Previously on Rebelde Way: Dunoff has threatened Tomás to stay away from Pilar, so Pilar started writing Tomás sexy letters to try and seduce him into ignoring Dunoff’s threats. Her ploy worked a little too well and now Tomás is doing weird shit like sniffing her panties in public, so now Pilar is trying to gross him out so he won’t want to have sex with her anymore. Presumably, once that plan works, she’s going to go back to trying to seduce him, then trying to turn him off, and so on until this show is put out of its misery.
Tomás goes to the cupboard under the stairs to meet Pilar, thinking he’s finally going to get laid. Pilar greets him and is like, “U like my new look?” Tomás’s boner is stopped in its tracks at the realization that Pilar has either glued hair to her armpits or grows hair freakishly fast. She gushes to him that it’s the latest fashion in Europe, and female liberation is totally in right now. She’s stopped shaving her legs, too! Tomás is like, “Women with body hair are disgusting!” and books it out of there. Whatever, this is meant to be funny, but you’re right, Pilar! Read some Dworkin and free yourself!
Meanwhile, Buenos Aires’s CPS are actually doing their job and have come to look into Lujan’s guardianship situation. I mean, it’s a pity they didn’t do this while she was being watched over by Blas, the violent sex offender, but whatever. Marcos wants to know what’s going on, and Michi’s like, “Well, since Lujan’s legal guardian has died, these MONSTERS want to put her with a FOSTER FAMILY! Unheard of!” Ugh, I hate to side with Michi, but — fine, taking Lujan out of her (relatively) stable environment, when Elite Way is perfectly happy to keep her enrolled, is incredibly stupid. But Michi, you know fostering is like…a thing, right? It’s not a perfect system, but you don’t have to yell about it like the very practice of placing kids with foster families is unthinkable.
Anyway, Michi keeps up the ruse that Lujan is on a school trip, and Sonia walks in just then. She goes along with it and pretends to be the school’s substitute principal to back up Michi’s claim.
Dunoff calls Sol’s mother to tell her that he’s sorry her husband is dying of telenovelaneosis and all. Sol’s mom is like, “What are you talking about?”
Papa C calls the private investigator Sonia hired and asks him to find Mama C again. The guy is like, “Really? I literally just found her, how tf did you lose her again?”
Sonia tries to explain to Marizza that foster families are actually pretty normal, and while it’s disappointing and worrisome that Lujan is getting knocked around in the CPS system, it’s not a miscarriage of justice in and of itself. Marizza’s like, “Everything I don’t like is illegal, don’t you know?” Marizza’s going off about how she doesn’t care about stupid things like LAWS and THE COURT SYSTEM when Pablo comes in and asks if she wants to go visit Manuel. Marizza declines in favor of figuring out what’s going on with Lujan. She’s like, “Manuel’s brain damage is getting kind of boring, you feel?” and tbh I can’t blame her there.
Over at Casa Bustamante, Papa B rants to Ines. He’s like, “I can’t believe Pablo hasn’t come crawling back to me yet! Clearly this means I need to abuse him more, or maybe put a hit out on one of the friends who must be bankrolling him.” Ines is like, “Have you considered that your obsession with keeping Pablo totally reliant on you, even though you’ve claimed to have disowned him, says more about you than it does about him?” Papa B’s like, “Stop saying words.” Ines wants to just leave Pablo alone, but then Javier comes in and says, “No, Papa B is right.” “Who even asked your opinion?” Ines shrieks. HEE! For real! Anyway, Javier tells Papa B that he’s correct that SOMEONE is supporting Pablo — but it’s not his friends; it’s Sonia Rey.
Pablo, Feli, Diego, and Fernanda go to visit Manuel. What a weird group of people. Does Manuel even like Diego or Fernanda? Well, whatever, they’re here now. The doctor lets them in, but asks Pablo to stay behind so he can talk to him. Ah, yes, I can’t wait for this medical professional to tell a 15-year-old all of Manuel’s business.
