Caray, Caray!

At Anais's show
The reporters are full of questions: who is she, is she going to be in Anais's show, is she the surprise guest. Lety declines to give her name, says she doesn't know what they're talking about, and asks why they're taking pictures of her. "Is it that bad?" she asks Carolina. Caro beams at Lety, but Lety wants to get out of there.

A reporter from Televisa rushes up with a TV camera and tells his microphone that they're broadcasting live from the launch of Anais's new show! He says they've just discovered this incredibly beautiful unknown woman who has captured everyone's attention. He begs her for information: what does she do? Is she a model, actress, Miss Universe, etc.? Lety declines to answer.

I just noticed that the pink eyeshadow is now being used on Carolina. It looks better on her than on Marcia, but I think it should be burnt.

"I need a mirror," Lety says in carefully measured tones as she tries to navigate through the crowd. "I need to see how I look." Worried, Caro tries to keep up while Lety continues to search for an exit.

Elsewhere in the city
Fernando is waffling outside the Padilla home. He approaches the door with his fist raised to knock; then he changes his mind and paces on the sidewalk. He can't decide what to do and begins to walk away. Julieta comes outside with Moty and her pocketbook and sees him. "What are you doing here?" "Oh... I'm here?" is his witty reply. He says he likes the way she laughs. He explains that he just happens to be in the neighborhood because he has a friend that lives nearby, and the street looked familiar, so... he trails off and tries to excuse himself.

"If you're looking for Lety, she's not here," Julieta tells Fernando. (Moty is doing that cute thing where he stands on Julieta's hands.) Fern hems and haws but finally fesses up that he's not doing well and he really wants to see her. He's lost in love with her and afraid he's losing her forever. She's not the same as before.

In Acapulco
Aldo is putting the finishing touches on his new dish. The restaurant owner likes what he sees and asks about the recipe. Aldo tells him he just made it up, and it's called the Leticia. Hmm, does that mean it's sour? Or bitter? Sorry... I just think that if you name any food item after a person, you're asking for trouble in the form of extreme mockery.

Aldo apparently tells the restaurant owner the entire story of Aldo & Lety. He wraps it up by saying he made Lety more sure of herself - so much so that she was able to get back together with the man who betrayed her. The owner is impressed with the story. I'd probably be impressed with it too if I could have heard it in just two minutes rather than over a period of several months.

Meanwhile, Alicia and Tomas have arrived in Acapulco. They've both changed their clothes - Alicia is wearing a pink thing that shows even more cleavage than usual (an impressive feat), plus a big pink hat. Tomas is wearing an orange sherbet shirt. It's dark outside, but he's wearing flipped-up clip-on sunglasses.

Some men whistle at Alicia, and Tomas tells them to go to the beach. He tells Alicia he likes her outfit, and she answers "gracias, Oxigenado"! The way she says it, it almost sounds like... like an endearment!

Back at the restaurant, Aldo's phone rings. Someone should show him how to turn it off. When he was talking on the phone at the restaurant last night I was hoping his dad would teach him some manners, but now he's talking on a phone in a restaurant WHILE HE'S WORKING... okay, it's just a story, it's just a story, it's just a story. (Destilando Amor is just a story, too. Last night, that sleazebag Aaron got a call while HE was at a restaurant, but he didn't take it. Manners! Granted, he was cheating on his wife at the time, but still...)

Anyway. It's Tomas calling. (Alicia interrupts to tell Tomas she'll pay him back later for the dress he bought.) Aldo sounds surprised, so I guess he didn't even check to see who it was before answering. ANYWAY. Sorry about that, it's a real pet peeve of mine when people talk on the phone in restaurants.

Tomas says he urgently needs to see Aldo. Aldo says he's busy doing restaurant stuff ("it's a long story," he explains) but invites Tomas to come by and they'll chat. Tomas doesn't have a pen and ducks into a souvenir shop to buy one, then decides to just ask someone else, bye. But now he's stuck in a souvenir shop with Alicia, who thinks it looks like a pirate ship, and now she wants to eat. He says he's going to take her to a posh place. She says thanks, she's a very dainty eater as he knows, but right now she's so hungry she could eat anything and everything. (Let's hope she has a tapeworm, because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate.) (On second thought, I just read an article on tapeworms, and I think even Alicia would prefer to be fat no matter how bad it looks.)

