When the Moon Was Ours

Aracely tries to understand Miel’s fear of pumpkins. Miel, meanwhile, goes to the Bonners’ farm to see if the pumpkins are still turning to glass. She sees that more of them have transformed, signifying the discord within the house. Miel worries that the town will blame her for the pumpkins, and that the sisters will spread lies about her mother. She’s uncertain what they plan to do with her roses. She determines to refuse the next time they come for her. Looking around, she sees some of the glass pumpkins turning back into fruit. When Miel returns home, Aracely mentions that her regular client, Emma Owens, is due for a visit. Ms. Owens is always falling in love too fast and coming to have her heartache removed.

Miel prepares to study with Sam, and Aracely mentions that the glass in the Bonners’ farm is spreading. Miel denies knowing anything about it. She recognizes that it’s not only Sam she wants to see; she wants to flaunt her relationship with him to the Bonner sisters and prove that not everything belongs to them. She finds Sam at the farm and kisses him, accidentally putting her hand on his chest. After he returns to work, Miel considers what she knows of his body. Ivy approaches her and invites her to see something in secret. She brings Miel to a glass coffin in the woods, which is rumored to have transformative powers. The other sisters arrive and attack Miel, forcing her into the coffin. They lock her inside and leave Miel to panic alone.

Sam meets Lian near her house and greets her, but is rebuffed. Sam considers the town’s attitude toward Lian, believing she’s stupid and listless. Sam, however, knows this isn’t true. At school, he sees the Bonner girls crowded around Ms. Owens, the school secretary. He considers the racism he faces from his majority-white school, and his friendship with Miel, also a person of color. On the way home, Sam passes Miel’s house and sees Aracely at the window. He notices for the first time the similarities in Miel and Aracely’s features and realizes that they must be related.

In the glass coffin, Miel remembers a traumatic experience in which her mother carved out a large pumpkin and forced her inside, thinking it would cure her of growing roses from her wrist. Miel’s brother, Leandro, tried to help her but was pushed aside by their mother. The following day, her mother let her out and was disappointed to see the cure hadn’t worked. Finally, Peyton comes to let Miel out of the coffin, appearing guilty, and Miel thinks it’s because of how Sam helps her hide her romances with other women from her parents. Peyton tells her that each Bonner sister has spent time locked in the coffin too. Miel runs away and sees that her steps have broken some of the glass pumpkins, releasing the Bonner sisters’ energy into the air.

Miel collapses. Sam finds her on his way to hang up one of his moons. He sees the glass pumpkins and thinks Miel is upset because she feels responsible. Miel sees that Sam, in turn, feels responsible for her. She feels ashamed for her role in her brother’s and mother’s deaths, and is worried she will inadvertently bring harm to Sam. He leaves his moon with her and goes to get help.

Sam goes to Aracely for help. He is taciturn, and remembers his hesitancy to speak growing up as he became self-conscious about his high, feminine-coded voice. Sam brings Aracely to Miel, and Aracely comforts her until she’s willing to return home. He sees the effect Aracely has on Miel, and resolves to ask about their true relationship.

Ms. Owens is visiting with Aracely in preparation for her latest lovesickness cure. Aracely is hesitant about enlisting Miel’s help, but Miel insists she’s up to the task. They prepare the cure, and Miel imagines she can see glass vines growing through her house. Suddenly, Aracely shouts and Miel realizes the lovesickness is trapped inside. Instead of flying out the window, it rushes back into Ms. Owens. She runs from the room, and Aracely becomes angry at Miel for getting distracted. Aracely confesses that Ms. Owens helped cover up Sam’s birth records, allowing him to be admitted to school as a boy. She worries that now Ms. Owens will reveal the truth, and goes after her to try and make amends.

Miel wakes in their living room and sees Ivy looking down at her. A new rose is growing from Miel’s wrist. When Miel looks again, Ivy is gone. She smells Ivy’s perfume in the house, but tells herself the front door is only open because Aracely forgot to close it.

After his mother and Miel are asleep, Sam sneaks out to confront Aracely. He asks about the true nature of their relationship. At first Aracely is defensive, and she turns the focus of the conversation on him and his Gender Identity. They talk about the bacha posh tradition and begin to argue about each other’s cultures; Sam says the townspeople call Aracely a witch. She baits him into anger, telling him he’ll need his self-assurance to live as a man. When Sam starts to leave, Aracely tells him she understands his journey because she has gone through it herself. Finally, she confesses that she was born as Miel’s brother, Leandro.