Caray, Caray!

After kissing Alfonsina, Alvaro (aka Don Loco) asked Soledad if she felt bad about it, saying that's how he felt about her (supposed) affair with Jose. Then he graciously told her he would no longer lock her in the barn, but would instead give her "the privilege of caring for my sister."

After Soledad left the room, Alvaro worriedly asked Alfonsina if she thought it was true that Soledad didn't care about their affair.

Alfonsina asked, "Why, Patron? Le calo?" I don't know what that means (can someone explain?) but Alvaro said disgustedly, "Please," and stalked away. Alfonsina smirked.

At Luba's cave: Elias was well enough to sit up in a chair with a blanket wrapped around him. Luba told him Alina was at Edelmira's place again. Elias asked her to go tell Soledad that Alina was fine so Soledad wouldn't worry.

At Edelmira's: Granillo cried a little and told Alina he was fed up with Edel, but he loved his job and couldn't easily find another one. Alina told him not to get into trouble for her sake, but Granillo said, "While I am here, no one will hurt you." After he left the room, Alina lamented about being hungry and prayed for help.

In the countryside somewhere: Emilio and his soldiers set up camp while a man spied on them from behind some trees.

Back at Casa Loco: Soledad sat on the paralyzed Mariana's bed and promised to do all she could to help her. Mariana thought that Soledad had always been nice, and wondered why Alvaro treated her so badly.

Soledad said her life with Alvaro was horrible but she was used to it. She told Mariana that Alvaro's jealousy had been triggered by Jose's mysterious letter and now Alvaro thought Alina was Jose's daughter.

Mariana became agitated and began hyperventilating, trying to talk. Soledad attempted to calm her down by explaining the situation, which of course only upset Mariana more.

When Soledad said, "Jose Gomez died without saying who wrote this letter," Mariana passed out. Soledad ran from the room calling for Adela.

Don Loco was about to embrace Alfonsina when Adela ran into their room and told them that Soledad said Mariana had fainted.

Alfonsina snapped, "What a coincidence, if Senora Mariana came here this morning perfectly well!" Alvaro said he hoped to God that what Alfonsina was saying was wrong. He and Adela hurried out of the room with Alfonsina swishing along behind them.

Alvaro leaned over the unconcious Mariana and told her, "Don't do this anymore, Mariana. Don't scare me." Mariana opened her eyes. Alvaro and Soledad squabbled over whose fault it was that Mariana had fainted.

Alfonsina said (I think) that she didn't trust "this woman." Soledad said, "I am the lady of this house!" Don Loco said, "No, you are wrong, Soledad. Alfonsina is the lady of the house, and you are going to respect her." He told Mariana he would ask Dr. Vasquez to examine her tomorrow.

After Don Loco and Alfonsina left, Soledad apologized to Mariana, who thought (in a very forceful voiceover), "Pardon me, too, Soledad, for my cowardice, for not confronting my brother. I have caused you so much pain. And poor Alina, I don't want to think what is happening to her."

In Mexico City: Ricardo (aka Dr. Love) told Malena that without physical therapy Mariana would remain a quadriplegic, but he would go to Sierra Escondida to help her.

At Edelmira's place: Edelmira yelled at Alina for lazing around in bed instead of working. Alina said she was tired and hadn't eaten in two days. She whined, "I feel very weak," but Edelmira said, "I don't care how you feel!" and forced her to get up.

Later, when Alina was serving beer to customers, Edelmira unreasonably accused her of stealing money and sent her back to her room.

Orlando came in and asked Granillo if Flor was there. Granillo asked, "Why so interested in finding her?" Orlando said, "I have my reasons," and claimed he wanted to help her.

Granillo said if he saw Flor, he would tell her Orlando was looking for her, then told himself he was suspicious of Orlando. ("No me da buena espina.")

At the military camp: Emilio dreamed of seeing Angel and Alina at the altar on their wedding day. He said repeatedly, "No no no no no."

While he was still saying "no" in his sleep, a man crept into his tent with a knife. Suddenly someone shot and killed the intruder. Emilio woke up and saw that the gunman was Frank, who said, "It was him or you!"

