Caray, Caray!

But first, another editorial notice! Just as Chris has mentioned with regard to Heridas, I believe that our show is getting edited for the US audience. I've noticed that there isn't a simple one-to-one relationship between the Esmas site's recaps and the episodes we're seeing - that is, sometimes you have to look at two different Esmas recaps to cover one whole episode. (This is bad because reading ahead spoils the surprise!) That means that the Monday episode won't always be the Friday episode (eh, you know what I mean) as I've said before. You'll never be quite sure which night is going to have the juiciest revelations.

Having said that, though, I'm pretty sure that this Monday's (tomorrow's) is still going to be pretty juicy.

Omar wants to know about last night. Fern tells Omar that they - especially Omar - are the worst kind of filth (literally "pigs of the third kind"). Omar is not impressed and complains about Fern's attitude. Fern says they are miserable, awful men and he wants to stop the lies. He is concerned about creating another devastating, painful tragedy in Lety's life. Naturally, Omar takes this lightly.

They go to the boardroom to talk some more. Fern tells Omar that he and Lety made love. Omar does a double-take when he realizes that Fern isn't kidding. Again, he tries to make light of it, but Fern wants Omar to understand that this is serious - Lety is really in love with him. He can feel it. Omar is extremely rude, speculating about Lety's passion. Then he stops, worried about the pensive look on Fern's face. He says oh no, don't tell me you felt the same way. Fern just gazes at him helplessly.

Fern says he was surprised to hear that he wasn't Lety's first. Omar sits down and takes on a more serious air. "Pardon my surprise, but... who with?" Fern replies, "with someone who was just as horrible and evil as you and me." Omar becomes defensive and self-righteous.

Fern describes Lety's story about Miguel and Roman - how Miguel seduced Lety for financial gain. He did it to win a bet. Omar looks stricken for a split-second, but quickly recovers and starts joking about it. He says how dumb she must have been. (One of the things that had especially upset Lety was that they had been planning and discussing the bet openly, everyone else knew about it, and she didn't even notice.) Fern describes the little gifts and cards, just like the ones Omar gets for Lety.

Fern says how awful it was for her; how awful it was for him just to hear it. As far as Omar is concerned, however, it only proves that they are using a flawless, proven formula. After all, it's worked on Lety before, right? Fern grabs him and yells (not too loudy) that a person can die of sadness. He wants to quit lying to Lety, but Omar rehashes their plan again to remind Fern and us why Fern can't tell the truth. Omar's suggestion: a nice card!

Fern rants and raves. He says he needs to tell Lety something that's true, something from the heart, something she can believe without feeling stupid (something like that).

Omar's "Card of the Day" for Lety is too dorky and nonsensical for Fern. Fern says that's Omar's mouth, not Fern's heart, and sarcastically asks Omar if he could maybe write something even more ridiculous, stupid, and soppy. (They are having this loud conversation in Fern's office with Lety in the next room.) Omar shows Fern the gift he bought for Lety and says he paid for it with his own money, just for Fern. Fern sarcastically pretends to be all choked up with emotion. He says he wants something more special. Omar admits he's not a professional poet and says he's got plenty of other things to do, so Fern can just write whatever he pleases.

PM and Saimon (he's Simón in the credits but nowhere else; he's Saimón on the Esmas website, for example, so back to calling him Saimon) show up very late to work, joined at the face. They talk about their adventures last night and their newfound love. Alicia brags that she's been in lots of jacuzzis with lots of men. Omar overhears this and makes a rude comment.

Marcia scolds PM and S (henceforth "PMS") for their tardiness, and they compete with one another to take the blame. Marcia says she's happy for them, but is skeptical at first. She asks PM is this serious, or was it just a one-night thing. (Overall, Marcia seems to be much rougher on PM than on Saimon.) PM says of course she's sincere. They are so effusive about their new relationship that Marcia is touched (she doesn't show any sign of the envy she must be feeling). She wishes them well and gives them a break. PM swears to be worthy.

PMS dance back into the lobby. The feas ask what happened, and Alicia watches, hoping PMS have been fired. PM says Marcia has class, not like "that other one" (yelling into Alicia's ear)!

