Caray, Caray!

Miranda tells a stricken Fabricio that according to the HPT yes, she is pregnant. Pamela and Renata are ecstatic. Faby dolefully congratulates Miranda but hey, it's a good excuse to give her a hug.

Fab says he's sorry for being a pest, but he would LOVE to be a daddy to her kid. She says, "You know you and Al are supposed to be friends, right?" Fab thinks he and Miranda deserve another chance and he vows Florencia would be happy if they took another whack at it. (???) Miranda is looking like she might actually buy this load, but when Fab asks her what she thinks she tells him she wants to be alone...but would he please leave baby Enrique with her?

Miranda prays to the virgin and hopes that she really is pregnant. She recalls Nati's words, that she will flower with a child. "How did Nati know before I knew? I have to tell Alejandro..." but then she has a green flashback of Al saying he doesn't want kids. Miranda decides that Al must never know. Much contractual sobbing ensues.

Marisol is pained that Lil just gave her a slap. Well-deserved if you ask me. Lil says she regrets what she said to Al, that she won't live her life only as somebody's lover, she will raise Sofia alone, no more lies. Marisol sarcastically claps her hands and asks where Lil suddenly found her dignity. Lil says it comes from love for her daughter, now get the hell out of here. Marisol tells Lil to go ahead and stay home alone ruminating on her stupid valor and ridiculous principles. After Marisol leaves Sofia comforts her mama and admits that she called Miranda because Marisol put her up to it.

Renata and Juan are in bed talking about Miranda's pregnancy when his phone rings. It's Sanson and he wants to meet with Juan the next day. Renata doesn't want Juan to go, Sanson is violent. Juan says he agreed because he's afraid Sanson will do something to Amparo and Francisco if he doesn't.

The next morning Al admits to Luciano that he never made it to Miranda's presentation. Even Luciano looks disgusted. Al says he is an imbecile, he was with Liliana. Luc says Miranda will never forgive him. Duh. Pamela even called him to say she was going to stay with Miranda because Miranda felt bad and didn't want to be alone. Al makes some lame statement about not wanting to leave Liliana in her current state. I truly wanted to hurl. He's such a wimp, I swear if Miranda gets him under her thumb he'll be there for life.

Miranda instructs Renata, Fabricio and Pamela to never tell Alejandro that she's pregnant. Not one word to him! She tells Pamela not to tell Luciano because everybody know guys can't keep a secret. (I may have paraphrased that last bit.)

Fernanda arrives after a hard night in the emergency room, lots of locos, drunks and wounds. Miranda tells her that she might be pregnant. Fernanda advises her not to rely on the HPT, she needs a real exam. Just then, (but too late to hear Miranda's pregnancy news I think) Bertha arrives. They are all impactados, especially Fab and Fern. Bertha announces to Fernanda, Miranda and Renata that she wants to speak to them.

Lil's doorbell rings. It's Marisol. Lil is mad and tells Mari that Sofia finked on her. Thanks to her (Mari) Alejandro now hates her (Lil). Mari says that Lil lets Miranda call all the shots and if SHE were after Al he would be in her bed by now. Obviously she thinks it's OK to brag about being a lying, husband-stealing, home-wrecking slut.

I can't tell if Marisol is serious or if she's sucking up to Lil. She lists all of Liliana's wonderful attributes and asks what kind of man is Alejandro? Instead of dining on Liliana's delicious, succulent meal (I swear she said that) with a big spoon, he uses a SMALL STICK (heh, heh, I swear she said that too) and doesn't even get it dirty (I swear!) before going away. Lil tells Marisol that she (Mari) would die of desire to have a man look at her the way Al looks at Miranda, admit it.

Marisol asks Lil to forgive her, she only did what she did for Lil's benefit...and also for hers because she would make out big time if her pal married a millionnaire, nudge nudge wink wink. "Sheesh, you're such a cynic," Lil says, "Sometimes I don't understand why we're friends."

Marisol makes a confusing (to me) speech about them meeting during a time of loneliness. They are friends because of, and in spite of, the good and the bad. Over and above all the bad they are friends and their friendship is the only thing they like to remember of the past. That's why they are friends. Lil sheds a tear. (If someone else has a better translation please jump in.) If you ask me it's a little late to be throwing in a mystery about two characters we can't wait to get rid of.

After that boring and annoying diversion we are back to Bertha and the San Llorente women. Renata tells Bertha to keep it brief. Bertha snaps back that it is to Renata that she has the least to say, now beat it. The nerve! Fern says it's OK for the girls to leave her alone with Bertha but Renata refuses, she's not going to do anything Bertha says.

Bertha tells them that before she fulfills her destiny she had to see them one last time, the perfect little family. Miranda calls her a cynic. Renata tells her the police are looking for her. They tell Bertha that she must pay for her actions. Bertha says she will pay...but in her own way. They glare at each other.

At casa Jimenez Juan waits for Sanson. Amparo wants to call the police but Juan says Sanson is a thief, not a killer. (Since when? Wasn't he going to kill both Raul and Roman at one point?) Sanson arrives and Amparo prays.

