#sdl 554

But it's not just Marta answering the phone, it's how she is answering the phone: rushing and calling "I'll get it":

This phone call is a hinge in this episode. The tail end has Marta talk to Damián (once more, Belmonte opposite Novo is a treat). The talk first returns to the posthumous decoration for Pelayo that Marta skipped, and Marta gets to spell out again just how much she despises him.

She doesn't spell out "I hate him for having taken Fina away", but here is bright anger at being manipulated by someone she trusted, a minute after the audience sees Cloe withholding information about Fina from Marta, and that looks like an intentional echo.

These two, though:

PFlag Damián calls Fina "family" and then encourages Marta to continue searching for her and count with his help because "she's the love of your life" (the Writing Room is about as chill about Mafin as we are):

And Marta is touched by the support, of course - while on a the level of dramaturgy, the outside conflicts Mafin could face are dwindling down with this: everyone in the Casa grande is openly rooting for Marta and Fina at this point, from Digna and Damián and Andrés to Carmen and Tasio, a visiting Begoña is also in favor and Manuela probably knows more that she lets on. So no sneaking-around plot there.

But back to the hinge, and its front end. Here is Cloe, taking the call from the photographers' association in Rosario and getting the Fina intel she then impulsively decides to keep to herself when Marta answers the phone (in the cap at the top).

But even if Cloe's decision is impulsive (at hearing Marta's hopeful voice on the phone), its foundation is built across the episode.

First, there's Cloe talking to Valentina, and the Wrong Flutes Romance Motif is back (00:19:00 in the Mafin Drive Cut) just when Cloe spells out that she is helping Marta finding Fina.

When Valentina asks why, Cloe's reaction again centers her own emotions first: "It hurts me to see her so desperate" (instead of, e.g., "She is so desperate, I can't help but feel with her". Whoever is lead writing Cloe's dialog lines is really good in getting this layer of nuance in there, and consistently so). This offers a segue into Cloe's next line, "Now I am not so sure if I want to help her" - and "now" referring to "after yesterday" (which Cloe has just related to Valentina as "we almost kissed", which is a an interesting take on what the audience saw as "Cloe tried to kiss Marta, who turned her head away") - which translates as: after Marta avoided the kiss. So "helping Marta" depends on "Marta being open to Cloe's overtures"? Or expecting a reward, in some way?

The Wrong Flutes Motif continues to play when Cloe states that she doesn't want Marta to find Fina. Marta not finding Fina would be her "only chance to get Marta back" - which is another interesting take, since "getting back" implies that Marta has been in love with Cloe before, whereas the issue, as the audience has witnessed it, and the reason for the end of the Marta/Cloe affair/relationship was that Marta was and is in love with Fina and not with Cloe. Not much to "get back" there.

And "taking out the desired option will mean Marta will take the option at hand" is also a steep take that ignores that Marta might not want anyone, in that case, or eventually someone else entirely. Of course, Cloe is immediately conflicted about her hope that Marta never ever find Fina, but it still doesn't stop her from acting towards that end later.

Good-coded Valentina being understanding here and saying "You can tell me anything!" seems less narratively than dramaturgically motivated: the audience needs Cloe in a dialog situation where she says "I hope she will never find her! This is my only chance to get her back!" to build up towards her later behavior.

Cloe, moping over a woman who has not and will not love her back:

And, mirroring that hand posture, Marta in her scene with Cloe a little later in the ep, just when she looks away while saying "I've seen crazy jealousy before" (alluding to Santiago thinking he could own Fina, I think?):

Cloe opens the dialog by saying, "Rodrigo was a very possessive man. He couldn't stand that Valentina was seeing another man that wasn't him" and the "not accepting that the one you want wants someone else" is an eerie echo here that also applies to Cloe, who then uses non-romantic bonding over work schedules and sibling love to lob another innuendo at Marta.

This time, the sound design doesn't use the Wrong Flutes but Cloe's personal Horror Accordeon Motif (00:22:12) to frame Cloe envying Marta's bond with Andrés. Cloe says, "I hope to find someone with whom I can live this," and Marta, kindly, says "I'm sure you will," only to have Cloe give her a meaningful, longer glance that translates to me as "YOU. I want you to be the person with whom I have that sibling-like bond."

It is a look that isn't scary per se, but it comes across as a little scary where it is placed, right after discussing Rodrigo's possessiveness and unwillingness to accept that Valentina has moved on.

if the Writing Room is building up Cloe as increasingly unhinged in claiming Marta, they keep the hints small, always followed by a guilty conscience and easing up, but there is a constant drip and it is consistent even going back to Season 2 (did they know after all where they wanted to go with this character?), between the pushiness and making situations about herself. An impressive bit of long-term build-up if true, and in that light, it is also consistent for Cloe to keep the Fina intel for herself.

When she hangs up on Marta at that point, she looks tortured at doing what she is doing (but she is stll doing it), and the Wrong Flutes are back once more (00:31:24).

There is no space for Marta's feelings (news from Fina!) at this point, as Cloe wallows in her own:

This slightly-above camera angle that is overhead but also fairly close the the body, to signal characters that are overwhelmed, under pressure, or on the verge of losing control, shows up repeatedly in recent episodes, for example when Marta is despairing over the newspapers in episode 551.

And on the far end of that scale - with the camera very close to the head from above, the face cropped, and the above-angle signaling the loss of reason and control - is the ending of the previous episode with Rodrigo, caged in his obsession, getting this shot right before he goes after Andrés: