Caray, Caray!

There's a replay of Pablito's heartbreak and the sisters' confrontation with Tadeo, and the sisters leave. Juan tells his remaining audience that they've completed their vow to Libia, and now it's time to move on.

But that night, he rides into the darkness calling Sofía's name. He throws himself into the swimmin' hole, fully clothed. I think he's trying to drown himself, but maybe not, as he rises to the surface and shouts "No more pain! No more tears! I'm a dried-up tree!" (I know this is an odd thing to say, but if you Google "árbol seco" you get tons of hits - I think there's some cultural significance.)

The full moon shines through a tree that isn't completely dried up, but has probably seen better days.

Sofi meets Tadeo at the church to donate all of her clothing to the health clinic. (Interesting, because she left most of her clothes behind when she left the hacienda too - and Gabi planned to burn them.) She doesn't want the clothes to remind her of the time she spent at the Reyes' house. Tadeo warns her not to make this decision all by herself. She and Juan have a sacred bond. "Love is of two." Sofi says "betrayal is of one," and if it had really been love between two, it wouldn't have been destroyed with deception and lies.

She hands him bundles of clothes, old and new, and recognizes the wedding dress Juan bought for her. (Tadeo watches hopefully as she flashes back to when Juan gave her the dress; Juan turned away so that he wouldn't doom them with bad luck by seeing her hold it up to herself.) Sofía gets weepy but doesn't change her mind. "How wrong I was. The lie destroyed the strongest love." She hands him the dress.

Meanwhile, Oscar looks at his mother's ring that he gave to Jimena and remembers giving it to her in their heart-shaped outdoor honeymoon suite. Meanwhile, while playing the guitar and singing a sad song, Franco remembers some of his various early run-ins with Sarita, none of which seem very promising in my opinion.

The sisters tell their grandfather what happened. "all that time, they were just lying to us! And to think that you protected and defended them!" He apologizes to them, but says they fooled him too, and he's a fool, and he's lost the most important battle of his life, which was to protect the girls instead. That's what hurts the most. They gather around him and commiserate over having been deceived by vengeance.

Juan gets home, still wet, and scolds his brothers for their long faces. They need to move on and get back what's theirs - the hacienda, their land, their origins. Oscar asks why. Without their women, why bother? Franco agrees. He doesn't feel like fighting. Juan says they need to start over again. He makes them do the "Reyes are united" thing.

Eva goes to the bakery. Quintina stops her and says it's best if she doesn't go in - the girls have left, but first they and the boys exchanged a lot of terrible words and it's going to take a long time for them to forget.

Still at Grandpa's, Sofi tells her sisters that if there's one way that they're similar to the Reyes, it's that they're always united. "From now on, we'll be more united than ever!" Grandpa applauds.

Gabriela shows up. "Such a moving scene." Grandpa tells her not to spew any venom, "because this time I'm up for anything!" (Yeah, like what?) Gabi whines that he's always up for defending them against her, but not from "the strangers." She blames him for what happened. "Only you!"

Sofi defends him. "If you came here to enjoy our pain, go ahead, Ma, do it!" They're suffering and they won't hide it.

Gabi puts on her earnest face and says no, no, in no way does is she pleased about their pain. They've always accused her of not loving them, of being a bad mom, but all she cares about is protecting them. "A mother never makes a mistake, but you've never given me a break. They've been laughing at you. Now you can understand my pain when I found out that your father had cheated on me, but there's no grudge in my heart. So you can move back in whenever you want. It's still your house, and I'm your mother."

Sofi asks what will happen if they move back in? Will she make them bow their heads in subordination? Gabi sadly declares that Sofi's still defiant even after suffering the worst humiliations a woman can. Sofi says Gabi knows more than anyone that she's lost everything, not just her dignity. Gabi says she'll respect their decisions, when they respect her opinions as their mother, they'll all go back to normal if they each do their part.

Grandpa expresses doubt. She scolds him because he's always nagging her to be nice, and now that she's finally doing it, he's doubting her. "Is there no way to please you, Father?"

Sarita steps forward and says she believes Gabi and totally agrees with everything. They hug and make up. "I expected no less from you," Gabi says proudly.

