The Bus Stop
Episode 8 of Gentefied starts with us seeing Ana’s mother, Beatriz, working hard in a sewing warehouse. The employees are overworked with no breaks so they think about contacting a union and attending a meeting. Beatriz refuses to go though as she doesn’t believe that this will make any difference. Meanwhile, Yessika is feeling the pressure in her job as she wants to help the homeless more. Ana keeps getting calls from Tim but decides to ignore them and helps her girlfriend instead. As she returns home, her mother confronts her but Ana tells her she has to go out to help Yessika which upsets her mum. Back in the warehouse, we see that the working conditions for the women are woeful as they are not even allowed to go to the toilet whenever they want. An Asian lady tries to protest but unfortunately, the boss fires her. Ana is busy helping Yessika with the homeless so she’s unable to pick up her sister from school. She asks Chris to do it and he brings her to Mama Fina. There, we see them hard at work trying to find new ideas while Casimiro desperately tries to get hold of Rob. We also see that Nayeli has kept in touch with Daniel and is thinking to go and visit him in Bakersfield as she feels left out. Meanwhile, Beatriz changes her mind and decides to attend the union meeting where a woman speaks to them about worker rights and wants to help them make a difference. Back in the shop everyone looks for Nayeli. Casimiro finds her by a bus stop where she tells him that she wants to visit her friend in Bakersfield but also needs a break from the family as they are fighting all the time. Her Grandad has some words of wisdom about family for her which makes her decide to come back and try again the next day. Ana finds out that Nayeli tried to run away so she rushes back home to her mum and sister. She tries to apologise but her mum berates her for not trying or helping out enough. Frustrated, Ana tells her that she is expecting too much from her and explains that she has already got a lot to deal with. After calming down a little, both Ana and Nayeli decide to sit on the table and help their mother with her sewing before Ana later returns to Yessika to work with the homeless. Back in the warehouse, Beatriz manages to convince her boss to give her less work by suggesting some new ideas. The episode ends as she walks back home and decides to buy some patisserie to share with Nayeli. Just like the Javier-centric episode, this latest chapter shows us the life of another secondary character. This time it’s Beatriz, mother of Ana and Nayeli. We see how she struggles between the unfair treatment at work and the overwhelming demand she faces while still trying to raise her daughters. She has no choice but to rely on Ana to help her make ends meet. This causes some sparks between the two as Ana feels trapped and is desperate to fly from the nest. There is quite a powerful scene here too as we see Beatriz walking the street of her neighbourhood, showing just how gentrification has affected it with more and more businesses closing down. Like the Javier episode, this latest chapter does a good job at tying itself with the main story as we carry on seeing how the family are still trying to prevent the shop closure.
