Caray, Caray!

Friday refresher, in case you’ve forgotten over the weekend: Axel pours his heart out to Greta, who is unconscious, and therefore a great listener, that he has to act like somebody he isn’t. There’s no such thing as happiness. Emanuel takes out his frustrations on a punching bag and tells Benigno that he’s upset about the problems with Marianela. Benigno suggests he take her a rose – that always melts women. Marianela hugs the box with her mother’s ashes and tells them she’s upset that Emanuel isn’t the friend she’d hoped he’d be. There’s a knock and it’s Emanuel with a rose. Sure enough, it works, especially when he explains that the pie was meant for Kristel. He wants to be her friend.

*****

This touching speech is interrupted by Delicia the maid barging in with a huge box that she says Kristel sent. Oh, and she hasn’t been able to find Marianela’s pin. Emanuel’s ears prick up.

Fedra tells Bernardo that his mother didn’t need to have more than one kid – he’s one in a million. He says he never knew his mother. Lucky you, says Fedra. He hands her a bottle and tells her just 20 drops, that’s all she can have. She has to be careful. She kisses the bottle and leaves the room, telling him to have her car ready at 11:00.

Bernardo thoughtbubbles Fedra, you always get your way. I’ve been with you more than 20 years, serving your little whims. He gets out a small inlaid box and gets out the silver lily. It’s been more than 20 years, he thoughtbubbles some more, since the lily sank to the bottom of the sea. He looks at the lily and hopes this isn’t a bad omen. There’s nothing like a bad omen to brighten the hearts of viewerdom, who perk up at the mention of one.

More thoughtbubbling: The jewel that Jose Maria Sevilla had made all those years ago “pasado nos persigue Capitan” (I have no idea what that means – the past haunts us? Who is Capitan?). And more: If you weren’t dead it would be easier to know where the lily came from, if only the sea hadn’t swallowed you forever the night the ship sank.

We see a burning ship sinking, but it doesn’t look like anything modern – it has masts….more like a scene from The Pinta, The Niña and The Glub Glub Glub.

I’m completely confused, which is frustrating because I’m sure all of this is important. If the lily was at the bottom of the sea, how did it get to the surface again? Why does the ship look like it sank 220 years ago, not 20 years ago?

Marianela tells Delicia that the lily was her only remembrance of her mother. Delicia trots out, saying she’ll get Benigno to help her look for it. Emanuel asks Marianela what it looks like, not letting on that he’s seen it. He says he’ll find it for her for sure.

In his room, he asks himself why he didn’t tell Marianela he had the lily. Maybe it’s because it looked like the one in the drawing Bernardo did for him. He guesses he ought to give it back, or she’ll hate him forever. Poor thing, she hasn’t had a moment’s peace since she arrived.

Marianela looks in the big box and says her trademark oh no no no no no. Is this what Kristel and Fedra want me to wear? She remembers her mother’s voice telling her what matters is who we are inside.

Muñeca is smiling seductively at her husband Lorenzo at home. She just couldn’t wait to be with him! He says he’s awfully tired, but she says suggestively that she knows just what’ll wake him up. She disappears up the stairs, his fake smile fades, and he thoughtbubbles that there’s no getting out of this.

Fedra is in Emiliano’s office pouring a drink and, using a dropper, adding the mystery liquid. He says he doesn’t want to argue. She acts innocent, and he tells her seems like arguing is what they do a lot lately.
F: Do you want me to turn into some boring old gray-haired thing like your Muñeca Rivera?
E: We’re not talking about her.
F: She was your intended until I appeared in your life. You know what I think when you gripe about me? That you wish you hadn’t left her.
E: Please, it was arranged by our families. We were never in love.
F: (handing him the drink and stroking his shoulder) That’s what you told me the first time we made love? Remember, mi amor?
E: (enjoying being nuzzled) I love when you do like that – you drive me crazy.

Fedra smiles seductively as he drinks, and thoughtbubbles, You or any other man that I feel like seducing.

There’s a knock at the door but they ignore it while she twirls her high heel in her hand and lifts the glass to his lips while he smiles happily.

Muñeca appears in the bedroom in a slinky number and dims the lights. Lorenzo thoughtbubbles that he’s not going to be able to get out of it. She begins nuzzling him and says she’s been dreaming of this moment. Really? he says, yawning.