"Like always," Tomas says of her appetite, but she makes him take it back, reminding him that she was kind enough to accompany him and maybe she should just leave him here by himself. Instead of daring her to do it, he backs off. With a disdainful flick of her hand, she flips his sunglasses down so he can't see. He then takes her arm and lets her lead him like a seeing-eye dog.

If only he'd brought a puppet, he could have called it an act
While looking for Lety, who has apparently given her the slip, Caro runs into Omar. She tries to brush him off so she can continue her search, but he suggests that the two of them could have a good time. She says no - she's with an amiga. Omar thinks that sounds even better. "No... she's not your type," Caro says tactfully. Omar doubts this. Stroking his face, Caro says he doesn't have a chance - because the friend she brought is Leticia Padilla Solis!

Omar staggers backwards as if struck. "The gargolita?" he yells so loudly that the other guests have to shush him. Caro nods in acknowledgment, which annoys me - she should say she doesn't know anyone named "gargolita." Omar tells Caro she's got lousy taste in friends. "If you mean friends for you, then I agree," she says. She takes off to look for Lety.

Omar tells the empty air where Fern should be that all he needs is a whiskey. "Excuse me, but do you always talk to yourself?" asks a bemused bystander. "Me? Alone?" Omar asks himself. "Who's talking to himself? Only crazy people talk to themselves."

In the Padilla kitchen
Julieta tells Ferni that Lety came home for a moment in the afternoon and didn't tell her anything. He repeats that he's hopelessly in love with Lety and he's afraid he's already lost her forever. Julieta says she's sure that Lety loves him, and not Aldo.

The flavor of life
Back at the restaurant, the owner makes a little opening speech, in which he welcomes the diners, introduces Aldo, and tells them the great new dish is called Leticia. Surprised by the applause, Aldo bows awkwardly. The owner invites him to say "a few words" about the idea behind this restaurant - Aldo doesn't really want to open this can of worms, but as soon as he tries to beg off, people urge him to take the microphone.

Aldo begins telling them about his longtime dream to own a restaurant. (Through the window, we see Alicia and Tomas on the sidewalk outside the restaurant.) A very important dream. A dream that he sacrificed in the name of love, and that dish they're about to enjoy was inspired by that love, and that's why it's called Leticia. It's the flavor of life, Leticia, the flavor of his life. (Tomas and Alicia catch the end of this speech; Alicia is impactada.) The crowd applauds.

Later, Alicia finishes her dinner with loud verbal praise and asks for more - a double-helping, in fact. Meanwhile, Aldo is angrily telling Tomas that he was blind - he should have known that Lety would never let him into her heart.

Tomas tells him he's wrong. Aldo interrupts and says he's not wrong - a guy can tell when a woman loves him. (If Aldo's any indication, the same guy can't tell if a woman doesn't love him.) Aldo angrily says he saw Lety kissing Fernando. Laughing, Tomas says "yeah, but you didn't see what happened next." He snickers and snorts and tells Aldo that once Lety felt that she had lost Aldo, she said she loved him, and now she's conflicted as to which one she's in love with.

Later, Aldo and Tomas are still talking about how Aldo sold everything for Lety's love. Aldo says yep, now he's homeless. Tomas hints that Aldo could be the owner of Conceptos now. Aldo says that was never his intention. He just wanted to set Lety free from the Mendi/roels. It just didn't work out the way he wanted. Tomas commiserates over the sacrifice, but Aldo says it was no sacrifice. All he wants is for Lety to be happy, and if she wants to stay with Fern... Aldo gets all choked up and doesn't want to talk about it any more except to say how much he loves her and that love is freedom. He wipes tears from his eyes.

Mirror, Mirror
"A mirror, I need a mirror, I need to see myself," Lety repeats in her more typically nervous voice. She's alone in a dressing room, and as she catches sight of herself clomping up to the mirror, she is so impactada that she has to go to a commercial for a while and recover.

Three minutes later, and back to Lety in the parallel universe. She's wearing a light green gown with what I believe is called a keyhole neckline showing a bit of cleavage; flaming red (almost purple) hair; enough makeup to kill an Avon lady AND a Mary Kay lady; properly tweezed eyebrows; a hairless upper lip; and a fur coat. Her glasses are gone - I don't know if they just happened to have her contact lens prescription on hand, or if her vision is better than we had been led to believe, or if the tension on her braces had been so tight that it strained her eye muscles and now they're all better now.

