Caray, Caray!

Folks, I swear I posted this on Friday night. I don't know why it disappeared. I seem to have problems posting to Blogger almost every week.
Tuesday is Election Day in the USA. Here's an inspirational message from Jaime Camil on that subject.

Someone asked how long we take to do our recaps. I clocked this one at 3 hours but then had to type it up which took a lot longer than I expected (I'd be embarrassed to say how long). This is a crucial segment of the novela, and there's a lot of detail to cover, some of which deserves to be captured nearly word for word. There's also a lot of irrelevant nonsense, like Alicia's whining; I could save time if I glossed over some of that, but the truth is, she makes me laugh. So I have to include that too.

Anyway, to put this into perspective, it took me two hours to recap Ugly Betty last night... and that was in English. So the translation is really not the most time-consuming part of this process (even if I am constantly reaching for my dictionary). It's making sure all the details are right and trying to get the story to unfold as well in words as it did in pictures.

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PMS (let's get this out of the way first)

Paula Maria is angry with Saimon for having secrets with Celso and not telling her about them. Saimon is angry with PM for going out and partying with Lola. She says she doesn't owe him an explanation - where was he? He says he won't tell her until she tells him. (Lola pokes her head in and warns them not to wake the children.)

Apparently they exlain everything to one another between scenes. When they come back, PM says okay, if that's true, where are those mariachis? He says if you don't believe me about that, why should I believe that you and Lola went to see El Cheque? They sulk.

Saimon angry leaves. As he runs away, PM sees the roses on the ground where he threw them earlier. She realizes that he was telling the truth. She begs his forgiveness and they make up. Hug. Kiss. Awwwww.

---

Finishing up with Yuri

Fern asks the ladies at the front desk if they've seen his assistant. He describes her as short, with glasses, wet-looking (? relanido ?) hair, mustache, and braid. (Wow, just imagine how he'd describe her if he didn't like her!) They say sorry, no. He draws the glasses and mustache in the air with his hands. He stalks off. Lety comes out of hiding and thanks the ladies for covering for her. She wonders where Tomas is.

Tomas is talking loudly on his cell phone in front of Yuri and the dancers, telling his imaginary chauffeur to cancel his reservations for the evening because he's got to find Lety. He hands his business card around to the dancers. He tells them they should call him and he'll go out with them. One-on-one, not as a group. He asks for his card back - he says it's his only one. Yuri asks, aren't you Lety's boyfriend? He says where did you hear that? She says Lety told her. Alicia arrives and Tomas hides.

Alicia does a Yuri impression in front of Yuri. They all clap and laugh... Alicia does not realize that they think she was doing a comedy routine. She tells Yuri to call her the next time she wants to do a show - she's a "public relationist" and also a dancer. She can do all the... Yuri interrupts and asks Alicia if she was looking for Luigi. If so, he's somewhere else.

Just then, Tomas passes through, speaking to "Rafa" (the chauffeur) again. This time he asks him to prepare his private jet. Alicia thinks his voice is familiar, and after Tomas leaves, she asks Yuri who he is. Yuri says he's Tomas Mora, general manager of Filmo-Imagen and Lety's boyfriend. Alicia is impactada!

Luigi enters and Al hurriedly tells him that Anais is waiting for him. She excuses herself and runs out to look for Tomas. Luigi also excuses himself. Irma says goodbye to Yuri and the dancers.

Tomas stumbles through the crowd, looking for Lety. He runs into Anais, who tells him Lety was looking for him. On his way past her, he smells her hair and decides to give her his only card. (To KEEP!) He asks her to call him so they can go out for tequilas some time. (Isn't she married?)

He tries again to make his way to the exit, but is snagged by Alicia. She introduces herself to him and actually pirouettes so he can check her out! Ugh. They flirt, and he says that she does not look the way he pictured her - shorter, with black hair, and much plainer. (This is a lie, since he is looking at her photo as he says this.) She says she hopes she didn't disappoint him. She admits that she was expecting him to be ugly, but instead, he's a hotty!

