Caray, Caray!

Fancy party. Alex advises Maura on her bogus question only intended to distract him.

Bruno grabs MaryJo to tell her that Daddy Pedro will be along soon and she needs to collect Paula so they can make their exit. MaryJo doesn't want to go and wonders what they'll live off of, but Bruno insists he has enough money, and besides, she doesn't seem to have a problem mooching off of Alex. MaryJo, for the millionth time asks him why he did this to her. I'm not rewinding to hear his answer, it's all a bunch of lies anyway.

MaryJo walks right past where Paula is having fun with some of her, uh, peers and toward Alex and Maura and hears Maura ask Alex the same question, "Why did you do this to me?" Apparently they were together just a few days before his "wedding." He says he and MaryJo have a deal, but it will probably be over soon and then he'll probably get a divorce. He can't tell her any more than that. She passionately kisses his jaw and then suggests they get together occasionally for a little romp while things are being resolved. That's enough for MaryJo and she goes back inside.

Bruno has wrangled Paula and sees MaryJo. He wants to know where she was and she wants to not do things this way. He gives her the option of either getting in the car with their dad now or he'll get in the car with dad and drive him down to the police station. Good girl MaryJo puts family first and drags Paula out behind her. Raquel and Maura's Little Sister (MLS until I can remember her name) smirk as they watch them leave.

Now Alex comes in looking for MaryJo, but nobody really knows where she is. Roberto is suspicious about the exit of Bruno, MaryJo, and Paula. Raquel and MLS fill him in on the gossip, at least the version they know, which is that MaryJo can't stand Alex and Bruno is helping her fly the coop. By the time Alex comes over to ask about MaryJo, Maura has also joined them. Raquel sends him on a wild goose chase to the ladies' room. Roberto kind of pissily notes that all three of them were in on the plot.

As they drive off, MaryJo clutches her huge necklace and cries, Paula complains about not being able to pack, and Bruno gives Pedro back his keys and notices MaryJo crying as he looks in the rearview mirror.

Back at the party the three harpies cackle over MaryJo's getaway. Alex comes asking after MaryJo again, but again they claim not to have seen her. As for Bruno, oh, Raquel thinks he left a while ago. Alex leaves and Roberto notes that he wouldn't want to be in Bruno's skin when Alex finds him. I think there's some subtext here that he wouldn't want to be in the skin of any of these three, er, ladies, when Alex finds out their role in this (well, really, MLS and Raquel are just doing a lot of giggling, it's Maura who distracted him). Maura smiles to herself, thinking of all the fabulous sex she'll have with Alex now that wifey is out of the way. Roberto's looking pretty smart right now.

Alex gets told by some guy that MaryJo and Paula left with Bruno. He races home, but Ezequiel (who keeps making me think of a priest with the collar on his uniform) hasn't seen the Mrs. Alex checks her room and sees party dresses everywhere. He asks Zeke to check Paula's room and Bruno's room. Alex briefly picks up the hem of a pink frothy dress, maybe wondering why she didn't pack it if she was running away. Or maybe thinking she would have looked pale and washed out in that shade of pink, who knows. Some guys have an eye for that. He goes rushing over to ask the guys at the gate if Pedro left. He did, an hour ago, without a suitcase, but with a "bulto" (a sack), saying he was going to the market. Back inside, Zeke reports that Bruno's biggest suitcase and some of his suits are gone, as well as all his manly toiletries (and, presumably, the industrial strength hair gel that he can't live without). Nothing is missing from Paula's room. Alex now orders Zeke to call Fernando and have Fernando meet him at the airport. Alex goes running into his office to grab some documents as his mom hyperventilates and tries to get him to tell her qué the hell is going on around here. He tells mom that MaryJo et.al., have left and he's sure Bruno's the one who took them. "But, why Bruno?" she wails. Oh, Vicky, how little you understand that boy. Alex tries to evade the question. He points out that all three of them disappeared from the party while he was talking to Maura. He gave Bruno 500K yesterday and he thinks Bruno is taking the family to another country. Vicky doesn't think Bruno's capable of that. Alex sighs and says "how true it is 'que es más ciego aquel que no quiere ver'" (referring to the dicho, "no hay peor ciego que el que no quiere ver," meaning, "there's no worse blind man than the one who doesn't want to see," therefore what Alex said is "how true it is that the most blind one is the one who doesn't want to see). Alex is taking the marriage certificate with him to the airport in case he needs it. Vicky tries to tell him that just because they're all gone doesn't mean they left together. Oh, Vicky, I hereby crown you Cleopatra, Queen of Denial.

