Earthquake Drill
Episode 4 of Rebelde Season 1 begins with Luka meeting The Lodge out in the woods, just off campus. They’ve recruited Luka to their cause in a bid to disrupt the band and sabotage them. If Luka does this -stopping Jana and the others – then he’ll be recruited to the winning team and, subsequently, win the Battle of the Bands by default. It’s an enticing offer and one that Luka decides to take up. While Luka is having a shower, Esteban hacks into his laptop and begins copying all of his files across to a USB stick. Twiddling his thumbs, Esteban hopes he’s not caught in the act. Unfortunately, Dixon bursts in ahead of time, disrupting the transfer. When Luka shows up, Dixon covers for Esteban. Meanwhile, Jana is standoffish with MJ following her kiss with Esteban. She tries to apologize but Jana puts on a brave face and tells her it doesn’t matter. She promises to talk about things after the Battle of the Bands has finished. Jana is not happy, calling out the cheating (which is ironic given she cheated on Sebas without batting an eyelid) and it causes all sorts of drama to ensue. During break, Esteban clears the air with Dixon. He doesn’t fancy MJ and he’s been looking into Luka because he’s suspicious. It was all one big misunderstanding. While they manage to patch things up, Jana is much less forgiving. Naturally, Luka senses an opportunity and jumps all over this, stirring things up and calling Jana controlling and manipulative. This continues on throughout the episode too, as Luka talks to each member individually, casting doubts in their mind. Luka’s words work wonders to cause drama in the rehearsal hall. Of course, with the upcoming Battle of the Bands, 20 different bands are going to compete against one another, with 8 moving on to the next round. But if Without Name can’t come together and play, how are they going to proceed to the next round? Unfortunately it all blows up, and the band is quickly disbanded. When alarms wail, Esteban takes his opportunity to copy those files across from Luka’s laptop, given his earlier attempt was unsuccessful. While he does, Jana too begins investigating. With the kids all standing outside, Andi questions Emilia over her kisses. Now, several times this season we’ve seen her kiss Andi in secret, and it’s difficult to know if there’s an ulterior motive here or not. According to Emilia though, this is her “strategy.” Well, another strategy soon takes an obvious turn as Esteban runs into Jana and the pair end up having sex. When they both head outside together, this works well to relieve the pent-up frustrations Jana had. She apologizes to MJ for the mix up and the band get back on the same page. Meanwhile, Esteban sits with Dixon and admits what he’s actually investigating Luka for. He doesn’t care about the music but he wants to find his mum. When Esteban was a kid, his mum left and his dad covered it up, claiming she died. The thing is, he found a newspaper clipping of her on Luka’s computer. Her name is Rocio and she’s a musician too. She was a music teacher but has now gone missing, right off the back of an incriminating letter from Marcelo, Luka’s father. Within this, he told her to stay away from his family. Could he have been involved in her disappearance? Esteban certainly seems to think so, which explains why he’s been hacking into the laptop and transferring files. Dixon promises to keep his lips sealed, sharing this secret. With everything patched up, things take a turn for the worst that afternoon. A masked member of the Lodge breaks in and grabs Esteban, beating him down. Sebas and Emilia happen to be performing together while this occurs so it appears they both have alibis. With Esteban a no-show for Without Name, just before they’re about to play no less, the band’s chances hang by a thread.
The Episode Review
Most of this episode revolves around the teen drama of breaking up and subsequently getting back together again. It’s pretty simple stuff, although there are a few nice plot developments. Seeing Dixon and Esteban in their heart to heart, including more knowledge about Esteban’s past, is a nice inclusion. Likewise, the drama involving Jana and MJ helps to spice things up, although it’s all done off the back of the cliched misunderstanding trope, which is a little disappointing. However, the Battle of the Bands looks set to go ahead now but Without Name’s chances hang by a thread. Will Esteban manage to get back to the group in time to salvage their hopes?
