Caray, Caray!

Tonight, Daniela Castro is "Rosa, Heredera" (Rosa , Heiress)

A woman of a certain age sits at her dining room table. Actually, her head rests on her dining room table, bleeding all over it, while her cat eats his breakfast out of a bowl set precariously close to the pool of blood. Ungrateful beast. We hear a voiceover explaining, "this is me, or was me," and that this is the end of something that was a long time coming. She wonders what "we" did. Now they're going to show up and investigate, and "manosear" (grope) her and really, she knows who did it. The one responsible for her ending up in a mess of blood is Loneliness. Well, ok, case closed, we'll tune in next week. Pfft.

Sing it, Gloria….

The soon-to-be dead woman feeds her cat canned food while she chatters at him. She feeds the cat on top of the table, which I understand is the right of every American under some article or other, but which my fuzzballs better not even THINK is going to happen with them. She complains about her knees, in particular. She tells the cat everybody's got to go sometime, as she gives it a bowl of water. She says the cat still gets around, but she never ran off with a man, "What an idiot, right? And I was pretty!" The doorbell rings and "Ana Maria" calls to her.

I gave up and looked it up, this older woman, played by Silvia Pinal (who I'm not familiar with) is Inés. Inés goes to the door and has a pointless argument with Ana Maria about why she rings the doorbell when she has a key and why Inés always asks who it is when she knows it's Ana Maria. Inés gripes about being old and alone. The third woman suggests maybe AM and Inés should move in together, so then they won't be alone, but each was left their house by another person and refuses to leave. And also, they're both so crotchety, I wouldn’t want to live with either of them. Woman #3 cuts off the argument, or tries. Inés insists she'll go to the beauty salon alone. Woman #3, Esperanza, calls Inés' attitude a "berrinche" (temper tantrum), which only adds fuel to the fire. Inés stalks out alone and Ana Maria and Esperanza start cleaning up the breakfast dishes. AM figures she'll calm down and come back. There's some general fussing in the kitchen about Inés attitude.

Gerardo, the forensic guy, pulls the sheet back over the corpse and says "We've always known the dead can speak to us." Det. Capellan points to her head, mocking him. A foxy cougar (a cougary fox?) in a red blouse agrees with him that the body and the wounds talk about the victim and the crime. Capellan says that's why she wants the two of them working together, and she'll be waiting in her office. Before she can leave, Teniente Aranda (the curly-haired cop…doesn't she ever have a bad hair day?) calls on the cell phone/walkie and says there's a call that Capellan should hear. It sounds like a 911 call. Someone's asking for help, but the 911 operator needs them to calm down and give a location. The only word I can make out is "pobrecita" (poor little woman) before the call cuts off. Aranda says they've narrowed down the area and are closing in. Foxy Lady says they need to get out there. Capellan will keep Foxy Lady informed, but she wants Gerardo to go with her.

Black SUV's race down the road. Aranda has the exact location now and says that the psychologist (so now she's the Foxy Psychologist) is analyzing the tape. Capellan asks Gerardo why he thinks the call came from the murderer. He just had a "corazonada" (a hunch, a feeling) that the call didn't come from the victim. Capellan smiles and says that's why she wanted him to come, his hunches are usually right. Capellan calls Aranda back and says "go to code red" she wants everyone alert.

Inés walks into the beauty salon. A stylist starts asking what she wants done. Inés turns down a shampoo with the excuse that "I've already washed it and at my age, I can't be getting it wet all the time." The stylist jokingly asks her age…"Somewhere between 70 and the grave!" jajaja. The stylist is Rosa. Inés wants Rosa to "tutear" (use the familiar "you" instead of the formal) her so she doesn't feel so old. She fesses up to being 72 years old. Rosa says she looks a good 10 years younger. As they discuss the cut she wants, Dead!Inés voiceovers that "this was the beginning of our friendship, a friendship based on lies." Rosa asks if Inés is married and finds out that she never got married. "Oh, that's not possible, with that pretty face!" Dead!Inés says "And at that moment was when she started planning my death."

Back to Inés lying on the table. "I told her everything she needed to know and she told me everything I needed to hear. Lies. Sweet lies."

Rosa comes sauntering into a room where an old man is sitting. "This old lady is around 120," she laughs. "Did she say she was alone?" the man asks. Rosa says she's completely alone. She remembers Inés saying that when someone is so alone, any attention is like a gift. The man wonders if she has her "guacadito?" Rosa says those old ladies always have something. She thinks there might be a sister, but they joke that if she's 120, her sister must be 250.

At the salon, Rosa tells Inés that she doesn't need to feel alone. She can drop by any time, even if it's just for a coffee. Inés says something about she and her sister living in separate houses (I guess that's Ana Maria, which explains the 'tudes), then she leaves. Rosa calls one of the other girls over to do the hairstyle on her that they talked about earlier, "but quick, because I want to leave."

