Caray, Caray!

Capítulo 168: The Adventures of Nacofetus

We left off at Axel and Delicia’s boda, where Fedra deals out the photos of dead-to-the-world Delicia being smooched on by Alfredo.

Now we’re back to Jose Maria and Bernardo. Friday JM stated that Bernardo had been in love with Juana Felipa since day one. Bernardo now tells him it was stronger than him, he just couldn’t help it, to which JM grouses that not only did Bernardo cost him his freedom, he swiped his lady-love. No such luck, says Bernardo, she never loved him back. He laid the world at her feet, he turned her into Fedra Curiel, and all she did was treat him like a slave.

JM sneers that he pities him, then tells him not to go around saving his life any more, and to get the hell out. As Bernardo turns to do that, JM calls him back and tells him that if he wants his friendship back, he has to go and sin no more, plus rectify all the bad he’s done.

Bernardo begs him not to make him choose between Fedra and him – they are the two most important people in the world to him. He’ll protect them both!

Back to the bombed-out boda. Delicia is shocked and confused, Axel is mad, Fedra is insistent, Vicky is skeptical and so is Emil, who thinks it’s all very fishy. Who would take photos like that, and how did they end up in Fedra’s hands, hmmm? Axel remembers seeing Alfredo in the hallway outside her door, and that she wouldn’t answer when he knocked. Delicia swears she went to sleep, then goes over and grabs Fedra by her curly locks, but doesn’t pull very hard.

Ilitia goes to see her agent Mayela because she has no one to turn to. She tells her she’s pregnant and it’s not Eman’s, and what’s worse, the actual daddy doesn’t look anything like Eman. She’ll get found out. She explains that she’s not Muñeca’s daughter and when she found out, the world caved in on her, so that’s why she doesn’t want this baby to ever see the light of day.

Back at the boda, Delicia tells Axel that he knows what his mother is like. Gretel backs her up, and Oliver asks Gretel why she doesn’t listen to her own advice. Others chime in, including Netty, and Fedra, calmly sipping her wine, scoffs that Netty’s just a naca like everybody else there. Emil is furious with her and demands to know where she got the photos.

Doesn’t matter, says Axel, scooping them up, they’re faked. He rips them up and Delicia clings happily to him.

Mayela says she can help, but she can’t believe Ilitia got into this fix, and she better be sure what she’s doing because she could be sorry later. Ilitia reminds her that she did the same thing, but Mayela says she was on a career track and never wanted to get married, so that was different. Ilitia figures she can say she lost the baby, then the next time she gets pregnant, it’ll be Eman’s. She wants to get on it today.

Fedra tells everyone that one day they’ll be sorry they doubted her. Axel proclaims that he believes in Delicia, making Emil proud. Fedra says that all her kids are in love with the wrong person, and it’s because Emil set such a bad example, taking up with Netty.

She leaves. Jubilation! Time for music! Dancing breaks out, but our best dancer, Oliver, doesn’t join in. He sadly goes over to Gretel who just throws the same accusations at him and won’t let him get a word in edgewise. Jorge and Eman try to get Vicky to dance with them, and Brandon stops that by asking her how it is that the Lirio was able to escape last night.

Ilitia is at the clinic with Mayela, talking to the doctor. She assures him she’s less than 12 weeks along. The doctor tells her that after an exam, they’ll set a date. Nopers, Ilitia wants to do it today.

Brandon accuses MV of being an accomplice of the Lirio. When the Lirio was at the orphanage last night, he was with a woman whose description fit MV, so he’s going to have to take her down to the station. MV says she’ll go, but asks him to make some excuse so they don’t ruin Axel and Delicia’s day.

Jorge and Eman insist on accompanying her, and Netty overhears that Brandon has accused her of something. Eman explains that Brandon thinks she’s connected to the Lirio.

Ilitia is up in the stirrups (near as we can tell) but she has a vision of holding her arms out to a little boy and when he runs to her, he evaporates. She freaks out and tells the doctor that she doesn’t want him murdering her son.

Eman gets a call from Mayela, telling him Ilitia needs him.

