#again--daniel looks annoyed and armando sees through what marcela is saying

[ladysophiebeckett]

that's three questions, so marcela can't do math either. if i were betty i would have said 'idk not my sister, not my problem'.

daniel's face is face is funny bc he looks annoyed. like, he doesn't even care about the company, he's mostly upset bc he wanted to sell his shares and get out.

margarita's face is saying 'oh no, what am i gonna live off of???'

it's an incredibly stupid question that marcela just asks to be annoying bc she hates that betty's getting treated like an equal. betty was making sure the families were getting their checks long before they knew the company was in debt. marcela implying that the families are going to somehow be affected financially bc betty is getting a raise\living wage is both cruel and stupid. the only ones falling for it are roberto and margarita by the looks on their faces.

[el-moscorrofio-y-el-mercachifle]

Hiiiii again, how are you ???

I completely agree with your response regarding the comment I made about Daniel and Patricia!!!

I also really liked the theory about her, I really believe that she grew up surrounded by luxuries, that somehow her mother "taught" her the things she knows today (like her obsession with money and finding a rich husband to pay her bills and things like that), and at some point she passed away and Patricia was left with this "souvenir" of her. I really would have liked to have met Patricia's father, to see their dynamic together.

And about Daniel: Oh, I just know that that man has serious problems. In addition to being a criminal for the things he did to Patricia, he is also a terrible person.

When I went to rewatch the ysblf again, I noticed that in the scene where Daniel calls Patricia (in that chapter where Mario cheats on her with Aura Maria and her finds out), he (Daniel) speaks to her (Patricia) as if he was sure that she had enjoyed their first “meeting” (in her apartment), and that she wanted it again. The same thing when she goes to his apartment (I think 1 episode after this one), and as we know there's that blackmail scene and at one point in their conversation he says something like: "there's no need to deny it, Patricia, I know you liked it .", and when she is reluctant, he manipulates her and says things like: "so if you liked it, let's continue enjoying it". I could be wrong, but in those scenes it made me seem like he's sure the things he does to her are wrong, but somehow tries to believe that she likes it, so "it's okay", which makes me believe that Daniel has done this before and not just with her.

Even though I don't sympathize with Patricia, it's impossible not to feel sorry for her in the scenes with him. Deep down I think she just felt very alone, that girl needed a hug!!!

By the way, I was looking for news about this continuation of ysblf that will be released this year, did you see that a photo of the script was leaked and it looks like Patricia will be pregnant? And from what I understand, it is from Nicolas. I don't know if it's fake, or just a character's dream, but I wouldn't want Patricia to come back and get pregnant, I think it wouldn't make sense and also, it would end the character's arc, but that's just my opinion .

Helloooo! I'm good, thank you🥰🥰

Thanks, I'm glad you liked my answer!! The characters' backgrounds would have been a great addition to the show definitely!!

For what we know through Marcela about Daniel's past, he was a womanizer much like Mario and Armando. Marcela says that Daniel simply now is too busy for that so he became very picky about it. There's the strong possibility that Daniel actually believes that Patricia enjoyed it and she simply has too much ego to admit it. After all, he knows Patricia was initially attracted to him, he thinks he's good in bed, and knows Patricia is practically walking ego. I think he believes what he says about her liking it. So it's hard for me to say whether he has done it before or not.

Yes, that's the thing with Patricia!! I find her incredibly annoying and by the time Betty returns from Cartagena I can barely stand her scenes. She's annoying and pretty empty by that point. But I definitely felt pitty for her at those specific moments. I think it's part os this novela's charm, that it can get you to feel sorry for characters at specific times before it reminds you they still suck as people lmao. Like Sofia, I dislike how she's always talking shit about Marcela even though she helped her a lot, and then I feel bad for her in specific scenes, like the Jail scene. Or Hugo, that I generally dislike how he's extremely arrogant and borderline misogynistic at times, but then I feel for him when Armando threatens him and insults him over his sexuality in front of everyone back in the firdt collection.

Honestly, Patricia is jut the kind of person that it's just nearly impossible to help. More than loneliness, she's probably mentally unwell. It's not normal to just prefer starvation over letting go of her gym subscription or her cellphone lmao.

Perhaps she needed to hit rock bottom, and I mean REAL rock bottom. Homelessness, disease. The thing is that if Patricia's story had been taken seriously, it could have been amazing and very heart wreaking. I mean, we are literally told that she doesn't eat for DAYS straight. Rhat definitely has to leas to some consequences.

