*Spoilers for the end of episode 2.*
Another strong entry. Each episode builds on what came before, and the characters consistently react to situations in ways that make sense for them, even when it’s outrageous.
In the last episode, Ruy found out that Julia has been seeing Andrea’s dentist Fausto, and he confronted her about it. Now, Ruy is obsessed with finding out more about their relationship and Julia retreats into spending the day with Fausto. This leaves Andrea in the care of Idalia, who finds a way to make her day special.
Okay, so in the pilot, Ruy explained to his friend Raisa that his and Julia’s situation was working perfectly—they’d both accepted that it was over, and while they were keeping up a pretense for Andrea’s sake, both of them were free agents who could see whoever they liked. Ruy has certainly been taking that to heart for himself, blatantly coming onto Rebeca from work. But surprise, surprise, when faced with the realization that Julia is doing the same, he flips out. He acts betrayed, and he fobs Andrea off on Idalia on the grounds that he’s “swamped at work,” a.k.a. reading Julia’s emails and trying to break into the apartment her dad gave her (which is where she and Fausto have been getting to together.) Dude is coming unglued, but I love that the show calls him out on it through Raisa. She reminds him that he and Julia are separated, and as someone who’s in a throuple, she knows a lot about honoring the rules agreed upon by all parties. She tells Ruy, “Dude, you two set the ground rules. You can’t just break them because it felt weird or because you got jealous. I mean, seriously? I know it’s hard, but you can’t take back what you agreed.”
Julia isn’t doing well either. In addition to getting into a big blow-up with Ruy in the last episode, she’s struggling after a visit to her mom, who’s dealing with dementia. Overwhelmed by everything that’s going on in her life, she leans on Fausto for comfort and a listening ear. It’s nice to see more of their relationship, since all we really see in episode 2 is sex. They’re definitely hot for each other, but we also see how comfortable they are with one another, how they can open up to each other. That doesn’t mean their relationship is perfect compared to Julia and Ruy, and we see evidence of that as well, but I like seeing their dynamic.
On a lot of shows like this, Andrea would be a storytelling device caught in the middle of Ruy’s conflict, but I love that the series gives her her own plots and priorities. She definitely knows something is going on between her parents and is having a hard time with that, but she’s also a budding entrepreneur and has Idalia wrapped around her little finger in a lovely way. I really like seeing how Idalia pampers Andrea during their afternoon together when both Ruy and Julia are out—it’s so reflective of how well she knows and understands her.
As I said last week, it can be hard to talk about Diego Luna’s direction on this show because he does his job so effectively that it feels seamless. As such, I won’t feel pressured to call out specific things he’s doing in each episode. If something stands out to me, I’ll mention it, but really, the whole series is his creation—so whether I’m talking about the writing, the performances, the music, the camera work, etc., it’s all part of the ship that he’s steering.
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