"I'll come back too. I hope you can follow through on what you just promised," Jimena says.

"What do you say, Sofía? What's your decision?" Sofi says she appreciates the offer, but she isn't sure why she should go back to the house - "you continually make me feel as if I'm not your daughter."

Eva is at Rosario's, saying she deserves all of Grandpa's hate, and she's afraid to face the sisters. She thinks she should find them and ask for forgiveness, but she feels too badly. Rosario tries to comfort her and offers to go with her if she wants to talk to them, but asks her to be strong and not let them win. "That's what you've taught me." Eva wants to go alone, so that her problem with them doesn't interfere with Rosario's relationship with them.

The cantina crowd is cheering in anticipation, so Rosario goes to her public. Eva prays and practices asking the sisters' forgiveness. Rosario sings a sad song about things going wrong, and breaking a mirror and getting bad luck. "Then, and only then, you'll cry." Eva watches proudly in the audience.

Sofi follows her mother into her study, demanding to know whether she's her daughter or not. "Of course you're my daughter! What happened is that... look, we'll save this conversation for another time. I told you you're my daughter and that I welcome you with open arms. Isn't that good enough?"

Sofi says fine, but we're going to have that conversation, preferably real soon. Gabi impatiently agrees and asks how such a dainty girl as Sofi could have fallen in lough with that coarse brute? Sofi sits down and says she'll speak woman-to-woman. Juan awakened in her feelings that she had thought were dead. She goes on to describe all the feelings that Feo has awakened in Gabi - albeit in twisted form - helping her conquer her fears. Gabi looks thoroughly nauseated and says "I never thought that one day I'd hear one of my daughters speak like a... a slut." Sofi is not fazed and says that if a slut is someone who dares to love, then indeed that could be her. She lectures her mother some more about the glory of love. "Too bad you'll never get to know this."

Gabi seems overwhelmed by... it's hard to say what, but she's not happy. Sofi excuses herself.

Sofi has changed her clothes (I don't know where this dress came from) and restores her bell collection. Then she sits on her bed and remembers some happy times she had there when Juan snuck up to see her. "Why, Juan? Why?"

Grandpa chastises Juan for abusing his goodwill and taking advantage of him after he stuck up for them. "And all that for what? So you could repay me with betrayal." (Like the time Oscar scoured the countryside trying to spring him out of the old folks' home and later saved him from a snake? Or the time Juan saved him from falling down the stairs in his wheelchair? The time all three of them hoisted him, wheelchair and all, down from his balcony so that he could harrass Gabi? Yeah, what a bunch of jerks!!) And of course Juan disappointed him the most. "I thought you were gallant, but now I see you're a coward." He tries to get Juan to answer. "Even the worst delinquents find some words to defend themselves." Juan says he doesn't want to defend himself. Grandpa's right; they were wrong and now they must pay for their mistake.

Grandpa asks why. Juan says it was for the pain of losing their sister. Oscar adds that it's also for Bernardo tricking them. Grandpa insists that Bern really loved Libia. Oscar says Bern never told them he was married and had a family. Juan says Bern tricked their sister, and that's why they tricked Grandpa's granddaughters. "Bernardo deserves to be pardoned, but not us?" Grandpa has no answer. He pats Juan's arm. Juan pulls away.

Now Sofi is visiting her father. She's mad at him. "If you'd been honest with Libia from the start, none of this would have happened! Now we're paying for your guilt, Dad!" Then she begs his forgiveness for speaking to him that way and prays for him to help her.

Next Grandpa proceeds, in front of Pablito, to scold and fire Quintina for her loyalty to the Reyes. He fires her. She begs him not to and says it's hard for a squire to serve two masters. She doesn't even mention that time when they were in that crash and Grandpa was unconscious. She ran back to the Reyes', presumably on foot, to summon help.

He doesn't even want to see her again. "What am I going to do without you?" she asks tearfully. "I'll die of sadness."

Pablito salutes and asks if he's demoted too, if he can't be his general any more. "Kids have nothing to do with the problems adults. You can visit as often as you want."

Quintina begs a little more, but is rebuffed. "Bye, Quintina. Goodbye forever."

Jimena remembers getting the ring in the heart-shaped ring of candles and rose petals, and then she remembers giving it back.

