Rebelde is a Spanish drama series about students from different socioeconomic backgrounds crossing paths with each other at an elite private school. In season 2, they realise that all the misfortunes and tragedies of their school year lead back to one person, so they band together to expose the truth.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot Summary
Overcoming their differences, our central characters in season one, had come together to form the band Rebelde and won the prestigious Battle of the Bands, while also unmasking the members of the evil secret society, The Lodge. Jana and Esteban decided to stay just friends and MJ left Rebelde at the last moment to join Sebas.
In season two, the students come back to school for another semester hoping for a fair and just system after the dismantling of The Lodge but Sebas, who was the leader of the group, isn’t expelled because of his power and influence.
More importantly, the programme has a new director: Gus Bauman. Not only does Bauman have favourites and plot to pit the students against one another to build an unhealthily competitive environment, he also has a sinister plan brewing.
Apart from Bauman, another new character introduced this season is Okane, a famous young musician who has been sent to this school to mend his trouble-making ways. Mischievous as he is, he forms relationships with many characters, especially Jana and Luka, and creates a lot of drama for the teenagers.
But what is even more troubling is his secret deal with Bauman. Bauman has promised Okane to make him the first star for his new record label on the condition that he deals drugs to the rest of the students. This ultimately leads to Andi overdosing. Bauman then proceeds to blame the principal, Celina, for mismanagement and takes on the role of Principal of EWS.
In classes, Bauman expels Dixon for disagreeing with him, and Emilia for plagiarising Andi’s song. Esteban turns into a teacher’s pet in the hopes of winning Bauman’s competition at the end of the semester, Trend-Z, which guarantees a launch with his new record label, ensuring a successful career in the music industry. Rebelde as a band has fallen apart.
Luka has been disinherited by his father as a punishment for his antics last year. After throwing a grand and messy party at one of the Colucci mansions without permission, Luka is told that he will be removed from EWS and sent to a military school in Texas.
Fortunately, Luca finds dirt on Bauman that threatens his position as principal and his name in the industry. It turns out that Gus Bauman was responsible for the death and destruction of many young musicians and artists, who had got addicted to his drugs and died of overdose or were killed by Bauman himself for going against his wishes.
In an attempt to turn the situation around in his favour, Luka, during the finale of Trend-Z, calls Bauman to the terrace and confronts him about the information. In true fashion, Bauman pushes him off the terrace and Luka plunges into a coma.
The next day, Bauman announces that Luka attempted suicide and in the same breath, reveals Esteban as the winner of the competition. However, Esteban doesn’t feel any joy as he knows he didn’t deserve the win.
On the day of Esteban’s launch as the next young artist, Okane finds out the truth behind Luka’s incident and lets all the others know. Sebas, who had been contemplating suicide after being rejected by Bauman, overhears them and pretends to be interested in helping them. Later, he reports everything to Bauman.
When Esteban gets to know the truth, he botches his performance by going on stage and exposing Bauman. When he is backstage, he overhears Bauman trying to kill Okane and goes to rescue him.
In doing so, Esteban inadvertently sends Bauman flying down the stairs, who hits his head on the floor and dies. Esteban is put in handcuffs and taken away by the police. In the final scene, Luka, who was in a coma in the hospital, wakes up.
If you still have doubts about the ending, here’s a full breakdown.
Rebelde ending explained in detail:
What happens to Esteban?
Esteban had been acting very different from his usual self all semester long. Being a scholarship student, grabbing every opportunity that came his way was especially important for him to succeed in his career and that meant impressing Bauman. In doing so, however, Esteban lost not only his principles but also his friends.
But when he gets to know the truth about Bauman and the fact that he tried to kill Luka, Esteban is jolted back to his old self—the self that values his friends and upholds his morals. So he disobeys Bauman and calls him a murderer in front of all the influential people in the music industry. Backstage, he finds out that Bauman is trying to kill Okane, too, and intervenes to save him.
As the fight progresses, Esteban punches Bauman standing at the top of the stairs, who hits his head several times as he falls and bleeds to death. Esteban is in shock. Okane flees. The police enter and Esteban is arrested for the murder of Gus Bauman.
What is the deal with Sebas?
Sebas is the one who goes through the most ups and downs this season, in terms of his character arc. The obvious villain last season, this time Sebas goes through a transformation as he dates MJ.
He has almost turned over a new leaf when he messes everything up in the end. He not only abandons MJ in her time of need, but when forced into a corner by life’s circumstances, returns to his old vile self and betrays the whole group by teaming up with Bauman. Bauman, however, is dead by the end, and Sebas will be alone once again.
Is Luka still alive?
Luka is being forced by his father to leave his passion for music and join the military. He is also struggling with feelings of guilt for hooking Andi to drugs in the first place which leads to her overdose.
Like the rest of the students, he is also feeling the pressures of Bauman’s damaging pedagogical techniques and in a desperate attempt to turn things in his favour, he attempts to strike a deal with Bauman to further his career.
However, Bauman refuses to do so as he has no wish to upset Marcelo Colucci. When this doesn’t work, Luka threatens Bauman with the information he has on him.
Bauman isn’t one to be roughened up and he pushes Luka off the terrace. Luka spends the next several days in a coma, with Okane at his side. Everybody thinks that Luka commited suicide. Some time after the Trend-Z event, Luka wakes up from his coma in his hospital bed. Luka is alive and the season comes to an end.
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