Caray, Caray!

So Bruno engineered Paula "killing" a man and now he's blackmailing MaryJo again and he says there'll be no saving them now. MaryJo at least thinks to ask if this isn't something Bruno cooked up. He denies it of course, and reminds her that she already knows what he wants. She runs away and he says they'll talk later.

Bruno walks on and runs into Raquel, who gripes at him for talking to "that servant" and then wants to talk to him, but he ignores her and walks on.

So then Roberto comes out of his chalet asking what all the shouting is about. Raquel repeats my last paragraph. Robert's response is "ok, then talk to Alex." Like, duh. Raquel says at least Alex is civil. Like she'd know from civil.

Inside the big house, Alex and a robe-clad Vicky discuss their options. 1: They make a deal with Bruno and give him 1/3, and then make a deal with Raquel also. 2: They fight, which will take a couple of years and be really exhausting for everybody. Alex doesn't want to put Vicky through a court battle. Vicky tries to protest, but Alex reminds her that his Daddy left him in charge. Even so, he wants her to have the final word. Vicky says she made up her mind yesterday and she's not going to submit to a "chantaje" (blackmailing) by her own son. Alex wants her to think about it and says they have a few days.

Out in the wilds of the manse (hey, don't those trees look suspiciously like the ones in which Vicky told Tony that the hellspawn were on the way?) Paula tells MaryJo (who is busily trying to ask "why didn't you?" which, hey, too late for that, so just be supportive, m'kay?) that she didn't check the body because she was scared and besides, Erick checked and said the guy was dead. Paula doesn't want to tell Alex and MaryJo doesn't exactly agree, but she doesn't disagree either. Paula remembers that the guy just walked in front of the car and didn't even look first. MaryJo is grouchy about Erick letting Paula get behind the wheel of a car in the dark. Paula swears it won't happen again, but she wants MaryJo to swear not to tell anyone. MaryJo reminds Paula that even if it was a homeless drunk, it was still a human being. Dude, she's not unrepentant, so back off. Paula would probably be better off turning herself in to the cops…at least they won't give her a sermon every five minutes about what she should or shouldn't have done.

Fernando comes to pick up Vicky. Felipa goes upstairs to get her and gets about halfway up when Bruno comes in the front door and tells Fernando that he made it clear Fer wasn't to come around anymore. He calls Fernando a "retrasado mental" (mentally delayed, i.e. "retarded"). Fernando says it's not Bruno's house and he's not going to get in an argument and disrespect Bruno's momma. Bruno suggests they pick another time and place to get into it. Vicky comes downstairs and tells Bruno to lay off. She tells Fernando they're leaving now and Bruno, in a kind of whiny voice, tells her not to go anywhere with Fernando since he's just after her money. "Whatever," says Vicky, "I'm old enough to take care of myself!" Bruno whines that she's his mother. Again, whatever. Vicky tells him if he cared, he wouldn't be doing all the stupid stuff he's doing. She's acting like a mother, but he's not acting like a son. Bruno starts to say it's her fault for sleeping with the old man, but now Vicky grabs a couple of handfuls of lapel and tells him he'd better not dare say another word. She asks Fernando to get her out of there and walks out the door herself, Fernando following.

Vicky apologizes to Fernando for Bruno's behavior. Fernando's not worried, since Bruno's never liked him. Vicky doesn't think that gives Bruno the right to treat Fernando the way he does. She keeps trying to apologize and asking him to forget it and he just tells her not to worry about it and let's go have a good time. He tells her after they check out the land, he's taking her someplace "incredible" for lunch. There's a moment of romantic tension when he buckles her seatbelt.

Ché looks on as Ulises calls up some guy named Federico. Ulises turns down a party invitation, but asks for Fede's help. He offers money and says it's nothing dangerous, just a "broma" (joke, practical joke) and gets a number from Fede.

Some guy getting his shoes shined gets a call from Ulises. This guy is Leo and Ulises got his number from Fede (seriously, we needed to know all this? Ulises couldn't have just called Leo first? We really needed to know how he got Leo's number?). Leo laughs at the mention of a favor and says he's not a "maricon" (fag…sorry, I'm not a fan of the word, but that's the connotation…and also it was bleeped, but I'm 99% sure that's what the guy's lips were saying). Ulises assures him it's not "that" but that there is a lot of money involved. They arrange to meet on the terrace of the bar facing the ocean at noon. Uh, yeah, and the red chicken flies at night. Leo wonders how they'll recognize each other and Ulises tells him to give his name to the bartender and say he's waiting for a friend. They hang up and Leo smiles.