The old guy philosophizes that in America there are lots of ways to become a millionaire quickly, "selling drugs, inheriting, winning the lottery, or turning yourself into a politician." Rosa says she has no intention of stealing from anyone. The old guy, Mario, says this isn't about stealing, what she's going to do is invest. "This is a business in which you have to invest and then wait."

Rosa is in the middle of doing a client's hair when Inés comes in all upset. Rosa yells at someone to bring a glass of water and rubbing alcohol. Inés' trauma is that she's convinced something happened to her sister because she's not answering her phone and her car is in the garage. She didn’t want to go into the house and check, even though she's got the keys, because she got an "escalofrio" (shiver, shudder). Rosa calls for someone to bring her a "chamarra" (jacket) and tells Inés they'll go right away.

They go into the house calling for Ana Maria. Inés is convinced something happened because the car is outside. Rosa tells her Ana Maria must have stepped out. She finds the coffee pot still on and says AM must have just gone out to the supermarket or something. They finally see Ana Maria in her chair. Rosa says she's just sleeping. Inés goes over and starts calling her name and moving her. Ana Maria is dead. Inés starts crying and Rosa pats her on the back and does a quick mental estimate of the value of the room's contents.

The medical people zip up the bag and take the body. Inés sits at AM's dining room table crying that she was hardly ever sick. Rosa says "the doctor told you, she had a heart attack, sometimes these things happen and there's just no warning." Inés says AM was more like her daughter, ever since they were younger. Rosa says, if it makes her feel better, AM probably didn't suffer. She was just sitting there like a sleeping bird. She asks if Inés is now going to have two houses. Inés starts yelling at her that of course not, this house now belongs to Robertito who's in Canada! She keeps yelling that she didn't think Ana Maria was going to die before she did, and why is Rosa asking her about the house, what does she (Inés) care about the house! She starts crying again and Rosa asks her to calm down. She says this has been really difficult for her, too, and she was just trying to distract Inés. Inés now feels bad about dragging Rosa into this, but Rosa says not to worry about it, Inés isn't alone anymore. Inés doesn't know what she's supposed to do next, how to arrange the funeral, "and I'm sure there are lots of papers to sign, I can't be going all over the place!" And what about Robertito! How is she going to tell him. Rosa reminds her that she's there for Inés. "I don't want you to worry about the process or informing your nephew, I'll take care of everything!"

Mario yells up the stairs at Rosa that they've had some good luck, with the younger sister dying before the older. Rosa comes downstairs in all black with a zebra stripe scarf. Mario wonders if the nephew won't also try to get his aunt's house. Rosa says no way. He didn't even come to his own mother's funeral. She already told him what the "cínico" Roberto said, but she'll tell him again. "So sorry, how good that you're taking care of everything, of course, since the house is in my name already…." Well, says Mario, we've got another house to worry about, right? Rosa questions his "we." He says at some point the old lady is supposed to start helping her out. She says she hopes the moment is now, since she didn't help at all with the funeral arrangements, etc. Mario says this is only the beginning. She has to become indispensible to the old lady, her right hand, almost her daughter. Mario says to turn into whatever it takes. Rosa tells him she's had enough of his advice and he needs to start thinking about how he can help her. She storms out.

The cops come busting into Inés' house, where Rosa is trying to wipe something up from the table. They tell her to get away from the body and put her hands in the air. Dead!Inés says, "Are you crying, Rosa? I don't believe you anymore." Dead!Inés keeps talking over Rosa and the cops, so it's hard to make out what anyone's saying. Basically, Rosa is probably saying she didn't do it and Inés is saying she thought they were friends. Aranda leads Rosa out.

Inés is stirring some Jell-O as she yells to Rosa to come on in, she's just leaving a "gelatina" in the fridge for later. Instead, it's Esperanza, who wonders what would happen if it had been a thief. Not to worry, Inés has her revolver. Esperanza laughs. If the gun was Inés' dad's, then it must be rustier than the two of them put together. Inés supposes so, "But it would give them a good scare anyway!" Esperanza marvels over Inés' hair, which has gone blonde. Inés talks about how Rosa colored her hair, Rosa is so nice to her, Rosa does everything, Rosa is practically a sister to her. Esperanza thinks it's too early for that, but Inés says it's just a figure of speech. "The poor thing doesn't get along with her husband, that's why I'm putting her in my will and leaving her this house. I'm just waiting for her to come over so we can go to the notary together." Esperanza has her doubts, because Inés hasn't known Rosa for long and is now planning to leave the house to her. Rosa comes in and tells Inés she looks beautiful. Inés tries to start something by saying that Esperanza was talking about her. Rosa takes the bowl of Jell-O away and puts in in the fridge for Inés while Inés makes faces behind her back at Esperanza, like "see, I told you how nice she was!"