Mauricio has appeared, I think at Garduno’s. Ah, the prodigal son, laughs Lorenzo evilly, and sends his guards to the other room. Mauricio knows (or guesses) that Lorenzo has done in Garduno, and now he thinks Lorenzo and he will share leadership. Fat chance, says Lorenzo. Mau protests, but not for long, because here comes Tejeda with his cops who point their guns at Mau. Tejeda thanks Lo for the information leading up to Mau’s capture. Mau swears revenge while Lo has a refreshing sip of wine.

Axel carries Delicia over the threshold of his bedroom. They kiss and say sweet things to one another, then she shyly admits it’ll be her first time. He promises he’ll be good to her. More kisses and a bit of a rock song, then some violins and he’s slowly undoing the laces of her corset-backed dress while she smiles demurely. When he removes the corset, he sees written on the small of her back in marker: “I sampled her first. Alfredo” Axel steps back, stunned.

Let’s think about this. Since nobody saw that writing, it means that Delicia laced and tied the corset top herself. Ladies, could you do this? I thought not.

Brandon isn’t in his office, but Jorge and MV are, and Jorge is telling her off – he knows darned good and well she is connected to the Lirio. Right, says Brandon, coming in. Criminals always trip up, like for instance Mauricio who they just brought in.

Brandon asks Jorge to leave, then Marianela sits down, which must not have been easy, given that her dress would challenge Houdini to get into, let alone back out of. Brandon tells her the Lirio is a baddie, but she says he’s a good baddie, and he wanted her to see the sick kids he was buying medications for. Brandon wonders if they have something going, and tells her she’s going to tell him who the Lirio is – right now.

Ilitia comes tearfully home to her mama, Mayela with her. She confesses that she was going to get rid of the baby, but she just couldn’t. Muñeca is astonished, and mad at Mayela who just says she was trying to help a friend in crisis. Just as Ilitia is swearing she can never get rid of her baby, Eman walks in and overhears. Ilitia rants that everybody is judging her and nobody understands what she’s going through. She just wants to die, and up the stairs she flees.

Muñeca sends Mayela upstairs to be with Ilitia, then tells Eman that he needs to understand Ilitia, because he’s been all taken up with MV and the Lirio. She shows him a newspaper headline about how the police are just about to capture the Lirio. She begs him to give it up, he’s done enough. It’s not enough! he says. She begs him to give it up for the baby. She has a bad feeling that something’s going to happen.

Axel is exploding.. those photos couldn’t have been faked if Alfredo wrote on Delicia’s nekkid back. Reproaches, denials, tears. Axel rages that here she was telling him she was nervous because it was her first time.

Delicia agrees that their boda was a mistake, because she shouldn’t marry anyone who doesn’t believe in her. People like her don’t have the right to dream. Axel says You don’t have the right to anything, servant!

MV swears to Brandon that she has no idea who the Lirio is. Brandon remembers that Jorge found them together and got jealous, probably because he saw the same look in her eyes as Brandon’s seeing now, which tells him she’s in love with the Lirio. Denials. Brandon goes on his radio and tells his men to stand by, then he tells MV he just needs one more piece of proof and he’s got the Lirio. She wonders who he thinks the Lirio is, and he tells her she’ll find out today.

He tells her he’s going to hold her in protective custody. She slams her purse on his desk in a sulk.

A sad, weepy scene in which Delicia says she was set up by Fedra, and Axel thinks the photos are real.

Lo is telling Tejeda that he will be more than happy to give him all the info he needs to nail Mauricio, but it’s Garduno that Tejeda wants to talk about because he’s disappeared. Lo fakes ignorance, then suggests Tejeda talk to Muñeca, since they have something going. Lo’s cell rings and he has the bad manners to answer it. It’s a call about Ilitia, so he quick takes his leave.

Axel asks Delicia how she could shame him like that in front of his family. She retorts that he’s talking about himself, his family, and what about her? Her feelings? He accuses her again, and she gives him a good slap for all of us and tells him that he’ll never know what it means to truly love a woman. He snarls at her and leaves and she falls on the bed and sobs. Poor little tiared thing.

