Caray, Caray!

We left Emilio at the Bus Station, just having lost sight of the kidnapped Gaby, with the police following closely behind. He yells that they have to find her before she gets on a bus. [Actually he says camion, not autobus which I thought would be truck, but a camioneta is a van so maybe camion can also mean bus?]

Dra. Loca, Sleazy Lawyer and Don Loco are in a meeting room in the jail. Don Loco and Dra. Loca both have tears running down their cheeks, at the magnitude of Don Loco’s pain at discovering that he’s been wrong all along about Alina and Soledad. Don Loco asks out loud how he could have been so cruel to his own daughter. SL says what’s done is done and can’t be undone. The only thing now is to salvage what he can out of this situation. Dra. Loca says she doesn’t get what he is saying. SL says we can now prove that he was out of his mind and can’t be judged as a criminal, but as mentally ill. “You’ve said it yourself! Now I can appeal his sentence so that he doesn’t have to serve his time in jail, but in a mental hospital.” He puts his arm on Don Loco’s shoulder, DL shrugs it off and looks balefully at Dra. Loca.

Back at the bus station, Emilio is racing on and off buses, frantically looking for Gaby. A security guy runs up and says that a bus did leave and a girl matching Gaby’s description was on it!
DL is has been brought back to his cell. He’s not on board with SL’s plan to put him in a mental hospital with a bunch of lunatics. SL tells him to relax, he has a plan and he wants DL to be patient and not wreck it. DL tells him he can’t possibly know what it feels like to know that he has behaved like a monster, destroying the love of the only woman he’s ever cared for and making his own daughter curse him.

Over at the hospital, Ricardo and Mariana are trying to make Malena more comfortable. Malena is going to be discharged tomorrow and they can all finally blow town. Mariana reflects gravely that if she hadn’t come here and tried to tell her brother the truth, she would never have risked all their lives. Ricardo says to not think about that now. Tomorrow they will get out of there but first he has to help the woman in the next room with her son, who needs a kidney. He describes her as a poor woman, with folk beliefs, in miracles [or Milagros? Those healing charms?] “She heals people, like me!” Mariana exclaims that she once knew a woman like that who took care of her mother.

We pan over to the other side of the privacy screen and there is that woman, Luba, hunching over poor sick Gaspar. Gaspar is murmuring that he wants to see his little cub. Luba tells him that he has to get well. Gaspar says yes! So that he can play with his little cub and swim in the river. Luba gets up and tells him that she wants to speak to the doctor who will help them. Just as she’s about to cross to the other side of the screen, she hears Mariana telling the others that she’ll never forget the woman’s face or her name “Luba!” Luba is impactada—that woman knows her real name!

Back to the jailhouse with SL and DL “Now more than ever, what you’ve got to do is think of yourself” says SL. DL disagrees. “All these years I did nothing but think of myself and look what I got!...I lost my family and let my thoughts consume my soul…no, I cannot even forgive myself. “ SL says he doesn’t know how he can move forward. DL says he needs to see Mariana, to speak to her and clear up a lot of things. He grabs SL’s shoulder through the bars, earnestly and not violently for once.

On the streets of Puebla, Emilio rides with a state police trooper chasing the bus that carries Gaby and her captor. [Gee whiz those cars are tiny! I think the campus parking cops where I went to college had bigger cars! Emilio and the policeman barely fit in this toy car. ] Emilio dramatically suggests that they cut the bus off at the pass. The police guy says no, it would unsafe for the rest of the passengers. He’ll just put on his lights and pull the bus over. The bus driver still doesn’t stop so the police car crosses the center line and passes the bus. [Good thing no oncoming traffic on this narrow road! Also a good thing that everybody on this road seems to be doing about 10 miles an hour. Now where in Mexico do they do that?] The cop signals to the bus to pull over but apparently since there is no shoulder, they have to drive for awhile before they get to a place where the bus CAN pull over. [Going 10 miles an hour. Some chase.] They stop the bus, they give a cursory look around and decide that the little girl that they see on this bus is not Gaby. Meanwhile, a black and white local police car drives up.

