Caray, Caray!

After the game, Fern and Lety attend a Mexican band concert. In the next scene they are wearing different clothes and visiting the Siegestor arch where he thanks her for going with him and getting over her fear of flying and all that. Lety thanks him for inviting her, says it was great because they were together. They smooch in front of the famous arch-shaped German landmark I don't know the name of. Ooh, they smooch lots! He reminds her that they have to go back to Mexico. ("Don't remind me," she says.) They'll go through Madrid. And this time - she agrees - no tequila therapy.

Two days pass.

Yeah, you read that right. The day of the underwear commercial was a whole week's worth of episodes. The day of La Bolsa Roja was TWO whole weeks of episodes. But the remainder of Fern and Lety's trip to Europe, and Lety coming home to her nervous parents, is completely glossed over.

Well, that's how it is with the soaps.

Anyway. Two days pass. The feas are nervous about the underwear commercial - Fern's still working on it. Alicia tries to annoy them but they pretend that all they can hear is a vague buzzing sound. She tells them their work on the commercial was a wasted effort. They need to understand that they're just secretaries and floor-cleaners; ugly nacas. They mock her.

Then they talk about Lety's whereabouts. Sara had assumed that Lety was helping Fern with the post-production of the commercial, but Lola says no, she's been in the editing room, working on... they don't know what. Martha says that Lety was acting strange this morning.

In the editing room, Lety prays that she won't get caught. Then she makes an audio recording with the engineer. At first she acts a little goofy, hearing her voice in the headphones. She's doing the voiceover for the house-hunting DVD she's going to send to the senior Mendiolas. Her narration has a decidedly gloomy sound. (She pauses to wipe away a tear.) They consider doing another take, but she decides that it's not going to sound any different. When she leaves the studio, she momentarily forgets she's still wearing the headphones, but the cord restrains her. I only mention this because of the time I did something similar, except it was my car instead of my head and the nozzle from a gas pump instead of headphones. 10 years later, I can look back and laugh.

Now we see the current, edited version of the underwear commercial. I think it's horrible, but not nearly as bad as the Bella Life makeup commercial. (Pilar's squirming is supposed to be sexy, but to me she looks like a bait worm squirming on a hook.) Fern is very nervous about what they have. The engineer volunteers that he thinks it's very good. Fern considers watching it again, but he decides it's not going to look any different. Then he complains about the "effects" and the "texture." Galo, the engineer, tries to be patient. Fern decides to call Luigi.

Speaking of the devil, Luigi is finally near a camera, getting footage of the soccer players and admiring their smokin'-hot legs and butts. (Luigi is wearing a fur coat, so we can't see his smokin'-hot arms.) Omar prances and swishes, saying "hello, hello." He is being cranky and making fun of Luigi because he has to pee wicked bad. Luigi says, "do you think being handsome gives you the right to imitate me?" Omar reminds Luigi to do business before pleasure. Luigi teases him for being "jealous," and says he IS working - he is getting inspired by those bodies.

This inane conversation is interrupted by Fern's phone call to Luigi. Luigi is chock-full of attitude. Fern tells Luigi he's finished editing the underwear commercial. Luigi says "good, now you know it's not such a piece of cake, eh?" (actually the literal Mexican expression is "not enchiladas"). Fern says he thinks it's still a little choppy, but Luigi says there's nothing he can do without actually seeing the commercial. Fern says there's not enough time. (Omar is doing a frantic peepee dance next to Luigi.) Luigi says use your feelings, your intuition, to feel the commercial, etc.; use your macho, arrogant sensibility....

Fern offers Luigi his sarcastic thanks and hangs up on him. Luigi stares at his phone in shock. Omar laughs stiffly, and Luigi suggests that he should go to the bathroom.

Over in editing, Lety and another engineer (not Galo) are transferring the camcorder footage to DVD. They watch the extremely awkward moment when Mathilde, thinking Lety and Tomas were engaged, made them hug and kiss on a sweeping staircase and grandly announced that this would be the future home of Mr. & Mrs. Tomas Mora and all their little children. Lety tells the engineer he can cut this part out. He laughs. She asks him to hurry up and cut it out!

Just then, Lety gets a call from the senior Mendiolas. (For some reason, this scene is introduced by those infernal kazoos.) They say they've been waiting for her to call back. (Alicia never gave Lety their message from the day she left for Germany.) She says they've been really busy, but she was just this minute working on their DVD. Humberto is very annoyed with her, but Teresita is more patient. She just tells Lety they want to get that house bought as soon as possible. (Lety is about to cry.) Lety says don't worry, I'll send you the video. She hangs up and makes her super-sad face.

Out in the lobby, Alicia gets a call from the bank that's fixing to repossess her car. She tells them Alicia isn't in the office and offers to take a message.

