Caray, Caray!

[Note: We had a sudden cloudburst at around 6:15 pm central that messed up a big section of the story for the Tivo. I lost about 15 minutes. I did not realize this until I was watching it later. If someone or ones could fill in the gap, I am sure we’d all be grateful]

We left off with Orlando and Gaspar, fighting in the cave. Orlando starts it by threatening him and actually shooting him with his gun, over whether Gaspar knows where Flor is. Orlando, who apparently flunked his military science class in close quarters fighting, misses Gaspar when the bullet hits the cave wall behind him. No ricochet. Tonkey the wonderdog inserts himself into the fight by jumping, slo-mo, and knocking the pistol from Orlando’s hand. They go mano-a-mano and Orlando is easily outclassed by ex-luchador, Gaspar. Gaspar helicopters Orlando before doing a bodyslam against the wall, the table, flipping him over and slamming him against the floor. Orlando is down for the count and Gaspar is now worried he killed him.

Meanwhile, Angel has gone to visit Padre Cristobal with Ifigenio to see if he knows anything about Flor’s whereabouts. Padre Cristobal is totally out of the loop and is happy to find out that she’s escaped. He asks Angel to keep him informed. He hurries out. Angel tells Ifigenio that they should get the military involved to search for Emilio.

Back at the cave, Luba arrives and finds Gaspar, his lip bleeding, mewling about how he killed “the Lieutenant.” Luba kicks the unconscious Orlando and he rolls around on the floor. He’s not dead, he gets up, with the gun, mad as hell. He waves the gun around and threatens them both that if they don’t tell him where Flor is, he’ll denounce Gaspar to the authorities for beating him up. Luba pulls out her knife and tells him he’s wasting his time. She spins a yarn that Flor showed up but she wouldn’t let her stay because she was afraid of problems with Don Loco. “She went way up into the mountains,” says Luba. Orlando threatens them if he finds out they are lying. He leaves kicking the furniture on his way out. Luba screams after him something like “your grandmother was an idiot” and that “Gaspar is my son.”

Over at Nora’s, Nora is roughly placing a pillow behind Emilio’s head. She’s not trying to be mean, she’s just freaking out. Suddenly her house is full of people running away from Don Loco. Alina tells her to be careful. Nora asks who shot Emilio but before Alina can tell her, Adela comes in. Hugs all around! There are the explanations: Flor is on the lam, again. Adela’s been fired from the hacienda de Loco. Alina is impactada at this news. She asks about her Mom. Adela shakes her head. DL “has become her shadow” she says. “He doesn’t leave her for a minute.”

And we switch over to DL who is waiting next to the bed in Soledad’s room. Soledad has just taken a bath and still has her robe on. She asks to not be tied up today. DL considers that she deserves a break, after “last night.” Soledad wants to talk. She wants to know about Alina’s wedding. DL says that he has already promised that they will go to the wedding. He’s just waiting to find out when the date is. “What about your sister?” DL responds that Mariana hasn’t been eating lately and he’s going to have to put her in a home in San Mateo.

Over in Mariana’s room, Alfonsina is cutting Mariana’s fingernails. She’s happy that Mariana’s not eating. All the faster to send her to the home. Mariana thought bubbles that she can’t stand Alfonsina anymore, that the home is sounding like a great idea and OUCH! Alfonsina smirks and apologizes that she cut too much. She tells Mariana that “it’s good that you don’t feel anything, because I could cut one of your fingers off and you wouldn’t make a fuss.” She leaves the room. Mariana thought bubbles that she FELT the clippers! “I could get well!”

Back to Soledad and DL. Soledad is shocked that DL wants to stick Soledad in the home in San Mateo, which apparently is an old folks home. What Mariana needs is physical therapy, not maintenance. A Hospital would be better. If only he’d let Dr. Fonseca… DL is tired of this topic. He tells her he’s had enough and has to go to the coffee fields. He kisses Soledad and leaves. Soledad ponders what lies ahead for poor Mariana.

Mariana is still suffering through Alfonsina’s careless pedicure. Her toes are all cut up and bleeding so Alfonsina applies alcohol on a cotton. She makes another snide comment about how she can’t feel anything. When Alfonsina’s back is turned, Mariana wiggles her toes and smiles a tiny smile.

Over at Nora’s Alina and Adela are finishing up their discussion about DL, Soledad, Emilio and how they ended up there when Alina happens to mention her getting married. Nora butts in. “So you are getting married?” Alina explains that Orlando proposed to her, she accepted but DL threatened to put Soledad in a mental institution if she went through with it. “That’s why I had to leave la Rinconada.” Over on the bed, Emilio is muttering Alina.