Back at the hospital, Luba is still worried about who that woman is who spoke her name. She’s worried that it’s someone from SE who will tell the police and they’ll nab her and Gaspar. She’s got to see find out who this lady is. [Great worried facial expressions from Ana Martin here.]
At Rodrigo’s apartment, Rod is talking to Alina. He’s afraid because they haven’t heard anything. Alina tells him not to despair. Tina butts in to add that she’s been waiting by the phone and nobody has called. Alina continues with her Pollyanna act by saying that if they haven’t heard anything that is good news because it means that she’s probably lost and that nobody has kidnapped her. [Huh? Whatever] The doorbell rings. It’s Emilio. He’s come to give them an update. They spotted Gaby at the central bus station. Alina starts to ask why they didn’t bring Gaby with them. Emilio explains that she and her captor got away. Rodrigo starts screaming at him about why they didn’t stop them, etc. Emilio just looks tired.

[commercial break—we are treated to a brand new transition featuring a very odd looking woman who looks sort of like Alina but older, with a much rounder face. Great, that’s just what we need in the final windup, yet another new character.]

Emilio is in the middle of a big and unsatisfactory explanation when we return. He says that Gaby has been captured by a child trafficking ring and that now these people know we are after them and they have the advantage. The important thing is that they are still dragging her around. Rodrigo is flipping out, “You had her so close!” Again, Alina tries the Pollyanna thing. “At least she’s OK!” Rodrigo flips out some more—“OK? OK? Can you imagine how scared Gaby must be, having to spend the night with that vile wretch! “Don’t get mad,” says Alina. “I’m with you.” “You should be happy Gaby is alive.” [Ugh!] Emilio says that Alina is right. [Double Ugh!] Rodrigo apologizes and says that his powerlessness and desperation make him say things he doesn’t mean. Emilio says he understands. He adds that he thinks that Gaby and her captor never made it out of the city. He clarifies after being asked that there was a watch put on all the busses leaving the city and nobody with those descriptions has made it out. Tina interrupts to say that at least they now know that Gaby is not lost. Rodrigo says ruefully that now that her captors know they are looking for her, they’ll try to hide her.

Over at Coral’s boutique, Soledad is worried about Alina, who still hasn’t called. She’s worried that this situation will only intensify the situation between Emilio and Rodigo. Coral sounds a little fed up. “They are all adults, they know how to resolve this situation.“ Coral says. [Bravo, again, Coral!] She tells Soledad that they should go to lunch and then they have to acquire some more merchandise since the store is doing so well.

Emilio, Rod, Alina and Tina are still in Rod’s kitchen. Tina is fretting that if Gaby’s captors try to hide her how will they be able to find her? Rod asks Emilio if he has anything to go on. Emilio answers that he is following a line of investigation. He thinks that the guys who he was tracking before, the ones who beat him up, are involved. Rod asks him what he plans to do. Emilio says he has a plan, but that he’ll need Rodrigo’s cooperation to make it happen. Can Rod give him that assurance? Rod clenches his jaw.


Over at Casa Valtierra, the phone rings and Thelma goes to answer it. It’s General Ochoa. He’s looking for Emilio. Thelma says she hasn’t seen him, she thought he’d be at the base by now. Ochoa tells her that Emilio joined the search for the missing little girl. Thelma tells the General that she’ll look for Emilio and have him call. Thelma puts down the phone and thought bubbles that that brat [escuincle] ought to have been delivered to Rodrigo by now. Anyway it’s not her problem. Her problem now is Orlando. [Wow, this is cold, even for vicious old Thelma!]

