Caray, Caray!

Gaviota is having lunch with her mother and Doña Jose. She breaks up an argument about Frankie by changing the subject to Jose's job - turns out Jose's been promoted. They seize this opportunity for a tequila toast. Gavi mentions that her mother's birthday is the day after tomorrow. They agree to celebrate that, and Doña Jose's promotion, at a nice hotel restaurant. They take another shot of tequila to seal the deal. Clarita squeaks out a feeble "como así."

Elvis and Dani have lunch and she teases him about some drawings he's done of ballerinas. He says he wants to put an ad in the paper for a model - he's going to do a mural on the history of glass. Actually, Dani is the model he wants. Surprised, she agrees.

Isa, Fedra, and Minnie meet at Minnie's to discuss their continued campaign of horror against Gavi. Isa doesn't have the baby with her - she explains that he's slightly feverish (again? wasn't he grippy last week too? should we be concerned, or is he teething or something?), so she left him at home. Smirking, Fedra says he must be growing and changing - does he look like Rodrigo? Isa says no - each time she sees him, he looks more like her father. Minnie warns that Aaron is still there - she urges them to keep there voices down so he doesn't hear what they're planning. They decide to call Sofia.

Frankie and Sofia arrive at Pilar's. Frankie immediately starts complaining about the unpleasant plane ride over, the filthy wine they were served, the chaos at the airport, and the nasty immigrants working there. He says the Montalvos should really have their own plane. As Sofia covers her face, shocked at Frankie's crassness, Pilar tactfully explains that they did have one, and it crashed with Sofia's parents on board. This shuts him up just long enough to mutter an apology and walk Pilar to the door. Then he confides to Sofia that they should buy their own apartment in the DF so they don't have to stay at Pilar's house, because when he's there he feels smothered by her relatives.

"If you want your own apartment, you'll have to wait," she tells him very seriously. She opens her mouth to say more, but just when you think she's gonna give it to him good, Imelda comes in with a phone call from... drum roll please... Isadora!

Frankie suddenly becomes very interested in his wristwatch (or is it his smarm bracelet - I can't tell) as Sofia asks Imelda who the call is for. Why, it's for Sofia, of course! Sensing that he has just dodged a speeding anvil, Frankie excuses himself with a smarmy grin so that the sisters-in-law can speak in peace.

"Hola, Sofia, you could have at least called and let me know you were coming to Mexico." Sofia coldly replies that it was a last-minute decision. Isa asks why Sofia hasn't been calling her all. "Well, why haven't you called me?" Isa brushes this off, saying okay, Sofia's right. She invites Sofia to come over and hear Fedra's latest plan. Sofia says she's tied up right now, but will call or come over later.

Aaron breezes through his living room, greets the brujas, and leaves. Fedra gets down to business and says they're not going to the event. Minnie and Isadora leap out of their chairs in surprise. What? But they've already RSVP'd! (Ha... after all they've done, apparently the one thing that they would be ashamed to do would be to say yes to an invitation and then not show up at the party.) Isa is more concerned about Pilar's reaction. Fedra agrees, but says this is the chance she's been waiting for.

All this time, the CRT has been snubbing them; now they're supposed to just pretend like nothing ever happened. They have pride and dignity, and if the CRT thinks they are just washcloths that they can use and throw them away, well, they're not. Gavi even sent the invites via special messenger because she's so afraid they won't show up to the Don Amador tribute.

Isa points out that Gavi will probably be relieved if they don't show up. Fedra says no, she's wrong. Gavi is playing at being manager; what will the agave union folks think when the Montalvo women aren't there for a tribute to their esteemed relative? When people notice that they're not there, they'll see it as a protest against all the injustices Gaviota has committed against them.

Isa still looks puzzled. You probably do too. No, you didn't miss anything. This plan is so dumb, it's embarrassing. Fedra is beyond BSC if she thinks everyone in the agave/distilling/tequila business doesn't realize by now what a bunch of nuts the Montalvo women are.

Minnie is not sure how they will pitch this to their husbands, since Pilar has pressured them all into going. Fedra says they should just say they're going to go, and then back out at the very last minute.

Isa says Rodrigo's not going, in any case. He's got important plans. Fedra rolls her eyes and says of course he will go. No one dares defy Pilar Montalvo, the Dictator. Minnie and Isa giggle.

The grownups (Pilar, Bruno, and Rodrigo) are having a meeting at the corporativo. Aaron shows up late, and Bruno coldly tells him that they started without him. Aaron snottily hands out his financial reports.