Fern gives Saimon a hard time about his tardiness and is not interested in hearing about how much in love he is with PM. He sends him on a secret errand to his house to get his suitcase, because last night he told Marcia that he was packing when he was really boinking his assistant.

Luigi gets a call from talk show host Cristina Rivapalacios. She tells him she's got a surprise for him - an even bigger surprise than the wax statue. When Cristina arrives to deliver her mysterious news in person, PM shows her up to the executive lobby, but then Alicia takes over, claiming that it's her responsibility to usher the distinguished guests around. She claims, "she's mine!" and is all over Cristina like a cheap suit. At first, Cristina bears it politely, but then Alicia grips her arm so possessively that Cristina cries, "you're hurting me!"

Marcia is eager to hit the road (she's planning to rekindle their romance in Germany) and asks Fern if he'd like to go to the airport with her. He says he still has his hands full with work, which annoys her. Fern asks Lety for Marcia's tickets and the status of preparations for the Bella Life jewelry campaign. She reveals that the vendors will deal only with him (cuz he signed the contract) and not her, so if he goes to Germany, production on the jewelry campaign for Bella Life will be delayed.

Marcia hits the ceiling. She accuses Lety and Fern of planning this all out in advance, so that he won't have to go to Germany with her and can hang out with his lover. Fern defends Lety - this is absolutely not her fault. Fern and Marcia argue in Fern's office, then take it into the exec lobby where Cristina is also witnessing the scene between PM and Alicia arguing over celebrity-ushering privileges and flipping their hair. Again Marcia says there's not going to be a wedding. (They don't notice Cristina.)

Cristina remarks that perhaps this is a bad time. Alicia proudly (cluelessly) tells her that's their president and his girlfriend. Cristina asks again to see Luigi. Alicia leads the way, shoving PM aside.

Fern suggests to Marcia that they go someplace more private. They head towards Marcia's office for a Serious Talk. Fern says don't blame Lety. Marcia says she's had enough - never again. He gives a sarcastic, lengthy, angry reply and storms back to his office.

Lety apologizes and tells Fern she can't do this any longer. Working at Conceptos has been rough on her conscience since the day she arrived. Fern assures her again that his troubles with Marcia are not her fault and soothes her anxiety with easy little kisses. Then he awkwardly pats her arm like a man and tells her to get back to work. He is still a nervous wreck, himself, trying to decide about Germany vs. Bella Life. He sends Lety to Luigi's office to get him an herbal remedy (valerian).

In his studio, Luigi screams as if he has seen a giant Florida cockroach. It's a blemish on Yazmin's face. Alicia bursts in, babbling an introduction, but Cristina bypasses her to greet Luigi. He begs her to give him the surprise. She teases him and says she wants to meet his boyfriend.

Meanwhile, Juana answers Alicia's phone. It's Roman and his gang, calling yet again for Alicia to make good on her obligation to go out with them. Juana runs to discuss this bizarre message with the feas.

Alicia wants Cristina to know that she, too, has been a TV host. (Luigi just lets Alicia talk, wondering where this is going.) It was a very important TV show - at school. She tells Cristina she took six semesters of finance at a fine university. (Luigi's dog looks bored.) It's a very awkward conversation. Cristina tries to asks polite questions, but Alicia keeps digging herself deeper. She says no, she didn't finish school, but she did get married. (Irma is wincing.) Well, she didn't stay married, now she's divorced. But she insists that she and Cristina have plenty of things to chat about.

Luigi ends the mass torture by throwing Alicia out. After she leaves, he confides to Cristina that her academic career was a joke, etc. Cristina waves this off and teases him some more about the surprise.

The feas congregate outside Luigi's office hoping to meet Cristina. Lety joins them, and their conversation becomes noisy and excited. Luigi comes out of his office looking angry, and screams in surprise when he sees Lety. Cristina comes out to see what's going on. He insults all of the feas and offers to cover Cristina's eyes. He tells her she should only have to look at pretty things, beautiful things - like himself, for example. He tries to disperse the group, citing concerns about contamination, bacteria, streptococcus; Cristina says she'd like to meet them. They all squeal like they're meeting Shawn Cassidy (if I may date myself a bit).

