Caray, Caray!

Could only watch this once, folks: unbearable to watch out two sociopaths at work twice! so if I leave anything out or garble something, blame the writers. They have created the most vicious duo in telenovela history (not that I've seen that many....but still....)

Brief rehash of Lorena sobbing quietly. Quiet crying is somehow more painful to watch than loud dramatic boo-hooing. Brief but gut-wrenching.

Don Toribio and Alonso are chatting at breakfast after a sleepless, tossing and turning night by our doc. Papa can't believe that Lorena would do the awful things she's accused of. He wants to talk to her, try and clear things up. Alonso forbids it..."it's a personal matter"..".stay out of it Dad. " Then he leaves to take a walk. Guess who's lurking outside the door?..our lovely Sara...ready to pour more poison in the wound.

She plays the victim, soooo disappointed to find out what the real Lorena is like. Yes, everything Chalo told you is true. I'm so disillusioned and blah blah blah. Stupid Alonso just laps it up and finally concludes "The Lorena we thought we knew and believed in is dead".

Back at the apartment Don Toribio is considering calling Lorena in spite of his son's protests. Not sure of her number so he fumbles around with the phone book.

Back to Alonso and Sara. There's one snag in her plan. Alonso doesn't want to see Sara anymore either! Too painful. Reminds him of Lorena. No can do. More clever crap from Sara. How she doesn't want to lose their "friendship" and so forth. This arch-villaness is good...very good. And her prey all seem to be IQ deficient. Not fun to watch, not fun at all.

Alonso gets back to the apartment and catches Dad talking to Lorena..."another Lorena, not your Lorena". Don't say that name! Alonso calls her a "cualquiera" (hussy, floozie, tart). Don Toribio had made a date to have coffee with Lorena but his son talks him out of it. Our poor lamb, already suffering, is stood up by papa.

Back at Maruja's house, Lorena is sitting there looking like a half-drowned puppy. Man, she's breaking my heart! Rossy and Mom want to go set Alonso straight...'"He'll listen to me!" insists Maruja. But Lorena thinks he won't and that it will do no good. (She's right on that point)

Zulema and Omar are having a cozy breakfast( with a wee bit of afterglow going on )but Omar's concerned at how little she's eating. Zulema smiles blissfully and says "La belleza cuesta" (being beautiful takes work, "costs")

Sara's at her desk, gnashing her teeth and vowing to get Alonso back in her clutches somehow. Jacqui asks her how her replies to the banquet invitation are going. Sara's only got two, (because Jacqui gave her the tough ones) while Jaqui has fielded a bumper crop.

Vasco and Diana are at the obstetrician's office. When Diana's called in, the doctor asks Vasco if he's the dad so he can come in too. Vasco says "yes; Diana says "no". The doctor looks puzzled and Vasco looks peeved. Sorry...can't see this as a problem, given what's happening to Lorena folks!

After the ads, we're back at casa pobre. Lorena is giving herself a sad little pep-talk about being strong and not giving way... but she's dragging.

Little snit between Diana and Vasco continues at the office. He's offended...and disappointed because he thought "they were on the same wave length". She protests that she can't just shunt Bruno aside like that.

Back at the casa, Zulema notices how distracted Lorena is, repeats that a client needs two extra portions of rice and sends her and Julian off to deliver. He cheerfully reminds her that the last one to finish the deliveries has to pay for the drinks. Make mine a hemlock, waiter.

Hortensia is reviewing the progress Jacqui and Sara have made on the invitation replies. Clearly Jacqui has become VERY efficient after her little "vacation". Smiles for Jaqui, not so much for Sara.

Brief scene with Paula and her dad. She says she's afraid to look for work...but she's going to. Very sorry though to hear about the breakup with Alonso and Lorena.

Now for the one good scene in the whole darned show tonight. Rossy tells Julian about Chalo's lies and she and Julian and Maruja head over to Chalo's like the Three Musketeers to set things right. Slugs and punches, more landing on Chalo than Julian, although both score. Landlord arrives to try and break things up and after Chalo sucker punches Julian, Rossy breaks a vase over Chalo's head. They leave but not without adding, "This isn't over, punk!"

Okay, let me pause for a moment and just relive and savor that scene. Mmmmmmm Because that was it! Everything else was pretty much awful tonight. I'm fantasizing about punching out a few of these writers myself.

Now we have a scene of Alonso brooding. He does the brooding bit fairly well, doesn't involve a lot of histrionics...although come to think of it, he does red-faced rage well too. Gotta give the guy his props. Then he says those classic telenovela words..."I'm going to forget (him, her it). I'm going to drive (him, her, whatever) out of my mind." We've heard 'em a gazillion times, we'll hear them again. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Patti's trying to work on a study project with a nearly comatose Lorena. She finally pries out of her the news of the breakup but Lorena won't say more because she'll cry if she talks about it.

A little light relief: Bettina's on the phone with her buddy, dishing about the potential romance between buddy's dad and Bettina's mom. They plan to throw them together again after their dance lessons that week.

Omar comes home, looking good in his suit and with even better news. He found a job in administration! Not at as high a salary as he would have wished, but still! Smiles and hugs.

Switch to Diana and Vasco. Do you forgive me, she asks. Do you love me or not? he replies.

Julian, with Rossy and Maruja in tow, arrives home and there's a big brouhaha about his injuries and then the whole sordid story of Chalo's lies about Lorena is revealed. More brouhaha and outrage.

Now a Sara and Chalo scene. (Gawd, I hate these two!) She wants to know what happened when she sees his injuries. Chalo brushes that aside and threatens that if she doesn't bring him money....DI-NE-RO! he's going to rat her out to old lady Hortensia.