Ochoa is in his office and there is a knock at the door. It’s Orlando now dressed in his uniform with his hair slicked back, looking more like an officer and less like beetle bailey, busted down a few stripes as he was previously. He’s come to present himself formally to the General, for his new orders. The general has nothing for him at the moment, so Orlando suggests that he could go back to SE to wind up the final oversight work on the road construction. Ochoa points out that that is Capt. Valtierra’s job. Orlando says yes, but since SE dredges up bad memories for Emilio…Ochoa says pointedly that Orlando was responsible for a lot of those bad memories. Orlando agrees. He says that for that reason, he’d like to spare Emilio the horror of reliving those days. Ochoa sees the logic. He agrees to let him go. With a click of his heels and a snappy salute, Orlando is gone. Once outside the office, Orlando says to nobody in particular, that now he can go to SE, grab up Gaspar, and put him in front of Thelma. [Oops, so far it’s not looking like that’s going to happen. And too bad too—it means that Orlando will be delayed in getting his important news to Emilio. Why should Emilio believe Gaspar over a DNA test? Or even Gaspar over Orlando for that matter? Will I have any hair left from tearing it out after this show?!!!!!]
Sleazy Lawyer is at the front desk of a hotel. He tries to find out if Mariana is staying there. The clerk actually has some ethics and says that he can’t tell him. Even when SL offers him a wad of cash and he still doesn’t budge and threatens to call security. No matter, SL says he’ll find someone whose price he can meet. He picks up a newspaper and pretends to read it. Who should come wandering in at precisely that moment but Ricardo who is asking for the hotel bill for himself and Mariana. SL sidles up, introduces himself and says that DL wants to talk to her. Ricardo says that Mariana has no interest in talking to him again. SL tells him that DL deserves another chance. He’s seen the results of the DNA test and knows that Mariana told the truth, that Soledad didn’t cheat on him and Alina is his daughter. Ricardo is somewhat impactado.
Back over at Rodrigo’s apartment, Rod, Emilio and Alina are all sitting talking about Emilio’s plan. [By the way, was there ever an odder collection of ornaments on a coffee table? Two glass hockey pucks and a bunch of eggs? What’s up with that? I guess they aren’t going to tell us what the plan is because Emilio is already asking Rod if he is going to agree to it.] “It’s like putting out bait for the animal who took the little girl. We could get her back faster than you can imagine.“ [Boy, I am really not following this. What is he going to do, make Rodrigo stand on a street corner dressed like a little girl?] Rodrigo is worried that the plan will fail and so is Alina. Emilio tells them that if this plan fails they will make others. The police are already interested in this ring and they won’t let this opportunity pass them by to get them. Alina is on board with the plan. She thinks it would be good to bust this ring so that not only Rod but other parents can find their children. Rodrigo, pantywaist that he is, says “If Alina agrees to the plan so do I.” Alina wants to know how they will know that the plan is working. Emilio tells her that he’s going to have Frank conduct surveillance of their headquarters and report when they have Gaby. He’d go but they already recognize his face.

SL is explaining to Ricardo all that has transpired since Mariana last saw DL. He begs Ricardo to help him convince her to go back and talk to DL.

In jail, DL is trying to sleep, but instead is having orange flashbacks of the letter and the day he took Alina to the cave. Also Alina confronting him and insisting upon her mother’s innocence. DL begs Alina from heaven (he thinks) to forgive him. [Ave Maria playing in the background] He reflects that he was so afraid of sharing his Father’s fate as a cuckold that it blinded him. He asserts his love for his daughter. He knows that although Alina can not longer do it, Soledad must hear him and he won’t be able to continue living if she doesn’t forgive him. Tears are streaming down his cheeks for the close-up.

Coral and Soledad are back at the shop. Coral points out that Alina spent the night at Rodrigo’s. Soledad says yes, she was waiting by the phone. Coral cuts to the chase and says it’s a good thing that Emilio doesn’t know that Alina spent the night there or he would have shown up to drag her out of there. Soledad makes some noises about how Emilio knows that Alina is “a decent girl.” Coral says yeah sure but he doesn’t trust Rodrigo. Soledad mews some more about how Rodrigo is a gentleman while Coral just rolls her eyes at her dimwit business partner. At least she can pick clothes. Just then the phone rings and Claudia goes to answer it. It’s Angel, he wants to see her. Claudia says no, it’s better if she not see him. Angel insists and suggests it’s because of her stepfather that she doesn’t want to see him. Claudia says no some more and then hangs up on him. [Gee she’s wearing a lot of makeup today!] Angel says out loud that he’s not going to abandon Claudia. He knows that she needs his help!

Frank jumps into Emilio’s car. He tells him that General Ochoa told him to report to Emilio, wearing his civvies. [I said civvies not skivvies…down girls!] Emilio fills him in on the plan. They are going to follow the child-trafficking gang around. He wants Frank to spy on them because he (Emilio) can’t, he’s already been identified by them (and beaten up). The gang runs out of the HQ, including Mr. Shiny Baldpate. Emilio engages the car to tail them.

Meanwhile, we finally see Gaby in a small cell like room sitting on a cot. The mute giant guy is asleep on another cot. She thought bubbles that maybe now is her chance to escape. She gets up and tries the door. Locked. She goes over to the MGG and sees the keys. She tries to take them and he stirs. She tries again and gets them. It takes her an eternity but she finally finds the key that fits the lock and runs out. The sound of the door wakes up the MGG. He gets up and runs out after her.

