepy. Feli realizes what’s going on and gets mad at Mia and Vico, and Mansilla and her dad for good measure. She reveals that she doesn’t believe they’re helping her because they love her — nobody loves her, because she’s fat. The doctor senses an opening to start psychoanalyzing her. Everyone yells their feelings, and then the doctor takes Feli inside to calm her down.
Mia calls Mansilla to tell him that Feli’s with the doctor. Renata overhears his end of the call and she’s like, “Seriously, you are going way above and beyond the call of duty here.” She says he clearly cares too much about the kids to leave, but Mansilla’s like, “If I love them, I must set them free!”
Dunoff asks Gloria to look over some plans with him, and Mama D walks in on them. She’s all suspicious, and Dunoff’s like, “What?”
Sonia calls Mia and tells her that she has proof of Mercedes being a dick on tape, and she’s going to show it to Papa C and then they’ll be free! I swear to God, if the tape gets erased or something contrived like that, I’m gonna scream. Pepa, listening to the conversation, is like, “You are way too invested in this Colucci guy.” HEE! Papa C arrives — I like how even though he hates Sonia, he still shows up wherever she invites him — and Sonia runs off to get the tape. While she’s gone, Pepa tries to talk Sonia up to Papa C. It’s actually quite cute, for Pepa. Anyway, Sonia tells Papa C that Mercedes is evil, and tries to play the tape for him. Of course, it doesn’t work. OH MY GOD. Papa C goes back to Mercedes and is like, “Everyone has been trying to make me think you’re evil! But I know you’re not evil! You’re so not-evil, we should get married!”
Blas goes to Gloria and asks her for the enrollment list, and he’s all shocked and appalled by whatever’s in there.
~Someone~ hands Mansilla’s picture to two shady 14-year-olds and tells them that they’re looking for this guy. You can tell they’re from the bad side of town because one of them has like, a twig hanging out of his mouth.
Mia, Vico, and Feli come back to school. Feli’s all happy after her therapy session, but then Manuel rolls up to get his violence on. He demands that Mia give back his money. She’s like, “What are you gonna do if I don’t, hurt me?” Oh, Mia. Manuel grabs her by the throat, and it’s meant to be scary, but it’s mostly just funny.
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