Fedra is on Emiliano’s lap and he’s saying yummy, he loooves making love to her. She pouts that he doesn’t listen to her. He says he can’t believe how she affects him – she’s the most desirable woman he’s ever known. He takes another drink and yawns profoundly. She holds him to her chest.

Muñeca is starting to disrobe Lorenzo when his cells rings. She begs him not to answer it, but he says he just has to. It’s Lucas at some party or bar saying he’s there with two lovely things. Lorenzo fakes at his end: Can’t you get along without me? Okay, I’ll come.

Muñeca is crushed and begs him to stay. He says filming on the commercial is hung up and they’re a bunch of incompetents. He feigns deep regret and hotfoots it out of there.

It’s dinnertime at Emiliano’s house and everyone is arranged around the table. Fedra gripes about the food, which isn’t her planned menu, but Emanuel says it’s healthy – fat’s bad for you. Kristel says Marianela (who isn’t there) ought to know. Axel mutters that the family table is a battleground. Emiliano, still yawning, announced to everyone that this is Marianela’s first time to have dinner with them.

Just then she appears, dressed in a pumpkin costume, and taking the high road. She gives them a sparkly smile and says to Fedra and Kristel that they didn’t think she’d put on the costume, but look, she did and here she is.

Netty is weeping in front of a statue of a santo and Brandon comes in and says how sorry he is, he just heard. She laments that Eva was just finally having the life she deserves. Brandon tells her to try to be happy. Do it for herself. Do it for Eva. Remember how every time Eva visited she said this was a house full of happy people? We have to keep being happy people for her. He gives Netty a kiss on the head.

You’re right, she says. We need to remember Eva with joy. Brandon is happy the old Netty is back. He asks about Marianela and Netty bursts into tears again.

At the house of unhappy people, Marianela thanks Kristel for lending her the outfit. Emanuel thinks it’s a very poor joke. Kristel protests that it wasn’t, she just didn’t have anything that Marianela could fit into, and the pumpkin outfit is the height of fashion – she got first prize once when she wore it.

Emanuel offers her a chair and Marianela mooshes the pumpkin down a bit while Kristal and Fedra suppress laughter. Emanuel says he’s going to his room a minute. Fedra tells them all to eat – Marianela must be starving.

Marianela tries not to show that she was insulted and gives herself a silent pep talk. She was trying to be brave, but maybe she just came off ridiculous.

Ilitia has a huuuuge problem, she tells her mama Muñeca. Which dress should she wear to see Emanuel – the red one or the black one? Muñeca says that maybe she (Muñeca) has hit the age and stage where those kinds of things don’t work. Well, she guesses the black one. Great! says Ilitia, then I’ll wear the red one.

Muñeca looks distracted. Ilitia wants to know why her mother didn’t argue when she picked the other dress. Muñeca just tells her she’ll be late. Ilitia, actually for a nanosecond noticing another human being, asks her if she’s okay.

Emiliano tells Marianela to eat all she wants. Fedra tells him not to say that, she’ll empty the larder. Marianela says she’s not very hungry. Axel says he understands, this family would put anyone off their feed. Kristel says it’ll be a great way for Marianela to diet.

Emanuel comes back dressed as a pirate and he and Axel high-five. Now what, says Fedra, and he says it seemed to be a costume party.

Muñeca is sitting in her room looking wistful when her maid Flora brings her some tea. Muñeca says Lorenzo didn’t even say goodbye. It seems like she’s invisible to him. She says she doesn’t want dinner, she’s just going to take her sleeping pills, and she sends Flora off.

She looks at a photo of her and Lorenzo happy together. She tells it she’s going to sleep because she’s tired of going to bed alone, and that he hasn’t made love to her even once a month, and she’s tired of pretending it doesn’t matter. She’s had it. She shakes out too many pills into her hand. She wishes he’d tell her even once that he loves her. She swallows the handful of pills.

Fedra tells Emanuel to lose the pirate costume, she doesn’t want people horsing around at her dinner table. Emanuel ignores that and sits down and smiles. Emiliano asks her to just let them all eat in peace. Axel wants to know why it’s okay that Marianela can be dressed as a pumpkin, but it’s not okay for Emanuel to be dressed as a pirate.