Cristina possibly (I'm not sure) invites the feas to a taping of her show. Luigi introduces each of them with nasty nicknames. Irma and Yazmin come out to see what's going on; Luigi introduces "Miss Irma, alias The Lovely, and Miss Thief, alias The Homewrecker." Lety gets his attention, and he introduces her by all of her nicknames: La Garnacha (thick tortilla), Rintorrico (? rhinoceros ?), Moscorrofio (some sort of fly?), and Tlacoyo Bigoton (mustached corncake). Lety makes light of this to make Cristina feel less awkward, welcomes her to El Cuartel, and kisses her on the cheek. Cristina is very gracious. Luigi looks nauseated. :-)

Omar and Marcia are in the lobby talking about the trip to Germany (he is trying to smooth things over with her) when Carolina shows up with a man named Ricky. Omar nervously informs Ricky that there might be a problem with the Bella Life jewelry campaign. Ricky says he needs to speak to Fern right away.

Fern, whose bad mood has been increasing exponentially, has gotten impatient waiting for Lety and comes out into the executive lobby to bellow aimlessly and argue some more with Marcia. He's so mad he doesn't even see the other people. He yells "cancel the wedding, cancel the campaign, cancel my life!!" Marcia says, uh, hey, Ricky's here. Fern looks around the lobby and says sure, Alicia's here, Carolina's here, Ricky Armstrong's here... and does a double-take. "Ricky Armstrong, our favorite client!" Ricky urgently wants to talk, so they all head into the boardroom. He starts off by saying that the Bella Life makeup commercial has been doing well...

Meanwhile, Cristina asks Luigi to show her the first Bella Life commercial. He brags that it's been shown all over the world, and everyone loves it. What we see is about 15 seconds' worth of choppy footage - a woman puts on some makeup and then kisses a man. Seems pretty lame to me, but maybe bits of it were edited out for the US audience.

After that's finished, there are a few quick cuts between Luigi's office and the boardroom, as Cristina and Ricky simultaneously tell Luigi and the execs that the Bella Life makeup commercial is a top 3 finalist (out of 5000 entries) at the Cannes film festival! Cristina will be a presenter at the festival.

The feas, who have been listening outside Luigi's door, break into cheers. (The excitement of this scene is punctuated with kazoo music.) Luigi bursts out of his office and kisses the first person he sees - Lety! He runs over to the boardroom and throws the doors open, jumping up and down. Before he has a chance to say anything, Fern shouts, "CANNES!!" Luigi kisses everyone in the room (except possibly Alicia). In fact, he kisses Omar twice, who doesn't like it. Fern, who seems giddy, keeps repeating "Ricky Armstrong" and "Bella Life" with what I guess is supposed to be a US accent. (Actually he always says "Bella Life" that way.)

Fern gets up and kisses Ricky. Luigi kisses Omar again. Ricky says the ad has been great - it's making them lots of money and now it's up for a Golden Lion.

Fern is about to broach the awkward topic of the Germany trip when Marcia interrupts. All smiles, she says Fern had better stay here to take care of Bella Life, and she'll go to Germany without him. Carolina mentions that the film festival is around the same time as the Big Meeting (this is the meeting that will mark the end of Fern's probationary period as president of Conceptos), and Omar adds that it's also the time of the wedding.

The meeting adjourns. Fern makes as if to kiss Ricky again, but fakes him out. Luigi pushes Omar out of the way to sit next to Ricky, and Ricky kisses Luigi! He says it's because of his talent. Luigi reaches for Omar again...

Ricky, Omar, and Alicia remain in the boardroom. The rest go into the lobby, which seems to be the popular place for sensitive conversations. As Lety approaches with the herbal remedy, she hears Fern asking Marcia about the wedding. He says he just wants to know what kind of news to tell his parents. On the one hand, the great news about Cannes... on the other hand, the unspeakable cancellation of their wedding... Lety hastily retreats and the feas disperse.

