Caray, Caray!

Marco is hangin’ in da club, the strip club that is, with his sleazy buddy Vicente who is advising him to marry Ale pronto, before her old man kicks the bucket, so that he can take possession of their house.

Ale calls him on his cell phone, and apparently Marco has some pull in the club or Vicente is the owner because everyone shushes and the music is turned off to support his alibi of being asleep in bed. This excuse seems to be enough to convince Ale that this was why he didn’t answer his house phone when she called. I thought Ale was smart enough not to believe such a transparent lie. Perhaps her money woes have stalled her brain.

She informs Marco that the loan shark, that currently holds the deed to dear old dad’s house, is coming down hard on her to either pay up what she owes, or turn over the house. Since Marco is the only one of the two of them working, and apparently she believes he has money of his own, it falls on his strong shoulders to go to his bank tomorrow and get the needed cash to pay the guy off. Marco assures her he will and they end the call with lots of te amos, and a yawn thrown in for effect by Marco. That unpleasant deed done, Marco’s friends at the club are free to start the music, pole dancing and lap dancing up again. The b!itch is gone! Party time!

Apparently it’s now a little too loud for Marco’s taste so he and Vicente decide to throw a private party at Casandra’s house, and they’ll bring along Scarlet too. Vicente assures Marco that his “viejas” are discreet. Are they prostitutes and he’s their pimp, strippers and he’s their boss? What’s your guess? As they leave we learn that Marco is on a first name basis with the door man William (El Negrito) and that the lovely Casandra and Scarlet are wearing school girl uniforms that would put Britney Spears to shame. They hop in Marco’s car and there’s some talk of Marco needing to have a sweeter ride than his current one, considering Ale’s position at the dealership.

It’s the next morning and apparently Ale has gotten up at the crack of dawn because it must have taken her two hours to get dressed and made-up in her current condition. She manages to shoo the hovering maid away and convince her that she will be a good girl and stay in bed all day. Once she’s gone, Ale hops out of bed, not only fully dressed, but also attached to two large bags- a purse and a briefcase. She has some major trouble getting up and out, and particularly putting on her second shoe on the foot encased in the brace. But she manages somehow to look fabulously put together in a black pencil skirt, purple top and sensible black wedges. The look is completed by some fab gray crutches. She has a cab waiting for her outside the house, but refuses all offers of help to get into it by driver. “No me toque! Shut up and drive!”

Meanwhile, Rafa is talking to Jaime, lamenting the prospect of marrying Vicky to get out of his financial troubles. He compares marriage to suicide. Jaime doesn’t understand why Rafa is acting like a condemned man, when Vicky loves him AND has a rich family. “Don’t you love her?”/ “Yes, but not enough to MARRY her!” He also doesn’t want to end up served up as a butchered piece of meat by her crazy brothers if he ever does anything they don’t like.

Jaime asks Rafa how’s he going to get out of this situation if he doesn’t marry Vicky and get her father’s help. He’ll go to jail and Ale will be financially ruined. BINGO! Jaime has said the magic words. Rafa figures that Ale HAS to help him find a way to earn the money, otherwise she’s in deep doo doo too. He’s going to turn the tables on her (voltear la tortilla), and enlists Jaime’s help to spy on her at her place of employment- Autos Siglos.

Speaking of which…while the cat’s away, the mice will play. The salesmen decide that the one month anniversary of Ale being out of commission, meaning one month of not being terrorized on a daily basis, deserves a celebration. It’s only 9 AM, but it’s never too early for wine, song, and women…well, one scantily clad blonde (Claudia) dancing on top of a table. The b!tch is gone! Party time!

Suddenly Ramiro chokes on his wine, utters “Dios mio!”, and we know who’s just stepped through the door. The b!tch is back! Pobre diablos.

Ale quickly puts an end to the party, stares down each member her team, sizes up blondie (and finds that her skirt is lacking in the size and length department), interrogates each team member about their sales record over the last month, threatens to fire them all if they don’t do their jobs properly, and catches Rosaura just arriving to work and trying to sneak by. No one escapes her withering comments or gaze, except Jaime who has come in unnoticed and witnessed this masterful decimation of the human spirit. Morino is the final one to get dressed down when Ale finds him chewing on a toothpick and chatting on the phone in HER office with his legs propped up on HER desk.

Once she is comfortably seated at her throne, uhh..desk, Susana walks in and utters those classic telenovela words, “Que haces aqui?” Well, we all know the reasons. Ale is bored at home, she needs to work to pay the debts, she can’t depend on that jerk (Rafa) to pay her what he owes, etc. Susana can’t sway her, even when she warns her that she is risking the most precious thing of all, her health. Ale scoffs at this and pictures herself in perfect health, but sleeping on the streets with her father and aunt. Just then her aunt calls to: 1) find out why the heck she snuck out of the house when she has another month of bed rest; and 2) to tell her about the arrival of Rigoberto Salazar whom Ale has supposedly spoken to about selling the house. Ale’s aunt and father do not know that this is actually the loan shark that already holds the deed to their house and will take it if Ale doesn’t pay him back. Ale asks her aunt to put Salazar on the phone. She begs him to be discreet with her aunt and father and assures him he will have his payment soon. She better, because he really likes the house and can picture himself living there.

Ale starts to hyperventilate, but Susana calms her down and has her think logically about what she can actually accomplish to help the situation. Marco! That’s the solution! Her big, strong, faithful, financially secure man is headed to the bank today to get the needed money to pay off the loan shark. Ale calls him, interrupting a very in depth study of two nubile young women crossing the street in front of his car. He assures Ale he will get the money and go see Salazar today. Surprisingly (to me at least), he actually does this. We see him next handing a check to Salazar at Ale’s house, and Salazar hands him the deed. Marco looks like Smeagol as he takes the deed into his hands. Mine, mine, mine! The Precious!

After a day of zero luck, including being unsuccessful getting his car out of the police impound lot (What? You’re supposed to pay the taxes on your car EVERY year?), Rafa returns home for a conversation with Jaime. “Did you see her? How is she?”/ “She’s a panther, a demon. Everyone is terrified of her.”

This new info about Ale does not make Rafa go running for the hills. In fact, his goofy smile spreads wider and his eyes sparkle the more he hears. What a woman! He insists he needs to talk to her in person. “What about?”/”Business!” Apparently Rafa is going to make her an offer she can’t refuse. She gives him a good paying job selling cars (“It can’t be much different than selling booze or lingerie, right?”), and he pays her back what he owes. Good luck with that Rafa…

End of episode.

Next episode: Rafa uses Ale’s designer shoe that got left in his car as an excuse to go see her, but gets tongue tied when he actually has to speak with her for the first time.

Labels: dinero