Oh I haven't seen that! Definitely agree, I wouldn't like to see that, either. Nicolas and her ending up together sort of makes sense considering thay there were certain points in which it seemed to lead to that before being abruptly cut off, but I don't like that pair. Well, they definitely fit in together by bith being arrogant and superficial and always bragging about what neigher of them actually had lmao. But for them to end up together as A REAL COUPLE in love, there needed to be much more work. But well, it's been over two decades, perhaps those two finally reached maturity lmao

Thank you for the ask!!🥰

[youwontlikethisblog]

The Art of Subtlety in YSBTLF

Now I have yet to really talk about Betty and her development. Currently I'm on the episode where Betty goes to the bank to secure a loan through Terra Moda and it got me thinking.

Slowly we've been seeing the change from Armando's behavior towards her. Now it's been very subtle. One of my favorite scenes that display's the subtlety of his behavior is when Betty and him are being driven around by Don Hermes.

Right as they are leaving the building where they went to sign some documents to start the process of Terra Moda seizing Eco Moda Betty and Armando are talking.

She often jokes about her ugliness and as a person who in society has been outcaste by the mere fact I'm fat, I get that. We don't use it as a way to downplay our worth, better yet to find the humor in something that hurts us deeply. This is something Betty does often. Usually Armando agrees or goes along with it. The scene however caught my attention because after Betty jokes that she didn't get hired due to her ugliness she laughs and walks away and Armando stays behind and nods slightly, as if understanding that her ugliness could cause that BUT we then hear Don Hermes lovingly say "My beautiful daughter, did everything go well?" and Armando's face lights up. He sports a slight smile and stares at Betty as she laughs and tells her dad that everything went well.

The more I watch this show the more I realize that we see a lot of contrast between Betty and Armando's personal lives. While Betty's parents are very present in her life, constantly at the fore front of her ethics and morals as well as there to keep her grounded and realistic, though at times one can assume over baring and over protective, her parents love her deeply and you can tell. They treat her as their most precious possession.

However Armando's parents are a different story. His father always expects the worst of him, his mother coddles him but with conditions. His parents are only ever shown or involved when it comes to the company and/or his relationship with Marcela. Often when they do talk it's always about the company or again the relationship he's in with Marcela. It never goes more than that. We don't see them interact outside of that which causes that parental relationship to seem cold and distant. Kind of like a trophy child. Not really there to celebrate or show love when times are bad. Just there when things are on their terms. They show more interest in Daniel, Marcela, and Beatriz than they do to Armando and even then it's not saying much. In shorter terms, they suck.

So this scene in particular is one of my favorites for that reason. We see Armando, who at first was annoyed and being all pipirs nice to then engaging in conversation, joking, and letting his guard down and that's the thing. Often we see Armando with his guard up but around Betty slowly we begin to see him let his guard down.

Now in particular the reason why I bring this up is because from the get go I've always been interested in the complexities that Armando's character offers, but Betty is this different story. While Armando is complex in dark ways, Betty is complex is light ways. Her complexities aren't a form of harm rather a form of self preservation but still seeing the best in people, while Armando's complexities are in self preservation at the cost of others.

They both struggle in a sense with self worth. While Betty's self worth is rooted in her image and the way society treats her due to her not being societies beauty standers, Armando's self worth struggles are deeply rooted in his person's worth. Meaning that he doesn't find himself worthy as a human if he isn't succeeding, which makes him extremely arrogant. Betty's insecurities make her extremely humble and though being humble isn't a bad thing when there is no balance, her self worth is to the ground and due to this she allows people to step all over her and she often is a people pleaser because of this.

She lets people push her around and doesn't stand her ground when people are rude to her about her appearance. She does when it comes to her work but not as person and because of this she begins to idolize Armando because, unlike everyone before, he sees her as a person, when it comes to work.

This draws the lines, clean and crisp lines.

At work Armando defends her. He defends his decision to hire her. He defends her degrees and her experiences as an economist. This means a lot to her, because as mentioned before, she wasn't getting hired due to her "ugliness" and here comes a man that looks past that and hires her over the pretty one. We understand Betty's crush. We understand why she begins to idolize him even though he shows really crappy behavior at times.