Bruno explains that Patricio isn't with them because he went to Japan. He'll be back in time for the CRT event. Pilar reminds them that the CRT and the National Chamber of the Tequila Industry (CNIT) is honoring her husband and she wants the whole family to be there for it. PLEASE, she says, tell your wives to put aside their grudges with Mariana Franco and comport themselves with altura (i.e. rise above it). "Oh yeah, you bet," the men hastily agree.

Rodrigo shows his own personal report to Aaron. I think he says that Ardiente Pasion has made enough money to offset Aaron's debt to the company. Aaron merrily says he'll answer to that in a moment. Bruno is thrilled with Rodrigo's numbers and congratulates him. (Aaron clears his throat loudly and impatiently.) Pilar is surprised to discover that he's sharing a portion of his profits with Montalvocorp. He says it's only fair, since he used the corporativo for most of his efforts. (In fact, it was a long while before I realized that Ardiente Pasion wasn't an actual Montalvocorp product, myself.) Pilar tells Rodrigo he's just like his granddad.

Bruno then tells Aaron they all know his company is doing well, so he ought to be able to pay back his debt. They don't want to pressure him, but it'd be better if he paid it back now, before he gives in to the temptation of the stock market and loses everything. Offended, Aaron says he's already taken care of that, and shows his bank statement to Bruno. Bruno points out that this money Aaron's paying them was just deposited into Aaron's personal account earlier today. "You didn't just invest YOUR capital - you invested OURS too!"

Aaron tries to throw a tantrum, but having no phone handy to throw, has to settle for making funny faces. He is shocked that Bruno doesn't admire his GIGANTIC transaction. (Aaron is waving his crazy finger indignantly.) Bruno is shocked that Aaron doesn't get why it was not cool to use the company's money for personal benefit - they could have lost everything. Aaron is shocked that his father is so upset about something that didn't even happen.

Pilar mildly tells them to calm down. In a slightly more civilized tone, Aaron reminds his father that he is "a man of risks." (Ha!) Buy low and sell high, that's all he did, and that's what Rodrigo should do too, and not be selling all these puny little boxes of organic tequila.

Rodrigo says "That's funny, because you tried to do that with Tequila Turquesa and failed." And if he, Rodrigo, were going to crash and burn, he wouldn't want to risk taking the family down with him. Aaron crows that the price of agave is going to fall (due to the faster maturation), and then what's Rodrigo going to do to cover his losses?

Bruno says if they don't knock it off, they'll have to end the meeting. Pilar says she doesn't understand why they sound like enemies when they should be cousins working together. Rodrigo says they're not going to be working together, because he's resigning from Montalvocorp. Pilar and Bruno shake their heads in disbelief. Aaron's mood improves considerably.

Rod assures them that Aaron can take over as general director again. Rod wants to start a new business, be independent, have his own office, maybe even start his own distillery. He's left everything in order. He'll still continue to be a member of the family, run the hacienda, attend meetings and such. Aaron sarcastically offers to attend meetings too, to keep up on how Rod is running the hacienda. Rod gamely agrees to this and offers to share all the paperwork with him. Aaron hints that perhaps not all is as straightforward and honest as it could be.

Bruno gets angry and tells Aaron he has to take over Montalvocorp, but he's going to watch him and make sure he doesn't play with the company's money again. "Fine, whatever, old man" Aaron replies like a sulky adolescent. Bruno angrily drinks a glass of water in Aaron's general direction.

The meeting breaks up and Rod tells Pilar he won't be able to stay very long at the Don Amador event. Pilar says all that matters to her is that he shows up and brings his wife.

As Pilar is leaving, Margarita tells Rod that Dr. Robledo is on line 2. Rod and Erika compare notes on their day. They make small talk, he tells her he resigned, and asks to come over and see her.

Back at Pilar's, Frankie is fixin' to visit his cousin Estefan. "You weren't going to tell me?" Frankie says he didn't want to bother her. Sofia says "wait - I'll go with you!" Frankie is taken aback by this, then recovers and says Estefan is bummed because he broke up with his girlfriend, and Sofia doesn't want to hear all about that, it'd be boring. They'll just stay home instead.

Dani and Elvis show up just in time to prevent some grisly crime - not sure whether that would be Sofia killing Frankie, Frankie killing Sofia, or me killing both of them. After a round of warm greetings to Sofia and a reminder of the upcoming reading of the last part of Amador's will, Elvis taunts Frankie not to get his hopes up. Amador never met either of them, so they don't stand to gain so much as a pin. And even if he had met them, he probably wouldn't have left either of them anything. (That's Elvis's way of telling snotty Frankie that Amador wouldn't have held him in any higher esteem than he would Elvis. Actually, I get the impression that Amador would have enjoyed both of them - Elvis for the sincere laughs, and Frankie for the fun of mocking him.)

