Previously on Rebelde Way: Mia meets up with her mom, and wants to know THE TRUTH! Did Mama C leave because she met a guy she loved more than Papa C?
Mama C denies it, but admits that she did run away with a guy. She didn’t technically leave Papa C FOR said guy — she was just miserable and ran away at the first opportunity she had. Mia’s like, “Aha, you were miserable because my dad is a terrible person! This is still his fault!” Mama C says that it wasn’t JUST Papa C; she was just horribly depressed and wasn’t in the right place to take care of Mia. Mia suggests that her mom had postpartum depression and is like, “Aha, and my dad didn’t support you through your health issues! This is still his fault!”
Mama C adds that Papa C is a good person for stepping up and raising Mia by himself, and clearly he raised her well. I mean…well, to be complimentary, this is actually pretty graceful of Mama C, I think — she has the chance to make herself look good and pin the blame on someone else, but she doesn’t, which is nice. That said, are we forgetting that Mia’s whole tragic origin story is that her dad was too busy being a fashion mogul to pay any attention to her? Whatever. Anyway, Mia hugs her mom and cries and begs her not to leave again. This will end well.
Sol comes into the lounge, but everyone is ignoring her in favor of dramatically putting Bubbaloo in their mouths instead. Wow, Bubbaloo is really getting their money’s worth out of this product placement. Choco Bolas could never.
Sol drags Belen over to a corner and asks if Dunoff has called Feli to the office, or gone to her room to kick her out, or expelled her in front of the entire school yet. Belen’s like, “…no?” Sol gushes that it must be about to happen soon and runs off.
Lalo and Feli look over some paint chips and make plans for decorating their house. Lalo shows Feli some plans and says he’s going to build some shelves or something. Feli’s like, “With your own two hands?” When Lalo affirms, she’s like, “Omg, manual labor is so hot.” Didn’t they JUST get done having a plot about how Lalo was overworking himself to make Feli happy? Whatever.
Maxi comes into the cafeteria and asks to talk to Feli. She shoos Lalo away so that they can talk alone. Maxi point-blank asks Feli if she’s pregnant. We cut away from her response, but when we cut back, Maxi is going on about how hard it is to raise a child, so we can assume that she told him the truth. I do so love when this show doesn’t bother to write any scenes of actual pertinent information.
In the art room, because I guess we’ve finally remembered that Miranda is technically an art teacher, Miranda talks to Vico. He offers to let her leave the school for the weekend, as long as she promises not visit her dad. Vico snaps that Miranda doesn’t understand; she’s all her father has, he doesn’t have any other friends or family. Miranda suggests that perhaps Vico feels like she deserves to be treated badly — “You’re not responsible for how your father treats you, you know.” He tells her that she should surround herself with people who genuinely care about her, like Rocco. Vico tells him that she and Rocco broke up. “That’s a pity,” Miranda says. Vico’s like, “Why are you so invested in my relationship?” and Miranda’s like, “Because I ship it, duh.” Just kidding.
Anyway, Vico does not like all this psychoanalysis at all. She promises not to go see her dad if Miranda lets her leave. The show frames it like she’s being really sketchy about it, but she does actually visit Pablo instead, so I guess she’s not lying.
Over breakfast, Sonia asks Marizza how all her friends are doing. Mia? Still on the outs with her dad, check. Lujan? Still off being an orphan somewhere, check. Pablo? “Dead and buried,” Marizza snaps. Sonia’s like, “Oookay.” Marizza says that she and Pablo are in dire straits, and asks why she chose the wrong person to fall in love with. Gentle music starts to play in the background as Sonia explains that opposites attract, that’s one of the rules of love! One of the rules of telenovela love, at least. “Look at Feli and Lalo, and Mia and Manuel,” she says.
I’ve been meaning to bring this up, actually, so let me do so now: are Mia and Manuel even that different? I guess Mia is richer than Manuel, but I don’t think he’s actually poor — it’s implied that Manuel’s dad was some kind of businessman and clearly he moved in the same circles as Papa C at some point. So they’re both middle- to upper middle-class kids, with one dead/missing parent, who both like music. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but their relationship isn’t that weird.
Anyway, Marizza quite astutely asks what happens next, when the charm of dating someone so different from you wears off. Sonia says that, sure, sometimes relationships fail once the novelty is gone — but you also need to learn to tolerate and compromise with your partner. Marizza’s like, “Compromise? What does that word mean?”