First he constantly yells at her, laughs behind her back, allows his best friend to secretly see her as if she were this attraction in the tent of strange and ugly phenomena at the circus. To then being subtly annoyed when certain people mock her and make fun of her, though this gets him half points because he still allows his best friend to do this.

To end my analysis of Armando's behavior towards Betty up to this point I'll say that as this continues Armando begins to soften up towards her and while no one else picks up on it, Betty does. Which feeds her idolization of him.

Up to this point of the show Betty has been unconditional, even when she has needed to set aside her true feelings for him, she places his before her own. With Claudia, instead of ruining his night she stayed in the room all night long to which later we see Armando feel guilty over it but he gets no gold stars over that. That was a dick move.

Betty constantly shows loyalty, unconditionality, support, and most of all, team work. When he fails she always places herself to take the blame with him. She doesn't let him feel alone in his failures. Betty truly shows to love him. As a friend, as her boss, and as a girl who idolizes him and this moves him because to this point Armando hasn't had that. His parents do not show him unconditionality. His fiancé shows no team work or support and his best friend... he sucks. He is a terrible friend. Here is this girl who gives him all of this and for what? She doesn't ask for anything in return except to work for him. That's why we see the subtle change in him and Betty deserved that and more.

When they went to that cocktail with RagTela, where Armando started to hit on Ms. Colombia, I forgot her name, Betty doesn't seem jealous or hurt by that. In fact she seems unbothered and stayed in her lane, once again the lines being crisp and clean. However later on, when Betty tells Armando that they've got a meeting with Macro Textil and she sees Armando's face light up and ask how he looks, we see a subtle change, jealousy. She showed some of that with Claudia but Armando probably interpreted that as Betty being frustrated that due to that she had to sleep in the office that night. Here he doesn't pick up on it. She laughs dry only to cover her tracks and gets the man his cologne and throughout their meeting with Macro she shows to be a good wing-woman, minding her business of course.

Now let me skip some scenes. They're trying to negotiate a payment plan with Macro Textil. At this point what Armando has said isn't very convincing and Betty steps in, our bright Betty manages to say stuff that makes them think over their offer. At this point Armando has had all eyes on Ms. Colombia but he turns to watch her, with a slight smile on his face, a brief second of staring at her lips and completely absorbed into what Betty is saying and doing.

Now I want to bring us back to the main scene of this post. Betty sitting across her old boss. We have seen two scenes of her old boss and her interact before. Not only to drive the plot, but I believe to show the difference between a boss who was fond of Betty, after all he did say he was happy and pleased to help her with Terra Moda after being her boss for two years and a boss who is... more than fond of her but confused about it(to be fair Armando is so stupid when it comes to feelings the dude isn't even aware he's got them to begin with.) Betty's behavior is respectful and friendly towards her old boss. You can tell she's comfortable talking to him and so on and her old boss is the same. He's respectful and friendly towards her.

Why do I think this is important to the plot of the story?

It got me thinking. When I was working I got pretty close to my manager. He was married and older than me and we got along great. We talked, we joked, we had work discussions and we'd talk about life and stuff. However it was always very respectful and friendly, like a boss and their employee. My manager was very gentleman like. He didn't let me carry heavy stuff(As a fat woman I'm not used to that lol) however the line was there, Boundaries were there. Obviously we didn't have conversations that were too personal or even that personal at all. I could see Betty and her ex-boss being the same. A simple boss to employee friendship but if I had a... ship of sorts with my boss like Betty does with Armando my sensors of red flags would be blaring.

Think about your greatest friendship with one of your bosses. It's respectful and friendly but you don't cross lines, right?

Now I keep comparing their behavior to my manager's and mine.

That is why they show us, unlike with all the other Banks Betty has talked to, their interactions. To show a clear and distinct line of work related ships. Her ex-boss is truly fond of her but he doesn't cross boundaries and neither does Betty.

My ex-manager was respectful and we talked like an older brother and younger sister would. That was our work dynamic.

Betty's behavior has always been respectful and friendly towards Armando. Their work dynamic has been that she's the smart one and he's the pretty one and it works for them.

Betty's emotions start to blur when Armando's behavior towards her starts to blur. We go from seeing back to back scenes that show separate life styles and personal lives to having them blend in and once their personal lives begin to blend in so do their work lives.