Bruno has a web conference with the Stunt Guy. SG wanted to tell Bruno that there was one tiny problem with their flawless plan (ja, ja, Bruno E. Coyote, take that!), a guy saw him get up. Bruno asks for a description. SG says it was an old guy, probably just someone walking around there, but he wanted Bruno to know. Bruno calls Erick and tells him to come to his room (don't do it, Erick! Defect!).

Pedro and Chucho take a walk as Felipa picks flowers from the garden. Something about having a drink or dinner with Mercedes. Pedro doesn't think he's invited, but Chucho thinks it's both of them. Felipa greets them. She was planning to go visit Pedro later and see how he's doing. Pedro doesn't think she should bother. Pshaw, it's no bother, and she's glad to see he's doing better. Felipa announces she's got the day off, since Vicky's out of the house, and she plans to go to the market to pick up some ingredients for pozole (http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/pozole.htm). Felipa invites Pedro to come along and help carry her bags (sucka!). Pedro's going to go change his shoes and Felipa's going to put the flowers in water and they'll meet at the front door in 10 minutes. Chucho invites himself along because one date isn't enough for him, and then he and Pedro start planning all the food they're going to get at the market. Boys! Felipa is irked that they ran off without saying goodbye. But they're gentlemen of a certain age, so they didn't get far before she got a goodbye out of them both. She goes back to picking her flowers with barely a change in facial expression.

Bruno is now griping Erick out for not having seen that someone found "the body" after they left. Erick says it was too dark for him to have seen if anyone else was around. Erick just had too much to worry about. Bruno hopes it wasn't one of the household servants, but they usually aren't out unless it's the weekend. Whatever, Bruno just hopes if it was they didn't recognize the car. Erick begs Bruno not to turn Paula in to the cops, which he only plans to do if MaryJo doesn't do what he wants. Sappy music plays as Erick says she's a good kid, young, and she doesn't deserve for her life to go to waste. Bruno laughs at him and accuses him of being in love with Paula. Erick denies it and says she's a nice kid who has nothing against anyone, and nothing against Bruno. Bruno shuts him up. He wants Erick to tell him when MaryJo is alone. Erick tucks his tail between his legs and leaves.

Pedro and Chucho run into MaryJo and Paula and tell her that they're going to the market with Felipa. Just to carry her bags, understand? Chucho asks MaryJo to make an excuse to Zeke for why he's out of the house. His first suggestion is that he went to get her a paper, but they get all the papers delivered. Paula is upset at the mention of the paper and wonders if the news would have gotten out already.

Back in MaryJo's old room, Paula cries while MaryJo calls Ezequiel and asks him to bring her all of today's papers.

Ulises and Leo meet for drinks. Ulises gives Leo some money so that he can register at a cheap hotel under the name Mario Aguirre. If someone starts asking around about him, he is to switch hotels. Ulises also gives him the number for the Lombardo house so that he can call and ask for MaryJo. Leo wonders why he's doing this, but Ulises tells him it's none of his business. Fine by Leo, he's done other jobs for Federico before and he's not going to cut off a source of work.

Raquel and Roberto argue on the way to the garage. Raquel doesn't want him there when she talks to Alex, but he insists, since he is technically family and this concerns him too. Raquel makes him take his own car because she says that the new chauffeur is going to take her to run lots and lots of errands after. The new guy asks where they're going, but he doesn't know where Alex's office is, so Raquel has to tell him to follow her husband's car.

MaryJo and Paula look through all the papers, but there's no mention of an accident or of anyone being run over. They hope maybe the guy lived or someone helped him or something. Paula is sorry for causing MaryJo so much trouble. Alex calls and invites MaryJo to dinner, but she makes excuses, saying she's not hungry and not in the mood. Alex wonders if maybe, even though she says she had Aunt Flo over for a visit, she really is pregnant. MaryJo says she's not and they agree to have dinner at home. Paula asks her what's wrong as MaryJo cries, but she doesn't answer yet.

Ulises gives Maura a neck massage as he tells her everything's taken care of. He claims they can trust the guy because he makes a living doing "transas" (cons). But he does wonder where they're going with all this. Basically, Maura just hopes that it will make Alex see what a ho MaryJo is and get rid of her and her trashy family. Ulises says no way. Alex is in love with her. He reminisces about being in love once with an anvil who looked almost identical to MaryJo. The anvil was a drug addict who would occasionally be repentant, but then go back to the drugs again. Ulises finally had to leave the anvil behind. Maura doesn't think Alex is like Ulises because he has dignity. Ulises is adamant that the whole "Mario Aguirre" subplot isn't going to get the job done.

