~*~THE REBELDE WAY QUARTERLY REPORT~*~
I wanted to try to mix these quarterly reports up a bit, partially because I felt like just counting off random shit will get boring, and partially because stuff actually happened in this second half of the show — there was much less partner-switching and characters coming in and out, in favor of something kinda resembling continuous plot arcs. So instead, let’s go over this season and see where we might be going next.
When I first started watching this show, I think I made it through about ~90 episodes straight through, and I skipped around watching interesting scenes from the rest of them, which was fun but occasionally left me wondering how they got from point A to point B. I thought maybe, finally watching this season straight through, it would make more sense. It…totally doesn’t. I’m still wondering how precisely they came up with the name “Erreway”, or what the fuck Mansilla’s mysterious project was supposed to be. Situations get resolved by people showing up with mysterious letters, and it’s never explained how they got them. Is this just par for the course in this genre? Maybe. I don’t actually watch that many telenovelas — I have a vague familiarity with soap opera tropes and clichés, but I can’t really say if Rebelde Way is clearing a bar for quality or if it’s falling insanely below it.
The closest comparison I have for Rebelde Way — that I made all the way back in the very first post — is the Sweet Valley High series, which is chock-full of ridiculous continuity, character stupidity, and bad fashion, but usually makes an effort to show how the story comes to its conclusion. Rebelde Way doesn’t bother with that about half the time. It frustrates me because Spanish is not my first language and I find myself going, “Did I miss something? What the fuck? Did I just misunderstand that entire conversation?” Then I realize that no, the show really did just zip by that with no explanation. On the other hand, the show’s tendency to do this means that usually I can just be like, “Did I catch that conversation? Wait, does it even matter?” and then I can zip right by it, too. So there’s that.
Speaking of things that drive me right insane — does anyone remember that show on Nickelodeon, Caitlin’s Way? This show should be called Marizza’s Way. She is, as far as I can tell, nearly everyone’s favorite character — probably including the writers’, and it shows. It’s not so much that she does things that nobody else does, it’s that she gets away with them while everyone else has to get lectured and learn life lessons. I actually was surprised that a show crafted to appeal to edgy preteens and teens would be so heavy on the sanctimony and ham-fisted lecturing. The “rebelde” characters — Marizza, Mansilla, and Sonia (the unholy trinity!) — are the worst on this front. Mia, Pablo, Vico, and Feli are probably the best drawn characters, because they start out being “bad” and get more depth and sympathy added to them as they go. I’ve read writers saying that anti-heroes are easier to write than heroes; they have a very natural journey via their redemption arc, whereas where do you go with a person who’s already good? Personally, I prefer a well-drawn good guy, but that’s…not anyone on this show. It’s a pity, because not only does Marizza show the most depth when she softens up and does something nice, but Camila Bordonaba is one of the better actresses on the show, and she doesn’t get utilized much beyond yelling and being sarcastic. Hopefully that changes!
Luisana Lopilato is not one of the better actors (or singers) on this show, but she does have a really likable quality about her that everyone else lacks. I mean, it helps that she’s very conventionally pretty and skinny, but — well, I thought it was really funny that, according to her Wikipedia page, at one point she was meant to be working with the same music producers as Hilary Duff, because I think they have a really similar appeal. They even sort of look alike and have a similar career trajectory, although Luisana never got around to releasing that solo album. I spent some of my spring break reading the Lizzie McGuire Reviewed blog, and I think what the author says about Hilary Duff also applies to Luisana Lopilato. She’s just really charming and charismatic and has the cutest smile ever. I think Mia is enjoyable in her own right — how she’s not anyone’s favorite, when she’s running around giving away her old clothes and throwing herself in sex offenders’ paths for the greater good and generally being Cher from Clueless, totally escapes me — but I think Luisana being naturally charismatic has a lot to do with it, as well.
Erreway’s music career is just baffling. They like…start out singing at Nico’s almost-father-in-law’s club, they almost get a record contract but then they don’t, then they sell out the Gran Rex. They’re so popular they sell out the largest theater in the city, but somehow stay so far under the radar that their own parents don’t know what they’re doing. And this is 2002, so it’s not like they were getting famous off of Myspace (although Marizza and Lujan definitely had scene phases, let’s not kid ourselves). It makes no sense!
