Two more episodes! I can see the light, you guys! The light looks awful like 179 more episodes of this show, but you know, whatever.
Pablo’s hiding out from Papa B in the laundry room, and as ever, he needs Marizza’s encouragement to be ~rebelde. She’s like, “If you can dream it, you can do it!” They wanted to create a band, remember, and they did it! I mean…I get what she’s saying, but I hope Marizza knows creating a band in your dorm room is different than standing up to your abusive father. She’s interrupted in the middle of her inspirational speech, and Pablo has to hide from Papa B and Dunoff when they come in. Once they leave, Marizza asks Pablo if he’s going to spend the rest of his life running from his dad. If I were Pablo, I’d be like, “No, just until I’m not legally under his control, Jesus,” but he doesn’t say that.
Back in the teachers’ lounge, Renata finally gave into her and Mansilla’s UST and they made out. But then she got all mad over Rosario, because Mansilla failed to disclose that he and Rosario were still working on his project together, and you know how sexy group projects are. Mansilla’s like, “Oh, so now I can’t buy perfectly platonic flowers for women who are platonically staying over in my apartment? Is that what’s going on?” Renata snaps that that IS what’s going on, and their kiss meant nothing, and then the UST almost makes them kiss again until Gloria comes in and says Renata’s boyfriend is calling her. Yeah, that pretty much kills the moment. Mansilla looks really shocked, like he somehow forgot she had a boyfriend.
I guess it’s Monday, since Marizza has been let out of the laundry room to go to class. Simon’s also still skulking around the school, because he has nothing better to do. Go to your job, Simon! Simon tells Marizza that Manuel has a plan to get rid of Blas, but Mia won’t do her part (he conveniently leaves out that her part involves letting Blas prey on her), and Marizza groans that she’ll go browbeat Mia into going along with the plan. Marizza and Lujan squeal over her return, but Marizza ices out Luna, as she’s wont to do.
Mia comes in, and Marizza gets on her case about Blas. “He’s the worst of the worst!” he says. Well, I don’t disagree there. Manuel and Nico try to convince Mia that they’re ~all in this together~. Well, yeah, but only one of you has to get perved on by Blas, so maybe hush. Speaking of whom! He comes in and finds out that they don’t have class due to a parent-teacher meeting, so he yells at them to use their time to study. Ha! Blas, are you new? Mia caves to peer pressure and asks him to meet her alone in the gym.
Luna ditches study hall to go see Sandra, who tells her that she’s not a fan of this whole getting-married-at-15 deal. Luna’s like, “But you enable me in everything!” She wails about how she loves him for real and this is totally not a phase, man, it’s who she IS! Sandra suggests that Luna at least think it over, but Luna’s like, “I’ll never regret getting married at 15!”
Dunoff gathers Sandra, Papa & Mama B, Sonia, and Papa C to discuss Erreway. What does Sandra have to do with any of it? Where’s Nico’s dad? Anyway, Dunoff says that Erreway has to stop playing, otherwise the students won’t be welcome back next year. Everyone except Sandra and Sonia supports this decision, with Sandra jumping in to defend Manuel. Oh, right, Sandra is Manuel’s guardian. She does so little actual chaperoning of these kids, I almost forgot. Sonia gets all up in Papa C’s face about not supporting Mia’s dreams, and Papa C’s like, “Bro, you can barely parent your own child, step off mine.” Dunoff wants them all to sign a letter agreeing to break up Erreway, which is when the kids come in. The kids protest and all the moms back them up, and even Pablo comes in to stand with the band. This prompts some physical abuse from Papa B, and Papa C has to hold him off. Sonia says they should all talk to their kids before banning them from their one hobby. Yeah, maybe if Elite Way had extracurriculars, the students wouldn’t be driven to form illicit teen pop groups.
Nico and Luna walk and talk, wailing about how the adults just don’t understand their love. Nico promises to go with her to San Luis, even if they’re not married. So why don’t they just…not get married and run away together? It seems simpler, to be sure.
In the cafeteria, all the secondary characters gather to discuss the fate of the band. They’re all like, “The main characters are held together by the thin bonds of UST and pop music! The band can’t break up!” Their commiseration is interrupted by the arrival of a new edition of Pilar’s newspaper, which promises gossip about Mansilla leaving the school.
Sonia speechifies about how the school can’t meddle in Marizza’s personal life like this, which pisses Marizza off: “This from the Queen Meddler!” she snaps. I mean, that comment can’t be coming from Marizza, who is the Meddler Heir Apparent. Marizza’s still salty over Sonia messing with her and Simon (oh my God, it was one white lie to your predator boyfriend, get over it), but Sonia convinces her to focus on the bigger picture for now. She thinks they can convince Dunoff to back off on breaking up Erreway, as long as she can get the rest of the parents on board. Papa B and his fists of fury aside, the only one that has to be convinced is Papa C, and like all men, his weakness lies in Sonia’s cleavage.
Papa C is not so easily swayed, however, and he and Sonia get up in each other’s faces (again, some more) about how he’s SLICING MIA’S WINGS OFF AND COOKING THEM FOR DINNER by not letting her have a music career at 15. It gets to the point that Mia and Marizza have to pull their parents off of each other. Hee.