Ulises goes outside and calls someone named Elena, who is busy brushing her horse while wearing a plaid nightgown and a see-thru black chiffon bolero jacket. He asks where Sandra is and Elena tells him that Sandra is still in Spain finishing school. Ulises says that he met a girl who looks exactly like Sandra, isn't that funny? Elena looks panicky. Ulises tells her that the girl's name is MaríaJose and asks if she doesn't have family around there. Elena says lots of people look like other people. Ulises goes on to say that this girl has a sister and a father and just got married to an important man. "How nice for her," says Elena. Ulises tells her he just wanted to call and say hi and see how Sandra was doing. They hang up.

A man comes over to Elena and asks who was on the phone. She tells him it was Ulises, asking about Sandra. The man is going to the hospital and won't be home for dinner. Elena sighs and says "María Jose, I can't believe it!"

At the market, Felipa has to pay for everything because the guys are broke. She points out a stall where the can have a great lime soup with some horchata and cheese. Hopefully the cheese isn't in the horchata, but who knows.

Fernando and Vicky visit "the site." Those are some pretty big ruins…how did they buy that and not know that they couldn't build there? Maybe they're just looking at other pyramids in the area? Vicky laughs and says she feels like a kid on a field trip. Fernando doesn't think she's old, just accustomed to a more serious life. As they climb in the back of a pedicab, Vicky says he only thinks so because he's a "lisonjero" (flatterer). Fernando thought bubbles that he thinks so because he's in love with her and he wonders what she'd think if he told her that.

Raquel explains to Alex that she's been left out of all the discussions and if goods are going to be redistributed she thinks it's only fair that she get 1/3. Alex says he wants to settle things out of court and keep it quiet, which Roberto agrees with, but Alex says that Bruno is insisting on having the name "Lombardo" which is going to make that difficult. Alex tries to remind Raquel about the terms of the original will, but she says again that if things are going to be changed, she wants 1/3. Raquel gripes at Roberto that she didn't even want him to come to this meeting. Alex, however, supports Roberto being there because he's her husband. Alex tells them that he and Vicky hold the majority of the company shares, but Vicky doesn't want to just hand things over, she wants to fight Bruno. "Why?" asks Raquel, "does she hate us?" Heh. Alex says she doesn’t, even though they've treated her like crap. He's having his lawyers write up a deal and then they'll invite Bruno's lawyers over to look at it and if Raquel wants, she can come to the meeting too. Raquel thinks that sounds like a splendid idea. Alex says, "And now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do." What remains unspoken is, "so that I can make more money for you and your worthless brother to fight over." And really, even if Bruno wants a piece, it should be a percentage of what the company was worth when their dad died, cause everything since is what Alex made of it, Bruno's efforts at having housing projects built on quicksand notwithstanding. Raquel asks for a minute to speak to Alex ALONE. Roberto says he'll wait for her outside. Raquel wants to apologize for getting drunk and hitting on her half-brother. Alex doesn't even want to talk about it. She comes over to give him a kiss on the cheek and tells him she loves him. Then she leaves.

When she walks out of the office, Roberto air kisses Mari goodbye and grabs Raquel by the arm, asking what she talked to Alex about. She doesn't answer. Another employee coming in from the door Roberto and Raquel are walking out of asks Mari what she needs. Mari wants this person to help her find Mario Aguirre. She's been calling every hotel and motel in the city for days and can't find him. Mari tells the other woman that it's confidential. The other woman goes off to get another phone book so she can help Mari.

Fernando and Vicky are now visiting the indigenous community. Vicky wants to talk to the people, but they don't speak Spanish, only Mayan, which Vicky doesn't speak. She compliments a little boy in Spanish for being handsome and having huge "pestañas" (eyelashes, and she's right, no amount of mascara in the world can replicate those lashes…why is it always boys who get those when you know they don't care?). She says hello to some of the other people and they all walk together to look at the land.

Felipa, Chucho, and Pedro have finished eating at the taco stand. Felipa paid, of course. She jokes with the men about how much they ate, ja, ja. They hear a whining and realize it's coming from a furry little dog in a crate. It's a dirty dog, but Felipa thinks it's got a pretty face. She decides she's going to take it, since a woman there tells her the dog has been there for a few days and no one has claimed it. Felipa says if anyone comes looking for it they know where to find her. Pedro offers to take care of the dog if they let her keep it.

Puch, the leader of the Maya community, talks about the ruins. Fernando says they're about 1200 years old. Vicky has no doubt that the community will benefit from tourism, but she thinks it will take years. Puch says they're willing to do anything so that their old ones can be recognized as the wise men they were. Everybody walks on to see a well.

Raquel whines to Ulises about what Bruno and Alex are doing and how nobody thinks of her and they're willing to let the family reputation be dragged through the mud, whine, whine, whine. Ulises gives her a drink and says her mom's probably just saying they'll go to court to get Bruno to back off. Then he starts kissing her. Cause when someone's really upset, the best thing to do is get your freak on.

