Previously on Rebelde Way: Manuel didn’t come back to the school last night, and now the entire damn school is losing their minds. Uh, wasn’t he in the car with Prophetic Side Bangs? Aren’t they worried that she’s missing, too? Can’t they put two and two together and assume that two missing students might be related? (LOL, who am I kidding.)
Anyway, so now Mia’s all worried about Manuel because we’re supposed to think that she should still care about him despite how wrong he’s done her. She runs off to the office.
Guido says that Manuel’s luckier than he is. Tomás is like, “What are you talking about, he could be lying dead in the street.” “Yeah, but he didn’t have his party ruined like I did,” Guido grouses. My kingdom for Guido to be lying dead in the street, honestly. Anyway, Pilar passes by, and she’s like, “What party?” Tomás quickly covers and says that they went to go see Martavio’s show and they just drank water and had intellectual conversation and it was super boring. Pilar believes this. It hurts me to criticize my OTP, but seriously, why were we supposed to think that Pilar was wrong for accusing Tomás of cheating? Like, even if he hasn’t cheated on her, he’s still always lying to her about where he is and what he’s doing. It’s not like she doesn’t have a reason to be suspicious. Whatever.
Anyway, so Sabrina is in the office, waiting for news of Manuel. Dunoff comes storming in complaining about how hard his job is, again, some more. He’s still all worked up over Marizza and Javier sneaking out. Michi’s like, “And also another kid is missing,” but Dunoff blows her off. Sabrina’s like, “So…you guys aren’t gonna investigate then.” Heh. I’m assuming Sabrina went to a normal school where the administration actually looked after the students. Then Mia comes in, and she and Sabrina put aside their differences to fret over Manuel together. Because all women fight over men, and the only thing that could make us stop competing with each other is mutual concern over a man. (And concern over MANUEL, of all the men on this planet.) Ugh. Sabrina tells Mia that she has to tell her something.
But let’s not find out what it is! Instead, let’s cut back to the classroom and watch them product place bubble gum some more. They’re all sitting around blowing bubbles and throw gum into each other’s mouths while shouting that Bubbalooo is THE BEST GUM EVER! I don’t know why they’re not having class any more. Who cares. Feli watches Francisco chew gum and lapses into a dream sequence about him. Yes! It’s been so long since we’ve had a dream sequence!
The dream sequence opens with the title “FELICIENTA”, except it is in no way like Cinderella except for a bizarre bit with some shoes. Feli and the other girls dance around, then they Pink Panther their way into a shoe store, and Francisco brings in a bunch of shoes for all the girls to try on. Francisco helps Feli put a pair on and falls in love with her, because there’s nothing like looking at a stranger’s nasty feet to turn you on. They gaze into each other’s eyes and sing a duet. Then Vico snaps her out of it and is like, “Dude, class has been over for like ten minutes.”
Michi finally tells Dunoff that Manuel is missing. Mia comes in and adds that, according to Sabrina, he left from the place he works in a car. Didn’t Sabrina already tell them that Manuel stood her up? Did she just leave that fact out and only tell Mia? Whatever. Dunoff and Michi are like, “Oh, great, so he probably just went off with some girl and is out getting laid right now! Mystery solved!” Mia is crushed to hear this, even though she should be used to Manuel being up in random girls’ vaginas at this point.
Marizza and Javier walk and talk about potentially getting in trouble with Blas. Marizza is sure they won’t get in trouble, since Blas would admit that he was out with an underage girl instead of watching the students. Javier’s like, “Even if we do, I would get in trouble for you!” Marizza’s like, “OMG, Javier, you’re such a good person, how are you so flawless and honest all the time.” Marizza, you are killing me. Then Blas rocks up and drags Marizza off to the office — Javier tries to come with, but Blas stops him.
Over in Papa B’s office, he’s yelling at someone on the phone for not making his problems go away with a pair of cement boots or whatever. “I’m surrounded by idiots!” he wails, hanging up the phone. Ines comes in and she’s like, “Bro, chill.” Papa B tells her that Mama B gave Pablo permission to perform, because his lawyer somehow allowed Mama B to still have rights over Pablo when they divorced. Ines is like, “Well, maybe this is a sign that the telenovela gods WANT Pablo to play in this band.” Papa B rants that Pablo is actually quite brilliant and has the makings of a great politician, and Papa B won’t let him throw away his life by letting him do what he wants. Pablo will be a politician if it’s the last thing he does! Ines is like, “O…kay.”
Back at school, Guido is losing his damn mind over that waitress again. See? Who the hell would ever date him?
