Caray, Caray!

Wow. Where to start? This was one hot episode. Lots of action and near action and promise of things to come. Good stuff.

First, the obligatory rehash: Monita and Paula chase off bosomy Anastacia. Only Monita brings Mau his coffee, thank you very much! And in Mau's office, a proud Aldo tells him he passed the entrance exam, while a wily Connie horns in on the hug and the celebration....just in time for Moni to enter and have her romantic hopes dashed again. Both Mau and Moni look stricken but Connie doesn't release her death grip on his arm.

Now the new: Fetching codependant Estrella is trying to save Moni by searching out the incriminating letter from Mau. Nieves, lurking in the shadows says "Looking for this?" Whoops.

Connie, playing her trump card, says she'll arrange a celebration dinner at the house for Aldo. Mau has that "close your eyes and think of England" grimace on his face à la MEPS and Fernando. And Connie, like her counterpart Errika, either doesn't notice or doesn't care.

A distraught Moni runs into the new Italian client, Señor Vichy, with the coffee and spills it all over his well-filled jacket. She's apologetic and wants to get some stain remover. He's intrigued and is hardly giving her enough room to breathe, much less do any dry cleaning. Mau meanwhile is fuming with jealousy. Great! let's ratchet up the testosterone right here right now. Food fight!

And speaking of food, Connie is lamenting that Moni is like badly medicated salmonella poisoning...she leaves, she comes back, she leaves, she reappears. Cozying up to those kids is driving her crazy. Crazzzzeeeeee! she adds when Jeri remonstrates that she shouldn't let her neurosis interfere with long-term strategy. Poor Connie.

Our lovable Beto (can't help it) wanders in to work late, after sleeping off his drunk. Grumbles a bit about the task Gabi assigns him till she reminds him that's why they pay him a salary. And you, Moni...run off 80 copies both sides of this, Gabi adds.

Alright. A still prickly Mauricio, with Sal's help, is attempting to hold a civilized meeting with hunkalicious Vichy. But our sexy Italian excuses himself right in the middle of the meeting to "make a phone call". Mau isn't fooled. Sure 'nough, the hound heads straight for the coffee room and is trying to ask Moni out for dinner and who knows what else! Mau knows. And he doesn't like it. There's some bickering back and forth and Moni pulls another flounce out. Mau just shakes his head and wonders why she didn't come with an instruction manual...'cause he sure doesn't understand her. Beto, who just came in the room, thinks this is a stitch.

A brief scene in Jeri's office where we learn, yet again, that Anastacia has Sal eating out of her hand and is ready to move in for the kill, per Oscar's oily instructions. Jeri barges in with Vichy, who appears to momentarily stumble over Anastacia's projectiles, and then the three men sit down to discuss business.

And Estrella...whew, she's all business too. In fact she's been haggling with Nieves for three hours to get the letter back. We hear her final arguments. Yes, Moni is fond of Beto. That's why she's having such a hard time breaking up with him. BUT SHE DOESN'T LOVE HIM! You can't make somebody love another person. And do you want Beto to be unhappy the rest of his life, married to someone who's not in love with him? The argument hits home. Slowly, Nieves tears up the letter. (Actually, anyone else wondering whether or not Beto can actually read said letter? ..... I'm figuring him for a happy illiterate.)

After the ads, Oscar has come up with a ploy to get Moni involved with Vichy and leave the Mau field open to Connie. Vichy has left but now Gaby needs to send Moni to his hotel with the contract for him to sign. Dum de dum dum. Oscar figures while he's there, he might as well hit on Gaby, but she's not having any. Good girl.

A morose Mau arrives home, none too happy to find Connie there once again. He's had a short but tough day at the office. Well, don't forget, I'm organizing a celebration dinner for Aldo, she shrieks. Just then, our favorite device...phone call from Gaby. She's sent Moni to Vichy's hotel with the contract. Mau's outta there. Can't wait to see how this plays out.

But we DO have to wait. Because now we see Beto on the phone with Conni, insisting they get together. She resists, then folds, promising to meet him tomorrow at the boutique. He's so inspired by the thought he's slurping his tongue all over the phone. She's so inspired, she's rubbing her scarlet cellphone sensuously all over her body. Quite a scene. And Aldo was listening in to it all.

Things are equally hot at the office. Anastacia is all ears and all bosom, listening to Sal's tale of woe. She plants a big kiss on his lips just as Gabi enters in the room. Busted.

Quick. Back to home base. Aldo's telling Ivan that Connie has a lover. Then Connie finds out that Mau has left and is pitching a hissy fit. Aldo doesn't care but clearly our frustrated vamp does.

Now back to the interesting action at the pool. Moni has asked Vichy for his "poderosa" (signature) on the contract but he's more interested in getting her up to his room. Mau arrives in high dudgeon. There's some nice antler-bashing and in the midst of all this Moni falls in the pool and manages to drown in record time. Our galanes battle for who will save her and Mau wins, executing a very nice, fully clothed dive in, frantic rescue, really bad CPR...too many mouth to mouths..(.in fact Red Cross says you can't skip that part completely) and then he pressed on her throat instead of her sternum for God's sake...lucky he didn't kill her...Vichy watches all this shaking his head and so do we. But clearly, he sees how things are. Moni and Mau are crazy for each other. And all wet and shivery to boot. Hmmm...where will this lead?

