Caray, Caray!

Here's a silly thing I did this weekend. Click to enlarge to full size (sorry the photo's blurry - long story).

Also: Special thanks to commenter PanQue for the heads-up about the FelS musical tour, which will include ¡¡¡20!!! US cities.

Short version:

• The jealousies of Oscar, Franco, Jimena, Sarita, Benito, Eugenia, and Rigo escalate. Rosario stays true to Franco despite serious competition from Bobby. There is a lot of discussion about what everyone's hearts are telling them.
  
  
• Grandpa and Sofia plan to keep the hacienda out of escrow by selling their corn crop. While touring this piece of property, Grandpa notices "FR" carved into a tree and tries to remember why those initials are familiar.
  
  
• Oscar finds out that Feo has a huge gambling debt that could get him killed.
  
  
• Armando pays some townsfolk for information and/or assistance, but we aren't told why.
  
  
• Crabi shows up at the Reyes home, wanting to whip someone senseless. Juan volunteers his broad shoulders for this purpose, in exchange for which Gabi is not to bother any of them again.
  
  
• Crabi tells Raquel the wedding will take place in a week, or else never, and she locks up Sarita and Jimena until then (after smacking them around).
  
  
• Crabi tells her dead husband that Sofia's dead to her. Meanwhile, Juan tells his brothers that he can forgive, and that the vengeance is over.
  

Long version:

At the church, Juan and Sofi tell the Virgencita statue that they're going to name their baby "Maria Guadalupe" if it's a girl. If a boy, they will name him "George Foreman."

Sofia's wearing much better clothes today - a plain white dress with a red scarf around the middle. Notice she's been wearing colors ever since she left the hacienda? She asks Juan why he's annoyed with Eva. He is saved by the bell, or should I say the whistle - Grandpa, Quintina, Rosendo, and Luisito have arrived.

Quintina, Rosendo, and Luisito retire to the kitchen, leaving Grandpa alone with Sofia and Juan. Grandpa says the hacienda is doing badly, and they're going to have to mortgage it. Sofia doesn't want this to happen - they could lose it. But Grandpa says he's not going to sign those papers until he's sure that the money will be used to pay the hacienda's debt, and not Feonando's. (Juan looks up, curious.)

Grandpa says that's why he came to see Sofi - he's found someone who's interested in their planned corn crop, and will give them an advance.

Juan jumps up and says no, he doesn't want Sofi to go to the hacienda. It's too dangerous there. Grandpa says he'll look out for her.

The Uribes are at the hacienda to pick up their hot dates. Jimena is glad - they've been dying of boredom. Sarita wants to tell Mommy they're going. Jimena nixes this - if they tell her, she won't let them go. Instead she leaves a message with Fatima, the maid, to tell Mommy they went out with their fiances. Now they can go visit Sofia! Sarita glances around nervously as Jimena drags her away.

Juan generously gives Sofia permission to go to the hacienda but begs her to be careful. What a guy! She says she'll be careful, and she won't even get on a horse, especially not Mr. Ed. "Know what? Ever since my father died, his horse gets really nervous when it sees Fernando."

"You didn't tell me that," Grandpa interrupts, but says they'll talk about that later. Juan asks Grandpa to look out for Sofi. Rosendo promises too. He says he'll protect her with his own life, if necessary.

Juan kisses her tummy goodbye.

Maracuya is at the market, admiring some pottery (just what every traveling performer needs!) when the sound of an accordion lures her away to investigate.

Franco is singing for the crowd. The Uribes arrive with their fiancees. Franco signals Oscar, who is eating an apple, with a wink. Oscar makes funny faces at Jimena and lip-syncs at her with his mouth full of half-chewed apple. Jimena pretends to be offended; Octavio looks like he might be enjoying this.

