LMAO so you know what we’ve gotten in 2021? New Erreway music. Because why not! This past year has been bonkers! After 14(?) years, Cris Morena has finally released Vuelvo from the vault. Looking at the tracklist, at least 4 of the songs are from their third album, Memoria, but there’s still a respectable 7 new songs there.
Apparently this is to celebrate Rebelde Way being on Netflix for one year (tragically it is not on US Netflix, because I swear to god closed captioning would have made my life so much easier), which…I mean, sure, whatever. That seems like kind of a small event to celebrate by dropping a whole-ass album that people thought was lost to the sands of time (even Felipe Colombo thought it was lost), but who cares! Whether or not it’s actually good — I haven’t listened to it myself — it’s incredible that it’s finally seen the light of day.
So, previously on Rebelde Way: Manuel’s finally getting the brain surgery that everyone’s been angsting on about for like fifty episodes. Instead of telling his friends (or even his own damn mother) the truth, he’s decided to tell them that he’s leaving school to be a solo artist. Because…assuming he recovers from the surgery, he’s just going to roll up to school and ask to be re-enrolled? WHY DOESN’T HE JUST TAKE MEDICAL LEAVE???
Anyway. Despite Manuel’s efforts to cover it up, Hilda knows the truth, and she asks the class to pray for everyone in the world who’s suffering, including “a friend of hers” who’s about to undergo surgery. “And…they may be a friend of yours, too,” she adds. It occurs to me that like half the class knew that Manuel had to get brain surgery anyway, so I don’t know how this didn’t tip them off. I know, I know, it’s my own fault for expecting the Elite Way kids to be brain trusts.
Meanwhile, Lujan has run off to find out where Marcos has been these past few days. Marizza follows her, but then, when Lujan sees her and asks to talk to her, Marizza’s all like, “Excuse me, I thought we were fighting, so I don’t see why I should answer your questions.” What? Why were you following her if you didn’t want to confront her, Marizza? Whatever. Lujan asks what Sonia was doing at the hospital with Marcos. Marizza is clearly torn between her desire to ignore Lujan and her desire to immediately start meddling, but of course meddling wins out and she calls Sonia. Sonia immediately spills the beans that she was at the hospital to see Manuel.
Back at school, Mia and Feli are flipping through the channels on the TV — they flip past some guy who looks remarkably like David Lynch, by the way. Rebelde Way is kind of like Twin Peaks, I guess, in that time has no meaning and the show makes no sense. Mia tries to tell Feli to stop being a sadsack over the father of her baby abandoning her — sensitive! — but before they can fight, Michi and Pablo run in. Michi gives Pablo the phone and tells him that it’s Sabrina, calling him back. Pablo asks to speak to Manuel, and Sabrina’s like, “Why would Manuel be with me?” and Pablo’s like, “Did he not drop out of school to go on a solo tour with you?” Sabrina tells them that Manuel told her he would never go solo and to never darken his doorway again. “Manuel lied?” Mia gasps like…does that shock her? Manuel lies all the time! He lied that time he cheated on you for like two months, Mia!
Anyway, Pablo and Mia immediately decide that Manuel must have lied so that he could easily drop out of school and go back to Mexico. This would be more believable if Manuel, you know, ever spoke about his life back in Mexico. Also, why would he need to lie in order to drop out of school? All he has to do is point out that he ALREADY GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL TWO YEARS AGO.
Whatever. Mia immediately wants to call Manuel’s mom, but luckily Marizza calls before Mia can waste her money making a long-distance call to Mexico. She tells Pablo that her mom was visiting Manuel in the hospital.
Guido tells Laura that he was the one who sent her flowers in class. Laura is confused by his sudden interest in her and Guido’s like, “Let’s be real, I don’t understand it either.” Just kidding. He BSes that he just wanted to thank her for helping him with his homework, and Laura’s like, “I mean, you could have just said ‘thank you’.” Before Guido can reply, Agustina runs up crying that she’s so lonely now that the only other person in her class has been written off the show. She notices Guido sitting there and yells at him to fuck off so that she can talk to Laura. Hee.
Back at the clinic, Marizza and Lujan are now sitting inside with Sonia/Papa C/Marcos. Marizza’s berating them for hiding Manuel’s operation from her, and Marcos is like, “I mean, he didn’t want anyone to know,” and Marizza’s like, “That doesn’t include ME! Nobody on this show is allowed to keep secrets from me!” Then she says — literally, her exact words — “I don’t care what Manuel wants!” I mean…we know, Marizza, but you’re not supposed to say that out loud! Lujan and Marizza ask if Manuel will be out of surgery soon, and Sonia and Marcos are like, “Eh, there’s a solid 70% chance that he’s going to die.” Lujan freaks out at this and runs away. No offense, but it’s not like you and Manuel are that close, Lujan.