At the airport, they give Alex and Fernando the run around, marriage certificate and ID notwithstanding. He finally says that it could be a kidnapping, so the gal at the desk agrees to talk to her supervisor and see if they can tell him if his wife was on a flight or not. As they're only checking with one airline, Volaris, Fernando says they'll have to check each one. And he says "chequear" which my second year Spanish teacher would have smacked my hand for…it's "averiguar" not "chequear," even if it is in the dictionary, that's just American English creeping into Spanish and corrupting it, etc., etc., etc. Alex is handsomely distraught.

Bruno is driving them to Mexico, which will take five hours. They will stop at a "simple" hotel to avoid notice, will get their passports, and them make way to Tijuana, where they will cross. Paula objects to going in a "camion" (a truck, or more probably a bus), but Bruno says they'll take a donkey across if they have too. Mhm, I know who the burro in this situation is!

Fernando thinks it makes perfect sense for Bruno to have driven them rather than taken them by airplane, to avoid detection. He also thinks it's plausible that Bruno may have rented a house somewhere and will stash them until the situation cools off. Alex is upset because he thought that he and MaryJo had an agreement, they were going to get a divorce, she wasn't interested in his money, so why now? Why would she do this? Fernando suggests they go home and see if there's any news. What he really means is "let's go back to your house so I can hit on your mom some more."

Back at the party, Maura is insisting to her little sister (MLS) that she's going to get Alex back, but this time she make sure he makes an honest woman out of her. MLS snarks that other guys have liked Maura, but that hasn't gotten her any proposals. Maura says that the thing with Alex and MJ is some kind of "arrangement" and he'll be getting divorced. Maura fills in MLS that Bruno planned MJ's escape. MLS wonders if Bruno is sleeping with MJ, you know, if maybe she met him when she thought Alex was dead and let him console her. Maura doesn't think MJ is the kind of "vampiress" to snag a man two days after her husband has died. MLS says you never know, but Maura's not buying it.

At the house, Vicki talks to Felipa, who thinks maybe Alex is just jealous. Vicki thinks that MaryJo took off because of all the fighting the boys were doing. Maybe MaryJo took off again and Bruno went looking for her like last time. Felipa points out that Bruno took his suitcase, which is suspicious, as is the fact that Bruno didn't say goodbye to Vicky. Vicky brushes all this aside. Ezequiel comes in to say that Alex and Fernando are back.

Alex reports that they aren't on a plane, but Bruno's car is gone, so he thinks they're on the road. Vicky tries to brush this off, saying that maybe Bruno went somewhere, but the Samaniegos went somewhere else. Alex tells her that earlier in the day, MaryJo denied to him that she had been with Bruno in Pedro's chalet, but then Pedro told him that Bruno had been there. He intends to call the police and tell them that Bruno has taken his wife and her family. Vicky freaks out and says he doesn't have proof. Alex unloads on her that Bruno married MaryJo and faked his signature, planning to kill him and then marry the rich widow. "De donde sacas estas estupideces?!" another classic phrase, IMO, "Where did you get that crap from?" Alex says that MaryJo told him and he believes her. So now Vicky turns on MaryJo, calling her an adventuress. Alex backs off, but says that one day he will bring her proof. He storms off. Vicky is livid, accusing MaryJo to Fernando of being a "sinvergüenza" (shameless, money-grubbing whore..ok, not literally, but you know that's what she means…literally it's just "shameless"). Felipa thinks Alex will calm down. She begs Fernando to talk some sense into Alex and bribes him with a big 'ol hug. For a hug from her, Fernando will do anything. He promises Vicky he'll convince Alex the moon is made of green cheese, if only she calms down *hug*.