Sanson, crying, says Juan didn't kill his brother, it was he, Sanson, who caused his own brother's death. Sanson begs Juan's forgiveness for all the bad things he's done. After his brother died he had nobody so he blamed Juan, his brother's best friend. Still sobbing, he apologizes to Amparo and Fancisco, they were always kind and generous to him. They not only raised the three sons but also him and Carola. He should have kissed their hands but instead he turned bad. Can they ever forgive him? He turns to leave.

Juan stops him, calls him Elias (his real name I guess) and asks if he knows why he's sick. Elias/Sanson says he's going to die from AIDS. Juan says he will help him get into the same medical program as Veronica. They hug, all is forgiven.

Al tells Luciano that he's convinced that he was not born for this love business. If it doesn't confuse you then it wounds you and frankly he likes neither. What a baby. He says he's going to dedicate himself 100 percent to the business, get it up and running again, give it to Miranda and then go to the beach for a while.

Just then Luciano gets a call. "What?? (looks happy) Are you sure??" It is the Prime Minister of the Bank of Italy, calling to say that everything fell in Alejandro's favor. In just a few days his accounts will be freed and he'll be rich again. The government is about to extradite Bertha.

Back at the San Llorente house Bertha tells Fern, Miranda and Renata that nobody ever understood her reasons and now her death will be on their consciences. "I will die as I lived...alone," she says dramatically.

Fern says no, they're not taking any responsibility and Bertha had better leave. Miranda tells Bertha she forgives her. Renata says she forgives her and Florencia would forgive her too. Bertha has a green flashback of Flor's last words to her..."You're dirty and repugnant. You'll never have a man's love because the aroma of death is in your blood. For this I forgive you, yes I forgive you." Back in the present Bertha holds her hand to her head, looks horrified, then shakes it off. "I don't need your forgiveness!" she hisses to her sister and nieces. She grabs Lucas and leaves.

Bertha slowly descends the San Llorente steps with Lucas at her side. She has another green flashback, this time of El Guapo. She remembers telling him she never loses, never! He snickers and asks does she hear what she's saying? None of the San Llorente house is hers and now she is kicked out of it. She has none of Alejandro's inheritance, none. All that she possesses is virtual, in her head. In reality she has nothing. Back in the present Charo watches Bertha as she staggers away.

Juan gives Elias/Sanson a pep talk about his quality of life with AIDS. Juan holds Veronica up as an example. An example of what I'd like to know? I missed the scene where she bit Sanson but did she not deliberately infect him, another human being, with the AIDS virus? Isn't that against the law or something? Shouldn't she be in jail? Shouldn't Juan at least have given her some kind of responsibility lecture? Instead she's still walking around baring her ugly fangs. I still loathe her and yes Chris, we can still call her Slutty McSlutterson!

Well, during my rant I kind of missed the rest of the conversation but the Jimenezes are hugging Elias/Sanson and they're going to help him find a real job. For some reason the camera goes into slo-mo as he leaves the room.

Charo, in a dither, approaches Fern and Miranda. I think she says that she watched Bertha leave from afar and that drops of powerful poison were dripping off her. Bertha did much mischief to them, she hopes the police arrest her and never let her out of jail! Fern is rather shocked at Charo's outburst and reminds her that Bertha is her sister after all.

Andrea arrives to say goodbye, Luc and Pam are shipping her off to Canada with some friends. Andrea says she saw Bertha and her fearsome dog get into a taxi. Fern says she feels bad for Bertha because she's her sister.

Cesar searches for his cell phone in his shambles of an apartment. When he finally locates it he calls someone. He tells them they need to repay the money he loaned to them. NO no no, not to his bank account! He'll stop by and pick it up in cash. He pours a drink (of course) and says the time has come, it's each person for themselves, then takes a big swig. "I'm not going to stand by and do nothing. Miranda and Alejandro are in for a new surprise."

There is quite a crowd at the San Llorente house. Rebecca and Julio tell Fern that she has been very noble to Bertha. Julio, rubbing his chest to remind us he's about to die from a bad ticker, is sympathetic to Fern's complex feelings regarding her sister, such a thing is difficult to express. Nevertheless Santiago does his lengthy best to express his feelings on the subject. Andrea happily bids farewell, she gets to go off to Canada and leave this endless blathering behind.

Renata and Miranda discuss Bertha ad nauseum so allow me to summarize. Renata: "I feel bad for her." Miranda: "She'll get what she deserves. She killed a bunch of people."

Apparently Liliana explained to Sofia off-camera why Al can't be her daddy. Miraculously Sofia seems satisfied with the explanation, whatever it was. We never hear it. Couldn't Lil have taken this route weeks ago thereby saving her daughter and herself (not to mention Al, Miranda and us) hours of anguish and torment? Sofia happily runs off to her room. Lil tells Marisol that Al had a point, maybe she should go looking for Sofia's father. Marisol thinks it's a bad idea but Lil says he has a right to know he has a daughter.

Liliana says now the only thing left to plan is what is she going to say to Miranda and when will she say it? Marisol is surprised, "You're still going to talk with her?" Lil is all "Hell yes I'm going to talk to her. That score will be settled because I'm going to settle it."

That was about the lamest "cliff-hanger" I could possibly have imagined. Where are the guns, the kidnappings, the escapes, the divine retribution? Will our hunger for justice be sated? Can these heridas de amor possibly be healed by Friday?

Labels: heridas