Caray, Caray!

Picture of me coming soon... I just need to get my hands on, like, a camera or something.

Useless vocabulary word:

Tlacoyo bigotón: Mustached corncake. It's one of Alicia's nicknames for Lety. I had a heck of a time finding a translation for this, after having a heck of a time figuring out what she was saying (I had thought she was saying "cogotón" which didn't make any sense...).

On with the recap:

Four of the neighborhood gang go up to Lucy and Ethel's rental car and yell, "HOLA!!" The women scream and the guys start harrassing them. Someone says something about Santa Claus (the guy who I'm assuming is Roman is wearing a red hat with white trim). "What's your name?" the guys ask. "Who's asking?" Alicia nervily replies. Alicia screams for help. Marcia says don't bother us, we'll call the police.

"Don't you want to hang out with us?" the guys say. "No, we're not interested, go away please," Marcia answers politely. "Okay," they say, but then they get in the car! (Which, btw, is a VW, probably a Passat - not a BMW as I had previously thought). The women scream loudly as more men surround the car, get in the car, lean against the car...

Alicia whips out a can of pepper spray and lets it rip! She, Marcia, and the two men closest to the back doors get out quickly. The rest are still choking and blinded in the car. Everyone is gasping and caughing and choking. Alicia shoves a man away from her.

Fern and Lety come out of the house. Fern is sounding a little better, but they are both a bit drunk. They wonder where they can go at this late hour that will still be open. They see the ruckus from a distance but don't recognize the car or its disguised occupants. Recalling Fern's recent run-in with the gang, they decide to take advantage of the altercation to sneak away unnoticed. Fern stuffs Lety into the car before the malditos see them.

The altercation continues. Lety's parents are in bed. RoboPop seems to be passed out cold in his pajamas, and Mom, still in her clothes, watches him sleep. Pop is awakened by the sound of sirens. He is worried that Fern might be in trouble. He wants to go out and check. Mom, not wanting him to discover that Lety has left, keeps him from leaving the room. She brings him some tea. He drinks it and falls asleep again.

The police have arrived. The gang accuse the women of attacking them. The men are unarmed, and the women do look suspicious in their black hats and black trenchcoats. Plus, it wasn't legal for Alicia to be carrying pepper spray.

Alicia is outraged. She tries to argue with the police, and Marcia unsuccessfully attempts to calm her down. The police decide to take Alicia and the whole gang down to the police station to sort it out there.

Alicia resists arrest. "Don't you know who I am?" she demands. She says she is Alicia Fererra, and her husband is Mauricio Whats-his-name, and she works at Conceptos, and the president is a millionaire, and he's right there in that house (pointing). It doesn't look like the sort of house, or neighborhood, that such a person would be seen in, and Marcia tells her that Fernando's car is now gone.

Only then does Alicia take her outrage down a notch. She switches into whine mode and says she has a Mercedes, so she can't ride in an icky police car. Marcia suggests driving Alicia to the station in the rental car, but the police don't think this is a good idea. :-) Marcia also tries to explain the situation - I can't follow most of what she says, but she mentions jealousy. Alicia keeps popping out of the police car to throw in her two pesos, and the cop keeps pushing her pack in. I think solicitation is mentioned. The gangsters are herded into the police car with Alicia, and away they go.

Lety is all over Fern in his car. (BTW, I've noticed that the identifying marks on most of the cars on this show are deliberately obscured. Even with a full frontal view of the rental car, for example, you can see the round thing on the front of the car, you can vaguely make out diagonal lines that you know is the VW logo, but you can't see it clearly even though you should be able to. Similarly, in a rare frontal view of Fern's car, you can vaguely make out a round thing, but you can't quite see it well enough to confirm that it's a BMW, although the shape of the front grille pretty much confirms it.)

Um, anyway, Fern is nervous and wound-up from the evening's events, and he tries to hold Lety off a bit. She's pretty wound up too. She's hungry. She wants to go dancing. He kind of flirts with her. He playfully pokes at her braces. He calls Marcia (just making sure she hasn't gone anywhere he might run into her, I guess), but she's not home.

They go dancing (clumsily) at a dark place. Fern keeps imagining that Marcia spots them and makes a scene. Lety can see that he's distracted by thoughts of Marcia, which depresses her.

At the police station, Alicia is still yelling. She also keeps hitting the gang guys. The judge (I guess he's a judge - or maybe some sort of cross between a judge and a cop, I don't know) tells her she's in trouble for using an illegal weapon and resisting arrest, while there's no proof that the gang did anything wrong.

Alicia whines to the judge about having a Mercedes. He loses patience, and he orders (I guess) that she be put in a cell, which we don't see. She asks Marcia to call Fern, but Marcia doesn't like this idea. Marcia tells the judge ("I swear") that she was just waiting for her boyfriend when these guys showed up. She seems to be telling him the whole entire story. The gang listens, apparently somewhat sympathetically. I think she also tries to butter up the judge.