She breaks down and tells Sonia what happened. Sonia once again is weirdly the voice of reason, and points out that Papa B is all Pablo has. “He has me,” Marizza says. “Papa B is the only legal adult Pablo has, is what I meant,” Sonia doesn’t say. Also, he doesn’t have you, Marizza, since you are…actively not supporting him right now? Whatever. Marizza cries and Sonia starts to comfort her, but she’s interrupted by the doorbell. It’s Pablo! He walks in to the beginning strains of “Complicated.” Ah, it’s been so long since we’ve heard Avril on this show. But Pablo tells Marizza that he’s not here to talk about their relationship; he’s here about Manuel. Marizza’s still not having it, though, and walks out on him. Sonia’s like, “Awkward.”
Back to Maxi and Feli. Maxi is being shockingly gracious about Feli’s pregnancy. He tries to tell her that having a baby as a teenager will be hard, but in a pretty nice, concerned way. He also once again tells Feli that Lalo isn’t “for” her — but again, more nicely than usual. He says that Feli’s just used to a higher standard of living than Lalo can give her, and Feli’s like, “How dare you imply that I didn’t think my teen pregnancy through!” Once again, she acts like she’s already worked through her issues with being poor and is happy to live less fancily in order to be with Lalo. Okay, but…every time she has to look at their new house, she basically vomits in her mouth, so like…I don’t know what we’re meant to think about this.
Anyway, Feli apologizes to Maxi for leading him on, and Maxi says he already knew it was over, deep down. “The time we spent together helped me realize that you’re a very special person,” he tells Feli. Barf. As he gets up to leave, Feli asks when he’s going to tell her family about this — I don’t know if he means the end of their ~courtship~ or about her pregnancy. Maxi doesn’t answer. I guess it’s meant to build tension. I try to care.
Pablo goes into the backyard to find Papa C. He sighs that going back to Mexico is pretty much Manuel’s only option for recovery at this point, and Papa C agrees.
Maxi finds Lalo and tells him that he better not hurt Feli, or Maxi’s father the inventor of the toaster strudel will be very displeased with him! Lalo mean mugs Maxi and Maxi runs away. I don’t know what the point of this is. It’s a little sexist of Maxi to think he has any say in Feli’s romantic life, but also like…he seems to genuinely be coming from a place of concern. Also, Lalo DID knock Feli up and throw her entire life off-course, so…maybe don’t get so pissy when people suggest that she could do better, Lalo.
Maxi starts to leave, and Sol runs up all like, “Tell me everything! Is Feli grounded for life? Are her parents going to send her to a convent?” Maxi snaps that he’s not going to rat Feli out, and Sol’s like, “Ew, so I kissed a NERD for NOTHING?”
Lujan has apparently run back to the Convenience Store Foster Home, because that is where we find her next. Her foster mother tells her that she has to finish high school if she wants to get anywhere in life, and Lujan’s like, “Stop saying words.” Nevertheless, Foster Mom doesn’t make Lujan go back for the day, and she bustles off to…do something else? Shouldn’t she be at the shop most of the time, since this is her job?
Well, whatever. Marcos has somehow tracked down where Lujan is and comes to the Convenience Store Foster Home. Lujan yells at him to go away, but Mauro’s like, “What’s wrong, are you SCARED to talk to him?” Heh. He has Lujan’s number.
Vico approaches Rocco, but he snaps at her. She’s like, “Why are you being like this?” and Rocco’s like, “Don’t you realize that every time your father hits you, it hurts ME?!” OH MY GOD, ROCCO! THIS ISN’T ABOUT YOU! I mean, yes, it must be incredibly frustrating and hurtful for him to see Vico suffering and be unable to help her — but for the love of God, Google “circle of grief“, man. You don’t complain TO the abuse victim about how hard her abuse is for you.
Anyway, Vico cries and promises that she’s not going to go to her father’s house anymore. “I love you, but I don’t believe you,” Rocco tells her. He says that until Vico stops enabling her dad and reports him, he doesn’t want to be involved anymore. Vico reminds him that she DID go to the cops about her dad, and they completely blew her off. Rocco blames her for giving up after one try.
Ugh. Rocco and Marizza have the same problem, where they’re incredibly judgmental and unsupportive, and then are [shocked pikachu] when Vico/Pablo run back to their abusive parents because they don’t feel like they have anyone else. Like, broadly, Rocco isn’t unjustified in how he feels, but…how does yelling at Vico like this help anybody? Even if he has to walk away for his own mental health, he doesn’t have to blame Vico for it, especially not to her face.
