Caray, Caray!

It is nighttime. Rosita awakes, violated but alive. She discovers Rutilio dead in the carriage. She slumps on the hill by the side of the road, cries to God and screams for help as Carmina Burana-type music plays in the background.

Angel is in a tizzy worrying about Emilio. Orlando assures Angel that he will find his brother, but Angel is concerned about Emilio's suffering. "What suffering," demands Thelma? She has entered the room in time to hear the bad news. She blames that filthy Flor for yet again messing up Emilio's Life According To Thelma. Angel seems to think that nobody can survive up in the mountains unless they are well prepared.

Cut to Emilio yelling for help.

The kidnappers plan to send a ransom note to Don Loco in the morning. Pancho orders Tula to write the note. She cries that she doesn't want to have anything to do with this kidnapping business. Pancho takes off his belt and beats her with vicious gusto.

Floralina tells Tonqui (this is how they are spelling Tonki tonight) to go for help. He grabs a dried animal skin and runs out. Soledad and Flor wonder why Tonqui took the skin; they hope he returns for help. Maybe some of you think Tonqui took the skin for a chew toy, but I think Prince Tonqui has a plan. Go Tonqui!!

Orlando convinces Thelma and Angel to stay at La Rinconada while he looks for Emilio, thus ensuring his plot to keep Emilio trapped and unfound. Sexy Nurse Susi promises to keep an eye on joven Angel and make sure he stays safely in his room.

Don Max bursts into the house, filthy, bloody and enraged. He cracks his whip in a frenzy and yells for Efigenio. Didn't he order Efigenio to fix the damned fence near the pasture? "Your stupid fence isn't worth a sh*t," Don Max screams, "a horse escaped and I got caught in the barbed wire!" He orders Efigenio to fix it in the morning.

The singing Aunt Rebecca witnesses all this and asks if she can help him. He bellows, "Sure you're going to cure me just like they fix fences! Thank you!!" "You're welcome," she meekly responds as he charges up the stairs.

Elias arrives at Hacienda de Loco with bad news. He tearfully tells Adela that Blanca died of a heart attack. He came to tell Soledad. Don Loco swaggers out and says HIS wife isn't there. She escaped!

Singing Aunt tries to comfort Thelma. Thelma's not happy that Orlando is searching for Emilio; Orlando loathes Emilio and has always envied him.

Elias asks Don Loco why isn't he out looking for Soledad? It's dangerous for women to be out this late. Don Loco tells Elias it's none of his biz. Now that Blanca is dead is Elias wanting to find Soledad and finally fulfill his fantasies? Elias demands "How did you know Blanca is dead?"

Thelma cries to auntie that Emilio will never love her. Suddenly there is a knock on the window. Auntie says it's the idiot Gaspar! Thelma instructs, "Tell him to beat it!"

Auntie opens the window and tells an eager Gaspar that Thelma is sick. His face gets long and he looks sad and concerned. Auntie orders him to go. Gaspar sticks out his lip and says he'll go so as not to bother the muñequita. (He means Thelma but I think Auntie believes he is referring to the baby.) Auntie gets a bright idea. If Gaspar thinks Thelma is sick maybe he will believe that Thelma lost the child!

Elias didn't tell Don Loco that Blanca had died so how did he know??? Don Loco says he heard Elias tell Adela and saw Adela start crying. She really liked Blanca as did he. (Liked to lock her up and cause her to fibrillate he means.) Don Loco tells Elias that he absolutely prohibits Elias from looking for Soledad. Elias shakes his head, jumps on his horse and rides off.

A bound Floralina cries, presumably to Emilioooo, "I'm never going to stop loving you." Puhleaze!

Tonqui runs around Emilio's pit. Emilio sees him and yells "Tonqui! Tonqui!"

Angel thought bubbles, "Can't stay here, gotta look for my bro." He sneaks past Nurse Susi who has fallen asleep doing the crossword puzzle.

Emilio tells Tonqui to look for Alina. Tonqui runs off, probably confused that people keep telling to run back and forth. Emilio yells for help. Tonqui has left the rabbit skin next to the pit.

Felicia, Jose and the other drug runners are stealing boxes of munitions from the soldiers' camp. They must have gotten these arms from America because each box is marked "Export." Jose is suspicious because nobody seems to be guarding the goods. He tells the new boss Rogelio that this is the last time he'll get involved in their biz, he's only there for Felicia. Moments after they leave the soldiers from the camp discover the missing ammo. The alarm is sounded.

Braulio sees Rosita's note and hopes she will be happy with Santos. He hopes they will get married and that she'll leave La Rinconada and lecherous Don Max forever. Suddenly a dirty and sobbing Rosita stumbles in. "They killed Rutilo," she sobs,"and they raped me!" Braulio is muy impactado!

Braulio kicks a chair and asks Rosita if she's sure Rutilo is dead. Was it dark? Was the attacker big? Did she see him? She says his face was covered. Braulio wants to report it to the authorities but Rosita doesn't want anyone to know. She is humiliated and runs to her room. "How can we not report it," Braulio asks in despair? "Daughter, daughter," he sobs, sagging down onto the table in anguish.