At a café, Mariana and Ricardo are chatting with SL. Looks like it’s in or near the hospital because there’s a nurse sitting behind them. He’s trying to convince her to talk to DL again. “Only you can clear up some of his remaining doubts” says SL. Mariana is dubious because DL isn’t going to like what she has to say. Also there were a lot of people who fed his jealousy. “He’s going to want to seek revenge on those people and commit more crimes” frets Mariana. [What a goody two-shoes you are, Mariana. Don’t you kinda want to see Alfonsina and her pal Hugo maybe burn to death in a shack?] SL says so what, they deserve it and anyway, is it fair that Alvaro was taken advantage of by these people? Mariana is adamant. “Alvaro should have believed his own wife, before anyone else. Justice will take care of those other people. NO, I’m not going to talk to my brother.”

At Rodrigo’s Tina and Alina are talking. Tina still feels guilty about losing Gaby. Alina comforts her. I wonder where she is. Blah blah blah.

Back to the café, Ricardo points out that Mariana was nearly killed by “those people.” SL is surprised after he is filled in on the attempted murder. He thinks that this is an excellent reason that they should talk to Alvaro and report this to the authorities so that justice can be done. Ricardo says they’ve already given a statement to the police. SL grins and says, in effect, “you don’t know how this works.” “If Alvaro denounces them, it will carry more weight with the police. “ [Maybe somebody can help me with this phrasing here. Why should they believe a jailbird over 2 innocent people?] Mariana isn’t buying what SL is selling anyway. She wants to leave town. Ricardo jumps in to say that SL has a point, Alvaro should know who his tormentors were. And that if he accuses them of all the bad things they did to him as well as to Mariana et. al. they are more likely to end up behind bars and faster too. Mariana finally relents.


Gaby is still on the run, she runs through a market and very intelligently upsets some apples on a stand to slow the MGG down. He trips and she continues running.

Over at Coral’s Boutique Claudia is leaving for the day. Soledad lets her go and says she has a whole bunch of paperwork to do. Coral is going to eat [for a chick as slender as she is, she sure likes her vittles. What’s she going to do now that she no longer burns off all those calories with dancing and sex?] and go to the salon on her lunch hour. After she takes off, a red rose is thrust into Soledad’s face and a voice asks her if she’d like to go out to eat. It’s supposed to be mysterious and romantic but instead it’s dorky because the voice is Elias’ and we know that it’s him immediately. Soledad is pleased anyway and puts the rose in a vase but says she’s busy and can’t go. Elias tries to convince her that they can order a pizza and he’ll help her with the paperwork. Soledad hears DL’s voice in her head warning her that if she goes with Elias, sooner or later, he’ll wind up dead. Soledad takes Elias’ hand and tells him she’s grateful for all he’s done for her but she’s been thinking…they should distance themselves from one another. [Brief Elias impactado here.] She’s been thinking that this…friendship…is creating other feelings…that will only wind up hurting both of them. Elias interrupts to say that she knows how he feels about her but she cuts him off. She tells him that she doesn’t want this friendship “so pretty and clean” to end up badly. “I feel so bad but I have to ask..to beg you that we distance ourselves…that we separate ourselves.” A tear rolls down her cheek.

Elsewhere, Angel is accosting Claudia. He needs to talk to her. Claudia is equally insistent that he leave her alone. Angel tells her he knows that her step-father is hitting on her. Claudia is impactada.

Alina is alone at Rodrigo’s apartment, napping on the couch. She dreams of Emilio’s mariachi serenade. She murmurs “Emilio, I love you so much.” Just then [a little too late to hear it] Rodrigo comes in and sees her sleeping. He kisses her and she wakes up. He tells her that he is so happy that she is by his side during this terrible time. She puts her head on his shoulder
.
Back to poor Gaby who is still running, spilling things, trying to get away from the Mute Giant Guy. Somehow nobody is noticing any of this. A huge black man, dressed like a friggin pirate is chasing a schoolgirl who is dumping stuff all over the market and nobody is noticing anything. What are they all smoking weed or something? Gaby manages to get out the door and she scrambles inside some kind of oil can. MGG arrives and is perplexed not to see her. Just then another guy comes with a dolly and loads up the oil can. Gaby jumps out and yells. MGG is right there and sees her.

