Caray, Caray!

Feo and Gabi have just formalized their engagement. Nobody feels much like toasting the happy couple, so Gabi lays a guilt trip on them. Sofi stiffly wishes them well and Sarita grudgingly follows suit. Grandpa, clutching Sofía's hand, says nothing. The two daughters take tiny sips of their champagne, then look away disgustedly as Gabi and Feo seemingly proceed to consummate their engagement right there.

Now we embark upon a montage with pan-pipe accompaniment:

• Juan bonds with the tribe in a barn-raising party.
• Franco, Q, and Pablito work the fields.
• Rigo and his family move in with the Reyes.
• Juan bounces a new baby happily until he remembers something he can't quite remember.
• Sofi and Sarita make big bucks at their trinket shop. Eva brings Pablito by for some hugs.
• Rosario continues to be worshiped as a goddess at the Bad Love Bar.
• Juan verbally defends the tribe against the toothless government guy and the dimestore shaman.
• Franco tries to talk to Sarita, and she rebuffs him, not letting him see her tears of regret.
• Franco & co. do more serenades.
• Sofi prays some more for the safe return of her child.

Juan totes water and firewood, and corrects the breadmaker's technique. Suddenly, he has a flashback about Libia's tomb, the "FR" tree, three little boys with bandannas on their heads, and a glowing lily. He keels over from the shock, landing headfirst in the dough (woohoo! Gorilla cookies with hair!!) and then lands on his ass, screaming in pain.

"Days later," as the caption says, a strange hairy man rides into Serdán on a beautiful white horse. Wait, that's no strange hairy man - it's Oscar with whiskers. There is much rejoicing. Tadeo approaches him eagerly, hoping for good news, but the look in Oscar's eyes betrays disappointment. The townsfolk stand around expectantly. Franco runs to greet him. Eva begs for a happy report. Oscar is silent for a long time as everyone waits tensely. Finally he shakes his head and hugs Franco.

I keep wishing he had hung around the tribal village just long enough for a shave.

Juan tells Silvestre and his crowd of onlookers that he doesn't know where he learned how to bake bread. He's already got a big trayful of several varieties, which he hands out to everyone.

Back in Serdan, Oscar tells them he searched all over and found no sign of either Juan or the child. Sofía shows up a split-second later with Grandpa and Sarita, and Oscar repeats that he didn't find them. Sofi goes into hysterics and begs for it not to be true. Everyone is crying.

Juan's still kneading the dough, working it like a madman. He seems very concerned that the village will run out of bread. He has Silvestre stoke the oven. (Evidently, Silvestre is the only helpful person in this village.)

(Aerial shot of the Hacienda Agustín shows a utility pole right out front, perfect for posting a "lost baby" flyer...)

Sarita tells Grandpa that her mother and Feo left early for Puebla. Grandpa knows why. Sure enough, a judge in the state capital is declaring them married at this very moment. Next thing, they're in bed and it's so gross. He's saying "now you're mine, all mine until we're separated by death." Well, how long can that be?

Dr. Leonora watches Juan toss and turn in his sleep. Just like she learned in med school, she takes her clothes off (I see she's wearing a thong because you wanna be extra-sexy and uncomfortable when you're in the middle of nowhere) and gets into bed with him and takes his oblivious sleepy hand.

Meanwhile, Sofía reprises her Wuthering Heights La Llorona act, wandering the misty moors Dry Ice Woods (previously the Rape Forest), gnashing her teeth and crying for Heathcliff Juan and her child. She encounters a mysterious man, former Dancing With The Stars contestant Cristian de la Fuente, on a white horse. He gets down for a better look, but she has already disappeared into the fog.

At Las Barrancas ("The Ravines"), as the tribal village is apparently called, Juan sleepily takes the Doctora in his arms and kisses her. Then he realizes that she's not... whoever it is that he doesn't remember... and hastily pushes her away and tells her to get dressed. He can't be with her because he doesn't know who he is or where he came from. (She is watching him put his pants on, he's still wearing those black underpants, I keep wondering if she's going to call him Ralph or Calvin based on whatever name is on the tag.) He needs time to remember if he's got a girlfriend or anything. What if he never remembers anything, she asks? He says in that case, maybe he'll stay here and maybe they'll have a relationship. But he just wants time.

Sofi plays with her bell collection and remembers the Dancing Star she saw in the woods. "That man's not from around here. I've never seen him before. Who could he be?"

He's a guy who's staying in a nice place, petting a dog, and looking at an old framed photo of a blond woman and a little girl (looks like Gina from QE) and a little boy. He wonders who that woman in the mist could be.

Sofía lights a candle and remembers Oscar saying he didn't find Juan and the baby. She decides to go looking for the child herself. But evidently not tonight.

Oscar tells Franco he had a funny feeling that Juan had been at this Ravines place, even searched the place from hut to hut, but maybe his compulsion to find Juan made him a little goofy. Franco hesitantly raises the possibility that Juan could be dead.

Juan, smeared in flour, is sniffing one of his world-famous conchas. He's about to take a bite when some guy shows up and tells Juan he's a señalado (a "sign" - a prophet? a prophecy?). He's humble, but he's a señalado. Not just because he saved the doctora's life, but because of the light in his eyes and his great strength. Juan says he's just a guy with no past; he's lost. The guy says that when one feels lost, he should listen to his heart for the answer. His past is in his hands, and the seed he planted in his past will become his future.