It looks like another segue into another Emilio sex dream of Alina and he bathing nude by the waterfall but no----instead we are treated to a crazed Orlando on horseback screaming “Alina!” for no particular reason. He announces to the air that he’s sure that DL had something to do with her disappearance. B

ack at the cave, Luba is fixing Gaspar’s boo-boos from the fight. Gaspar wants to go to la Rinconada to find out if his “cub” was born yet. Luba tells him no. It’s too dangerous. She can find out for him but he should stay. Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be content with that.

Meanwhile, at La Rinconada, The SA (who is wearing yet another dramatic ensemble of pale blue chiffon and silver sequins) is holding Thelma’s baby and singing one of her awful songs. Thelma tells her to stop; she’s going to wake the baby. The SA proclaims that the baby is sound asleep (No thanks to you, Auntie. Maybe he’s deaf). Thelma complains that the baby cried all night long. She’s afraid that the entire world knows that there’s a baby in the house. SA asks Thelma if she thinks that Gaspar has found out yet. Thelma is panic stricken about this. Emilio has to get home, and fast, otherwise, she’ll have to go back to Puebla with Auntie and baby. Auntie balks at the idea. “Maybe I don’t want to go back to Puebla now.” Thelma says WHAT?” “Oh, says the SA, with a sly smile. I have plans. It’s a surprise.”

Don Max and Castulo are conversing in Don Max’s room. Don Max is putting on his black jacket with the snakeskin trim. He’s bitching about how there’s no way in hell he’s going to marry “that cockatoo” (the SA). He tells Castulo that first they must destroy the letter she wrote, documenting the crimes she overheard him say he committed. Then… they “can find a way to get rid of that old woman.”

Nora, Alina and Adela are still sitting around the table at Nora’s place. Nora points out that DL did Alina a favor by stopping the wedding. “If you had married that lieutenant, it would have been a big mistake.” Alina disagrees. She tells the women that she wanted to do it to save her Mom. Now she can’t do anything to help her. Besides, she can’t be with Emilio.” It’s better that I marry someone else and try to fall in love again.” Emilio, over on the bed wakes up just in time to hear that speech. He thought bubbles about how Alina doesn’t love him. He looks depressed.

[Here is where the satellite kicked out]

Luba has made it over to Nora’s I guess and she’s giving Emilio a talking to. Emilio is alert, awake and sitting up in bed. Emilio is going back and forth on how much he loves Flor…but he can’t leave Thelma and abandon his child. Luba gets up exasperated and starts waving her arms around. “But why do you care about this child when it’s not even yours!” Luba yells. Emilio is just about the most impactado I’ve ever seen him do. He’s impactado right into the commercial.

When we get back, Luba realizes that she let her mouth run and now she’s got some ‘splaining to do. Her mouth is open, she fingers her pigtails nervously. “Gee I am stupid…that’s not what I meant…stammer stammer. ” Emilio seems to be content with that explanation. “I heard what I wanted to hear. Something that would free me from this obligation.” He compares himself to Gaspar, stupidly thinking that Thelma is his “little doll.” Emilio says he no longer wants to talk about it. Luba agrees gratefully.

Luba thought bubbles an apology to the Virgin of Peace for not telling Emilio the truth. She’s afraid for herself and her son, that the chief will find them. (Not sure how these fears go together but they certainly loom large in Luba’s mind.)

Over at La Rinconada. The SA and Castulo are talking. Apparently she discovered him checking out her room. She guesses that he’s looking for the note, bidden by Don Max. SA tells him he’ll never find it. “If something happens to me, only my niece knows where I keep my valuables. She’ll find it.” Castulo looks chagrined. He tells her that he was sent by Don Max to find her because he wants to talk to her. This announcement sends the SA all atwitter and she starts fixing her hair, breathing hard, etc. and murmuring Maximo! Maximo! Castulo can’t get away fast enough. SA announces to the air that “FINALLY! FINALLY! I will no longer be an OLD MAID!”

Over at the Loco Hacienda, Angel has arrived with Ifigenio. Still on horseback, still with the Bandana tied around his head, he asks DL and Sergio whether they have seen his brother. He says he knows that they’ve had words. DL looks at Sergio and smiles. “Now why would you think that your brother and I have a disagreement.” [Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you SHOT him on his wedding day?] Orlando is on horseback by an old stone wall, watching Angel interact with DL. Orlando thinks it’s funny that Angel is confronting him. “This is going to be good” he says looking through binoculars. Alina comes upon him, with a scarf tied around her head. She heads off in another direction to avoid him.

We next have a scene with the Indian Chief who has gotten better thanks to his new curandera (folk remedy doctor) and he’s asking her for something else. Not for his sickness but for his anger (coraje) because he hasn’t been able to find the woman who killed his son. He has to find her and take her life as a blood debt. The curandera looks nervous. Maybe there is professional courtesy among curanderas.