"I don't want anyone to see me like this!" she says. She wonders how she can get out of there, but gets distracted when she tries matching her voice to her appearance. She tries out a few different voices, accents, and speech impediments - all of them very frightening. She reminds herself that she's being crazy and she really wants to leave, but decides to have a little more fun. (Boy, is it strange to hear Lety's voice coming out of that face!) She practices some alternate walks, too, then settles on a voice to match the walk. She giggles at herself in the mirror.

Carolina comes in and suddenly Lety is herself again, nervous and awkward. She says she's trying, but she's afraid. "Afraid to look pretty?" Caro asks. Lety says she's afraid of herself - because she's not "like this," she says, pulling up the train of her gown to cover the peekaboo neckline. Caro tries to soothe her, but Lety gets into that "I'm Lety LA FEA!!!" groove.

"No you're not, Lety. Look at yourself - you're stunning." Lety doesn't want to look. She doesn't recognize herself. (In her defense, I don't blame her for flipping out, she really looks different!) She didn't want this. She had already accepted herself as she was. Caro tells her there's no going back. She's a woman who loves and is loved. Her new look is only a reflection of the change that's taken place inside of her. (Grr, don't let that hardworking team of fashionistas hear you say that!) Lety says she truly doesn't know who she is.

Coffee break
Fern is telling Julieta that he saw the pain in Lety's eyes when Aldo left. It was like a stab to him. He felt a terrible rage. Sympathetically, Julieta says that no one likes seeing their beloved with someone else. Fern says it's not only that - it's because it's all his fault. His stupid mistakes drove Lety right into Aldo's arms. He deserves it for being an idiot.

Julieta puts her hands on Fernando's and tells him not to be so hard on himself. He pulls his hands away so that he can wave them around and insult himself some more. He says he's not going to resist it and he can't imagine Lety living with "Domensolín" (a pun on "idiot"). Julieta giggles, and Fern covers his mouth in mute embarrassment. He apologizes, but Julieta seems unfazed.

She tells him he said he's going to give Lety her freedom - but now how's he going to live with this decision? Fern says he would have given anything for Lety not to have changed so much since she first arrived at Conceptos. He was profoundly in love with her.

Fern seems to want to say more, but suddenly becomes self-conscious and admits that sometimes he finds it easier to talk with her than with his own mother. He gets up to leave, and Julieta begs him to take it easy. She says love is the most marvelous thing in life, but NOBODY should let it kill them. He asks her how a person can go on living when the one that he loves goes off with someone else.

She tells him to give it some time. She pats his hands and tells him we want love so much and it always makes us suffer. He asks her for help learning to respect the decisions of others. She says he'll have to start by accepting that Aldo has won the heart of her daughter.

Aurora Mexicanis
The New Lety makes her way back through the crowd, swaggering slightly but not quite sashaying. Omar catches sight of her and begs her not to move. (He turns around to talk to himself, and as soon as his back is turned, Lety's eyelid begins to flutter like crazy.) He doesn't recognize her as Lety, and thinks she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen.

He turns back to look at her, and the eyelid-fluttering stops. He asks her name. She fixes him with a cool look and introduces herself as Aurora. He asks what she does for a living. She says "a model, film actress... and many other things." She turns her back to him so she can flutter her eyelid again. He asks her where she's been hidden all this time.

"Hidden?" she asks, turning towards him. (The flutter stops.) Omar steps behind her (flutter on) and says yes, because they've never met before. He steps in front of her (flutter off) and goes on and on and ON about how beautiful she is. She's his dream come true.

She replies to this effluvium with "do you know where the exit is?" He begs her not to leave, and she says she's not asking his permission. She turns to leave and makes more faces. He begs her to stay so he can gaze into her eyes. He talks about love at first sight, and finally she gives him just the tiniest smile.

Or maybe it's just the start of another flutter, because in the next scene her face is just as cold as before while Omar complains that she shouldn't reject him without giving him a chance. He says he's a very interesting guy, if she'd just get to know him. (The entire crowd is gathered around, watching.)

"Really. You think so?" she asks frostily. "Many women have told me so," Omar answers stupidly. But he says he doesn't care what they think. He only cares what she thinks.

She turns away and starts to walk. "I'm a writer!" Omar shouts after her. Lety's eyes widen in disbelief. (Flutter flutter flutter.) She turns to answer, "a writer? How interesting." He tells her he writes the most beautiful love letters. "Love letters? For me?" she answers calmly.

