#553
The way the show stages retro technology and its affective scopes.
Case in question: Marta and the sleek record player which of course doesn't play Callas or de los Ángeles, but Smooth Jazz, and in this case, an even smoother 2021 reimagination of the classic crooning age:
The show seems to have obtained the licence for this entire album; in ep 520, they used "Close Your Eyes" over Marta and Andrés talking doomed love, and Marta declaring that she cannot forget Fina.
Here, Marta on the couch (listening to music with her shoes off! Carmen's good influence!) is listening to "What Do I Know", which starts with "I haven't found the one..." and that ties nicely into Marta's search for Fina.
Of course, as soon as Andrés enters with Valentina, Marta is back to formalities: shoes on, music off! (it's time she gets to sit on a couch with Fina again, listening to the radio)
On the sound level, the episode doesn't offer another Marta introspective as much as another Cloe introspective.
First, there is Marta on the phone with the photographer's association on Rosario, AR, searching for Fina while she nervously twists the phone cord (and not the necklace which is again the "My Mother's" one involved in Fina getting stabbed all the way back in episdoe 56):
Cloe appears and immediately, the mood shifts to "Put the blame on Marta": why tell Marta about a stalker going after her shop assistants, with how busy she is with other things like her own love life. Marta begs to differ:
But also, Marta is immediately accepting the blame because she has other things (women! One woman! Always just the one woman!) on her mind:
And once Marta feels rightfully chastised by that, Cloe can pile on and she gets two drawn-out instances of the Wrong Flutes Romance Motif with it that underline her take on reality, and her continued romantic interest in Marta.
First, it's at 00:21:30 (Mafin Drive Cut), when Marta thanks Cloe for the help in finding Fina (What help, Marta? What has Cloe done, other than say, "call Darío"?) and adds, "it's very generous of you."
And if Marta keeps apologizing, it keeps Cloe mellow: "You don't need to thank me, all that I do for you I also do for me." (you just said a mouthful, Cloe!)
Cloe complains that she wants to see Marta happy, but that there is no place for her in that happiness (add heavy sigh), making Marta take on the care labor again and assure Cloe, "You matter to me, a lot."
And, once again, Cloe has made the conversation about her own plights, not about the plights of the woman she claims to be in love with: "And now you're going to tell me that something like yesterday cannot happen again, won't you?"
Objectively, nothing "happened": Cloe tried to kiss Marta, Marta evaded it. And that move is not a cause for a pouty "you'll tell me this cannot happen again". It is, rather, a cause to aplogize and stay in her own lane since Cloe knows that Marta is on a single-minded search for Fina. She just walked in on Marta on the phone with Argentina!
But the Wrong Flutes are back (00:22:09), in pianco sound, meandering underneath the next bit of dialog: Marta - in her clearest line in this dialog - states that she and Cloe broke up because Marta couldn't forget Fina; and now that Marta knows that Fina didn't want to ieave her in the first place? Uhm, no. Not going to happen.
Cloe - just like with "what happened yesterday" - again twists the facts to suit herself: She ciaims that Marta used to be mad at Fina for leaving, to promptly center her own hurt again, lamenting how she has never been more than a band-aid for Marta, thus prompting Marta to again do the care labor of reassuring her that, no, Cloe would never have been just a band-aid to her.
There's delightful nuance (for the Mafin crowd) in how Marta spells out what she and Cloe have been to each other: "girlfriends, lovers, friends, confidants". The first one is quiet, the second one half-swallowed, the third more certain, the fourth comes smoothly.
But Cloe wouldn't be Cloe if she didn't try another pass: what will Marta do if Fina doesn't want Marta back?
Marta's reply, to another SdL Motif, is clear and considerate: grief, and then, perhaps, eventually, remake her life.
And Cloe's reply to that is, "if that happens, you know you'd still be on time to be happy, right?" aka "then you would return to me, right?". Which is an interesting perspective on what Marta's happiness would be, and who might know it and/or hold the key to it. Cloe clearly thinks she unites all three aspects onto herself.
The entitlement here is some really good dialog writing to keep this in an ambiguous place: a contrite Marta never says "No!" brusquely (even here, faced with this renewed come-on, she just excuses herself and leaves, not without asking Cloe whether she wants to join her), and Cloe in turn gets in her claims in veiled statements of support ("What I do for you I also do for me"; "you'd still be on time to be happy") and she can, with enough squinting, still tell herself that she'd be the better choice for Marta. Not because Marta wants it, but because Cloe wants it.
Time for a timeout for the Wrong Flutes.