The boys are all like…trying to hold him back from running out and going back to her house or something, I guess. Then Augustina rocks up and Guido tries to run away from her, but she follows him. We’re supposed to think it’s funny but I think it’s just sad that this 14-year-old girl is getting led on by a jerky upperclassman who’s perving on waitresses behind her back. Mia shows up and Pablo chirps that once Manuel comes back, they can start rehearsing again, because he has permission to perform and tour now. Mia’s like, “Yeah, sure,” all emo because she still likes Manuel for whatever reason.
Francisco tries to comfort Mia. He’s so two-faced. He’s all about helping Manuel be an asshole, and then he turns around and tries to be Mia’s friend. I hate him. Anyway, Mia says she’s not upset because Manuel’s off with some other girl; she just has a bad feeling about all this. Vico interrupts them by running up and saying that Feli needs help.
In the office, Blas is getting his threat on about how Marizza is in BIG TROUBLE and he doesn’t care that she can blackmail him, because he can totally make her life miserable right back. Marizza’s like, “What, are you going to stop paying Lujan’s tuition?” She’s quite flip about it considering that she and Lujan have freaked out every time it looked like that was going to happen. Blas says that actually, Lujan has relieved him of his tutor duties, so now he doesn’t have to pretend to give a shit about her anymore. Wait, she did? I thought they were joking in that bit. Also, if she did, then why didn’t he get her kicked out right away? Why does none of this make sense? Anyway, the scene ends there, so we never do get to find out how exactly Blas was going to threaten Marizza. Because that would have also made sense.
Mia and Vico find Feli hiding behind the counter in the cafeteria, wibbling that she just can’t approach Francisco about the gifts he left for her. Mia and Vico try to talk her up to it, but she just keeps protesting that she can’t, for reasons. Finally Francisco himself shows up and asks if Feli’s okay. “She’s fine, she’s just hiding behind here,” Vico says. HEE! She and Mia ditch Feli and Francisco, and Feli finally works up the nerve to thank Francisco for the gift and put her face all close to his. “What gift?” Francisco asks. Oh, we knew this was going to happen. It slooooowly dawns on Feli that Francisco did not, in fact, mean to give her all that Amarte duele stuff. He’s like, “We’ll talk later!” and bails on her like the cowardly custard that he is. Feli chases him out of the cafeteria.
Pilar comes in and sees Guido and Augustina. She asks where Tomás is and Guido’s like, “UGH, it’s so ANNOYING when GIRLS talk to you without OFFERING YOU SEX FIRST.” Augustina keeps draping herself over him while Guido fantasizes about the waitress. That waitress should be in jail for A) statutory rape and B) enabling this whole horrible Guido subplot.
Pablo stops Marizza in the hall and says that they should start rehearsing again after Carmen’s exam, because I guess that’s today. Marizza is all pissy with him and says that since Manuel’s not here, they can’t rehearse. Pablo asks if she’s okay, because I guess he can tell that she’s in a worse mood than usual even though she’s acting just like she always does, i.e. terribly. He asks how she’s doing with Blas, and Marizza blows him off — but then Javier rocks up and asks about Blas, and Marizza gushes that she’ll tell him everything. Pablo seethes. Then Papa B shows up and says that he wants to talk, but Pablo says he has an exam and hustles off to class.
No one can focus on Carmen’s exam because of their own problems. Well, some of them have real problems — Guido, on the other hand, is too busy lusting after the waitress to concentrate. NOBODY CARES, GUIDO. Meanwhile, Vico stares at Rocco, and Marizza stares at Javier, who I think is helping her cheat, except he keeps flashing her numbers. This isn’t a math exam, Javier. Guido flings his paper across the desk, shrieking that he can’t study literature when he could be getting laid. Pablo tells Carmen that Guido isn’t feeling well and needs to be excused. Augustina overhears this and frets that Guido might be sick. I mean…he is, Augustina, just not in the way you think.
Papa B goes storming into Dunoff’s office, demanding to know what’s going on. “Everything’s fine! The whole thing with Aguirre is under control!” Dunoff bleats. “What’s happening with Aguirre?” Papa B asks. Heh. Dunoff’s like, “Well, he’s missing, but like, we know he went off with a girl, so they’re probably just off having premarital sex or whatever, so it’s totally fine! You know how those kids with hormones are!” Papa B’s like, “Don’t talk to me about Manuel’s hormones” and honestly, I’ve never related to him more. Papa B wants to know if Manuel’s guardian was notified, since he’s a minor and all. He is? Like — I joke about Manuel being at least twenty years old, but in all seriousness, he’s like eighteen, right? I think he was seventeen when the show started and now it’s a year later, so…I mean, I guess we’ve never seen him have a birthday or anything, but he should be eighteen or so by now. Whatever. Anyway, this means that they have to tell Papa C that Manuel is missing.
Augustina is whining to Lola about how Guido isn’t paying attention to her, but it’s probably because his life is so hard, what with the exams and the pressure and the cheating on her. Lola’s like, “Yeah, I have bigger problems in my life right now than your shitty boyfriend.” Laura comes up, having finished her test early (Lola rolls her eyes) and Augustina asks after Guido. Laura’s like, “I was trying to save my literature grade, not stare at fucking Guido.” Augustina runs off to find him, and Laura asks how Lola’s feeling about the whole adoption thing. She suggests that Lola ask their parents for information about her birth mom.
Over at Sonia’s house, Sonia’s like, “Dude, I can’t believe you chickened out of telling Mia that we’re dating.” She points out that the longer he puts it off, the worse it’s going to be when Mia inevitably finds out. Papa C’s just like, “Whatever, it’ll be fine.”
After class, all the kids turn in their tests and Blas waltzes in to announce that he’s searching everyone’s lockers. He asks them to hand over their keys, and Mia forks hers over, telling him to be careful as she has lots of “intimate things” in there. Ew. Blas says he’ll respect her privacy and Sol seethes. Outside, though, Mia suddenly isn’t in a flirting mood anymore, and wibbles to Feli and Vico that she has a bad feeling in her gut. “Are you hungry? I have food,” Feli says. Heh. Vico’s like, “It’s ’cause Manuel is like triple-cheating on you with some rando, isn’t it?” Feli protests that they don’t know that he’s cheating, and Vico reaches the same conclusion as Dunoff and Michi: Manuel left in a car, ergo, he must be with a girl. That’s the only reason anyone would ever drive a car anywhere. “Who cares? Move on, Mia!” Feli says. Ha! She’s speaking to my soul right now. Then Mia’s phone rings, and she sees she has a text: it’s from Lucas, saying that Papa C is dating Sonia Rey. Scare chord!
After a commercial break, we cut back to Mia, who has decided in the span of two seconds, that CLEARLY Papa C is just pretending to date Sonia to appease Mia because she hates whoever his real skanky girlfriend. “It’s OBVIOUS,” she says. Mia, I swear to God, you used to be such a good girl detective and now all you do is disappoint me. Vico and Feli are like, “That sounds kind of unnecessarily complex. Your dad is probably just dating Sonia.” Mia’s like, “Stop saying words.”
Martavio goes to the office to suggest that they all look for Manuel. Dunoff’s like, “Eh, he’s probably fine.” That’s the spirit! Let’s just never look for Manuel and let him never come back to this show, ever! Dunoff snarls that youths are irresponsible and they don’t care about their lives or anyone else’s, so who cares if they don’t come home? “Manuel’s not that type of kid!” Martavio bleats. Uh, yes he is. He says he’s going to call the police, and then Papa B comes in and yells “HANG UP THE PHONE, ANDRADE!” Then Blas comes in and delivers all the kids’ locker keys while Martavio watches feebly. Heh. It’s actually quite sinister but also I really enjoy watching Martavio realize how fucking useless he is.
Francisco approaches Mia and tells her that the Amarte duele gifts were, in fact, for her. He says he heard that Mia loved the movie — like literally everyone else on this show who’s seen it — and he thought buying her some presents would make her feel better. I think it would also make her feel better if Manuel stopped being a guilt-tripping fuckboy, but Francisco doesn’t seem interested in helping stop that. Francisco’s like, “Did Feli think I gave her those gifts because she likes me?” like…I thought he knew? I thought the show was trying to hint that he might like her back as long as she’s ignoring him? Nothing makes sense.
Sol approaches Lujan to try and wheedle information out of her. She’s like, “Lujan, I know under your rough exterior, you’re actually very nice.” “No, you’re wrong,” Lujan says. Hee. Sol keeps bugging her until Lujan makes up a bunch of BS about Blas being from a really rich scientific family. Sol is all twitterpated that Blas is going to invent the smartphone and keep her in riches forever. Then Marizza comes in and shoves Sol away, and demands to know why Lujan let Blas stop being her tutor. Lujan wibbles that it’s because she doesn’t want to be dependent on him, she has her dignity, etc. Marizza’s like, “I don’t care about your dignity! What about ME?” She reminds Lujan that the letter saying that the rest of her year was paid for came from Blas, so it might not be true. She and Lujan run off to go look at Lujan’s enrollment file.