(I assume Lety's shoes have sharp, pointy heels. All I can think about right now is how dead Omar would be if Lety were not having so much fun playing with him.)

He says yes, thousands, millions of the sweetest and impassioned that she could read in solitude.

"Gotta go," Lety says, turning again to the exit. "No, no! Please!" Omar throws himself at her feet. He begs to know where he can see her again. She gives him a crooked half-smile (a la Han Solo) and leaves for real... but in her haste, she loses a glass slipper earring. One of those very, very expensive earrings that she was told not to lose. Omar picks it up off the floor and kisses it. "Got your earring," he says. "I want your ear, your mouth, your body, your heart."

Caro rushes up alongside him and says, "Wait! Uh... Friend! Wait for me!"

Omar is excited to find that Carolina knows this woman. "At last! The love of my life has arrived! Thank you God!!"

A dude named Casimiro is admiring his reflection in the dressing room mirror when Lety (in full Lety mode) bursts in, looking for her frenos (her headgear, but it literally means "brakes"). He asks didn't she leave them in her car, ha ha. She explains. "Oh, it's one of those beauty tools," he says, more or less. Yep, he found 'em, but didn't know what they were and was going to give them to his kid because he doesn't have any toys.

That last scene there seemed pretty pointless. I wonder if this "Casimiro" guy is someone famous. Anybody recognize him?

Lety sneaks into the house late at night, still wearing the hair, gown, and fur coat. RoboPop is up, but has dozed off with a book in a chair in the kitchen. She gets across the living room while he's having a coughing fit. He hears her, but by the time he gets out of his chair, she's already up the stairs.

He wants to talk to her about the Conceptos debt, but she hurries up to her room, talks to herself about the irony of having a change of appearance and then running into Carvajal of all people and hearing all about his great love letters that destroyed her.

RoboPop is now upstairs, right outside her door, demanding to talk. She tells him she wants to sleep and they can talk tomorrow, but he is persistent. He thinks she's hiding something and says if she doesn't open the door, he'll knock it down. (He prepares to do so with a spindly elbow.) She throws a blanket over herself and puts her glasses on braces on and I guess wipes off the makeup and answers the door. Now she looks just as goofy as always.

RoboPop says he's all worried about the subject of Aldo buying off the debt of Conceptos. Lety says she hasn't spoken to Aldo, and had put Tomas in charge of it. When she knows more, she'll tell him.

RoboPop peers closely at what little he can see of Lety's face, and notices that her eyebrows are different. "They look weird," he says. Lety says she plucked a stray hair or two and urges him to let her sleep. He does so, but only after making her promise to tell him "everything" tomorrow. She tells herself he would have had a heart attack if he'd seen her all made up.

Back at the Anais show, Omar begs Caro for information about the mysterious woman. He shows her the earring. She cautiously tells him that he doesn't want to know about her. He doesn't believe her. She's his ideal woman. "I'm in love, I'm in love," he moans.

Lucy gets to sing at the big show
At least three plates of "Leticia" later, Alicia isn't tired yet. She sees a mariachi band approach the stage and gets all excited. She tells Tomas she's very talented, and that all of her life she's dreamed of signing before a crowd, with lots of lights and people and applause. While she's still sighing over the mental image of this, Tomas excuses himself and asks... no, offers (Tomas's words, not mine) the restaurant owner a favor. He offers to have an internationally famous singer perform. The gullible man is incredulous that such a person would agree to sing for him there on that very night. "Who is it?" the owner asks excitedly.

A few minutes later, the owner begins to introduce a world-famous singer. Alicia wonders who it is and if she'll get an autograph. She is surprised to hear the owner say her name. Alicia is impactada! Tomas encourages her to fulfill her dream, but she protests and says it was only a joke. Tomas leads the crowd in a cheer for Alicia. She reluctantly rises.

"YOU?" the owner asks, with his eyes popping out of his face. For a moment, I worry that he's going to kick the entire Conceptos crew - Alicia, Tomas, even Aldo - out of his restaurant. But no, this is the guy who thought Aldo's story was incredible. He thinks Alicia's incredible too. "Not only are you beautiful, but also talented!"

Alicia sings. It's not the best I've ever heard, it sounds a bit flat, but it's better than I can sing. Alicia really gets into the song. There are tears in her eyes. Everyone enjoys her performance and gives her hearty applause. With some prompting from Aldo, Tomas goes up to the stage and takes her hand. Tomas gets the crowd all stirred up for another wave of applause. Overwhelmed, Alicia gives him a kiss. She is crying. "I'm famous! I'm famous!" Then she sadly tells Tomas she's failed "her public" because she made a mistake - she started crying at the beginning, instead of at the end when it would have been more dramatic!

