Caray, Caray!

Fabricio and Luis Alberto have rendezvoused at the bar. Fab tells LA that he is his only hope to find kidnapped Enrique, ( heir to the Luque fortune). LA, not wanting to get involved says, "Dude go ask your brother Cesar about this" but Fab doesn't want to because he knows Cesar won't tell him anything. (Oh yeah, and Cesar let Fab get kidnapped, beat up, tortured and almost killed. Nice brother.)

LA tries to change the subject, "By the way, how is your wife?" "Bad, she's dying," sobs Fab. Oops, now LA feels guilty so he throws a bone Fab's way. LA says that the night Enrique was kidnapped he arrived at the house in time to see Nuria jump in a truck with a baby and behind her ran a man with a suitcase and the guy had a deformed hand. Fab gasps,"That's El Guapo! That means Bertha has my son. That guy not only kidnapped me but he killed my father-in-law Gonzalo!" Fab is frantic. LA says he tried to follow them but he lost them. He thinks Cesar has something to do with all this, "Your brother is not what he seems."

Bertha, Charo and Cesar file into Bertha's room. Cesar fondles Charo's braid. She tries to leave but Cesar stops her and, I kid you not, checks her teeth. Charo tells him hands off, stop treating her like a horse. As she leaves Cesar tugs her apron tie and hoots. Bertha tells Cesar to leave Charo alone, she's not good enough for him.

Bertha tells Cesar she's recovered from her morning funk. Of course Cesar feels better too and we know why. He wants to show Bertha something that will make her feel MUCH better. "Look what Miranda received in her email today," he holds up his phone and shows Bertha the pic of Al kissing Liliana. Oh yes, it's the real deal, live and in color, not a fake. Yep, Berta's pretty happy; Cesar delivered as promised.

Fernanda plans to leave in the morning to visit Miranda and Juan will arrive to care for Flor. Renata hems and haws and finally admits that she doesn't want Juan to stay at the house. "Why not, hija?" asks mom. "Because I don't want the life that Juan can offer me, he's boinking the neighbor, and it will be really weird with him here," sniffs Renata. Fern feels guilty, she should be able to do something for her unhappy and miserable daughters. She suggests that perhaps it would be better if she went away for good. Lady, it's that attitude that got you in this mess in the first place. Renata cries, "Mama, forgive me for every terrible thing I ever said to you. Please let's start over and try to regain the time we lost."

Alejandro and Juan are in a restaurant drowning their sorrows with tequila shots. Al tells Juan that he kissed Liliana on an impulse, he doesn't know why, well...OK, he was just seeing if he felt anything for her. "And what did you learn?" asks Juan. "That I'm an imbecile," sputters Al. No sh*t.

Al says he's going to tell Miranda what happened, even though it will hurt her he must be honest. She has to hear that Al feels nothing, nothing do you hear me, nothing for Liliana. Now they are really starting to get drunk. Al wants Juan, buddy old pal, to go with him to Tabasco but Juan says he has to stay so that he can tell Renata that he loathes her with all his soul. Al sucks his lime and looks unconvinced. Juan admits it would be easier to die than to forget Renata.

Al is doing that thing that drunks do...getting loud. He says he loves Miranda, MIRANDA, MIRANDA (turns around to shout to other patrons), "I said Miranda, NOT Liliana, MIRANDA is the only woman I love." The other patrons are mildly amused. His cellular rings and he answers, "My love, my love, forgive me!" But it's not MIRANDA, it's Liliana. She asks, "have you been drinking?" He gets belligerent. She asks where he is. He tells her the name of the restaurant but when she asks the address he giggles and hangs up. Al and Juan laugh hilariously at the prospect of Lil coming to retrieve Al.

The Mariachis are making the rounds and approach our hero's table. Juan decides to sing with them and Al congratulates that decision with another shot. Juan sings like a lovesick drunk and, as he sings, continues to pour shots for Al and for himself. These guys are doing a great job of acting like drunks. Really. I'm convinced. As Juan sings (badly I might add) we see flashbacks of happier times with Miranda and Renata.

Naty soothes our heartsick heroine with a cup of cocoa. Miranda says Al is in love with another woman and her daughter and there's nada she can do about it. Naty goes all cocolbosh and tells Miranda she will be a mother, she is fertile and her children will be big and strong. Miranda says Al doesn't want kids but Naty says nothing can get in the way of nature, "they will come, nobody will be able to avoid it, nobody, not Jade Eyes nor Serpent's Tongue. Those two are bad, they come from the bowels of hell."

Miranda tells Naty of her pain and Naty tells her to drink more chocolate, drink, drink. Arcadia and Gabino bust in, upset because Naty got away from them. They ask her how she got from the harvest house to the hacienda. I guess it's far away because the magical Naty music plays, Naty shrugs and gives a wide, rather hallucinogenic grin like she's got some big secret. I stand by my theory that she laces the cocoa with peyote or magic mushrooms or something.

Luciano and Pamela are talking wedding plans. Things go fine until Luc suggests inviting Vicente and...Liliana. Pam scowls. Luc asks,"What, I don't even get to choose the only two guests I'm allowed?" "Not That Woman," says Pamela. Luc tries to look innocent, "Every time I mention her name we get in a fight." Dumbass, meet Bridezilla.

