Caray, Caray!

It is the morning after the storm. Berta insults Hercules/Ulises/Sanson and pours herself a drink. She tells Cesar his son died.

It is the baby's funeral. Nuria cries and holds a tiny white casket while Miranda, Pamela and Luciano comfort her.

Later that night creepy xylophone music plays as Nuria stumbles down the corridor holding a baby and telling it how proud papa will be. We hear a cough. It is Miranda; she asks Nuria what she's doing with Florencia's baby. She folds back the blankie to reveal a pillow, not a baby.

The babe lawyer Liliana tells Alejandro that she has documents that Miranda needs to sign. They are interrupted by a telephone call, it's for Liliana and apparently it's her daughter. We find out that she is an unmarried mother. (Hey...did she and Alejandro know each other before she began representing him?) Anyway, she has to go to Tabasco to get Miranda's signature. The guys who are harassing Al, Chaquiras and Romeo, make catcalls at him after Liliana leaves.

Arcadia is feeding the damnificados (victims) when Miranda arrives. Miranda looks exactly like one of those creepy big-eyed Keane waifs from the 60's, remember those paintings? She is coughing and Arcadia scolds her for showing up so early. Miranda coughs on each child's plate as they pass by. Sure hope it's not catching.

Amparo, Francisco, Raul and Carola show up to help. Carola's hair is darker and she's trying to not look like such a whore except that her pants are spray-painted on. Carola tells Miranda she has food and milk donated from the supermarket. Juan gives her a jar full of donated money. Miranda coughs on them.

Gabino arrives and tells Miranda that the neighbors want to meet with her. Amparo asks Francisco is it her imagination or does Miranda look pale with big gigantic circles under her eyes?

Outside in the garden we hear a cough. It is Miranda and Luciano joins her. (In the garden, not with the coughing.) She tells him she's sure El Guapo was in the house and that she shot him. She knows because Arcadia and Gabino gave her a handkerchief with blood on it and she's going to have it analyzed, then she'll know the identity of El Guapo. I'm not exactly sure how that would work but OK. She tells Luciano not to tell anyone, including Alejandro. Cough, cough.

Cesar, looking very perky considering he was shot and his son just died, tells Berta he's been thinking all night. His son was born as strong as an oak (like he knows) so he must have died because he inherited some defect from Bertha or Nuria. Bertha breaks the news that hah hah Nuria is not her daughter. Cesar is impactada because he has the birth certificate. Berta says the cert means nothing because she can't have children, so there. She asks him exactly why did he marry Nuria, what did he hope to accomplish? Cesar says "No, why don't you tell me where you got Nuria? If she's not yours then you stole her, and from whom?" He gloats at this new discovery.

Naty is still creeping around Cesar's hacienda and trying to eavesdrop on Berta and Cesar. She's got the cocolbosh going strong and mutters "Eyes of Jade and Serpent's Mouth, they're going to fight. I'd better go." "No granny, you'd better stay" says Sanson, catching her spying. He escorts her into the house.

Miranda's neighbors are surprisingly young and trendy looking. Where are all the farmers? They have arrived to tell her they plan to sell their farms to some North American commercial enterprise. Miranda says the cacao is a gift from Mexico, it is their spirit. If they think she's going to join them and sell her land to be commercialized they're crazy. Liliana arrives and introduces herself. I think Miranda is peeved that Liliana interrupted her speech because they glare at each other.

Miranda tells Liliana that she'll have to wait, then she gets back on her soapbox. The land belonged to their grandparents and great-grandparents, they worked hard to turn it into a cacao zone. One of the neighbors wants to sell because she hates the mosquitoes. She's got a pretty good point if you ask me. The rest of them all want to do other things with their lives, not grow cacao.

Juan is busy in the hacienda's triage center. Of course Carola, subtle as a train wreck, is right there helping him. Gabino arrives and tells Juan he's worried about Miranda, she keeps coughing. Juan is concerned that she might be developing pneumonia from being out in the storm.

Berta and Cesar question Naty. Berta is sure she's seen Naty somewhere but she can't remember where. Naty starts her crazy routine and Cesar orders her to leave or he'll throw her in jail. Good work Naty.

Sanson arrives and says his contacts in jail report that Al's lawyer has found contradictions in Berta's, Cesar's and the Charo's testimonies. Cesar blames Charo but Berta think the contradictions are between their own testimonies and not Charo's. Cesar says they need a lawyer.

Liliana tells Miranda that she was impressed by her speech. Now she has some papers for her to sign. Miranda is grumpy. Liliana tells Miranda that she's trying to prepare for Alejandro's next hearing because it's not going to be easy. When Miranda says she knows, Liliana tells her no, she doesn't have the least idea of what she's going to have to face in this case. They glare at each other.