Tomas replies to this shocking admission by whipping up the crowd again. As they cheer and clap, she doesn't even protest when he yells "Alicia Ferreira... de Mora!!!" In fact, she gives him another kiss!

Nightmare on Lety Street 2: Ferni's Revenge
"Why deny it?" Lety asks herself. She's wearing her glasses and her slicked-back hair and her Moty pajamas now, putting away her strappy little gold slippers and green gown. She admits that she felt pretty, but decides to hide the clothes so her parents don't find them. She holds up the red wig (which doesn't look much like the hair she was wearing before) and wiggles it at her face, saying "Hola Lety" in her Aurora voice. "Aurora, we don't look at all alike," she tells the wig.

She realizes the other earring is missing and worries that Caro will kill her, but doesn't have much time to think about it because Julieta starts knocking on the door and rattling the doorknob. Lety scrambles to hide the Aurora stuff and lets her mother in (she blames Moty for the locked door). Julieta tells Lety that Fern told her that he set Lety free to sort out her feelings. She asks if Lety is really in love with both of them. "Your heart will give you the answer," she tells Lety.

Lety finally gets to sleep. She's Aurora again, wearing a neon red gown and another crazy pair of earrings. Fern and Aldo are there, but she ignores both of them to look at herself in a mirror. "I don't recognize myself," she says, smiling. "Neither does Omar," she says. She starts to worry. "What if nobody recognizes me? What if everybody who loves me, stops loving me because I've changed my appearance?" She swaggers up to Fern and Aldo, who are sitting side-by-side on a bench like pals. "I'm the new Lety. What do you think?"

"I liked her better before," Fernando says, looking at her. "That was the sweet and sensitive Lety who was my assistant." Aldo bends for a better look, then leans back dismissively. "Yes," he says to Fern. "I prefer the Lety from Acapulco. Gracious, sweet, very likeable, fresh. Yeah, I don't like this new Lety." He is practically sneering at her.

"No," Fern agrees. "Really?" Aldo asks. "She's all yours, Aldo." "Ah, not me either." Aldo gets up from the bench to flash his now-scornful Chiclets at Aurora. "I'll leave this Leticia to you. I'm going back to the beach and the sea in Acapulco. Smell you later!" and he leaves.

"What a guy," Fern says, seemingly offended by Aldo's rudeness. He looks Aurora up and down again and delivers his verdict: "I prefer my Lety too. I'm going to Conceptos and my presidency and my office." He walks away.

"Aldo! Don Fernando! Aldo! Don Fernando! My God, no! My God nooooooOOOOOOOOooooo!"

Lety wakes up. "Don't go away! Either of you!" She looks around and puts her glasses on, perhaps to ward Aurora off for the rest of the night.

I know I've complained a lot about many things on this show, but I love the way they do nightmares. Nobody, pero NADIE, does nightmares better than this bunch.

The Yellow-Chested Something
Alicia is signing autographs for her grateful public. Aldo tells Tomas she sings well. Tomas agrees. She's like a yellow-chested gorrioncillo (a small bird), but with tears. He asks Aldo what he's going to do. Aldo says he's got plenty to keep busy with and won't go to see Lety. He'd prefer to give her some time to process all that has happened. (I'm reminded of Omar's slogan: snooze, you lose!) Tomas presses Aldo as to what he plans to do about the debt that Conceptos owes him. Aldo seems unsure.

"Sticky Fingers" Padilla
Manuel, the chief Dress-Up Guy for Anais, calls Carolina in a very bad mood. He's mad at her and her "friend" for not returning all the stuff they borrowed, especially the super-expensive earrings which are needed for a big expo in Europe. He's very emphatic that if he doesn't get them back, she and Lety will be in big trouble. Caro's like, okay, fine, I'll personally bring them to your house.

She reminds herself that Omar has one of the earrings. She passes by a newsstand and stops short: on the front page of the newspaper is... a full-color photo of THE NEW LETY! The headline reads: "The Mysterious Woman."

Caro buys the paper and tells herself she now understands why Fern and Aldo are in love with her. She always knew the beauty was there - she just needed a little help getting it out of hiding.

---

Next week
Things get complicated.

Labels: fea