Hi guys! You may have noticed the site now has a new look: basically, while my old theme was able to weather much of WordPress’s BS over the years, the weird way it handles images in the new block editor was apparently too much, and I was getting sick of manually wrangling the captions in every post. So I’ve run into the arms of a new theme, which hopefully will also last for at least another 5 years before something breaks it.
Anyway, previously on Rebelde Way: Feli has finally, finally told her mother that she’s pregnant. That’s pretty much it. Let’s see the fallout of that, shall we?
Naturally, Mama Feli is not happy at all. She slaps Feli across the face and shrieks that she won’t stand to hear any of this ridiculousness, and if Feli keeps going on about dating Lalo and marrying him and having his sinful lower-class children, Mama Feli is going to pack her away to the countryside, never to see Lalo again. Feli cries. So I guess that scene where Feli made up with her father, and he agreed to help her out with her mother, was absolutely pointless.
Mama C and Mia come back from having dinner together. Mia is happy with her mom again, but she nevertheless says that she feels like Mama C hides things from her. Mama C insists that she doesn’t. “How about this: the two of us will always accept what the other says, without questions,” she says. Mia, for some reason, doesn’t think this sounds suspicious at all. She asks if Mama C has a cell phone, so that Mia can call her directly, but Mama C says she doesn’t. Poor Mia then offers to lend Mama C her phone, which Mama C accepts after some pushing.
The next day, Pablo, Tomás, and Guido prepare to go to Casa Bustamante for Papa B’s interview/photoshoot. Guido is all pumped about having his photo taken for a magazine, apparently not caring that it’s in support of Papa B’s politics. I’d say Guido has a promising career being used as a dictator’s propaganda shill, a la Dennis Rodman, but then remembered that this would require Guido having some kind of talent to make him famous to begin with.
Meanwhile, Feli is still crying in the girls’ room. Maybe you’d feel a little better if you didn’t wear your shoes on your bed, Feli. That’s nasty.
Vico and Mia are kind of weirdly dismissive of the fact that Feli’s mom slapped her, and tell Feli that she has to talk to her family again. Apparently the issue is that Feli’s mom thought Feli was lying about the pregnancy — hence her overreaction, as she thinks Feli was just trying to shock her (shock her, shock her) with that deviant behavior. Okay, but…if you thought Feli was TRYING to get a rise out of you, why would you give her the reaction that you think she wants? Whatever. Vico and Mia encourage Feli to talk to Miranda about her dilemma.
Papa C has breakfast with Hilda and wonders aloud when the hell Sonia is getting back from wherever she’s gone. Hilda scoffs that clearly Papa C doesn’t care THAT much about Sonia, otherwise he wouldn’t be out having dinner with other women!!! Papa C’s like, “I was meeting with my ex-wife to discuss co-parenting our child, you weirdo.” He insists that Sonia wouldn’t be jealous over that, which in fairness, a rational person wouldn’t be. Papa C does not know the genre of television in which he resides, however.
He decides to call Mia and invite her over to have lunch with him instead, but Mama C picks up the phone. Papa C’s like, “Mia gave you her phone? Weird. Whatever, now that I’ve got you here, let’s meet up! I need to see you again!” Oh, sure, I bet Hilda won’t tattle to Sonia about this at all.
Pablo stops by to see Manuel at the clinic. We cut to him saying: “Seriously? With champagne and everything?” Oh, so…that thing with Manuel and Angeles was real? Angeles really did molest an underage, brain-damaged patient? This hospital is the fucking worst. Pablo’s like, “Nice.” STOP ENCOURAGING THIS, PABLO!!!
Manuel tells Pablo that he still needs practice being smooth with the whole kissing thing — not kissing itself, but he wants to practice putting his hand on a girl’s face and bringing her closer. Pablo agrees to help him as long as they don’t actually kiss. No homo, amirite? Anyway, Manuel’s practicing on Pablo when a nurse walks in and catches them leaning in towards each other. She smirks and tells them that SHE doesn’t have a problem with boys kissing, but they should watch out for the doctors. That was weird. Why are all the nurses in this hospital so inappropriate?
