Caray, Caray!

Some of you may conclude that I have my beanie fastened too tightly and it is cutting off the oxygen to my brain, but I confess that I still adore this hopelessly romantic novela. And yet… and yet… tonight, my friends, we have a dud. If you taped it but haven’t watched it, you might not want to bother. You decide after reading the summary:


We are at the dance club where Nati is out of her mind on cocaine. The scene keeps cutting back to Enrique telling his story on the psychiatrist’s couch. Besides Fernando and Andrea, Pablo and Diana are also there.

When Diana hears how Malicia told Pablo about Zein and Cristina’s kiss, Diana’s reaction is surprisingly astute. She questions Malicia’s motives and concludes that she is either una tonta o una vibora (a fool or a viper).

Alej comes to Natalia’s rescue. With some difficulty, he persuades her to come home with him. She imagines that someone is following them. (Alguién nos está siguiendo.)

At the Casa Ferrer, Marisa arrives at the appointed hour for her conversation with Leo. He tells her he saw her and Said together. Her response is a shrug:
¿Qué tiene de malo?
What’s wrong with that?/What’s the big deal?
She rejects his suggestion that mixing business with personal affairs is a mistake. If Lucas can chase after Jade, she can be with Said. And I’m with Said for the same reason you go out with your women:
Compañía, amor, cariño, diversion… y que Lucas se vea mal delante de todo el mundo – excelente!
Companionship, love, affection, fun... and if Lucas looks bad in front of everyone – excellent!

At Mohamed’s place, Samira asks Latifa if marriage with a westerner would be more acceptable if a person lived all her life in the United States. Hell no, says Latifa (only she says it more sweetly.) The Naz arrives. While the sisters-in-law bicker about Jade’s intended one-day marriage (a waste of a good man), Samira slips away.

Malicia takes Cristina aside at Salamandra:
No sé como decirte esto… Pablo no era el hombre para ti. Mereces un hombre más poderoso, un multimillonario...
I don’t know how to say this...Pablo wasn’t the man for you. You deserve a more powerful man, a multimillionaire…
Then when Pablo comes in looking for Cristina, the ever-helpful Malicia says:
No sé como decirte esto…Cristina salió con Zein. (Cris left with Zein)
I’m a loyal person, says Pablo, and people walk all over me. And I, says the tragic Malicia, am such a good person that people think I’m naïve, a fool. And my boyfriend isn’t happy about my pregnancy…

That boyfriend is at the moment bursting into Clara’s house demanding to see Fernando. Fer is out dancing and drugging. They bicker. Blablablá. Clara’s date, young Felipe arrives and puts his arm around her shoulders. When Escobar leaves, Clara moves Felipe’s arm away.

Alej has brought Nati back to Gloria’s place and Gloria’s not happy about it. Nati is obviously drugged up and Gloria predicts they are the ones who will be blamed for her behavior. Alej says Nati was at a party and someone slipped something into her lemonade. He begs Gloria to let her stay. She relents saying:
Sólo por esta noche. Mañana vamos a tener una conversación muy seria.
Just for tonight. Tomorrow we’re going to have a very serious conversation.

Ramon tries to poke his nose into things, but Gloria cuts him off and tells him to mind his own business and finish closing the restaurant.

When Albieri gets home, he finds Luisa waiting for him. Don’t lie to me, she says, tell me why Lucas was in this house. Albieri evades the question and says instead:
Yo necesito darle un tiempo a nuestra relación.
I need to give our relationship some time (away)...
Luisa assumes he is asking for a divorce and demands to know who the other woman is. Albieri keeps babbling about needing time alone to take care of some problems, but whatever he says, Luisa insists he must be having an affair In frustration, Albieri says:
Debo estar hablando chino.
I must be speaking Chinese!
Not only that, she also knows that he has been keeping Daniel from her, that he has said she wouldn’t be able to accept him. And Albieri does what he always does. He runs away.

Andrea comes home to find her parents in full interrogation mode. She tells them she was at a disco with her friends and no, she wasn’t smoking. She never lied to us before, says Lucia. Why would you think she’d start now? I guess I’m afraid, says Roberto. I never thought she’d be in danger. This is the kind of thing that happens to other people.

Cut to Enrique on the couch: At first, your family doesn’t notice…

Nati, meanwhile, has snuck into the restaurant and grabbed a bottle (of wine?). Alej catches her chugging it, takes it away and guides her back to bed.

Albieri asks Padre Andres for sanctuary, at least for the night. Andres challenges Albieri. You didn’t destroy your clone, did you? that’s why you’re so nervous. Why don’t you want Daniel to call his mother? Why are you keeping your travel plans a secret from Luisa and Daniel’s mother? Is he really just your godson?

Vicki catches up with Pablo at the gym and tells him there’s nothing between Zein and Cris. The kiss was… just a kiss. What she wants to know is, what’s going on between Pablo and Malicia. She’s an innocent kid, leave her out of this, says Pablo. (Thus demonstrating that he is at least as dumb as Escobar, maybe even dumber since this is an affair with Cristina he’s jeopardizing, for pete’s sake!)

Morning comes. (Gracias a dios. I thought that horrible night would never end). Alej tells Gloria he has an important appointment. He leaves Nati asleep in his room. When Alej has gone, Gloria says to the sleeping Nati:
No voy a dejar que tú dañes el futuro de mi hijo, no te voy a permitir.
I’m not going to let you harm my son’s future, I won’t permit it.

When Carlos asks Samira to go to the beach after school, she says she can’t, she has to take care of her sick mother. It seems like you can never go, he says.

And at home, Amin casually remarks to his parents that Samira is never home. Must be because she’s exhibiting herself in the street like those women in Cairo.

Ali shows up at the house. I haven’t heard from you or Jade lately, he says to Latifa. I think, blurts out Latifa, (much to Mohamed’s displeasure) that Said is preventing Jade from contacting her family. Ali sets off to Said’s house to find out what is going on.

Said’s servant is at that moment telling him that Jade hasn’t eaten anything. Zoraida frets that she will perish from hunger. Well if she does, grumps Said, it’s her own fault. There’s plenty of food in this house.

Enter Ali. I didn’t call him, Zoraida whispers fearfully to Said. Where’s Jade? Ali wants to know. I’m correcting Jade. (Estoy corrigiendo a Jade). He tells Ali what Jade has done to earn her punishment. Ali replies that if a man has to keep his wife locked up in order to hold on to her, then it’s not a marriage. He orders Said to unlock Jade’s room.
¡Que lo abras! Lo estoy ordenando!

Credits roll.

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