Dandy has stopped by Mau’s cell and tells him that you know, that’s the way things go. One day up, one day down, and it was in Dandy’s best interest to stick with the person who was up. The mafia lawyer (Ordaz) shows up and tells Mau that Lo has said that they can get him out, if he swears loyalty. Never! yells Mau. The lawyer shrugs that he’ll just have to stay there then. Dandy advises him to be pragmatic and to join the ranks.

Mauricio sees the light, and tells the lawyer to assure Lo that he will be his most loyal servant. The lawyer heads off to buy off the judge.

Judge Pantoja is on the phone with the mafia lawyer and tells him to deposit the money in when his account. Fedra walks in. What an disagreeable surprise, he remarks and they exchange a few fun unpleasantries. She flops a folder on his desk and tells him she’s going to give him a new chance. Inside are the fingerprints and, snapping her fingers, she tells him she wants to know whose they really are like now, like yesterday. He wonders why Bernardo isn’t taking care of it. She says she doesn’t trust him completely anymore.

Fedra wants another favor, she wants him to perform a wedding. He laughs that he’s not that kind of judge. She counters that he’s a judge, and she wants it to appear legal, though it’s as fake as his good reputation. It’s for Lorenzo Lopez and yours truly, sez she.

It was Mayela who called Lorenzo so he’s shown up at his former home where Muñeca is none to pleased to see him. Muñeca tells him that Ilitia’s upstairs and Eman’s just went up to talk to her, and well… the child isn’t his.

Eman wants to know why Ilitia was going to get an abortion. She tells him that she couldn’t do it, but she just didn’t feel that she could bring the child up alone.

Lorenzo is furious and wants to know who the father is, because he’s going to kill him with his bare hands. Muñeca says it’s not her information to give out. Mayela, who has come downstairs so Ilitia could talk to Eman, says she can tell him who it is. Muñeca tries to hush her, but Mayela, who must be new to novelas, because she obviously hasn’t read the Telenovela Cliché Handbook, states that the daddy is Brandon.

Capítulo 169 The Ungentlemanly Caller

Lorenzo pitches a fit, but Muñeca assures him that Brandon didn’t do anything by force; they had a relationship going. Lorenzo just knows Brandon is after his money. What money? she laughs. He tells her he’s got more than she does; he’s just done this great business deal, see.

Eman comes down and they all shush, but Lorenzo can’t help himself. He furiously tells Eman that it’s all his fault, if he’d just been taking proper care of Ilitia, this wouldn’t have happened.. Eman, on another brain track, says that she’s okay now, and she won’t abort the baby, and what’s more he’s giving up his happiness to support the baby. Besides, after Lorenzo messed with Kristel, he’s hardly the one to be giving advice on how to walk the road of goodness. Off he goes.

Lorenzo says he can’t talk to Ilitia, what he’s going to do is go fix Brandon’s wagon. Muñeca tells him that Ilitia is the one who seduced Brandon, and that Brandon doesn’t even know the child is his. Lo marches out, swearing Brandon is going to pay for laying eyes (among other things) on his daughter.

Axel runs into his father, who tells him it had to be Fedra. No, he doesn’t know how that writing got on her back, but he’s sure Fedra was behind it. He begs him not to be as blind as he was, but Axel can’t be convinced.

Next Axel runs into Fedra who is just coming home. She begs him not to be so unfair to her, and tells him it’s all for the best because now he can marry someone his own level. She’s so sorry, but she told him so. He needs to listen to her more. He tells her he just wants to be alone.

Paula is sympathizing with Delicia – they did the same thing to her, but she had hoped that Delicia and Axel had overcome the obstacles. Nereida comes in and gloats that Delicia is back to being a servant. Delicia says she’ll be back to work, she’ll never been anything but a stupid servant. I’m not surprised she doesn’t consider just quitting because unlike Mayela, I’ve leafed through the Telenovela Cliché Handbook.

