Caray, Caray!

The supposedly dead Gustavo wheels himself into the church and says he will testify for Maite.

Nicolas sinks to his knees muttering: "I told you he would come back from the dead to get vengeance..."

Nicolas and Manola try to slip out but Gustavo continues: "You thought I was dead, but no." To the assembled church-goers: "My wife threw me off the balcony and later hid me in an abandoned building, telling everyone I was in a clinic in the U.S. Poor Omar helped me with my recovery, and helped me escape, and then YOU AND NICOLAS KILLED HIM!"

Rodrigo: "And then, Mom, you had me thrown in jail for your own crime!"

Remedios: "They are not the only assassins. You, Jacinta, caused your husband's death and THIS BRACELET IS PROOF!" [Huh.]

Jacinta: "A lie!"

Veronica: "It's no lie, I heard you confess when you were praying." (Others pipe up in support.)

Maite trots out her story and her proof (Aunt Griselda's letter).

Valeria trots out HER story (that Jacinta and Manola separated her from Andres) and Rodrigo supports her, apologizing again for his participation.

Jacinta: "It's all lies and blasphemy!" "No, Jacinta, YOU are the liar!"

Federico shows up and asks what's going on here.

Gustavo: "Federico, I'm glad you showed up. Jacinta will be surprised to find out that you killed her son Adolfo. You thought I was in a coma and not listening when you confessed to killing him and then simulating an 'accident'..."

"Federico will betray anyone," pipes up Unibrow. "He's signed over the ownership of the hacienda to me -- and therefore you, Jacinta, have to leave this very night!"

Federico has had enough of this cozy chat. He grabs Juanita and holds a gun to her head as Manola steals Pedrito out of Valeria's arms. They dash outside, where there are lots of cop cars. Federico hurls Juanita away and grabs the baby from Manola, pointing the gun at his little defenseless head. "Make the cops leave!"

Remedio begs him to give the baby back. "You, mom, were the first to betray me! You deprived me of a lifetime as a Valladolid and told me your mediocre husband, Octavio, was my father."

Rodrigo begs: "Father, please give the child back." Federico scoffs at him too.

There is a general stampede out of the church. In the quiet, the Padre tells Jacinta to leave! Get out of his church! and repent. She can't believe her ears. The gossipy ladies (what an excellent night to come to church) sneer: "Hypocrite! Liar! Bad person!" as she and Cleo stagger past.

At home Jacinta tells Cleo, in front of her husband's picture: "The Valladolid lands are mine, mine, they will belong to noone else. I'm going to pray for them (the pictures I think). Cleo, take them down and put them in my room. The dead will accompany me, I will pray for them."

Manola is driving, Federico tells her to head for the convent. They use the tunnel to get back into the hacienda (Manola: "This looks like the entrance to hell") to steal jewels and money for a good getaway.

Manola leaves the baby on the sofa. Federico is cleaning out the safe when Jacinta bursts in with her rifle and asks indignant rhetorical questions like, "How could you kill my son?"

Federico: "Adolfo was mediocre, useless, he deserved to die like a dog." "You will putrify in hell." "If hell exists, it's within these walls, in this evil house, and you're going to end up in an insane asylum." "I'm not crazy, I'm an instrument of God. I'm going to be in paradise, enjoying the presence of El Señor for all eternity." "Uh, no, you're completely crazy."

Manola adds: "Doña Jacinta, some exemplar of rectitude you are - a twisted, demented assassin!" Jacinta's retort: "Divine fury will be unleashed upon you!"

Federico gets the last word: "See you in hell, Jacinta. Let's go, Manola." After they're gone, Jacinta expresses a frisson of self-doubt. "Me? Oh, not me... ?"

Cleo plucks Pedrito off the sofa and shows him to Jacinta. "Give him to me. He's a Valladolid and I will take charge of his salvation and purification."

The good guys figured out Bonny and Clyde used the secret tunnel and all burst into the hacienda. Luis Antonio sticks a gun in Federico's face. Federico implies Pedrito will die if Unibrow uses the gun and somehow - while my attention flagged - Federico ended up with the gun but he left Unibrow alive and then left. That was a useless scene.

Did Cleo set up that big circle of candles on Jacinta's bedroom floor or did Jacinta do it herself? With all the Valladolid portraits propped along the walls?