Back at Hacienda de Loco, DL is urging Angel to look for Emilio up higher in the mountains or in the ravine .” Angel comments that he thought that DL might have known something ... Emilio had been out all night and hadn’t returned. “What do you think?” asks DL “That I have him tied up in the basement, like he did to me?” Angel tries to speak again and DL cuts him off. He says he thinks “The girl left because she decided not to get married.” He had people out looking for her and he was sure they would find her soon. At the very least, he wanted her caught so that “the Captain” wouldn’t be blaming him. DL insinuates that Emilio and Alina went off together. Angel challenges this and says his brother would never break a promise. He mentions that Emilio is married and DL seems surprised by this information. Angel turns his horse and vows to keep informed about whether either Alina or his brother return to hacienda de Loco. After he leaves, DL makes a crack about how manly Emilio is next to his “dead faced” brother. DL walks back into the house. Orlando, watching, thinks that Angel and DL have cut some kind of deal. (llegaron a un allegro?). He is sure that DL is hiding something. [He’s wrong—DL is hiding everything!]

Alfonsina is in Mariana’s room, trying on Mariana’s clothes. She tells her that she’s going to take some for herself since Mariana is never going to use them again. Suddenly, there’s a knock at the window. It’s Hugo! They embrace and kiss eachother, right in front of Mariana. In a leather bag, he carries THE BOX. He gets it out and opens it for Alfonsina. Whatever the object is inside, it doesn’t glow anymore but it only takes one glance from anyone to know what it is and it’s significance. It’s very mysterious, already!!! We get the point.

Gaspar is with Tonkey in the cave. Tonkey starts barking and Gaspar tries to shut him up. Alina comes in. Perhaps that’s why Tonkey was making a fuss. Alina explains that Luba has gone to stay at Nora’s tonight to check on Emilio, and she will stay the night in the cave. Then they will switch off again in the Morning. Alina is sad.

Alfonsina and Hugo are jubilant about the contents of THE BOX. Hugo says that they’ll be able to get a lot of money for it from DL. He asks Alfonsina if DL knows of it’s existence. Alfonsina says she’ll try to find out. They scurry off. Mariana thought bubbles her confusion and wonder at what can be inside THE BOX!

Back to Luba, sleeping in a chair and Emilio on his small bed. Luba wakes up with a premonition that something bad is about to happen with THE BOX.

Over at Edelmira’s, Grani is sweeping the floor and Santos/Jacinto is there asking for information. Grani tells him that they guy who was asking about him the other day was back. Santos/Jacinto starts asking questions about “Captain Valtierra” and if the guy worked for him, or if he had been there. Grani explains that Edelmira’s is not the kind of place he’d hang out. “And why do you want so much information about Captain Valtierra anyway?” Santos/Jacinto explains that a guy named “Jaime” who works at La Rinconada told him that Captain Valtierra wanted to kill him. Grani is impactado. But then everything seems to make him impactado.
Over at la Rinconada, the SA (who has changed her outfit to a long, black, sequined “Dragon Lady” dress) confronts Maximo. “Your employee was hunting around in my room.” Max tries to calm her down by telling her that he’s decided to accept her proposal. He wants to begin their courtship. This sends the SA into a tizzy.Grani and Santos/Jacinto are still talking. S/J says he doesn’t know who Captain Valtierra wants to kill him and asks Grani. Grani doesn’t know and when S/J tells him that Jaime is the one filling him in, Grani says to trust him. “He’s a good guy, good to his wife. I never see him here.”

Nora is outside hanging around when Adela brings a bundle of wood. Adela asks her why she’s not inside. Adela guesses that she wants to avoid Luba and all talk about THE BOX. Nora agrees, she’s afraid of Luba.

Luba’s got problems of her own. She’s fanning herself with a letter that apparently Emilio gave her to take to San Mateo. She suddenly says aloud. “I can’t leave the mountain!” She’s thinking about the chief and how he would find her and kill her and Gaspar.” She wakes Emilio and tells him she can’t take the letter. Emilio is impactado into the commercial. Over at the cave, Gaspar is giving Alina a flower. Gaspar fills Alina in about Orlando’s visit and how he almost killed him. Alina is sad when she finds out that Orlando is still out looking for her. “How long am I going to have to hide?”

Emilio begs Luba to take the letter. She’s the only one who can do it. Luba suggests that Nora and Adela are equally trustworthy but Emilio is unwilling to take the risk. He trusted Orlando and then he betrayed him with Alina. Luba tries to explain to him that Adela is very solid (es de ley) but Emilio tells her that if she can’t deliver the letter, she must return it to him “and no help will ever come for Alina.” Luba’s eyes get big and round at the threat.