With his usual acute insight, Emilio declared, "This man wanted to kill me." He warned Frank that they would encounter a lot of very angry people tomorrow.

In the morning he kissed Alina's heart-shaped necklace and said, "Don't abandon me. You are my strength for living."

Meanwhile, Granillo told Alina, "Last night Senor Lieutenant came looking for you," but added that he didn't trust Orlando. Alina insisted that Orlando had always been good to her.

Granillo said, "I don't believe anyone would want to help you for nothing," but Alina begged him to find Orlando and tell him she needed help. Granillo gave in and agreed, saying, "You are the queen."

At La Rinconada: Orlando told Thelma, her singing Aunt Rebeca, and Maximo that he'd looked everywhere for Alina but couldn't find her.

Maximo said, "It's impossible she could have evaporated like this. Why are you so interested in finding her, Lieutenant?" Orlando said, "Emilio left her in my care."

In the countryside somewhere: Emilio and his men examined a shantytown through binoculars. Emilio said, "How strange. There's no movement."

One of the soldiers said maybe the people had preferred to leave before being evicted. Frank said maybe the people were hiding, it could be a trap. Emilio ordered Frank to send some men into the town while they continued to watch through binoculars.

The soldiers didn't find anyone in the town, but Emilio spotted something inside one the shacks and decided to investigate personally. He went into the shack, calling, "Is someone here?"

A man grabbed him, put a gun to his neck, and said, "Tell the men to leave my lands!"

Outside, Frank and the other soldier heard a gunshot in the cabin Emilio had entered. They hurried into the shack, which was empty, then found Emilio outside with his captor, who had Emilio in a chokehold and the gun to his head.

The man told them to leave his lands, but Emilio said hoarsely, "Don't pay attention to him! That's an order! Carry out my orders. My life doesn't matter!"

One of the soldiers apologized and said they couldn't do that. They turned away as if to leave, but then unexpectedly Frank turned and shot Emilio's captor. Both men rolled down a hill. Frank ran to Emilio, who clutched his arm and groaned dramatically.

Elsewhere: Angel, at his doctor's office, suddenly said he felt afraid, that his brother was in danger. The doctor told him not to worry.

Back to Emilio, who told his men he had dislocated his shoulder. (Angel has a psychic flash about that? Not when Emilio was shot at the altar by Alvaro, but when he dislocated his shoulder? OK, whatever.)

In Sierra Escondida: Santos and Rosita strolled outside, discussing Maximo's threats, while Castulo lurked in the background with a gun. Castulo thought, "This time it isn't just a threat, Rosita. Your little boyfriend is going to die in front of your own eyes!" He aimed at Santos.

Fortunately for Santos, Castulo didn't shoot him right away, but let Santos and Rosita bicker long enough for Santos to say, "No, Rosita! Maximo must never find out that I am his son!"

Castulo lowered his gun, thinking, "The boss has to know that he sent me to kill his own son."

At La Rinconada: Vera, Jaime, and Ifigenio were surprised when Granillo appeared in the kitchen. Vera said, "What do you want here? This is a decent house."

Granillo said he was just looking for the lieutenant. Jaime said Orlando had left early on his horse. Granillo gave Vera a note for Orlando. As he left, he blew a kiss to Ifigenio, who looked disconcerted.

In Maximo's office: Maximo gave Thelma a letter, saying it was from Emilio, who wanted to know how Alina was. Thelma said, "Surely Flor will appear at any moment."

Maximo said, "You say that with a lot of certainty," and asked if she knew where Alina was. Thelma said no. Maximo said, "Please, Thelma. I know you. I know you're not a trustworthy woman."

Thelma said in her nasty way, "Why do you say that? Because of Castulo? I assure you, there's nothing between him and me." Maximo said, "Mmm hmm. You think I was born yesterday and I'm called Minimo, right?"

Castulo arrived outside the office in time to hear Maximo informing Thelma that he (Castulo) was nothing more than a criminal, "capable of killing his own blood," and Maximo didn't want his family to have anything to do with him. "And that includes you, Thelma!"