Angel rides in the night, coughing and yelling for Emilio. As often as he gets thrown from horses, if I were him I would think twice about riding around at night.

Soledad and a crying Floralina cannot get free. Alina says Blanca will help them, she promised! Soledad reluctantly tells Alina that Blanca cannot..."your godmother died." Alina is impactada and she sobs with renewed vigor, "No puede ser!" Soledad adds that Don Loco gave her the news, no doubt he had something to do with it.

Jose and the drug runners are hustling the boxes of munitions through the forest. They are all rushing like crazy except Felicia who brings up the rear prancing like a dancer, waving her gun aimlessly, and casually looking around. Boom! she gets shot in the back in front of a horrified Jose. He tries to help her but Rogelio the jefe orders him to leave. They have to run NOW! Felicia makes things easy on them and kicks the bucket. Arcadio forces Jose to leave her. The closing shot is a close up of Felicia, open-eyed with blood dripping from her mouth.

It's dawn and a weak - even weaker than usual - Angel hears Tonqui's barks. Tonqui leads Angel to the pit. Angel throws Emilio a rope and his horse pulls him out of the pit. For the first time Angel is successful at a task. Emilio is exhausted but fine. They see the skin that Tonqui dropped earlier. "It's a rabbit skin...just the skin," Emilio observes astutely, "Alina and her mother must be in a hunter's hut!"

Nurse Susi is still in her Telenovela nurse hat and shoes, but today she wears a sexy little If-Marilyn-Monroe-Were-A-Nurse dress. It's very low cut. Something tells me Nurse Susi is about to get more lines. She is in the kitchen asking Vera what should she do about Angel giving her the slip? What if something bad happens to him because she fell asleep?

A gasping Angel tells Emilio that he wants to help him look for the kidnapping hunters, just give him a moment to catch his breath. He's wiped out from throwing a rope, getting on his horse, and analyzing a bunnie skin.

Soledad and Floralina are tired, they were too frightened to sleep. Tula enters with breakfast. Her face is bruised and she's sporting a shiner. Soledad asks, "He beat you, didn't he?"

Emilio wants Angel to go home, the mountains are too cold for his lungs. Angel insists on staying and becoming a liability. "Fine then," says Emilio, "Put on that big old ugly checkered blanket thing to help keep you warm."

Orlando tries to convince the search party to look for Emilio in the marsh. The other guys don't think he would have gone there but they agree to split up, allowing Orlando to search on his own. Vera and Nurse Susi, whose neckline seems to have plunged more deeply since the last scene, tells the search party that Angel snuck out during the night, so they should look for him too. "Damn him," thought bubbles Orlando, "he's going to ruin my diabolical plan!" We get one more close-up of Nurse Susie's cleavage as he rides by.

Angel coughs and teeters on his saddle. He spies a fire and they ride toward it.

Soledad tells Tula she recognizes an abused woman. She understands because she herself has been mistreated by a man. Tula makes excuses, "My Pancho has you here because we need the money, no other reason." Ohhkaaayy, so that's a good reason? Soledad says she's not talking about what he's doing do them (Soledad and Alina) but rather what he is doing to her (Tula). Some women think it's normal that their husbands beat them. They allow it to happen because they are afraid their husband will go away and leave them alone. For that reason they bear all sorts of humiliations until they eventually become accustomed to the mistreatment.

Flor pipes up that she shouldn't let any man mistreat her (hear that mom???). "But Pancho loves me," says Tula. "Yeah right, if he loved you he wouldn't beat you, he wouldn't hurt you. If you let him he's going to keep beating you and then what? He'll end up leaving you for someone else," instructs Flor. Tula cries,"Don't say that, don't say that!" She runs out crying. "Poor woman," clucks Soledad. Flor and Soledad should follow their own advice.

Emilio and Tonqui race into a camp where a man sleeps by a fire. Angel trots behind. Emilio sticks his rifle in the man's ear. It's Elias, poor sap. He says he was looking for some loved ones in the mountains but he has to sleep. They realize they are all looking for the same two women and decide to join forces. Angel coughs, the actor must have a very sore throat by now.

Don Loco yells at Sergio for not being able to find the women while he was sleeping on his fat a** all night. At that moment a rock wrapped in paper crashes through the window and lands at their feet. "It's a message," says Sergio. Duh. Don Loco reads the message, "It demands a ransom for Soledad and Flor."

Commercial break Mundo - Ultimos Capitulos - Dolores attacks Jos and grabs her by the throat. It appears that Jos can't stop flapping her yap even while getting strangled. Catfight!!!

Back to Duelo: Don Loco says a big ransom has been demanded for the women. The money is to be brought to the cave down by the river. "Are you going to pay," asks Sergio? "Of course," answers Loco, " I'd give my entire fortune to have them back."

Braulio tries to console a tormented Rosita by giving her some herbal tea. He gently tells her that when she goes to give her testimony about Rutilio's death she should report what "that bastard" did to her. She says she doesn't want to, what good will it do? She doesn't know who it is and the only thing that will happen is that all of Sierra Escondido will know. They will speak badly of her and call her a floozy. That's how people are around there. Whenever a girl is raped she is the one who is judged. She doesn't want that to happen. She doesn't want Santos to find out and judge her like everybody else. While Rosita speaks she wipes her arm repeatedly with a cloth as if to remove some unseen filth.

