Previously on Rebelde Way: We’ve finally circled back to the whole “Mia’s mom is alive” plot, Feli’s about to be expelled for getting pregnant, and Tomás is still hung up on the possibility of Pilar having nudes.
Feli asks Miranda if he’s going to expel her, and he instead just like, changes the subject and asks what she’s doing to do. She says she and Lalo already decided to keep the baby, and he says that she needs to start going to the doctor regularly and taking prenatal vitamins or whatever. I mean, true, but like — are you going to expel her or not, dude? I guess the answer is “not”, because then Feli just leaves and Miranda lets her go. That was a lot of drama for nothing, then. (“A lot of drama for nothing” could be the tagline of this show, in fairness.)
Mia has dramatically called Papa C to school, but she doesn’t seem to have any emergencies going on, she just tells him that she’s too busy with school to do…whatever he wants her to do; probably something from last episode that I’ve forgotten already. Then she tells him that Manuel seems to think that he’s fully recovered and is trying to avoid the doctor again, so Papa C says that he’ll talk with him. Then he’s like, “I also have something important to say to you,” and Mia’s like, “Yes?” and Papa C’s like, “Nevermind, we’ll talk about it tomorrow.” Procrastination! Very relatable of him. He offers to sign Mia out of school so that they can spend the day together and talk.
Feli tells her classmates that Miranda knows everything. They want to know if he expelled her, but Feli says that he hasn’t made a decision yet. Lujan tries to reassure her that Miranda is slightly less shitty than the other adults in their lives, and he’ll try to go easy on her, but Feli wibbles that it’s not really up to Miranda alone. Marizza’s like, “Welp, I guess we have no choice but for me to accuse him of molesting me to get him fired!” She storms off down the hallway (to…tell Miranda her plan to his face?) and Pablo chases after her, telling her that she can’t just start spreading rumors that Miranda’s abusing her. And then: “I’m abusing you? That’s interesting,” Miranda says from behind them. HEE! Pablo tries to take the blame for Marizza, and Marizza says it’s her fault, to which Miranda says, “No problem, I have time to hear both versions. Let’s go.” God, I love him.
Manuel goes back to his room, and I just realized that his hair has grown like a whole two inches since the beginning of this episode. How did that happen?
Anyway, Papa C is waiting for him, and he asks if Manuel went to the doctor. Manuel says that he did actually go to his appointment, but he didn’t tell Mia that. Papa C wants to know why not, and Manuel blathers that he doesn’t want to get Mia all mixed up in his life again, since she’s dating Francisco now and everything. Papa C’s like, “She’s dating Francisco? News to me.” Manuel immediately decides that if Mia didn’t tell Papa C about Francisco, that must mean they’re not that serious. There’s still a chance for him! That…feels like a pretty big jump to conclusions, but okay, Manuel. Nevertheless, Papa C agrees to keep quiet about Manuel’s health.
In Dunoff’s office, Miranda’s like, “So explain to me why you were going to accuse me of statutory rape, although it’s not like the school board would have cared anyway.” Not in so many words. Marizza’s like, “We know you’re going to expel Feli, and accusing you of pedophilia was the only way to help her!” Heh. Pablo shushes her and says that they’re just worried about Feli. Aw, I love the Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl dynamic that these two are settling into. Marizza adds that they know Miranda was looking at the school rules regarding pregnancies, and Miranda says that Elite Way’s internal rules say that Feli should be expelled immediately, but Argentina’s education laws are the opposite. Intriguing! (I don’t know if that’s true, or if it was true in 2003, though.) He says that he’s not going to expel Feli, he just needs to work out how to reconcile the school handbook with the law — and he didn’t mention any of this to Feli because he didn’t want to worry her. I mean, she thinks she’s on the verge of expulsion, so maybe you could’ve mentioned that, Miranda.
Marizza and Pablo leave the office and run into Mia. They tell her that Feli’s not going to be expelled, and Mia runs off to tell Feli the good news. Pablo leans back against the desk and is like, “And what have we learned about not immediately accusing teachers of sexual abuse?” Hee. Marizza mumblegrumbles that she’ll try to control herself for him. Aw.