Back to Angel and Claudia. Claudia tries to deny that she knows what Angel is talking about. Angel tells her that he overheard her talking to her mother. Claudia tells him that she doesn’t want him to get involved. Plus, she’s afraid of her step-father. If he found out that she’s been talking to him, he could attack her or hurt her. Angel tells her that she can’t risk her life like this. She has to report him to the police. Claudia says she can’t, she can’t win. And her mother is blindly in love with him, she doesn’t believe her. Finally, she relents and rests her head on his shoulder. Angel tells her that he loves her promises to help her. Claudia admits she loves him too and she comments that he is so different from all the men she has ever known [like her step-dad and all his sex criminal friends.] She feels that he will protect her. BIG BESO. And it’s a OK one, no sucking face, although a little off kilter.

Back to poor Gabby. MGG is enraged and grabs her out of the can. When the guy with the dolly tries to intervene, MGG makes nasty guttural noises and waves a knife at him. Even if this guy is high he must think that this is not right. MGG runs away holding Gabby.

Next we find ourselves in General Ochoa’s office. Where Thelma is there, still dressed skankily in her sheer top and spangly necklace. She tells him she still doesn’t know where Emilio is but she wants to find Orlando. He came to see her the other day, she says innocently but she wasn’t there and she wanted to know what he had wanted. She’s looked for him at his apartment, etc. But she can’t find him. Ochoa tells her that Orlando has left for Sierra Escondida.


Finally, we’ve made it back to the hospital. Luba is talking to the lucha manager next to Gaspar’s hospital bed. Luba is frantic because she heard a woman mention her name. She’s still worried that this woman will tip off the police to her whereabouts and make her leave Gaspar’s side. The fight manager says maybe she’s mistaken about who she was referring to. As if there were any other “Luba” Luba points out. It’s not exactly a common name, apparently. The fight manager tells her to calm down. He’ll find out who those people on the other side of the screen are.

DL is in his jail cell remembering Soledad telling him that she doesn’t love him anymore. DL is awash in guilt telling himself that he gave Soledad plenty of reasons to hate him. “I was stupid, I hurt the woman who I loved the most. Why was I so blind?” Tears fall from his eyes. From the darkness, a guard announces that he has a visitor. “A visit at this hour?” asks DL. The guard lets him out and they walk down the hall.

Over to Gabby and the MGG. He throws her back in her cell. She tries to argue with him but MGG motions with his knife at his own neck like next time she tries to escape he will kill her.
At the jail, Mariana is talking to Alvaro. [Damn, I thought they would surprise us and have Alfonsina and Hugo standing there] He is holding her hands. [I thought that wasn’t allowed.] She tells him she is there only because SL asked her. DL remarks that that is the only good thing that SL has done. DL wants to know a few things. Mariana goes through the whole “Soledad was innocent” routine. But she confesses that she herself was a coward because she never had the guts to tell him that she was in love with Jose Gomez, and that they had had a child together. DL says that alas, none of that can be undone. He tells her that he never believed that the DNA test would prove him wrong. I have wronged my wife, and even more, my daughter. Mariana reaches out to comfort him.

Emilio and Frank are still tailing Rosendo and his gang. They are now on foot and see them go into an alley neighborhood. [OMG, it’s Starsky and Hutch! Look at those clothes and tell me they don’t scream 70s cop show!] Frank asks if he thinks Rosendo lives there. Emilio says they’ll find out. [Hey, I thought that Frank was supposed to be doing the spying?]

Back to the jail again. DL is still trying to figure out why Alfonsina would lie about the letter and the bracelet in Jose Gomez’ bed. Mariana tells him that Alfonsina confessed all her crimes to her, when she thought she would never speak again.

Back to Emilio and Frank. They see someone coming and they hide around the corner. It’s Angel and Claudia. Apparently he’s decided to head right for the flames by walking Claudia home to her jealous stepdad. Emilio sees Angel and is impactado or as much as Pablo Montero can muster. “What is my brother doing here?” he asks.

Mariana continues her blistering accusations of Alfonsina. "She knew perfectly well that the letter that Jose Gomez had written was for me." She goes on to explain that Alfonsina was always trying to wreck his marriage because “she was obsessed with you.” “She wasn’t content with being your lover.” She tried to kill me so that I wouldn’t talk. “That woman made a fool out of you.” What’s more , “she has some kind of box that has a dark secret of some kind. She’s going to try to blackmail you with. “ “You are in her power.” Don Loco curses Alfonsina’s name and swears he’ll kill her. Superslomo closeup of DL and scary music!!!

Advances for next time: DL swears revenge and cries some more, Elias presses his case to Soledad some more. Rodrigo and Emilio argue over Alina some more.

Labels: duelo