It’s not all bad, though. This show has been fun to watch, and has had some genuinely good, touching moments. Everything relating to Feli’s eating disorder — besides its sudden resolution — was actually pretty relatable and emotional, and handled better than it’s ever been done in any other teen show I’ve seen. Pablo and Marizza were totally, completely adorable together — all the endgame couples are pretty cute, but honestly there is just something about Pablo and Marizza in particular. I love them, dammit 🙁 In general, even though the kids are jerks to each other about 80% of the time, there’s a sense of camaraderie among the cast that I think is real (most of them already worked together on another Cris Morena novela, Chiquititas, and quite a few of them are still friends). Despite Elite Way’s nonexistent curriculum and rotating door of increasingly incompetent teachers, it makes the class feel like a group of people you’d want to go to school with. That might actually be the biggest part of the show’s appeal, even more so than the elite boarding school and teen pop stardom.
Let’s see how I did, re: predictions. Everything that came true is bolded.
- Pilar’s newspaper will come back into play — I admit this was somewhat obvious, but given their tendency to drop plotlines and never bring them back up, there was always a chance they would just forget about it. I’m not over how at least three people figured out that she was the writer, and then just…forgot about it. Incredible.
- They’ll get a new dance teacher — I’m counting that unfortunate-looking dance teacher who filled in for about half an episode after Lulu, plus Sonia was meant to be the dance teacher at one point.
- Marcos’s drug addict brother will be a plot again — Kind of? Sort of? Not in any huge way, although I guess you could count the continuing drama with his parents. I won’t, though.
- Vico will inexplicably decide to date Guido — Love yourself, girl.
- Nobody will ever mention Joaquin again — Once they got Pilar’s pregnancy scare out of the way, he pretty much disappeared into the ether. I guess I can’t blame the girls for choosing to forget that they once lusted over a guy wearing the ugliest headband known to man.
- Erreway will sing one (1) whole song live — I was shocked, too.
- Nacho will finally go away forever, but not before having one or two really unnecessary storylines that will kill me slowly as I watch them — Again, did this happen? His arc was sort of brought to a close, but I guess I won’t know for sure until I watch season 2.
- The Diegos will have a cage match to the death, to be the Supreme Diego — We did find out that one of the Diegos is actually named Sebastian. I could swear at one point his name was Diego, or perhaps there was another Diego who was quietly purged from the cast. So I mean, in that sense, a supreme Diego has indeed emerged victorious.
- Random Amanda’s name will be mentioned again, and I will fail to catch it again — It’s Lucia, but she’ll be Random Amanda forever. Weirdly, there is absolutely no information about her or her actress. She’s not even on the cast list, even though Belen and Fernanda are. Rough life, Random Amanda.
Season 2 is supposed to be better, by whatever metric of “better” we’re supposed to be using. I mean, at this point, I’ll even take Elite Way being depicted as anything remotely like a normal school. I’ll make some guesses as to what will happen:
- Random Amanda will disappear into the ether. I have no idea what her deal was in this season. I don’t even recall seeing her in any of the Erreway music videos or in their concerts, which is where all the secondary/tertiary characters double as backup dancers.
- Marizza will break up with Simon, but will have another boyfriend before getting back together with Pablo.
- Belen will become even more of a backdrop character than she is now.
- Feli’s eating disorder is officially “cured” and will never be mentioned again.
- They’ll get some new teachers, but none of them will be an ethics teacher, leading us to assume that only Mansilla could have taught that class and now it’s just been totally removed from the curriculum, because why not.
- Pablo will never get some ever again. Guido will get more action than he will, and it will be shameful.
- Blas will send dick pics to a ton of underage girls in the school and still not get fired.
Post-quarter schedule: I’m going to take two weeks off of posting because my God am I tired. I haven’t seen my family in two years. I barely remember my own name. I have one sort of in-between-seasons post to do, but regular posting will resume on the new blog, Full of Salt, on June 6th.
See you dudes in a bit!
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