He goes into the office and tells Alex he shouldn't have told Vicky just like that, especially because he doesn't really know, like not for real for real. Alex says too many things add up, plus MaryJo confirmed it all. Fernando tries to say that it doesn't have to be Bruno, necessarily, who masterminded the whole scheme. "Quien the hell else?" wonders Alex. Fernando thinks maybe there's someone else…but Alex doesn't think Roberto would go that far. He doesn't think they're in Zaqui, because that's the first place he would have looked. Fernando now suggests that Alex just let her go and then divorce her on grounds of abandonment, but Alex won't do that without getting her permission first to be able to dissolve the "sociedad conjugal" (the "you get half if we divorce" marriage). He's not going to give her half his money to go off and marry Bruno. Now Fernando tries, "uh, maybe you did marry her and then you just don't remember?" Pfft. Alex blows that off and says he's not going to have Bruno wandering around and have to be afraid of a bullet in the back or a poisoning attempt. This is something Fernando can agree on. Alex is going to ask the cops to look for MaryJo at all the border crossings. "And what if you find her with Bruno?" asks Fernando. Alex wonders whose side he's on. Vicky's, of course. Alex insinuates that Fernando maybe likes Vicky just a little too much. Fernando looks guilty. And denies it. Alex's plan for now is to get info out of Erick.

Vicky tries calling Bruno, but he ignores the call. Felipa encourages Vicky to get some rest.

Alex goes to wake up Erick. Erick of the gross saggy underpants. They're baby blue today, if anyone cares. I sure as hell didn't need to see that. I'm scarred for life now. Alex asks about Bruno. Erick denies everything. He proposes that maybe Bruno decided to take off for a few days.

The Brunomobile pulls into a cheap hotel. Bruno asks the attendant for 3 rooms. Paula gripes. Bruno drops Paula and MaryJo off in their room. He says they'll figure out in the morning what papers they'll need to get passports for the three of them. Paula snarks that if he has a passport, he should already know that, but Bruno says they always handled it for him at the office. Oh, and if they want food, they'll have to go downstairs and get it. Once he leaves, MaryJo turns the lights out. Paula gripes that maybe they shouldn't be giving in to his blackmailing after all. Shut. Up. Paula. MaryJo says she just wants to sleep. As she clutches her ginormous necklace, she flashes back to when Alex put it on her the other night. Alex gets out of the shower (thank you TN gods!) and dries his hair while flashing back to MaryJo telling him about Bruno's plan. He thought bubbles, "how could I have been so wrong" and "what made everything go wrong?"

The next morning, Alex is finishing his coffee as Raquel saunters in. She asks where MaryJo is and Alex says she went to Saqui to visit family. She asks when MaryJo is coming back and when Alex says "in a few days," she cackles. Alex wonders what's up. Raquel, not knowing when to stop pushing her luck, asks where Bruno is…oh, he's gone too, what a coincidence. Alex is now even more suspicious and starts asking Raquel how she knows. Vicky comes downstairs and Alex wonders if she told Raquel, but she didn't. Raquel is a crappy liar. Alex grabs her by the arm, spilling her juice and says she'd better tell him the truth. Raquel finally says she heard Bruno and MaryJo planning to take off from the party, but she doesn't know where to. She wasn't going to tell Alex so that he wouldn't go running after a woman who doesn't deserve him. She also says MaryJo was cheating on him and she knows it because she saw MaryJo and Bruno kissing. Vicky thinks that's a load of crap, but Raquel says if they don't believe her, that's their problem.

Pedro leaves his hotel room looking for the girls and is told they're in the restaurant having breakfast.

