Warning: there are plenty of spoilers about the Spanish drama Velvet ahead.
Fashion Insight: Good alterations make all the difference.
Ross and Rachel of the Week: Clara and Pedro
Spanish Culture Clue: Birthdays are celebrated with parties and presents.
Language Point: “No te preocupes” rolls off the tongue, even when Ana is talking to people with whom she would usually usted.
the episode opens with a photo shoot in the workroom to promote Raul de la Riva’s new association with Velvet. Cristina is happy to show off her photo face (cara de foto), the era’s version of the duckface, which Alberto thinks is faintly ridiculous.
Fast forward a few days, and Ana and Alberto are up on the roof looking at the magazine. Ana is a little bit jealous of Cristina. And then, of course, she and Alberto discuss his upcoming birthday party, and then they kiss.
Back in the workroom, Rita tells Clara the Pedro might not be the right man for her. Clara frowns, then goes upstairs to work. Rita vents to Ana about her jealousy. I guess Alberto and Pedro are considered to be catches in Franco-era Spain, but I don’t see it. But right now, I’m deep in the sunk-cost fallacy. Velvet drives me crazy, but it is also a good way to practice my Spanish.
In his attempts to prove to me, or Clara, or Rita, that he really is a catch, Pedro asks Don Emilio for a promotion to the sales floor. Besides not having an open position, Emilio points out that Pedro knows nothing of fashion and should be happy continuing as a messenger.
Oily Don Francisco glides into the store as Luisa is cleaning up after a fitting. He tells her that she does not have to visit him, but he doesn’t have to pay for her husband’s hospital bills, either. Then he slithers away and we cut to the sales floor, where Carmen complains to Emilio that Patricia never shows up for work. Emilio doesn’t care. Devastatingly Handsome Maximiliano’s buddy shows up, and not to shop. “You’ve got a job, and your mother, but she’s not really your mother,” he says, and he demands that Maximiliano resume their scheme to rip off Doña Blanca.
Patricia shows up at Velvet and goes to the office instead of the sales floor. Alberto tells her to start arriving at work on time and start making sales. She leaves in a huff.
Cristina then comes to Velvet to invite Ana to the surprise birthday party that she is throwing for Alberto. Ana declines, but Cristina insists. That Cristina is so pushy! At least, I think that’s what we’re supposed to think. I kind of like her. Alberto is the big drip. If he weren’t once so rich and now so easy on the eyes, he would have nothing. He has no money right now (although Cristina doesn’t know that) and looks fade. Dude should get his act together.
As a present to Alberto, Ana decides to decorate the roof to look like Paris. Apparently no one in the entire store ever goes to the roof except Ana and Alberto. So strange.
Back in the workroom, Raul de la Riva announces that Rita will be his assistant. Some of the other seamstresses giggle. Raul says that Rita may not be up to date on fashion, but she has the best technical skills among the staff. That shuts them up, and we cut to a montage of fabric selection. The montage ends, and Raul announces that he cannot work with the materials in inventory. He goes to the office and demands that Alberto send him to Paris to procure the appropriate fabrics. Rita will go, too, as Raul’s assistant. Rita cannot believe her good fortune.
Patricia comes up to the workroom, showing how well she followed Alberto’s advice to get to selling. She sees Alberto walk up to Ana and slip something into Ana’s pocket. Patricia then accidentally on purpose bumps into Ana and takes the note, which reads “See you upstairs at midnight.” Patricia then goes to the sales floor and sees Cristina. Cristina is upset. She will have to cancel Alberto’s birthday party because of the Paris trip. What should she do to help him celebrate? Patricia is nothing if not fast. “Would it help if I told you where he will be at midnight?” she asks.
At closing time, Emilio notices that a necklace is missing from a display case. He announces to the staff that if the necklace is returned, there will be no punishment. Otherwise, the cost will be deducted from everyone’s pay. Carmen immediately suspects Devastatingly Handsome Maximiliano.
But we do not hang long at that cliff, because we now follow Ana up on the roof, preparing her Parisian scene. Meanwhile, Cristina is in the office, setting up a screen and a home movie projector. Alberto arrives. He had planned to stop by the office on his way up to the roof, but he sees the movies of him as a young boy with his father. Cristina slips out, satisfied, while Ana waits upstairs. She finally comes down to the office to see what’s keeping Alberto and sees him watching the movies. “Only you could think of such a wonderful present,” he says, but then Ana says that her present is up on the roof. Well, then.
The next day, the necklace has not been returned to the sales floor, so Don Emilio and Doña Blanca decide to search the staff bedrooms. Carmen tells Devastatingly Handsome Maximiliano, who arrives at his room in time to see Don Emilio searching his things. Emilio leaves and Blanca walks in, carrying the necklace. She asks Maximiliano for an explanation. He says that he needed to money to pay off his debts. She tells him to return the necklace and she will take care of his bills.
Back at Marquez Manor, Patricia and Gloria are discussing the store. Gloria tells Patricia that she has too much ambition and not enough brains, so she will never run the store. However, she will still have enough money, so it’s okay. Then, a private detective comes to the door and tells Gloria that he cannot get pictures of Ana and Alberto. Gloria tells him that he is not trying hard enough.
Alberto thanks Cristina. Raul comes to the workroom and announces that he has decided to take Ana to Paris instead of Rita. Rita is crushed, and so is Cristina – who will work on her dress?
Ana meets Alberto in the alley. He thinks Ana should be happy by how he wrangled the Paris trip away from Rita. But no, Ana is upset about Alberto kissing Cristina and about Rita getting cut from the trip. The private investigator is lurking in a car in the background and takes photos. The one time that Ana and Alberto have an assignation in the alley instead of on the roof! Patricia gets in the PI’s car. She tells him that obviously, Gloria has no money to pay him – why else would Patricia be working on the sales floor? Instead, Patricia will buy the photos from him.
RIta is sad about not going to Paris. Then, Pedro comes by to say that he is so happy because he has just found an apartment for him and Clara. Rita starts crying. Later on at Pausa, she tells Clara about how unhappy she is and about how Pedro found them an apartment. Clara is not happy about the apartment, not at all, and asks Rita to help talk Pedro out of it.
Up on the roof, Ana and Alberto hang out in Fake Paris, which leads to a dancing montage. Ana’s dancing is so good that she convinces Alberto to take Rita to Paris, too.
Don Emilio tells Ana to have a good time in Paris and not to disappoint him. Alberto is engaged, and Ana is a decent woman. Keep it that way. Don Emilio is not at all like sleazy Don Francisco, who is in the fitting room as Luisa works on alternations for his wife. He gropes Luisa while his wife is changing. Luisa pulls out scissors to stab him just as Doña Blanca appears.
Rita, Ana, Alberto, and Raul head off for their flight. On the way out, Pedro stops Rita to say that he has decided to propose to Clara. She tells him that it is a bad idea, but he is not deterred.
Cristina, meanwhile, goes to the office and asks Clara to book her a flight to Paris. She is going to surprise Alberto.