Meanwhile, the other kids have gone in to visit Manuel. He asks if Mia came with them and is all hurt to find out that she didn’t.
Marcos and Marizza scour the school for Lujan and finally think to look in the basement. Lujan hears them come in and hides herself by…pulling her mattress over her head. Subtle. I mean, it works on Marcos and Marizza, who basically walk halfway down the stairs, call Lujan’s name a couple of times, and then leave. Okay, honestly, I don’t blame Lujan for thinking Marizza doesn’t care about her after seeing that. Like damn, Marizza! You could at least come all the way down the stairs!
Manuel’s doctor asks Pablo to convince Manuel to start doing physical therapy. He says that Pablo is literally the only person Manuel seems to recognize and not have any animosity towards, so if he could try to bring Manuel out of his shell, that would be great. Huh. That’s a surprisingly non-manipulative approach from this doctor. Pablo agrees.
He goes in to see Manuel, who’s still all pouty over Mia not coming to see him. He wants Pablo to give Mia a message from him, but Pablo says that he and Mia aren’t on the best terms right now. They’re not? Man, I’ve really forgotten what’s happening on this show. Anyway, Pablo suggests that Manuel write her a letter instead. Manuel tries to, but then fumbles and realizes he’s forgotten how to write. He gets frustrated and snaps that everyone’s been trying to teach him how to write again, but he just doesn’t get it and never will. Pablo’s like, “Clearly you just need a REALLY GOOD REASON to write! If you really want to tell Mia something, then you’ll pick yourself up by your bootstraps and MAKE yourself write!” LMAO, way to guilt-trip the brain-damaged amnesiac, Pablo.
Laura rocks up to Guido while he’s bragging some more to Diego and Francisco. She tells the boys that she did indeed spend the night with Guido, and it was great apart for his inability to get an erection. The boys are like “WHAT?” and Laura’s like, “But he has a great personality! Bye!” Guido immediately starts blubbering to the guys that she’s lying. Diego and Francisco aren’t listening, though, and they’re just like, “There are pills for that, man.” Francisco would know. Guido storms off shrieking, “IT WORKS, OKAY? IT WORKS!!!” Hee.
Tomas finds Guido and starts ranting about how he loves Pilar and all, but can he really date a girl with hairy pits? Body hair on women is unacceptable and horrifying, right? God, I am begging Pilar to stop shaving for real and undergo her angry feminist phase. Throw a tampon at him, Pilar!
Sonia confronts Michi over lying to CPS about Lujan. She’s like, “I know you want to protect Lujan, but this is a delicate legal matter and we have to lawyer up, not give the judge excuses to take Lujan away.” I mean…this is true and actually pretty mature of her, but also, don’t help Michi lie to them, then? I swear. Michi’s like, “Golly, do you think we’d get in trouble for hiding Lujan from CPS?” and Sonia’s like, “That is literally a crime, so yes.”
Then Papa B calls Sonia and says they have to talk. Sonia hangs up on him. Heh.
Marcos finds Marizza hiding behind the bar in the cafeteria. She says she’s waiting for Lujan, since she knows Lujan will have to get hungry sometime and come to the cafeteria. Wow, some actual logic from Marizza! I’m impressed. Sad music plays as the scene cuts between Marizza waiting for Lujan and Lujan hiding out in her sad little basement cubbyhole. She brought a teddy bear with her, which has a little tag saying, “Hi, I’m Marizza!” for some reason. Lujan hugs the bear and cries all over it. Aw! I do really feel for Lujan here — I don’t know why this scene is doing it for me in particular, but her crying is actually kind of affecting. Maybe it’s the whole “weeping while curled up in a hidden corner of your high school” thing. I did a lot of that as a teenager, too, so this scene is #relatable. I mean, not so much with the whole being-an-orphan-on-the-brink-of-getting-taken-away-by-CPS thing, but you know, close enough.
