Caray, Caray!

Opening: Luba bidding adieu to Soledad, leaving her with the herbal wrap for her wounded leg. Soledad sighs after she goes.Over at La R. Alina is stuffing her junk into a sack.Back to Soledad, Don Loco comes in drunk, promising her that he won’t interfere in Alina’s wedding. Once she’s gone, he tells her he thinks they’ll be able to return to the love they had when they were newlyweds.

Alina makes her way out into the forest with her sack, Tonkey at her side. She comments to Tonkey that Emilio was right, the forest is very dangerous at night. “And now I can’t trust Luba anymore…” she frets.

Once again to Soledad and Don Loco—Soledad is refusing his advances, replying as she so often does, in each of the zillion times he has done this before, “You’ve hurt me too much for too long. I am going to need at least that long to go back to believing in you.” DL agrees, he says that he will work to regain her trust. “Your daughter will get married and move far away…we can live in the present, day by day…” Soledad shakes her head. “There are too many memories…painful memories.” “I will teach you to forget” says DL creepily. “It’s not easy to forget. I CAN’T forget” says Soledad. “You made a paradise into a living hell with your jealousy.” “That’s over,” says Don Loco. “This is a fresh start, a new opportunity for us. “No, Alvaro, Never” she tells him. “I’m sorry but I will never open my heart to you again. I can’t.” DL says, quietly, “Yes you will.” He leaves her crying, sitting on the bed with her wounded leg.


Over at La R. Max is drowning his sorrows while hearing Carmen screaming in his head, “Damn you, you’ve killed your own son!” like she did earlier in the day when he made the mistake of going into her café with the Auntie Rebecca. (Of all the tequila joints in all the world, you had to walk into mine…) Emilio walks in for a heart to heart with his uncle Max. Max says he’s not up for a chat about the accounting and Emilio says neither is he. “I just arranged to wed Alina to another man” says Emilio. “And I would guess that this “other man” is Orlando, because of what happened between them? Don’t worry, Alvaro will never let that wedding happen.” Emilio shakes his head. “Montellano already gave his consent. There will be no impediment to the wedding.” Max is semi-impactado, or at least he puts down his cigar and takes another swig of brandy.

Gaspar is with his friend, Ms. Frog. He lets her go and yet the frog is not interested in leaving the cave for some reason. Luba walks up and says “Ah, so now you’ve fallen in love with a frog, because she looks just like Thelma!” Gaspar says “No, Mama.” Luba gives the frog a closer look. “Yep, just like that bitch Thelma, even the same body.” She plops into a chair and tells him to stop playing, that she’s really tired tonight. Gaspar (still holding the Frog) asks her how it went over at the Hacienda de Loco. Luba tells him what went down over at the Hacienda. “And then I found out that our poor Flor is going to marry that stupid Lieutenant!” Gaspar thinks this is good news. “I think he was going after my munequita too.” Luba shakes her head, and declares that none of this makes sense. Emilio asks for Flor’s hand to wed Orlando, when it’s he, Emilio, who is dying of love for her. Don Alvaro, who before said he wouldn’t let her wed anybody is now giving his consent. And Orlando has shown himself to be a no good cad---why does he want to marry Flor? This just can’t be good. Gaspar complains that his head is swimming from all the questions. He returns his attention to the frog. Luba swears that if Flor is in trouble she will find a way to help her.


Back to Emilio and Uncle Max. Emilio tells him that Alvaro finally decided to back off from conflict. Max laughs as he pours himself another drink. [Somebody please help me here: He says something like “Alvaro finally decided that his pastry (Pan de Azucar) was his coffee”?? I think he’s trying to suggest that it’s not likely that Alvaro backed off.] Emilio repeats that he talked to DL and he said he would not intervene…but…” “But what?” asks Max. Emilio recounts how Alina asked him to force Orlando to marry him. “And now I regret it. I love her with all of my heart.” Don Max reminds him that Thelma is about to give him a child. Emilio says he knows all that. He thinks he can wait until after the baby’s born. Give the kid his name, set it up for life and then split from Thelma. Don Max shakes his head. “You’ve already given up Alina. Emilio says he knows, but, he’s confused…he wishes he didn’t continue to feel this love for her. And he can’t forgive her for doing the wild thing with Orlando. He abruptly excuses himself and leaves. Max laughs after he’s barely left the room. He’s delighted that Emilio didn’t want to talk over the finances.