Meanwhile, Papa B is getting his abuse on with Pablo, as usual. Why Sonia thought it was a good idea to leave him alone with his parents, I do not know. Pablo’s like, “Music isn’t a phase, dad, it’s who I AM!” I bet in a few years, Pablo will have a Myspace with a “Music Is My Drug” icon. Papa B yells that Pablo’s life isn’t music; Pablo’s life is going to be politics just like Papa B’s. Mama B manages to jump in and stop Papa B from hitting Pablo, but Papa B snarls that they’ll regret not letting him do whatever he wants. Pablo leaves, and Papa B threatens to Woman in White Mama B, but she has her own card to play. She snaps that she has a photo of her and her sidepiece, and she’ll reveal that she’s cheating on Papa B, and that will…somehow make him lose all the elections? I don’t know.
Sandra tells Manuel that if she doesn’t sign the letter, they won’t give Manuel a scholarship for the coming year. Oh, man, not attending Elite Way school with its incompetent, abusive faculty and nonexistent curriculum? Manuel is crushed, I’m sure.
Nico and Luna tell Sandra that they’re going to San Luis no matter what anyone says. Sandra’s like, “You two are minors, does that help?…no? Okay.” Nico’s parents show up and Nico’s mom and Sandra immediately start fighting. Eventually Nico’s dad steps in and he’s like, “I’m willing to enable these wacky kids in whatever they want to do!” Theory: Nico’s dad is just trying to get Nico and Luna out of his hair so his blood pressure can go down.
The band regroups, knowing only Sonia is on their side. She’s like, “Whatever, your parents are gonna sign it, just disobey them and I’ll back you up.” Heh. I mean, it’s a pretty obvious solution, and I kind of can’t believe they’re all freaking out because their parents won’t let them do something? What kind of ~rebelde~ teenagers are they?
Mansilla swings by the office and asks Gloria if she was here while Renata was on the phone with her boyfriend, even though he knows Gloria would never listen to a conversation she wasn’t a part of, just like Mansilla would never ask for the gossip. HEE! Gloria dishes to Mansilla that Renata’s boyfriend is coming to work at Elite Way. Mansilla is not happy, at all.
Nico’s dad sits Nico and Luna down and babbles on about how proud he is of Nico, and how Nico’s pretty much earned an eternal get-out-of-jail-free card for being such a good son. Nico confesses that he hasn’t been a good son: he lied about being Jewish when he first started at Elite Way. Nico’s dad is like, “Say what?” What? Nico’s dad knows this! Nico wrote him that letter! Whatever. Nico’s dad decides that since Nico eventually did tell the truth, that means that he grew up and realized he was wrong, and so he’s still mature enough to run away with his high school girlfriend.
Mia meets up with Blas in the gym. She tells him she never ~really thanked him for going to Mexico and exposing Manuel, so she wants to do that now. With her tongue. Mia is going to need so much therapy when she gets older. In the corner, Simon takes pictures of them. He somehow gets it developed in five minutes, and they say they have to go show it to Dunoff. “What do you have to show me?” Dunoff asks, popping up behind them. They show him the photo, and Dunoff asks Mia if she consented to kissing Blas, or if it was against her will. “Think carefully, because Blas remaining here depends on your answer,” he says. Way to victim blame! Even if Mia consented, and even if it’s legal, he’s still a teacher and she’s a student! My head is going to pop off and fly around the room! Anyway, Mia says it was against her will, and Dunoff is like, “This is serious business!” Dunoff? Taking abuse of a student seriously? Be still, my heart. Mia freaks out that Blas is going to hurt her, and Manuel sweetly says he’ll protect her.
In Dunoff’s office, Papa B is reeling from the revelation that he’s not the only cheater in his marriage. I guess it’ll make him lose votes because it’ll look like he’s not strong enough to control his woman or something. He and Mama B fight about how he can’t treat Pablo this way, because Pablo’s not like his brothers. Papa B’s like, “No, he’s not! He’s rude, he’s undisciplined, he’s…rebelde!” Drink! Mama B says that unless Papa B lets Pablo stay at Elite Way, she’s going to send the photo to every newspaper in the country.
Hilda convinces Gloria to get Hilario to come back to the school so she can profess her love or some shit. I don’t know. He’s all worried something is wrong, and Hilda’s like, “Yes, it’s very troubling, we should probably talk about it somewhere more relaxing. Perhaps while eating!” Hilaro agrees, mostly because he’s just happy she doesn’t hate his guts anymore.
The entire fucking class gathers so Marizza can announce Erreway’s breakup. Everyone is absolutely devastated, as though any group of teenagers could possibly care that much about their classmates’ garage band. Except not, because Marizza’s like, “Yeah, but we’re just breaking up for the last week of school. Next year we’ll be back.” So basically, nothing’s changing. Now that the band issue is fixed, Marizza can go back to being mad at Sonia for meddling with Simon. Marizza’s all like, “Papa don’t preach!” and says she wants to be with Simon, with his Not-Wife and baby and lack of job and all. Given that Sonia just speechified about following your dreams and not letting adults stop you from being rebelde, she’s not really in a position to argue, but she puts her foot down about Marizza going off to Machu Picchu with him.