She pouts and says she's been waiting for him to invite her out for coffee. He gives her his card (aha, so that WASN'T really his only card!) and tells her to call him. She says what, me call you? She is offended. She says she's not going to leave until he commits to a time to call her.

He nervously says okay, I'll call you tomorrow. (We can see that he is torn between jumping her bones right there, and extricating himself politely out of loyalty to Lety.) She says that if he doesn't, she'll think it's because he really was disappointed after all. He promises he will call, but he has to leave now. He makes a snorty noise. Alicia almost makes a face at him, but recovers quickly. She gives him a tiny kiss on the corner of his mouth. He kisses her hand. Tomas looks like he's having a seizure.

Fernando interrupts this tender moment to ask Alicia if she's seen Lety. Alicia says no, why, did you lose her again? She introduces Tomas and Fern. (Fern recognizes him as the imbecile from the househunting video.) Tomas and Fern shake hands and greet one another very coldly. If you put a room temperature bottle of beer between their hands at this moment, it would be chilled to perfection instantly. Mmm. That sounds good.

Tomas finally gets away and meets Lety at the exit. They squabble briefly about one anothers' whereabouts and Tomas reveals that he met both Alicia and Fernando. Lety is horrified and wants to leave immediately. Tomas complains that he can't get on a bus dressed up like Manuel Mijares. She agrees that they should take a taxi.

Fern gets there two seconds after they leave. He's very frustrated. Yuri says to him again, "Lety is someone very special to you. Don't deny it!"

---

At Lety's house

Evidently Lety and Tomas do not speak at all during their cab ride, but instead wait until they get home to continue their earlier conversation about Tomas meeting Alicia and Fern. Lety scolds him for talking to Alicia. He says it wasn't his fault; she found him and flirted with him. Lety wants to know how Alicia knew him. "Women's intuition," Tomas glibly answers. He tells her that Alicia said she thought he'd be ugly, but found him very attractive. She said it right to his face.

Lety asks how he left it with Alicia. He said nothing came of it. Lety is relieved. She is much more curious about his meeting with Fern. What happened? She eagerly presses him for details. Tomas says that when Alicia introduced him to Fern, Fern's face turned deadly cold, like a snobbish metrosexual. (He accurately demonstrates this effect to Lety; she is delighted.)

They talk about what to do next. "Marry me," he says in his deep voice, and they giggle and snort. She says very soon, she'll throw all of Fernando's damn lies right back into his face. Very soon, he will pay.

Tomas wants more specifics. Will she quit the company? She says she can't quit the company - she already has the company! If she leaves the company, she will ruin it, but vengeance is not the way. (Gosh these novela characters sure are moody!) She wants to run away, but can't do it. She rehashes the financial relationship between Conceptos, Filmo-Imagen, etc. Tomas reminds her that Fernando has ridiculed and manipulated her.

Lety points out that Fernando distrusts both of them. She says let's just see what happens. I have some trouble understanding this part of the discussion, but I think she says let's just watch how much more Fern "loves" her as the debt increases.

RoboPop starts rasping at them for coming home so late. Tomas says it's okay - we took a taxi. RoboPop says what??? Don't they know how dangerous it is to ride a taxi around this city at night? They should have called him. He would have gone and picked them up.

Inspiration strikes. Lety says you know what? We're going to buy a car. RoboPop says, "who's we?" Lety says Filmo-Imagen will buy a car. Tomas will pick one out tomorrow. RoboPop questions whether she has the authority to spend her boss's money this way. "It's not his money," Lety says smugly. "It's Filmo-Imagen's." (He doesn't know all the details of the highly unethical and dangerous relationship between Conceptos and F-I.)

"Kids today," RoboPop complains, and goes to bed. Tomas tells Lety that RoboPop didn't notice his new look. "I like it," she tells him, indicating his hair. Tomas smiles. "It's like Vaseline," Lety finishes.

---

At Mendiola Manor

Fern is sitting on his bed, looking bewildered, when the phone rings. It's Marcia with the usual questions. Fern sounds completely indifferent and tiredly pushes himself through the conversation. "Oh hi, Marcia. You're coming home. That's nice. Uh, you know I'm at home, cuz that's where you called me. Alone, yep. Went to the Yuri show, now home to sleep. I promised I'd behave, and I have. So, when are you getting in tomorrow? Great. I'll be waiting. I, uh, I love you too."

