Caray, Caray!

Sorry, I couldn’t help it. That thing just cracked me up. Besides, Mari’s acting was so mannered. But I get ahead of the story, so let’s rewind to the beginning…

We start with Mari on the phone saying kinder things about Ceci to Dora, the nice maid at Casa Velarde, who gives Mari the number of the hospital. Mari tells Cande that Dora wouldn’t tell her what Ceci wanted to say to her when she came to the theater to find her.

JM asks Rocio if she wants to come see Mari’s opening night. Rocio is excited for Mari but has a date with Vicente. She tells JM to be extra handsome. He thinks to himself I already am, which they don’t actually show but we can read his mind.

People are lined up at the box office to get tickets. Maybe this is a community theater, as some are wearing jeans. Mari is going through her costumes and Amador comes in and tells her to have everything ready so no last-minute panics. He says good actresses usually have big nerve attacks, and she says don’t get me started up. They discuss last-minute details and then Mari asks if she can use his cell.

Amador wants to know who she wants to call and she tells him Ceci. He tells her he said to stay away from those people and Mari said but she’s had an accident. Amador says this is no time to get yourself upset. Just focus on your debut.

JM and Leo are walking down a street in a hurry, and Leo says give me the car keys, I’ll see if I can park closer. But it’s not the theater they’re heading to we discover because JM walks in and there’s Stef sitting in a lobby under a drawing of a police chalk outline of a body which was apparently human roadkill as the road stripe goes right through it, so we gotta be at the hearing. She says she has to testify and JM asks what are you going to say? Stef’s idea of how to dress for a summons is a flimsy low-cut top with sparkly spaghetti straps.

Mari is telling her dresser, namely Olga, that Amador wouldn’t let her call Ceci. Olga says he’s just trying to protect you – she doesn’t hear the cellos fire up in the background. Probably years of prostitution have given her hearing loss in the dastardly-men range.

Stef says she doesn’t know why she was summoned, so she doesn’t know what she’s going to say. She’s called in and here comes Omar who only sees her retreating behind, not her face. JM says that’s Velarde’s kinda sorta daughter and Omar says oo la la, you have good taste. JM says but she’s very bad. He wants to wait to hear how things came out, so Omar says he’ll go for a nice walk in the neighborhood, which means probably that he wants to wander wraith-like through the streets of the DF looking for Lirio. Oh, that restless heart!

The doctor tells the judge that if Ceci’s internal hemorrhaging needs to get under control tonight or else….

Stef tells the hearing people that she met Blanca and that she thinks it was a good idea for JM to hire a nanny as the mother-in-law is a real problem and the child was hearing things a child shouldn’t, and that it gave JM someone on his side. She says Blanca was devoted to JM. The lawyer asks if Stef thinks Blanca would have done anything that JM asked and Stef says I believe so. Even help him get rid of a wife? Stef says she doesn’t want to make that kind of statement, but then she ends up saying yes.

The lawyer asks if she ever saw Blanca go all Ivette and Stef tells about the time she walked in on Ivette tied to the bed (we see the flashbacks) with Rocio there and how evil Ivette looked, and how she attacked Rocio and could have killed them all. She looked like she wanted to, says Stef.

Mari finds a payphone in the theater. The nurse can only tell her Ceci’s critical. Amador comes up and tells Mari off for calling. He takes a fit, throws down a folder and says she disobeyed him. What am I, your slave? says Mari. Amador says you have to give up a lot of things in this line of work, you can be replaced, you know. Fine, says Mari, I’m off!

The lawyer asks if Stef thinks it’s a matter of mental illness and Stef says I think Blanca’s a great actress – it’s all faked. Afterwards, Stef comes out and tells JM she said what she saw and what she thought. JM says he’s waiting for a friend – Omar Contreras. Stef’s eyebrows go up.

The judge is telling the padre that tonight is the critical night, they’ll know whether she’ll live or die. (Not too smart to say those things bedside – who knows what she could hear?) The padre tells him to go home and get some rest, what if there’s a moment when she really needs you and you’re exhausted? Go home, I’ll stay here and call you if she wakes. The judge acquiesces and gives Ceci a kiss on the forehead. The captions say beep beep beep.

JM tells Stef Omar is staying in his house and that he’s almost like a family member. The lawyer comes out and thanks Stef for her testimony. She says she believes that it’s not ethical for a lawyer to thank a witness for their testimony, and that’s she’s impartial and just told the truth. JM says you testified against Blanca? The lawyer says to Stef that she said Blanca was a faker. JM is shocked. Stef says she can’t perjure herself and why should she defend a murderess? She leaves and Omar is back, having conveniently missed her, and he and JM head for home to get freshened up.

Amador has followed Mari into her dressing room and is still yelling about her disobedience. She says bite me. The veins are standing out on his neck while he bellows at her that she can’t get upset and wreck her performance. Olga melts into the costume rack.