Dead!Inés sits at the table while to cops take pictures. Rosa, in her python print leggings, is in the living room with Det. Capellan and Aranda. Aranda gets Rosa's thumbprints on, dare I think it, her iPhone? She's not doing it with ink, just having Rosa press her thumbs to something that looks about iPhone size. Dead!Inés voiceovers that none of it was true, and Rosa was just carrying out a plan.

Rosa comes home after a hard day of getting old ladies to sign over their worldly possessions and announces to Mario that he's talking to "Rosa Dominguez, heredera." Mario tells her that Inés has already called twice and said she needs Rosa to come over right away. He snatches the folder with the paperwork out of her hands and tells her to get a move on. Rosa grabs her bag and walks out, saying "ay, mendiga vieja!" (needy old woman). As soon as she walks out, Mario throws his paper away and starts looking through the folder.

Rosa gets there and it turns out the big emergency was that Inés wanted her to come over so they could take a walk and then watch a novela together. Rosa has a hard time containing her impatience that Inés made it sounds like such a big deal, especially after they'd spent the whole day together. Inés, in her haze of self-delusion, thinks Rosa should be excited to go have a nice walk and then watch her novela in her next house.

Rosa is consulting with a client at the salon when Inés calls. She's gotten confused about which medication to take when and already took some of the wrong ones. Rosa says she'll be right over.

Rosa stands over Inés while she takes her medication, then gives her a kiss and says she'll be back in the afternoon. She leaves the receipts for the bills she paid and Inés says "What would I do without you?"

Inés calls Rosa to come over right away! She can't find her medication! Rosa loses her temper, telling Inés they're in the same drawer as always. She shoves the bottle into Inés' hand.

Rosa tries to do some accounting at the salon. She waves off the girl who answers the phone when she hears that it's Inés. The girl tells Inés that Rosa isn't there and Inés slams the phone down and won't leave a message. Rosa throws up her hands and goes back to what she was doing. Which includes having foils in her hair.

A bald man gives Rosa a tip for her work and she says she'll see him next week. Rosa starts talking to her next client about her hair and Inés comes in, enraged. She loudly accuses of Rosa of lying about having just gotten there (which she was) and just paying attention to her until she got her name in the will (which she did). Inés calls her a hypocrite. Rosa tries to calm her down and asks her to go into the back room with her, but Inés refuses. Rosa tells one of the other girls to take care of her client and takes Inés into the back. Inés keeps up the accusation that Rosa was just trying to get on her good side to get the house. Rosa tells her to do what ever the hell she wants to with the damn house, she can't take it anymore. "Oh, so you were just putting up with me to get the house, is that it?" Rosa says she wasn't putting up with her for anything, especially since she can't put up with her, no one can! "Esperanza can't put up with you and your sister hated you!" That earns her a slap. Inés tells Rosa that she's going to change her will and leave the house to the parish priest. Rosa tries to talk to her, and she tries to say it's not about the will, she just wants to talk. Inés says if that's the case, then come over to the house tonight.

Moran is on his laptop, analyzing the fingerprints. Det. Capellan starts questioning Rosa in the living room. Rosa told 911 that two men came into the house and attacked them. Capellan says none of the locks had been forced. Rosa says they tied her up. Gerardo asks to see her wrists. Rosa says they also hit her and Gerardo wants to know where. Moran calls over that he's noticing a bruise on the victim's cheek that's about a week to ten days old. Rosa claims not to know where it came from. Aranda comes in with Inés' gun and says both Inés' and Rosa's fingerprints were on it. Aranda's walking around a crime scene in a tank top. Why does that strike me as inappropriate attire?

Inés is sitting up in bed reading when Rosa comes in. They snipe at each other until Inés says her back is hurting and Rosa comes over to give her a massage. They keep arguing. Rosa asks how much longer Inés is going to be in this bad mood. When Inés won't answer, Rosa starts to leave. Inés points her father's gun at Rosa and says "If we're all going to die one day, then why don't we die together?" Rosa tries to calm her down. Inés calls Rosa a coward and points the gun at her own head. Rosa starts crawling over the bed to try and take the gun away from her. She finally pries it out of her hands, and then yells at her, "Loca!" Inés yells back that if Rosa doesn't want to end up with nothing, she has to put up with Inés' craziness. "The notary already told me that if I want to change my will I should just think about it and then call him and I already thought about it and I'm going to call him tomorrow!" Rosa sweeps everything off of Inés dresser to show just how much she gives a crap about the house and Inés' things. Inés threatens to call the cops and Rosa knocks her out with the butt of the gun. When Rosa sees that Inés is knocked out, she puts the gun in the nightstand and walks out.