LA tells Fab that Nuria was so in love with Cesar she would do whatever he asked her to do at SRI. Fab figures out that basically LA and Nuria did everything Cesar told them to do in regards to ruining Gonzalo's business. He tells LA that if it hits the fan Cesar will blame LA for everything. LA knows and he doesn't want to give Cesar the satisfaction, he doesn't know where Nuria is (Casa de SOS, Casa de SOS!!) but there might be someone who does if they can only find him. Fab looks hopeful.

Cesar is gloating in his victory over Al and Bertha congratulates him. They are eating a plate of cookies that Charo brought. Everything is going just the way Bertha wanted it to; now that Al and Miranda are apart the important thing is to keep them from getting back together. Cesar tells her not to worry, he has something up his sleeve, and by the way these cookies are absolutely pukey. (Hmmm...Bertha and Cesar abuse, slap, insult and harass Charo, Charo brings them a plate of cookies, the cookies taste pukey, hmmm...)

Cesar says they have to do something definitive to separate that damned pair of Mongols that have always despised them, sooner or later they will reconcile. Bertha agrees, but definitive how...kill them? Cesar's not sure, but in the meantime he decides to call Miranda. When she answers he admits that he was in the office, saw Al and Lil kissing and took the picture. When he confronted them Al defended Lil "with cloak and sword." Cesar tells Miranda he wants to visit her but she says no, she'll call him later. Cesar tells Bertha that Miranda's pain is so immense he can almost see it. Now all that's missing is Alejandro's. They snicker.

Juan and Al are drunker, sloppier, and sagging lower onto the table. Juan says Renata will never change but Al tells him to fight for her, just like he intends to fight for Miranda. "Do you hear that everybody?!?", (Al turns around and yells at the other patrons), "Miranda, she is my woman! Hey, what are you laughing at you big jerk? (Grabs innocent patron.)" Pushing ensues, guy calls Al a drunk, Liliana arrives in time to break it up. Juan, always the gentleman, tries to give her a shot of tequila in the midst of all this. She pushes it away, Al snatches it and kills it in one gulp as Juan pours another.

Raul has a surprise for Amparo he has put all her recipes on the computer they wonder where Juan is he's never out this late last they heard he was going out with Alejandro Luque. If they only knew.

Bertha has left the room and Cesar is talking with Lucas. What is it about this dog, was he a psychoanalyst in another life? Cesar tells Lucas that he has an ugly dog face (well duh), and without a doubt he looks just like his master Bertha. Heh heh. Lucas lays down, satisfied.

Renata enters and wants to know what Cesar is doing in Bertha's room. Uh oh, he kisses her and bites her lip. Renata immediately slaps him and tells him not to bite. Cesar says, all together now, "If it doesn't hurt it isn't love." Renata scoffs and says he would have made a perfect match for Lisania. She has a flashback to when Lisania told her about her sadistic mystery man, she said Renata knew him but Lisania wouldn't reveal his identity. Renata gives Cesar a funny look and asks if he remembers Lisania. Cesar says no he doesn't remember and, oh yeah, he needs to go to Paris on business. Renata asks, "are you telling me or inviting me?" "Both," he says and pats her rear. Run like a bunny Renata, before he takes his glasses off!

The tequila bottle is almost empty and Lil is trying to reason with Drunk and Drunker. Al and Juan bicker with her, stalling for time so they can guzzle the bottle. They finally agree to let her drive them home and they stagger out leaning on her as the other patrons jeer at them.

LA tells Fab he's sure this guy, Ramon Alvarez, will ask for lots of money but will be able to help them. Ramon agrees to meet them in 15 minutes in a nearby park. LA thought bubbles "When we find Nuria, with or without Florencia's son, I will take her far away from here where nobody will find her."

Dumbass and Bridezilla have made up and all is well until you-know-who calls. Lil tells Luciano that Al is drunk and she's driving him home but they get cut off before she can complete the call. Pam wonders what in the hell Al is doing with That Woman. They decide to go to Al's house.

At her place Lil has made Al a coffe and he is miraculously sober. She tells him that his case is very complicated and any little thing he does wrong will cause his conditional freedom to be revoked. Their conversation is impossibly long, boring and predictable so I will try to summarize. Lil shares responsibility for The Kiss, she could have stopped it but didn't, he went where he was allowed to go. Al asks, what does she mean "allowed?" Lil can't deny her feelings for him. He asks, huh,when did she start to feel that way? (What kind of a stupid question is that?) It began when she realized Al's wife was so very distant with him. Oh dear, what a misunderstanding, it was he, Al, who asked that Miranda not visit him in jail, can they fix things and go back to how they were? Lil says it will be easy for him but not so easy for her, you can fix "things" but not feelings. Al says well thanks very much for everything and I'll be going now. Alone, a tear falls down her cheek and she says "this can't be happening to me." Yawn.

It's sunrise in Tabasco and Miranda is meeting with her young neighbors. She's offering them a great opportunity to sell their chocolate for export and production. She has arranged everything with the banks, all she needs is their signatures. They drag their heels, they don't want to have to come back to the farm every 15 days to check on their pesky harvests. Miranda volunteers Gabino to supervise their harvests and process their cacao. Bet he'll love that. They decide to accept her offer so that they don't have to feel guilty about trashing everything their parents worked so hard to build. They shake hands and sign the papers. Miranda smiles, proud of her achievement.

Labels: heridas