PM comes off the elevator, waving the newspaper around excitedly. Martha assumes that it's food-related, but it's actually an event, tonight, for women only - and secretaries get in 2-for-1. It's male exotic dancers. They have to go! (Martha wants to know if there will be food.) PM is staring at the pictures in the ad and drooling. Juana runs outside to inform Saimon. The rest of them talk about childcare arrangements. I'm not sure exactly what Lola and PM say about PM Jr. (either Lola is refusing to babysit tonight, or she simply wants PM to spend some time with her child); and Martha is going to stay home tonight because she can't imagine saying to her husband "hey, I'm going out and stare at some other men tonight, okay?" And el Cheque isn't going to be looking after Lola's kids either. Sara says it wouldn't be such a bad idea for him to watch the kids for a change. Lola gets all wound up at the mention of his name.

Irma comes by and disapproves of this ladies-only event. They josh her for her prudish attitude, and PM compares her to Lety's father. PM is very upset that she's going to miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Lola says forget it; it's impossible.

Outside, Celso is doing bodybuilder poses for Juana. Since he's fully-clothed, it doesn't look like much of anything. :-) Juana agrees with me. Celso says he prefers more of a Paty Manterola type. In any case, Saimon's not around at the moment.

Ricardo and his entourage show up to see the commercial. Alicia rushes over to greet them. She re-introduces herself and offers her hand for kissing. (Not so much offers, as shoves it at his face.) She tells Ricardo she's an executive - almost like a president. He greets her as "señorita." PM and Sara crack up laughing. Alicia jokes that since he called her señorita, they have to go out and get tattoos. (As much as I love this, it turns out I got that word wrong; she said they have to address one another as informal "tu" rather than use the formal "usted.") He introduces his clients. (He doesn't give their names; he just says "these are the clients.")

Ricardo is eager to get to the showroom, or whatever you call it, but first Alicia wants to tell him of her interest in publicity and modeling. She also complains that she didn't like the underwear model at all. Ricardo says she was perfect. Alicia backpedals and says she was sort of attractive. Ricardo says she was gorgeous and excuses himself to find his way to the thingy-room, that thing with the stage. Alicia is left behind looking frustrated. The feas jeer at her. She lets Fern know that Ricardo and the clients are here. Fern panics and tells Galo to just go ahead and cut the DVD. He does so. Fern sniffs the DVD and tells Galo it smells like success.

Over in editing, Lety's engineer has also burnt a DVD. He tells Lety that it's all of the raw footage from the camcorder, with no cuts. Lety is compelled to explain to this man that the guy in the DVD is just a friend of hers, a great person, her best friend, like a brother, yeah, he's her brother. Her brother. She laughs.

Out in the hallway, Fern hears her and stops snorting his DVD to go in and see what she's up to. He enters while she's in the middle of saying something funny about Tomas. He surprises her and she starts guiltily, dropping the DVD. He picks it up and shuffles it against the underwear commercial DVD (none of the disks or cases are labeled, of course). He wants to know what she's been doing - she says something like she and Gerardo were doing a video of their day at the country club and she was putting it together as a surprise for the cuartel. He is surprised that she was able to speak in front of a camera, but he's more concerned about the meeting with Ricardo at the moment, so that's the end of that particular conversation. He rushes out, and Lety thanks the engineer for not spilling the beans on the househunting video.

They work on it some more and Lety says she wants to send it over the Internet. He gives her a different DVD and says it contains the file (an edited version, I assume) in MPEG format. He offers to send it for her, but she wants to have the DVD. She thanks him for everything and reminds him not to tell Fern about it. He reaches for a hug and kiss (seriously - this is the woman who supposedly hurt everyone's eyes on her first day and now her coworkers all want to kiss her!). She dodges this, giggles nervously and blows him a kiss on her way out the door. Alone, he says to himself, "she's very ugly, but she's so sweet!"

Again in the hallway with Galo, Fern wonders why Lety was acting so strangely. He also seems confused by the two disks he's holding, but is able to tell them apart - his disk has that scent of success. They hurry to the whatchamacallit room.

In the whatchamacallit room, Alicia is acting like a waitress around Ricardo and his pals, offering refreshments and the like even though they don't seem interested. The cuartel make fun of her, and Saimon saunters over to Ricardo's table and greets them. Soon, the cuartel and Saimon are in yet another verbal scuffle with Alicia - this time in front of clients. They argue about their role in producing the commercial, and Alicia's haircolor (she swears it's natural). Irma urges them to stop arguing. Lola ignores her and says that since they produced the commercial, the airhead should actually be serving them. Juana agrees. Alicia tells them they'll be mere secretaries forever. Martha says something about Alicia being a waitress/model who had to hock her jewelry.