Not far away, Quintina and Pablito try to dash past Hortensia without being seen. They fail. Hortensia wants to know when Quintina is going to enroll Pablito in school. Pablito cowers in terror! (Aw please. You just know that he's going to grow up to become the brilliant scientist who rids the town of the nuclear waste that's been rotting their brains.) Quintina says she's been too busy doing stuff for "Johnny" (Juan); they'll talk about it later, but right now they're going to hear Franco sing, and then she's going to do something with Grandpa... something about his windows or his glasses? In any case it's just an excuse. She and Pablito run like the wind before Hortensia can ask any more questions!

Oscar has his back turned to Jimena; he turns around to wave his apple at her but stops short when he sees Maracuya standing behind her, waving back. Jimena notes the weird look on his face and makes a face of her own. He turns his back again. Jimena catches sight of Maracuya and assumes that all of Oscar's flirting was directed at the Passion Fruit. Maracuya grins mischievously at Jimena, who stalks off. Mara joyfully soaks up the anger.

Franco takes a slightly resistant Sarita in his arms and begins to dance with her while still singing. Oscar stuffs the rest of his apple into confused Octavio's hand and chases Jimena. Maracuya leaves too. Benito takes off on a mission of his own.

Oscar is pacing in the kitchen like a madman. His spurs go jingle, jingle, jingle... Fr. Tadeo tells him to calm down; nothing's going to happen to Sofia. Juan regrets having let her go to the hacienda. He wants to go look for her. The padre reminds him of the perils of reckless behavior and assures her that Sofia will come back in one piece.

Juan unhappily says that he and Sofia are very happy right now, in love. But it's hard for him to go on lying, not telling her that they're really Libia's brothers, and that they originally approached Sofia's family to take revenge on Sofia and her sisters. Fr. T tells him that if he thinks it's time to tell her the truth then do it, but carefully consider what he's going to say.

Sarita now seems to be enjoying her dance with Franco. He lets go of her when the song ends. She runs away, but only far enough to encourage him to follow. (Octavio also starts to follow, still clutching that apple, but Franco stops him.) He reminds her that he doesn't want to go on hurting her, but he's confused. He's not speaking as a macho, but as a man who is suffering. With false bravado, she insists that he's wrong, and he cannot love two women at the same time. (Just for that, I hope she falls in love with someone else.) He says everyone tells him that, but how does he tell his heart not to feel what it shouldn't? How does he tell his heart that it's wrong?

Rosario and Bobby are on stage together. He's singing and she's dancing. Afterwards (but with his song still playing magically as he speaks!), he asks her to join up with him, stay with him, and give him the chance to win her heart. She says sorry, but no, she loves someone else. He says that doesn't matter - he'll do whatever he can to get her to forget him. She again says sorry, but in matters of love, the heart is in charge. She loves Franco and will never stop loving him. Never! Bobby is bummed.

Grandpa, Rosendo, Sofia, and Luisito are on their way to the hacienda. Rosendo asks Sofia to be his kids' godmother (I don't think this is a godmother in the sense we usually mean, but more like a sacramental sponsor) at their first Communion. She agrees and says she was thinking of going back to teaching catechism classes anyway. Grandpa is glad, because this means she's gotten better. (She quit after she was raped, because Feo had grabbed her on the way home from teaching class.) She says Juan helped her conquer all of her fears.

Rosendo says he'd love for Juan to be the godfather, too. Grandpa says the kid(s) couldn't have better godparents. Sofia worries that her mother will find out, get angry with Rosendo, maybe even fire him. He says it's worth the risk, and he has to be loyal to his feelings and his conscience.

Gabi is in the process of purging all of Sofia's things from her closet. In addition to the familiar black and white things, there are a few blue blouses that I've never seen her wear.

Frenzied, Gabi says she's going to burn all of Sofia's stuff. Feo grabs her and says it's really hot when she gets all decisive; nothing can stop her. She twists away from him and says it's a good thing he recognizes that, because that goes for him, too - he'd better not be playing with her or she'll make him pay for his betrayal.

He tries to cheer her up by sticking his tongue down her throat. Again with her noises of revulsion, but she also drops Sofia's clothes and clutches at him like he's the last bacon-wrapped scallop at my best friends' Christmas party. Then she pushes him off and says that's enough and she's busy.