Moving on to much less cuter couples: Javier and Lujan are in the cafeteria. Javier is mad that he was left out of the meeting re: Feli’s pregnancy. He bitters that he can’t believe Lujan didn’t tell him, and he bets Marizza set the meeting up, and he thought Lujan was on his side over this whole Marizza thing, and how very dare she attend a meeting without him, etc etc etc. Lujan begins to cotton on that Javier is still weirdly obsessed with Marizza, but then he deflects and says that he just wishes Marizza would leave Lujan alone. Marizza and Pablo walk in just then and are like, “Gross.” Hee.
Marizza vows to get Lujan away from Javier, and Pablo’s like, “Didn’t we just talk about you not impulsively trying to meddle in people’s lives?” Marizza’s like, “This is totally different! It’s not impulsive, I have a plan!” She says that she’s going to get close to Javier and lure him away from Lujan, and then Lujan will realize that he’s a cheating douche. Pablo doesn’t like the possibility of Javier trying to mack on Marizza again, and Marizza’s like, “How dare you try to hold me back from meddling!”
Mia tells Feli that Marizza found out that Miranda’s not going to expel her. All the girls spend the next few seconds sighing over what an awesome person Marizza is. I’m glad we wasted a scene on this. Feli says that she wants to go tell Lalo the good news, but Mia says that Maxi’s still lurking around (he is?), so she leaves to tell him herself. At the kiosk, though, some other guy is there. He says he’s the owner of the kiosk and that Lalo quit and has gone back to wherever he’s from that’s all far from Buenos Aires. Mia’s all, “No puede ser!”
Mia runs back to school to tell Francisco. She breezes by Manuel in the lounge, and he’s like, “OMG, she’s talking to Francisco! Maybe she doesn’t love me anymore after all!” Mia tells Francisco that Lalo has left Feli. Francisco doesn’t believe it, but offers to go by the kiosk tomorrow morning to see what’s up.
The next morning, Miranda has a meeting with Etchamendi and confronts him over the two different sets of school rules. Etchamendi BSes that Elite Way has different rules because they’re just so different and special, and Miranda says that he wants to hold a parent-teacher meeting to vote on changing it. Etchamendi shuts him down all like, “Well, first of all, I want you to know that there’s absolutely nothing wrong or illegal about our rules, but they can’t be changed and you certainly can’t tell anyone else about them.” Not suspicious at all!
Over in the boys’ room, Francisco dashes out to find Lalo, but doesn’t mention this to Manuel or Marcos. Manuel’s like, “OMG, could his hasty exit have something to do with Mia?!” Manuel, for the love of God, please stop making massive assumptions based on your five-second interactions with Francisco and Mia. Marcos tells Manuel not to be ashamed about still being hung up on Mia, since he’s going through the same thing with Lujan. You know, he inexplicably became a dick at the beginning of the school year, then cheated on her, then dumped her, and then she moved on and now he’s mad. I can’t believe they had the audacity to just do the same plotline for both Marcos/Lujan and Manuel/Mia, now that I’m thinking about it. Anyway, Marcos suggests that Manuel just focus on getting better for now, and Manuel says that once he gets better, he’s going to reinvent himself as a better person. Maybe you should reinvent yourself as someone who isn’t repeating high school for no reason, Manuel. Then Michi comes in and tells Manuel that his doctor called, and he wants to see Manuel today.
Papa C comes to pick Mia up, but Mia is all cagey about leaving because Francisco isn’t back yet. I mean, why doesn’t she just let him give the message to Vico? Or he can text her? On her cell phone? Vico points this out, and Papa C’s like, “That’s what I’m saying! You’ve got such smart friends, Mia. Now let’s go.” Hee.
Marizza sets Laura off to distract Lujan, while Marizza finds Javier. He’s alone in the cafeteria, and when he’s busy being rude to the waiter, Marizza slips a note onto his tray asking him to meet her in the basement stairwell. Javier reads it and immediately runs off to meet her. Ooh, what are the chances of Lujan finding the note? I’d be totally shocked if that happened!
Francisco comes back to school and tells Vico and Rocco that he couldn’t find any trace of Lalo. “So he really took off,” Rocco says. Vico says that Mia’s gone out with her dad, but Francisco can call her with his news. Francisco refuses: he doesn’t want to tell Mia or Feli yet, because “we’re going to find him ourselves.” Rocco: “What do you mean, we?” Hee! Poor Rocco. He’s only involved in this because he was sitting here eating his croissants when Francisco rolled up.
Lujan comes into the cafeteria and sees the note that Marizza left for Javier. She runs off to find them, and walks in just as Marizza is telling Javier that she’s sooo unhappy with Pablo and she misses Javier. “Maybe we could get back together,” she says. Lujan’s stomps in and says, “Well? Answer her, Javier.” He quickly covers and says that he chooses Lujan, and Lujan starts going off on Marizza for trying to steal her boyfriend. Javier’s like, “Yeah, Marizza, quit trying to steal me!” Lujan tells Marizza to leave her alone, and the two of them storm off.
Francisco and Rocco ask for Lalo’s address from Michi, but she immediately susses out that something is weird: “Why are you asking me when you could just sneak out, cross the street, and ask Lalo himself? WHAT’S GOING ON?” Hee. They have no choice but to tell her that Lalo’s left town, and Michi starts shrieking that she’s going to kill him. Also hee! That probably should’ve been her reaction when he knocked Feli up in the first place, though. Anyway, she says she doesn’t have the address, since Lalo doesn’t work at Elite Way anymore. “What about a phone number?” Francisco asks, and they’re all like, “Omg, that could work!” Yeah, why didn’t any of you guys try calling him earlier?
Vico is also trying to get the address from Feli, and like Michi, Feli’s like, “You know you could just cross the street and ask him?” Vico decides to try a different tack, and starts rambling about how like, she’s not saying Lalo would ever abandon Feli, but like…maybe Feli should start thinking about it? Like, maybe she should start considering that Lalo might, perhaps, one day change his mind? Just to be mentally prepared because, you know, men are trash. Feli’s like, “Don’t be ridiculous, Lalo would never leave me!” Then Pilar comes in and says Mia is on the phone, saving Vico from having to explain herself. She instead has a really stilted conversation with Mia, wherein she pretends to talk about shoes while really trying to hint that they’re looking for Lalo. Bizarrely, Mia actually picks up on this and gives Vico the opportunity to say that no, they don’t know where Lalo is, but when she asks if they’ve spoken with Lalo, Vico’s like, “Yes, totally! Those shoes are great!” and Mia’s like, “Oh, good, everything’s fine then!” YOU GUYS.
After hanging up, Mia goes back over to Papa C and asks what he wanted to talk about. Papa C gives her a box full of photos of her mom, but Mia refuses to look at them. She says that after finding out that Mama Colucci had left Papa C for another man, she doesn’t want to know anything about her anymore: “She’s dead and that’s it.” Papa C: “And if she weren’t dead?” Mia insists that she still wouldn’t want to meet her. Papa C says that he still has something to tell her anyway, but then we cut away and don’t find out what it is.
Michi tries to call Lalo’s ex-boss at the kiosk to find his address, because I guess the only phone number they have for Lalo is at the kiosk? Whatever. The kiosk guy snipes that he’s working and doesn’t have time to be taking and sending messages. Vico also comes in and says that she couldn’t get Lalo’s address out of Feli. Rocco’s like, “I feel like we should probably tell Feli what’s going on at this point?” and Francisco and Michi are like, “Stop saying words.”
Javier tells Pablo that Marizza tried to hit on him. “Don’t believe me? Ask Lujan.” Pablo’s like, “You’re lying!” even though Marizza fully already told him about her plan to seduce Javier?
Maxi comes to school and flags down some random girl in the hall, asking her to tell Sol that he’s here. Some other kid stops the girl and is like, “While you’re bringing messages to the fourth years, some guy also gave me a letter for Feli.” Maxi immediately figures out that it’s from Lalo, and tells the girl that he’ll give it to her instead. Sol comes over and tells Maxi that she has proof that Feli really is still seeing Lalo. For whatever reason, though, Maxi still wanders off alone to read Lalo’s letter. Lalo writes that he’s taken a job in Chaco for two months, to earn some money and buy a better place for him and Feli. Maxi is horrified that Feli is still gallivanting around with such an uneducated boor — he even signed the letter “Take care of yourselves”, plural, when everyone knows it’s singular! It’s not like Feli is two people!
Sol rocks up and Maxi tells her what he’s learned. I don’t know why they couldn’t have just made him read the letter while he was in the hall with her. Maxi says that he’s going to use Lalo’s 2 months’ absence to try and ingratiate himself with Feli. Sol: “So that means you’re not going to give her the letter?” Maxi: “Fucking duh, Sol.” (Not in those exact words.) In thanks, he gives her the business card for a modeling agency that a family friend runs.