Fern interrupts this meeting of the minds to say hello to Ricardo and his clients. He lets Ric smell the disk, and Ric agrees that it smells like success. Fern says he wants to introduce the crew, but before he can say much more, the cuartel line up and begin waving and taking bows. (That's what happens when Luigi is your employees' only role model.) Fern tells them to sit down. Alicia is outraged and assures them that the only reason they are being allowed to stay is because Luigi's not there.

Fern then introduces them, one by one, to lots of applause. Alicia runs out of the room, screaming "Feas! Feas!" Unfortunately, you can't fire Zeus's favorite daughter. Lety shows up, and he makes a special mention of her. They all cheer extra-loud for her.

They watch the commercial. Fern, Lety, and the rest wait nervously for a reaction. Ricardo and the clients exchange meaningful glances. The tension is almost too much to bear. Then they break into applause and offer profuse congratulations and thanks! (What, no kazoos?? Wouldn't you think THIS would be the time to break out the kazoos?)

Alicia hears them cheering and grumps at her desk. Marcia calls. She tries to get Alicia to understand that the cuartel's success on this task is good for the company, but Alicia complains that she's always at war with them. Marcia says (I think) that she needs to stay in Munich a little longer to negotiate with FIFA or something. Alicia says she's all alone in this jungle of ugliness, and Mexico misses her (Marcia).

After the meeting, Ricardo congratulates Fern again and says "what do you need Luigi for?" They say goodbye and the cuartel discuss how to celebrate. Saimon wants to dance. Martha wants an international buffet with caviar. (I don't know if caviar is available in her size!)

Lety asks Fern what he wants to do. He says there's just one place he wants to be - with her, his love. Lety protests that it's supposed to be a secret, but he points out that they're all her friends, so it's okay if they know. He doesn't like to lie to friends. They are all very happy and supportive and agree to keep the secret. Lety and Fernando kiss, and then Lety snaps out of her daydream.

He says he'd love to celebrate with them, but he's tired. He thanks them for their excellent work. He and Lety go into his office, and the rest go back into the watchmacallit room, throwing a few more insults at Alicia for no good reason. PMS dance; the others talk about going to watch the dancing men. Saimon overhears this and heartily disapproves. He deals with the problem by dancing with PM some more. Alicia comes in and interrupts, and they have the same battle of wits yet again. They accuse her of being jealous, and she outlines the reasons they should be jealous of her, including her hair. She complains that their festivities are interfering with her work.

Lety asks Fern if he's really too tired to celebrate. He says of course not - we're going to be alone. He says a lot of half-finished sentences and struggles to express himself. She asks him if he wants to tell her something pretty. He says yes... but it's not easy, he feels funny. Lety admits she doesn't exactly understand what he means, so now I don't feel so ignorant. ;-)

Finally he spits it out. All that time when he was in Editing, for hours and hours, he... he... he missed her! (He is proud of himself for finally saying it.) She admits that she missed him too. She says she feels incomplete without him. He says he feels the same way. She says it hurts. He says "me too." (Wow, he sure has a way with words.) He plays with her barrette. He wants the two of them to sneak out right now! (Yes, he's volunteering!) She says no, it's not a good idea. She can't say why, but she has something important to do. She goes to her office and closes the door.

She tells herself that she should end her relationship with Fernando, but whenever she's with him, she changes her mind. (Either that, or she says she should be more resolved in her relationship with Fern, but whenever she's with him, she feels guilty. My captions were a little screwed up and and may not have matched what she was saying. "Determinar" or "terminar"? Not sure.) She puts the edited DVD in a manila envelope and puts an address sticker on it to send it to the senior Mendiolas in London.

She could have handwritten an address on the envelope, but instead she used a sticker. I hope she didn't use one of those cheap labels that fall off easily...

Fern calls for her and she comes out with her pocketbook. She claims she wasn't doing anything, and he says it sure took her a while to do nothing. She now needs to step out for a moment. He asks why she's taking her bag, and asks if it's because she can't bear to leave her beloved Moty (the dog mascot on her bag and half the junk in her office) alone. She takes off, saying she'll be right back. Fern is suspicious and wonders what she's up to. He remembers the DVD (containing the unedited footage) that she dropped and is about to put it in her office. Then he tells himself he should hand it to her since it's personal.

He opens the case, sniffs the disk and frowns. "That doesn't smell like success," he says dismissively, and sets it aside.

---

Will Martha's hunger ever be sated?
Will the cuartel sort out their childcare issues and get see the nekkid dancing men?
Will Alicia's car ever get repossessed, already?
Will Lety's househunting DVD win an award at Cannes?
Will Fern see something he shouldn't, and then jump to the wrong conclusion?
Does Moty sometimes feel smothered in his relationship with Lety?
Find out the answer to one of these questions in the near future!

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