Capellan asks and Rosa admits that she did hit her with the gun, but that Inés threatened her first. Rosa denies knowing anything about the gun having been fired and says the incident happened 5 or 6 days ago. "What did you do after that?" Rosa says she went home and talked to her husband, who showed her the error of her ways and convinced her to come back and apologize to Inés.

Mario reads Rosa the riot act for screwing up the plan. He tells her to go back and beg forgiveness and ask for her help. Rosa asks "help for what?" and Mario backhands her. He tells her to go tell Inés that her husband beat her and ask her for a place to stay. "I told you I'd help you out at some point."

Dead!Inés voiceovers "You told me you had problems with Mario, that I was your friend, the only one who could help you, and you wanted to be with me." as we see that a week has passed. Inés is letting Rosa into the house and giving her a hug. Dead!Inés says "You told me all the things I needed to hear. I wonder if we always only hear the lies." Rosa tells Inés that she really doesn't care about the house and the will, she just wants them to be friends like they were before. Inés hugs her and tells her not to worry about it.

Inés calls to Rosa that the news is starting. Rosa picks up the phone and calls Mario. Inés picks up the phone and listens to the conversation. Rosa tells Mario she can't take any more. It's been five days and the crazy old woman just yells all the time. Mario tells her she'd better put up with it and keep the old lady good and happy to stay in her will. He hangs up on Rosa. Once Inés hears Rosa hang up, she does the same. Inés dumps her bowl of gruel on the floor and then screams and waits for Rosa to come in. She tells Rosa it fell. Rosa says she'll get a rag and clean it up and Inés tells her she's sorry, she'll have to clean it with a brush or else the milk will smell, oh, what would she ever do without her. Rosa takes the bowl out of the room and Inés goes back to watching TV.

Det. Capellan tells Rosa that there is no evidence to indicate that any man came in by force, nor that he attacked her or Inés. She says there's also no physical evidence that Rosa was tied up or beaten. What they do have evidence of is that Rosa had previously hit Inés with the butt of a gun. Rosa's fingerprints are all over the house. Gerardo comes over and says that with head wounds, especially near the occipital lobe, the veins tend to explode because of the intracranial pressure and the blood aerosolizes, leaving stains like Rosa has on her face and shirt. Det. Capellan asks Rosa if she'd like to tell them what happened.

Rosa comes in and asks Inés why the door was locked. Inés says something about going to see the parish priest. Rosa says she didn't remember Inés telling her that. Inés asks where Rosa was and Rosa says she was a work. Inés tells her that she called the salon, and Monica said that Rosa had called in sick. Rosa accuses Inés of spying on her. Inés says she was just worried about Rosa's husband abusing her. Rosa apologizes and says she should have told Inés. Inés says Rosa has to tell her everything-- that's just what she was talking to Padre Luis about. Padre Luis said that where there's trust, there's "prudencia" (caution, good sense). She thinks Padre Luis should be listening to her and Rosa laughs at the idea of Inés counseling the priest. Inés comes in with the cat's food and another bowl and sets them on the dining room table. Inés says she talked to Padre Luis about maybe selling the house if he needs to and investing the money to use it to take care of the poor if he needs to. Rosa wants to know what house she's talking about, but I think we know the answer to that one.

Rosa tells Det. Capellan that she got tired of the lies and she couldn't control herself. She wanted to open her head up and pull all the lies out.

"But this house isn't…." "It's Padre Luis' and the parish's. You told me you didn't care about the house." "And you told me you hadn't changed your will!" "Well, I guess we both lied. You to get the house, and me…" "To have a servant! You've had me at your service 24 hours a day!" Inés laughs at the idea of Rosa being her servant. She calls her an unscrupulous slave, a greedy one with no dignity. Rosa starts laughing about the idea of dignity. Inés says Rosa would have licked the ground she walked on, and all for what? "For an old house." Rosa says that if she doesn't have any dignity, then Inés is a damn manipulative old woman. Inés calls her a hyena and a vulture. She dares Rosa to kill her. "Death would be a liberation, but for you, all you have left is to see the world pass you by through the windows of a neighborhood beauty parlor." Rosa tells her to shut up. "For you there is nothing, nothing, nothing." Rosa hits her over the head with a glass bowl and yells at her to shut up. The bloody butterfly flies away.

"Rosa Dominguez was condemned to 20 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter, aggravated by viciousness and premeditation. She will be released from prison in 2026. Her husband, Mario Dominguez, filed for divorce and never visited her in prison."

Labels: asesinas