Over at Rosita and Braulio’s place, father, daughter and Carmen, Santos’s hottie mom are counting the dough they mean to turn over to Castulo to help them find out what happened to Santos. Braulio is concerned that Carmen not do the deal, that it’s likely that the rat will try to cheat her. Braulio thinks he should do the deal. Carmen refuses. It’s her job as Santo’s mom. She takes the fat stack of bills and bag of coins. Braulio says he’ll accompany her, that it’s not safe for her to be walking around at night with all that lana. He tells his daughter to lock herself in. Yes, it’s great to be a woman in Sierra Escondida…Rosita prays that all go well. Just then there is a knock at the door. It’s Duhlina with her burlap sack.

Santos, who still doesn’t know who he is, has made it over to Edelmira’s and Granillo’s table. Santos asks Grani if he has any information for him. Grani tells him not to be afraid but a big mean jerk was very interested in finding out more about him. Granillo is sure that this guy means Santos harm.


Over at Hacienda de Loco, DL is tucking a sleeping Soledad into bed. He’s talking to her. It’s a one sided conversation as usual and her sleeping form reminds him of how she once loved him, not like now, when she looks daggers at him. (Actually he says “eyes like pistols.”) Suddenly, outside the window bars, we have the ghost of Daddy Loco, with his face all torn up from throwing himself off a cliff. Ghost of Daddy Loco prods Alvaro---“How quickly you have forgotten your anger, your pride, your dignity…” He disappears for a second then reappears in the room beside DL. “Soledad cheated on you, just like your mother cheated on me. And the whole town knows it.” He goes on to say “I’m not going to rest in peace until you give this woman what she deserves.” DL is quivering in his boots. GDL is screaming at him now to “complete his destiny” and winds up with “Kill her! Kill her!” DL pulls his pistol out of it’s holster as we break into commercial.


[The transition that plays with the theme music is one I haven’t seen before—It’s Soledad, wearing a shawl over her head, looking sorrowful and walking around in what looks like a cemetery, with a bunch of candles of gravestones. Oooooh, Don Loco, this could be bad news for you. ]


Back to DL standing over Soledad with his pistol. She stirs in her sleep. He drops to his knees. “I am crazy…I can no longer control myself” he says aloud. [Yes, but which one is the crazy one—the one who hallucinates or the one that was trying to sweet talk Soledad earlier…?]


Alina and Rosita are having their heart to heart at Rosita’s place. Rosita wants to know what is this she’s been hearing about Alina going to marry “the lieutenant?” Alina shakes her head and says that it really does seem that her entire life is a nightmare. Rosita asks if she’s fallen in love with him. Alina gives her a disgusted look and denies it vehemently. “It’s his fault that Emilio now hates me.” Rosita wants to know why and Alina spins her tale of woe about how Orlando and Thelma set a trap for her, drugged her and … “he raped me.” Rosita is impactada with her mouth open. First Carmen, then herself, now her best friend Alina. Yeah it really sucks to be a woman in this town, if you still hadn’t noticed.


Back to Edelmira’s with Santos and Granillo. Granillo mentions that the big mean jerk is a worker from one of the local haciendas, La Rinconada. At the name of the hacienda, Santos gets that zooming sound in his ears as he did when he recalled that he knew a woman named Rose. Grani starts yapping in overdrive not unlike the SA, discharging all her fear of Castulo’s threats on the previous night. Santo says not to worry. In a fit of totally clueless bravado, he swears that he will fix whatever problem he has with “those people” at la Rinconada. He jumps up from the table and leaves. Grani gives a genuinely worried look.