MaryJo tells Paula that she already told Alex everything, and that he was very understanding. Paula, in another Shut. Up. Paula. moment, now gripes MaryJo out because after Alex being nice to her, taking her out to dinner, buying her clothes, being incredibly hot AND rich, and bestowing lots of material goods on Paula as well, MaryJo was stupid enough to leave him. Shut. Up. Paula. Pedro comes in just in time to hear MaryJo say that she did it because Bruno threatened to turn Pedro in as a drug trafficker. He lurks around the corner listening as MaryJo tells Paula to wrap her tiny little brain around the idea that Bruno is perfectly capable of having planted drugs to make Pedro look guilty and that Alex wouldn't have been able to do a damn thing about it. MaryJo doesn't want Pedro to go to jail. Paula, who only a week ago couldn't afford a cell phone, is now whining that MaryJo could have had a rich hottie, and instead they have a gaudy tablecloth and some substandard bread rolls. Shut. Up. Paula.

Back in his room, Pedro writes a confession of all the crap he actually did do, addressed to his daughters. He writes that he's a coward (for not standing up to his buddy when his buddy wanted to sell contraband merchandise) and that it's not fair for them to destroy their lives for him. He takes the letter down to the front desk and asks the guy to give the letter to his daughter MJ in the afternoon. He says he's going to go see some friends. He hides again as MaryJo and Paula come out of the restaurant, still arguing loudly about why MaryJo is or isn't stupid (her main argument seems to be that forgiving her for going along with Bruno is one thing, tell him her dad might be or might be framed for being a drug trafficker is a whole other thing). Paula blabs on and on, calling MaryJo a "mojigata" (prude) with too many complexes who is going to get them all thrown in jail. Shut. Up. Paula.

Alex comes downstairs with his briefcase. He's going to the office. Vicky wants to know if he believed what Raquel said, about MJ and Bruno kissing. Alex asks if she believes what he (Alex) told her. Vicky thinks that MaryJo made up that Bruno was behind the whole plot. Alex doesn't think it makes sense that MaryJo would be accusing Bruno of illegal acts and kissing him at the same time. Well, I don't think those two are mutually exclusive, but I'll forgive his logic as long as it's still pointing him in the right direction. Vicky begs him for discretion about MaryJo leaving. She doesn't know if Raquel will keep her mouth shut about it. Well, duh. Alex tells her to go ask Raquel about it herself.

Vicky tells Raquel to keep her big mouth shot and not to tell Lisette (is that Maura's little sister's name?) or Maura, whose mouths are even bigger. They argue over whether Raquel really saw what she claims to have seen. Vicky knows her too well to believe it. Raquel is upset at the idea that Alex might actually be in love with MaryJo, but Vicky says that's not what's important. What's important is stopping all the gossip. They've already had enough with everyone talking about Raquel marrying a "bueno para nada" (good-for-nothing) just because he had a good name. "Don't think I don't know anything just because I'm in the house all day. You two had better watch it!" Raquel turns around to see Roberto. He says he agrees with Vicky. Raquel suggests he consider getting a job, drinking less, and knocking her up. Roberto laughs it off, saying he's not going to get a job in a construction company when his field of study was international relations; also, she drinks just as much as he does; and as for getting her pregnant, he's not interested in sleeping with a "frigid" woman. They snipe about whose fault the lack of sex in the marriage is. Robert says they're better off each one getting it where they can. "Just remember to have your guy wear a condom. I'm not giving my name to a bastard…unless I like the guy." Raquel cries.

Fernando talks to Alejandro about a property. He's not listening. Neither am I. Alex is thinking about MaryJo. He passes on Raquel's version of events, but he wants Fernando's opinion. As Fernando's opinion is that Raquel's a liar, but she might be telling the truth this time, his opinion is worthless. Alex angsts. If she wanted money, she could have just stayed married to him. Fernando thinks maybe she was afraid he would divorce her and leave her with nothing, so she thought running away with Bruno would be the better option. Or maybe they each ran off independently. Alex doesn't buy that. "Well, maybe she really was in love with him and she picked him instead of you." Back to talking about the property. It's an archeological site. What if they make a park. Fernando's eyes light up at the prospect of Vicky being happy to do some restoration work.

Pedro goes to a "Casa de Empeño" (pawn shop).

MaryJo goes to the front desk asking if they've seen her dad. The guy doesn't remember, but he did see Paula, who left a while ago.