Feo says fine, but he needs her to go get her father to sign those papers. She says she'll never give in to his demands - in exchange for signing, he wants her to let her daughters visit Sofia, and she won't permit that. She's the one who gives the orders around here! And Feo can't pressure her!

Stepping all over Sofia's clothes on the floor, Feo says he's just trying to help, but he'll leave it alone. "If what you want is to lose the hacienda, there you go." Gabi is bug-eyed.

The padre is still at the Reyes house, keeping Juan out of trouble. Juan says that according to what Nabor told him (in jail), Bernardo died under strange circumstances. Tadeo coyly says that hopefully they'll find out what really happened.

Rigo tries to talk to Eugenia, but she pays almost no attention to him. She is looking up and down the street and denies being nervous. Benito shows up and wants to talk. Eugenia tells him they have nothing to discuss; she has a boyfriend; he should try to be happy too. Rigo grabs Benito, shoves him, and punches him. This works in Benito's favor; Eugenia is momentarily upset with Rigo and sympathetic to Benito. The minute Benito notices this and suggests that she still loves him, however, Eugenia gets huffy again and goes off in search of Rigo.

Maracuya is telling Oscar she didn't know Franco was such a great singer. Oscar says Franco's as good as the best, and they have a serenading business, and Oscar's his agent. She says that's great - then she wasn't wrong to ask him to work for her. So how about it?

Oscar says he can't go. And what's he gonna do with a babe-a-saurus like her? (Many suggestions flash through my mind.) He's rough and coarse; he's a small-town guy who will just embarrass her. Mara says no, she always does what my heart tells her; she's been interested in him since she first saw him; he's a guy who's not afraid of anything, and she likes that.

Oscar says he's not accustomed to what she's offering and he's not the kind of guy she wants. Mara replies that fate only knocks once; you gotta answer the door!

Juan's almost finished cleaning up the mess in the bakery. He vows that he'll resurrect the bakery, and it'll be the best in the village.

Feo stands in the driveway with his cigar, waiting, as Rosendo drives Grandpa et al up to the house. The men tell Sofia and Luisito to hide, so they duck down in the back seat. Suspecting nothing, Feo greets Grandpa with a request to sign the documents. Grandpa reminds him that Gabi has to agree to let her grown daughters visit their sister. Feo says if they lose the hacienda it will be Grandpa's fault.

Grandpa says the next time Feo wants to see him, to make an appointment a month in advance so as not to waste Grandpa's super-busy time.

Juan goes into the Trunk of Robles-Reyes Past and finds the gown in which his siblings were baptized. He tells himself that his child will be baptized in it too.

The investor likes the looks of the planned corn site and tells Sofia and Grandpa that they have a deal. He says he's surprised and impressed with her knowledge of farming; she says her father taught her.

Just as they are about to leave, Grandpa is unnerved to see a big "FR" carved into a tree. He's seen those initials before, but he's not sure where.

Hilario tells Oscar that he and his brother are still investigating Feonando. They found out that he likes to gamble, but he's not lucky and he always loses. Oscar muses that Feo must not be as wealthy as he appears. Hilario says he owes big bucks to a guy called "El Coyote" who follows him around, and if Feo doesn't pay up, they'll kill him.

Armando is interviewing some people in the pueblo, giving them money to make them talk. The first woman he asks shakes her head regretfully. The second woman tells him something; he hands her another gangsta roll and leaves. Her friends seem impressed. Unfortunately, this is video only, with tense music. We have no idea what's going on!

"It's all ready - let's go" he says, getting into Feo's truck. They speed away.

Juan is doing some carpentry but can't concentrate. He's worried that his girl is taking so long to come back. He prays that she and his child are okay. He is just about to go get her when Rosendo brings her home safe and sound, as promised.