Max and Castulo are in Max’s office in La Rinconada. Max is complaining about how he had to go all over San Mateo buying baby stuff with the SA. “I’ve never been so humiliated.” Castulo cuts to the chase. “Were you able to figure out whether she heard anything?“ Max doubts it. “She was probably just drunk and dropped the glass.” Castulo is not convinced. “Why did she try to hide that she was there?” Max says that the SA is the least of his problems. “I haven’t had a moment of peace since the day that I found out that Santos was my son.” Castulo says “So he was your son.” “Could be, responds Max. After Carmen went away, I didn’t hear anything about her. Later she told me that she lost the baby. But she could have lied. And, Santos is the right age.” Castulo gets a crafty look and says quite pointedly that life sure has it’s ups and downs…He told Castulo to kill Rosita’s baby, HIS (Castulo’s) baby and then he sent him to kill Santos, HIS (Max’s) son. Max doesn’t like this comparison very much. He takes a run at him and pushes up and over his big desk and into a wall. Castulo is quite apologetic.


Over at Edelmira’s CORAL HAS ARRIVED safely from the clutches of the evil nephew Dario. Granillo is happy, Edelmira is happy. Coral tells her that a lot has happened. She wants her old job back for awhile, if Edelmira will have her. Edelmira is elated. Since Coral left the place has been dead. Hugs all around.


Castulo is picking himself and the items from the desk off the floor. Max is also somewhat apologetic. He doesn’t know what’s gotten into himself lately. He’s gotten so sentimental. “Maybe your conscience is speaking” suggests Castulo. “No, it’s not that…says Max. I never wanted a son. Especially not with a woman like her. A poor low, class woman.” “So you are worried that she will raise a stink about it with the authorities?” “Yes” says Don Max. “It’s a good thing that the coyotes ate him. We should go back and check that his bones will can’t be found.” Castulo balks at this. He doesn’t want to go back there. [Because he knows that they won’t find anything…since Santos isn’t dead!] Don Max insists. Tomorrow, they’ll go together look for the remains and bury them.


Rosita and Alina are still chatting. Alina explains that she had reconciled herself to marrying Orlando to help herself and her mother escape SE, but her father found out and threatened her Mother’s life if she went through with it. Rosita points out that DL has threatened this before but has never actually done it. Alina says she feels that this time is different, this time he may actually do it. She doesn’t want to risk it. Alina sums up that this is why she can’t go back to La R. She can’t face marrying Orlando. Rosita responds with her typical “Ay! What a big problem you have Alina! I don’t know how to help you…etc.” Alina asks her if she can stay with her for a few days. Rosita says “of course. But it may not be the best place to hide. We’ve got problems too.” Alina inquires and Rosita fills her in on Santo’s disappearance and how they are sure that Don Max is responsible. Now it’s Alina’s turn to be open mouth impactado.

Over at Hacienda de Loco. Alfonsina is having fun teasing Mariana’s hair to make her look ridiculous. She makes a bunch of insulting comments to her about how pretty she will look for her novio, and how sad it is that he left her in the lurch. Poor Mariana thought bubbles about what a bitch Alfonsina is to do this to her, especially since she is to blame for the whole letter fiasco that has ruined her family. She worries about what has happened to poor Ricardo…God only knows what Alvaro did to him. Next, nasty Alfonsina puts lipstick on her like a clown. Mariana manages to spit in her face. Alfonsina is furious and slaps her hard. [Oooh, Don Loco can’t wring her chicken neck soon enough for me!]


Back to Rosita and Alina again. Alina is indignant. Emilio should know that his Uncle is a murder. Rosita points out that if she tells him, it will get back to Alvaro and everybody that she’s escaping SE. She won’t be able to leave again. Alina remarks on how horrible it is to have this situation, with their hands tied and Don Max, out there free roaming around. Rosita agrees, although she still thinks that Santos is still alive. Alina grasps her hand and tells her she hopes so too.


Alfonsina and [her enormous jugs] are now pushing Mariana’s chair around, knocking it into the bed. She taunts Mariana that her boyfriend died burned to death. Mariana looks sad. Then a thin sound emanates from her throat: “NO! NO!” Alfonsina recoils in horror. “You spoke, stupid! You spoke!” [Looks like Alfonsina is the stupid one, if she was betting that Mariana was going to be completely helpless and unable to communicate forever.] You could say that Mariana is sort of impactada at herself into the break.