Moving on. Guido is still trying to impress Laura with his book-learnin’. For the millionth time, Guido, maybe she’d be more impressed if you ever realized what she was ACTUALLY mad about. Whatever. Even Tomás thinks Guido should let it go, but Guido’s like, “No! She rejected me, which means I have to wear her down until she says yes!” Sigh. He approaches her in the library, where Laura apparently is STILL studying for her art test. It’s been like five episodes! When the hell is that test! Guido offers to help her, and she snipes at him to leave her alone. Guido leaves his school notes with her and smugly tells Tomás that this is just the first step.
After his talk with Papa C, Pablo goes to Marizza’s room, where he finds her crying. He asks why they even fought in the first place, since clearly they’re both miserable. He offers to cut ties with his dad to make Marizza happy, and Marizza sniffles that she doesn’t want him to do it just because she told him to — she wants Pablo to stand up to Papa B because he genuinely believes Papa B is wrong.
Pablo tries to explain that Papa B is the only family he has left — besides, every time he goes against Papa B, he ends up losing, since Papa B has the entire weight of the city government and the Argentinian mafia on his side. Marizza’s like, “Stop making sense.” She gives him a speech about standing up for what’s right, even if it has consequences. Pablo argues that fighting his dad isn’t going to change anything, since Papa B is just one of many corrupt politicians, and Marizza’s like, “Okay, but that’s not an excuse to just go along with whatever he does.” Once again, Marizza is right on principle, but she is also expecting way too much from a high school junior.
And THEN she starts going on again about how she and Pablo are from “different worlds” and their relationship was always doomed to fail. WHAT DIFFERENT WORLDS??? They’re both wealthy and privileged! Sure, Marizza’s a little more ~rebelde~ than Pablo, but it’s not like she’s some genuine, altruistic defender of the weak. Most of the time, she pretty much only cares about issues that affect her friends, and she’s happy to make other people’s lives difficult if they’re inconveniencing her in any way. Marizza bullied Feli about her weight just because Feli was part of the popular gang; conversely, she ignored Manuel cheating on Mia (and stalking and assaulting her after they broke up) because he’s her friend. Marizza has way more in common with a corrupt, backroom-dealing politician than she wants to believe, tbh.
BUT WHATEVER. Pablo gives up and leaves. Would that I could do the same!
Meanwhile, back at school, Guido puts Phase 2 of his plan into motion. (This is like, ten minutes after Phase 1.) He sits next to Laura and does a lot of heavy sighing and muttering under his breath about whatever subject he’s studying. Laura admits that his art notes were actually helpful, and suggests that they help each other study. That was easy.
Marcos tells Lujan that he and Marizza have been trying to get in touch with her. Lujan scoffs at the idea that Marizza cares about anyone but Pablo — untrue! She also kicked you out of your room for Mia, Lujan! — and Marcos tells her that Marizza and Pablo are fighting right now. Lujan’s like, “OMG, really, tell me everything.” Heh. Marcos catches her up on all the Elite Way gossip and needles her that she can’t stop caring about them after all.
Lujan abruptly changes the subject and asks if Marcos really has something that belongs to Blas. Marcos huffs that it was true, and if she really only cares about getting it back, then he’ll bring it by tomorrow. Lujan’s like, “Fine” and Marcos is like, “Fine!” Then he goes in for a kiss, but Lujan turns her head so that she’s crying on his shoulder. They end up just huddled together for a moment, and it’s actually kind of sweet, or maybe I’m still just trash for these two. Marcos awkwardly takes his leave and Lujan cries.
Feli, Tomás, Pilar, Vico, and Diego all go to see Manuel. I don’t know when they planned on this. They’re all chipper and upbeat, since their exams will be over soon. So…Hilda bailed on them in the middle of finals? Who the hell is going to grade their papers? Whatever. You’ll recall that the excuse Mia gave for not visiting Manuel was that she’s busy with finals, so Manuel is excited that she’ll be free to visit soon. Diego and Tomás tease him for being so interested in Mia, and Feli promises that Mia will come by to visit him soon.
Angeles comes in and hustles everyone out, to Manuel’s protests. As they leave, Vico’s dad approaches her. Wow, this hospital really will let anyone hang out here. Vico’s dad tries to convince her to come back home with him, but Vico stands her ground and calls him out for hitting her when he’s drunk. Papa Vico breaks down and sobs that he knows he’s sick, and he wants to change. Vico says that if he’s serious, then he should go to rehab. Her dad agrees, but still tries to coax her into going back to the house with him. She doesn’t, though, not that the show bothers to explain how she managed to wriggle out of this situation.