Emanuel thinks it’s splendid that dinner has turned into a costume party. He compliments Kristel on hers. She looks surprised. He tells her she came as a superficial bitch. I guess what he really said was “witch.” Kristel whines for her mother to do something. Fedra tells Emiliano to shape everybody up, but he’s fallen asleep.

Netty is miserable – she feels like Emiliano’s family has made off with everything now that Eva is gone – they have that big house… Brandon asks her if she really thinks Marianela will be happy there. Netty knows she won’t. What she needs right now is love and she’s not going to get it there. They have tons of money but they’re empty inside. They made Eva’s life miserable.

Brandon tells her money can’t buy happiness, and says he’d like to meet Marianela. If she’s as pretty as her mother, he says, he might fall in love with her. Netty arches her eyebrows.

Emiliano is so groggy his head hits the table. He reckons he’ll go on to bed. He staggers out.

It’s time for dessert and the maid comes in with ice cream, which makes Fedra furious. Where’s the lemon pie? Kristel says Marianela wiped it out. Thanks a lot, says Fedra. If you wanted to ruin our whole evening, you certainly succeeded. Since you arrived in this house, everything’s gone to hell.

Sorry, I don’t agree, says Marianela, leaving the table.

Netty is praising Marianela to Brandon. She was first in her class! She made this sling! She’s a wonderful person! Wow, says Brandon. She’s tender, sweet, she inherited her mother’s character. Wow, says Brandon again, she sounds like a saint. I’m guessing maybe you’re leaving out that she’s not so good looking? Oh, no! says Netty. She has the prettiest face. But she’s….gordita.

Emanuel is lecturing his mother and sister, telling them that Marianela is at a rough time in her life, she just lost her mama and… Kristel yawns loudly. Axel fervidly agrees with Emanuel and says they should make every effort to be kind to her. Fedra says that as long she follows the rules, there’s no problem.

Fedra says she’ll try. Emanuel asks Kristel if she will too. Sure, says Kristel who starts dramatizing Poor orphan who just lost her mother… Emanuel tells her she doesn’t get it. Her last two remaining brain cells aren’t up to the burden. He leaves and Fedra and Kristel break into laughter about the excellent pumpkin adventure while Axel shakes his head in disgust.

Emanuel has walked out into the night and sits on the front stairs and wonders why his mother and Kristel are so mean to Marianela. In the background, Marianela walks out and sees him and thinks how she wants to thank him for the pirate routine. Maybe he really does like her. She starts to walk towards him when out of nowhere appears Ilitia, who throws her arms around him and kisses him. They call each other mi amor. Marianela is crushed.

Flora the maid finds Muñeca passed out on the floor of her bedroom. Panicked, she calls for Fidel, whoever that is. I’m guessing it’s not the dog.

Marianela thoughtbubbles that Emanuel’s girlfriend is so thin and they look so in love. Just then Ilitia spots her and wonders what the heck that is. Marianela turns to run away at a pumpkin trot, but Emanuel calls to her.

Ilitia wonders if there’s a costume party going on and nobody told her. Emanuel introduces Marianela. Ilitia makes a few snippy jokes at Marianela’s expense and Emanuel frowns. Marienela looks sad.

Still at the dinner table, Kristel wonders why Emanuel defends Marianela. Fedra says he’s just that way, but she has to understand who’s in charge in the house. Axel says they’re just mad because she doesn’t take their insults lying down. Fedra is surprised he’s defending her too and Kristel wonders if he prefers chubby girls, instead of her slim girlfriends. He gets mad and says that has nothing to do with it. Kristel says people are starting to talk, so he better find himself a girlfriend and fast. She flounces off and he’s livid.

Fedra tells him to sit and asks him what people are talking about. He stares at the tablecloth. She doesn’t want their name dragged through the mud. He’s not interested in what people say, particularly since a lot of them are party-people bed hoppers. Fedra says that sort of thing should interest him, particularly at his age, it’s normal. He retorts that it doesn’t make him abnormal if he doesn’t like Fabiola.

Fedra says how about Lorena? He’s not interested in her either. Fedra tells him he better get him a girlfriend, like now, and stop this gossip. If not, she doesn’t know what they’re going to do with him. Don’t make up stuff! he protests. She says they don’t have certain kinds of people in her family, using (I’m guessing) using circumlocutions for gay. She goes over to him and says she figures he’ll leave the house with a medical degree in hand and a worthy girl on his arm. She wants that photo for her album. If that doesn’t happen, there’ll be serious problems, understand? She strokes his hair while he glares.