During this day, before Betty goes to talk to her old boss, we are shown the scene when she tells him that Macro Textil was on their way to sign a contract with them that very day. Armando is between Betty and Mario and he talks to Betty. Constantly saying "Betty we did it!" and things along those lines but after each sentence he goes to Mario and repeats the same thing up until he goes to hug Betty.

[EDIT: This allows us to view Armando's personal dilema. Your brain often blurts the first thing that comes to mind and seeing as Armando isn't that bright when emotions are involved, he blurts out the first thing that comes to mind and that is Betty. His first thought is to talk to Betty, to celebrate with her (since she is the reason why that business deal is even happening) but he is prioritizing her, picking up on it and then going to his best friend to celebrate it as well. It shows us subtly the change in him.]

He doesn't even do that to his best friend. Once again, the lines blur. Armando is the first person in this work related relationship to blur the lines and Betty follows suit.

Yes, the hug was work related. Yes he was excited over the fact they could release the new fashion collection they'd been working on BUT he hadn't done that for other deals that they had managed. He didn't do that with the first collection he launched. He's hugged her, up to this point, two other times. Once after the meeting with Daniel where Betty gave him lessons on economics and later when Betty was crying.

This is their third hug. I'm not reading into that hug but what follows before and after.

As I said when writing we're told to keep what drives the plot, character development, and overall story; everything else is thrown out the window. So these subtle changes, behaviors, and quirks we begin to see coming from Betty's interactions with Armando explain why it was so easy for her to be manipulated by this man. They are important because they are meant to show us what is okay and what is not. What is normal and what is not and in small ways their work dynamic begins to shift and the first person to do that is Armando.

because he didn't feed the illusion of love when that sinister plan was created, he fed it when he started to get confused about her. When he started to blur the lines.

Betty didn't just idolatrized him because he defended her work. She did it because he fed her feelings towards him. When Betty showed loyalty he showed to be more fond of her. He went from constantly yelling at her, being indifferent towards her, to trying to watch his tone and temper. When Betty showed unconditionality he showed kindness. When Betty showed support he showed loyalty and little by little we begin to see these two blur the line between personal and work.

The changes are really subtle that they fly over your head but when you pay attention to the actual story and not the romance you can tell when they start and that is one reason why I love this novela because very much like real life these changes are subtle.

Betty's love was really subtle and you can pick up on when she starts to fall in love, whereas with Armando his change goes from being so subtle that you're confused yourself to it being so bam in your face you can't deny it.

In any aspect their relationship begins to blur during these episodes and the clear contrast of that is with seeing Betty interact with her old Boss at the bank.

In the future episodes this theory is proven right when we no longer get clear cuts of scenes that show the difference between their personal lives better yet we get a very muddy and blurry view of their personal and work lives.

Betty's moral, ethics, and emotions begin to change when Armando begins to change. Up to this point Betty has been consistent with her morality, though close to stumbling her father has been there to keep her on the right path. She has been the sweet and loving person she's always been but her character has been consistent up to this point and it's important to note that and why everything that happens after this is the way it is because as an audience we have been warn over and over again and so have these characters but just like in real life we don't always pay attention to the subtle changes until their domino effect starts to make too much impact.

also sorry if this doesn't make any sense it's currently 6:40 am and I've been writing this since like four lol.

[youwontlikethisblog]

Brutas! La Policia!

I've read a few analysis on this episode before so while watching it again I was mindful to pay attention to certain details, for example; Armando's facial movements and the way he spoke while also paying attention to Marcela's behavior throughout the episodes that take place for that night (I think there's two or three.)

Now to start this off Armando is already at the drag party. He calls Marcela up and explains he'll be at the apartment. Now Marcela's reaction reminded me a lot of how abusers behave in public. They smile, they laugh, they're kind, loving, understanding, and most of all the perfect S.O so when you complain about it absolutely no one believes you because "they're so perfect" she often giggles when conversing with him, instead of yelling like she normally would she lets things slide.