Manuel also tells Pablo that, while he was macking it with Angeles, he started hallucinating that she was Mia instead. “What could this mean?” he bleats. “Your subconscious is telling you that you always think you can do better than the girl you’re currently with, so you end up emotionally and/or physically cheating on her,” Pablo doesn’t say. He kind of hems and haws without answering Manuel, and then they get interrupted by Marizza. She’s all salty to see Pablo there, but then Papa B calls and tells Pablo to get his butt over to their house.
Sonia comes back from her weekend trip with Marizza. She complains to Hilda that it sucked, since Marizza was moody over Pablo the entire time. Then Sonia asks where Papa C went, and Hilda is shifty about it. Sonia is suspicious.
Over in some cafe, Papa C and Mama C are eating together. And Avril Lavigne is playing in the background! This show really got a lot of mileage out of her first album. Anyway, Papa C asks Mama C if she’s just stringing Mia along for kicks. Mama C gets all offended and tries to leave, but Papa C stops her and says that he won’t let her hurt Mia.
Miranda is not at the school since it’s a Sunday and his day off. Mia and Vico call him and ask him to help Feli, and he shows up to school in a T-shirt. Is it weird that casual Miranda has me all twitterpated? Look, at my age, the most attractive thing in a man is his ability to properly control a classroom full of teenagers.
Anyway, Feli confesses to him that she’s afraid that her mother will make her get an abortion. Not in so many words (“I’m afraid she’ll make me do something to the baby that I don’t want”). Miranda assures her that, since Feli is a mother in her own right now, nobody can force her to do anything “against” her child. I…am a little wary of the way this show is framing abortion like it’s a personal attack on a baby, although I know that’s broadly how the anti-abortion movement sees it.
Anyway. Back at the cafe, Papa C’s like, “Can you give me a straight answer about what you plan to do with Mia?” and Mama C’s like, “What do you mean?” Papa C’s like, “I mean…are you going to abandon her again and crush her dreams? It’s not a hard question.” Mama C admits that she doesn’t intend to stick around. Papa C’s like, “So…are you going to like…tell Mia that?” and Mama C’s like, “Nah.” Papa C’s like, “Wow, you’re an even worse parent than I thought.”
Papa B comes by to pick the boys up for the photoshoot. Pilar offers to come along, but Tomás blows her off; meanwhile, Guido tries to get Laura to come along, but she blows him off.
Papa C goes back to Casa Colucci, and Sonia’s all like, “Oh, well, look who FINALLY CAME BACK from HANGING OUT with his EX-WIFE. Isn’t a little SUSPICIOUS that you’ve been spending so much time with her?” Papa C’s like, “We have a kid together, whom she abandoned at birth, and she’s suddenly reappeared after 15 years, so yeah, we kind of have a lot to discuss.” Sonia weirdly is like “OH REALLY??? WHAT COULD YOU TWO POSSIBLY BE DISCUSSING???” and Papa C’s like, “…why our marriage fell apart? Getting a legal divorce since we’re technically still married? Co-parenting our teenage daughter?” Seriously, why are they even fighting? It’s not like Papa C even lied to Sonia — he told her that he went out to dinner with Mama C! This is so pointless and weird. Papa C thinks so too, because he just throws his hands up and walks out. Sonia tells Hilda that Papa C is being a coward.
Feli asks Vico if she gave Feli’s mom her address, and Vico’s like, “How very dare you even ask me that!! I would never!!” and Feli’s like, “Well, okay, I was just asking!” and Vico’s like “I can’t believe you would ever suspect me of such a thing!!!!!!” Everyone is in this episode is so overdramatic, even for a telenovela. Mia, God love her, cuts off their fight and says that clearly someone was impersonating Vico. The girls all immediately realize it was Sol, and Mia says that she’ll take care of her.
Over at the hospital, Marizza cries to Manuel some more over Pablo. She sobs on his shoulder while Manuel awkwardly pats her head, clearly not really remembering who she is. Heh. He’s like, “But Pablo’s a really great guy! He helped me out with my physical therapy, and sneaking out of the hospital, and assaulting a nurse when I decided that I liked her! He’s been awesome!” Marizza’s like, “So he’ll take risks for you and not for me? That’s even worse.” I mean…to be fair, it’s not like Pablo is really even risking anything for Manuel? Papa B hasn’t banned him from the hospital or anything.
Then Marcos comes in, with a folder full of photos of Manuel and his family. No idea where he got those from. Anyway, we only get to see the same shot of Manuel with his family that we saw in the first episode, because showing us any more photos would require them to bring back any of those actors. Manuel gets all excited and tells Marizza and Marcos that he can’t wait to go back. Marizza is bummed.