Angrily Castulo said to himself, "Well, boss, you're also going to kill your own blood," because he (Castulo) would kill Santos, Maximo's son, just as Maximo had ordered.

At Casa Loco: Alvaro sent for Sergio and asked what happened while he was gone. Sergio said Soledad had tried to escape but he'd prevented it. Alvaro praised him.

Sergio then said oh yeah, also that engineer, Elias, had wanted to help Soledad escape, but he had shot Elias and Luba was now curing him with herbs.

Alfonsina sauntered into the room and asked what was going on. Alvaro turned away and muttered, "That damn engineer keeps looking for my woman. Why does he want to rescue her?"

Alfonsina said that woman didn't matter to him anymore, but Alvaro snarled at her not to meddle in things that didn't concern her.

In the kitchen, Soledad told Adela that she saw the suffering in Mariana's face and didn't like seeing her like that. Luba arrived and assured Soledad that Elias was OK and Alina was being treated well at La Rinconada.

Unfortunately, Alvaro was standing in the kitchen doorway (spying on Soledad, no doubt), and overheard this. He told Luba, "The bastard is being treated very well. Thank you for this information," then ordered her to leave.

When Luba was gone, he told Soledad, "Right now I'm going to end your happiness." He said he was going to La Rinconada and she would come with him.

Soledad yelled, "Take pity on your daughter!" Alvaro yelled back, "She's not my daughter, damn it!" (They never get tired of this conversation, do they?)

Soledad screamed at Alvaro to stop all this, enough already! Alvaro gave her his usual guilty grimace, then repeated that she was going with him to La Rinconada. More back and forth screaming.

Alfonsina entered the room and Alvaro said she would come with him to La Rinconada, too. Alfonsina asked, "What for?"

Alvaro roared at her, red-faced and very scary, "What do you mean, what for, fool? (Como para que, sonsa?)" and knocked something off the counter with his whip, shouting, "To be with me by my side!" Ah, the glories of being Don Loco's woman.

Soledad told Alvaro she was disgusted by him and his woman. Alfonsina went to Don Loco's side and said, "I am happy with this man!"

If she thought that would get Don Loco's attention, she was sadly mistaken, because he and Soledad went right back to screaming at each other. He grabbed her arm and pushed her out of the kitchen, then growled at Alfonsina, "And you too!"

At Edelmira's club: Alina passed out from exhaustion and lack of food and dreamed that Emilio was with her. He said, "Our love is impossible." Alina said, "I know, but I can never forget you." Emilio kissed her, saying, "Goodbye forever," then left.

One of the jealous prostitutes came along and found Alina sprawled on the ground with a rat climbing on her leg. She commented that Alina couldn't take anymore so she passed out; well, she could stay there, with no one to help her.

She picked up the rat by the tail (ugh!) and held it over Alina, saying, "The rats... with the rats."

Orlando looked for Alina at the church. Father Cristobal said Alina wasn't there. Orlando didn't believe him and Cristobal said he wasn't a liar. As Orlando started to leave, Cristobal put out his hand and said, "Go with God." Orlando declined to take his hand. (As if we needed more proof that Orlando is evil!)

After he left, Father Cristobal prayed, "Lord, protect this child." (Maybe he could try giving the Lord a helping hand by notifying the authorities that Alina is being terrorized? But no, that's just crazy talk.)

At the military camp: Frank advised Emilio, whose arm was now in a sling, to go back to town and let his men continue the mission. Emilio refused. (I'm sorry, Emilio, at this point it's going to take a lot more than that to make me think you're heroic.) Frank warned that his attacker might have accomplices. Emilio said they would be prepared.

At Edelmira's: Alina hallucinated that Jose was standing over her, saying he was her father. Alina said no, he wasn't. Jose said, "You are a damn bastard!" Alina said, "My mother is innocent. I am Alina Montellano!"

Words from this episode:
huéspedes = guests
recadito = little message
rostro = face

Labels: duelo