Now up to this point of the series we've seen a pretty...dysfunctional relationship but they have their ups more than their downs. We know Armando is a cheating whore and that Marcela is aware of this but lets it slide even though she yells at him all the time. However Marcela is often seen more loving towards Armando, the only time they truly have heated arguments that aren't related to Armando cheating, they're related towards Betty and her role in the company and his life. See up to this point(Before Marcela came back from New York) we as viewers have seen Armando be annoyed at his fiancé but she was still his number one girl, meaning that yeah he could have his side pieces but at the end of the day (As he said himself) she was the woman he wanted to be with, was it for the sake of his parents or just for the company, whatever it may be he wanted to be with her. By little things like asking Betty to stay in meetings, to asking her to sit beside him during meetings Marcela's behavior begins to change. I noticed that when she came back from NY and entered his office, he went and stood next to Betty and looked at her and then Marcela, smiled and commented on her new look (Something that I find interesting and I'll comment on that when I get to that ep) he then went and kissed her, now I know it could have been interpreted that he was feeling guilty over the conversation he was having with Mario and Betty (the company getting seized by Terra Moda) which could be true but I find it interesting that in that moment they didn't show him staring at Mario and then Betty or vise versa but instead he stood next to Betty and glanced at her for a moment.

Why do I bring this up when it happened days before the Drag Party? Because it speaks on the shift that they begin to have in their relationship. Often we see Armando as the main instigator and I won't sit here and justify that man's actions. He was a serial cheater, a whore if you will, and had no regards for anyone's feelings, even his own, though his egoism made him think so highly of himself, showed that he was truly an insecure person(I could write down a post dedicated entirety of this character personality because the writing, the directing, and the acting added so much dimension to a character I'd otherwise find repulsive with no grain of redemption.) However; when you look at this dysfunctional and complex romantic relationship between Marcela and Armando you begin to see why the relationship is so terrible and it isn't soley based on his cheating.

Again, Marcela is playing this act of being an understanding and easy going girlfriend in front of Patricia Fernandez, the model, she lets Armando's erratic behavior slide and even behaves when he hangs up on her, instead of calling him multiple times and yelling at him. When her bestie Patty tries to instigate her, her sister Beatriz tries to calm her by saying 'Maybe something did happen and we're not leaving this apartment 'til he shows up' but this entire time we see a compose and calm Marcela, something we all know is not like her. Now, she had spoken to Armando before that scene, where she told him she could go get him and for a brief moment Armando agrees, seeming a bit reluctant at first but he agrees to receive her help, then Daniel and Beatriz show up and he finds out and decided he no longer wants her help.

Who does he call?

Betty.

Betty agrees to go get him on his terms, whereas Marcela said she was taking her siblings with her, or otherwise they'd stay in his apartment(he didn't want them there in the first place). Even when they find him and Betty freaks out, she doesn't judge him. Instead she tells him that she understands not to ask questions and that his secret was safe with her, even though she doesn't get what's going on. Had Marcela reacted the same way?

I want to mention this now, before when Armando had to go to the gay bar to apologize to Hugo he said he felt like he had lost a part of himself, he felt vulnerable (Something we know that dude doesn't ever do) and Marcela's go to, instead of listening to him or truly paying attention to him was simply saying she was going to remind him that he was a man and bam seggsy time.

Now back to this episode, Betty goes to pick him up, he explains what happened, Betty asked one question and once he answered her back the conversation regarding that is let go of. They then go to Eco Moda, cops show up, Betty laughs once the cops leave and Armando, after his hellish night, finally laughs at the situation. In a night he himself calls hell, Betty helps bring some sort of comfort and brightness to it.

Later at her house Armando hears Don Hermes express himself regarding the way he treats Betty(Now lets scratch the tape here and rewind just a few scenes before; Armando seemed annoyed at being in Betty's home, once she left the room we see him roll his eyes once he sees where he is, which shows just how stuck up that foo' is and he could catch these hands.) and cut to the scene of Armando leaving her house in Don Hermes's clothes and he asks her if he was truly awful. Now the interesting part of this is that first he asked if he mistreats her, to which she answers back no, he looks truly sadden and disturbed with the idea when asking that that he could be mistreating her. He then mentions that her dad has a bad impression of the company, then he proceeds to say that he had a bad impression of him, indicating that he cares about his image and the way her dad thinks of him. Betty tells him that he doesn't need to worry and that her dad won't beat him up, to ignore him and he then asks her "Is it really that awful to work for us? Is it a nightmare to work for me?" once more showing us, unlike before, that he isn't soley preoccupied with the company, but he actually cares about what Betty thinks of him and the way he treats her as he later says that he'll work on yelling less at her. This entire time Betty is a trooper, as always, she listens to him, tries to reassure him, doesn't judge, and helps him deal with what ever it is he's dealing with.