Marcia calls Fern at home and only gets his answering machine. Then she tries to make a deal with the gang. Santa/Roman says something about names and telephone numbers, money and beer. I think the deal is that she and Alicia will hang out with them some evening in exchange for them dropping the assault charges against Alicia. Everybody cheers.

Somewhere else in the city, Saimon and Paula Maria arrive at Martha's house, where PM and PM Jr. have been staying. PM is not ready for the evening to end. She wants Saimon to take her someplace else. She says several things to him (including something about Yazmin), but he continues to sulk. Finally, she says the right thing (not sure what) and that settles it. He smiles, and away they go.

Lety still wants to go someplace private. Fern calls Omar for advice on a nice place he can take her. (Omar is still at the bar, but with a different woman.)

Fern takes Lety to a luxurious hotel. He eagerly gives her a chance to back out, but she is thrilled. She glows with dorky joy as they approach the front desk. Fern seems shy with the desk clerk. He signs in as Alberto Morartia (and makes a big show of correcting the clerk's pronunciation). The desk clerk refers to Lety as Senora Morartia. A man named Jose is summoned for their luggage; Fern says they don't have any, and the clerk says she understands. She is very professional, and doesn't smirk knowingly or anything. ;-) He pays cash - I think 5000 pesos.

A bellhop shows them to their room. Like the desk clerk, he is very professional, doesn't make faces behind Lety's back, at least not that I can see. Fern tips him (and seems to have a brief conversation with him, I don't know what about). Lety is enchanted with the gorgeous room, filled with flowers. He gazes at her shyly, filled with fear and dread.

Alicia is back from her cell. She complains to the judge how awful it was. She tells him that's not the place for her - she's had six semesters of finance at a prestigious school. She thinks she still needs to talk her way out of something, but the judge tells her about the deal Marcia made with the gang. She just has to sign a statement saying that she'll stay out of trouble. She mentions her Mercedes again.

Alicia thinks Marcia's deal was a joke, but as they all leave the building together, she discovers that Marcia was quite serious. They really are going to be nice to the gang and hang out with them. Alicia doesn't understand. They're free, right? So why can't they just leave? They're not the right class of people to be hanging around with. After all, she and Marcia work at Conceptos. The gang says yeah, that's where Lety works, and she has a rich boyfriend. They all laugh. Alicia claims that she and Marcia are high-ranking executives at Conceptos. Alicia asks if they know Lety's boyfriend.

Saimon and PM have gone to a late-night club. PM appears to have had a lot of drinks. Saimon still doesn't want to speak directly to her; he uses the waiter as a mediator, which annoys her. They argue. Saimon gets a bit choked up. She has wounded his pride in some way. He continues to sulk as she goads him, drinks, and refuses to dance with other men. Finally, she asks Saimon to dance. He ignores her, but gets up and starts dancing alone. (He's a very spiffy dancer!) He asks the waiter to ask PM to dance with him. She happily agrees!

Back at the hotel, Lety freshens up in the bathroom and talks to her reflection in the mirror. (We almost, but not quite, get to see her without her glasses; she puts them back on before we can see her face.) She says she feels Fern's love in her heart. She thanks God for giving her Fern and letting her have love on her birthday.

Monday's episode ends with a love song and a montage of their courtship to date. Tears, laughs, cards, gifts, kisses. Fern seems to see some of this montage while he looks at a mirror in the bedroom. *Snif*!

Alicia and Marcia leave the police station. Marcia tells Alicia she had given the gang fake phone numbers, but thanks to Alicia's big mouth they now know they can find them at Conceptos. Marcia wants to go to Fern's place. Alicia covers her face with a black scarf while they walk out to the car. (I don't know where this scarf came from - she could have used it earlier instead of that silly tablecloth.) Marcia says Fern's not at home and his cell phone is turned off. They speculate as to his whereabouts. Alicia points out that at this late hour, the only places that are still open are hotels. Marcia just wants to leave. She yells at Alicia for trying to drive in the dark with her sunglasses on.

Back at the hotel... while Lety enthuses in front of the bathroom mirror, Fern raids the honor bar and calls Omar for (im)moral support. (Omar's date is getting impatient with these interruptions.) Omar basically tells him that if he doesn't go through with it, he could lose everything.

Fern talks to himself in the mirror. Lety comes out of the bathroom, and they kiss. He smiles faintly, but Lety senses something is wrong. He pulls away, stammers, and starts apologizing. He's not going to be able to do this. Lety asks, is it Marcia? He says no, it's HER!