Marcos tells Marizza that Lujan’s probably already snuck out of the school, so there’s nothing else they can do for her. Wow, way to give up early, Marcos. Some people aren’t loyal.
Back at the hospital, Manuel keeps trying to write a letter to Mia, but he can’t do it. He flips out and yells about how he’ll never get better and he’s just going to die in this hospital room, miserable and alone, never to see the sunshine again, etc. Pablo realizes that Manuel wants to go outside, so he steals a wheelchair and sneaks Manuel out of the hospital. Wait, what? Manuel hasn’t seen the sun or had any fresh air in like a month? This hospital sucks.
Dunoff finally starts to drag the whole Lujan-and-the-CPS story out of Michi, but before she can actually tell him what’s going on, Sol’s dad storms in. He’s like, “Why did you tell my wife that I was dying of an unspecified heart disease?” and Dunoff’s like, “…are you not?” Sol’s lie falls apart, and when she comes back to school, her dad drags her off by the ear.
Lujan goes into the cafeteria to steal some snacks and Bubbaloo (that’ll sustain her!), and Marizza and Marcos catch her. Marizza says she has something important to tell her, and Lujan snipes that it can’t be that important, and Marizza’s like, “Yes it is!” and Lujan’s like, “Well, then tell it to your new BFF!” and Marizza’s like, “What are you talking about?” and Lujan’s like, “You KNOW what I’m talking about!” Finally Marcos cuts in and blurts out, “CPS is looking for you!” Thank you for remembering the main plot here, Marcos.
Pablo carts Manuel around a park for a while, and a kid asks them to hold his soccer ball for a minute. Pablo tries to teach Manuel the letter “O”, using the soccer ball as an example of what the letter looks like. Somehow, that seems to get through to Manuel. Sure, whatever.
One of Papa C’s business bros calls and says that they got his factory to reopen — you know, the one Papa B closed because he was power-tripping about something or another. I’m glad they resolved that plot thread. I’m sure the teenagers watching this show cared so much about Papa C’s shareholders.
Etchamendi swings by and yells at Dunoff for letting Sonia Rey take over the school. Dunoff’s like, “Wow, that is genuinely one of the stupidest things I have ever heard in this school, which is saying something.” Etchamendi says that he heard it straight from the juvenile court judge. Dunoff storms in to confront Michi and says that he’s going to fire her — not unjustifiably, tbh. But then Etchamendi rocks in behind him and says that he promised the judge personally that they would find Lujan, so…Dunoff appears to change his mind and tasks Michi with finding Lujan instead. What? You can still fire her, Dunoff!
Also, does that mean that the judge working Lujan’s case is personally visiting her school and trying to find her? Doesn’t she have a case worker? I feel like getting personally involved is like…the opposite of what a judge is supposed to be doing here.
Anyway, Marizza’s already brought Lujan to Casa Colucci. She grouses that she was better off at school — for some reason — and Marizza reminds her that the judge and all of CPS are going to be crawling the school looking for her. Yeah, and they might have spent longer than 0.5 seconds standing on the steps to the basement, MARIZZA (AND MARCOS). Marizza says that they’ll just hide Lujan at Casa Colucci tonight, and figure out what to do tomorrow. Sonia comes in and is briefly suspicious as to why Marizza locked her door, but then she gets a call from Manuel’s doctor and skedaddles off to the hospital.
Naturally, Michi now can’t find Lujan. Etchamendi is furious that she might’ve snuck out of the school and is like, “How can you possibly be this useless, Dunoff?” Hee. Michi lies (again) that Lujan must have gone home, since they sometimes let students leave the school during finals to study at home. Etchamendi is like, “Lujan is literally a homeless orphan, that’s why CPS is investigating her case.” Dunoff’s like, “Oh right.” He and Michi bluster that Lujan must be at a friend’s house instead. Etchamendi buys this for some reason, and Dunoff yells at Michi to call all of Lujan’s friends (so…just Marizza and maybe Laura?) until she finds Lujan.