This leads to Armando showing up to the apartment, Marcela goes to greet him and then takes notice to what he's wearing and instantly a judge-y look falls upon her face.

You can tell by his body language that he feels embarrassed, warned out and frustrated but Marcela goes to the room instead of paying attention to his body language and his reaction she goes to question him. To add to this she is instantly irritated at him and in the room goes to tell him "Do you have any idea how much embarrassment you've made me go through? in front of everyone?" tell me that doesn't sound abusive, I'll wait.

She then goes to name everyone in the apartment and that he knew exactly who was there, how could he be so selfish as to go to his own apartment, dressed in clothes he borrowed from his assistant's dad because he had to go settle a bet he made so Hugo wouldn't quite the company, therefore hurt the company they all love? How dare he do that to her? Marcela goes to tell him "You better think of something good to tell me!" and his facial expression the entire time is dead. He looks done but when he speaks to her, as he has his back to her, his voice sounds kind, though his facial expression looks dead. He replied "Nothing my love... I dressed up in drag" she doesn't believe him and he tells her the whole truth. He even admits that his biggest mistake that night was not being honest with her from the get go and she goes to sniff him, then shoves him away from her.

This is where Marcela shows her true colors. In the eyes of the public she is the poor girlfriend who forgives her cheating boyfriend who is always yelling but behind close doors with just Armando she is emotionally abusive to him.

People often justify her behavior because Armando is a cheater, there fore hey no harm no foul. However no matter what his actions are she is emotionally abusive towards him. In this instance the problem wasn't him cheating or running off. He was truthful to her about his whereabouts and took responsibility for his mistakes but Marcela's behavior is still wrong. She makes his embarrassment about her, daring to insinuate that he's selfish in that instant for causing her to look bad in front of her guest. Not once thinking about how he could have felt, she's supposed to be the one that is in love in the relationship. She's supposed to be the one that picks up on the cues and cares about him because he's supposed to be the jerk who is selfish at all times and disregards her and thinks of her as just an object to screw at night, right?

Remember how I mentioned the night Armando went to the gay bar?

In this breakdown of this scene I want you to remember that incident.

Marcela, in a loving voice asks him "I don't understand why you couldn't tell me something so dumb?" she is using emotional manipulation here because in the bedroom her tone hadn't been that. It had been angry. What she truly wants is for Armando to confess some wrong doing, something to give her an excuse to act out. However Armando is honest with her once more and tells her that to him that wasn't dumb but had been an entreat(in Spanish the word used "Suplicio" interprets that it had been a deep inner begging for it to end, osea, it had been suffering.) Marcela seems truly concentrated and caring to what he is saying. She does after all care for him. He is being communicative and opening his feelings up to her, something he didn't do with Betty and this is where once again Marcela makes it about herself.

I'm not saying she didn't have a right to but if your S.O is opening up their feelings about something that just happened to them and how deeply it affected them, going as far as to say "you have to understand me" and then you say "and you had to go to someone else?" this turns to focus away from the person who is being vulnerable and turns it towards you, what would you call that? Trying to find fault in someone's feelings and invalidating them by dismissing them and making their reaction a personal attack against you and your relationship is abusive one way or another. She wasn't looking to comfort him, she wasn't looking to show she was truly the one he could count on. She was trying to justify her actions, trying to justify that she has a right to behave and react the way she does because he lied and didn't call her so she could aid him. His body language then proceeds to shift from being the one that was being vulnerable to then having to defend himself.

She warns really, though it reads as she is asking him, to not involve Betty in his personal life. That Betty is only supposed to be part of the company's time. He sits standoff-ish, a nervous tick of him that I've noticed is that he often bites his thumb nail when feeling nervous(duh) he then stands up and stares at her for a brief second before letting out a sigh and hugging her and agreeing.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone that just makes you feel so emotionally frustrated that instead of talking it out you just sigh and agree with them? You set aside your own experience and emotions because you're just tired of having to defend your feelings? So you bend their way in hopes it ends the discussion?

Yeah Armando feels that deeply.

This isn't the last of these scenes. Often their dynamic of a dysfunctional relationship, toxic relationship if you will, is seen more focused when Armando is yelling at her or cheating on her. The subtle ways Marcela is abusive is often seen as a "Poor Morch she is just trying to be in his life" you don't try and be in someone's life by making it all about you, invalidating their experiences, not taking no when they say they're not in the mood(often even before Betty and him got involved when he'd say no to her she'd kiss him and wouldn't stop until he finally gave in.) and then threatening that you'll destroy them if they leave you.