Mia confronts Sol about ratting Feli out, and then she jumps on her and tries to rip out Sol’s hair. Heh. Miranda barges in and stops them, which like…sir, why were you just barging into the girls’ room, anyway? I LIKE YOU, MIRANDA. BE LESS CREEPY THAN THEIR OTHER TEACHERS. He tells Mia that Feli needs to come to the office, and Mia asks if Feli’s parents have arrived. “Yes,” Miranda says, while an ominous organ plays in the background. Hee! What is this dollar store Phantom of the Megaplex music?
Over at Casa Bustamante, Pablo, Guido, and Tomás are waiting around for the photoshoot to start. Pablo tells them that they can leave, but Guido’s like, “How dare you, I need this photoshoot to begin starfucking my way to the top.” Tomás tells Pablo that Papa B wants them there specifically, to show that he’s down with the youths. That’s hilarious. Then Guido gets up and says he’s going to go collect intelligence on Javier. After he goes, Pablo tells Tomás that he saw Marizza at the hospital. Before he can get all emo, though, Papa B comes in and announces that he invited some rando teenage girls over for the shoot, too. Oh, Jesus. Guido is going to have a field day.
Speaking of, Guido finds Ines in the kitchen. You know, where women belong. She’s hustling the servants or caterers or whoever they are, telling them to bring out canapes for Papa B’s company. Guido sighs that this house is so big and fancy, with canapes on demand, and yet Javier is still unhappy. How could that be? Ines asks what he means, and Guido says that he’s actually Javier’s closest confident. Ines is like, “Weird, he’s literally never mentioned you before.” Guido BSes that they try to keep their friendship on the DL, since Guido also hangs out with Pablo. He asks Ines what’s up with Javier and his dad — if Guido know more about their relationship, maybe he could understand Javier better! I guess Ines falls for this because she’s all twitterpated by the idea of someone trying to understand Javier. Dude, Ines, just send him to therapy.
Over at the hospital, Marizza is pouting over the idea that Manuel might go back to Mexico. Marcos hesitantly suggests that, since Manuel literally doesn’t remember anything about his life in Argentina, and since he WANTS to go back to Mexico, perhaps it’s best for him to go. Marizza’s like, “But that would make ME sad :(” Our protagonist, everybody. Again, I wouldn’t mind Marizza’s selfishness so much if the show ever bothered to acknowledge that she’s being a hypocrite. Anyway, Marcos tells her that he does have some good news: he found Lujan. Marizza’s annoyed that he didn’t tell her sooner.
Feli goes into the office to see her mom. After her shock, Mama Feli goes into denial mode: okay, so Feli’s pregnant, but clearly this is because Lalo tricked her! Feli is a mere victim here! And Mama Feli will take care of everything; she’ll book a trip to the US, because, you know…it’s legal there. “What’s legal?” Feli derps. Mama Feli keeps going on about how it’s just to let the air in and Feli won’t feel anything, but Feli doesn’t know what she means. Eventually Mama Feli has to spell out that she wants Feli to have an A-BOR-TION and Feli’s all, “Papa don’t preach!” She shrieks that Mama Feli is RUINING HER LIFE and Feli HATES HER THE MOST FOREVER! Yeah…not really convincing me you’re mature enough to have a child of your own there, Feli.
(Although, lol, the tragic irony of me posting this in the wake of the Supreme Court possibly overturning Roe v. Wade in the US. I wrote this entire recap before the draft of the opinion leaked, I swear.)
Papa B does his interview and photoshoot, going on about how he believes the children are our future, and we must teach them well and let them lead the way. Then they all pose for pictures while “La familia argentina” plays in the background. You know, if you didn’t get the irony that this is all a farce otherwise.
Over at the hospital, Manuel is doing his exercises when Angeles comes in. Stop right there!! Step away from the underage patients, Angeles!! She kind of flirts with Manuel and tells him that he’s made great progress — he’s nearly got all his motor functions under control! LMAO, are you kidding me? After all that drama over how he can’t do a high-five and how he’ll never be normal again, Manuel is now actually fine, and literally his only problem is some long-term memory loss, which he’s recovering anyway. WHY IS EVERYONE ACTING LIKE HE’S STILL ON HIS DEATHBED?