[This break features yet another new transition—a lengthy full frame one—of Soledad, dressed in Black struggling with Luba over something in a bottle, breaking away from her and running away with it. This looks intriguing! Maybe Soledad will poison somebody. Hopefully it’s not herself.]Back to the horror movie with Alfonsina and Mariana. Alfonsina grabs Mariana and screams at her to talk again. Mariana can’t. Alfonsina accuses her of faking her illness, that she’s recovered her speech and is secretly hiding it. Mariana isn’t paying attention. She’s thought bubbling about how Ricardo can’t be dead. Alfonsina grabs her by her lipstick covered cheeks and screams some more---that if she ever opens her mouth to talk again, she’ll cut out her tongue!Over in Soledad’s room, she’s slept through all this Don Loco angst, hallucination, whatever. DL is asking for God’s help. “Kill me if you must…but please end this torture.” Soledad now awake and only pretending to be asleep. She hears him say this. It’s raining heavily in SE. Jaime and the men are outside working, in their hats and rain ponchos. Emilio shows up, with his rain poncho and starts talking to the men. At first Jaime won’t turn around. Yes, the doofus is hiding his scar from Thelma’s insane whip attack. Emilio insists he show him his face and immediately he sees the scar. “Who did that to you?” As if in answer, we go to Thelma who is lamenting the imminent birth of “this monster.” She’s in tears, standing next to the crib, asking “Why this imbecile had to cross my path…why did I have to get drunk…why couldn’t I have a normal baby..a healthy baby…Damn …you…damn the day you are born. She sinks to the floor in tears. [Gee, I don’t know Thelma…maybe if you had laid off the hooch, your baby would have stood a chance of being normal]


Outdoors, Emilio is repeating his question to Jaime, “Who did that to you?” Jaime who is stupid like his wife, Vera, tries to float the story that he fell of a horse and cut himself on some rocks. Emilio doesn’t buy it. It doesn’t look like that kind of injury. He insists on knowing if another worker cut him. Jaime is about to make up some other cock and bull story when Ifigenio, who is apparently the smartest worker at la Rinconada (recall that he saw through Thelma and Castulo’s plot to flush out Alina) comes up and says proudly that the workers at La Rinconada never fight. It was Emilio’s wife, Thelma! Ifigenio goes on to say that Thelma did it when Jaime tried to defend Flor. Emilio is probably supposed to be impactado, although it’s hard to tell.


Back to Rosita and Alina. They float various theories about how to find a way to tell Emilio about his murdering uncle. They come up empty.


We’re right back to the men of La R. in the rain. Emilio asks Jaime if it is true. Jaime is all “aw shucks..well maybe.” Ifigenio insists that he tell the truth. Jaime gets some gumption and he lets loose the story about how Thelma treated Alina like crap while Emilio was gone, that the servants had tried to save her by hiding her and when they were caught, Jaime got hit in the face by Thelma with her whip for his trouble. Jaime tacks on to the story how Thelma changed her tune once Emilio was back and even before that with Alina, in order to get her to trust Orlando so that he could get her in the sack. Emilio is livid. He insists that Jaime accompany him back to the hacienda. Jaime looks delighted (not) and shoots a dirty look to Ifigenio. Once back inside the hacienda, Emilio pounds on the door of Thelma’s room. Thelma is laying on the bed. Presciently, she goes over and takes her whip and hides it under the mattress. Emilio accuses her of hitting Jaime, that Ifigenio told him everything. That she did it because they were helping Alina. Thelma looks displeased and her glance goes from one to the other.


Alina is lying awake in a bed at Rosita’s. She’s having an orange flashback of her loco Daddy threatening her mother if she goes through with the wedding.


Back to La R. and the confrontation between Emilio and Thelma with Jaime in the middle. Thelma is claiming that she didn’t do it. Jaime for once has the balls to insist that she did. She turns away and calls him crazy. Emilio wants to know the truth. In her letters she said that she and Alina got along fine and Jaime is telling him differently. Emilio says he can now see how she and Orlando set a trap for Alina. Thelma insists again that Jaime is lying. And besides, he’s always showing up drunk. Jaime protests again that he has never shown up drunk. Thelma goes into her lady of the manor act, “How dare you challenge me in front of my husband?” “Are you ready to swear that you and Isidro have never been drunk?” Stupid Jaime balks at this. Obviously they’ve knocked back a few on occasion. He says “I’d better go.” At Jaime’s flight, Emilio transforms himself into DUHMILIO. “I can’t tell who is telling the truth! he laments.” Thelma wins again!


