Warning: there are many, many spoilers about the Spanish drama Velvet ahead. You can see it on Netflix.
It’s daybreak, and all the magazines feature photos of Princess Grace walking out of Velvet. Rita takes a copy of one to Clara and finds Mateo hiding in her room. Mateo sneaks out and runs into Don Emilio.
Awkward!
In Emilio’s room, Ana is finishing up work on dresses to be sold by a friend of Emilio’s, Doña Aurora, who runs a dress shop that is decidedly less fancy than Velvet. The shop owner agrees to feature one of the dresses in her window for a week to see if it sells.
Alberto waits on the sales floor, hoping to see all the ladies who will come in to see the dresses that Princess Grace. Pedro goes to the workroom to tell Doña Blanca that there’s a delivery problem. He sees Rita and tells her that Manolito can’t come for a visit during Holy Week, so Pedro will go to Germany to see him.
The wedding is in three days. Cristina is frazzled by the last-minute details. Her brother Enrique, and sister-in-law Bárbara, show up. Mateo knows Bárbara and refers to by a word that I can’t quite catch, but I think it’s joborara, or teaser. The subtitles translate the term as “Daisy May Blow”. In any event, Cristina is happy to see everyone but sad that her mother is not there.
Back in the office, Alberto and Mateo meet with Gerardo and Enrique. Gerardo has decided that Enrique should join the store’s management team. Enrique is happy to help his brother-in-law out of a jam. Alberto is not happy. Mateo is amused.
Cristina and Bárbara go to the workroom to check on the dresses. Luisa helps them. Bárbara is very pregnant, and she is talking about the baby. Luisa suddenly runs out of the room. Rita and Ana follow. It turns out that Luisa is pregnant. Rita and Ana promise to help her. It’s obvious that Luisa is thinking about abortion, which was outlawed during the Franco regime.
We see Pedro, who is talking to himself and rehearsing a speech to Rita. When he sees Rita, he forgets his speech and instead asks her to join him at Pausa.
Emilio tells Patricia that he is back at work, so she can can return to being a sales assistant. She is not happy about this and goes to talk to Alberto. Rather than talk about work. Alberto asks Patricia to be maid of honor at the wedding in place of Gloria. After all, Gloria is not his mother, but Patricia is his sister.
At the country club, Alberto and Enrique play tennis while Bárbara and Cristina enjoy some product-placement Coca-Cola. Cristina tells Bárbara that Alberto had another girlfriend, but she doesn’t know who. Bárbara is intrigued.
Ana is helping Rita get ready for her date with Pedro when Don Emilio comes in and asks Ana to come into his room. He bought her a fancy sewing machine. Doña Aurora sold the sample dress and wants three more in the morning. Ana is overwhelmed but happy. Also, it’s much less work than Rita and Pedro are doing as they try to get through their awkward date.
It’s dinner time at Marquez Manor, with some barbed banter among Alberto, Enrique, and Gerardo. Cristina comes in and gives Alberto a wedding present—membership in the country club. He is not happy.
Back in the dorms, Clara and Mateo return from a date. Clara tells him that she wants their relationship to be exclusive. He equivocates, so she calls it a night. Pedro starts to tell Rita how he feels, and then Clara interrupts him. I’m sorry, but Pedro is a spineless twerp, and both Rita and Clara can do better. And Mateo isn’t better, Clara. Meanwhile, Ana sews. Rita stops by, sees what she’s doing, and helps her out. Finally, we see Luisa knocking on the door of Pepita, a seamstress that we have not interacted with until now.
The next day, Emilio comes for the dresses and asks Ana what name she wants to sell them under. She signs the tags “Philippe Ray”.
Up in the office, Mateo starts to talk to Clara until Bárbara shows up to interrupt them. Clara sees Pedro and tells him that she is going back to the Sales department. Pedro, meanwhile, tells Clara that he is interested in someone else. Clara figures out that it’s Rita, and she’s annoyed.
Now we’re back at Pausa, and Mateo tells Alberto that Clara is fun and a real challenge. Alberto doesn’t pay attention because he is complaining about his brother-in-law and the horror of life at the country club. Why must Alberto’s life be so hard? He has so much trauma, running a business that his daddy gave him, being engaged to a beautiful and vivacious woman, and being a member of the country club.
Emilio doesn’t have these problems. He asks Devastatingly Handsome Maximiliano to help Doña Blanca with some fabrics.
Up in the workroom, Pepita hands Luisa a note with a phone number on it. “She is expecting your call,” Pepita says. Luisa gets on the phone and makes an appointment. As she walks away, Ana and Rita walk up to her and give her a present: little baby booties. They tell Luisa that she has their support. Luisa cries.
Enrique tells Alberto to fire Raul de la Riva, so he does. Raul is very sad, but he has to finish a bunch of dresses for the wedding before he can leave. It seems to me that it would be better to fire Raul after the dresses are finished, but that’s just me.
Alberto goes to the workroom to have his suit fitted and enjoy a few delicate moments with Ana. Cristina and Bárbara show up for their final fittings, and Bárbara catches a glimpse of Ana and Alberto together. Bárbara then tells Cristina that Ana must be Alberto’s first love.
Back on the sales floor, Alberto runs into Gloria. Gloria says that she will be the maid of honor because Cristina asked her. Alberto finds Cristina and tells her how unhappy he is, you know, because he’s a whiner who refuses to have anything close to a conversation with the woman that he is marrying. He’s also unhappy about the guest list and the country club membership.
Pedro and Alberto deserve each other. Is there a way we can get them together?