Tomás is still hung up on the idea of Pilar posing nude, so he and Guido sneak into the classroom during break to look through her backpack. I mean, 1) why would Pilar be carrying her nudes around during school, and 2) even if they did exist, why would finding her copies of them matter? It’s not like she’d have the negatives. Poor dumb Tomás.
Then Lujan walks by, and Guido asks if it’s true that Marizza tried to hit on Javier. Lujan confirms, and Guido and Tomás clutch their pearls. How can they break this news to Pablo?! It is, after all, so wrong to try and hook up with someone when you’re in a relationship with someone else. Right, Guido and Tomás?
Michi asks Feli for Lalo’s address, but then Feli gets “a weird feeling” in her stomach: “Like something bad is about to happen.” Like…a suspiciously psychic telenovela feeling, or preeclampsia? Michi’s like, “I mean, you do have a human being growing in that general area, it’s going to feel a bit weird.” She BSes that she needs Lalo’s address so that she can talk to him about, like, cafeteria and other working class stuff. Feli gives it to her.
Pablo catches up with Guido and Tomás and tells them that he’s found a job that they can apply for — it’s a night shift, so it won’t interfere with school. Of course, there’s only one opening, but they can just share the shift together! That’s how jobs work, right? As ever, I can’t tell if this show is pointing out how hopelessly out of touch Pablo is, or if they’re going to get their way because all labor laws bend at the whims of teenagers on this show. Anyway, after they’ve agreed to split minimum wage three ways, Guido and Tomás tell Pablo that Marizza did try to hit on Javier. Pablo storms off.
Sonia comes back to Casa Colucci and finds a note from Papa C, saying that he and Mia took a walk. For some reason, the actor who plays Papa C decided to do this voiceover by yelling the entire thing really aggressively. Whatever. Sonia sees the box full of Mama Colucci’s things and takes a look through it, becoming more and more paranoid that Papa C might want his ex-wife back after…seeing how hot she was 15 years ago? I don’t know. She brushes the thought off and puts the box back, hopefully killing this potential plotline before I have to sit through more drama from the adults. When Papa C comes back, she greets him with champagne and congratulates him on finally manning up and telling Mia the truth. Papa C confesses that he couldn’t do it, as we all suspected. Sonia stares at him judgmentally while “Girl’s Not Grey” plays in the background. YOU’RE KIDDING ME. I never thought that 1) I would hear AFI on this show and 2) that it would close out this, of all scenes.
Pablo yells at Marizza for trying to seduce Javier, although thankfully he hasn’t forgotten that this was just part of her master plan to break him and Lujan up. Nevertheless, he’s still mad that Marizza went after Javier without telling him, and Marizza snaps that he’s being a hypocrite, since he was looking for a job without asking her. I mean…I guess she’s right on a technicality, but there’s still a difference: it’s not like Pablo having a job would really affect Marizza (short of him not being around as much, but most teenagers have part-time jobs, and these two literally live together); Marizza pretending to date Javier would very much affect Pablo. Whatever. They yell at each other for being selfish, and Pablo says, “Maybe we should break up, then.” “Whatever you want,” Marizza snipes. Man. Are these two punishing me for complimenting them earlier in the episode?
Laura comes by and gives Marizza a note from Javier. He wants to meet her in the basement again to finish their talk. Marizza sighs that she’s come this far so she might as well keep going (that’s called sunk cost fallacy, Marizza). Laura’s like, “If you want my opinion, he honestly gives me serial killer vibes, so maybe you shouldn’t go.” Marizza’s like, “Stop saying words.”
Manuel and Marcos wait together in the doctor’s office, looking very early 2000s with their matching-sleeve-and-neckline T-shirts. Is there a word for that type of style? It was everywhere in the 2000s. Marcos tells Manuel that he’s here to support him, and Manuel says that he just knows that everything will be fine. “Well, that’s also why I’m here — who else are you gonna celebrate with?” Marcos asks, rather sweetly. “Her?” Manuel asks, pointing to the random lady next to him.
Marizza goes to the basement, and Javier tells her that he only rejected her because Lujan was there, and he is 100% down with her offer to make out behind Lujan’s back. They start kissing, which is gross, but at least he didn’t murder her, I guess.
Manuel and Marcos go in to see the doctor, who tells them that the medication actually didn’t work at all, so they have to operate on Manuel’s brain. We’re back to square one! I’m glad we spent twenty episodes getting to this point, aren’t you?
Leave a Reply