Back in their servants quarters, Vera and Jaime are hashing out what happened. Vera is even stupider than her husband and suggests that Jaime should have tried to stay out of it “especially since Thelma has changed and is good now.” Jaime challenges this. “That harpy will never change. And the worst of it is, she’ll get back at me for this. You should have seen the look she gave me.” Vera says that she hopes that Emilio thought that he was lying and that’s why he ran away. “That way, you won’t have any problems with la Patrona.” [God, I can’t believe how dumb that is…it reads even dumber than it sounded!] Jaime takes umbrage at this. “You’d prefer that they think me a liar?” “No,” says Vera. “I’d prefer it if the Patrona not get Luba to put a hex on us, like she did on Flor.” [This woman’s brain is swiss cheese.]


Over in Thelma’s room, Thelma is soothing Emilio, who is still saying “I don’t know what to think.” Thelma tries to convince him that Jaime is lying “and that is why he ran away.” Thelma starts into her whine about how Emilio always believes everybody but her. She claims that she doesn’t even have a whip. Emilio questions this. Thelma goes into a frenzy throwing stuff all over the place, daring him to look. She flops on the bed. Emilio walks over and squats at her feet, inches from where the whip is hidden. He says gently, “OK.”


Back at Hacienda de Loco, Mariana is in bed. The hair is back to normal and the lipstick washed off. She’s thought bubbling about how she can’t take anymore . First she loses her daughter, then Jose, now Ricardo. Just then there’s a knock at the door. It’s Hugo. They start a big make out session right in front of her. Mariana closes her eyes. They scurry out of the room. Mariana opens her eyes again and a tear rolls down her cheek. She thought bubbles that she wishes that she could tell Alvaro how this woman is cheating on him.


Back to Thelma and Duhmilio. Thelma is whining on and on about how he still doubts her. Duhmilio says “OK…but I’ll be watching you…blah blah blah. [Sorry, I just can’t take these scenes anymore. Somebody lays down a huge slab of evidence against Thelma, at great personal expense and then it all comes to nothing. This is just pure torture!!] Duhmilio leaves. Thelma says “Damn Jaime! You’re going to pay.”


SA is in her room, getting ready for bed. She reflects that now she knows that Don Maximo not only killed a boy, he killed his own son. “Well, aside from that, he’s almost perfect!” she says excitedly. “It’s better to look at the big picture….He treats me so well! Never has a man treated me so well. He was so attentive! The way that he looks at me…it sends shivers up my spine. Those eyes! So penetrating! Oh, Saint Anthony, what they do to me! What EYES! (ojazos). Ay! Maximo, I will dream of you! She’s now writhing on the bed. [Yes, this is quite disgusting. Now we see where Thelma gets it. She has the morals of an alley cat. ]



It’s the next morning. Over at Hacienda de Loco, Luba arrives and calls out for Adela. Sergio is eating his breakfast in the kitchen. He chokes down his food and is happy to give Luba the news that Adela’s gone, she’s been sacked. Sergio asks her what she wants her for. Luba says “old woman things.” Sergio tells her to beat it but Luba does her witchy act and Sergio pulls back. She’s still got it! She leaves but pauses at one of the gates, to lament to herself that she now has no way of knowing if DL has found THE BOX.


At La R. Stupid Vera tells Orlando that Flor isn’t in her room, or in the garden. Tonkey is missing too! IT must mean that she’s ESCAPED. [Why thank you, Vera for telling Alina’s would be RAPIST that she’s run away!] Orlando is impactado. Amazingly, in the mountain air, Orlando’s cuts and bruises from last week’s fighting have almost healed.Over at Braulio and Rosita’s, Rosita wakes up and Alina is gone. She pads out into the kitchen her slippers and a fetching pair of pajamas. Braulio is eating breakfast at the table. Rosita asks about Flor. Braulio says he never saw her come or go. Cut to Alina, out in the countryside, with Tonkey and her big burlap sack.


Emilio is in his robe. Orlando walks in and tells him that he’s looked all over the hacienda for Alina and she’s nowhere to be found. Orlando says he’s puzzled as to why she would go. “She got what she wanted, to marry me!” Emilio says he’s sure that DL kidnapped her to prevent the wedding. “He’s not going to get away with making a fool out of me!” Orlando gives one of his trademark smirks. This is pretty good. Not only does he get Alina but he can get Emilio to fight for her too.