Oscar washes dishes at the bakery. (The neck brace and sling are for real, by the way; Jorge Salinas fell off his horse.) He flashes back to Jimena giving back the ring too, and saying "save it for your next revenge."

Juan looks at the Robles-Reyes baptismal gown that Sofi left behind. He throws it into the Magical Mystery Trunk and slams it shut. Oscar says Juan's not eating or sleeping, just drinking coffee. He'll get sick. He tells Juan to pull himself together. Juan says he's nobody without Sofía. He has no reason to smile or to cry. He's a dried-up tree, he's got a dried-up soul and a dried-up heart. He has no hope of Sofía forgiving them. He's got nothing to lose. He has no tears (he says, wiping his eyes). He'll never cry. Never! Oscar pats his shoulder.

Sofi talks to her still-flat belly and promises that she'll be both mother and father to him. Feo comes in and humbly offers his help and support. He wants to show that he's not the bad person she thinks he is. Since they're still married, he's willing to register their child in his name. He'll promise to care for him as if his own. Sofi nixes this and asks, "how can you imagine yourself as father? You treat your true child Luisito so badly. I don't need you."

He promises to be a better dad from now on. "I hope so," Sofi answers, "for the good of your child. Good night!" He humbly and politely leaves.

"You don't need a father, my dear," she tells her belly. "You've already got one... though perhaps you'll never know him." She sighs.

Next day, Quintina is distracted and knocks over a sheet of rolls. Juan angrily chews her out. "I'm not annoyed, dang it!" he screams. "Just pay attention. That's all I ask!" Oscar and Franco pat her shoulder as she slinks out, hurt. Oscar and Franco ask him to calm down and remind him that they're going through the same thing he is, but it's unfair to take it out on others. Juan seems determined to jealously guard his pain. Then he has a mood swing and says they've got to put all their energy into getting their stuff back. They've already avenged Libia. Now it's time to avenge their parents.

They start by going to the lawyer and asking him to hurry up and resolve their claim. The lawyer explains that these things take a long time, they need to be patient, plus they haven't even brought him all the required documents yet. Oscar says they've been looking. Franco says they need an answer. The lawyer says they can have their answer after they complete all the legal proceedings. If any documents are missing, justice will be delayed, he won't be able to continue, and regrettably they'll lose their land.

Meanwhile, Raquel gripes to Benito that Ricardo's "famous friend" still hasn't shown up. Not even any news of him. Benito weakly suggests that she be patient. Panicked, she reminds him that the Reyes could win the judgment and throw them out of the house. Benito says they need to find the documents that prove the hacienda belongs to them. Raq says she's looked everywhere. They've got nothing to show that Ricardo acquired these lands legally.

Sarita's all recovered from her heartbreak, angrily saying she's not going to cry over those bricklayers because that'd be just like giving them the pleasure of vengeance all over again. Jimena is not quite ready for this stage of mourning yet. She tells Sarita to look her in the eye and say she's not suffering for having lost Franco. She reminds Sarita that he could go back to Rosario.

Rosario runs into Franco. She tries to express sympathy over what happened. He apologizes for all the hurt he caused her. She apologizes to him for his two brushes with death, which she feels were her fault. (Why blame Feo?) He says maybe those were to show her how much he loved her. He says he's still married to Sarita and will respect that even though they're separated now. Still, he'd like to know why she dumped him.

"I never stopped loving you. I stayed away from you because I'm not the right woman for you. So I decided to sacrifice my love for you so that you could be happy with Sarita. But I never stopped loving you, never." She totters off in those crazy shoes.

Juan shows up at Father Tadeo's office. "Why'd you send for me? Supposedly it's urgent?" Sofi is two steps behind him. "Good afternoon, Padre..." She and Juan stare at each other. "Why'd you send for me?" she asks, but she already knows the answer...

"To save your love, my children! To save your love!"

Nice try, Padre.

Mexico airdate: 29 de Mayo
Word of the day: Trámites - Steps, formalities, procedures, proceedings

Next time:
Feo acts like a jerk, giving the sisters a new, improved version of his last conversation with Bernardo. Granpa questions some of the details.

Labels: Fuego