And now, a lively discussion between Netty and Gladiola, who says she’s one of the Lirio’s biggest fans, but she has to be on the side of her son and the law, and the Lirio’s a robber. Netty, gilding the lily, maintains he’s not a criminal, he ought to be up for sainthood, and she wants Gladiola to get her son to change his mind because she won’t put up with MV behind bars so they can trap him.

Angela, the fortune teller, is at Eman’s bar with Fidel and she’s seen the death card for somebody tall, dark, slender, with expressive eyes and a big heart. Fidel thinks that sounds like Emanuel. Jose Maria walks up and wants to know if they’re talking about Eman. Angela, not one to be sidetracked, says that there’s a lot of confusion, a betrayal by someone very close to him. JM is confused – who would want to hurt Eman? Fidel darkly warns that in life there are always hidden enemies.

Fidel wants to warn Eman, but she says he won’t listen. She says something about a danger, but I couldn’t catch it.

At the station, Brandon tells Oliver they’re going to get the Lirio because he’s obsessed with MaryVicky, so he’s going to show up any minute now, guaranteed. Sure enough, Eman blasts in, telling Brandon not to hold MV.

Doris has just left a message on Andre’s phone to call her back when Gladiola comes in and tells her not to bother with that guy. Doris is afraid for him because he just got dumped from a job. Just then Andre staggers in the unlocked door, and, coughing and gasping, falls to the floor begging Doris to help. Who knew AIDS struck so fast?

Eman and Brandon lock horns. Brandon’s approach is to say that MV is under arrest until the Lirio shows up to say she’s wrong that she went along with him willingly, but of course (taunt taunt) the Lirio is too much of a coward to come save her. Eman maintains that Brandon is illegally holding Vicky as bait in a trap. Off he goes.

Eman consults with Fidel, and wonders why Vicky went along willingly with the cops. He’s got to figure out how to remove suspicion that she’s an accomplice. Fidel begs him to be careful, and mentions Angela, but Eman waves it off. Right again, Angela!

Eman calls Brandon on his cell, and dropping his voice into the Lirio register, tells Brandon that he’ll give him what he wants, but first he wants to talk to Vicky. Brandon covers the phone and tells Oliver to run tell MV that the Lirio is on line, hint hint, and to go get Victoria. Behind the bar, JM wonders what Eman’s up to.

Eman, who now has MV on the phone, tells her to say that he had dragged her along by force, but she refuses, saying it’s not true and she wants to help him. Then Brandon gets on, and Eman tells him he has to let her go; she has nothing to do with him. Okay, says Brandon, as Oliver runs in and gives a thumbs-up, I’ll let her go. Vicky is confused. She stomps out, mad, telling him he’s nuts.

Oliver has traced the call – not to the cell number, oddly, but to the location, namely Eman’s bar.

And now for a PSA. Andre is still passed out, and Gladiola nervously tells Doris not to touch him. Doris explains that she’d have to have sex with him, or get a transfusion from him, and that you can’t get AIDS from a kiss, or a cough. He comes to and coughs some more. Doris is going to take him up to a room, but Gladiola protests. Doris takes him up anyway, telling Gladiola to call the doctor.

MV is home now, and wants to have a little party. As she switches her tiny rear down the hall, both Jorge and Eman watch in admiration. Jorge then confidentially tells Eman that MV has a thing for the Lirio and maybe they should make common cause to separate them. Eman, who is pulling all kinds of faces, fakes astonishment when Jorge tells him that MV was actually kissing the Lirio. Count on me! he says.

Jorge is surprised and genuinely pleased to have Eman team up with him. They fist bump.

Gretel is in Axel’s room, trying to convince him that everything Fedra does is false, that Delicia must be innocent, but he can’t be persuaded. Nereida comes in and tells them MV wants everybody to come downstairs.

Downstairs, Paula has a tray of champagne, and Delicia, in uniform, is with her. MV tells her to change out of her uniform, but Delicia tells her there was a big fight and it’s over, that Axel believes his mother over her. Eman offers his support.

