The Scarlet Letter
The group blames Eva and Camilo for writing the article and provoking Estela as Eva Lasting episode 5 starts. Mrs Pabon shares the sentiment but Camilo defends Eva.
Mr Pabon is out of danger but the narrative is still that Estela shot him out of revenge. Ana and Jose fight about who is wrong in this issue when Eva calls Camilo and tells him that Mallarino got them passes to see Estela in jail. She tells the duo that Henry Pabon asked to meet Estela. They were just talking but then he started to get violent and she shot him.
Camilo asks why Estela took a gun with her. Estela breaks down and says that Henry would beat her sometimes. And that’s what prompted Estela to buy a handgun.
He might have killed her that day. Eva is convinced of Estela’s cause but Camilo is not. He suspects there is more at play than maintaining female solidarity. Alicia is unimpressed with Eva and Camilo joining late. She gives her a challenge to present a book on the Spanish Golden Age, as suggested by Guzman, and to him, the book Eva suggested: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Alicia learns about the duo’s visit to the prison and informs them that they must talk to Henry if their suspension is to be lifted. They must also write an article to compare the two versions of the story. Alicia seems right here as Eva is too obstinate and only believes what she knows to be true. They interview Henry and learn that he defrauded someone in the past. He calls Estela a mentally sick person. He also denies the affair. Eva says he is lying. Camilo does not agree and says he is trying to be objective.
Eva accuses Camilo of taking sides and not trying to read between the lines. She feels Gustavo and her mother were scared of Henry. Camilo fights with her and goes back home.
The next day at school, Camilo goes to Gustavo to apologize to him. They hang out at the club where he gets the truth out of Gustavo. Eva was right. Henry beats him and his mother at home. This is not his first instance of infidelity. And he went to jail for assault and battery, not a fraud. Guzman gives his presentation and Eva cannot stop smiling and listening to it. Camilo takes this information to Eva. She gets excited and concocts a plan to start the report again. Mallarino arranges access to court records, which Eva handles, while Camilo goes to the park where the incident happened and also where Henry said he first started work.
He sits down with Eva and beseeches her to tell him the truth about her past. Eva agrees. She tells him that her mother took her own life. She married Eva’s father very young and then left him to be with someone else. That’s how Eva ended up lonely all the time and got into books. Her mother’s new partner was abusive. She kept looking for consolation in many other relationships. She was called a whore and was ostracized by society. That is how she took her life: desperate, alone, and depressed.
Eva does not want Estela to see a similar fate. Camilo and Eva share a moment. The next day, they slip into Henry’s ward and confront him with the truth. They ask him to drop the complaint against Estela. When Henry learns that the kids know the truth, he agrees. Eva and Camilo apologize to each other and drink to their success. She also concedes that she is not leaving Jose Maria and calls Camilo a special person. He leans into kissing her but she does not indulge, teaching Camilo the importance of timing.
Alicia is appreciative of the essay and Eva too accepts Alicia was right. But she says Eva is failing most of her classes and hence, she cannot afford to be distracted. Eva agrees with Alicia. When she goes to the prison, she finds out that Estela has already left town. Camilo reveals she was never heard from again. The two strange men stop the cab that Eva and Camilo are taking. And at gunpoint, take Eva hostage.
The Episode Review
Estelsa’s arc has ended but it brings a deep change in the school dynamics and perceptions. It seems that Eva has found her match in Alicia. She is the only one who can size up to her with different views. Eva’s present ideas and demeanour were indeed shaped by her past. This episode, and the one before it, had some quite hard-hitting moments of drama that the first three episodes did not have.
It felt like a good change. There were marked observations about characters like Gustavo and Ana and the facet they represent from the Colombian social spectrum. Eva Lasting’s mini world showed its true colours when Eva was kidnapped at the episode’s end, although it seems harmless. For a teenager, she seems to be landing in all sorts of trouble. But it makes for exciting television nonetheless.
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Episode Rating
(3.5)