Back at the office, female equivalent of antler bashing. Gaby's warning Anastacia to quit circling around Sal like a cat in heat (gata en celo) 'cause you don' wanna see Gabi's bad side! And you will if you keep this up. A somewhat penitent Sal arrives (It was JUST a kiss!) and wants to know if Gaby's still seeing Oscar. No...but after all, Oscar offered marriage. What are you offering me? Love. Yeah, love shared with your wife, your lover and.....me. Don't want to be no. 2 much less no. 3.

This endless wrangle is interrupted by Constanza wanting to know where Mau is. Not here. Try his cell. It's off (turns out the water ruined it). If you're lying to me, there'll be trouble threatens Conni. His kids are in trouble and he has to be informed. Gabi's unimpressed but she and Sal head out for the hotel, figuring that's where Mau went. And they're right.

Moni and Mau have gone to a room to warm up, dry off and who knows what else.... Moni's charmed with the little fridge, the chocolates, the bed big enough for 10 and next thing you know she's invited Mau into a jumping contest and all-out pillow fight. Foreplay for sure. Whoops, she's too rough and has bounced him off the bed. That's it. Take off your clothes. What!? I'm not a sexual object!!!! Noo...not what I meant. We have to get rid of these wet chilled clothes and warm up in the shower. More double entendres. He tells her to wait for him in bed while he showers. Oh yeah? All warm and naked, you mean? DID I SAY THAT!? Okay, towel wrapped around his waist, he finally limps to the shower. Not sure if it was the injury of falling off the bed or just general amorous enthusiasm. But it was a nice, realistic touch. She smiles. I think she knows what brought on that limp.

Of course all this is interrupted by more ads. But I'm not going anywhere! And neither is Connie. She's lamenting all the time spent helping Aldo study and Jeri's doing his darnedest to capitalize on the situation, listening and groping and leading the spying Ivan and Aldo to think that Jeronimo is the secret lover.

Back at the hotel room. Hubba hubba...Mauricio has tiptoed near the shower to listen to Moni singing away. Then the sweet, poignant piano version of the Gancho theme song plays in the background. Music to melt by. When she comes out, he lifts her into his arms (alright, I admit I was waiting for his towel to drop while he carried her. The dang thing must be stapled on!) and together they fall onto the bed, wrapped in each other's arms, enraptured by each other's kisses and tender embraces and....and....where was I.?..blast and double blast! Moni remembers Beto's sweet proposal and whimpers...no I can't, I can't. And she doesn't.

Pooh. She dashes out in her robe and takes the elevator down. Mauricio then dashes out in his towel and runs into a shocked Gabi and Sal in the elevator. Gaby's so impressed with Mau's manly chest she stammers and feels obligated to "tutearlo" seeing as how he's half-naked and all. But here's the message. Connie says you need to get home to your kids. There's a problem.

Our final scene is pretty anticlimactic, even though it involves our adorable Xime. She's hanging with Pau and Estrella, still lamenting her breakup with Rolu. The girls are trying to get her to fill that empty brain with something besides romantic mush. Like maybe work? Heavens no! Well, anyway, think of yourself. Forget Rolu.

Moni arrives in her robe. Xime is entranced with the new "look" but then backtracks. Nope, gonna rise above mere fashion sense. Take a good look at me, she adds. This is the last time you'll see the old Xime. From now on I'm gonna change. (Please Xime, not too much. We love you just the way you are.)

And now, the smokin' hot previews:

Mauricio's figured out why Moni can't....Her promise was the promise to arrive at the altar a virgin.
Estrella busts into Moni's room and finds Beto and Constanza going at it hot and heavy....and in Moni's bed! How dare you!
And crazy Lorenza's on the phone, appearing to be threatening to "off" people one by one while a horrified Mauricio listens.

Vocabulary:

"sipi" = "si" (yes), Xime's valley girl talk
maldita chancluda = damned wretch (chancludo, chancluda adj. meaning wretched, sloppy)
no me chupo el dedo - I wasn't born yesterday (Gabi's line)
desplantes = rudeness...Conni complaining about Mauricio's behavior
la poderosa = signature
le clavo las garras = I'll get my claws into him...Anastacia bragging that she has Sal spellbound
eché un buche = I tied one on, got drunk (Beto)
no repeles= don't resist (Gabi, remonstrating with Beto who didn't want to do his assigned chores) from "repeler" resist, repulse, repel. una tela que repele el agua....a waterproof fabric
cuando le pintamos la rayita al zorrillito? (lit. when are we going to paint the stripes on the little skunk (thanks Carlos).....or, as we would say When are we going to get it on!!!??? or...when are we going to tear off a strip?

Dicho of the Day:

El burro hablando de orejas. The pot calling the kettle black. Gabi's critique of Salvador. We've had this dicho before (and will again, no doubt) but it never hurts to "review and learn new". Right?

Labels: gancho