Martavio tells all the boys that the administration doesn’t give a shit about finding Manuel, so they have to work together to figure out where he might be. All the boys agree, even though at least half of them don’t give a fuck about Manuel, either. Whatever. Then Papa C shows up, having received a call about one of the students under his guardianship. He thinks it’s about Mia, but Martavio tells him that Manuel is missing.
Tomás runs into Pablo’s room and tells Guido that Manuel is missing and they have to look for him. He then starts like…flipping through the CDs on his desk like Manuel’s hiding there. Poor dumb Tomás. Guido’s like, “Who cares about Manuel, I haven’t gotten laid in like eight hours.” Tomás tells him to shut the fuck up and leaves, but in the meantime, Guido’s palmed his phone so he can call the waitress (“Andrea”). WHYYYY do they think anyone cares about Guido’s stupid dick.
Papa B takes Pablo’s locker key and goes through his stuff. He finds Pablo’s guitar case and sniffs it like…there are traces of concert dust on it or something. I don’t know. Papa B is weird. More incriminatingly, he finds what looks like concert photos and music sheets in the locker. He runs off to find Pablo, who’s sitting with Francisco — “I’ll leave,” Francisco says, running off. Heh. Papa B asks Pablo if he’s still playing with that “little rock and roll band” he has — maybe even, like, going on tour with them when he was supposed to be in Bariloche. Pablo’s like, “What would make you think that! Of course I was in Bariloche! It was just a coincidence that you never saw me!” Papa B buys this for some reason.
Mia tells Vico that Francisco bought her presents; not Feli. She wants to tell Feli the truth, but Vico protests that finding out Francisco is a fuckboy will only crush Feli and make her start binge-eating again. They agree to hide it from her, because I’m sure that will go well.
Marizza and Lujan beg Michi to let them see Lujan’s file. “Don’t try that with me,” Michi says, and I love her for about half a second before she gives in and gets the file for them. She finds it and starts congratulating herself (“Yes, you can!” Michi/Sonia 2008! #Hope) and then Dunoff comes in and starts yelling at her and Michi yells back. Bless.
Tomás gets his phone back from Guido and calls around asking after Manuel. Pilar snatches the phone and starts whining at Tomás that he’s not paying enough attention to her. It’s not really a good look, but like, I’d be salty too if my boyfriend was trying to find Manuel’s predatory stalker ass instead of doing literally anything else. Tomás says he can’t believe how selfish Pilar is being and stalks off, leaving his phone with her. Pilar flips through the phone and finds a strange number in the recent calls. She calls it and Andrea picks up. SHOW, IF YOU BREAK MY OTP UP AGAIN ALREADY.
Marizza and Mia hang out in the cafeteria, and Mia frets over Manuel some more. “He never disappears like this — the only time he disappeared like this was when he was kidnapped,” Mia says. I love that that is a legitimate, sensible sentence. Telenovelas, man. “Yeah, but that was before. He’s a jerky jerkface now,” Marizza says. Hee. She’s not wrong. Mia changes the subject and asks Marizza if she thinks Mia should tell Feli the truth about something, even if the truth would hurt her. Marizza’s like, “Have you met me? Truth always, except when it’s convenient for me.” Nevertheless, she rightly says that lying to Feli will hurt her more. Marizza is just so much more likable with Mia, and they haven’t hung out recently. I like this scene a lot.
Lujan comes by to grab the binder with her file from Michi, but Michi hands her the wrong binder. It’s suspenseful, I guess. Whatever, like this school has ever been careful with the information it gives to children. Lujan goes back to her room and opens it, and she’s all like, “What the hell?”
For some reason, Francisco being all “What?” over the gift did not clue Feli in to the fact that it wasn’t for her. She’s all back on the Francisco train and is busy making a gift for him. Mia sits her down and tells her that the presents weren’t for her. “They were for you, weren’t they?” Feli asks, all crushed. Feli, you knew — oh my God, whatever.
Papa C and Martavio fret over the fact that Manuel is still missing. OH MY GOD, HE’S LIKE A MILLION YEARS OLD. HE’S GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL ALREADY, HE’S FINE. For some reason, they’re like, “Let’s call Sonia, I bet she’ll know something!” Why would she — whatever. Sonia does, in fact, know something — they call her and she cries that they just found Manuel. And I guess also that fifth year girl that was in the car with him, but nobody gives a shit about her.
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