Gretel brings Axel down and says maybe it’s not such a good day to celebrate. MV takes her champagne and proposes a toast to Delicia, the newest Ruiz y de Teresa, who is to assume her proper position in the house. Axel is furious. Queen (Mari)Victoria says it’s her decision and they have to abide by it. Delicia is to change out of her uniform, and sleep from now on with her husband.

Axel angrily says that the servant’s place is in the servant’s quarters. Emil tells him to knock if off, and to settle his marital problems. Axel says that Delicia can help herself to his room, but he’s not staying there. He stomps off.

Jose Maria has brought Fedra to Eman’s bar, which she proclaims a dump. He reminds her that they’ve been in worse places, and she reminds him not to call her Juana Felipa. He pours her a rum, but she says she doesn’t touch that junk, only champagne. He laughs that she’s changed, and she agrees she has, 26 years is a whole life, and he can’t blame her for changing to make a better life for herself and her children. She’s a society lady now, and nobody’s gonna take it away from her.

He takes her hand and asks what she would say if he asked her to leave it all and come away with him.

MV is in Axel’s room with Delicia and tells her she’s to stay put, not to run away and hide in the servants’ quarters and let Fedra win. She wants her to stay there until they figure out what Fedra did. Delicia doesn’t want to, but MariVicky, Sovereign of the Bedrooms and All She Surveys, hath spoken, and Delicia can do naught but obey.

She asks Delicia what happened, but Delicia has no idea, she just ended up with the writing on her back. MV tells her how Fedra chloroformed her and took her fingerprints, and she’s sure Fedra’s the one who wrote on Delicia’s back. Delicia remembers that Axel saw Alfredo in the house, and now she’s afraid she’s been raped. MV says she’ll take her to the doctor, and if she’s been raped, Alfredo’s gonna pay.

Fedra laughs in Jose Maria’s face. Why she would leave the good life, what would they live off if? JM says he’s talking about starting a new life together. Look what she’s turned into, the life she’s leading. A life you could never give me, she snarls. He remembers that they were in love, were happy. Were, she says, until she realized that he would never share a cent of his money with her. She wants to leave, but he holds her back, saying they loved each other and still do. We do? she purrs and leans in for a kiss, then pulls back and says look around -something here doesn’t quite fit, and that something c’est moi. You were made to sit around with losers and drunks, but I wasn’t. I am La Reina. I’m not the stupid 15 –year-old in a cabaret who fell for you. I have a real man by my side now, a man worthy of me, ambitious, dangerous. JM wonders if she means Emil and she sneers certainly not, that he’s a wimp just like JM. Actually, JM is worse. He has nothing – he went from ship captain to waiter captain. She pities him.

Back to our PSA. Doris tells Gladiola, who still wants Andre out of there, that he got depressed, which is normal as he lives for his body and his image, and he didn’t eat for a number of days. Gladiola thinks that Andre is doomed, whereas Doris is healthy. Doris says the rejection is what kills AIDS sufferers. Mother Africa will be relieved to hear about this breakthrough.

Mauricio, who is out now, goes into some thumping disco bar and has a few slugs, when he spots Kristel who is doing an impromptu strip. She dancing on a table, and already has her shirt off, revealing a modest pink bra and a nice flat stomach. Appreciative guys are in a circle around her. Mau goes over and grabs her arm and tells her she tried to set him, and tried to kill him, but look, here he is. She just stares at him.

I didn’t get all this, but Fedra tells JM that she’s a hustler who has taken advantage of all the opportunities that came her way. He tries to moralize with her, but she scoffs at him and says that people with principles like him end up losers. He reminds of when they made love in jail, and she remembers it lustfully and it looks like she’ll kiss him, but once again she pulls back, saying it was a big mistake. He comes closer, asking how she could have forgotten how he smells, and again it looks like she’s going to cave, but she sits up and readjusts herself and tells him she has a man who makes her tremble a thousand times more than he did.

JM wants to know who that man is, but she won’t tell, then she adds that JM has been dead for her since his boat sank. She takes a final slug of rum, slams her glass on the table and unsteadily exits.

