Episode Listing
| # | Original Title Translated Title |
Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| I | "Soy Celia" "I am Celia" |
1992 |
| II | "Doña Benita" "Mrs. Benita" |
1992 |
| Answering to María's request, Doña Benita arrives in Madrid. Unfortunately, her presence turns out chaotic rather than a relief for Celia's parents. The woman is of good family and has a noble heart, but at the same time, she has an imagination as wild as Celia's. She tells the child many odd and strange stories about woodcutters who lost their way upon gazing at the moon, or the real purpose of the sun and the stars. She is also a very superstitious woman, and at the same time very religious, often relying on prayer during complicated times. Shortly after Doña Benita arrives, so does Celia's uncle, Tío Rodrigo, who comes to Madrid accompanied by his African servant, Maimón. Doña Benita takes an immediate dislike towards the Moor boy and this creates a short series of complications. At home, no one seems to be happy with who they are, especially Celia and her father. Celia wishes she could be someone else for a change, while her father finds his profession and character growing tiresome. Celia finds an opportunity to be someone else when she learns of old Doña Cándida, who rests ill in bed. Celia dresses up as a fairy with the purpose of presenting the old woman with treats and some money. One day, upon returning home from the park, Celia and Doña Benita save a small donkey from being sacrificed by purchasing it from its two young owners in exchange of two Spanish duros; Juana, the maid, believes their home is turning into a madhouse. The cook on the other hand, helps nurse the young donkey, but it soon starts kicking and running about creating a disaster in Celia's home. As summer begins to approach, Celia's mother has her daughter's hair cut, so she can avoid being uncomfortable due to the rising temperatures. Celia sees this as an opportunity to "prepare" her friends for summer and soon sets about cutting her cat Pirracas' and "Miss Nelly", the teddy bear's fur. Shortly afterwards, Celia is invited to her uncle's birthday party, but has an unpleasant time in the company of her two snobby girl-cousins and Basílides, her uncle's servant woman. The party ends in disaster when Maimón, the Moor boy accidentally shatters a valuable Chinese vase. Celia takes the blame, but Maimón confesses. Rodrigo rewards Celia's nobility by presenting her with the most valuable present he had in store for the girls, an elegant blue necklace. | ||
| III | "El verano" "The Summer" |
1992 |
| Summer arrives and Celia and her family spend its first days at the beach. Celia's mother has a hard time with Celia when the girl refuses to bathe in the sea. After a chaotic event with a bañista, a person whose job it is to help people bathe, Celia's father takes her out one day with the purpose of telling her daughter that he and her mother are leaving to Paris for a few days. Celia wants to join them but she is left behind in their mountain cottage with Doña Benita, and a new friend her age, Carlotica. The two girls share lots of different adventures together. After listening to Doña Benita's mystical tales of fairies and fantasy, the two girls find a small German boy whom they believe to be a goblin. The girls spend rainy days at Carlotica's house with her grandfather. Though he invites Celia so that the two girls can amuse him and have fun, he always ends up falling asleep. The two girls find entertainment in trying on the grandfather's old acting garments, something that greatly upsets the former actor. With the return of fair weather, Celia's parents return from their trip as well. When reunited, the family spends quiet time outdoors, until Celia hears a conversation her parents are having about their current financial troubles. Dressing herself as a servant girl in old rags, Celia sets off to work and earn some money from nearby villagers. A married peasant woman named Rafaela hires Celia and agrees to pay her three Spanish pesetas for her services. Celia helps the woman look after her child but there are some tasks, such as peeling potatoes, that she does not know how to do. Instead, Rafaela sends Celia up the hills where she asks her to find and bring a stubborn goat back to her. While she is out doing this, Celia is found by a group of guards that her parents had sent to find her. Celia is returned home and is received by looks of disappointment from her family; aunt Julia's old suggestion of sending Celia to a convent is considered once again by Celia's parents. Celia's last chance is ruined when, carelessly playing with her baby brother "Cuchifritín", manages to make the small boy dangerously ill. With a heavy heart, Celia's father tells Celia that he has no option but to send her with the nuns. | ||
| IV | "En el colegio" "At the School" |
1992 |
| When summer ends, Celia is taken to a convent where her parents hope she'll learn good behavior. The school is not what Celia had anticipated; she has trouble adapting to the many strict rules of the nuns, and the more fun things, such as recess, are far too short. Celia is aware that her father misses her, and is willing to do anything in order to be sent home. Her first idea is to pretend to suffer a sleepwalking condition but is unsuccessful. At the same time, she discovers that the convent is a fun place and that though her father misses her, he really wishes for her to remain there. Celia has trouble getting along with the other girls at the school, she prefers playing outside with Lamparón and Pronovis, the altar boys, and their band of homeless orphaned children. Celia is often punished for her misbehavior by the nuns. On one occasion, while standing on her knees by the door, Celia lies to a man waiting to see the Mother Superior, telling him that the nuns and school workers suffer from smallpox. The man gives the alarm and informs the parents of the children about the disease that the nuns are supposedly keeping secret. Celia answers rudely when a mother questions her reason for being punished, the woman responds to her rudeness by exclaiming that "the world is ending." Many concerned parents take their children home, and that night in the dining room, Celia informs another girl that the reason for the absence of so many of the girls is not due to a revolution, but because the world is coming to an end. The shocking truth spreads across the school creating great alarm. The nuns gather the girls and send them to the chapel for prayer. The arrival of Don Restituto, the priest, clears the misunderstanding, and Celia is again punished. Eventually, Celia discovers that taking the blame for others' actions is a good way to make friends; the theory works at first, but when Celia blames herself for a murder and setting the nearby woods on fire she is taken to Don Restituto for a slight hearing. Celia tells the priest that she wishes to become a saint and Don Restituto applauds her decision and presents her with a book on the subject of girls who became saints. Her father arrives to visit her, and Celia learns that becoming a saint may require many sacrifices. | ||