Some time later (I'll skipping ahead for storytelling convenience), Juan chases the wise man and asks him to repeat what he said. He tells Juan that men aren't the masters of their own destinies. When they wander off their marked path, something always brings them back. Juan asks, what if they have nothing and nowhere to go back to? In that case, they have to work with what they've got and try to go on. Juan seems unhappy with this advice.

Still later, Juan tells the wise man he can't be happy if he doesn't know his past or who he is. Wise man says nobody really knows who he is, so no need to get all worked up about it. Juan says, "I feel like I've met you before, and all that you're saying, I've heard it before from someone like you." But he can't remember.

Sofi prays some more about finding her child. She still thinks Juan took her away, and with her, all of Sofi's hopes and dreams. Without her daughter, she's nobody. She's a woman without a present and without a future and without a past. (Damn, if only she had that seed the wise man was talking about!)

The Robles-Reyes crops are coming in nicely. Franco says there were times he felt like throwing in the towel, what with all the problems. On one side, Sofi was blaming Juan for stealing their child. On the other side, Gabi was putting their crops at risk. Quintina kept him going, and they got their water back, and they started a serenading business, which had been Oscar's idea in the first place. Oscar's very proud of what Franco was able to accomplish on his own.

Oscar asks about Jimena. Franco says she's had nervous breakdown and word is her mom wants to have her committed.

(And now a cell phone ad featuring La Llorona. She warns travelers that this roadway is a DEAD zone. All of their messages will be lost! Waaaaaah!)

Oscar's upset about Gabi's plan to put Jimena away. Then Franco updates Oscar about that whole business with the water pump at the spring and their father signing it over to her and how she claims he was in love with her, which we know is the opposite of what really happened, and Oscar doesn't buy it either.

Feo notes the change in Gabriela - she no longer has that air of bitterness. She credits him for the change. He suggests that they get dressed and go for a stroll, but Gabi wants to just hang around and screw. She says they won't be able to enjoy their happiness in the city with everyone watching and judging them. And now she's ready for some more sugar. (Dude, she's going to break it!)

Franco and Oscar agree there's no way their dad was ever in love with Gabi, but they wonder why he signed over the rights to the spring. Oscar misses Jimena, but he's worried that if he visits her she'll get worse. Franco suggests talking to Eva to find out what's going on.

Franco again admits he's worried that Juan could be dead, but he's not ready to give up, and he wants to go search for Juan himself. Oscar says they should wait for the crop to come in, and then resume the search together.

They wonder if they should reserve the pastures for grazing, or if they should plant something there. Just then, the Dancing Star comes along and introduces himself as Damián Ferrer. He offers to rent their pastures because he raises horses who need a place to graze. He says they can name their price. Oscar coolly says he'll think about it.

Oscar and Franco step aside to discuss. Oscar of course wants to get big bucks out of the guy, while Franco warns him not to be greedy and wants only what's fair. Oscar says that because Juan wants them to be honorable, he'll do that, but just this time.

Grandpa works out a document with some lawyer saying Feo can have no control over Grandpa's assets, nor over any part of the hacienda that belongs to him. (As I recall, Grandpa still owns 20% of the hacienda that never belonged to Bernardo.) If Feo tries anything with Grandpa's things, he'll be committing a very serious crime. Grandpa gloats.

Feo is thought-bubbling in bed that he enjoys Gabi's passion, but he enjoys her money even more. Gabi asks why he's looking at her that way. He says he's thinking how much he loves her and how happy they'll be.

Oscar and Franco show Damián into the hacienda to discuss price; he'll pay more than a reasonable amount if that's what they need. Oscar starts to agree that that's a great idea, but Franco cuts him off and says no, of course it'll be a fair price and not a cent more. Then Quintina shows up and is impactada at his handsomeness. He smiles in a friendly way and doesn't even blink at her clown-lips. He kisses her hand and she swoons. She says she's in love and demonstrates swoons a few more times.

El Ex-Jefe gets a visit from Coyote, who says he looked everywhere and didn't find Juan, it's like the earth swallowed him up. Ex-Jefe tells him to continue watching out for the Reyes and also keep an eye on Feo. He doesn't believe a word of Feo's version of what happened that night, and if he dared to lie, they'll find out sooner or later and Feo will be sorry.

The sooner-or-later-to-be-sorry man is bragging to Gabi that he's going to make the hacienda the most productive in the region and show everyone that he married for love, not for money like they all think. They'll find out who Feonando Escandon is and and what he's capable of doing for his wife's love.

She moans that she's soooo happy. He wants to go back to the hacienda now and tell everybody about their wedding. She wants to stay at the hotel para siempre. When they get back to the hacienda it'll be all the problems again. He says she doesn't have to worry about any of that, he'll take care of everything, all he cares about is her welfare, peace, and health. "You won't be sorry." She gets horny again.

Sofi tells Jimena that Oscar came back. She hopes that will get a reaction out of Jimena. Jimena doesn't react, which Sofía muses could either mean that Jimena doesn't care, or else she does care but can't show it. "How we've suffered," Sofía says. The three of them have suffered, and they don't deserve it. Oscar came back without Juan and without the baby, she says. He said he couldn't find them, but she's not going to give up. She'll keep looking for her child and never give up. Never!

Mexico airdate: 24 de Junio
Word of the day: Agobiarse = to suffocate, become anxious, get uptight/worked up.
Next time: Sofi calls Juan on the Psychic Friend Hotline. Only, maybe it's not what it seems, because it looks as though Dr. Leonora can hear Sofía too.

Labels: Fuego