Fidel has arrived and is on his knees next to prostrate Muñeca. He tells Flora to call an ambulance, something telenovela characters are incapable of doing unless prompted. Meantime, at some club, Lorenzo is all over some tall, blonde lovely.

Marianela asks Ilitia if she’s a model. Yes, says Ilitia, but I don’t give autographs in my time off. Ilitia wonders if Kristel’s home, she wants to see her. Emanuel tells her to go on in. Ilitia says she’s glad to meet his cousin, she must have a huge heart, ha ha.

Fidel and Flora are awaiting the ambulance and he tells her to call Ilitia. Flora gets her on her cell and starts to tell her Your mother… Ilitia interrupts her and says she’s with her novio and doesn’t want her mother bothering her right now. Give her a kiss and tell her I’ll talk to her later. Bye.

Kristel is admiring her figure in a long mirror, turning this way and that, while she talks on the phone to Mauricio who is on his cell somewhere grassy, probably the club lawn. He tells her that it was her idea to throw a welcome party for her cousin and everything’s all ready at the club. Kristel laughs that Marianela is unfortunately dressed like a pumpkin right now. He tells her to bring her, they’re going to have the beauty contest and she has to be there.

Kristel says she’ll bring her. Mauricio tells her to use his car, which is still there. Ilitia appears at the doorway of Kristel’s room and they laugh and hug.

Marianela and Emanuel are still outside in front of the house, and she thanks him for his kindness and understanding, and for dressing up like a pirate so she didn’t feel so bad. What makes you think I did it for you? he asks. Maybe I have this whole pirate fantasy life. He does a little pirate shtick.

To my mind, when it comes to humiliation, looking like Errol Flynn is hardly comparable to looking like giant orange-colored squash with tendrils, but hey, his heart is in the right place.

Lorenzo and the blonde come into a hotel room, smooching. She wonders why a guy like him doesn’t have his own pad for romantic adventures. He says he does and it depends on how she performs in the hotel room. He’s rough with her and tells her not to take him to heaven, but to hell. Women like you are my downfall.

She takes a silettoed high-heel in each hand and, raising her hands over her head like a picador, embeds them in him, then leaves him for dead.

Okay, that didn’t happen. Actually, and this must be like some blonde joke, she doesn’t see what a truly scary guy he is and she says Kiss me. Tell me what you want and I’ll do it.

Ilitia asks Kristel how she got an elephant for a cousin. Kristel is mortified , mortifed! she’s related to somebody like that – she makes her skin crawl. Emanuel and Marianela come in and Fedra and Axel appear. Ilitia gushes over Fedra, telling her she looks wonderful, and tries to greet Axel, but he rudely shoves by her.

Fedra asks after her parents, and Ilitia says her mother is probably alone right now, while her father is out doing something he shouldn’t. Fedra tells her her father needs to stay out of trouble. While all this conversation goes on, Manuel isn’t paying attention, and is horsing around bumping against Marianela’s pumpkin costume.

The ambulance guys are there, putting Muñeca on a stretcher. They figure her stomach will be pumped. They want to know if Flora and Fidel are family members, and they explain who they are (Fidel is the chauffeur, it turns out), but they are the ones on the spot, so they figure they are acting as family since nobody else is around.

Lorenzo and blonde are snoozling in bed when there’s a pounding on the door. My husband! says the blonde. We hear the guy outside yelling that he knows she’s in there with some guy and he’s going to kill them both.

Okay by me.

Ilitia is telling about her awful experience at the airport, but assures everyone she’ll take care of that police fellow after what he did to her. She says she brought home presents for everyone, but not for the cousin. Marianela says that’s okay, I don’t expect gifts from someone I’d never met.

Ilitia is surprised Marianela is so outspoken and Kristel says she has tons of personality. Emanuel tells her to knock it off, and Kristel says that, just to show she listened to what he said about including Marianela, she’s putting on a welcome party this very evening at the club.

Tonight? says Marianela.

Avances: It’s a party at the club where everybody is hip and Marianela is a pumpkin. Will she turn into a coach at midnight? Looks like she’s having fun, though, and one fellow even tries to kiss her. She goes to hug Emanuel and ends up falling on top of him.

Labels: llena