Vida: Season 3 Episode 4 – Recap/ Review with Spoilers

Lyn and Emma damn near switch places as Emma decides to let go, and Lyn gets serious about the bar, her relationship, and the trajectory her life is on.

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Directed By		Tanya Saracho
Written By		Esti Giordani
Aired (STARZ)		5/17/2020
Introduced This Episode
Silvia	Lidia Porto

This content contains pertinent spoilers.

Papa Do(n’t) Preach – Lyn, Emma, Victor

Both Lyn and Emma double down on their personal outlook on Victor. For Emma, she finds evidence of Victor abusing Vida, and that definitely justifying her calling the cops. However, with Lyn seeing a reformed man, someone who outgrew who he was, and how others saw him, she connects to that. Especially with this episode focusing on her outgrowing who Emma, and many others, once saw her or still do.

You Be The Serious One & I’ll Be The Fun One – Emma, Nico

At Marcos double quince, since they are turning 30, Emma decides it’ll be a night she’ll have fun. So with a handful of mushrooms, she goes off the rails a bit. But, during this, renewed hope is there for her and Nico. Someone she talks to and also eats out. Which you know is a big deal since Emma is a bit of a selfish lover and rarely performs oral on anyone. Pushing you to realize she must have DEEP feeling for Nico.

A New Chapter – Lyn, Juniper, Rudy, Silvia, Mari, Yoli, Marcos

Lyn can be seen as ending her transition from the woman Juniper was with, who was highly reliant on him, or whoever would be willing to finance her life, to independence. After all, while Emma doesn’t cross the Ts and dot the Is, Lyn is the one coming up with events, booking them, and making sure they can be profitable. Also, she is coming up with themes, and the vibe Vida’s can have for the long term. Making it so, if Emma did decide to flip a table and leave, while Lyn may have a learning curve to deal with, the bar would survive.

But, in becoming a boss, there are challenges. Take Rudy and his mother Silvia, for example. Being that Lyn just started to really hone in on a project, and it does well, she is still trying to deal with her success and how to talk about it. Especially with people like Silvia who live in grand houses, and make Lyn feel small and a bit inadequate. Which, by the way, her son doesn’t really help with. After her doing some anal play, in a way he doesn’t like, he gets a tad weird and distant. Not to the point of them being on the road to a break-up, but she is learning how his kink works in an uncomfortable way.

However, by the end of the night, even with a broken centerpiece from Silvia, Lyn seems to be in a decent place. She does feel tested by God, but she also feels like she passed it since, even at the worse point of the evening, which could be seeing a gay orgy, which includes Marcos, in their dress, getting head, she relies on herself to handle things. There is no running to Emma, or Juniper, who is a hot mess, but rather handling matters on her own.

Speaking of handling things on their own, while the video Mari filmed is becoming a hit and raising awareness, Yoli, on behalf of the others, notes how upset they are Mari acted against their wishes. This leads to Mari questioning what role does this group have beyond complaining and harassing a bar. Something Yoli takes offense to but is a valid criticism. What change has the group brought, never mind what change does it seek? So, with realizing she is probably wasting her time, she quits that and, similar to Lyn, is in the process of realizing she might have outgrown who she was and maybe Yoli too.

Collected Quote(s) & .Gifs

“Admit when you don’t know something. Empty vessels make the most noise.”
— Silvia

Highlights

Lyn Has Reached A New Level Of Maturity

Note: When we met Lyn, a lot of negative perceptions about her stemmed from what Emma said, and Lyn running up credit cards in Vida’s name. However, that was then, which may have only been a year or so ago, and this is now. The Lyn of present-day is really taking ownership of what she is responsible for. The bar is her baby, and she has made it her creative outlet, party outlet, and has cut off the eccentric and wealthy people she used to hang with. Now she hangs with Emma, Marcos, and her boyfriend – as well as ex-boyfriend, on occasion.

This has allowed her the time and ability to focus for now she lacks distractions. She can’t party away her cares, nor does she have a boyfriend who demands all her time and is all-consuming. Rudy likes Lyn, maybe loves her, but has his own life which, honestly, Lyn isn’t trying to integrate too far into. Thus Lyn is beginning a new chapter which isn’t just beneficial to the people in her life but her as well.

Mari Leaving The Basic Activist Behind

Mari is about that action, and while discussion has value, the group she works with needs a leader. Too many people are indecisive, and then when you add those who can’t get into trouble, it makes them immobile. And I’d even say, like Lyn, Mari has reached a point where she can’t deal with people who don’t have their s*** together anymore. She wanted, needs, to be around people who at least are making an effort to do more than complain. After all, Mari got enough issues on her own.

So here is to her next chapter, which, honestly, might be a struggle.

Emma Being Free

I wouldn’t call Emma pensive, but I do feel in her trying to protect herself, she often cuts herself off from people and experiences. Granted, not to the point of isolation, for Emma will go to a party and find someone to sleep with. However, you can see some parallels when it comes to Lyn and Emma when it comes to growth.

Lyn’s growth needed to come in all aspects of her life, but especially getting her personal life under control. With Emma, you can see the same. Due to Vida sending her to Texas and creating a bit of a complex in her about her sexuality, Emma doesn’t do relationships and finds them hard to navigate. Which, you could say, she compensates with in terms of her business acumen. However, as shown by Nico, and her ex we met in season 1, she still has a lot to work on.

However, while on mushrooms, we see that, subconsciously, she doesn’t want to live in fear and in a constant state of expecting the shoe to drop. The question is, though, how does one undo more than a decade of living like this? Well, outside of therapy and I can’t imagine Emma volunteering to do that. At least, with this being the last season. If “Vida” was given additional seasons, maybe, but they don’t have time to deal with the complexities of therapy for Emma as an individual or go into it in terms of her being Latinx, queer, and the many other factors they could add in.

Victor

Is Victor’s appearance a selling point of season 3? Honestly, it is too soon to tell. However, you can’t understate how his role in Lyn’s life is giving her the guidance she needs. Not to imply any sort of machismo, “A girl without a father is going to be someone who goes off the rails” type of nonsense. But, I will say, what Lyn lacks is someone who can provide a sense of self without it being about them trying to remodel her in their image, like Emma.

Plus, with Victor having fully changed his life, Lyn can identify with that. Heck, the vulnerability in her father admitting his past and showing himself as reformed, it’s what she needs from a man in her life. Mind you, Rudy isn’t a bad guy, but it is clear that she and him need more conversations before she can surely say he is the one. Especially due to how his family comes off, tolerant of LGBTQIA or not.

But, getting back to the point, what Victor holds is the unconditional love Lyn has probably lacked since she was a child, and I think Victor’s love is giving her the ability to truly understand who she is without fear of failure. Though maybe I’m giving a bit too much credit?

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