Mia brings Mama C back to school to show her Mia’s room. As Mama C is exploring, Papa C walks in and wants to know what the hell is going on. Mia snipes that she and Mama C are besties now, and Mama C told her ALL about what a horrible husband Papa C was, and how he forced her to run away. Mama C quickly tells Mia to knock it off and takes responsibility for leaving the family. “I couldn’t handle the pressure,” she says, and Mia’s like, “Yeah, the pressure of being married to a DICKHEAD!” The parents Colucci leave to go discuss all of this, and Papa C tells Mia to call him when she’s ready to talk.
We skip ahead to nighttime, where Sonia is waiting for Papa C. She’s set a place for him at the dinner table — which is apparently in the living room, and they eat on the floor? — but he never shows up.
Cut to: the parents Colucci having dinner together, which I’m sure Sonia won’t misinterpret at all when she finds out. In fairness, Papa C doesn’t help: he eventually calls Sonia and leaves a message that he ran into Mama C, and he’s going to be late. Like, at least explain that you’re discussing how to co-parent your kid, dude.
Papa C asks Mama C to tell him the truth about why she left, but she won’t explain and runs away (also sticking him with the bill, lmao). Papa C has a flashback revealing that he flipped out on Mama C when they were married — she wasn’t able to take care of Mia or the house while he was at work, since she was deeply depressed, but Papa C didn’t understand and yelled at her for not doing anything. And then they had freaky makeup sex instead of talking about their issues. Glad we’re flashbacking to the important things.
The next morning, Mia gushes to Vico and Feli about meeting her mom again. This time, Vico is the skeptical one. She’s like, “Why are you guys only having lunch together instead of hanging out all day?” Mia huffs that her mother is very important, with many leather-bound books and mahogany furniture. She’s probably busy! Vico: “What’s more important than spending time with her child whom she hasn’t seen in 15 years?” Mia does not like that at all. She blusters that she told Mama C that she was spending the day helping Feli with her new house, so OBVIOUSLY they can’t hang out. Feli says that Mia doesn’t have to come if she’d rather spend the day with her mom.
Mia squeals and bounces off, and Vico’s like, “Are you just being extra-nice so she won’t kill you when she finds out you promised Manuel she’d visit?” Heh. Feli’s like, “Stop saying words.”
Sonia passive-aggressively waits for Papa C to leave for the morning before coming down for breakfast. Sonia tells Hilda that Papa C was out with Mama C the other night, and that’s why he didn’t come home. Hilda sensibly suggests that they were discussing the child they have together, and Sonia’s like, “Or they were having a grand time reminiscing about their marriage!!” You mean…the marriage that fell apart when Mama C abandoned them because Papa C couldn’t handle her postpartum depression? Also, both Sonia’s ex-husband and Marizza’s real father have come back into the picture without her running off with them — she should really have some more perspective on this.
Hilda once again shows some sense, and tells Sonia to just ask Papa C what the dinner was about. Sonia’s like, “No, because then we wouldn’t have a subplot.” Then Marizza comes down, still angsty over Pablo. Sonia suggests that the two of them go do something together this weekend, away from any and all men. Fuck Hilda who’s sitting right next to them, I guess.
Mia comes back to Vico and Feli, and says that her mom can’t hang out today. Vico’s like, “Cool, I’m gonna find Rocco so Feli can tell you what she’s done.” Mia’s like, “Say what?” and Feli confesses that she told Manuel that Mia would come visit. Mia loses her shit and tells Feli that she better go back and tell Manuel no, because Mia refuses to see Manuel ever again. Jeez.
Vico goes to find Rocco in the lounge. The camera pans past a girl with half her back exposed between her shirt and her low-rise jeans. God, I can’t believe we walked around like that in the 2000s. Anyway, Vico tells Rocco that her dad has promised to change and go to rehab, and Roccos’s like, “Good 4 u.” He thinks Vico’s dumb to believe in her dad, and Vico snaps that her dad isn’t like Rocco’s. (Who, you’ll recall, forced Rocco to lose his virginity to a prostitute at the age of like 9.) Oof. That was harsh. Rocco storms off, and the camera pans over to reveal that Miranda heard all of that.
Papa C and Pablo go to the hospital. They tell Manuel’s doctor that they think Manuel should go back to Mexico, as he’ll have a higher chance of recovery there. The doctor says that Manuel isn’t going to recover, whether he’s in Mexico or in Argentina. He thinks Manuel’s brain damage is permanent, and he’s not going to progress any further than he has. To illustrate this, we see a shot of Manuel failing to correctly put a bunch of blocks on a toy. I like how this show seems to think that permanent, debilitating brain damage means that you can’t hold a pen, but you’re still perfectly capable of carrying on high-level conversations about interpersonal relationships.