Juan is not happy to see Eva there too. Sofia explains that she brought her to teach her how to knit. Juan scoffs, scowls at Eva, and shows Sofia the baptism gown in which he and his siblings were baptized. Eva lovingly picks up the bonnet, which Juan has dropped. Sofia oohs and ahhs over the gown. Eva offers him the bonnet. He takes it awkwardly.

A little while later, Sarita and Jimena go into the bakery. Feo, lurking outside in his truck, sees them and leaves. The sisters have a happy reunion, but Sofia worries they'll get in trouble for seeing her. They blow this off and she shows them her two rows of knitting.

Eva is trying to get Juan to forgive her. She says she tried to help Libia that night. Juan replies that Eva could have saved his sister's life, but instead she chose to remain silent, and that silence caused her death. He wants to forgive Eva, but he can't. He never will.

Eva flashes back to her meeting with Libia. She told Libia that Bernardo really loved her. Libi asked, if Eva knew it was the truth, why didn't she say so? She begged Eva to stick up for her and cried "you don't know the pain" before staggering away, blind with heartbreak.

Juan has returned to his carpentry, but now he's in an even worse mood. He knocks over the table and his nice new cabinets and some random pieces of wood. Franco and Oscar come home. Oscar is still sore that Franco wouldn't take payment for singing to their pals at the market, and something about not taking meat from the butcher. Juan tells them they need to put up the wall, paint it, and put up some shelves.

Franco and Oscar tell Juan what Hilario (or is it "Eladio" as the captions say about 50% of the time) told them about Fernando's gambling debt. Pay up or die. They tried to kill him, shot at his truck. "So that's why he wants to mortgage the hacienda," Juan realizes. "That jerk wants to sink the Elizondos!"

Feo is doin' Brandy in the study, Gabi comes in and says she just found out about the shooting. He says it's no big deal; he got the window fixed. She tells him it was probably the Reyes and he should turn them in. Tired, he says he doesn't have any proof. She doesn't care - she wants them in jail again, so that she and Feo can make sure "that bastard" doesn't get born. He says her to forget about that and worry about the hacienda. If she can't come up with the cash he needs, he's mortgaging the place. She screams no, but he tells her she only thinks of her own interests instead of those of others. "For your information, Jimena and Sarita are, right now, at the home of those deadbeats, the Reyes."

Luis, Quintina, Pablito, and Grandpa go to the park with Mariachi and some other dog, and play ball. Then they leave.

Mom goes to the Reyes place and yells at her younger daughters for defying her and visiting their sister. It's the usual argument, but this time she's going to teach them to respect her and her orders - by whipping them!

Sofia offers to take the hit for them instead. (It doesn't occur to any of them to not let Gabi hit ANYONE?) Eva says oh no you don't, she's pregnant. But Sofia offers again, as long as Gabi won't punish anyone else.

Sarita and Jimena cower behind Eva, who offers weak verbal resistance while Gabi raises her arm. Fortunately Juan shows up and stops her. She tries to blame everything on him! She gets ready to leave and tells the younger daughters they'll pay when they get home. Sofi gets in the way and insists that her sisters mustn't take the blame for her. Gabi knocks her down. When Juan tries to pick her up, Gabi whips him.

Eva begs Gabi to have pity. "Nobody takes pity on me," Gabi replies with alligator tears. She says it's either Jimena and Sarita, or Sofia and her child.

Juan tells Gabi that if she must take out her anger on someone, to take it out on him. (I still say take her to jail. Or throw her in the river. I'm not picky.) In exchange, she must promise that she won't bother any of them ever again. Gabi agrees.

I'm used to seeing people do dumb things in telenovelas for plot convenience, but this is enragingly stupid. I appreciate that Juan thinks he's making a meaningful sacrifice, but look who he's dealing with. Anyway, you don't have to cooperate with someone who wants to hurt you. Especially when she's outnumbered and breaking the law. Anyway, what was Eva thinking about just a few minutes ago? Was she not feeling guilty that she didn't stick up for Libia? "Ooh, don't do that" is not an acceptable...

Never mind.