Frankie haughtily brags that he's here because he was invited to the CRT event. Elvis says he was invited too. "You'll look like a fly in milk," Frankie laughs. (I bet he stayed up all night thinking of that one.) Elvis says he's not sure if he's the fly or the milk, but he's certainly going, even if he is on the council's "blacklist."

Oh my gosh! I just realized something... Elvis is BLACK! Why wasn't this brought to our attention sooner?

The women giggle, and Elvis (who is BLACK!) excuses himself to visit Granny-Fish.

Frankie's cell rings. It's Isa, now alone at home. "What is going on? I'm waiting!" He greets her as Estefan and says okay, we'll get together some other time. He then hangs up and tells Sofia that Estefan and his girlfriend got back together and they'll be too busy for company. Frankie's going to watch a movie. He tells Sofia to get him a glass of dry sherry and some prosciutto. He strides out of the room with a huge smirk on his face.

Sofia tells Dani she knows he's lying. Dani offers to listen if Sofia wants to talk, but it's okay if she doesn't want to talk, except she might get an ulcer. Sofie says she'd like to explain, but she doesn't want to until she has proof. Which is too bad, because if she and Dani were to compare notes on their suspicions about Isa, this telenovela could be wrapped up by the end of the week.

Isa tries to call Frankie back and is angry to find that he's turned off his phone.

Minnie tells Fedra she's not feeling well. Fedra laughs knowingly and jokes that it must be the pregnancy. The joke is somewhat cheapened by the fact that only Fedra knows why it's funny. Aaron comes home and sarcastically announces that he hasn't lost a penny of the family's money. Plus, he's regaining control of Montalvocorp. Fedra hugs him and says she's proud of him. Then he tells them about Rodrigo's resignation.

Rodrigo meets Erika at her office. They talk about the situation with Ricardo not paying his debt. Nothing new is revealed, except that he's worried that Aaron will find out that the hacienda's earnings are at risk. He wants to solve the problem before he has to report the hacienda's finances. Erika points out that once he solves this problem, he won't need anything from his wife; and after all, none of this is her fault.

Erika senses there is something else on his mind. He admits he's not sure of his wife's fidelity either, but still has no proof. He ponders the divorce, hopes they'll come to a fair arrangement and that he won't have to fight for the right to see his own kid.

Pilar and Sofia interview Dani about Rodrigo's progress with the therapist. Ha. Ha ha. He's trying to make a change in his life, and trying to forget about Gavi. The big test of that will be at tomorrow's CRT event. In other news, Rod and the psychologist aren't dating, but their relationship isn't strictly professional either. They are "friends." Pilar looks hopeful. Sofia looks skeptical.

Rodrigo tries to set up a dinner date tomorrow with Erika. She already has plans with some friends, and she reminds him of the CRT event. He's looking for a reason not to go - she says he can come to this thing with her friends too, if she wants. But she wonders why he's so reluctant to go to the CRT. Is he afraid he'll lose control when he sees Gavi? He admits that he feels more at peace now that he's not seeing her. Not to mention Dr. Blondie. Erika tells him he should take this opportunity to see whether his feelings for Gavi really have changed. He kisses her cheek goodbye and leaves. She seems bemused by the kiss.

Clarita and Gavi talk Dr. Blondie. He hasn't said anything to her directly. Clarita says something folksy about hot salsa and cockfighting. They wonder about Rod's therapy. I think Gavi points out that the psychologist she went to wasn't able to cure her. (Guess what Gavi - Rod's seeing the same exact quack.)

Ofelia and Roman talk about how spring is coming, and with it, the jimadores. They reminisce about Don Amador, and how different things are at the hacienda now. Rodrigo getting married, and Gaviota's face when she found out. According to Mr. James, Rodrigo fell sick with jealousy and had to get away from Gavi; that's why he threw himself into his work. Ofelia says it's like their love was cursed.

The word "cursed" is barely out of Ofelia's lips when SanWanna bursts in. She seems surprised not to get a warm welcome. Actually, they yell at her and tell her that if she came for some type of severance payment, to forget it. She shrugs this off and proudly announces that she's here so they can "resolved things" for her child. They try to kick her out, and she asks if they really want to fire the mother of their future grandchild, since the squirt she's expecting is Hilario's. Hilario didn't take the news well, said nasty things, and said it wasn't his, but she swears it is.

Ofelia doesn't believe her either. She says this is all because Hilario changed his luck and now SanWanna is trying to get a piece of the pie. SanWanna insists there wasn't any other man. Ofelia again tells her to get out.

But Roman sticks up for SanWanna and says that since his son isn't man enough to do it, he'll take responsibility for his grandchild. (Ofelia waves her hands around in disbelief.) SanWanna's gonna stay! Ofelia runs out in a snit. Stunned, SanWanna can only say "Thank you, Roman." But Roman refuses to meet her eyes.