Once again the acting, the directing, and the writing itself tell us a very hard telling truth. In relationships, often when they are toxic on both ends, it isn't always one person who is the instigator. Often they shift. One moment someone is being reactive to the abuse, the next the other is being abusive. However this sets the domino effect we later see with Armando and Marcela always at each other's throats, especially the day of the new collection launch, when Armando finds out about Betty's platonic love.

You can compare both of these relationships and their S.O. While in one the S.O is always making it all about themselves, the other is allowing the other to be the main focus(Betty deserved better than the beginning steps of her romance with Armando(once again I can go off on this character and their behavior in great detail lol)). Armando was never the main focus or really any focus of his relationship with Marcela. It was always about her and his parents. While with Betty, even in this episode, we see them both dealing with it. In the company and now for the first time in a setting outside of the company, Armando isn't facing something on his own or going through the motions of something for the sake of everyone but he is very much present.

I really don't know if any of this makes any sense. I think it plays out the dynamic of the relationship and what's to come of it very well. It also highlights Marcela's toxic behavior and abuse as well and why Armando seemed so unhappy by the point that he accepted to romance Betty.

To add to this; This is all just days or weeks apart from the day the plan to make Betty fall in love with him to secure the company is created. The change between Marcela and Armando has been slow but it comes to an exploding halt by then.

Marcela's behavior is abusive. You cannot look at it any other way but that. She is possessive, jealous, emotionally manipulative, sexually manipulative, and over all views Armando as an object that belongs to her. When he bends her way her love is unconditional and she's happy. The correct term is that she is in the honeymoon stages. If your S.O is so afraid of making any mistake due to your reaction; IT'S ABUSE. You're an abusive person. She isn't physically abusive or sexually abusive towards him but she is verbally and emotionally abusive towards him.

We often see him have a tone that is kind and loving while his entire body and facial expression shows the contrary. It shows a man afraid to speak his mind.

Yes he yells at her, he cheats on her, and he isn't the greatest boyfriend. He tells her that he'll do her the favor of marrying her, that he'll end their relationship if she tells his parents the true state of the company. He manipulates her, he is a gran manipulator. He isn't the best but what makes him different from Marcela? That he takes accountability for it. He feels an immense guilt for lying to her and cheating, not only sexually on her with Betty, but emotionally and mentally. He carries that load while Marcela not once has ever show guilt, remorse, or accountability for her abuse.

While one shows to have some form of redemption the other still believes and tries to justify their behavior. Often she is looking for things to be upset about regarding Armando. As if she just needs one small reason to throw every mistake in his face, to yell, to manipulate, and to be over-all a possessive, controlling, abusive girlfriend.

Now this doesn't mean Armando is innocent. There is a reason why their relationship is toxic because they're both abusive towards each other but I noticed that often times, when the subject isn't infidelities', Armando's abusive tendencies come from a reaction rather than the instigator. He is an instigator at times(he cheats for god's sake) but Armando's abuse is manipulation and gas lighting, which are bad too. Those are the moments he is the instigator, when he is being manipulative, gaslighting, or cheating, the rest are reactionary abusive tendencies towards Marcela, who feeds the cycle of toxicity because due to Armando's cheating and gaslighting she's a possessive control freak and the cycle feeds itself. They are both bad people, they are both at fault of the dysfunction in their relationship and they are both abusive towards each other. I think it's important to note why it is that Armando even began to have feelings for Betty as he himself said that their relationship was harmonic whereas what he had with Marcela was anything but that.

Now I'm not saying Armando is the victime here. He is both the victimizer and the victime as well as Marcela.

Once I collect my thoughts to better express and breakdown scenes where Armando is the instigator in the abuse in his relationship with Marcela I'll make a post for it and I'll definitely make one about his abuse in his relationship with Betty.

But let me just say this, I don't hate Marcela. I actually like her, outside of her relationship with Armando and how vile and abusive she has been towards Betty from the get go, she shows to care about her employee's her siblings, and is companionate towards others but I've seen one too many people always act like she was only a victim and never did any wrong. Her character is meant to be realistic which means she is no saint and neither are any of the characters in this novela.

'Til next time.