Pedro pawns his wedding ring and his watch.

MaryJo goes back to her room, still wearing that fabulous red dress that I covet, but in which I would have a lot more cleavage than her. Oh, did I type that out loud? Oops. She gets undressed.

We see Pedro walking across a bridge.

MaryJo comes out of the shower and starts drying her hair. Sorry, guys, but I think the William Levyites got a much better post-shower scene today. I just think she's too skinny. She rushes to answer the phone. It's Bruno. She says they'll be waiting for him.

Pedro's trying to get someone to give him a phone number. She won't give him Alex's personal number, but she's willing to look up the number of the construction company.

Alex gets in his car and is driven away from the construction company.

Pedro talks to his secretary, swears he really is Pedro, and says he needs to talk to Alex, urgently. She tries to catch him on his cell. She tells him his father-in-law has to talk to him and puts the call through. Pedro says they're in Mexico, it's all his fault, he's afraid to say why, but please come get MaryJo at this hotel in Tlapalan and don't leave her in the hands of that "desalmado" (soulless man). Pedro cries that MaryJo's really a good girl, so please protect her because she really does love you. "Why do you say that?" Pedro says he just knows, he can see it in her eyes. He begs, as a father who has made lots of mistakes, because it's not fair that his daughters pay for his mistakes. He hangs up. Alex calls his secretary back and tells her to tell Fernando to come with him, they're leaving.

Bruno comes back to the hotel. The paperwork is all done, they have to go sign it tomorrow, and they'll get their passports the day after. He also brought some clothes. MaryJo tells him Paula went out. Bruno says he knows it's been difficult, but it will pass. He gets all handsy and starts rubbing her shoulders, telling her once they're in the US he'll buy her much nicer clothes. She is grossed out when he says she hasn't kissed him in a long time. She tells him she doesn't love him anymore. He makes excuses and spouts a bunch of possessive macho crap. MaryJo tells him, very strongly, that it's OVER, and once they get to the US she'll get a job of her own. Bruno tries to force himself on her, but Paula comes back. Ok, Paula, I won't completely write you off yet. She snipes at Bruno that "finally" he brought them some clothes. Paula doesn't know where dad is. Bruno angrily tells them they're going to the restaurant for dinner, so hurry up and change. He leaves. Paula now gripes about the crappy restaurant. MaryJo picks up the bracelet her dad gave her and wonders where he is, and without any money.

Vicky asks Alex how he knows where to find MaryJo as he runs down the stairs. He tells her. He supposes they're with Bruno, but he doesn't know what he's going to do. Vicky asks him not to do anything stupid and not to forget that Bruno is his brother. Alex reminds her that he tried for years to treat Bruno like a brother and it's too late for that now. He tosses his briefcase in the car and drives off. Raquel walks up wanting to know what's going on. She's upset that Alex is going to get her and bring her back. She insists that they shouldn't let "that woman" back in the house. Vicky reminds her that it's Alex's house, and if Raquel is living there it's because she had to sell off her property to pay for her and Roberto's extravagant lifestyle. Aha! I wondered about that. Ok. She gets no sympathy from me. Raquel says that if "that man" had really been her father he also would have left her loving memories. "What a short memory you have!" says Vicky. She suggests that if Raquel doesn't like it, she should tell Roberto to get off his ass and get a job.

Back at the little hotel restaurant, they've finished dinner. Paula goes back to the room. MaryJo is worried about her dad. She's asked all over and they don't know where he is. She goes to ask at the front desk while Bruno orders a coffee.

Pedro is at a bus station. He goes to the counter and buys a ticket.

There's been a change of shift and the guy at the desk now doesn't know about the letter from Pedro. But MaryJo sees it in the box for her room. The guy hands it over. She reads the letter and cries. Pedro writes that he's sorry, that MaryJo should get away from Bruno and trust Alex because Alex is good. Right then Alex and Fernando pull up in a taxi and MaryJo is impactada to hear Alex's voice right behind her, saying "Why did you do it?"

Tomorrow: Alex and Bruno come to blows!

Labels: sortilegio