Mama B tells Pablo that he’s not going to military school next year. He asks how she got Papa B off his back, and she BSes that she didn’t tell him much, she just like…convinced him. Pablo’s like, “Sure, that sounds legit.” She invites him to go to England with her over vacation, but he’s like, “Nah man, I got a teen pop band to work on.” Uh oh. Is Mama B going to run off to England and ditch Pablo?
Dunoff shows the picture to Blas, and Blas is like, “No puede ser! Our love is pure!” Dunoff calls Mia in to testify, and Manuel barges in too so his lady love won’t be alone. That’s pretty sweet, actually. I mean, he’s doing it just so Mia won’t fuck up their plan, but it’s still kinda cute. Mia sticks to her story and says Blas forced her to kiss him. “But Mia, it’s me!” wails Blas. I dunno what he’s trying to accomplish with that, that would just make me testify harder.
Manuel and Mia go back to Marizza and Simon and tell them Blas is going to get kicked out of the school. But now Mia feels guilty for selling Blas out. Dammit, Mia! Someone get this girl to therapy and teach her about trauma bonding! Cutely, Marizza kisses Mia on the cheek before Manuel hustles her off to her room, because Mia has the vapours or whatever. Simon’s like, “I’m so glad we got rid of that older guy creeping on a high school girl. Now let’s talk about our unsupervised trip to Machu Picchu!” But then he gets a call from Not-Wife that Simon Jr. is sick. He has to go see him, and Marizza can’t come because that would just be awkward.
Marizza finds Lujan messing around on the computer, and they product place a website for a moment before getting down to business. Marizza asks after Luna, and Lujan’s like, “Well, she’s all messed up on account of you yelling at her,” and Marizza stomps off to go apologize. They make up, and Lujan of all people gets all sappy about how she hates when her friends fight. Who are you, Lujan? They flashback to that time they made a friendship pact over open flame in their room, and — my hand to God, we have to watch that entire scene all over again. Anyway, back in the present, they hug and promise to remain friends even when Luna disappears from this show forever. Luna runs off, and Lujan sighs that it’s too bad Luna and Nico can’t get married. Marizza’s suddenly on the marriage train now, and decides she’s going to help them do it.
Marizza, Marcos, and Lujan get down to the wedding planning. Marcos, God love him, still has some reservations about enabling two high school sophomores in matrimony — they’re not even upperclassmen! — but Marizza steamrolls over his objections. Then Pilar swings by, so this can only end well. Lujan produces the newspaper out of nowhere and shows it to Marizza, and Marizza gasps that it turns out Mansilla is leaving the school to help poor kids! Not because he wants a better-paying job! “Why would he let us think he was a bad person?” Marizza wonders. Maybe he was tired of arguing with a bunch of self-righteous teenagers. They all feel like dicks for being mean to him.
Mansilla comes by the teachers’ lounge and needles Renata about her boyfriend working at Elite Way. Renata reveals that she’s broken up with her boyfriend, and now she and Mansilla can make out all day every day now. Which they proceed to do, to the dulcet tones of Avril Lavigne. That’s real love, guys! Dammit, they really are cute together.
The kids all gather to celebrate the end of the year, and Marizza tells them they have one thing left to do, which is make up their shitty behavior with Mansilla. She splits everyone up into teams and hands them their parts of the project, except for Luna. Luna tries to join a group, but nobody wants her at their lunch table. Aw, Luna 🙁 Nico cheers her up by showing her that his dad has bought them tickets to San Luis. Weirdly, both sad guitar music and Atomic Kitten’s cover of “The Tide Is High” are playing at the same time.
Night falls, and Marizza catches up to Pilar in the hallway. She muses that the newspaper seems different — less full of festering, bitter hatred for the kids in class, for one. And what a coincidence, Pilar is also less full of festering, bitter hatred! Ergo, she must be the newspaper writer! I mean, I’m glad Marizza finally figured out, but what kind of weakass deduction was that? Pilar wails that she’s finally accepted the supremacy of the main characters, and she’s never going to write another edition of the paper again. Marizza agrees not to tell anyone, and Pilar hugs her. Marizza’s like, “Ew, that was not an invitation to be friends.” Then she gets a call from Simon telling her that he has to stay in the hospital with Simon Jr. Marizza’s all crushed, but then Pablo runs up and says he has an idea for Papa B to help them fix everything with Mansilla.
Sonia tries to leave Casa Colucci in a fit of pique, but she wastes hella time complaining to Peter about why she’s leaving, and that’s when Papa C rolls in. He tries to talk their disagreement (re: Erreway) out with her, but she yells that she’s not listening. I mean, that’s usual for her.
Manuel tucks Mia in and they’re all sappy with each other. He leaves, and Mia hears a noise upstairs. “That you, Feli?” she asks. Of course it’s not. It’s Blas, because he was hiding in her loft, because he is the CREEPIEST CREEP OF ALL TIME.
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