And what a freak she is! Changed into some fishnet thigh-highs and black lingerie. Raquel tells Ulises about the 1/3 that she thinks she'll end up with (dream on, sister) and says she'll lend him money (bye, bye, imaginary 1/3). Ulises says that's not right. Besides, he's got some job offers, not that he can accept just anything. Raquel won't take no for an answer, she's going to write him a big fat check. However, she wants exclusive rights to his slimy self. She brings up Maura (oh, yeah, eau de jealousy, a man's favorite fragrance). Ulises says they're just friends and he doesn't know what she was doing there, maybe she just wanted to talk to him. Ulises says he doesn't like Maura at all and only has eyes for Raquel. Somebody's cell phone rings. Ulises finally answers it. Raquel goes over to copy the pose from Ulises classy artwork. It's Roberto, inviting Ulises to a party at "Joe's" where Joe wants to introduce them to a guy who sings and plays the guitar. "Bo-ring," the guys decree, but Ulises will go because Roberto invited him. Roberto asks if Ulises wants to bring back old times. Ew. Please, Roberto, find another girlfriend, another boyfriend, anything but gross slimy Ulises.

Back at the house, it appears the seniors have dropped the dog off at a vet/groomers. Felipa gives Agustin (?) money and tells him to pick up the dog from the vet along with a leash and a collar.

Bruno finds MaryJo downstairs in the big house. He tells her a witness saw everything and wants money to keep his mouth shut. MaryJo has to come to a hotel (he gives her a piece of paper with the address) or Bruno will let Paula get sent to jail. MaryJo insists she won't go. Bruno takes off (since he was tipped off by Erick) before Alex walks in. MaryJo is surprised when Alex comes in. He asks where they should eat, since his Mom's not home. MaryJo gestures vaguely at the dining table, but says she wants to wash her face. Alex says he does too and runs upstairs with her. Is that what the kids are calling it these days? She manages to stuff the piece of paper in her back pocket. Alex starts telling her about Raquel and Roberto coming to talk to him at work.

Bruno asks Erick if his cell phone can take pictures. Bruno wants Erick to take pictures of MaryJo going into the hotel. And he also wants Erick to shut up about Paula and to find Mario Aguirre. Erick watches him drive off and kind of mouths something, but maybe not.

While Alex is telling MaryJo that at least Raquel isn't interested in causing a scandal, he takes off his jacket and tie. MaryJo takes advantage of his back being turned to toss the piece of paper on the floor and shove it under the bed with her foot. Alex wonders if MaryJo is ok and offers to have Hernán come over, but she says it's just the heat. Alex says he really would have liked it if she had been pregnant. MaryJo nervously says she's not, so "ni modo" (oh, well).

Fernando and Vicky have dinner. Vicky starts talking about Bruno. Fernando's ok with listening. She feels stuck between a rock and a hard place. She always thought he had just as much right to inherit as Alex did, but she can't believe that he would try to take it by force without caring who gets hurt. She doesn't want Bruno to get his way, but she doesn't know if she can take the scandal. Fernando says she's only suffering because she had the guts to love and he's a coward because he hasn't had the guts to say he's in love. Fernando says he's in love, but she's a woman "above" him. Vicky thinks he's a handsome young man with a good career and he should tell the woman. Fernando says he'd rather stay quiet and enjoy her company even if it's only once in a while. He can't take the rejection. Vickypatra drinks more wine. But you know she knows.

Leo reports to Ulises that he hasn't had any problems so far. Ulises is going to give Leo some information so that he has something to say to MaryJo when he calls.

Alex is concerned that MaryJo doesn't appear to be enjoying the food. Alex is really worried about her. He asks if she's sick or if something is going on. She says she's just down because of being at home all the time and is bored with nothing to do. The phone rings and Ezequiel answers it. He gives Alex the phone. It's Mari calling to say she knows where Mario Aguirre is. Alex takes off. MaryJo thinks it could be dangerous. Leo calls as "Mario Aguirre" and asks to speak to MaryJo. She doesn't want to talk to him, but Alex tells her to. He walks off as she tells Mario that she doesn't know him, she's never known a Mario Aguirre. Alex is on another phone as "Mario" says they're from the same town and he knows her father, Pedro, and her sister, Paula, and they know him too. "Or what, you've forgotten everything and now you don't want to take my calls?" MaryJo freaks out and hangs up. Alex gets angry and asks her why she hung up. But in a really creepy quiet way.

Tomorrow: Alex and MaryJo have a shouting match; all the baddies are happy that their nefarious plans have worked out; Alex busts down Mario Aguirre's hotel room door.

Labels: sortilegio