Caray, Caray!

We pick up where we left off with an unruly mob in the form of Eva, Azul, Diego, and GSD descending on Julio's boutique. Eva actually is there to introduce Diego to Julio as the protégé for whom she had Burgay invest the big bucks in the boutique. Azul's mission, on the other hand, is to pummel Diego while accusing him of being a liar who falsely maligned Mo as being a self-infecting, dirty-medicine selling scoundrel. She also accuses Diego of being Eva's lover/henchman involved with the poisoning of pobrecita Leo. Backed up by off-duty scientist GSD, Azul dares Eva to deny the poisoning. Eva admits it. Meantime, Diego is clearly clueless about the pummeling, the poisoning, and even the protégé-ing. GSD rushes Azul out without giving Diego a chance to explain, and warns him to stay away from Azul. Julio goes after them trying to get information about Arnaldo whom he refers to as "Arny". As usual, GSD treats Julio like dirt, telling him with disgust that he doesn't know any "Arny", and then drives off. (I rather like "Arny". I think all the Toscanos could benefit from little pet names to loosen them up a bit.) Diego has by now worked himself up into a nose-wrinkling fury. He quits his job, telling Eva he won't work for a killer even to get information about Abuelo's murder. Eva looks after him brokenheartedly.

Casa Moran: Manuel comes home after an all-night binge, looking intoxicated. He roughly grabs Clemencia by the arm demanding to know where she's going. She announces she's off to her new job with Annibal. Manuel stares vacantly.

Mo's House II: Andres informs Mo that Diego has told Azul all about Mo's illness and his dirty medicine business. Mo, who now has cloudy vision, pretends to Andres that he's still blind.

Casa Moran: Manuel has Clemencia up against the wall telling her she cannot work for Anibal, and besides he will be bringing plenty of money into the house himself. When he goes into his pockets to produce some of this promised fortune, he finds his pockets empty. He swears he was robbed, apparently forgetting that he was throwing around big bills all night. Clemencia walks out leaving Manuel passed out on the sofa.

Mo's House: Mo and Andres discuss having to postpone a shipment of presumably fake or tainted medicine to South America because of the allegations Diego has made about Mo. Andres, who seems much more assertive now that he has a new girlfriend and new hairstyle, wants to personally "disappear" Diego. Mo shares the sentiment but to avoid suspicion wants "He-Who-Will-"Disappear"-Diego to be Boris. Mo wants Eva gone too.

Boutique: Julio overhears Ceci and Gaspar gossiping about the blowup between Azul and Eva. He scolds them and says he never wants that type of déclassé rumble in his elegant boutique again. He then pulls Ceci aside to dish about the Azul-Diego-Eva triangle. Ceci, our favorite little busybody, happily obliges.

Casa Azul & Ceci: GSD is trying to discuss the Diego situation with Azul. Azul begs off saying she doesn't want to talk about this anymore and needs to be alone. GSD, showing some rare insight, gently says, "You would have preferred that Diego was telling the truth, right?" Azul sadly admits it. Before leaving, GSD asks about Arnaldo. Azul says he's staying with a friend and is o.k. GSD looks relieved. Except for the dangling cigarette, I almost liked GSD in this scene.

Isela's Cantina: Don Chucho tells Silvana that he and Diego will be doing work for Julio. She is happy for both of them and takes the opportunity to give Diego a warm hug when he arrives. She offers her feminine point of view on their work whenever they need it. Diego says they'll need it very often as he now has no other work than this side job. Chucho and Silvana look impactado and impactada, respectively.

Eva's Balcony: Eva and Ivan are arguing about Eva's admission about poisoning Leo. Ivan thinks Eva should never have admitted it or even discussed poisoning in a public place. He thinks Eva's Diego-love is making her weak and careless. Eva blames Ivan for planning the poisoned yogurt caper in the first place and says since GSD was there and knew the truth she had no choice but to 'fess up or Diego would never have believed anything else she said. She kind of loses it here, shouting that she and Ivan are nothing but killers and that's why she'll never have Diego. Ivan grabs her by the shoulders to steady her and she slaps him hard. He turns on her with a maniacal look on his face and I swore he was going to whack her. Eva then says they should not be fighting. Ivan blames Diego for showing up in their lives and ruining everything. (The line to "disappear" Diego forms on the right, Ivan, in case that's what you're thinking.)

Isela's Cantina: Diego is explaining to Silvana and Chucho that Eva really is a cold blooded killer and was probably lying to Diego the whole time he knew her. Chucho agrees and adds that Diego and Silvana have no proof that Mo is involved in anything sinister. But Diego and Silvana don't let Mo off the hook, believing he is as dirty as Eva. Silvana reminds Diego he was supposed to stay at his job with Eva gathering evidence just as she does with her surveillance "visits" to Mo's house.

