Caray, Caray!

Soledad (who has a beautiful new yellow gown) demands to know what the Plan of Vengeance (PoV) is that she heard Hugo talking about. He responds that it is none of her business. Soledad says that since her baby is living there, PoVs are her concern. Hugo says that he has a PoV against some people who have hurt him. "Like who?" asks Soledad, "do I know them?" "Maybe more than you know," responds Hugo. Soledad says that he is frightening her. It isn't good to harbor resentments. She thought he had changed. "Some wounds don't heal that easily," says Hugo. Soledad asks what 'wounds' he is talking about. Hugo doesn't want to talk about it but he tells her not to be concerned. His PoV won't put her or her baby at risk. "You don't know that," says Soledad, "I just hope you know what you are doing." She continues, "Sometimes when you want to hurt someone else, you end up hurting yourself." (Good advice, Hugo that you probably won't take.)

Ester tells Antonia that they are not bringing Lucas to the baptism because he is drunk and might make a scene and embarrass Soledad (and Ester). Antonia disapproves but accepts Ester's decision.

Paquito blackmails a guy who is going to be a waiter at the baptism into murdering Alcides by giving him a drink with the poison he got from the druggist in it. He tells the waiter that the poison works by paralyzing the heart.

At the House of Sad*sm, Beatriz is back to flogging Alcides but he doesn't react to the blows. This seems to feed Beatriz' hatred all the more.

Soledad tells Ursula about her conversation with Hugo/Alcides. She says that for a second she thought he was referring to her as among those upon whom he was seeking vengeance. Ursula says that if that is so, has all the nice behavior of Alcides lately been a lie? Ursula also thinks that Arturo de Linares is the probably the target of Alcides' PoV. Although it is apparently only a short time until the baptism ceremony starts, Soledad decides to write Eloisa a note and tell her not to come to the ceremony. She asks Ursula to deliver it. On Alcides' orders, Marina refuses to let Ursula leave the house. There is a scene and Boris finds the note and gives it to Hugo.

At the Linares house, Hercu-less shows up and tells Arturo, Eloisa and Gladis that the carriage is ready. Arturo doesn't want him around but Gladis drops the bombshell that he is her escort. (I don't want to even think about what other services Hercu-less might be performing for Doña Gladis).

Hugo wanted to hire Guillermo to perform at the fiesta but has learned that he has lost his sight. Elena says that Guillermo can play without being able to see but he no longer has a violin. Hugo sends Guillermo and Boris off to the music store to buy him another violin. Guillermo thanks Alcides profusely and says that he sounds like Don Hugo. "Is that what you think?" says Hugo. Boris pulls Guillermo away from Hugo and tells him that Hugo is paying him back for saving Boris' life when Hercu-less tried to kill him. Hugo gives an invitation to the party for Elena to give to Dr. Max. Elena tries to suggest that a party is no place for a doctor but Hugo insists.

Hugo has hired the Mysterious Lady to perform at the party. Rebeca is also invited. (I guess she is going to do a quick change in a closet or something.)

Hugo comes into Soledad's room to confront her about the note. He asks if she is in league with his enemies and why she is interfering with his plans. Soledad says that wasn't her intention. She doesn't understand why Alcides needs more money. He already got Hugo's fortune. What more does he want? (There doesn't seem to be any reason for Soledad to assume that Hugo's PoV involves him getting more money but this is an opening for Alcides/Hugo to continue his questioning of Soledad's motives and relationship to Hugo.) He tells Soledad that she and her family also benefited from Hugo's money. That is why she married him. Soledad responds that she only married Alcides to save her parent's house. She says that she was never interested in Hugo's money and didn't agree to marry Hugo for his money either. "Is that so?" says Hugo, "You were with Hugo for love then? If that were true, you would have come to his wake and you didn't and you would have visited his grave and you didn't." Poor Soledad is trapped in her lie again and can only respond that she doesn't want to talk about Hugo anymore. Hugo, who is behaving more like Alcides here than he has before, pulls Soledad roughly around and tells her not to meddle in his affairs again. When he is gone, Soledad says that she doesn't know how much longer she can continue with this lie.

In the study, Boris tells Hugo that he can see that his conversation with Soledad has upset him. Hugo says that every time he talks to Soledad, he is reminded of her betrayal. She is always lying and double dealing. First with Hugo and then with Hugo/Alcides. Boris says that it was good that the note wasn't delivered to Eloisa. Hugo agrees. He wants Arturo to be present along with everyone else to participate in the PoV.

Lucas is wandering around his yard in his pj's looking for his women. Enrico is at the house to water the orchid and he tells Lucas that they have gone to the baptism. "Why didn't they tell me?" asks Lucas. "You were drunk," says Enrico. Enrico has an invitation to the baptism and he will take Lucas if he promises that he won't drink. (We will see what Lucas' promises are worth shortly.)

In spite of Elena's amusing recital of the horrors of attending parties: the noise, drunken people, etc. Dr. Max says that he wouldn't miss the baptism party. Guillermo wonders why Elena does not want Dr. Max to go. Is it because he wants to dance? Dr. Max doesn't want to dance, he tells the Cabinet of his Dead Wife that wants to take the opportunity to get a blood sample from Aurora. He seems to think that the blood of people with catalepsy contains some secret of eternal life that he can use to bring his wife back to life. (Dr. Max already got some blood from Hugo and he couldn't find anything in it so why is Aurora's blood going to be any different?) Elena witnesses at least part of this conversation.