Jacinta steps into the circle with Pedrito, declaiming: "Nobody's gonna take us out of here." Her dead husband's portrait starts talking to her, reminding her that he loved Remedios. Her dead son's portrait tells her: "You sacrificed me for your own desires and separated me from the woman I loved. And my own brother murdered me." "Federico may be condemned but fire will purify OUR sins. [She's referring to hers and baby Pedrito's.] I am the hand of God, your humble instrument. [She doesn't look any more humble than usual.] Now I'll undertake the final purification!" Her candles set the place on fire instantly. Speaking to the pictures: "You, Pedro, and you, Adolfo, both committed the sin of lechery. The fire will purify you, too."

The girls rush into the hacienda and find Cleo praying, then dash off to the locked bedroom. They get the key. Maite bursts into the room, sees Jacinta davening with Pedrito in her arms and fire all around, grabs Pedrito and hands him off to Valeria. She's about to leave but Jacinta hauls her back into the burning room, slams the door shut again, and starts to garrotte her. "You caused all my misfortunes, you won't leave here alive, you'll die like your aunt and Martina, I'll save your soul."

Victor, Andres, and Unibrow arrive and break down the door, Victor pulls Maite out, a burning beam falls on Jacinta and she burns to death with the Vallodolid portraits melting all around her.

Maite lies unconscious in the street surrounded by anxious good guys. "Mama, don't leave me just when we've found each other!" Wait, she's not dead! She coughed! "It's over."

Remedios cries as Octavio comforts her. "She hated me, she killed my Pedro, she made Federico be like her. But I'm at fault also..." Octavio loyally posits: "We are not responsible for the choices our children make."

Now that Maite has almost burned up saving Pedrito, Valeria has finally forgiven her and asks her forgivenness in turn, calling her Mama. Victor, Unibrow, Andres, Maite, Valeria, and Veronica have a big group hug.

As Manola and Federico speed away he grumps: "You knew I was a real Vallodolid and you didn't tell me." "If you'd known, you'd have been intolerable." Just as they congratulate themselves for starting a new life, the cops, lots and lots of cops, come up behind. Rodrigo and Gustavo are in a car following the cops and Rodrigo assures Gustavo: "You're my dad. They're criminals." Rodrigo and Gustavo bond.

The little red getaway car roars up a dusty road to a hilltop and stops at the edge of a cliff. It's a long way down. The police come up behind and say "Give yourselves up." Rodrigo uses the megaphone to repeat the suggestion.

Manola and Federico get back in the car, agreeing they don't want to spend the rest of their lives in jail. They profess their love. "Together, as always!" "Together, forever!" They hold hands and kiss and Federico guns it and hurls the car over the cliff and it crashes far, far below and explodes into flame.

Some time later, church plaza. Victor and his old Maldonado buddy will start a new restaurant. Valeria and Andres will live in the hacienda. Andres offers to stop bullfighting but Unibrow says, "No, we know it's your passion." Rodrigo and Remedios bond as grandson and grandma. Guillermo shows up after all this time! With mommy and assorted siblings. Turns out Veronica "moved heaven and earth" to find him. He and Victor hug and Veronica hugs Guillermo too.

Rodrigo asks Baldo to teach him a word in Nuhuatl. They go over to Juanita and Rodrigo is too incompetent to repeat the words Baldo whispers in his ear. Instead, he asks in Spanish: "Do you like me? Would you like to be my girlfriend?" She answers in Nuhuatl and her dad Teodoro translates: "She says she'll try you out and see how it goes." Fair enough. "Well, would you give me lessons in Nuhuatl?" "Sure, classes begin whenever you like."

Cleo has taken the veil and gone to be a missionary somewhere far away. Nicolas is in jail. Sergio asks Josefina (Phyllis Diller Maldonado) to be his girlfriend, she accepts. Veronica and Baldo will both be in Europe and he will look her up. She gives him a kiss.

There is a double wedding. Valeria looks fabulous in her dress; Victor walks her down the aisle. Maite's dress is fussy and her hairdo rivals the much-maligned donuts Princess Leia wore in Star Wars; her dad Jose Maldonado walks her down the aisle. Andres and Unibrow are dressed like mariachis. They all get married. There's one more ghastly kiss from Unibrow and then hugs and applause etc.

It's a wrap! See you on the other side, folks! I'll be doing Mondays, MUNDO DE FIERAS. Be there or be square!

Labels: barrera