Braulio wonders aloud if it could have been Don Maximo. Rosita says that what she was thinking. The last time he saw her he warned her to be very careful.

Santos has a flashback to happy times with Rosita. The cute waitress interrupts his thoughts. If he's so sad why doesn't he look for his Roseeeeetah? She's heard all about her. Santos doesn't want to talk about it and stomps away.

Mariana tells a pleased Malena that she accepted Dr. Love's proposal of marriage, which leads us into...

Jose telling Arcadio he feels responsible for Felicia's death. The new boss Rogelio enters and tells Jose he is free to leave. It was Felicia's last wish. Arcadio can leave too. Jose and Arcadio are ecstatic. Jose says he will sell the gold (he still has that? didn't the druggies take it from him?) and return to his family. "At last, I will be with Mariana and Marianita!" Which leads us into...

Mariana, who is making big plans to tell her brother and the rest of the family her happy news. The entire family will attend the wedding. Malena wonders how Don Loco will react to Marianita the Bastardita. Mariana thinks it should be OK if he doesn't know Jose is the father.

The soldiers cover dead Felicia with a blanket. They could do nothing to save her but most of all they're sorry they couldn't interrogate her. They think that the Mexican dude Jose probably led the cartel to the military camp. The comandante says they are going after Jose and this time they are going to capture him! They captured him before, they just couldn't keep him.

Don Loco and Sergio wait by the river. Sergio stashes the package of money in some rocks. "Nobody will make a fool out of me," Don Loco swears, "nobody!" They look around like they hear something.

Accompanied by suspenseful music, one of the kidnappers (not Pancho) retrieves the money. He gleefully spreads the bills and congratulates himself. Don Loco appears with a pistol and Sergio garrotes the guy and holds a gun to his head. The kidnapper spills his guts, says Panchito made him do it, and cries like a baby for his life. "Act like a man," commands Don Loco. Does he mean find a woman and lock her up? No he means stop crying and tell them where he hid the women.

Auntie tells Thelma, who is shoving food in her face, not to fret or it could hurt the baby. Thelma says the baby is the last of her worries. Auntie tells Thelma about her idea to tell Gaspar that Thelma lost the baby. Then Thelma could go away for a while so Gaspar can't see she is pregnant. Thelma thinks the plan might work. Auntie fans herself with pride.

A badly beaten Tula sobs in front of a cracked mirror. She remembers Flor's and Soledad's words. She weeps and inspects her bruised ribs.

Soledad and Floralina talk about what a jerk Pancho is. Soledad doesn't understand how women can let themselves be humiliated in such a manner, but then admits "I myself I have lived, humiliated and mistreated by the man I trusted and until today I have not been able to avoid it." Alina says when all this is over she vows she will never let another man treat them badly. Soledad says she hopes so because it seems Emilio has that character. "No, really, it's just a front," Stupid Alina insists," deep down he's good." OK so have these women learned nothing? Soledad continues, she says Alina idealizes him too much and has forgotten what's gone down between them. If they get out alive it would be best if Alina stopped thinking of him.

Elias, Emilio, Angel and Tonqui are exhausted from looking for the women. They say it's like looking for a damn needle in a haystack. Hey wait a minute...can't Tonqui take the men right to them? Guess not, maybe he's confused from all that running back and forth. They accuse Tonqui of just finding the skin lying around somewhere. Angel says he feels awful and keels over. Elias will take him home and Emilio and Tonqui will continue searching.

Stupid Alina dreams of kissing Emilio at the beach. It makes her cry.

Elias and Angel have taken only moments to reach home. Don Max carries Angel upstairs while Nurse Susi pronounces him feverish. Elias reports that Emilio is fine. Angel rescued him from a pit.

Susi asks delirious Angel, "Why did you do it?" "Alina my love, will you marry me," he asks? This comatose marriage proposal thing must run in the family. "I'd love to marry you," Susi answers, and kisses him.

Don Loco, in his cute little cowboy hat rain cap, complains to the kidnapper that it's taking a long time to get to the women. He'd better not be playing games with them. Suddenly they see Tonqui followed by Emilio.

Emilio says, "So, Don Alvaro, we meet again." He says he is there for the same reason as Don Loco, to find Alina and Soledad. Don Loco demands, "Why are you involving yourself with my family?" "Your family?" snaps Emilio, "I thought Alina wasn't your daughter!" (Points to Emilio for that one.) "OK, she's not," admits Loco,but I still want you to stay out of my business." "How are you going to stop me?" challenges Emilio, "are you going to shoot me again?"

Don Loco doesn't look impactado, but he does look royally PO'd.

Upcoming attractions: Marianita takes a turn for the worse. Mariana vows to tell Don Loco about Jose. Emilio asks Orlando why he didn't respond to his shots for help when he fell into the pit.

alambrada - (barbed) wire fence
parque - munitions
fogata - fire, bonfire
paliacate - big old checkered scarf or wrap
cazador - hunter

Labels: duelo