Caray, Caray!

Alicia's mouth is still hanging open after finding that sketch of the underwear-clad woman on the horse. She puts 2 and 2 together and comes up with "muchas equis" (many X's)... that is, she assumes that Fern is producing pornos and having the cuartel help out. Apparently, it never occurs to her that they could be producing a commercial even though it's an advertising agency. (I assume the gist of the commercial will be that if Lady Godiva had had such fine underthings, she wouldn't have ridden around naked on a horse.)

She calls Marcia in Germany, waking her up. Alicia asks why were you sleeping at this hour? Marcia points out that it's the middle of the night in Germany. (It bugs me that Alicia has been so dumb lately - I think they are overdoing it.) Alicia tells her that Fern and the cuartel are producing a "many-X" film. Marcia is skeptical, and Alicia hangs up on her. Alicia is delighted that for once, she gets to hang up on Marcia before Marcia hangs up on her!

Then Alicia calls Ariel, who is not thrilled to hear from her. He says he has some friends (yeah, right) who might like to hire Alicia as their "escort." She hints at having some juicy intel that Ariel can use to take over Conceptos. He doubts it, but has a pretty good idea of her price - 500,000 pesos to save her car, right? (Yep, she DID owe that money on her car, just as I thought... the ESMAS recap last month had said it was for her apartment, grrrrr.) She insists that it's good and it's something he needs to see with his own eyes. He says this had better not be one of her schemes. She assures him that he'll be really surprised.

She wants an explanation from the cuartel but they are not cooperative thanks to her rude, overbearing manner. She tells them that Ariel would be a much better president than Fernando. They ignore her until she leaves. Then they gloat for a while and Irma continues the meeting. They discuss where to film the ad, and agree on Fernando's golf club.

Yazmin shows up at the tryouts for the underwear ad. She whines at Saimon and is angry she wasn't invited to audition. She threatens to throw a fit if she can't participate. Just then, PM joins their conversation and throws a fit of her own. Then she heads back to the boardroom to tell the feas about Saimon. Alicia overhears that they're casting, and interrupts them again to demand an explanation. She throws around all kinds of accusations about making a XXX movie with animals and then leaves. They are all confused as to why she thinks they're doing such a thing. Martha suggests that perhaps Alicia saw the "XXX" size on her new pants.

Yazmin is still upset. She claims to be an official Conceptos model and doesn't understand why they brought in outside people. One of the models puts her down for not being a professional; Yazmin says the model is just jealous because she doesn't work at Conceptos.

Alicia gets there and starts yelling at them for producing filth. Yazmin says that Flaquito would never allow her to do such a thing, and explains that they're doing an underwear commercial.

Alicia's manner undergoes a drastic change. Oh, a commercial? On TV? She starts stroking her hair. She offers her services too. Yazmin flips out again and says it's not fair she isn't the model. Alicia says of course you're not, I am! Irma admits that Alicia has a good figure, but Yazmin protests that Al has no experience. Al argues that she took a three-day course in modeling, and it wore her out. This brings lots of catcalls and ridicule from the cuartel and the models.

They commence the tryouts. Yazmin is booed. Alicia refuses to audition in front of the feas. The feas make catty remarks amongst themselves about the different models, but are polite to all their faces. Lola just wants to make sure Yazmin doesn't get the job.

So does Alicia. Yazmin goes into a dressing room to whine to Flaquito about how mean Alicia is to her. Alicia quietly locks her in and hurries back to the audition. (Yes, that's right, the dressing rooms at Conceptos lock from the outside. Architectural stupidity, or plot convenience? You make the call!) Lola sees this and gleefully decides to keep it to herself. :-)

Yazmin loses the signal on her phone, and that's when she discovers that she's locked in. She panics and starts yelling.

Down in the main lobby, Ariel shows up, irritated that Celso wasn't waiting outside to park his car. That's because Celso has been manning the reception area while PM badgers Saimon for ogling the models. Celso takes off to park Ariel's car, leaving the dog to take the phone calls. Ariel is displeased to find the executive lobby also devoid of Conceptos employees - they're all in the auditorium with the underwear models. He checks the boardroom, wondering where Alicia. He's angry that she's not there to tell him what's going on but finds it all very promising - plenty of evidence of mismanagement.

Back in the outside world... Lety and Fern are eager to leave the basketball court, but the car won't start. Fern says the guys must have screwed something up when they stole his taillights. Lety feels queasy. Fern gets a call from Marcia. He assures her that Conceptos is not making any adult films.

Finally, the car starts (it magically fixed itself?) but won't go forward, only backwards. That's better then nothing so they go speeding backwards out of the basketball court, leaving the prop rifle forlornly on the ground, unwanted and unloved.

They complete their errand. Lety is now clutching a briefcase and they talk about how they now have the underwear samples from Ricardo (the client). I guess the samples are in the briefcase? That's not clear. I think it's Fern's briefcase. So Fern's briefcase is full of underwear samples. And someone noticed (in the Comments) that it looks just like Ariel's briefcase. Anyway, they also wonder why Alicia told Marcia they were doing porn. They get in the car and drive back to Conceptos. Amazingly, the car is now able to drive forwards. Wow. I had no idea Beamers could fix themselves. I want one.

They return to Conceptos. Lety tells Celso's dog, "wow, Paula Maria, you sure have changed." (Now that I know how corny that joke sounds, I'm not going to say it at work ever again.) Celso gets back to the lobby and tells them Ariel is there. This worries them. They wonder if he is there to try to take over the company.

Ariel sees Alicia parading around (fully clothed) on the stage. Alicia tells all of the models that Saimon is not a producer, but a mere messenger. No one wants to hear Saimon's explanation - the models are very angry.

Ariel confronts Alicia, who claims confusion. Fern says he's confused too - why is Ariel there? Ariel starts a verbal attack about Fernando's managerial incompetence, starting with the Saimon mixup. Fern tells Ariel that Saimon is a wonderful, lively, funny person to have around - not that Ariel would understand anything like that. Alicia chimes in, condescendingly telling Ariel to get it through his head that Fernando is the president of Conceptos, not him! Fern tells Ariel that he dresses well, but he undresses even better. (This is a reference to the mean joke that Ariel told about Alicia a few weeks ago at the Bella Life jewelry presentation, but I'm not sure why he tells it to Ariel... nobody wants to see Ariel undress!) Ariel gloats that it will all be over soon enough - they'll have the Big Meeting and that will be the end of Fernando and Conceptos.

Alicia tells Fern that her "muchas equis" story was only meant as a joke. Fern indicates that he was not amused.

Paula Maria and Saimon make up. He tells her that he didn't try to trick the models; they just assumed he was in charge. Lety shows up (at Fern's request) and asks the cuartel what happened. Why did all the models leave and why were they so angry? Suddenly, Lopez is in a big hurry to go back to his office and do important work...

They get together for a formal meeting. Irma says they have the golf course and will begin shooting tomorrow. Fern sternly wants to know who's the model. They blame Alicia for the trouble with the models, but Fern blames Saimon. Irma defends him, but Lopez suggests firing him. Saimon points out that Lopez was his "assistant" all day long!

Back in the dressing room, Yazmin is screaming her head off, banging on the door, and trying to get her phone to work. Flaquito is worried because she's not answering her phone. He recalls her complaints about Alicia and apparently receives a telepathic message from Yazmin that she's locked in. He decides he's going to Conceptos and save her.

In the bathroom, Alicia prepares to change her clothes. She tells herself this modeling job will pay well and be her salvation. Just then, her phone rings. It's Ariel. He scolds her for her stupidity, and asks what was that big secret she was going to tell him?

Labels: fea