He is mostly referring to the guilt he feels about using her, but he can't very well tell her that. She says don't worry, she understands. He says thanks. She says she knew it was too good to be true. (They are addressing one another as "usted." Ouch.) She says he didn't think he could truly be attracted to her, and a lot more of that sort of thing, and a lot of crying. She says she loves him, but that doesn't mean he has to love her. She begs his forgiveness for being so stupid.

He says no, it's not like that. They kiss. He says "Lety - le amo." (Pretty sure he says "le" and not "te.") They kiss some more. Slo-mo fall to bed. He takes her glasses off, and her face isn't so bad without them. He kisses her neck. Her eyes are closed. Her braces glitter in the soft light.

They wake up naked a little while later. (She sleeps on the left, if anyone was wondering.) She puts her glasses on and wakes him. It's 2 am. He seems regretful - not because he is horrified that he has slept with a fea, but because he is guilty of a terrible deception. She, however, is happy. She says it was the best gift ever.

They check out of the hotel. He holds her hand openly and without embarrassment (granted there is no one around who knows them). Puts his hand on her shoulder. Hugs her in the car for no good reason.

He takes her home. She thanks him again for the best birthday in her entire life. He says he had a great time too and likes her a lot. She says she knows he's had lots of nights like this, but he says no, it was very, very special. She says right, he's never been with someone like her. She giggles. Very seriously, he says no, really.

Lety stammers out some concerns about Marcia. Are you going home to her now? He says no, he's going to his place.

He asks her, that wasn't her first time, was it. She is almost apologetic. No, why? He says he's just curious. He wants to know if it was Tomas. She says no, it was someone else, and she does not want to talk about it. He says okay, and leaves.

Mom - still in her day clothes - asks Lety if everything is okay. She assures Lety that Pop has been asleep this whole time and doesn't even know she left the house.

Lety tells her they went to an elegant restaurant and talked for a long time in the car afterwards. (You can see the shadow of a stagehand on the wall behind Mom as they talk - it's very distracting!) Mom says, what did you talk about? Lety says business, but the dreamy look on her face suggests otherwise. Mom asks, is that it? Just talking? Lety says yes, nothing more.

They briefly discuss the altercation on the street, what it might have been about. Who knows, one of them says, and the other says oh well, good night.

Lety tells herself, it was so beautiful, so sincere. She tells herself that she is completely his, and he is hers.

Saimon and PM's date has ended as well. She thanks him for a good evening. He still seems reluctant. She says serious things to him and kisses him several times with increasing fervor. He seems to enjoy it, but forces himself not to react. She says fine, see you tomorrow, and goes into Martha's place. After she leaves him, Saimon nearly swoons from the effort of his resistance!

Fern gets home. He is pensive. He slowly climbs the stairs to his room, and is very surprised to see Marcia there. (This is about as close as Tuesday's episode got to having a funny scene.) Marcia gives him a frosty greeting. He says she just startled him, that's all. He tells her he was at Lety's, and she can ask anyone at work tomorrow. She says really, you were there up until now? He pretends not to understand what she is getting at. He says he went to Omar's afterwards for a drink. She says she won't bother asking Omar since he's surely confirm Fern's story.

She asks why he didn't answer his phone. He says he turned it off, not expecting a call from her since she had told him she'd see him tomorrow. He says why, was there a problem? She says no, she just wanted to be with him. She tries kissing him, but he pulls away irritably.

They argue. She keeps trying to smooth it over with kisses, and he keeps pulling away. She demands an explanation. He says he's tired, but she says that's never been a problem before. He says don't worry - some other time.

She is stunned. She gets into bed. He turns out the light and sits in a chair by the window. Marcia watches him. While we hear a voiceover from Lety talking again about her beautiful birthday gift. We are treated to yet another love song and montage, which is basically a replay of the love scene.

Back in Lety's bed - she wakes up from a light slumber and uses her glowing pen to write in her diary. She says she loves him with her blood and her flesh (she says "carne" which I had thought strictly referred to "meat" - "I love him with all my blood and meat" - LOL).

The next day, the feas speculate about Lety's evening. Lety arrives and they tease her for details. The also teas Celso when he shows up wearing sunglasses, sipping a big coffee, with his hat askew. They hear a horn honk outside, and Celso hurries out to greet Fern. Lety promises to tell the feas everything later, then runs out behind Celso.

Lety is displeased to see both Fern AND Marcia get out of his car. (Even in full sunlight, the logo on the front of Fern's car is just a vague gray blob.) Celso says, so what - they usually come in together. Lety becomes irritable. What are they doing together? She, Celso, Fern, and Marcia exchange hellos of varying awkwardness. Lety says something like "how have you been"? which causes Marcia to stare at her. Lety guiltily averts her eyes.

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How long can Lety's happiness last without violating the laws of soap opera suffering? Put on your crying-goggles and get ready to find out!

Labels: fea