You’ll recall that Marizza promised to make Sol a famous model if Sol brings her Lalo’s letter, so Sol tries to get it back from Maxi. She tells him that he needs to move on from Feli, and hanging onto the letter will just make him dwell on her even more. I mean…she’s probably right about that, actually. Maxi agrees that he does need to move on, and in fact, the perfect girl was in front of him all along: “It’s you!” he chirps and plants a kiss on her. Sol’s like, “Ew, it’s 2003 and guys with glasses aren’t fashionable yet!” Maxi says that he’ll give her the letter if she goes out with him, so Sol agrees. To be fair, haven’t they done this whole dating-quid-pro-quo thing before? I don’t know why Maxi is acting like this is new. Anyway, Sol is too grossed out to kiss him and runs away.
She calls Marizza and tells her that she has Maxi’s letter. Marizza tells her to give it to Laura, and she’ll work out a modeling deal with one of Sonia’s famous contacts. Sol’s like, “OMG, thank you so much, Mari! We’re best friends now!”
Marcos runs after Lujan and tries to comfort her, telling her that Manuel definitely won’t die. Lujan sniffles that Blas died, so what’s stopping Manuel? “Blas was just a creepy secondary character and Manuel is one of the protagonists of this show,” Marcos doesn’t say. He asks how she could think such a thing, and Lujan emos that everyone she cares about ends up leaving, one way or another. Again, Lujan, your memories of Blas are way too rose-colored. I wonder if the show is ever going to address how wildly abusive he was or if we’re just going to pretend that death totally redeemed him, a la Snape. Marcos wibbles that things have to be different this time, and then they both hug it out and start crying. Aw. I’m still so weak for these idiots and I hate myself for it.
Sometime later, I guess, Mia and Pablo have showed up at the hospital. Mia cries that she feels guilty for being rude to Manuel before he left. So on top of everything else, if Manuel dies on the table, he’s going to leave a bunch of people with guilt complexes because he couldn’t be fucked to tell them the real reason he was leaving school. I swear. Anyway, then Papa C comes in and tells them that there were complications with the surgery, and they’re still operating. Mia cries even harder while Marizza and Pablo are just kind of like, “Yikes” in the background.
Over at the school, Miranda is going through Dunoff’s things and finds a bunch of checks. He’s confused and suspicious, but before he can investigate, Michi comes in and tells him that half of the fourth year students have snuck out of school, as usual. Miranda tasks her with finding them.
Laura gives Feli the letter from Lalo, and then she, Feli, and Francisco all exchange a bunch of questions about if any of them have seen Mia or Guido or what they could possibly be up to, and then they all shrug and say they don’t know. That was pointless.
After class, Hilda comes to see Sonia, and tells her that she had to tell Miranda everything, since he was sending Michi all over God’s green earth looking for Mia, Marizza, Pablo, and Lujan. “Poor Manuel,” Sonia sighs. “He didn’t want anyone to find out, and now the whole class knows.” Okay, I knew that Erreway was going to find out the truth eventually because they’re the protagonists, but you’re telling me that Manuel lying to Miranda was also pointless? All that fucking drama, and his lie has unravelled within the first five minutes of him leaving school. This is hilarious. Hilda then changes the subject and says that the PI Sonia hired has called, saying he has urgent news about Mama C.
Sonia calls the PI back and he tells her that he found Mama C — she’s been in Buenos Aires this entire time. Just then, Mia rocks up to Sonia and Hilda, and Hilda tries to distract her while Sonia gets off the phone. Sonia asks the PI to meet her in person.
Laura interrupts Guido while he’s working on a love letter to her, although she doesn’t see what he’s up to. She tells him that Pablo said he can’t come to work today, and Guido freaks out that Leticia will throw a fit if Pablo isn’t there. Laura asks what the big deal is, and for some reason Guido doesn’t just…tell her that Leti has a crush on Pablo? It’s not like that paints him in a bad light, in and of itself. Whatever. Guido instead tells her that the owner hired all three of them, and thus all three of them have to work the shift together. Laura volunteers to go in Pablo’s place. Sure, because when you get hired to do a job, they’re just hiring like…the concept of a worker. If I sent a random stranger to my job tomorrow, my boss would just be like, “Cool, as long as someone’s sitting at Em’s desk!” Anyway, Guido is all twitterpated. It’s kinda gross that he seems like Laura best when she’s bailing him out of the consequences of his own actions.
Feli brags to Vico that she was right and Vico was wrong: Lalo hasn’t abandoned her; he just contrivedly left and didn’t bother to tell her in person! She’s like, “Men AREN’T all trash!” Vico apologizes for mistrusting Lalo and says that it’s nice that he’s going to support Feli. Feli weirdly flips a switch and is suddenly mad at Lalo, asking why he couldn’t support her by staying with her. Vico points out that babies are expensive, so Lalo is doing the right thing by trying to save up some money. “I already have money!” Feli snaps. “You don’t have money. Your mother has money,” Vico says, quite rightly. Feli adds that she has an inheritance, but she won’t get it until she’s 21. Vico’s like, “So we’re back to square one and you still have no money.” Feli’s like, “Stop saying words” and calls her mom, presumably to demand said money. I’m sure her mother will just fork it over once she finds out it’s for Feli’s out-of-wedlock baby with the cafeteria man, don’t you think?
We switch over to the hospital again, which is faded in to the tune of “Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz. The way this show’s soundtrack veers wildly between “pop-rock songs aimed at preteens” and “alternative music I listened to as an edgelord high schooler” is really something. Marizza and Mia wibble over Manuel some more, and Sonia’s like, “Sad as it is, this is the first time the four of us have really felt like a family!” Is this really the time, Sonia?
Miranda shows up and is like, “Papa C, as Manuel’s legal guardian, why didn’t you inform me about his health issues so that we could give him medical leave from school?” Just kidding, he doesn’t say that, but he really should have. Instead, Hilda has also arrived, and she tells Sonia that the PI is here. Sonia skedaddles to meet with him.
The PI gives Sonia photos of Mama C and says that she’s an agent for a bunch of musicians, so she’s always traveling, but she’s staying in Buenos Aires for a month. He also tells her the name of the hotel where Mama C is staying. And I guess they’re having this meeting in the hospital cafeteria or something — way to be stealth — because then Papa C and Miranda rock in and ask what’s going on. Sonia BSes that the PI is a work friend and they both run away. Papa C’s like, “Oookay.”
As it turns out, Miranda is not here about Manuel at all. Who cares if one of his students is undergoing brain surgery, right? He tells Papa C that he’s found some dirt on Papa B.
Maxi comes to school looking for Sol. Fernanda tries to put him off, but he spots Sol anyway. He tells her that he’s gotten her an interview with a modeling agency, and he wants to go with her to the meeting. Sol’s like, “Oooh, I actually got a better deal, so I don’t need to use you to advance my modeling career anymore.” Weirdly, despite this, she doesn’t break up with Maxi, and instead gushes that she doesn’t need modeling now that she has him. Okay, but like…she was only with him in order to use him, and she BSes that she needs to study instead of going out with him, so…what is the point of this? Just dump him, Sol!
Francisco calls Mia all pissy because he had to find out from Laura that Mia ditched school. He asks where Mia is now, and Mia says that she can’t tell him. I mean, you don’t have to tell him that Manuel’s in the middle of brain surgery, Mia. You can just say you have a family emergency. Anyway, this contrivance just annoys Francisco even more, and he snaps that while she’s off having fun without him, she should think about whether or not she even wants this relationship. Mia’s like, “Well, not if you’re gonna be a dick!”
Feli’s mom comes to see her, and Feli tells her that she and Maxi have broken up, and asks for part of her inheritance. Her mother wants to know what for, and Feli BSes that she wants to open her own clothing store, in order to distract her from Maxi. What? That’s the excuse she’s going for? My God, Feli, at least make it something believable, like you want to buy new clothes or something. Whatever, it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t work anyway. Feli’s mom says that nobody is going to buy clothes from a fat person’s store, but if Feli loses some weight, then her mom will talk to her dad about it.
Over at work, Leti is having a meltdown because she thinks Laura is Pablo’s girlfriend — why else would Pablo send her in his place? Guido covers and says that Laura is his girlfriend, not Pablo’s. Oh, no. I am so weak for the fake dating trope. Is Guido going to trick me into shipping him and Laura? DAMN YOU, GUIDO. He waltzes back out and kisses Laura, and she’s like, “What the fuck?” for half a second before kissing him back. LOVE YOURSELF, LAURA.
Sonia calls Mama C’s hotel and manages to get Mama C on the phone, but she panics and hangs up before saying anything. Hey, Sonia has the same Nokia my mom had in 2002! I almost wrote, “I played the shit out of Snake on that thing” before I realized that I made that exact joke in 2012. Oh my God, I’ve been here for so long, guys. Taylor Swift will have released and then rereleased Red by the time I’m done with these recaps, RIP.