Eva's balcony: Eva and Ivan almost have a kissy face moment when Eva says she should have fallen in love with him and he says he would have been there for her in rain or shine, sickness and health, murder unlimited, whatever she wanted. Or words to that effect. Alas, just before their lips meet, Eva pulls away and starts unromantically musing about how Mo first became known to Boris. According to what I could understand, Mo was being investigated by Interpol for selling expired medicines throughout the world. Who should be in politics at that time, but our sleazy lawyer friend, Perez Castelar, who carried out a coverup in order to stop the investigation, in exchange for Mo's giving him information on the toxin and the cure, that he presumably passed on to Boris. Eva says she wants the case file or report on those dealings. Ivan want to know why she wants it. I think we can guess.

Anibal's office: Clemencia has typed some letters which Anibal reviews and finds perfect. She brings him coffee and homemake cookies and both of them looked pleased with their working arrangement.

Boutique: Gaspar and Ceci plot how to salvage the ruined jacket. If only Ceci knew that her nemesis, Leo, has purposely doused it with bleach. Or more importantly, if only Ceci knew how to keep her work life and personal life separate.

Cantina: Diego is waiting for Isela so that he can make up with her after their argument over the Piero bail money loan. Silvana tells him that Isela is not feeling well as she didn't sleep well last night and won't be in until later. She also tells him that his father was drinking heavily at the cantina the night before.

Boutique: Ceci and Gaspar seem to be trying to patch the ruined jacket when Ceci sighs that she should never have borrowed it without permission. Julio overhears and says, "You did what?!" Busted.

Anibal's office: Clemencia is typing away and Anibal is on his way to a meeting when Manuel charges in and throws Anibal against a wall while ordering Clemencia to leave and never set foot back in this office. He acuses Anibal of hiring Clemencia just to get back at him because Isela always preferred him to Anibal. Manuel starts shoving Clemencia and when Anibal protests, the two men are ready to fight. Clemencia gets between them just as Manuel throws a punch that lands squarely on Clemencia's jaw. She drops into a chair. Anibal forcibly throws Manuel out and tends to Clemencia.

Mo's bedroom: Azul enters saying she has to talk to Mo, and Mo says she sounds upset. In tears, Azul flings herself to her knees in front of Mo and begs his forgiveness for ever having doubted him when all the while it was Diego who was the lying skunk and Mo the blameless knight who never lied to her. Mo agrees with this noble assessment of himself. He has, by the way, perfected an off to the side gaze he must think gives him the look of an authentic blind person. Azul confesses that she had almost believed Diego's character assassination of Mo with the self-infecting and bad medicine stuff until she found out from her father that it was Eva and her evil cabal who were poisoning people and such, the very group Diego is now cavorting with. All this is right up Mo's melodramatic alley, and he pretends to be deeply wounded that people like Eva and Diego would character assassinate him at a time his life is draining away. He asks the heavens why Eva stole his life and Diego stole his love. Azul looks conscience stricken, with every reason to furrow her brow.

Boutique: Julio continues ranting at Ceci about the jacket. He seems more outraged though by the sloppy coverup job she and Gaspar were trying to pull off. But he saves most of his venom for poor Gaspar, whom he blames for helping Ceci with the coverup. He flings the jacket in Gaspar's face saying that from now on he (Gaspar) is in charge of watching every move Ceci makes, and if he should betray his confidence again, he will throw Gaspar out on the street. Gaspar fumes, snorts, and glowers at Ceci for having gotten him in trouble, and I was doing the same.

Anibal's office: Anibal has put an icepack on Clemencia's jaw. She is still disoriented after being decked but apologizes for the scene Manuel caused. Anibal reassures her but says he thought Manuel knew about the job. She admits that she couldn't discuss it with Manuel as he had never come home that previous night.

Mo's bedroom: Mo gets to ham it up some more and does some character assassinating of his own, painting Diego as an ungrateful, disloyal wretch who took advantage of Mo's generosity, and a serial seducer who stole Azul from Mo. He goes on to say he still loves Azul but would have been willing to step aside if she had found true love with Diego. (Watch that nose, Pinnochio). He suffers knowing that she belongs to a lout like Diego who doesn't deserve her. Gullible as ever, Azul swallows the sob story whole, kissing Mo's hand and tearfully swearing that she'll never, I mean never ever, leave his side until the end of his dwindling days.

Some cafe or other: Lucia and Perez Castelar are sipping cofee and discussing Piero's immigration problems. The options are: 1) that he stay married to Lidia for two years, or 2) that Lucia verify that Piero has been in Mexico for five years. Naturally, Lucia chooses Door #2 as she doesn't want him to spend even a second more wih Lidia. She assures Castelar she'll do everything she can to keep Piero in Mexico even though she is aware he's only using her.

Love Nest: Lidia is lolling au natural under the covers pouting because Piero is preparing to go out on some business. (I've noticed that lidia has only two expressions: bratty pouting or kittenish pouting.) Piero takes a call from Mo who needs his help in teaching Diego a lesson.
Uh oh. Piero gets huffy that Mo wasn't around to help him with his jail woes, but this is the first Mo is hearing of it. They agree to meet up. Lidia sarcastically says how nice Mo finally deigned to contact you. Piero says he's meeting Mo because it suits him to do so, but first things first. Here the Energizer Sex Bunny tears off his jacket and leaps on Lidia for another round.