The guys working out in the cafetal are taking a water break. One guy asks where old Jeremías is. Another guy answers that he’s been missing for days. Even his wife doesn’t know where he is. “Ah, he finally got lost for good!” They have a laugh. [At first, I thought…what the heck...this scene makes no sense here! But we segue in the next scene to Elias in the prison. Suddenly it doesn’t look so out of place---two people in SE are missing now, since the fire. Dr. Love and that old sinvergüenza would-be rapist Jeremías. Wanna guess which one died in the fire and which one is paying the jailors to keep Elias from getting killed?]The crazy guy who tried to kill him earlier sits down across from Elias at dinner. Elias tries to get away from him but the crazy guy says he just wants to talk. He says he won’t try to hurt him again, since he knows that he’s got the jailors paid off. But “where there’s money…that’s where I am.” Elias tells him he isn’t paying anyone. “Then someone on the outside is” says the crazy guy. “You probably know who he is.” The crazy guy wants him to ask the guy for more money or he’ll tell the authorities about this guy. ??? Not sure what kind of a threat this is since “the authorities” are the ones getting the lana.In the next scene we see a hotel counter and a guy in a black hat comes up to the counter guy and hands him a wad of bills. He’s staying another night. Also, if anyone asks for him, tell them he’s not there. His name? Ricardo Fonseca. It’s Dr. Love! He’s dressed in black with a black hat. He seems to have lost the bow tie and acquired a plaid shirt, a bolo tie, dark glasses and some stubble. He’s no Castulo but at least he fits in a little better out here in macholand. Back to the cafetal—the workers are cutting with machetes, when suddenly one of them cuts himself. The foreman pours water over it but it’s a nasty cut. Don’t worry, he says, we have a curandera. Her name is Luba. Suddenly the guy straightens up. He’s the friend of the Chief!
At Nora’s Luba is having another one of her premonitions that something bad is going to happen. She can’t decide what to do with the letter. Emilio asks her again what she’s going to do. She decides she will go. Emilio says he’s glad that the letter is in her hands. The chiefs’s bud asks a bunch of questions about Luba and the Foreman obligingly fills in details about where she lives, her son, etc. “I’ll take you there later” he obligingly says. He offers to let the wounded man rest but the guy says he can still work.

Over at Hacienda de Loco, Don Loco and Sergio are in conversation. Or rather DL is ranting and Sergio is listening. He’s ticked that Orlando and Angel are still looking for Emilio. He’s wishing he would turn up dead already so that they would give up. [I think he calls Angel “a worm ridden beggar”—“un mendigo lombriciente”] Sergio offers to kill them both. DL says he’ll take care of it. With more subtlety apparently. His only worry is that Soledad find out and it impede their reconciliation. Sergio asks if all of that is just an act to get Soledad. DL says at first it was, but now he really does want to get back with her.

At la Rinconada. The SA is holding Thelma’s baby (who has grown a lot, by the way ) and rocking him in her arms while recounting the story of Don Max’s acceptance. We’re going to start going out! (Vamos a empezarrrrr a salirrrrrr!) Thelma, still in bed, looks disgusted and tells her she’s nuts. Orlando comes in and shuts the door, which pops open again, cheapo telenovela set door that it is. Orlando also looks disgusted. He tells Thelma that he couldn’t find Emilio anywhere, nor Flor, and he’s sure that DL is holding them both. He has no proof, just a feeling. Thelma says she’s sure that Emilio is in trouble.

Meanwhile, Emilio is with Luba. He’s getting ancy to see Alina because he wants to apologize to her for the millionth time. Luba is getting yet another premonition. This time when she looks at the letter, she drops a bucket and nearly faints. Emilio asks her what’s wrong. Luba brushes it off. Then he asks when she’s going to San Mateo. Luba tells him, “when you are better.”

Santos/Jacinto is creeping around La Rinconada. He finds the open carriage and hides inside when he hears people coming. It’s Jaime and Castulo. Jaime props a shotgun against the carriage and they converse about the missing Emilio. Vera shows up and tells Jaime that she’s made his favorite mole. Castulo says “Let’s eat!” and runs off to the house. Jaime says disgustedly to Vera, “Who invited him?” They leave the shotgun behind. Next, Angel and Ifigenio come up to the carriage. They are talking about their search when suddenly Santos/Jacinto stands up and grabs the shotgun, saying “you don’t have to look any farther for me, I’m right here.” Angel and Ifigenio are surprised AND impactado to say the least.

Back in the cave, Alina is helping prepare some stuff for Luba to treat Emilio when Don Loco comes sauntering in. He asks where Luba is and Alina tells him she went to gather firewood. DL asks Gaspar to beat it so that he can talk to Alina alone. Gaspar leaves and takes Tonkey with him. DL tells Alina to come with him, he’s going to take her to her mother. “Why? Did something happen?” asks Alina. Don Loco tells her that she’s got to convince her mother that she’s preparing everything for her wedding. Alina is impactado. And yes, as Chris noted the pattern, in this final scene, we get a shot of Alina’s cleavage peeking out from her unbuttoned plaid shirt.

Labels: duelo

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