Fern's still going on about the wedding when Luigi and Cristina approach. Marcia tries to tell him that Cristina Rivapalacios is here, and he gestures broadly behind him. Cristina takes his hand and shakes it. He turns around and recognizes her. Marcia gives her a friendly kiss on the cheek; Fern gives her maybe a little too friendly of a kiss. Marcia explains that Fernando is her novio, and Luigi says he's personally designing her wedding dress. He goes on and on, making Marcia sad. She excuses herself and leaves.

Luigi tells Fern how excited he is to be going to France. Fern says forget it, Luigi has too much work to do. Luigi has a fit. Besides, Fern adds, the award is for Conceptos, not Luigi. Luigi seethes. Fern says "you're not going to the festival - I am." (He seems to be laying it on awfully thick!) Carolina agrees with Fern. Luigi cries.

Back in the boardroom, Alicia is telling Ricky that it would be good for the PR images of both Conceptos and Bella Life if she were to accept the award at the festival, because of her great beauty and elegance. The whole world will be looking at her, her dress, her hands. Her eyes well up with tears as she imagines the scene. (She is probably hoping to pawn the Golden Lion to pay her bills.) Ricky tactfully tells her that Fern will most likely be the one to do that.

As they file out of the boardroom, Omar catches sight of Cristina and practically wets himself with excitement. He and Alicia compete with one another for her attention. Carolina introduces Omar ("before he collapses from nervousness," she explains.) Omar drools all over Cristina. He keeps pushing her hair back, and Cristina keeps pushing it forward, while Luigi rants and raves about "his" award.

They escort Ricky to the elevator to say goodbye. Alicia tries again to impress both Ricky and Cristina. Juana chooses this spectacular moment to tell Alicia that she had a call from some guys who identified themselves as "those nacos from last night" (and something about Jakarta). The look on Alicia's face (not to mention everyone else's) is priceless. Alicia tries to explain herself to Ricky, but Ricky just wants to get away from her. He says goodbye to everyone, and offers a special goodbye to "Lola - Lolita"! (Wonder what all that's about?)

Fern and Omar go back to the boardroom and Omar proceeds to drools some more about Cristina. Luigi interrupts them - he has major Mexican pop phenomenon Yuri on his cell phone. Omar and Fern briefly sing and dance to one of her songs. Yuri wants Luigi to do choreography for some charity event (?) and Luigi says something about tickets. Fern tells Luigi there's no time for this. Omar says he's going to Germany.

Luigi leaves in a snit. Omar asks Fern if he's finished Lety's card yet. Fern says no, he's not very good at this stuff. Omar says oh well, too bad, he's going to Germany. But he tells Fern not to worry - he's prepared all the things for Fern to give Lety while Omar's away.

Lety finally arrives with the herbal remedy. Fern gives her the card and chocolates, which cheers her up. He is nervous about the card, but it's better than usual (probably since Fern wrote it himself). She thanks Fern and hugs him tearfully. He kisses her forehead (these kisses no longer cause him to wince). They hear Marcia yelling irritably in the hallway, so they hurriedly separate. She comes in and asks about lunch. He says he has plans. (Lety excuses herself.) He mentions something about Yuri and the wedding; Marcia tells him to say something to his parents. (Sorry, I didn't get much of this.)

He pats her awkwardly on the shoulder tells her to have a good trip, and leaves her standing alone in his office without even a goodbye kiss.

Marcia invites Lety out to lunch (at Le Noir, the finest restaurant in town) in front of Alicia, who is miffed to be left out. Lety is incredulous and asks why her? Marcia says they need to have a talk. The feas lick their chops in anticipation of juicy gossip. Lety looks scared. :-) After Lety (and Fern) is out of earshot, Alicia asks Marcia how she can possibly be seen with Lety at a place like Le Noir.

In Omar's office, Omar shows off the care package he's preparing for Fern. There are numerous gift boxes, candies, stuffed animals, and greeting cards. Fern protests that he can't deal with all this stuff. Omar says he's going to make up a schedule for him to follow. He says how much he's looking forward to learning the culture of the German ladies.