I mean, I don’t want to downplay the seriousness of losing your motor functions — and hell, I’m not a doctor (Jim); maybe there is some actual disease or condition that functions like this. That said, from what we’ve seen, Manuel’s motor functions are impaired but not totally gone, and he can still think and communicate clearly, bar his memory problems. It’s true that he might need assistance for the rest of his life — and fair enough, that is a big issue — but it’s not like he wouldn’t be able to hold down a job or have a social life. I feel like his prognosis is pretty good, for someone whose brain was leaking out of his ears or whatever the hell was wrong with him.
Marizza complains to Hilda that she’d rather go visit Manuel than hang out with her mom. Hilda says that Manuel has lots of friends, but Marizza only has Sonia. Marizza’s like, “…and Papa C, who she literally lives with?” She susses out that something’s happened, but Hilda refuses to tell her.
Mauro is all snippy with Lujan over her visit with Marcos. Did he…not want Marcos to show up? Why did he literally go to Elite Way to summon him, then? This is your own fault, Mauro! Anyway, Mauro tells Lujan that Marcos and Elite Way aren’t part of her world, and she needs to accept that. Oh. Maybe he thought seeing Marcos again would get Lujan to accept that she’s never going back, and he’s mad that Lujan nearly ended up macking with Marcos again instead? Whatever. I don’t know why I’m bothering to try to make sense of this.
Lujan gets weirdly defensive and says that Elite Way IS her world, and just because she’s from the streets, that doesn’t mean she has to stay there. I mean…fair enough, but Mauro’s position is also how Lujan actually did feel for most of the show. Hard to tell if being put in foster care has made her miss the school or if she’s just being contrary.
Anyway, Lujan says it’s not her fault that her friends are wealthy, and Mauro’s like, “I didn’t say it was your fault!!!” Okay! But you’re also kind of implying that she should feel bad about it in some way! I don’t know what’s supposed to be going on here. I guess Mauro just thinks Lujan’s judgment is impaired, because he warns her that Marcos is in love with her, and Lujan is clearly still in love with him. Lujan does not like that at all.
Over at the hospital: “No puede ser!” Pablo wails. He refuses to believe that Manuel won’t recover, and he’s like, “That doctor sucks!” Papa C tells Pablo not to take his frustration out on the doctor. IDK, I’m with Pablo. That doctor was willing to lie to his amnesiac patient just to make his job easier, he does kind of suck. Pablo says they should get another doctor to look at Manuel, and presses until Papa C agrees.
Instead of Marcos coming himself, a messenger comes by for Lujan. He gives her an envelope and when she looks at the papers inside, she’s shocked by whatever they say.
Most of the kids head out to help Feli and Lalo paint their house, except Sol, who wasn’t invited. Really? Sol’s the only person in that class that Feli has beef with? Whatever. Sol asks Pilar for Dunoff’s phone number so that she can call him and rat Feli out, but Pilar won’t give it to her.
Laura comes bounding down the stairs to join the painting crew. Tomás is like, “But if you’re here, who’s helping Guido?” It turns out Laura has arranged for some dude from fifth year to tutor Guido while she’s gone. Heh. Suffer, Guido.
Miranda tells Rocco that he’s been kind of a dick to Vico. “I’m not the one who hits her,” Rocco protests, and Miranda says, “But you mistrust her, and that’s a form of mistreatment.” And that’s apparently all it takes to change Rocco’s mind, and he goes off to find Vico. Naturally, though, he walks in just as Vico’s dad has arrived to see her. Papa Vico says he’s going to an Alcoholics Anonymous (or whatever the equivalent is) meeting, and Vico offers to accompany him. They waltz off together, but of course Rocco assumes she’s just going to her dad’s house again. SIGH. And so, this plot continues!
Sol follows the kids’ party bus to Lalo and Feli’s new house, and evil monologues that Feli is a FOOLISH FOOL and lo, she shall RUE THE DAY that she DIDN’T CHECK TO SEE IF SOL WAS STALKING HER, mwahaha, she shall be HOISTED BY HER VERY OWN PETARD. I haven’t pointed it out before because these speeches are sort of repetitive and pointless, but every time Sol is alone, she gloats to herself about how well her plan is going and how she’s a genius. It’s really cartoonish and dumb, but there you have it. Anyway, she calls Feli’s mom (I’m going to assume she got the number from Maxi, but it’s never really explained) and chirps that she’s at Feli’s new house, where she’s going to live with her boyfriend.
A new doctor comes to examine Manuel. He tries to have Manuel give him a high-five, and Manuel misses his hand. Scare chord! I mean, has Manuel tried looking at the doctor’s elbow?
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