#BLFLHC

[postguiltypleasures]

Mila’s Quinceñera 

I am planning a big post about the whole season of Betty La Fea La Historia Continua, but I decided to take my notes from the episode that flashed back to Mila’s quince for a separate post because I have so much to talk about it.

Let’s stat by talking about how Betty and Armando turned watching the video of Betty’s quinceñera into a ritual. From the original series, we know for Betty it was actually a painful event. Something she only did for her parents, and considers part of a cycle of being regularly hurt by her peers. In the rewatching of the video, it becomes about Betty and Armando celebrating the younger, more innocent version of her and the renewing a promise to each other to make what were one painful situations happy. You can’t do that while fantasizing about a past that didn’t exist. 

Early at Mila’s party Armando expresses concern that it doesn’t feel like a party for Mila, it feels too designed by her abuelo Hermes. Betty reacts by accusing Armando of not accepting her family, despite the fact that this also describes was a problem with her own quinceñera and the impromptu birthday party her parents threw during the original series. This is a sign that Betty was not yet ready to tell her father of his failings or really set boundaries with him. But Betty’s also responding to how their lives are so dominated by his family through Ecomoda, (And how Don Roberto can be the “fun” abuelo to Mila.) I really like this family tension dynamic. It goes with what we learned from the original family dynamics. The original series was not that interested in confronting its patriarchs, but this one is partially about the necessity of doing it.

At the end of he quince Betty feigned happiness and gratitude for her parents even though she was heart broken. At the end of her quince Mila told her parents that even before news of Daniel’s murder interrupted things, it was a bad party. I kind of admire her for this. She told them what she wanted for her birthday, and while it was something no sane parent would agree to, the amount she felt she had little control over what was supposed to be a celebration of her  and she was right to point it out. 

I also loved that Mila has apparently loved fashion but wanted to edit Hugo’s designs since she was a child. It is like a manifestation her thinking of Ecomoda as a Wonderland and resenting it for taking too much of her parents’ time and attention. (And she’s right in her critiques of his designs.) 

I was surprised by how little Don Roberto had to say about Daniel’s crime and Marcela’s anger over a perceived double standard for Betty and Armando. I wanted to see some sign that this made him rethink the ways he thought of Daniel as smarter and more realistic than Armando. But we don’t, we just hear him say that Daniel put himself in this situation and let Marcela vent. At first I was annoyed, but I have to admit, it’s in character. He was so loved because he was good at making most characters feel heard, even if he used it to manipulate them through placating. But Marcela’s too furious to be placated, and he really doesn’t have any other moves. 

After Daniel’s death is announced Marcela starts talking about the Mendoza and Valencia families like they are warring factions. It makes me think of that moment in the original series right before the board meeting where Betty reveals the whole Terramoda plot. During this, Roberto makes a comment on how tensions are high, but Armando and Marcela’s wedding should remind everyone of the enduring friendships between the Mendoza and Valencia families. The characters aren’t tense just over business things, they genuinely don’t like or trust each other, and for good reasons. In this situation Roberto’s attempt to smooth things with Marcela lead to forcing Betty out of the presidency of Ecomoda. His actions end up hurting his son, but he can still pretend that things are functional between the families as he dies.

Speaking of death, news about Daniel’s murder and Aura Maria’s disappearance both broke during the quinceñera, and I am kind of hoping that the events are connected. Otherwise what would make Aura Maria disappear like that. And why is Freddie the only one who seems to acknowledge it?