#sdl 515

[clairedsfield]

sdl ep. 262 | 515

[mrsdaphnefielding]

#515 - honorable mentions (4) - Listening to SdL

SdL used the episodes this week to parallel Marta's love story with Fina to the (recognizable by law) love story between Damián and Digna, building up the return of #mafin, and they did some of the core work on the sound level.

Of course there are other parallels, too - above, it is also Costuming, in the high-necked white jerseys/cardigans. And Directing, in the physical contact, and in not placing them side-by-side, but stacked into each other for the Camera.

On the narrative level, we get a scene on Digna pondering wedding dresses.

It starts with Digna getting the space, and also this languid mirror shot, to think about love: that's the debate and the approach we need for the industry to tell 3rd age romances.

But trying out wedding dresses, and talking about wedding preparations, sends Marta - who as @madronash has pointed out, secretly loves weddings, especially her own improvised one to Fina - into a melancholy flashback to the dress fitting for her marriage (to Pelayo) and the way Fina looked at her upon seeing her in that dress:

The flashback is lengthy and it shows Fina more than it shows Marta, which underlines the Marta POV overall: what she is seeing is Fina.

On the sound level, we get the waving piano love motif again (not present in the original scene; it is added here).

The scene ends with Marta assuring Fina that they don't need the official trappings of a marriage, but Marta's face at the memory begs to differ:

If anything has ever mattered to Marta? It was that almost-wedding to Fina (even if she never dared to say that to Fina, but always downplayed it to not make Fina even sadder about it).

Going forward, we don't see Marta, or Marta with Fina, but we get another very clear sound parallel:

Damián and Dinga decide to get married right away, after a "like father, like daughter" romantic declaration by Damián (and what a great delivery by Novo: heartfelt without getting sappy or performative about it - basically everything that Tasio does NOT manage at this point).

But now we get a shot of Digna in reaction, who proclaims a triple "I love you" at close distance - it is not Fina's "Sí quiero" by the car (it is the even weightier "te amo" here), but of course the repetition calls up exactly that moment in ep 269 that was such a tribute to romantic love (in that case, Mafin), and now here, on Digna and Damián deciding to tie the knot over declarations of love, the Sound Department pulls out the exact love motif that underlines the "Sí quiero" and then the "Vamos" by the car in ep 269 - the one with the high solo violin over a lower string carpet.

Daaaaamn, you foxes at the Sound Department. Because by the use of this motif (sorry, for me it will forever be a core Mafin motif), the relationship between Digna and Damián is placed at the same level of romance as Mafin, but in return, the marriage between Digna and Damián also aurally affords the status of marriage to Marta and Fina.

[clairedsfield]

sdl ep. 515

[clairedsfield]

sdl ep. 515

[mrsdaphnefielding]

#515 - honorable mentions (1):

Today in "Subtextual Lesbians of Toledo": check(ers)mate!

When Salva, our new Honorary Lesbian, ist smiling and at ease around a woman, it is around a fellow subtextual lesbian: case in point: Buddy Coffeeshop AU with Luz.

Salva can certainly dish out marriage and parenting advice when it comes to Begoña and the kids, and Luz would definitely tell Salva that he's too good for Tasio.

Thanks, Costuming, for putting all the subtextual lesbians in checks or stripes for easier recognition.

...Begoña, wearing an entire red flannel plaid dress for coffee with the wife and mama...

...and Cloe, who cannot stop smiling at Valentina in between assuring her that she she will take care of her. (I feel like Joan Cusack in "In & Out", screaming "Is everybody gay?" but of course with a lot more glee and a lot less frustration)

(in this scene alone: "I have no time but of course I will make time for you", two (2) chin caresses, "you are safe with me" and "My Valentina" - who is your actual Valentine, Cloe? Because from where I sit and see your smile, it's not Marta)

[mrsdaphnefielding]

#515

The Equal Pay arc is running! Mad Carmen with a mission, and reluctant Marta who has a blackmail-able weakness, and even if a low salary, still an executive salary.

Actual reason for this cap: how Set Design matches the colors of the bottles/liquids on the shelves to the outfits. Either it's different highlighting, called forth by the Costuming, or some intern intentionally put away the sky-blue perfume bottles and brought in some orange-red (Marta's skirt) and beige-yellow (Marta's dead fox) instead. Also the BR boxes with their yellow/blue on Carmen's side, matching Carmen's dress, also in the proportion of more yellow and less blue.

Guuuuuh, the Kondo Zen level of this.

A nod to Editing and Camera who cut directly from the wage gap discussion to a male and a female worker entering the courtyard, complete with truck, past a dark passageway and the dark company sign. We'll be at this Equal Pay storyline for a while, won't we?

It's the issue that kicks off the episode, with men in suits and in charge descending down from the Executive Mount Olympus...

...and it is mirrored later in the episode, with Valentina and Claudia sitting in their humble shared room, discussing boundaries to set with bosses (I still think Valentina was right to say no to that gift. Because as a gift from a boss, it is wrong, and if it's a personal gift, then Andrés should say so, but he is still also her boss, so No Gifts. End of line.).

[clairedsfield]

sdl ep. 515

[mrsdaphnefielding]

#515 - honorable mentions (3)

The Camera work centering the character who has just been tossed into a situation where he is turned into the patient: the autism paper, seen from Miguel's perspective (mirroring the opening of the scene, where we see his papers as he sits at his desk).

Now, the elephant in the room (and on the spectrum) has been mentioned and of course Miguel is immediately defensive (and I found the delivery of his reaction very mucch in tune), and, yes, Luz should have kept her professionial curiosity to herself, but then again they are two medical professionals who have sworn to follow that curiosity and help people - even if said people do not know yet that they fall under an ICD entry?

And it's such a lovely (and feminist!) fabulation to have a paper authored by the three pioneers of early autism research: the generally forgotten Sukhareva (as the only woman), Asperger, and Kanner, who never did collaborate on anything directly. But it is nice to imagine that they would have!

Also in this scene: Luz' hilarious gaze (a minute before she tells Miguel that he doesn't get irony and sarcasm) at not getting Miguel's teleportation crack:

What now, lesbian Columbo in your trench coat?