Fernanda tells Pilar that Sol got busted sneaking out, so now she’s grounded for a month and Francis Util will NOT be calling her back. She’s gleeful, but Pilar freaks out when she realizes that Sol now has no reason not to tell everyone that Feli’s pregnant.
Guido knocks on the door and tries to convince Pilar to shave. Pilar chirps that she’s a free woman now, and she’ll never shave again! I mean, honestly, the fact that it grosses Guido out is reason alone to never shave again.
Sonia gets to the hospital and is appalled that they let Manuel sneak out. I mean, this is the same hospital that was going to lie to him about who his parents were, so let’s not raise our expectations too high. They’re freaking out about where Manuel might be, but Pablo wheels him in just then. He tries to explain that Manuel needs to get some Vitamin D and that he actually made some progress by being outside. The doctor doesn’t want to hear it, though, and bans Pablo from visiting again.
Pilar finds Tomás (and Guido), with her fake armpit hair glued back on. She tries to hug Tomás, and he shoves her away and wails that he’s allergic to touching girls or whatever now. Pilar is pleased by this. Like…why, though? Is her end goal to hope that Tomás stops being so horny, and she’ll get back together with him when he gets his libido under control? Not to be all “blue balls is a real condition”, but won’t this just make him even worse if they DO hook up again? And why does she want to even stay with him, now that he’s proven that his love for her is conditional upon her remaining conventionally attractive?
Whatever. Francisco, Diego, and Sebastian(?) come up to Guido and tell him they have a present for him. It’s “the love pill”, aka Viagra. These guys are so fucking weird. Guido snaps that he hates them and storms off.
Feli and Vico come into Mia’s room and try to talk to her about how Lujan is missing. Mia is still in a mood and won’t talk to them. Vico and Feli needle her some more about how Marizza is her new best friend now, and Mia snaps at them and storms off. Oof. Honestly, I kind of feel for Vico and Feli here — I’ve been in that position, where your friend is acting weird and whenever you try to talk to them, they push you away. It’s awful to feel like your friend doesn’t trust you, and even worse if they end up hanging out with someone else. On the other hand, Mia is clearly going through a hard time, and none of these girls have the maturity to explain themselves or talk about this calmly. Oh, to be a teenager again.
Lujan falls asleep at Casa Colucci, and Marcos cries all over her and says he’ll die if they take her away. Yeah, what if they send her to southern Argentina? Everyone knows that’s a black hole from which characters never escape. Sonia comes home and sees a lump in Marizza’s bed, but Marizza lies and says it’s Mia. Sonia takes Marcos and Marizza outside the room, and quietly tells them that Lujan’s run away from the school. Marcos and Marizza are all like, “THAT IS BRAND NEW INFORMATION!! I AM SHOCKED!!”
Guido begs Laura to tell the guys that his penis works. Laura understandably refuses. She snaps at him for telling the entire school that he hooked up with her, and Guido is shamefaced. On the one hand, I’m glad Guido is finally growing a conscience re: girls. On the other hand, it is so very early 2000s for him to change for a “nice girl”, instead of like…learning to respect all women his own damn self.
Anyway, he mumblegrumbles that he didn’t mean to spread rumors about her, but you know, boys will be boys and he got caught up in locker room talk and all that. Laura sighs that it’s her own fault for thinking Guido wasn’t like the other boys. I mean…okay, yeah, that is kind of on her. Like, have you MET him, Laura?
Sonia convinces Mia to talk to Papa C again. He agrees to tell Mia everything she wants to know, and Mia asks if Mama C ever came back to see her. Before Papa C can answer, though, Sonia comes back in and is surprised to see Mia. “When did you wake up?” she asks. Mia’s like, “What? I just got here.” Sonia is suspicious.
Leave a Reply