Lunching on his own, Fern calls his father and says he has some news. (Two women at the next table stare and smile at him.) When Dad tells Mom to pick up the extension, Mom's first thought is that there's a problem with Marcia. Dad says on the contrary, we're supposed to have some champagne ready. He tells them about the Cannes nomination. They are excited, but note that the dates coincide with the Big Meeting and the wedding. (I'm not sure what they decide about this. I think Fern says he wants to do the whole thing in Germany!) He ends the call and meets with two men for lunch. (The women at the next table continue staring and smiling.)

At Le Noir, Lety is awkward. She won't let the waiter pull out the chair for her or unfold her napkin. When offered wine, she insists on lemonade instead. Marcia announces that it's time for them to speak frankly. She says that Lety knows all of Fern's private business, plans, and secrets. Marcia wants to know them too. (Lety tries to order a taco with everything on it.)
Marcia says she knows Lety's helping Fern with an affair, and that his confusion is normal, but ultimately, she (Marcia) is his girlfriend.

Marcia asks Lety about Tomas and says women like them need to stick together. Marcia says the difference between men and women is that women love with both their hearts and their heads. (Something like that.) More.

Lety protests that for her to tell Fern's secrets would be a violation of privacy. Marcia says it would be a violation of Fern's privacy, but not Lety's. Lety says she doesn't want to deceive him; why her? Marcia says that they seem close and she knows she can't count on Omar. (Lety rolls her eyes and agrees with this.)

Lety tells Marcia she respects her relationship with Fernando and takes it seriously. Marcia says she fears she's losing him. She tells Lety he's been having "relaciones" with another woman. She feels like she's dying from not knowing. She's been fighting for Fern for three years and doesn't want to throw that away. There's lots of crying and begging on both sides. Marcia begs Lety to help her, and Lety begs her not to ask.

Omar spends his lunch hour preparing detailed instructions for Fern. This letter and explicitly spells out (rehashes) their plan (or as Omar writes, "your routine of horror") to keep "the monster" happy in love with Fern so that she'll stay with Conceptos. Etc. He puts it all in a big red gift bag with Fern's name on it, staples it shut and leaves it on his own desk.

Marcia gets a call from Omar to go to the airport. Lety reminds her that Fern is stressed out over work stuff and wedding and everything else. Since Marcia's love for Fern runs so deep, surely they can get through all of this. Marcia says this trip to Germany was their last chance to save their relationship, but she thanks Lety for the encouragement and leaves Lety crying alone at the table in the restaurant.

There's a filler scene where the feas taunt Alicia (who hasn't eaten) about their great big lunch and how they have friends and can eat. Alicia makes fun of their "naco" food, beans, and gossip. She'd rather be hungry and alone.

Sara finds the red bag on Omar's desk. She shakes it, intrigued.

Roman rides up to Conceptos on his bike. Celso tries to chase him off. Or maybe not. On second viewing I'm not sure it's Roman and I'm not sure Celso tries to get rid of him. It looks like the guy on the bike is just delivering food and Celso wants some. Regardless, this guy has lured Celso away from his post.

Mr. Martha drops his, PM's, and Lola's kids off at Conceptos and tells them to behave. El Cheque is having a pointless discussion with Yazmin outside the building and Yazmin points out that these poor children are being abandoned by a taxi driver (Mr. Martha drives a cab). He is outraged and runs off to look for Lola, leaving Yazmin standing there by herself.

Filler scene: Luigi watches videos with Cristina and Carolina. He brags about his brilliance and they sexually harrass him. ;-)

Lety takes a walk after lunch, crying and praying. Her conscience is on fire. She can't continue her affair with Fern because it's wrong and it hurts Marcia. She is struggling between fulfilling her dreams, and being filled with guilt over lying. She needs strength to forget him and be a credit to her family. She resolves to break it off. But she can't. Or maybe she can. (She argues with herself.) She can't do it. Why, why? Please, God, help me.

---

Will Yazmin suffer a disfiguring accident? (It never hurts to ask.)

Will Lety dump Fern like a bad habit?

Will the red bag prove too tempting for curious eyes?

Will Alicia go out to lunch with Roman if he offers to buy her a bowlful of beans?

Find out tomorrow!

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