He hangs up and remembers Yuri's words. "Lety is someone who is very special to you." He looks lost. "She's so special that I'm suffering for her," he says to himself.

Fern, you might want to get a couple of gallons of Chunky Monkey for yourself. Or perhaps Rocky Road would be a more appropriate choice...

---

Next morning in the executive lobby

Alicia is on the phone with her dad, remembering the good times. "I couldn't sleep last night, thinking about 'el.' Going places, being seen together, listening to music...." She sobs.

Sara and Juana, listening nearby, wonder who "el" is.

Alicia tells her father, "There was the time when we went to my cousin's wedding, or the time we went to Ixtapa and saw the countryside... all the nights we spent together, here and there, all the places we went, we looked at the moon, saw the sunrise, etc... I will never see 'el' again..."

Juana and Sara wonder who this man was that she obviously loved so much. They wonder if he's in the hospital, or maybe in prison. They are touched by the intensity of Alicia's emotion.

"Yes, Papa, I spoke to the lawyers. They won't let me visit, or even say where 'el' is!"

Sara and Juana are tantalized by this drama.

"If I don't pay the 500,000 pesos, I'll never get it back! I'll just die without my Mercedes!!"

Juana and Sara are as disgusted with themselves as they are with Alicia, for thinking that she was actually talking about a person. Hah!

She is still whining a while later. She is worried that the car is being exposed to the elements.

Saimon arrives with some chocolates she requested. She asks him for her change (I guess that means no tip). She continues speaking to her father with her mouth full of bonbons. She says Carolina told her that chocolate wards off depression. (You know what else wards off depression? A sexy silver convertible Mercedes.) "Papa, I'm gorgeous, I'm beautiful, but without a car and money, I'm not a pretty picture."

Martha and Lola approach. Lola is concerned about a meeting she has with El Cheque's lawyer this afternoon. She is going to need to be able to get away from the office and doesn't want to get in trouble for her absence.

Martha sees Alicia eating the chocolate bonbons. Alicia sees Martha staring and begins to tease her with the chocolates.

Marcia and Omar arrive. Alicia nearly mauls Marcia with joy. Alicia and Marcia go to Marcia's office to talk, while Omar heads towards Fern's office.

Alone in the lobby for a moment, Martha swipes one of Alicia's bonbons. She baby-talks at it for a little while, then sneaks it into the restroom where they can have some privacy.

---

In Marcia's Office

Alicia blames Marcia for the loss of her car. Marcia explains all of the things that are wrong with this theory. (This scene must have been done in multiple, nonconsecutive takes, because sometimes Marcia's eyeshadow is very orange, other times it is subtle.) Anyway, Marcia doesn't want to talk about Alicia's car. She wants to talk about Fernando. What happened last night?

Alicia says Fern's been good lately and describes how he spoke with the dancers. He didn't pay attention to any one particular girl, and he left by himself. Marcia seems annoyed by Fern's flawless behavior.

Alicia adds that Fern was constantly, frantically looking for Lety, who brought her boyfriend. Marcia is intrigued by this, but isn't sure what to make of it.

---

Rewind

Let's go back to first thing this morning, in Lety's office.

Lety is remembering the CarvaHallmarks she found in the dreaded Yellow Envelope, and wonders which one she'll get today. Fern arrives and wants to know what happened last night. She carelessly says she had plans with Tomas and then she went home. Fern is really wound up about this. "You had an engagement [interesting word choice] with ME and then you went with HIM!"

She puts on a contrite face and says something like, oh, yeah, gee, I don't know how I forgot about that, I guess it's just love that makes me forget things.

"Did love make you forget your plans with ME?? I don't get it, Lety."

She says she doesn't get it either, really, and she's sorry. Nothing happened! (The tone of her voice sounds sincere, but she clearly isn't putting any effort into choosing words that will soothe him.)