At the disco bar, Mau has Kristel by the arm and tells her they have some unfinished business. A few of the watching guys tell him to back off, but he slugs one and they think better of it and step back. What looks like the owner and a bouncer come over and tell him to knock it off. Mauricio pulls out his gun and fires a few shots in the air. Everybody ducks, and he grabs Kristel by the arm and drags her out.

Coughing Andre tells Doris to call a taxi. He’s sure he’s dying and he doesn’t want to do it in her house. She scoffs that he still has a lot of miles on him, and urges him to eat. For what, he wants to know. He’s lost his job, people pity him, and now he’s a nobody, like her. Maybe she doesn’t mind, but everybody in Mexico knows who he is. Even though he’s weepy and scared, he still manages to be a jerk. Doris doesn’t seem to mind. He throws his food tray. What a prince. If rejection really killed, Doris would have been a goner months ago.

Brandon shows up with his guys in riot gear in the big house. The inhabitants stream out of the woodwork saying what the ….? Brandon announces that today’s the day he’s going to nab the Lirio.

Benigno quick runs upstairs to warn Eman, who has just gotten out the shower. Benigno starts pulling clothes from the dresser and tossing them to him, but too late, Brandon and his guys burst into the bedroom. Brandon holds up handcuffs.

Netty and Gladiola have heard the crash in Doris’s bedroom and come charging in. Doris tries to excuse Andre, but the two ladies tell him off, saying they don’t want him here if he’s going to make messes and be unappreciative and disrespectful. I hear cheering – who is that? Oh, it’s me. Netty tells him to get out.

Judge Pantoja reads the results of the fingerprint match and gloats that Fedra will be surprised when she finds out that Vicky and Marianela are one in the same. He has a giant ashtray (with no butts in it) on his desk, and a handy lighter with which he sets fire to the report. Next he burns the prints themselves, happily reflecting that the information is worth way more money than she has given him in the past.

In the backseat of a car, Fedra is telling off her hit man. He explains that Bernardo jumped up to save JM. She’s furious until he tells her that she shot Bernardo, and then she gets scared that he’s killed him. The hit man doesn’t know. He shot him the arm, but he had to run out then.

She tells him that next time, if Bernardo tries to save JM, he’s to kill JM. As an afterthought, she says that he should kill Bernardo too.

Andre is getting dressed while the two ladies rail away at him. Doris begs him to stay, but he’s going, asking her how she can live in such a rotten place. Doris turns to Netty and Gladiola and begs them to have some compassion, Andre’s all alone. Speaking for all of us, they note that he’s alone because he’s earned it. Off he goes, and Doris does some hand-wringing.

Mauricio has brought Kristel back to his lair where he lists his grievances: She betrayed him, she tried to kill him in the hospital, she wanted to set the police on him, she took up with Lorenzo, and who knows what else. You’re mine, all mine! He starts kissing her on the neck while she struggles. She breaks away and tells him he treated her like dirt and he never loved her.

She turns him on, he tells her. When he saw her dancing, a demon rose up in him and she knows there only one way to get that demon out. More forceful kissing while she tries to fight him off.

Brandon brings Eman down in handcuffs to the protests of the family. Eman assures them that he’s innocent and he’ll be let go soon. Gretel asks Oliver how he can be going along with this. Just following orders, says Oliver, plus they have their reasons to think Eman’s the Lirio. MV is stunned to hear that he might be the Lirio. Jorge is shocked. Was Eman the one in the room with MV? MV wants to know if it’s true.


Avances on the web: Axel has collared Andre at a party and demands to know the truth. Brandon tells Eman to confess.

Avances on TV: Ilitia is hiding the identity of the father, but it looks like Lorenzo, who is yelling at Brandon, is about to spill the beans. Looks like Fedra has strangled the judge with his tie (too bad it wasn’t casual Friday) and Bernardo has taken a photo with his cell and is threatening her with it.

Ultímos Capitulos, they say. How can this be if there are 30 more?

And a final note: The bits that were cut out tonight were taken from the web, which has no captions. Additions and corrections are always welcome.

Labels: llena