Now we're back at casa pobre. Zulema wants to go talk to Alonso and straighten things out. Omar tries to nix the plan. They need to solve their own problems. (this is exactly what a husband would say and exactly what a wife would ignore). She steams ahead and goes to Alonso's apartment. Omar says he'll wait outside since he hardly knows the guy (this really rings true as well. It's exactly the way my husband would react).

Zulema excuses herself for meddling but she just can't let Alonso believe Chalo's lies. She KNOWS Lorena and she's a girl of integrity. Alonso assures her sadly that she's blind. Lorena is none of that. Just ask Sara. Lorena has been envious of her and deceitful all along. The only liar is Lorena herself. You can't be serious, protests Zulema. Believe me, the truth hurts me even more than you, answers Alonso and then more blah blah about how "he must forget her".

Maruja and Rossy come home to a moribund Lorena and mess each other up with conflicting stories about where they've been. So the truth comes out. They tried to get Chalo to confess his lies but no luck. But Rossy DID break a vase over his head. But there's hope, maybe Zulema will convince Alonso of the truth.

Okay, just let me take another little break and relive that vase breaking over Chalo's head again. 'Twas my only happy moment tonight. Join me, won't you?

Okay, back to ugly reality. They're dosing Julian with "chuchitos de arnica" for his wounds. Arnica seems to be big in this household. I've had some New Agey friends try and give me that after I had surgery but I didn't take it. Maybe I should have. Our good folks are all pondering the same question: "If we all believe Lorena, why doesn't Alonso?"

Another scene change. We're at Paula's. Pop's hanging around waiting for Alonso to pick him up. Alonso's late because Zulema's been talking to him. Paula hopes that he's reconciled with Lorena. Big Alonso snit. What she's done is unforgivable!!! Pop tells him to calm down and stop yelling. Paula looks perturbed.

Sara's also looking perturbed...for about a microsecond....while she ponders how to get some money for Chalo. She quickly thinks of a solution...blackmail Barbara!

Now some sad black and white memories for Lorena, thinking back to when Alonso loved her so. Why don't you believe me? she wonders.

Back at the casa pobre, Zulema is talking to Omar (with Sara listening behind a convenient pillar, naturally) while Zully worries that Sara, their daughter, is not a good person. She's mercenary, she's hard-hearted and she's made things worse between Alonso and Lorena by what she's said. There's something "feo" in all this, muses Zulema.

Back to Don Toribio and Alonso. Pops is now referring to Lorena as "esa" and wondering how they're going to eat if "esa" isn't bringing them food. Son is going to die of bitterness ("bilis"...literally bile) and Dad's going to die of hunger.

Maruja's on the phone with Paula, trying to talk to her about the Alonso-Lorena situation but Paula's on her way out to her first job interview and doesn't have time to talk. I'll spare you the wait and tell you that the job interview turns out to be for a sex hotline telephone job. She turns it down after a string of insults to the head honcho.

Now we have the confrontation between Zulema and Sara...for which Sara is well prepared, having eavesdropped on the Omar-Zulema conversation. The way this was portrayed in the previews, we had the hope that Zulema lowered the boom on Sara. But of course Sara manages to convince Zully that Lorena's a dangerous, conniving skank. Sure she "loves" Alonso...because he's paying for her tuition and she told you it was a scholarship, right?! And how about what she did to the mayonnaise...ruined it so you business would fail! Why I even bet she set that fire at Omar's!. She's mercenary, dangerous, we can't have her around! You've got to let her go...tell her you can't pay her salary anymore, what with the mortgage costs. C'mon...think about it! How did Chalo manage to find her in a city as big as Mexico City! And why's he always hanging 'round? And finally the clincher, pouting out her over-lipsticked lips, "It hurts me that you don't believe me".

Ugh. Excuse me while I go retch.

Okay, back to Diana and Vasco. He asks "Me amas?" She replies "Te quiero". Not the answer he was hoping for. Then things get cosier as he tells her she's beginning to "show" and if anyone asks, she can tell them "he's the dad". She seems to like this idea.

Now we see poor little miserable Lorena on a bus and suddenly Alonso gets on and asks if he can sit beside her. NOT!!! Alas, it was just her imagination. A total stranger is beside her. Her vow to "get him out of her heart" is not going well.

Enough of that. Now we're at the office. Jaqui's having a little spat with Dario on the phone. Oversexed Arturo walks by and gives her the eye. She gives it right back. Then he goes into the office (Jaime's? Hortensia's...dunno) and finds Barbara and starts laying the moves on her. "Are you crazy" she wheezes in that awful high-pitched voice of hers. He moves on to a cozy little fantasy about doing away with Jaime so that she's a rich widow...what could be sexier!? She reproves him..."Not wanting Jaime and wanting him dead are two different things", she corrects.
More icky flirting and promises of punishment of no kisses when Sara walks in. Barbara beats a hasty retreat and Sara, all smiles, starts grilling Arturo about his work background.

More Vasco and Diana. He's been promoted. Now we can get married! He notices she's not excited. She wants him to slow down. Okay....but just sayin'...I've got more to offer you now.

Sara's let up on Arturo and is successfully manipulating Chalo again, promising to get him the money but just do this one more teeny-weeny little thing for me....call Lorena again.

Lorena drags into Zulema's house, asking if Zully wants her to go to the market. Nope, done already. Cellphone rings. It's Chalo. She doesn't answer but the fact that he's calling her just confirms the doubts Sara has planted in Zulema's head. "I'm sorry to say this...but you can't work here anymore," says Zulema. Impactada look from Lorena.

The End

Forget the previews!...I mean, who wants to know what's coming next? If you watched this too, I hope you're pouring yourself a big glass of wine about now, and forgetting the whole darned thing. ( Except maybe Rossy breaking a vase over Chalo's head.) Hold that thought.

Labels: enemiga