She goes back to the waiting room and hangs out with Hilda and Papa C. They’re like, “How much longer is this operation going to take?” As long as it takes to wring out the maximum drama from this, guys! Hilda wanders off to go look for Mia/Marizza/Marcos/Lujan/Pablo (Jesus, half the class is here), leaving Sonia and Papa C alone. Papa C’s like, “So…are you gonna tell me who that guy you were meeting with was?” Sonia BSes that he’s just a friend of hers who’s looking for work. Papa C notes that he saw Sonia give him a check, and thinks the guy was asking for money. Papa C is all upset that Sonia’s giving away her money, especially since she’s also supporting him (as Papa B shut down his business, as you’ll recall). Sonia asks if Papa C was this tetchy about money with Mama C, and he goes off on a ramble about how she never cared for money or material things. Sonia’s like, “So not like me.” Papa C: “Totally not like you.” Heh. Sonia takes offense, and Papa C assures her that he loves her.
Sonia reminds Papa C that he was going to tell Mia about her mother, and Papa C’s like, “I mean, that was before the return of Manuel’s mysterious brain disease.” He insists that now isn’t the time. I mean, he’s probably not wrong.
Hilda drags the rest of the kids back to the waiting room, and the adults all scold them for trying to sneak into the operating theater. They’re like, “Have you considered that having a bunch of pushy teenagers around is not conducive to performing brain surgery?” Marizza’s like, “Well, we deserve updates! Nobody’s doing anything!” Hilda tries to explain to her that, like, they can’t just rush brain surgery, and Marizza’s like, “Stop saying words.”
Meanwhile, Mia runs into a doctor in the hallway and asks how Manuel is. “Girl, I’m just some random nurse, I don’t know everything about every single person in this hospital, also I have no idea who you are and I’m not allowed to just talk about someone’s prognosis,” he doesn’t say. We never find out if he violates HIPAA, though, because we just cut back to the waiting room, where the doctor brings Mia back. He tells them that the surgery has mostly gone well, but when they cut into Manuel’s brain, they found that one of his arteries wasn’t arterying properly or whatever blah blah I’m too lazy to explain the gritty details of Manuel’s brain problems blah. Anyway, they think he’ll be fine, but they won’t really know until he wakes up. I’m just waiting for Marizza to storm into Manuel’s hospital room and demand he wake up from his operation sooner, tbh.
Sol calls the owner of the fashion magazine that Marizza promised to hook her up with. He has no idea who she is and tells her to never bother him again. HEE! Sol’s all, “No puede ser!”
Papa B shows up to Elite Way all drunk and off his face. What up, Papa B! Long time no see! Javier tells him that he has important Pablo-related news, and relays that Pablo, Mia, and Marizza have left school, ergo, they’re up to something. Papa B storms off to go yell at Michi or Miranda or whoever’s in the office, and Javier beams to himself. Javier is weirdly smug considering that none of his evil plots have ever ended in any kind of permanent consequences for Pablo.
Feli rants to Vico about her mother not forking over the money, and says she’ll just ask for it directly from her grandma. Vico clearly thinks Feli needs to woman up and stop begging people for money, but she doesn’t say so, and instead just says that they should wait for Mia. Then Sol storms in, furious that Marizza tricked her. She tells Feli that if Marizza doesn’t hold up her end of the bargain to make Sol a model, Sol will tell everyone that Feli’s pregnant. Feli takes Sol into Marizza’s empty room and then grabs her by the neck, threatening to kill her if Sol tells anyone that Feli’s pregnant. I see Lalo’s face-grabbing ways have really rubbed off on her.
Papa B yells at Michi, demanding to know who signed Pablo out of school. Michi’s like, “How should I know?” Yeah! You should just let total strangers sign your kids out of school and not keep track of who they are! That’s not how children get abducted or anything. Papa B tells her to call Miranda for him.
Leti makes a reference to “[Laura’s] boyfriend”, and Laura’s like, “Whomst?” Leti asks if Laura and Guido are or aren’t together, and Laura has a flashback to Guido telling her to play along with whatever he comes up with before he kissed her. She covers and says that they are, and Leti’s like, “You shouldn’t let him get away! You make a real nice couple!” Laura’s like, “Ew.” Hee. Leti tells Laura that she initially thought Laura was Pablo’s girlfriend, and Laura says, “Oh, you mean Marizza?” FOR FUCK’S SAKE, LAURA.
Hilda and Sonia chat a bit about finding Mama C. Sonia says that she’s not going to tell Papa C yet, since he’s all stressed over Manuel. “You did the right thing,” Hilda says. I feel like Papa C is not going to agree with that when he inevitably finds out in a dramatic fashion in the next few episodes. Anyway, then Michi calls Sonia asking if she knows where Miranda is. Sonia’s like, “Conveniently, he happens to be here with me!” She says she’ll tell him to go back to Elite Way.
Mama C calls Sonia back and asks what she wants. Then she dramatically turns to the camera and we see her face for the first time. I guess it’s supposed to be dramatic, but she doesn’t really look very much like Luisana Lopilato, so it’s just a kind of anticlimactic shot of a brunette lady. If you’re gonna build suspense like this, she should at least be horribly disfigured like the Phantom of the Opera!
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