Over at Hacienda de Loco, Hugo is getting dressed. Alfonsina comes in. Hugo asks her who takes care of Mariana when she leaves. “No one” says Alfonsina. I’ve just come over to tell you something. “Do you remember that bracelet that I found in Jose Gomez’s bed?” “It was me. I put it in the bed of the foreman.” Hugo grabs her. “Are you crazy, Alfonsina? Why did you do that? And why are you telling me this now!” Alfonsina sweet talks him and gives him a big smooch. “I just wanted to tell you so that you’d know everything.” “We’re together in this.” She begs him to take her with him. Hugo says no, she’s got to stay and take care of Mariana. Alfonsina complains that she’s sick of taking care of her. “It would be better if she were to die.” She flounces out of the room. Hugo looks impressed at her cold-bloodedness. Yep, I would watch my six, if I were you Hugo.


Adela and Nora are at Adela’s cute little cottage. Nora is arranging a basket of laundry to take to the river. Adela begs her to let her do it. She wants to get her mind off of Soledad. Nora tells her to be careful of the hunters traps along the river. We get a shot of Adela walking along a path and avoiding one big hole. Yes it is THE SAME HOLE we saw last week with THE BOX glowing inside. It looks like the same shot, so they saved some money here. Adela sidesteps it and walks on.


Over at La Rinconada, Orlando in his civvies is chasing Emilio in his green army fatigues. Orlando is screaming at Emilio, asking him what he’s going to do. Emilio tells him he’s going to Hacienda de Loco to find Alina. Orlando repeats the same old stuff “he’s dangerous, let me go with you, etc.” Emilio says no. He gets on a horse and leaves.



Meahwhile, Alina has hit a rocky part of the trip. She comes upon a bunch of snakes. She starts screaming and jumps up on some rocks, begging Tonkey to stay away. Couldn’t she just have run away from the snakes? Now she’s right in front of them. I guess that’s why we call her DUHLINA!



Over at the hermit psychiatrist’s, the Doctor and Santos are drinking tea. The Doctor is telling Santos that he doesn’t know much about the people at la Rinconada. He tells him he knows that the owner is an Army Engineer who is involved with the building of a highway through the mountains. Santos repeats the word “highway” and speculates that perhaps the engineer knows him. Maybe he’s the guy from la R. who is looking for him. Santos recalls being on the highway, maybe working on it. He asks if the Doctor knows his name. The Doctor remembers it: Captain Valtierra. “Valtierra”—that’s it! He wanted to kill me!” “If he tries to kill me again, I’ll kill him first!” The Doctor looks impactado, although it’s hard to tell with all that hair.


Gaspar is out in the woods. He cuts his hand on a plant and kicks the plant for hurting him. He hears Flor screaming.


Don Max and Castulo are also out and about, looking for Santos’ bones. The horse Don Max is riding suddenly starts bucking. He has to fight to control it. They ride on.


Back to the snake pit--Gaspar takes Alina’s bundle and pushes the snakes away with a stick. He grabs Alina and she faints in his arms.


At Hacienda de Loco, DL is tying up Soledad for the day. He tells her it’s for her own good, so that she “not do something she’ll regret.” She begs him to untie her, “as a show of good faith that he’s willing to change.“ Instead, he kisses her and puts a gag in her mouth as well. Back to Castulo and Don Max. Castulo pretends that there is a jaguar in the bushes and he draws his pistol. He shoots the imaginary jaguar and Don Max’s horse goes nuts. He runs out of control, throwing Don Max, who rolls down a hill and crashes into a rock. It’s the same arrangement that Rosita had, except that she managed to hit the rock with her belly. In this case, Don Max hit his head on the rock.


Hugo and DL are sipping Tequila in DL’s office. DL’s telling him that he is going to section a parcel of land to build a house on. Alfonsina had asked him for it and he thinks that this is fair compensation. Hugo agrees. Just then DUHmilio bursts through the door, trailing the useless Sergio who once again was unable to stop him. DUHmilio demands to know where DL has taken Alina. It’s DL’s turn to be open mouthed impactado.

Labels: duelo