At the House of Sad*sm, Alcides needs to use the rest room. Beatriz says that he only gets one trip a day so he'd better hold it but when he is writhing in agony, she relents and unlocks his chains. (Um, I can think of much simpler ways to deal with this need that a nurse would certainly be familiar with, especially for a man) Poor Alcides can't walk and has to drag himself along. When he comes back, Beatriz has a gun and orders him to get back on the table thingy. Alcides manages attack to Beatriz and gets her gun. He demands to know what Beatriz has been injecting him with. She refuses to tell him and they have the same conversation they have had before: he doesn't understand why Beatriz is torturing him since he doesn't even know who she is and Beatriz saying that she can do whatever she wants with him. Alcides decides that Beatriz deserves death for what she has done to him and he fires the gun. Unfortunately, the gun is broken and Beatriz knew this. She taunts him again and he lashes out in a fury and knocks her unconscious. He asks God what he has done to deserve this. (How much time have you got, Alcides?) Beatriz wakes up to find herself chained up where she had been holding Alcides. Alcides (who now looks a lot more like he did before he lost his memory) says, "the tables are turned now and we have a lot of accounts to settle."

The guests arrive at the baptism and are received by Hugo and Soledad and Ursula with the baby. Ester and Antonia arrive and Soledad asks where her father is. Ester says that he is indisposed. Rebeca arrives and recognizes the necklace that little Aurora is wearing as having belonged to her dead husband. Soledad says that it was a gift from Enrico who inherited it. Arturo and Eloisa arrive. Arturo says that he never thought he would be a guest in this house and Hugo says that life has many twists and turns. Soledad tells Eloisa that she hopes the truce continues and Eloisa says that she keeps an eye on Arturo. Arturo says that he hopes Soledad does the same for Alcides.

Rebeca tells Hercu-less about the necklace and that it has the initials - SDM on it. Does Hercu-less think it has something to do with the treasure? H thinks that it might but only Enrico can provide the answers and they haven't been able to find him. At that moment, Lucas and Enrico arrive at the party. Rebeca says that their luck may be changing.

The baptism ceremony takes place. (Hugo looks so cute holding the baby.) Afterwards, Hugo asks the male guests to come in his study while the ladies continue to enjoy the party. Manrique the money lender tells the judge and Inspector Duarte that he guesses that Alcides' announcement has something to do with business since Alcides was never much for social events. The inspector and the judge agree that they need to keep an eye on Alcides. Guillermo wants to go with the men but Elena has to go too since otherwise he couldn't find the door.

Ursula tells Soledad that she will take the baby upstairs to feed her. Dr. Max sees his opportunity. Ursula leaves the baby alone in her crib while she goes to get a bottle. Dr. Max sneaks in and takes blood from the baby. (I hope that needle is clean!) Eloisa witnesses some of this.

Hugo tells the assembled men that he has discovered evidence that there may be a valuable vein of gold in the Medina family mine (the one that collapsed). Lucas, who is tossing back drinks with great rapidity, takes the opportunity to point out that Alcides caused the mine to collapse himself and in the process nearly killed his daughter. Hugo says that was an accident. Hugo has a mine engineer confirm what he is saying (about the gold, not the collapse). Hugo says that he needs people to invest to reopen the mine because doing so is beyond his means and that is why he has gotten them all together. There is skepticism that the mine is stable enough to permit new tunnels and Hugo says that they should study the information that he has distributed. The mine engineer says that Hugo will pay for a test tunnel to determine the quality of the gold deposit.

During this time, the murderous waiter has come in with a try of glasses, one of which is poisoned. Hugo refuses a drink and somehow the waiter keeps everyone else from taking the poisoned glass.

Elena and Guillermo are walking outside. Elena sees Dr. Max leaving the house and she doesn't like his expression. She stashes Guillermo in the bushes and goes to confront the doctor. She finds the vial of Aurora's blood in his pocket and says that she is going to tell Alcides about it but when Dr. Max threatens to kill her, she is forced to leave with him.

Guillermo is left alone. He staggers around looking for Elena. He finds Enrico's cart and gets in and hides under a blanket (don't even ask why he would do that). Enrico approaches the cart and Hercu-less throws a blanket over his head and bundles him in the cart and drives off. (Abandoning Gladis at the party is not a great idea, Herc.)

Boris tells Hugo that the mine proposition hasn't aroused much interest. Hugo says this is only the first step. When they see the proof, they will invest. All those who did harm to Hugo will give him their money and when they figure out what is going on, it will be too late. "And Señora Soledad?" asks Boris, "have you thought about what she will say?" Hugo responds that by then Soledad will be at his feet desperately in love with the man she sold her soul to for money - Alcides de Medina, his twin brother.

The Mysterious Lady performs her one and only song while Lucas looks on like an idiot and keeps drinking even when Enrico tells him to stop. Soledad is also concerned about her father's drinking. Hugo says that he will take care of it. He and Boris tell Lucas he's had enough and that it's time for him to leave. Lucas says that he wants to watch the performance but Enrico says that he will go and get his cart to take Lucas home.

The waiter tells Paquito that Hugo hasn't had a single drink (maybe after what happened at his bachelor party, Hugo has stopped accepting drinks at parties.) Paquito has a plan. When the ML finishes her performance, he calls for a toast. Hugo takes the poisoned glass of wine. Lucas interrupts with a drunken toast of his own and manages to knock Soledad's glass out of her hand. Hugo hands her his glass. The toast is made and Soledad drinks from the poisoned glass. Hugo and Soledad make their own toast to their daughter and Soledad drinks from the poisoned glass again. Paquito does not seem to be upset at the change of victims. (Welcome to the dark side, Paquito, attempted murder crosses the line.) Soledad feels ill and collapses. The credits roll.

No episode tomorrow due to the Billboard awards. Friday- only a miracle can save Soledad.

Labels: la traicion