The Padre is reading his Bible and Ceci awakes and recognizes him. She tells him to let the judge get his rest, and she remembers this is Mari’s opening night. She wants to ask him a favor.
Olga tries to steady Mari and reminds her that she can’t walk out on the production - it’s for her future, plus she needs to understand that Amador has a lot invested. Mari says Ceci is critical and Olga says there’s plenty of room for hope, then. She points out that people have already bought their tickets… do it for your son!

Granny tells Mayita a sweet story about a little boy who went up to the heaven where all the babies who are waiting to be born are. He picks out his own brother. Mayita loves the story. Granny says one day, that baby brother you’ve been wanting will appear.

Amador comes into Mari’s dressing room and asks her if the show is going to go on. Mari humbly asks his forgiveness for disobeying and says he knows more about these matters than she does. For his part, Amador apologizes for going all jack-boot Gestapo on her. They shake. Cande (who, we recall, saved her from the street, gave her a home, faithfully followed her all over and was by her side through thick and thin …. but doesn’t even get to see her on her big opening night) calls his cell to wish her good luck. She and Mari talk sweetly. Showtime!

Stef and Isa are eating in a nice restaurant. They think probably JM has been too taken up with the hearings to notice the announcements about Mari’s play in the paper. Stef tells her aunt that she made it very clear at the hearings that she doesn’t like Blanca. Isa hopes and prays that Blanca will go to jail and JM too. And what will he do when he finds out Mari had his child?

Stef is philosophical and says who knows what the future will bring? For instance, Ceci hasn’t croaked yet. Too bad, says Isa, who prays some more. Stef then tells her guess what! That handsome hunk Leo is JM’s friend and he’s staying at his house! Isa is impactada. No puede ser! Stef says Leo’s looking for Lirio and maybe I’ll just tell him where she can be found.

Last minute rushing in the dressing room. Mari goes into the shower and then in burst the press who want to scoop others with an interview. Olga politely shooes them out. Olga, who is very impressed, tells Mari, who is all smiles. Olga says this is the biggest night of your life and she dances around.

At castle San Ramon, JM and Leo are all spiffed up, ready to go. Balbina tells Leo that a woman called while they were out, but didn’t identify herself. Leo’s antennae shoot up. They head out for the theater.

Olga, who wears no makeup, is apparently Mari’s makeup artist. Mari has on a fluffy pink chiffon number that makes our tiny actress look a bit pudgy. Mari is all wound up about going on, but she remembers that Amador told her when the curtain goes up, she should just pretend no one is there.

We’re at the theater and people are going in, all dressed up. So the jeans people earlier must have been just buying their tickets in advance. Leo says it’s an exciting night, and with all these people, wouldn’t it be something if he saw Lirio? Naw, she wasn’t interested in theater, he says. Time to go in! They sit down and Omar looks around, saying he has a premonition that he’ll see her there.

Four minutes to curtain! Mari is pacing, nervous. Why doesn’t she have the blond wig on? Two minutes! Olga says she’ll be behind the curtain with a script, okay? And be her prompter, okay? Mari says yes! (Just now they’re thinking of this?) Amador comes in and gives Mari a little kick in the rear – for luck, he says – and gives Olga one too. Olga picks up the towering blonde wig and runs out after them.

The doctor is checking Ceci and the judge is there pleading save my wife! Don’t let her die! The doctor says we’re doing everything we can. Ceci starts to come to. She asks for the padre who just then walks in. The judge breaks down and says do something padre. Science has done all it can, now she’s in the hands of God. The judge leaves to cry in private and the padre tells Ceci he did what she asked.

The curtain goes up and there is Mari posing in profile with that ridiculous piled-high wig. The Master of Ceremonies or whatever the character is starts up while Mari is frozen in position, so it’s hard to make her out. Omar hasn’t caught on yet.

The padre takes the tough love approach and tells Ceci that when Mari gave birth, she was also very ill and she told herself that she couldn’t die and leave her child alone. And now I’m telling you the same thing. Don’t leave your daughter alone in the world again. (You know, this might be the workable alternative to a national health plan, the Heal Thyself plan. It sure worked for Vicente.)

The play is only about 2 minutes in and Omar is already bored, having already scoped the audience. He tells JM he’s not used to being stuck in one spot for two hours and he wants to leave. The lady behind them shushes them. He and JM scoot out. JM gives him the car keys, and Leo turns his back to leave just as Mari turns to face the audience. Up the aisle he goes in slo mo. JM stands there, smiling, but I feel totally ripped off.

Curtain call – Mari is the last one out and the crowd leaps to its feet. Amador is ecstatic. Backstage, the press mobs Mari and wants to know about her business relationship with Amador and he says we’re a team! Mari, wig in hand, turns a corner and there stands JM smiling at her bee-sting lipped beauty.


Avances: somebody (Stef, natch) sends Omar a note saying she knows where Lirio can be found. Omar comes into their apartment and says Lirio, at last I’ve found you! Oops – JM is in the background, puzzled.

Labels: Cuidado