Miranda asks Liliana, "Excuse me, are you telling me, or telling me off?" Liliana says she is just very direct because she knows no other way. Miranda tells Liliana that next time they need to meet that Liliana must call in advance for an appointment. Lil says no problem, she'll have her secretary summon Miranda to her office. Of course it was impossible this time due to the storm. They glare. Again.

Alejandro is washing dishes when Chaquiras and Romeo arrive. They pay off the guard and swagger in to harass Al. Before they can say a word Al punches them out and tells them to leave him in peace. He wants to know who is paying them. He says he'll be a better boss and will pay them more to leave him alone and he can help get them out of jail. They don't believe him so he beats them up. His hair remains perfectly coiffed throughout. He leaves them bleeding over some trays which, since I used to work in a kitchen, completely grossed me out and made me want to call for a safety and sanitation inspection immediately.

Cesar is sure that Al's lawyer will find something to turn the case against them. Berta tells Ulises to return to Mexico city, follow her and know what she does. "Um, my name is Sanson and I only take orders from my boss," Sanson answers, tired of being called Hercules and Ulises. Cesar mocks Berta, sarcastically giving the same orders to Sanson who laughs. Berta says she is nobody's joke and that's the last time he'll play with her, imbecile.

Nuria is huddled in an alcove crying over Flor's baby. She asks how will she tell the father that she killed their son? Then she tells the baby that she's its real mother. Flor runs in, grabs the baby and orders Nuria to never remove the baby from her room ever again. Nuria said it was crying and Flor says she's lying. They glare.

Carola tells Amparo she never imagined that Renata had so much money; she should be helping her sisters instead of being withVeronica. She adds that Renata is probably in some big mall right now buying who knows what. "How wrong you are, Carola," snaps Renata, surprising them with her entrance. They glare at each other. They trade insults...Renata says she can kick Carola out, Carola says she is there because Juan invited her, Renata tells Carola not to forget that Juan is HER husband, Carola asks isn't Renata going to divorce Juan, Renata says it's none of Carola's business and stomps off.

Santiago visits Al with the good news that Miranda is fine and Flor had the baby. Santiago tells him to have faith but Al says God is punishing him and everyone that he loves. In a little more than a year his father died, Lasagna died, Daira is far away, he's in jail and every day his investments are looking worse. He believes Berta is behind all of this. Oh duh. He tells Santiago to talk with Charo who lied in her testimony. She could be Berta's accomplice.

Nuria yanks the screaming baby out of Flor's arms. Fab arrives and Flor cries that Nuria stole their child. Nuria swears it's hers. Flor tells Nuria over and over that her baby is dead, dead, dead.

Back to the alpha bitches...Miranda tells Liliana that she doesn't like the way she's handling her husband's case. Lil says take it up with him, but if Miranda doesn't say exactly what Lil instructs her to say her testimony will be useless, think on that one. They glare. I keep waiting for them to get on all fours, snarl, and sniff each other's rears.

Lil leaves, Juan arrives, and Miranda faints.

The EMTs are loading Miranda into the ambulance; Pamela and Luciano go with her. Renata blames Juan for Miranda's illness, he should have noticed she was sick. Then she cries, saying she doesn't want anything bad to happen. Juan says Miranda is young and strong. In the meantime Renata needs to continue the work Miranda started, organizing aid for the damnificados. He brings her up to speed on Flor's condition and the death of Nuria's infant. He tells Renata she is now in charge of the hacienda.

Safely away from Nuria, Flor tells Fab that Nuria took the baby thinking it was hers. She wants Fab to stay around but he has to go away for a little while to get the results of the competition (or contract?). If he wins whatever it is then they will have lots of money which will assure their great future. Berta shows up and wants to hold the baby. She tries to take it away to put it down for a nap but Flor grabs it back and tells Berta to butt out, Fabricio is only home for a day and they want to be ALONE. After she leaves, Flor tells Fab that she loathes Berta and they should try to find a way to stop her control over Renata. Fab is surprised to hear that Renata and Juan are separated.

Juan tells Amparo and Francisco that Miranda could die. Amparo says no fair, just when Flor has the baby. They talk about what a witch Berta is. Juan says even worse, she seems to have complete control over Renata. I wonder, was that not a concern to him when he told Renata she is now in charge of the hacienda?

Nuria is crying under a tree. Cesar walks up. She runs to him and they embrace. He calls her "mi amor" and tells her he just found out his son was born, "Where is he my love? I want to see him, hold him in my arms, touch his little hands, see his little face." She sobs and tells him his son is dead. Cesar tells her she is useless, good for nothing if she's not a mother. Nuria says it wasn't her fault, the baby died of SIDS. Cesar says Nuria should be dead instead of the baby. When they return to Mexico City he intends to file for divorce. "I don't want to return and see you in my life, imbecile."

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