Cafe: Lucia is lamenting that all this immigration work is very costly plus she has to dole out money to somebody else too. When Castelar asks to whom, Lucia reveals that Lidia's shameless father has demanded a large bribe to help her keep Lidia and Piero apart, and on top of that had the nerve to ask for a job. Castelar,who's mighty sleazy himself, declares he's never seen a man so cynical that he'd sell his own daughter like merchandise. Lucia raises her eyebrows in agreement.

Casa Moran: Diego is sitting on the sofa when Manuel enters the house and warmly greets his son with, "Qué the hell are you doing here?" Diego says he heard Manuel was drinking heavily at the cantina. Manuel blames it on his problems with Clemencia. Diego asks for her and is surprised to find she's gotten a job. Just then Clemencia enters and tries to hide her face from Diego, to no avail. He quickly surmises that Manuel was responsible and almost comes to blows with him. Clemencia once again gets between two large men about to go at it, saying father and son shouldn't fight, and besides it was an accident. She then remonstrates with Manuel for starting trouble at her job and forbids him to return there. She also says he had nerve making trouble after staying out all night. Manuel then grabs her, shouting that he'll tell her where he was: out making love all night with Isela. Clemencia slaps him and rushes up to her room. Diego acts out his fury by wrinkling his nose to its limit, balling his fist and calling Manuel an infeliz. He then follows after Clemencia.

Cantina: Isela is telling Silvana that she and Manuel were togeether in the billard room(?) until closing, and Manuel was totally wasted and she almost....Silvana cuts her off saying as much as she loves Isela, she also is concerned for the feelings of Clemencia and Diego. Isela says chill, even though I love Manuel, I resisted his charms and he left very angry. What exactly is this woman attracted to, we might well ask. As Castelar has said, Manuel tops the list of cynical, lying desgraciados.

Casa Moran: Diego is consoling Clemencia and saying he'll warn his father never to disrespect her again. When he brings up Isela, Clemencia says she forgave Manuel once for his infidelity but cannot do it again if she wants to set an example for Lidia in husband-managing. Diego says he'll support any decision she makes.

Garden of Mo's house: Caty is digging in the dirt with Azul when Leo approaches in an impeccable white suit. Caty reaches out to her with her grubby hands and Leo sharply sends her off to wash up. (I hate to admit it, but I'm with Leo here.) Azul scolds Leo for being so impoatient with a child, and says anyway Leo should be bursting with joy and rainbows and such, since she's not terminally ill after all. Leo say, Oh right, Mo told you. So yeah, says Azul, now you're free to remake your life and maybe even fall in love with a NEW man. Zing! Azul and Leo grin mirthlessly at each other while each silently calls the other a witch, or something a bit stronger, maybe.

Boutique: Ceci and Andres are sharing an intimate lunch in some out of the way place in the shop. Andres assures Ceci he'll not only pay for the ruined jacket but will shut Julio's mouth by purchasing his whole new trendy wardrobe right here at the boutique. Now Andres fans, comes the money shot. Andres whips off his tee shirt and displays a magnificent physique and even a glimmer of yellow boxers. Where are the paparazzi when you need them? He stands over Ceci like the proud Adonis he is, sayig, "Will you help me?" Her smile says it all: Bring in on, papi!
Was that the final scene? No wait, there's more but it was all anticlimatic to me.

Lab at Mo's Mansion: GSD has finally dragged his lazy butt in to work when Emilia drops by to interrupt him to discuss Azul. She wants Azul to make her own decsions regarding Diego despite what GSD thinks of him, and more importantly says it's also up to Azul to make decisions regarding her health. She believes Azul has the right to know she has a life-threatening disease. GSD disagrees emphatically and says such news could harm Azul. He angrily warns Emilia not to tell Azul, then punches in his password and marches into the lab, hopefully to accomplish something for a change.

Case Moran: Manuel dares Diego to take on his own father. Diego dares him right back to ever disrespect his mother again. Diego leaves the hosue.

As Diego leaves his parents' house, Ivan is waiting with a message from Eva. Diego blows him off and walks away. When Ivan grabs Diego's shoulder, Diego seems to soft punch him in the stomach saying he has learned some tricky moves on his own and can take care of himself. Ivan seems faintly amused by this teddy bear threat and says he's only a messenger from Eva. He says Eva wants Diego to come to dinner so she can show him the proof she has of Mo's dirty dealings. Diego agrees to come, but says if it's one of Eva's traps, she'll be the one caught in it.

Mo's garden: (Last scene) Caty is sadly complaining that she doesn't want to eat lunch by herself at such a big table. Azul is just joining her when Emilia calls on the phone saying she has something very important to tell Azul, but it must be in person. End of scene; Lots of coming attractions.

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