And of course, Manuel’s like, “Well, you motivated me, if you know what I mean.” GROSS! He pulls Angeles in to kiss her, but then hallucinates — again — that she’s Mia. Angeles asks what’s wrong, and Manuel says he needs some air. She’s like, “Oh, well, the fix for that is to stay confined to your bed some more!” This hospital sucks, for the eightieth time, again, some more.
Francisco, Pilar, and Laura come to visit Manuel, for some reason. They tell him that they saw Papa C arguing with Manuel’s doctor outside, and Angeles reveals that Papa C is trying to get approval for Manuel to come back to Elite Way. She warns them not to get their hopes up, as Manuel’s doctor is very strict, as we know — he won’t even let Manuel outside to get some fresh air, to the detriment of his mental health (and probably his Vitamin D levels). The kids ignore her and cheer anyway. I don’t know why any of them needed to be in this scene.
Back at school, Feli is crying all over Mia and Vico. She feels guilty for yelling at her mom, but can’t believe that her mother would suggest something as horrifying as an ABORTION. Perish the thought! Mia, for her part, is once again making it all about her and her parental abandonment issues: “You were defending your baby! There’s nothing wrong with that!” Lalo comes in and reassures Feli, too: “Nobody is going to hurt our baby.”
Look, I’ll cop to having never been pregnant, so I can’t speak to how it feels. It’s entirely possible that Feli’s already developed maternal feelings over her baby — and even if she hadn’t, an abortion would still be hard to think about, even if it makes logical sense. And if Feli were a real person, then I’d say she could make whatever decision she wants, even if it’s not in her best interest.
But Feli’s not a real person, and I find the way that the show is framing abortion to be pretty disturbing. In this situation, does Feli’s mom want to abort the baby for bad reasons? Yes. But there are other, good reasons that an abortion would make sense. Like, just off the top of my head:
- Feli is very young, and she didn’t exactly make a free, informed decision about getting pregnant — she didn’t even know they were supposed to use protection!
- She’s also now going to be totally dependent on Lalo — whom she’s only been dating for less than a year and who’s been hot-tempered and physically forceful with Feli before. Even if they were to break up, Feli would still have to deal with him for 18 years, if not more, since Lalo’s made it clear that he plans to be involved in the baby’s life.
- Even if Lalo has managed to stop his face-grabbing ways and genuinely tries to take care of Feli, they are still not at all financially stable and have zero support from either of their families.
It’s not at all selfish to not want to bring a child into this situation. Again, I don’t like the way abortion is being treated like an attack that Feli has to protect her fetus from, and not like an option that might protect Feli — who is still a child herself — from a very difficult, possibly abusive future. The show is acting like the ONLY reason a woman would get an abortion is out of shame or immaturity, and that Feli’s refusal to have one is a sign that she’s maturing.
(That said, people have tried to come at me about this before, so just to say it clearly: I do not actually expect this early 2000s teen telenovela to align with my politics, nor am I calling it bad or problematic because it doesn’t. This show is what it is; these are just the thoughts that I’m having as this plot plays out.)
A N Y W A Y. Mia’s furious with Sol for ratting Feli out, thus putting Feli’s baby at risk of being abandoned aborted by its mother. Feli is tired of all this drama and says to just leave it alone, but Mia’s like, “No, I’m projecting hardcore onto your fetus and this is actually just a proxy for me to work out my own issues.” She calls Mama C for an unspecified favor, which I guess will help with her revenge. Somehow.
Over at Casa Bustamante, Guido tells Pablo and Tomás all he’s learned about Javier’s tragic childhood: Papa Javier is apparently super demanding and doesn’t even care that much about Javier; he only comes to visit Javier occasionally because he legally has to. Javier’s whole deal is basically that his dad doesn’t love him. I’d feel bad for him but I mean…I’ve spent the past 100 episodes watching Javier and…yeah. I mean, imagine having to raise that kid. That’s another point in favor of abortion, methinks! Guido says that he’s stolen Ines’s agenda book, so now they have Papa Javier’s phone number.
They’re interrupted by the random girls that Papa B invited for the photoshoot. They whine about how bored they are sitting around waiting for the photographers to set up. One girl takes to aggressively hitting on Tomás, and he tries to dodge her but refuses to actually just say that he has a girlfriend.
