Even fresh off her debut this season, Ruiz had some memorable days on set. The low point? “Being in a padded suit in 112 degree weather was definitely a new art form for me,” Ruiz joked, adding later that it got so hot some days that she and Rachel Bloom would retreat to the ice room in craft services to cool off. “It took three days to shoot in the desert that way,” Ruiz said.

Valencia is one of the show’s more fascinating characters. She’s complicated and, at times, frustrating. And now that Ruiz has been promoted to series regular, we’ll get more chances to see what makes her tick—and to see how she approaches the dating world.

“She hasn’t done that in so long,” Ruiz said. “Because she’s such a bossy woman, and such a strong energy—how is she going to let someone else in her life? I’m nervous for her, but I’m also very excited as an actress . . . I think she’s going to be put into a lot more provocative situations that challenge her as a character.”

So, prepare for Valencia to evolve—and even have, as we saw this week, a bit of a feminist awakening. Valencia has always been a very critical character—both of herself and others, as we saw in her Jewel-like Season 1 number, “Women Gotta Stick Together,” in which she belted about female solidarity while tearing down every woman around her.

“She’s never had a feminist energy to cope with, much less [be kind to herself],” Ruiz said. That explains why Valencia is so hard on herself for gaining weight, even though Ruiz remembers looking at herself in the mirror while wearing the padded suit and thinking, “This isn’t fat. Why does she keep saying she’s fat?” The reason, she realized, is because it’s “just normal for her to talk to herself that way. It’s been so de-sensitized in our society,” Ruiz said, adding that she was glad the show was able to satirize those unrealistic expectations.

Valencia begins to gather strength while hallucinating. She dreams up a ballet about her and Josh—while Rebecca has a parallel ballet dream starring herself in a triceratops suit. Once the high fades, Valencia wakes up embracing the vulnerability she’s tried so hard to avoid, saying, “Oh my God, I’m so sad. I’m so sad about Josh.”

“I love that it’s not only hilarious because there’s a triceratops, but for Valencia, she gets to finally accept the fact that she’s not a victim. She’s a human, and she’s a woman, and women have emotions. So be it. And that brings her power,“ Ruiz said.

Her and Rebecca’s newly shifted priorities are probably best expressed when they unite to urinate on the sound equipment Josh sets up at the festival. When Josh catches them, they tell him off on each other’s behalf.

“You know what? This woman’s a goddess and a leader, and you should have worshipped her,” Rebecca says, before Valencia chimes in, “Yeah, and Rebecca’s a super-smart dynamo with a feminist bikini area that you should have treated with respect.”

Then they begin to discuss the gender pay gap as a befuddled Josh backs away slowly. And so begins the next great #squad.