Rodrigo gets home. Henrietta hands him a piece of paper and a phone. The wife and kid are in bed, and the piece of paper is Ricardo Sr.'s new phone number. Rod calls Ricardo Sr., who is in a private poker lounge at this very moment (Ricardo does not know this) and answers in English. He insists that his financial situation has improved considerably, and not to worry. After he hangs up, he jinxes himself by telling the others at his table, "tonight's my night!"

Here is what I've learned from this telenovela so far: gambling is an evil vice that cannot be enjoyed in moderation, but tequila is very sophisticated and mostly harmless. Folk remedies aren't effective in keeping agave plants healthy, but love potions are extremely powerful. And if you're black, you should make lots of jokes about your race, to put others at ease. (Because it's your fault if people are uncomfortable.) What else?

Rodrigo and Gaviota sit alone in their living rooms. Then they both get up and start pacing. Then they each have a tequila. More pacing, couch-sitting, faces in hands, sighing, crying. (This is done on a split screen to make sure that we totally get that they're, like, joined at the soul and junk.) Each turns sideways on the sofa so they're facing each other on the split screen. They gaze into each others' eyes in absentia and murmur each others' name.

The next day: Dr. Blondie is briefing Gavi on the agaves-maturing-too-fast problem. Gavi's old boss (Demetrio Urban) will go to Guadalajara first thing in the morning and Gavi will join him there later. It'll be a super-quick visit, like lightning. Gavi is bummed because she won't be able to take her mom out for her birthday. Dr. B says no problem, he will take Clarita out himself. Gavi reminds him that he's got another event to attend.

He asks if she's made sure the Montalvo women have been invited. Gavi confirms that they have. He leaves her alone for a moment and she makes a quick prayer to Virgencita for protection against the nasty Montalvo crows who will try to pluck out her eyes.

Frankie finally calls Isa. She's angry it's taken so long; he says Sofia wouldn't leave him alone for a minute since they got there. Fortunately she's out shopping now. He scolds her for calling on the house phone, but she says that's what he gets for turning his cell off. He reminds her that it's dangerous to keep calling, and all these "wrong numbers" are making Pilar nervous. She says they'll never know the calls are coming from her, since she's calling from her own new secret phone that nobody else knows the number to. He points out that it's still in her name, and someone could report it (for making harassing hang-up calls, I guess).

Isa wants to see him ASAP. He says they'll see each other at the CRT thing for Don Amador. She says nope, she's not going. And she needs to see him because things are getting very complicated.

While they're talking, Sofia arrives at the lobby of the Basurio (whatever it is called, where Isa lives) and asks Belisario (the concierge) about the night man. The concierge says they recently got a new one. They had to get rid of Pascual because Isadora had some unspecified problem with him. Apparently this happened on the same exact day as Sofia's last visit. She asks if there's some way to contact him. Belisario gives him the business card of the agency that employs Pascual.

Isa is still on the phone with Frankie, saying that she needs to get out of here before all the anvils come crashing down (maybe not in so many words), when the doorbell rings. As Enriqueta lets Sofia in, Isa says "oh, gotta go Mom [the captions incorrectly say "Dani"!], I just saw a ghost, it's my sister in law Sofia, talk to you later, kissies" and hangs up. She tries to act casual, but Sofia is stiff with her. Isa tells Sofia about the brujas' plan to not attend the one and only important CRT event they've ever been invited to, the one that will honor the man whose big bucks allow all of them to live in cushy penthouse luxury.

Meanwhile, Minnie is giving Nancy hell over the phone and retracts the RSVPs on behalf of herself, Fedra, Isa, and Sofia. Nancy tries to clear things up, and Minnie lets her know that there's no confusion. They're going to send an open letter to Av* to explain their reasons. She hangs up and Fedra snickers happily.

"You can't do this!" Sofia tells Isa, because it'd upset Pilar rather than Gaviota. Before she can point out any of the other many fatal flaws in the brujas' plan, or maybe turn the conversation to something much more interesting, the phone rings. It's Minnie, saying she made the call to the CRT. Isa urges Sofie to go to Minnie's with her so they can congratulate one another on how clever and evil they are. Sofia says "count me out." This is about her grandfather - and for her, that's sacred.

---

Miércoles

• Frankie catches Sofie on the phone with James. (Sofia, if you were thinking of making an ironic comment, now would be a good time to do it.)
• Pammy's dad tells Avellaneda about some documents he dug up during his trip to Asia. "You're scaring me," Av* says.
• The brujas commit the ultimate social faux pas - they attend an event they said they wouldn't.
• And oh yeah, Rodrigo and Gaviota meet face-to-face.

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