Lalo storms in to yell at Mama Feli that only he and Feli have the right to make decisions about this baby, and they’re deciding to keep it. He says he’ll report her if she tries to make Feli have an abortion. “Are you threatening me?!” Mama Feli gasps. Lalo’s like, “Yes, I’m getting up in your face and yelling at you to intimidate you. This is kind of my signature move.”
Marcos takes Marizza to the Convenience Store Foster Home, but warns her that Lujan doesn’t want to see them. Marizza’s like, “But I want to see her! Lujan’s feelings don’t factor into this at all!” Nevertheless, she agrees to simply watch Lujan from afar. Of course, that lasts for about five minutes — Mauro shows up, and Marizza immediately marches across the street to talk to him. (She also asks Marcos, “Who’s that? He’s kinda cute,” which Marcos does not like at ALL. Hee.)
Mauro susses out that this must be Marizza, and he snaps at her to fuck off. Marizza insists that Lujan will want to see them, but Mauro says that the last thing Lujan needs is Marizza and Marcos messing with her head while she’s adjusting to her new life.
Papa C tells Manuel that the doctor refused to let Manuel return to Elite Way, but Papa C overrode him and Manuel is going back anyway. Once again: that doctor really is horrible. He deprived Manuel of access to exercise, sunlight, fresh air, and interaction with his peers, and then he was like, “Why is he depressed?” I’d be a better brain surgeon than this guy.
Papa C then goes back to Casa Colucci to tell Sonia the good news. She’s all passive-aggressive with him and Papa C’s like, “Seriously, WHY DO YOU THINK I’M CHEATING ON YOU?” Sonia literally can’t provide a good reason for thinking Papa C was up to something, but Papa C kisses her and apologizes anyway, and that’s literally it. That was so dumb. Then he tells Sonia about how Mama C is planning to abandon Mia again. Sonia fairly points out that Mia has to learn to face life’s disappointments, and all Papa C can do is be there for her. It’s pretty crazy how Sonia can be so smart in one moment, and then the next thing you know, she’s causing 120 minutes’ worth of drama because she won’t just ask her fiance what he talked about with his ex-wife.
Mia meets up with Mama C and tries to convince her to help: “This baby is important to all of us. It’s like it’s all of our child.”
Mama C tells Mia that Feli ought to think carefully about her decision: it’s one thing to imagine being a mom, it’s another thing to do actually do it. “That’s what happened to you with me, isn’t it?” Mia asks. I mean — yeah, that was obvious. It’s a harsh thing to say to Mia’s face, but Mama C isn’t wrong, regardless. Mia tries to ask again why exactly Mama C left, but Mama C shuts her down.
Mia changes the subject and asks if Mama C has any contacts with the magazines here in Buenos Aires. Mia has an idea for an article, and she also has a friend who she wants to be put on the front cover — could Mama C help with that? Her mother agrees to pitch it.
After coming back from the hospital, Pilar asks Laura if she wants to go visit the boys at Casa Bustamante. Oh! Let me guess! The random girls will be hitting on Guido and Tomás, and Pilar and Laura will catch them!
Ines realizes her agenda is missing and wibbles that she wanted to call Papa Javier, to make sure everything is going okay. Papa B tells her to quit babying Javier and stomps off. Ines manages to call Papa Javier anyway, who tells her that Javier went back to school. Ines is confused, as Javier was meant to come to the house. Papa Javier’s like, “IDK, he called someone and then said he had to go back to school. Didn’t really question it, he’s a weird kid.”
Mia catches Marizza when she comes back to school, and updates her on the Feli/Sol situation. She chirps that she has everything under control, though: she’s getting revenge on Sol, with the help of her mom. Marizza’s like, “…your mom who abandoned you and refuses to tell you the truth about what happened?” Mia’s like, “Stop saying words.”
One of the random girls asks Tomás to go into the backyard with her, to help “look for her bracelet.” She starts hitting on him some more, just as Guido comes out with Pilar and Laura in tow. In a shocking twist, they do NOT catch Tomás and the random girl, because Tomás just straight-up shoves her in the pool. HA!
Marizza goes to take a shower, and as she does, we cut to see a pair of Converse walking through the school. It’s clearly Lujan, but the show decides to keep us in suspense by spending wayyyy too long cutting between the shoes and Camila Bordonaba in the shower. Why is this show the way that it is?
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