But wait! Someone is putting up a fight... Sofia doesn't approve of Juan's deal, and tries to shield him with her little body. Gabi gives her a warning swat. NOW Eva makes herself useful... she pulls Sofia out of the way so that Gabi can get a clear shot at Juan!

Nice work, Eva. Never mind what I think of Jimena and Sarita who are just watching the whole thing and crying and saying things like "no" but not doing anything else.

So Gabi stands about 10 feet behind Juan and whips him with her much shorter riding crop. Nevertheless, Juan makes it look painful.

Gabriela is crying too, but I don't know why. Is she disappointed she didn't get to beat Sofia? Is she happy-crying like Miss America? Is her arm getting sore? Because you can't tell me she feels guilty about this!

Anyway, more whipping, Sofia wanting to intercede, Eva holding Sofi back. Finally this idiocy is finished and Sofia tells her mother to keep her word and leave. Gabi regains her composure and tells Jimena and Sarita to go. They march ahead like obedient little ducklings.

Moments after Gabi leaves, Oscar and Franco are muy impactados to find Sofia crying on the floor with Juan. He's barely conscious.

The Uribes are having drinks with their auntie at home (the mysterious Ruth is not there) when Gabi bursts in and complains that she's not going to allow any more tricks - Raq's nephews have abused her trust. They have to get married now, or they can't see her daughters again.

Raquel is mystified by Gabi's attitude. Gabi insists that she move up the wedding date. Raq says fine, it's all ready. Gabi says one week. They get married in one week, and that's her last word. (Ha, they should be so lucky.) She marches out. Raquel looks questioningly at her nephews. Benito cracks a nervous grin. Octavio looks like he's awaiting root canal surgery.

Sofia cries and begs Juan's forgiveness as she dresses Juan's painful wounds. Oscar and Franco leave in disgust to discuss. They want Crabi to pay, but Franco says they can't do anything to her without hurting Sofia, because she's her mother. They'll wait till Juan gets better, then decide what to do.

Sofia tells Juan that ever since they've met, he's had only bad luck and sadness. He says no, she's only brought faith, hope and light into his life. Her love has made him a happier man.

Sofi says it pains her that her mother has so much hostility in her heart. "Sometimes I think she hates me, that she's never loved me." Juan says that can't be so. Mothers never hate their children. Never! (More fuel for the babyswap theorists!)

Sofi says she hopes his sacrifice wasn't in vain, and that Crabi doesn't hit her sisters.

Crabi smacks Sarita as soon as they get home. Jimena mentions the agreement with Juan. Crabi replies by smacking Jimena and blames her for corrupting Sarita. She's going to lock them up until they get married next week. She locks the balcony, windows, and of course the regular door. They cry and pound gently on the door so as not to break it.

At the cottage, Eva tells Quintina and Grandpa she couldn't believe how furiously Gabi beat Juan, until he passed out. (Quintina says it's a good thing she wasn't there because she would have tossed her around like a wild animal. I say it's too bad she wasn't there.) Grandpa does not know where it will end, but says it's time to rein Gabi in.

Crabi goes to Bernardo's shrine and tells him that he sowed a bad seed in his children, but from now on Sofia's not her child. She's disowning her! She won't look see her as her mother (heh, like she ever did?). She won't go near her. As far as she's concerned, Sofia's as dead as Bernardo. Totally dead.

Still face-down on the bed because of the sores on his back, Juan tells his brothers no more vengeance. Oscar thinks Crabi should pay. Franco helps Juan up. Juan says no more hate, he doesn't want Sofi to suffer. That damned old lady is her mother, and their child's grandmother.

The brothers say okay, they'll do what he wants, but what can they do with all this suffering and rage and pain?

Juan says he knows it hurts them that that woman beat him, but he doesn't care about her, because he's in love and he can forgive! "I love the woman that I once considered my worst enemy. So do you. No more hostility, no more hate, no more vengeance! No more!"

Then he makes an awful owie face.

Next time:
Feo acts like a jerk.

Labels: Fuego