| V | "Ni santa, ni mártir" "Neither Saint, nor Martyr" |
1992 |
| Celia continues wanting to become a saint; she visits Don Restituto daily to confess her sins, even when she has nothing to confess. Though she knows saints must be well-behaved, Celia continues to create mischief. She gives three of the four kittens she had previously rescued from being sacrificed with three friends; a fourth friend feels jealous at not receiving a kitten for herself. The girls hide their kittens in their desks during class, and setting them free one at a time, they disrupt the Madre Superior's lecture. The girl who had not received a kitten confesses that they all belong to Celia. Don Restituto, not wanting to be responsible for Celia's behavior, forbids the girl from becoming a saint. In Madre Bibiana's class, the nun worries that Celia will not finish her work in time to be present it on examination day. While the girls work during a thunderstorm, Madre Isolina rescues an injured stork from the rain and brings it inside. Wanting to pet it, Celia is bit by the stork, unable to continue sewing. She later adopts the stork and names it Culiculá. One of Celia's friends, also unable to become a saint, has a better idea; the two girls can escape to Africa, worship God angering the Moors and being beheaded, thus becoming martyrs. The girls plan their escape, but it is cut short when they are found by Juanón, the gardener, and returned to the school. Don Restituto tells the two girls that they are forbidden from being martyrs as well. The end of term is days away and Madre Corazón feels pressured to involve Celia in the end of the year play. The nuns prepare the girls by fixing their hair with curlers. Madre Loreto, in charge of preparing the girls for examination, struggles as she finds that the girls haven't learned as much as they were expected to. She proposes that the girls learn only what they will be asked during examination and hope to avoid ridicule. Parents arrive to see their daughters perform on the last day of school, but the day ends in disaster. Madre Loreto's plan fails and Celia feels the need to explain the situation to the Madre Superior. Celia, who expected to spend the summer with her family, learns from Doña Benita that her parents are leaving the country and that she will be left behind to spend the summer with the nuns. Celia feels betrayed and sad; during the play, she changes the words to her lines in order to explain how her parents are leaving and leaving her behind. Celia runs from the stage in tears and the festivity is brought to a dramatic end. Celia's parents, the nuns and Doña Benita run after Celia, who has hidden herself in the garden. Celia hears their calls, but has no intention of answering. | ||
| IV | "¡Hasta la vista!" "Until We Meet Again!" |
1992 |
| Celia is the only girl remaining at the convent during summer, all the other girls are away with their families. Along comes Doña Merlucines, a seemingly good-natured woman, to spend the summer at the convent while her children are away in France; she and Celia get along very well at first and the girl is glad to finally have a companion. Doña Merlucines doesn't particularly like animals, however, and Celia does not like the way she treats Juanon's dog and Culiculá. After a small party Doña Remedios throws for her old friends, the woman invites Celia into the room to help herself to any of the treats that were left. Doña Remedios unconsciously helps Celia to a "chupito", a strong alcoholic beverage which makes the girl throw a fit of coughing. Madre Isolina arrives and the girl accuses Doña Remedios of giving her the drink. Thus begins the rivalry between the two characters. Celia watches a group of gypsies bringing their circus to town. Coralinda, a Chinese performer informs Celia that they're travelling to Beijing, China and the girl decides that she is going with them; Juanón scorts her back to the convent. Doña Remedios arrives and is shocked when she sees Celia playing with cockroaches; the disgusted woman runs off screaming. Madre Bibiana is sent to the scene and Doña Remedios returns to find the cat Rabona destroying her needle-work. Angered, Doña Remedios tries to avenge the cat but it bites her instead; Doña Remedios tells the nuns that the cat is likely suffering from rabies. The nuns had laid Doña Remedios down to sleep when Celia enters the room with a container of cockroaches which she frees under Doña Remedios' sheets. The woman's shrieks of horror make the nuns believe that she has indeed contracted rabies and the woman is locked inside the room until the doctor arrives. Following the event, Celia's father pays one last visit to her daughter before leaving for Barcelona. As a present, Celia does not want chocolates, instead she wants to go see the circus performance in town. At the circus, Celia is happy to see Coralinda performing. When they return home, her father hands Celia a small writing book in which to write her own stories. The man is dismayed when Madre Loreto answers the door and the girl walks in without saying goodbye. Celia turns around, her face covered in tears and tells his father that she wants to be reunited with her family. She promises him to become an artist and travel to find them. Celia is scorted to the bedroom by Madre Loreto, and before going to sleep, she begins writing on her new book. She writes about escaping with the gypsies in search for her parents. In her imagination, she convinces Coralinda's father to take her along with them, and tells his daughter that she must find her parents. |
Read more about this topic: Celia (TV Series)
Famous quotes containing the word episode:
“The press is no substitute for institutions. It is like the beam of a searchlight that moves restlessly about, bringing one episode and then another out of darkness into vision. Men cannot do the work of the world by this light alone. They cannot govern society by episodes, incidents, and eruptions. It is only when they work by a steady light of their own, that the press, when it is turned upon them, reveals a situation intelligible enough for a popular decision.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)