Fern says, "you're right. Nothing happened, because you spent the night - OUR night - planned for you and me... and Marcia is coming back today."

Lety says it's too bad - we're just going to have to wait until next week. He is aghast that she can say this so lightly, as if it doesn't matter to her that they'll have to wait a whole extra week. Lety says sure it matters, but he's told her many times that it can only be once a week when Marcia's around.

He asks her to tell him what's going on. Lety replies that he promised he'd break up with Marcia when she gets back from Germany. Is he going to do that?

He turns away and says "I'll be honest, Lety, I did mean that, but I can't do it." Lety wearily rolls her eyes and throws up her hands behind his back. "Because Ariel will dissolve his relationship with the Mendiolas and take over the company," she recites from rote memory. "I'm so glad you understand," the clueless oaf replies, "because you've been acting so strange."

Carolina enters Fern's office and hears their voices drifting faintly from Lety's room. Caro approaches for a better hear.

Lety: I understand, Fernando.
Fern: We'll wait till next week, but no longer.
Lety: I'm sorry, but you didn't leave me a gift?
Fern: Yeah I know. (stomps foot) Don't you care that we have to wait a week? Because I care, a lot!

Carolina opens the door and Fern starts talking about accounts (cuentas), balances, and sums. "Yep, me and Lety are talking about work, all the time," he tells Caro. Caro wants to discuss Cannes stuff with him, but he puts her off until later and excuses himself.

Lety tells Caro that she's feeling better. Caro agrees that she's looking better... a little better. She says Lety's office needs a candle. Caro will get her one, and they'll talk some more later.

---

Later, in Fern's office

Lety and Fern discuss money. Conceptos is going to need $175,000 to pay for some work they've been doing. Fernando is nervous about his ever-increasing debt. "Okay, if you don't trust me..." Lety guilts him, and he denies distrusting her and immediately signs for the debt.

She flashes the most evil, smug, crap-eating grin at him, and he misinterprets it. He says it's good to see her smile. He misses her laugh. In return, she wants a card and gift! He says he wants to give her something really special.

Lety retreats to her office and listens as he mutters over the CarvaHallmark Collection. He hates all of them and says he'll have to write one himself. He prays to God to guide his hand.

For some reason, Lety becomes desperate to interrupt him. She bursts out of her office on some pretense of wanting him to sign something else. She sees the card in his hand and says "hey, is that for me?" and tries to grab it from him. He strenuously resists, saying he doesn't like what's written inside, he wants to give her something more profound, like she deserves. He signs something else for her (at this point you get the feeling he'd sign anything just to get rid of her). Lety puts on that evil grin again and goes back to her office.

He continues to agonize over the terrible cards. "Pure filth," he remarks. Omar shows up and Fern gives him a hard time about them. Lety has trouble hearing. Fortunately, Fern says "let's talk in the boardroom," and it's actually easier for Lety to eavesdrop on them through that door.

(Out in the exec lobby, Sara says something about Omar that I don't get. It sounds like she's talking about lunchmeat. Salami? Maybe she's calling him a little weenie. Heh.)

The first thing Lety hears is Fern referring to "our problem with Lety." They talk about the difficulty with the cards, and her strange behavior, demanding gifts, spending time with Tomas. Omar is amazed that Fern seems jealous of a nerd. He asks, are you in love with Lety? (Lety listens hopefully.)

Fern thinks to himself how true it is, but he doesn't want to expose their love to Omar's ridicule, so instead he answers that he's furious with her, not jealous of Tomas. He describes how she ditched him, when earlier, she had wanted to go to Omar's apartment.

Omar is upset by this. He says "the first time could have been written off as an accident, but a second time would be a public disgrace."

Lety hears this and is repulsed.

Omar snorts and shares some inappropriate thoughts about Tomas and Lety. He says it's a bad sign. (Thanks for that, Captain Rehash!)

---

Next week
At least two of the following statements are true:

• Fern and Marcia are reunited, and it doesn't feel so good.
• Alicia attempts to rescue her stolen bonbon from an unspeakable fate.
• Lety finds out about Marcia's ring.
  

Labels: fea